Industry and multi-console news:

• Officials in Ontario have pulled a number of Konami slot machines for subliminal messages. Konami says the brief flash of jackpot symbols each time the game is played is a bug and not intentional.
• Ars Technica ponders whether the trend of games being sold exclusively at EB is a sign of things to come. On the other hand, one must wonder how many of the big box retailers would've stocked Chulip anyway.
• A survey of online gamers finds that 84% have heard the word "gay" used in a derogatory fashion during play. The other 16% are deaf.
• Ubisoft's sales rose 78% in January, thanks in large part to their Wii games.
• Climax's Santa Monica studio will no longer be making video games, but will stay open as a "business development hub."
• According to OXM, Shivering Isles is the first and last expansion for Oblivion.
• We've long since passed those dark days when NES games had pitiful translations because no one wanted to pay for it. But apparently, being newer and a smaller market, mobile phone games still fall into the trap.
• Speaking of the old days, surely your inner-eight-year-old has wondered at some point how many bits the next gen systems are.
• Bloodrayne got shut out at the Razzies.
• Insert Credit notes that Ghouls and Ghosts Online seems to have dropped off the face of the earth.
• There may be a new alternate reality game based around an upcoming Nine Inch Nails album ramping up. Quoth Reznor: "It's not some kind of gimmick to get you to buy a record - it IS the art form... and we're just getting started."
• Game Informer has an interview with the head of the i am 8-bit art exhibition, along with a few sample pieces from the 2007 show.
• GamePro predicts the likelihood of various announcements at GDC.

PC news:

• Shiny founder David Perry is working on a new MMORPG to be designed by players. The person who Perry judges to have submitted the best ideas will become the project's director.
• Gamers With Jobs has an anti-review of Vanguard: Saga of Heroes "because I am simply not willing to force myself to play long enough to construct a fully realized impression." This segues into a larger point about Vanguard setting a bad precedent for buggy, unfinished MMOs that use "the consumer as the third investor in the process of the development cycle."
• Why did no one ever tell me that there was a Shin Megami Tensei MMORPG.
• Three Rings' follow-up to Puzzle Pirates, Bang! Howdy, has officially launched.

Nintendo news:

• This week's Virtual Console titles are The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Chew Man Fu, and Bio-Hazard Battle.
• Nintendo executives requested that the Japanese government sell its stake in the company in order to increase liquidity and the number of individual shareholders.
• Elite Beat Agents has been confirmed for an Australian release.
• IGN's Matt Casamassina should know better than to say things like this. "I’ve seen some stuff that you simply have no idea even exists and frankly, if you did, you’d flip out."
• British Gaming Blog has a whopping 53 new Mario Party 8 screens.
• It seems Splatterhouse will be coming to the Virtual Console in March. I would think that'd be more of a Halloween title.
• Nintendo quietly revealed The Warp Zone last week, a "hidden area" in the UK Virtual Console featuring trivia and interesting facts about Nintendo characters and games.
• Teen Vogue has a two page spread on the Wii in their latest issue, with the system being played by bony-assed models. Eat a Goddamned sandwich.
• How to catch Mew in Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow without a cheating device. I'm assuming this is a big deal.

Sony news:

• Sony has announced first party PS3 titles will cost 59.99 EUR / 39.99 GBP. Or 99.95 Australian. or 109.95 New Zealand..ian.
• The Sony Three Speech blog has updated to answer some questions about the backwards compatibility change to PAL PS3s.
• When asked whether future American PS3s will have reduced backwards compatibility like their European brethren, Sony would only say that they have no announcement at this time.
• The Tekken 6 development staff says they'd like to start location tests for the game "before the weather gets hot."
• Phil Harrison says that Sony is under no pressure to drop the PS3 price, and that "the demand is unprecedented." He also mentions that rumble is a "last generation feature."
• Kotaku has a gallery of photos from the London FFXII launch event.
• Amazon has Bully marked down to $19.99.

Microsoft news:

• Alien Hominid will be this week's Xbox Live Arcade title.
• MLB 2K7 and GRAW 2 demos have hit Xbox Live, but you have to have Gold to get them.
• Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada announced an ongoing Halo comic at the New York Comic Con, with Brian Bendis and Alex Maleev working on it.
• Peter Moore says that Microsoft has "a few tricks up our sleeves" with regards to games that will broaden their audience. "From a first-party point of view, it's not just about E-rated games, it's going to be about the experience that, quite frankly, Nintendo has done a tremendous job in capturing, in bringing back fun—if you will—to the gaming platforms."
• Screenshots and a clip are being provided as evidence for rumors that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles the arcade game is coming to Xbox Live Arcade.
• GameTrailers has cam footage of the New York Comic Con panel about The Darkness, including a good bit of game footage.
• A Mass Effect prequel novel has been announced.