Look at this man. This man has keyboard pants. Don't be this man.

Industry and multi-console news

New media: Mafia II screenshots, Silent Hill: Homecoming screenshots, BattleFantasia trailers -- a 2D fighting game with 3D characters from Guilty Gear developer Arc System Works

• Codemasters is buying Sega Racing Studio after Sega announced they were closing it down.
• Brett Favre has been confirmed for the cover of Madden NFL 09.
• Valve says there will be no new Portal for 2008.
• Gamasutra has an interview with Ken Levine about BioShock and game narratives.
• Blockbuster will begin putting new games on the new releases wall starting with Grand Theft Auto IV. That's a pretty remarkable sign of changing times, although, as Variety notes, "not nearly as big a deal as it would have been a decade ago."
• Next week's Rock Band tracks are Zero by the Smashing Pumpkins and two tracks from the Mother Hips.
• EGM is rumoring that Rock Band 2 is coming this fall.
• The makers of a Max Payne fanfilm have gotten a cease & desist notice from Fox, who is doing the real Max Payne film.
• IGN has a hands-on preview of Bionic Commando: Rearmed's multiplayer, and 1up has several videos of the mode in action.
• Grand Theft Auto will eat your babies round-up: California senator Leland Yee warns parents that GTA4 is not for kids, the ESRB and National Institute for Media and the Family do the same, and a spokesman for the Calgary police calls the game "a grave concern".
• Gamestop has released a list of every Gamestop location doing a midnight launch for GTA4.
• Sardius writes about the metagame that has evolved out of Rock Band: changing how well you play to keep people from quitting. "Playing Rock Band online is less about rhythm and more about psychoanalyzing XxDragonWolfxX and wondering if he'd be less willing to quit on you if you dressed your character up in leopard-print pants."
• Newsweek's Level Up blog muses on why society sees games and porn in the same light. "[The porn industry's] biggest star is celebrated for her ability to shed the stigma of her origins and move on from the business relatively unscathed. We are not a hell of a lot different in games. Too often, we measure our self-worth by validation from industries other than our own."
• Uwe Boll says he got conned by the French regarding a Metal Gear Solid movie. "Two French guys wrote a script, said they are from Konami hired to write the script, said ‘You wanna direct it?’ I read the script, I liked the script. I said, ‘Yes, I can do it.’”

PC and mobile news

• The Spore Creature Creator will be available worldwide starting June 17.
• Sign-ups for the Stargate Worlds beta test have begun.
• Real time strategy game Stalin vs. Martians has been announced. It's pretty much what you would think.
• PC World has a series of scans covering the world of celebrity endorsements in old computer ads. The cast of MASH loves the IBM PS/2, though you'd have to imagine any PC would be pretty impressive to people in the middle of the Korean War.
• ExtremeTech suggests how to fix PC gaming. Their advice for the ongoing piracy problem is "fix the piracy problem or shut up about it." Helpful!
• Amazon has Sid Meier's Civilization IV for $14.99.

Nintendo news

New media: Boom Blox walkthrough, Moon first footage

• Satoru Iwata says there are no plans for Wii or DS price cuts this year.
• The Line Rider game for the DS is being considered a sequel, as evidenced by its new official name, Line Rider 2: Unbound.
• Get ready, America: The North American version of Wii Fit adds the ability to weigh your pets.
• Joystiq has a Mario Kart retrospective to get you in the mood for Mario Kart Wii.
• ThinkGeek is selling a glowing invincibility star from the Mario series that sits on your desk. ThinkGeek is not responsible for damages incurred by individuals grabbing the star and then attempting to walk against traffic while punching at oncoming cars.
• Siliconera has English menu translations for Taiko no Tatsujin DS 7-tsu no Shima no Daibouken.
• Joystiq has a short video of the Mario cab ride PR thing in New York. He walks around feebly and often has to be guided by his handler, lending the distinct impression that Mario is actually an old blind man.
• Amazon's deal of the day is Advance Wars: Days of Ruin for $16.99. Also, all the Gold Box lightning deals today are for DS games -- currently on sale is Transformers - Autobot for $9.99, with another deal starting at 9:00 EST.

Sony news

New media: SOCOM Confrontation gameplay footage
New PS1 game: R-Types
New content: Hot Shots Golf features, Eye of Judgment: Biolith Rebellion 2, Call of Duty 4 Variety map pack, Rock Band tracks, Guitar Hero III tracks, Army of Two SSC Challenge map pack, Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore tracks
New demos: Echochrome, Iron Man
New sensation: Got a hold on you

• A new PS3 heatsink that will reduce weight and improve efficiency is in the works.
• The Metal Gear Online beta has been patched and is now live in all territories.
• Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Islamic Affairs has warned the country's imams about the dangers of the Playstation. "They have a negative influence on the personality of children, and thus from an Islamic point of view, it is not acceptable to waste time in this manner."

Microsoft news

New content: Lost Odyssey Triple Bonus Pack, Army of Two SSC Challenge map pack

• Atari is bringing Smash Court Tennis 3 to the US.
• 1up has an Afterthoughts article on Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom.
• Microsoft talks up how they're preparing for GTA4's onslaught on their servers. "The biggest step we've taken is to add in more server hardware, which will expand the service's capacity. We have actually doubled our capacity for concurrent users over the last 2 months."
• EGM's resident rumormonger claims a Halo spin-off project is in the works at Bungie, which will be a "third-person action/adventure shooter hybrid that takes place before the original Halo."
• GamesRadar has a couple of videos of Bungie environment artists playing Halo 3.
• Amazon has Sega Rally Revo for $21.94.