Sony finally nailed down the one design flaw that was holding the PSP back.

Industry and multi-console news

• This year's Tokyo Game Show will be a little later than previous shows, running from October 9 to 12.
• Valve has acquired Left 4 Dead developer Turtle Rock.
• Next Generation has a feature looking at the rise of China as a source of game development talent.
• Gamasutra has put up a couple extracts from the making of Portal feature in January's Game Developer magazine, if you're not one of the cool kids like me that has a subscription.
• Gamasutra also has a rundown of the state of game magazines in 2007.
• They also (what can I say, they do a lot of neat features) have an article on development contracts and revenue streams, and how developers need to be careful if they don't want to get screwed over by publishers on money-making opportunities.
• Hey, even the letters they get are interesting. A college professor who found Gamasutra while "looking for metaphors on garbage collection" (???) wrote to question why so many games focus on competition. "I encourage you to use your considerable talents to change and evolve people's views, to create games which engage people's moral awareness, and connect with our highest aspirations, rather than repeat the ordinary win/lose thinking and pessimistic assumptions which can be seen everywhere."
• Gamestop saw sales rise 35% during the holiday period. It helps when you're the only game-specific national chain around.
• MTV's Stephen Totilo ponders whether Portal needs a sequel.
• An out-of-work geek who "redesigns video games," according to the reporter, got a visit from the FBI recently because he was building a nuclear reactor in his basement.
• California has filed an appeal against the District Court ruling that struck down their 2005 law which would fine retailers for selling violent video games to minors.
• An 18 year old in Spain tried to strangle his father with a game controller cord after the father unplugged his system.
• NPR takes a step backwards with this kind of retarded report on the Halo novels. "Isn't gaming all just, like, shoot-em-up? Why do you need story?" It doesn't help that she sounds like a senior in high school.
• Somebody is selling an M2 dev kit, just in case you wanted to get a late start on making games for a console that was never released.
• Despite yesterday's weirdness, Soul Calibur IV's director said his top choice for a cameo character would be Pac-Man.
• The Lancashire Telegraph reports on girls discovering the joy of gaming. "A survey found one in 10 'game-hers' rated virtual reality games as better than shopping." Oh shit, now you know it's serious.
• This is a nice Okami Japanese folding fan, though I don't know how you'd get ahold of one short of working at Capcom.
• The creators of the Famicom Kunio series, of which the most famous is known here as River City Ransom (though some people also have a fondness for Super Dodge Ball) are working with doujin groups in Japan to make new Kunio games.
• The Seagate D.A.V.E. is an interesting device: A portable 60 gig hard drive that you connect to wirelessly, so you could just carry it around and use it with your laptop, iPhone, PSP, etc -- even several things at once. Ars Technica points out that this seems right up Sony's alley, but the Seagate rep will only say "Sony is sure not prepared to talk about that and neither are we."

PC and mobile news

New GameTap titles: Sam & Max: Moai Better Blues, Jewelcraft
New content: StuntMANIA!pro demo, PDC Darts 2008 demo, Vampire - The Masquerade: Bloodlines unofficial 4.5 patch

• Finally taking action after reports of several Ponzi schemes in the game, the developers of Second Life has banned unregistered in-world banks.
• Asked which product in the last five years he wishes he could have polished more before shipping, Bill Gates responded "Ask me after we ship the next version of Windows."
• Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling will be overseeing the development of a new MMORPG after one final year in his baseball career.
• Joystiq has a hands-on with the first public showing of Space Siege.
• The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences honored Stormfront Studios for the original Neverwinter Nights at this year's Technical Emmys.
• The blog at John Edwards official website asks the youngin's to do some campaigning in virtual worlds.

Nintendo news

• A press release from Engine Software claimed that WiiWare is scheduled to launch in March, but Nintendo says they have not made any official announcement of a date.
• Capcom says that a Wii version of Bionic Commando is possible "if the interest is there."
• Rumors are circulating that Smash Bros. may have been pushed back to March.
• New entries at the Office of Film & Literature Classification indicate that two odd Japanese games are coming to the Australian Virtual Console: Smash Ping Pong and Do Re Mi Fantasy: Milon no Dokidoki Daibouken.
• Amazon's deal of the day is Ben 10 on the Wii for $25.00.

Sony news

New media: LittleBigPlanet gameplay videos

• In Japan, Sony is set to discontinue the 20 gig and 60 gig models of the PS3.
• The Hollywood Reporter says that both New Line and HBO will be following Warner Bros. in dropping HD-DVD support and going purely Blu-ray.
• European ratings group PEGI has rated Vib Ribbon for the Playstation Network, suggesting it's on the way to the Playstation Store.
• A Metal Gear Online starter pack will be included with purchases of Metal Gear Solid 4.
• Supposedly a Japanese gamer was able to rip the HD-DVD exclusive Transformers onto Blu-ray and play it on his PS3.
• A Chinese company showing at CES patterned their knock-off controller after the PS3 boomerang.

Microsoft news

New content: Stranglehold map pack, Rambo dashboard theme
New media: Lost Odyssey artwork

• Burnout 3 will be available through Xbox Originals this Monday.
• Reuters reports that there are rumors that Microsoft may launch a takeover bid of Logitech.
• Beautiful Katamari will be receiving a February release in Europe.
• GameCareerGuide has an article up called How Halo 3 Changed Game Development.
• Microsoft has tried to clarify reports that they could consider Blu-ray support, saying they have no plans to do so.
• Microsoft says that backwards compatibility updates are "winding down," and they're not sure if there even will be any new updates. "It feels like we kind of hit the point of diminishing returns."
• Dr. Phil took on the subject of Xbox Live racism on a recent show, with a guest who complains about the constant verbal abuse and racial slurs he's endured online. He also fears someone might make good on their threats. Phil's other guest, a first amendment attorney, says that "the FBI should be all over it." Cue the exploding cargo van.
• The agreement with UK telecom company BT Group for IPTV on the 360 doesn't involve the receiving or recording of live TV. That doesn't mean it's not possible, only that it won't happen through BT.
• Despite some vague rumors of a DoS attack, Microsoft says that Live's holiday outage was the result of server strain, coupled with too few people left in the office to deal with it.