Wild Tangent's CEO, Alex St. John, made some 'brazen' claims at the ION keynote — one of the boldest being that console gaming is dead and the PC is looking towards a renaissance. It should be noted that St. John has blabbered about this before, so he's just retreading previous ground:

Beginning one of several brazen claims in his keynote, St. John spoke of the death of video game consoles: “Nobody needs a console when a game's value and DRM is defined by community or an input device. Consoles just serve to keep you from playing a game you didn't pay for.”

He asked, “What's Sony and Microsoft's motivation to make another console? It's been so rocky, and it's not about the pretty graphics anymore.” According to St. John, spectacular graphics have become a commodity, and not the platform for games to differentiate themselves. “The Wii is the exception that proves the rule — it's not about the graphics, it's about the input device.

He went on to talk about advertising models and targeting the right audience — but his statements on the console vs. PC pack the most punch.

WildTangent's St. John Declares Consoles Dead, Claims PC Renaissance [Gamasutra]

UPDATE - I just got my account approved, and now have a relatively useless (myserialnumber)@dreamcast.com Gmail account! Hooray!

SEGA of Japan to update www.Dreamcast.com for 2008! [Sega of America Forums via Sega Nerds - Thanks Sonic_Freak!]

Discovered at CES: Two generic consoles that play non-generic games. The Retro Duo accepts both NES and Super NES games, while the Gen X takes Sega Master System and Genesis/Mega Drive games. Both of the consoles were built on technology that takes advantage of lapsed patents, so they are perfectly legal. At least according to the guy showing them off at CES they are.

CES 2008: Retro Console Clones Take Actual Cartridges [Wired]

Guanqiao was showing off their line of prettifying console stickers on the show floor. The stickers come in either pre-designed packs for any of the current consoles or portable, or you can design your own art. I wasn't super impressed with the DS Lite stickers, but the Wii, Xbox 360 and PS3 stuff looked kinda zupear koole.

Sony's Playstation 2 accounted for 42 percent of video game console usage during June far outstripping the Xbox, which had the second highest usage at 17 percent, according to Nielsen's latest GamePlay Metrics.

Rounding up the list of consoles was the Playstation 3 with just 1.5 percent of usage and the Wii with four percent.

Metrics found that 68.1 million people used a video game console in June, playing an average of 7.5 days during the month. On the days they played, Xbox 360 users logged an average of 2.2 sessions, with an average session length of 61 minutes. In contrast, PlayStation 3 users' logged an average of 1.9 sessions, with an average session length of 83 minutes, on the days they played.

Metrics also found that game play patterns shift seasonally. For instance in April, Wii's peak usage hour was 5PM, and now, during Summer Break, Wii usage peaks at 8 PM. Finally, Metrics reports that Wii households are upscale, with annual income more likely to be more than $100,000 income.

Hit the jump for a sexy numbers chart and the study's methodologies.

Nielsen GamePlay Metrics Methodologies
Nielsen GamePlay Metrics uses console data collected from the Nielsen's People Meter TV sample combined with Nielsen GamePlay Metrics' proprietary audio signature library that matches the unique audio signature of every game tracked on the six most widely available video game consoles, including PlayStation 2, PLAYSTATION 3, Xbox, Xbox 360, Wii and GameCube. The GamePlay Metrics user sample includes more than 12,000 households with approximately 33,000 individuals.

Nielsen GamePlay Metrics uses PC data collected from the Nielsen's Video Game Tracking Survey. Video Game Tracking is a weekly online survey of 1200 gamers 7 - 54 years of age. Qualifications include ownership of a console or PC, play video games at least 1 hour per week and have purchased at least one or more video games in the last 6 months. The Video Game Tracking online survey has been in the field for more than two years (104+ weeks).

Additional data, including rankings of console video game titles and the electronic metering of PC game titles are in testing and will be available to select Nielsen GamePlay Metrics clients in the near future. On July 5, 2007 Nielsen announced a collaborative agreement with Sony Computer Entertainment America to develop a measurement system for computer game advertising that includes the sharing of video game console data. The Nielsen-Sony data will also be provided within GamePlay Metrics service in the near future.

A sharp-eyed reader points out that Blizzard added three new positions on their job openings page yesterday for a "next-gen MMO."

The company is looking for a lead engine programmer, lead tools programmer and lead technical artist. While the reader theorizes that this is for a console port of World of Warcraft, my money is on World of Starcraft or something like it.

Remember, yesterday was also when Blizzard told us that they intend to announce a new product at th Worldwide Invitational in Korea on May 19. They also said they do plan to revisit the StarCraft universe at some point in the future.

What do you think? A new World of Warcraft, a Starcraft MMO, oooh, maybe Lost Vikings the MMO? Brian Crecente

Job Postings [Blizzard, thanks Ryne]

GamesIndustry reports that Gas Powered Games, still entrenched in the final tweaks for Supreme Commander development, are already hard at work on hyping their next title: a console comedy.

You've previously worked as a stand-up comedian. Would you ever do a comedy game? Do you think that's worthwhile?

"Actually, well, we've got something we think is going to be very funny, very entertaining... When you get this next game, a couple years from now, and you're like, 'Okay, finally, I get to check out what this guy's talking about,' you're going to sit back, you're going to relax, you're going to enjoy yourself. And you're going to go, 'Oh, I know what he means now.' That's the next thing I want to try to do."

Very funny indeed...Brian Crecente

Powered Up [GamesIndustry, via 1Up]

I convinced my dad to buy my older brother an Xbox 360 earlier this year for his birthday.

Drew loves gaming, but wasn't decided on whether he wanted the Playstation 3, Wii or 360, so I decided for him. I was pretty sure I had made the right call after he received it and started playing the games. He had an Xbox and loved a lot of the titles on that system, so it seemed like a natural fit.

Then he called me last night to tell my his system, his three week old system that he had played exactly one game on had crapped out on him. He was getting the red ring of death. So I told him to call customer service.

"They'll handle everything, they're great. They'll even pay for shipping and Fed-Ex it for you. That's what they did for my systems (yes, plural) when they died."

He emailed back a little more than unhappy:

Brian Crecente

I was annoyed and disappointed when I saw my three-week old 360 wasn't working. I looked up the info about the blinking red circle on the Internet and found out that it was apparently toast. I called Microsoft and was relieved that I didn't have to wait very long to speak with "Vishay." What are the odds that Vishay is housed at Microsoft's campus in sunny California?

After going through the requisite questions Vishay stated (nearly enthusiastically) that my 360 needed to be repaired. He sounded as if he was doing me a favor when he said that all repairs and having the 360 shipped back to me was going to be covered by Microsoft.

When he said that I'd have to pay to ship it to Microsoft, annoyed went to pissed immediately.

I explained that there was absolutely no way that I was going to pay a penny for what was apparently a "shoddy product." Three weeks and it's already a paperweight? No sir.

I told Vishay that if he was unable to handle this situation that a supervisor would be required. After waiting nearly ten minutes Vishay returned to say that I was being transferred to a supervisor. Another five minutes of listening to some very static-filled on-hold music and Vishay came back to say that a supervisor had "approved" free shipment of the 360 to Microsoft.

Microsoft: if you're selling a product that goes belly-up in less than a month never suggest that I should pay anything to get said product fixed. You've blown the customer experience (and not in a good way). Instead of annoyed and disappointed I'm now pissed and unfortunately will stay so for a while. That sucks for me ... so thanks for that.

Unfortunately, these reports of shoddy costumer service on Microsoft's part seem on the rise lately. And what's with a console manufactured in August (I had Drew check) dying after a few weeks? I thought this was an issue with just the early batch of consoles. Come on Microsoft, don't fumble now. Brian Crecente

Time Warner Cable, the company that was first at fast and first at fiber optics, is increasing your speed again. We're doubling it in the new year ... for no extra cost.

In the first quarter of 2007, Road Runner will be doubling the download speed for its residential customers to 10 Mbps. Our Time Warner Cable Business Class customers will experience similar increases in speed.* The same monthly price that you've been paying will stay the same.

Increased speed. Same price. Great deal.

We haven't told the media yet. This is a special notice directly to you, our loyal and valued Road Runner customer. In the coming weeks, you'll see more information about this exciting improvement in your internet service.

There was a time when this would have been great news for PC gamers who use the service, but nowadays it's great news for all gamers who use the service. I hope that as more providers realize the importance of high speed for gaming, more of them will offer free upgrades like this to keep us. We are, after all, legion. Brian Crecente

Road Runner Doubling Bandwidth [Loot Ninja]

The hopefully non-prophetically named Singe did a little bit of research on Wii power consumption since the thing is on 24/7. Turns out that Nintendo's nifty new console isn't just light on power use, it's super light.

Wii:

- In Standby Mode: 10w
- Idle @ Wii menu: 17w
- Running a Wii Game (Test with Zelda / Trauma Center) in 480i: 17w

37" Sharp Aquos LCD TV:
- In Standby Mode: 40w
- Turned on: 180w

XBox 360:
- In Standby Mode: 2w
- Idle @ Dashboard: ~140w
- Running a Game: ~160w
- Playing a DVD: ~110w

Brian Crecente

They lay, side-by-side, stretched out in sleeping bags that cover them from head-to-toe, just their ashen and weary faces are visible.

There's a boom box sitting nearby, softly playing some non-descript music. At the front of the line is a red sign, it says they are getting eight 60GB PS3s.

They group laugh and point to one guy when I ask which one of them isn't getting the console. "I'm sharing it with him," the singled-out guy says motioning to his neighbor.

They seem exhausted. But they should be, they've been in the line since Tuesday. At one point, they say, someone came by the line and offered then $1,500 cash for a spot in their line. No one took the guy up on the offer.

"You can make a lot more on eBay," one of the line-waiters said. Brian Crecente

In this time of Playstation 3 violence and line-waiting, gamers should come together. 360, PS3, Wii, we're all just in it for the games, so why not go out and do a random act of kindness, like reader Jimmy Canuck.

JC decided to deliver cups of hot chocolate to his local line-waiters.

Reports have been coming in all day about problems with violence in the line-up's for the PS3. One look at Kotaku and you'll see everything you need to - four injured with BB guns in Kentucky, rioting outside of a Wal-Mart in Wisconsin, rioting inside of a Wal-Mart in California - and we've still got a day to go. Despite all of this, I had to pop into my local Best Buy this morning and saw about a dozen fanboys and one nice grandma huddled under plastic tarps and tents to keep themselves out of the freezing rain. So I drove across the parking lot to Tim Horton's and brought them all back hot chocolate.

I thought about writing "Buy a Wii instead" on the bottoms of all the cups, but by the time I thought of it they were already full of delicious chocolately goodness.

It's an easy thing to do, especially if there aren't too many line campers in your area - so on your way home from work today stop by your local PS3 line-up and do something nice.. After all, these people might be trampled to death at any moment.

If you do something kind (no, jumping someone with a PS3, beating their face into a pulp and taking their console isn't kind) email us you're story so we can post it.

A Random Act of Kindness Today for the PS3 Folks [Jimmy Canuck]

A reader sends in word that while canceling his subscription to World of Warcraft he was hit up with a wee bit of Starcraft Ghost marketing from Blizzard.

I just canceled my subscription to WoW and cited that I was giving it up for a console. A message popped up that I though you might find interesting - "As a highlight, we'd like to remind you that Blizzard Entertainment will soon be releasing the long-awaited Starcraft Ghost; our exciting movement back into the console world."

Of course, that could mean a lot of things, like an old ad or doctored photo, but I suspect it means that Blizzard really does plan to one day release Ghost on the console. Brian Crecente

OK, maybe I missed the meeting, but I don't recall reading or being told that the Playstation 3's harddrive could a partitioned harddrive with multiple operating systems.

I remember hearing about Linux, but it looks like the PS3 might be open to other operating systems as well.

I realized this while playing around with the settings and stumbling on one that said "Install Other OS." Hopping on to the online manual, because frankly the printed one doesn't say shit about shit, I discovered that Sony has become quite opened minded about this sort of thing.

Install other system software on the hard disk. For information on types of compatible system software and obtaining the installer, visit Open Platform for PLAYSTATION 3. ... PLAYSTATION 3 allows any desired third-party system software to be installed on it besides its system software provided by Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Details will be posted on this site soon.

The manual also says that you may need a USB adaptor to use certain storage media, which makes me wonder if they are talking about an external hard drive. OK, so what kind of fun things could you do with this? Brian Crecente

Open Platform [Sony]

Gamespot member Adolfobaja posts that Mexican magazine Atomix already got their greedy little hands on a retail Wii. And he posted the pictures to prove it. Cue the badada badada badada music and hit the jump for the rest of the show. Brian Crecente

Wii pictures from Inside the Box!! [Gamespot Adolfobaja]

Gambling site Bodog has odds up for the Playstation 3 launch.

While I'm intrigued, I think the person setting the odds and deciding on the bets needs to do a little more homework. The site still has bets up on whether the price will be changed before launch and whether the console will get approval by the FDA before launch.

The only really interesting bet was on which game will sell the most copies on launch day. Bogdog has Madden as the favorite, followed by Need for Speed Carbon and then Resistance: Fall of Man. Sonic and then F.E.A.R. rounded out the list, with F.E.A.R. fetching 19 to one odds.

What they really need to do is set odds for PS3, Wii and Xbox 360 console sales in November. That would be interesting Brian Crecente

Expect to hear some kinda interesting news about a very interesting upcoming console at 12:01 a.m. EST Friday. The embargoed news was sent out to a bunch of newspapers and websites with the understanding that no one would print the information until first thing in the morning.

While I'm sure you will all find it endlessly fascinating, in the end it really won't get you any closer to the news most people want to know.

Make sure to head back to Kotaku one minute into tomorrow to read the details and see a wee bit of analysis. Brian Crecente

Yoichi Wada, prez. of Final Fantasy maker Square Enix, has long hinted that the company needs to change. For years, Square Enix has relied on immensely popular role-playing-games like Dragon Quest to rake in the profits. In a recent interview, Wada stressed the need for the company to change, even stressing that Square Enix is financially ready to handle such change.

The strategy behind Nintendo and the iPod, to create a new environment based on hardware, is completely valid. But, this is impossible if you don't have experience making hardware. This is one of the reasons Square Enix will collaborate with Taito, a company that produces physical hardware. In our talks with Taito, ideas for an actual physical product have come up. In any case, we will be releasing some 'thing.'

And that "thing" will be tall and slender, have blonde frosted hair and look slightly feminine.

What a surprise, seriously. By "change," I thought Wada meant bye-bye soft focus Final Fantasy pre-renders and not jumping head first into the brutally difficult to crack hardware market. Taito does have experience in this realm, working on a never released CD-ROM console that even boasted downloading. But, a handful of Final Fantasy should help the Square-Taito console. In Japan, at least. Brian Ashcraft

Electronic Arts just sent out some new screens for Xbox 360 real-time strategy title Battle For Middle Earth II. This is the first RTS for the 360 and boasts a pretty slick interface and amazing graphics. No wonder, Westwood co-founder Louis Castle is the game's executive producer.

The real question here is can a mouse and keyboard genre like RTS work on a console with a controller? Halo managed to prove shooters can make the transition, but is it too much to expect RTS can? Brian Crecente

The problem is that all the major hardware (and software, I guess) manufacturers are pretty big on screwing the customers in favor of being proprietary. I'm a big fan of streamlining things, and if you're going to have media-center style options built in to your TV setup, it would obviously be great to have the process as simplified as possible...but I don't think that consoles are the way to do that.

Frankly, you can build a DVR-capable computer for less than the price of a PS3. It'll do DVR, it'll play games, and it's completely upgradeable and you can install basically anything you want on it.

For me, consoles are purchased solely for their ability to play games... but everything else is a nice perk. Not a perk I'm willing to pay $500 or $600 dollars for. What about you guys? Why not jump into the comments and let us know what you think. Florian Eckhardt

More Than Games? Not Possible! [Flicker Gaming]

That said, Techeblog has posted a compendium of the top 10 "weirdest" custom consoles. Frankly, one of these things is as weird and unlikely as the other; qualification seems less to be based on oddity than cool factor. And that portable Gamecube sure is cool. Although a portable NES? That's what a GBA and a flashcart is for. FLORIAN ECKHARDT

Top 10 Strangest Custom Gaming Systems [Techeblog.com]

Of course people initially people thought 'it sounds strange,' are not sure what to think, and I think, then they come to accept it. I can't speak for every single person, and I'm sure there are those people who still don't like it, but I think there are more and more people starting to embrace it.

You notice they refer to the Wii as "it" throughout. I suspect that's because they know that no matter how optimistic you're trying to be, if you say "they come to accept Wii" and "there are more and more people starting to embrace Wii" you're going to sound like you're making grade-school potty jokes. Hoist on their own pitard!

Nintendo Wii: The New Generation Platform [1up]

Business is fine, thanks for asking... [Gamerscoreblog]

Do you know your console? Do your really know your console? Velvety-voiced Cheapy D asks readers to take the Pepsi Challenge and identify the sounds of four different consoles based on disc and fan read noises. Easy, you say? Give it a whirl:

Console #1
Console #2
Console #3
Console #4

Peanut gallery, impress us with your guesstimations.

Find Answers Here [CAG]

Microsoft Switching To Cooler & Cheaper Xbox 360 CPU [Voodoo Extreme]

Update: Commenter 'The Wreckard' and others saying this won't split the Xbox 360 product line are totally correct. Presuming this will lead to multiple versions of incompatible Xbox 360s is just silly. It won't—any more than the slim PS2s are a different product than the originals.

The first rumor is that, currently, the innards of a Playstation 3 are too large to functionally fit in the case. Although fat people can suck in their massive guts or cram fists fulls of cellulite down into a slimming girdle, no such option exists for the PS3, meaning that either the sleek and empty cases they've been showing off will have to grow larger to accommodate the electronic bulk or the components themselves will have to shrink... and soon.

The second rumor? Sony is still bidding on components. As Inquirer states: "This means the development is far from final, and it will be debugging up to, and in a Microsoft overheating manner, past the last minute. Not a good sign."

The last bit of bleakness is the rather astounding news that the OS that the PS3 will be running on will consume 25% of the system's core and 18.75% of the system RAM! Holy crap! Don't we buy consoles so we don't have to deal with that sort of OS overhead?

PS3 currently too big and too clever? [Guardian Gamesblog]

We hope you like randomly picking your answers, because chances are that the answers to nearly half the questions won't apply to you. We also hope you have some IQ points you can afford to slough off, because whether or not the author of the test has a Harvard Med doctorate in diagnosing console fanboys, he certainly doesn't have even a first grader's grasp of remedial spelling.

Are You A Console Fanboy? [Nerd Tests] (via GG)

In what will surprise nearly no one at all, Sony is now disavowing the €499 to €599 price for the PS3.

They are claiming that Sony Computer Entertainment France's grand fromage Georges Fornay's remarks on the price were mistranslated and taken out of context. The company says the uproar was over "a mistranslation or misunderstanding of the discussion, which was actually focused on the relative value of PS3 as a Bluray Disc player."

In other words, Georges was claiming that if they released at €499 to €599, the PS3 would be an excellent deal compared to the first Blu-Ray players, which are meant to sell at €700. It's one of those wacky hypothetical statements that sensible people try to shy away from, knowing the trouble they cause.

We actually wouldn't be surprised if this was damage control after the overwhelming outcry from yesterday's announcement. We've done the same thing when we screw up at work: blame the wacky foreigner! Anyway, readers, don't count your weasels before they pop — looks like the PS3 price is still up in the air.

Fornay's comments are not an indication of PS3 pricing - Sony [Gameindustry.biz]

But with most of the world's populace reduced to smorgasbords of bloody chunks and bursting entrails to fill the black, burst bellies of the hungry undead, Sony no longer anticipate any shortage of PS3s come November.

"With power outages afflicting most parts of the globe and the number of human survivors calculated at well under a million souls, internationally, we feel confident that any gamers who want to buy a PS3 will be able to get one in November," a Sony representative reaffirmed.

Good news for gamers, but what will this mean for launch titles? With the vast majority of Sony's first party developers licking coagulated blood off of their co-workers gnawed, fleshless femurs, or shivering in Tokyo hospitals in the last stages of zombie bite infections, word on the street is that the PS3 might launch with less titles than even the PS2. Bad news for a company that has blundered nearly every step in the next-gen console war.

This is sort of random, but for some reason Microsoft sent me a Viva Pinata notepad. I'm not quite sure what to do with it, so I decded to take a picture and post it here. Because that's how I roll.

Following its keynote, Harrison revealed in a Q&A session with our PS3 channel that the PlayStation 3 will be region free for gaming. Due to the restrictions imposed by the AACS LA, movie playback will still be region locked like current DVDs but that won't apply to PS3 titles.

This announcement came as a total surprise and definitely something you won't expect from Sony.

No kidding. This is great news for anyone planning on doing importing. We wish the 360 and Revolution would follow suit.

Playstation 3 Will Be Region-Free For Gaming [Team XBox]

Yet rumors are circling at GDC that change the name of the Revolution, Nintendo may! Also abuzz upon the GDC rumor mill — that the Revolution may very well ship this June, making the Playstation 3 the last console to ship this generation.

According to Gamecloud, all will be known as soon as Saturo Iwata makes his key-note speech on Thursday. Ladies, start twittering gossip amongst yourselves. We'll update you on Thursday.

Nintendo Revolution to be Renamed this Week? [Game Cloud]

Boy, he sure does such at Bomb Man.

The history of Japanese consumer game machine

...

A million consoles? Globally? We mentioned yesterday that Sony probably needed ten million PS3's to successfully meet demand for a global launch. And now Sony's claiming they'll only be able to decimate the number of eager customers in November? Hello, Central?

If you want a Playstation 3, we hope you're willing to wait outside of Best Buy on launch day, then accost one of the five people in your area who managed to buy one and smash the rigid palm of your hand time and time again into the base of his nose until his cold, dead hands finally loosen around the PS3 he just purchased. Because short of nine-tenths of the world suddenly ascending in a Christian Rapture, that's the only way you're going to be able to get one.

Related: The Math Of A Global PS3 Launch
Related: Poll: PS3 Launch Success Rate

They're skeptical. Who wouldn't be? Based upon past evidence, the assumption is that Sony needs to put together 10 million PS3s in order to have enough supply to meet demand in all territories. The Guardian estimates that this would require Sony to have already begun production of the PS3 and to produce a million consoles a month from January to November. That's 50,000 per day.

But has production already started? How could it, with Blu-Ray still being an unagreed standard? Developers don't even have final dev kits.

We're doing to put on our Criswell turban here and predict there is no way Sony can make enough consoles for a world-wide launch in November. So if Sony sticks to that launch date, expect another 360 fiasco, children.

Can Sony manage a global PS3 roll-out? Let's 'do the math' [Guardian Gamesblog]

Just in time for my big screen plasma, a light gun that works on all TVs. The LCD TopGun is even authentic enough to get you gunned down in the safety and comfort of your den at three in the morning. The sleek black gun works on CRT, LCD, plasma, DLP and projection TVs and includes auto-fire, auto-reload and force feedback. It sells for a mere $35. The only downside is that it doesn't appear to work with next-gen consoles. Damn.

Duck Hunt on a Plasma Screen [Gizmodo]

To be sure, temporary shortages after the launch of a new machine are common in the video game business. But Microsoft's continued inability to meet demand for Xbox 360 has irritated customers and disappointed video game publishers, raising questions about whether the company has squandered an opportunity to grab market share before consumer electronics giant Sony Corp. releases its PlayStation 3 later this year.

The problem is that Microsoft doesn't have the manufacturing chops of Sony, which can make about 3.8 zillion electronic devices an hour. If it came down only to the ability to meet demand, Sony wins, no contest. But as well all know, there are 20 other factors involved. If I had to make a bet, I'd put $5 on the 360 because of its awesome online gaming and media management features. Where would you place the bet and why?

Xbox Shortage Leaves Fans Out in the Cold [Los Angeles Times]

Call me gullible, but right now I'm trusting that what the producer told me will hold up to what happens on the show. Basically, they just want me to walk viewers through how you connect online with the Xbox and how a person can communicate with other gamers. I plan on talking about the parental protections built in to the 360. I just realized, sitting here in the back of a car with no WiFi, that I'm not 100 percent sure about the current state of non-360 parental protection. I assume that the same protections exist on both the Xbox and the Xbox 360, but I'm not really sure. I plan on hopping on a computer when I get to the studio, if I can, and just double checking when I get there.

—-

It's an hour and a half later and I'm going through my post-show jitters. I think I did OK, but it was like, what, less then two minutes long. Maybe I should tap dance next time.

Anyway, I'll try to post the (very) short video later today.