Industry and multi-console news:

• Sega will be bringing the Alien franchise to next-gen systems.
• Phantasy Star Online servers are being shut down for all countries and all consoles (DC and all Cube versions). Homebrew servers will likely spring up at some point, but in the meantime, just marvel at the fact that people have still been playing the DC game all this time.
• The 2007 Independent Games Festival finalists have been announced.
• The numbers of female and older gamers have seen huge growth, while traditional game demographics have had only a slight increase.
• Deputy Chris Long, the officer who shot the suspected PS3 thief (who was unarmed) has been dismissed and charged with second degree murder.
• Gamespot has the full list of winners at this year's Spike TV Video Game Awards, where Oblivion took game of the year. A writer at Joystiq liveblogged the whole event, then immediately died of cancer.
• Preliminary findings of Take Two's internal investigation have revealed "improprieties in the process of granting and documenting stock options." At this point they should just shut down Take Two and start again.
• With a few days and a charity dinner still left to go, Child's Play has already raised $495,000 for children's hospitals.
• The Cyberathelete Professional League will begin drug testing its players in 2007. Check for cork in the keyboards, too.
• Gamespot counts down the top ten boss fights.
• Video: X-Play looks at the history of breast physics. They skip the original Dead or Alive, for some reason. Maybe because the people at G4 checked out a long time ago.
• In preparation for this week's Jump Festa, Square-Enix has put up a ton of new screenshots for a ton of new games, including a bucketload of Final Fantasies, a couple Mana titles, a couple Dragon Quests, and Front Mission 1st.
• Dom & Liz's Yardsale Finds is a site where a couple, presumably someone named Dom and someone named Liz, document the various games and related stuff they find on their weekly yardsale hunts (and they do a lot -- like 60 in a week a lot). I gotta start hitting some yardsales. I want the Street Fighter II board game for 50 cents.

PC news:

• More than one million rounds of Battlefield 2142 have been played online so far. That equates to 1500 years.
• HardOCP has a review of the Killer NIC, a network card that can supposedly lower pings and improve your gaming experience. And also set you back $280.

Nintendo news:

• Four new Virtual console titles today: Gunstar Heroes, Alien Crush, Ice Hockey and Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine.
• The Official Nintendo Magazine in the UK has the release schedule for Virtual Console titles for the rest of the year. Sure, they get DKC first, but they also have to have robots starring in their Contra games. So it all evens out.
• Game Informer claims a new Zelda for the Wii has been in production for over a year. They also say Phantom Hourglass is delayed until October 2007.
• Japan has a Wii title called Kororinpa that can only be described as a 3D Cameltry (aka On The Ball). I know you probably don't know or care what that means (and shame on you) but God I want this game.
• Flickr has a large collection of photos showing different people playing the Wii. This photo, however, looks more like some sort of old wax figure they've stuck in someone's bedroom to frighten them.
• Opera is holding a photoblogging contest, the grand prize of which is a new Wii.
• Supposedly, Australian Wii owners can switch their country settings to UK and download the TurboGrafx titles they're missing out on. If you've got your heart set on Bonk, you better get in quick before they close the loophole.
• Wii injury update: The Wii is now responsible for wife beating.
• 1up presents the top 10 goofiest Twilight Princess characters.
• Mission In Snowdriftland is Nintendo of Europe's marketing site for the holidays. It's a simple platforming game that's broken down into 24 sections, like an advent calendar. Each day opens up a new level, and completing each level adds another "game file" to your collection, which contains wallpapers, ringtones, screenshots and more for the game in question.

Sony news:

• Sony says all its PS3 manufacturing problems have been resolved.
• 1up tells you 10 things you didn't know about God of War 2.
• Virtua Fighter 5 is shipping in Japan on February 8.
• A new Dragon Quest is set to be announced tomorrow, but whether it's DQ9 or a spin-off isn't known.
• The head of MotorStorm developer Evolution Studios says he's already planning for the PS4. Looking at the last two paragraphs of the article, I think he just likes to talk out of his ass.
• Lemmings and Go! Sodoku have been added to the Playstation Store. The former is a very reasonable $2.99, while the latter is free with extra puzzle packs costing $2.99 each.
• A clip from Japanese TV goes behind the scenes during the making of Final Fantasy XIII.
• I'm torn: This is either the most blood-curdlingly awful viral marketing campaign ever devised, or they intentionally made it awful and obvious so people would spread it around, which would mean it's brilliant.

Microsoft news:

• IGN has a preview and Q&A about the upcoming Hellboy game.
• Microsoft has officially launched XNA Game Studio Express and the XNA Creators Club, allowing anyone with Windows XP to create games for the 360.
• Continuing with Microsoft's Game With Fame series, you can earn the opportunity to play on Xbox Live against.. the Burger King. ..What.
• You can now register for the Xbox Live Arcade Challenge, starting December 17.