Industry and multi-console news:

• The 2007 Leipzig Game Conference has been set for August 20 - 22.
• Team Ninja head Tomonobu Itagaki says he'll be revealing a new game based on new IP soon.
• Advocacy groups want to ban advertisements featuring M-rated games on public transportation in Denver.
• Activision has an unnamed Unreal Engine 3 game in the works.
• Ars Technica notes that several states are beginning to put video game bills on hold because of constitutional issues. This includes Indiana, which just a few days ago had sent their game bill to the Senate for a full vote.
• Shacknews has an updated preview of Shadowrun.
• Gamasutra has more in-depth coverage of the Call of Duty lawsuit between Spark Unlimited and Activision.
• The first official release of batari Basic is out, which is a Basic-like programming language for creating Atari 2600 games.
• CheatsCC.com is suing the owner of several game cheat websites because certain cheats and codes appear on those sites in the same order as they are on CheatsCC.com. The guy at the link seems to believe this is ridiculous, but I'm sure dictionary makers have sued people for the same reasons in the past.
• Reports say that Disney is gearing up for a Prince of Persia movie, hoping to turn it into a franchise.
• Gamasutra asks people in the game industry whether Doug Lowenstein was right in his farewell speech at DICE, where he lambasted developers for not standing up for their freedom.
• Destructoid presents the true story of one game tester's horrible work experience.

PC news:

• Gamasutra has added part two of its History of Computer Role Playing Games, focusing on the "golden age" (1985 to 1993).
• Sam & Max Episode 4 is now available on GameTap.
• The Russians -- who else -- have developed a USB shot glass so you can drink with friends over the Internet.
• GameSpy has a review of Project Reality, "the mother of all realism mods" for Battlefield 2.
• Characters in Second Life are protesting military action against Iran. I link it mainly to ask: You're in a virtual world where you can quite literally do whatever you want. Why the hell do you make your avatars hold signs?

Nintendo news:

• Japan's Virtual Console line-up for March includes Actraiser, which marks Square Enix' first entry to the service. Not being an RPG, it's one of those things you have to think about for a moment and say "Oh yeah, I guess that is a Square Enix title."
• Nintendo of Japan has announced that Neo Geo games are coming to the Virtual Console. Also the first two MSX titles, Eggy and Aleste, are coming to Japan in spring.
• Ocarina of Time is coming to the American VC on Monday. The UK got it today, along with Kid Icarus.
• IGN has a video explanation of the controls for Tiger Woods on the Wii.
• Nintendo has denied Perrin Kaplan's statement that they've ceased production of Gamecubes. They say they're still continuing "globally", which sounds like a sly way of saying they're still making Cubes for smaller countries while still leaving the possibility that they aren't making more for America.
• Someone has already uploaded the ending for Sonic and the Secret Rings.
• Amazon has Children of Mana marked down again to $14.99. I suggest you save your money.

Sony news:

• Sony has admitted that European PS3s will have limited backwards compatibility due to a change in hardware design. Only a "limited range" of PS2 titles will be compatible, along with a "broad range" of PS1 titles. What games this will affect won't be known until launch. Sony doesn't care about European people.
• But they insist this change will help lower PS3 manufacturing costs (mainly because they're not including the PS2's Emotion Engine chip but are instead emulating through software) which will, in time, lower the price. Emphasis on "in time" -- there's been no price change announced, nor is one expected.
• The soundtrack for Burnout Dominator has been announced.
• Kotaku has a gallery of Hot Shots 5 screens, looking far too pretty and well rendered for an anime golf game.
• Amazon has 60 gig PS3s in stock.

Microsoft news:

• A trailer is up for Wing Commander Arena. It's kind of a let down.