I didn't want to make a whole new set of banners just to take them down again in a month for Christmas. So in the meantime, enjoy this placeholder.

Industry and multi-console news:

• Games Are Fun has an interview with Red Octane about Guitar Hero II.
• Speaking of which, there are new videos of Freebird and Jordan on expert that will make your fingers bleed just by watching them.
• 1up has a feature on game breaking design decisions that hamper play. Me personally, I'm getting a little sick of everyone bitching about unlockable content. OH NOES I ACTUALLY HAVE TO DO SOMETHING

PC news:

• All this weekend, The Ship will be available free of charge on Steam.

Nintendo news:

• Here's the full list of virtual console titles to be available by the end of the year, 30 in all. In addition to the already announced Nintendo game prices, Turbo-Grafx 16 games will be $6 and Genesis games will be $8.
• Nintendo also expects 32 Wii games to be released by the end of the year. The link has the full list.
• A Mexican gaming magazine has gotten their hands on a final Wii retail box and took lots of photos of them opening it up.
• New Yorkers will be able to play the Wii themselves at the Nintendo World store starting this Saturday.
• Early Japanese reviews of Twilight Princess are starting to roll in.
• Nintendo expects to ship four million Wiis worldwide in the first six weeks, but they don't think that will be enough.

Sony news:

• David Jaffe's upcoming Criminal Crackdown has been renamed to Calling All Cars.
• Phil Harrison says Sony is funding "about 40" downloadable games for the PS3 right now.
• Sony is warning consumers about scam websites claiming to sell discounted stock. But really, you should know better than that already.
• IGN reports that Ridge Racer 7 uses a five gigabyte install on the HD to improve load times. That 20 gig HD isn't looking so good.

Microsoft news:

• The Rainbow Six demo is finally available to those in North America without having to pull profile tricks.
• Firing Squad has an interview with the author of the Halo novel Ghosts of Onyx.
• Since the Blue Dragon one went over well, Microsoft has readied a Lost Planet bundle for Japan too.
• This week's big Xbox Live Arcade Wednesday offering: A Kameo themed Uno deck. Uno decks are the socks and underwear of the Xbox Live gift world.
• Gamestop is now taking pre-orders on Halo 3.
• A four-episode miniseries based on the Forza games will air on the Speed network early next year. Or from the sound of it, it's people racing and it happens to have the name Forza on it.