Industry and multi-console news:

• Capcom has hired a former THQ exec for the purpose of securing new Hollywood franchises to turn into games. It's time to expand into making 500 sequels out of someone else's property.
• Siliconera has an interview with redspotgames about bringing a new shooter to the Dreamcast after so many years past the system's "death."
• Video Games Live is returning for a new concert at GDC 2007 The first 400 tickets will receive a 10% discount.
• If you need some reading material, you can work on this 64 page master's thesis on storytelling in single player action games.
• The first definite mention of Prey 2 has come in a CVG interview with Human Head co-founder Chris Rhinehart.
• Jack Thompson vows to bring more public nuisance suits against games in 2007. It worked so well against Bully.
• South Korea has lifted a ban on certain military games that dealt with Korean conflicts (such as Mercenaries and Ghost Recon 2).
• Okami producer Atsushi Inaba is rumored to have set up his own studio and is working on new games.
• A hacker claims to have broken the AACS encryption on HD DVDs using a 360 HD DVD drive.
• Graphics card manufacturer Nvidia and America's Next Top Model Adrienne Curry have teamed to create the "world's first real time, virtual celebrity."
• Now you can buy your own three dimensional eight level chess set. I don't even want to think about how you play this.
• Digg exposes you to some interesting things sometimes, but they don't always do it very well. They linked directly to this image and called it a scan from "some magazine decades ago," so God only knows where it's actually from. At any rate: This clearly very old prediction of what games will be like in the future actually does a pretty good job. You'll be able to play games with people hundreds of miles away with the magic of miniature radio transmitters!

PC news:

• The official website for Clusterball 2 has opened.
• Bit-Tech hands out their 2006 best of awards.
• An earthquake in Taiwan has disrupted the virtual currency market.
• WorthPlaying reports that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has finally been pegged down to a release date: March 16, 2007. If you've forgotten what it is, CVG has a preview here.
• Extreme Tech has a year-end wrap up of the best keyboards and mice.
• The executive producer of Command & Conquer 3 says the game won't have the classic C&C installer fans of the series are familiar with.
• CNet looks at the top ten Apple rumors of all time, with number one being that persistent myth that they're going to buy Nintendo.

Nintendo news:

• Game Trailers has a new preview video for Wario Ware Smooth Moves.
• Speaking of which, Siliconera explains how 12 person multiplayer works in Wario Ware.
• Square Enix has released an official trailer for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates. The PSP FFT trailer also used this tactic of several little screens of footage at once instead of one big one. I don't know why they're afraid to show gameplay clips at a size larger than a postage stamp.
• An Ebay seller has several auctions for NES consoles custom painted with retro scenes.
• The Wii Media Center is a program that lets you stream media from your computer to your Wii.

Sony news:

• Kotaku has a feature on the decline of prices in the PS3 grey market.
• Business Week estimates that the PS2 will outsell the PS3 next year.
• A RealMoney research analyst says the PS3 "is only one of many reasons to avoid shares of the consumer-electronics conglomerate, but it's certainly the most important."

Microsoft news:

• As they did with the Halo 3 Monday Night Football ad, GameVideos and 1up have joined together again to dissect the Halo Brute documentary.
• Realizing a lot of their games get rated Z in Japan (the strongest rating in their system), Microsoft has decided to go with it by holding an "Adult Games Festa" at the Akihabara UDX 3D Theater. Don't feel you're missing out: It's mostly games we're already familiar with, like Gears of War and Dead Rising.
• There is a dead man on a toilet hidden in Gears of War. Thrilling.
• Deciding that the video alone wasn't enough, one man has turned his montage of Saints Row bug videos into a musical.
• Word is coming of Battlestar Galactica Online for the 360, but the only info there is to go on at the moment is a listing at EB Games and a couple French video game sites.