Jack Thompson's contempt hearing was today. Unfortunately, Judge Friedman recused himself from the case, meaning the charge will have to go to a different judge in the next few days. Friedman isn't handling the contempt case because he's filing a complaint of his own with the Florida Bar. Zing!

You can watch a video of the proceedings, with Jack acting like a child and holding up a posterboard sign with the rules for handling contempt of court on it.

Industry and multi-console news:

• Lik-Sang has shot back at Sony's "sour grapes" comments concerning their closure.
• GameSpy talks to Primus frontman Les Claypool about Guitar Hero II.
• A fan project has started to make DVD box covers for Saturn games, if you're sick of those bulky boxes and would rather keep them in slimline DVD cases.
• Gaming Target has guides on how to make various characters in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon's Kreate A Fighter mode, including Jack Thompson and Hulk Hogan.
• NPD research says playable demos are more important than price in making purchasing decisions for gamers.

PC news:

• A Sid Meier's Railroads! demo is out now.

Nintendo news:

• Confirmation and reminder: Toys R Us is taking Wii pre-orders on the 29th.
• DS Download Stations now allow you to download a bug fix for Pokemon Diamand and Pearl.
• The Gamecube version of Killer 7 has an URL on the box that goes to a porn site. It's supposed to be killer-7.com, not killer7.com.
• Wii.com has updated with four new experience videos, with a British man, an American woman, a Japanese woman and a Japanese family trying out the Wii for the first time.

Sony news:

• Be on the lookout at your local Wal-Mart, because at least one of them has broken the Guitar Hero II street date.
• Not only is Phil Collins on the Vice City Stories soundtrack, he has a cameo in the game.
• Due to PS3 start-up costs and the Sony laptop battery recall, Sony's profits nosedived 94% in the second quarter.
• Sony has revealed the first PS1 games to be made available in Japan via their download service, including Tekken 2 and Jumping Flash! and Resident Evil. I think it's safe to say the list may be a little different for the US, as I doubt Sony of America's number one concern is getting Arc the Lad out to eager PS3 customers.
• IGN has the official list of all the media formats the PS3 supports.
• Sony hopes to some day have PS3 games playable remotely with the PSP. Okay, but.. why?
• David Jaffe apparently now only wants to make small games instead of big titles like God of War. I think the man just doesn't know what he wants.

Microsoft news:

• Fight Club and Se7en director David Fincher has "consulted on", whatever that means, a new Gears of War trailer. I really don't get the music choice.
• In further money makes the world go 'round news: Xbox Live Gold members are going to start getting access to content first. If you want to see trailers trying to sell you games before anyone else, you'd better pay for the priviledge.
• Aeropause has video of Xbox mouthpiece Major Nelson on Attack of the Show recently defending micro-payments, saying "it's all about choice." oh okay