Industry and multi-console news:

• The VP of Square Enix says that a Chrono Trigger remake is a possibility, but the game's main director is currently working for Namco Bandai.
• The alternate reality game Perplex City has been solved, with a prize of $200,000 awarded to the winner.
• The Canadian government will be giving Ubisoft C$8 million to open their own movie studio.
• Gears of War was the big winner at the DICE awards, with eight wins, including Game of the Year.
• During the same show, Nintendo old timers Minoru Arakawa and Howard Lincoln received lifetime achievement awards.
• Also at DICE, outgoing ESA president Doug Lowenstein took some final shots at publishers and the gaming press for the problems he sees in the games industry.
• Buena Vista Games is being renamed Disney Interactive Studios.
• Activision is suing peripheral maker The Ant Commandos again, but this time, they've named three Guitar Hero developers and a PR firm in the suit as well.
• A downloadable Battlestar Galactica game will be available on the PC and Live Arcade this fall.
• This is unique, if nothing else: An artist has a gallery of long exposure photos of '80s arcade games, creating some interesting images.
• A slide from their DICE presentation shows how much of a difference Guitar Hero made to Harmonix.
• After being used to help people with various phobias, virtual reality is also being used to help people stop smoking.
• Tell your friends, Dhoom 2 is finally going to be a video game. What's Dhoom 2, you ask? Are you trying to suggest you're not up on your Bollywood movies?

PC news:

• Open beta testing has begun for Acclaim's martial arts MMORPG 9Dragons.
• Toyota simultaneously debuted two new Scion models at the Chicago Auto Show and inside Second Life at the same time, for some damned reason. You can also buy Scions in the game for 300 Lindon dollars (equivolent to one American dollar), so you can have a car in a game where you can jump in the air and fly around.
• A Half-Life 2 fencing mod is in the works.

Nintendo news:

• During a DICE interview, Reggie Fils-Aime mentioned that Pokemon Battle Revolution will be the first online Wii game in America and that online dev kits are getting into the hands of developers.
• Twilight Princess has become the Wii's first million seller, in the Americas alone.
• Take 2 says there will be no MLB 2K7 for the Wii. The series should come in 2008.
• IGN has details on prototype Wii weights that will probably come to market eventually.
• It looks like some American stores are importing Japanese Wii remotes to satisfy demand.
• Publisher Conspiracy Entertainment will be bringing a 3D mech shooter tentatively titled Shoot Out to the Wii.
• Wiitoob is a new site aiming to be -- you guessed it -- a YouTube designed with the Wii in mind.
• Someone on Ebay is selling a computer with a Wii built in, calling it a "gamer's dream." Seems like more of a nuisance to have your Wii stuck in a big black box.

Sony news:

• Factor 5 says Lair is about 90% done, with the last 10% being optimization and tweaking of difficulty.
• In an interview with SCEA president Jack Tretton conducted by EGM in early January (but published in the most recent issue), he said "If you can find a PS3 anywhere in North America that's been on the shelves for more than five minutes, I'll give you 1200 bucks for it." I think even then, PS3s were starting to sit around for more than five minutes.
• Japan seems to be giving a kind of mediocre reception to Virtua Fighter 5.
• Sony denies recent rumors by saying that Killzone 2 won't be at GDC at all.
• Amazon has Medievil Resurrection on the PSP marked down to $12.82.

Microsoft news:

• Kenji Inafune says that Capcom didn't want Dead Rising or Lost Planet at first.
• The director of Ninja Gaiden Sigma calls whispers of the game being brought to the 360 "just a rumor." Which technically isn't a complete denial.
• The Pelican Air Flo doesn't just provide extra cooling for your 360, it also features an array of standard component, composite, S-video and VGA outputs, so you're not forced to use more expensive 360-specific cords.
• Over the coming weeks, IGN will be getting "first looks" at various Forza 2 cars. The first two are up now.
• In case you planned to get Crackdown for the Halo 3 beta and give the actual game to someone else, keep in mind that the beta requires the Crackdown disc to run.
• Toys R Us Australia is offering coupons worth 20% off any 360 game.
• Naturally, as with any game involving explosions and physics, someone has made a video of blowing up a big pile of cars in Crackdown.