Those ga-ga Gorfians make so damned mad

Industry and multi-console news

• Next Generation lists the hot 100 game developers for 2008.
• Civilization Revolution is coming June 3.
• At GDC, Evan Skolnick talks about learning better game writing, Ken Levine talks about the secrets of game story, and David Freeman covers advanced dialogue techniques.
• On the serious games front, there was a presentation at GDC about Ground Truth, a disaster training simulator for Homeland Security.
• Devil May Cry 4 has sold two million units worldwide.
• EA is closing in on 100 million copies of the Sims sold, which should happen next month. "We make so much money from The Sims--it is so profitable--that unlike other businesses, we don't have to sell it out with advertising and sponsorship and flog the user with advertising to make money." No, you just flog the user with expansions.
• Sales of LCD TVs have surpassed sales of CRTs worldwide for the first time.
• Seems like every year there's a story like this, but whatever: Emotiv plans to sell a headset that allows you to control games with your thoughts starting later this year. It sounds like their presentation at GDC didn't go well.
• The roster for Top Spin 3 has been revealed.
• Disney has taken back the Toy Story game license from THQ and plans to make the next game in-house.
• 3D Realms has responded to the suit against them claiming they stole the concept for the game Earth No More.
• Ex-Naughty Dog developers have formed a new studio called Big Red Button.
• The people behind Turning Point: Fall of Liberty claim to have found records of the man who hit Winston Churchill with a car in 1931. Now they're going to use it to find his descendants.
• The Havok physics engine has been upgraded to 5.5. They've also introduced Havok Cloth and Havok Destruction.
• Former Gamespot staffers Jeff Gerstmann and Ryan Davis have started a new podcast.
• Stand-alone Rock Band drum kits are now shipping to stores in the US and Canada.
• Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia suggests that banning the sale of violent games to minors could be constitutional.
• When we last left our intrepid hero Jack Thompson, he had challenged a fake Samuel L. Jackson to a debate before realizing he was fake. But fake Sam went along with it and "spent all day emailing him, responding to his emails, working out a system to get this debate on the road." Then Jack bailed out. He bailed out because "some people have died because of jerkballs like jackson and his spike tv vga award mentality."
• A man who called a friend to brag that he "killed them all" in a video game accidentally called a stranger who then called the police. The whole thing would've been no harm no foul if the police hadn't then found an old warrant on the guy.

PC and mobile news

New content: Sudden Strike 3 1.31 patch, Spaceforce Captains demo
New media: American McGee's Grimm screenshots and trailer, Fez gameplay trailer -- an indie game mixing 2D and 3D along the lines of Crush and Super Paper Mario

• Terrify friends and start fires in your PC tower with Intel's new eight-core motherboard, affectionately known as "Skulltrail."
• Second Life is coming to mobile phones. Now you can shop for virtual dildos on the train ride home.
• At GDC, Peter Molyneux has said that the current state of PC gaming is "a huge tragedy." In addition to "The Sims and World of Warcraft sucking all the air out of the PC market," he says that even the casual game makers like PopCap and Reflective that were supposed to represent a change in the market have stumbled. "They're doing the same game over and over again with a different wrapper. It's like a mini-universe in itself which is emulating what's happening in our industry."
• Amazon has the Oregon Trail 5th Edition for $6.09.

Nintendo news

• WiiFit and WiiWare are launching in May in the US.
• Lost Winds has been announced as a WiiWare title.
• WiiFit and Mario Kart Wii have been dated for April in Europe. There's still no confirmed date for Mario Kart in America.
• Disney is implementing a feature for future DS games called DGamer that uses the Disney equivalent of Miis, achievements and a Pictochat-like interface.

Sony news

New media: Wipeout HD trailer -- it just hasn't been the same since DR left

• Eurogamer has first impressions of Metal Gear Online.
• LittleBigPlanet will include lip syncing for the voice chat.
• Odin Sphere will be hitting PAL territories on March 14.

Microsoft news

New content: Gears of War 2 trailer and theme, XNA Creators Club Game Launcher -- used to "play the special preview selection of game demos created by the community using XNA Game Studio."
New media: Too Human screenshots

• Gears of War 2 has been officially announced, and is coming in November of this year.
• Ninja Gaiden 2 is coming on June 3. The game will come with a recording feature so you can share replays of your fights online.
• The Live Arcade version of Peggle will be getting extra downloadable levels.
• Prior to the release of Fable 2, there will be a Fable mini-game released on Live Arcade that will let you build up your character for the main game.
• If a photo of an upcoming FutureShop flier is to be believed, the 360 could be seeing a $50 price drop in Canada.
• Amazon's deal of the day is Rock Band (game only) for $34.99.