Ubisoft handed out four-packs of Raving Rabbid figurines at Ubidays, featuring Splinter Cell, Assassin's Creed, and Prince of Persia themed versions of the little bastards.

Industry and multi-console news

• Witness! Al-Qaeda's terrifying vision of the future! Wait, doesn't that image look familiar? SITE insists, however, that they never claimed terrorists made the image.
• Ubisoft says that Beyond Good & Evil will be more casual, as they think the first game's difficulty kept it from reaching a larger audience. Yeah, that game was a real workout.
• The LucasArts published title Fracture is coming this October.
• Contrary to Phil Harrison's claims, Prince of Persia producer Ben Mattes believes there are still things you can only do in a single player game.
• Next Generation has a feature on the new Prince of Persia.
• Next week's Rock Band tracks will include a three pack from Disturbed and a three-pack from... uh.. Jimmy Buffet. Seriously, he even re-recorded them for the game.
• Gamasutra has an interview with Mark Rein on the state of Epic.
• The home versions of Street Fighter IV will include online play and characters that weren't in the arcade version. Apparently two of these characters are Fei Long and Dan.
• Popular Mechanics talks about how the military is coming to rely on the gaming industry for advances in interface and control. "The gaming industry is such a huge market. The investment in R&D that they're going to spend on human factors is going to dwarf even what the Department of Defense will spend."
• A 13-year old Massachusetts boy faces charges after threatening his teacher with a knife for cash to buy GTA. Oddly enough, he was trying to buy San Andreas.
• The Minnesota Optometric Association tells you how to avoid Computer Vision Syndrome. My Computer Vision always seems to get the best of me.
• A show about video games called Playing to Win will be airing on CNBC tonight at 10 eastern.
• EliteXC MMA fighter and American Gladiator Gina Carano will be appearing in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3.
• 1up is back with another collection of staff essays, this time on the subject of what competition says about us.
• Game Daily talks to the people behind X-Play, GameTrailers and Zero Punctuation about how they make their video reviews.
• A New Zealand man who beat a police officer and stole his patrol car is arguing in court that he was influenced by GTA.
• Gamestop is having a big sale June 2 with games up to 50% off.

PC and mobile news

New content: Battlefield 2142 1.50 patch, Evochron Renegades 1.858 patch

• Valve has announced Steam Cloud, a feature that allows one to access game data like saves and key bindings from any Steam-equipped PC.
• Final Fantasy XI and its expansions are now available as downloadable titles.
• Gabe Newell says there is no PC gaming crisis, but there is a perception problem. "Only now are organizations such as NPD beginning to track alternative revenue streams (MMO subscriptions, etc.) and discovering billions of previously unacknowledged spending on PC gaming."
• He also says that Valve will soon be making more money from downloaded games than from retail.

Nintendo news

New media: Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia trailer

• Guitar Hero World Tour will have licensed DLC on the Wii.
• WiiFanboy does what any sensible person would do after receiving a copy of Wii Fit: Put inanimate objects (and a lazy cat) on it to determine the BMI and fitness age of, say, a vacuum cleaner.
• McDonalds is no longer offering free WiFi to DS users, as the contract has expired.
• Nintendo has announced their June line-up for the Japanese Virtual Console. Most notable is Super Mario RPG, which people have been waiting for forever. But does this mean a chance of seeing it here?
• Nintendo of Canada is auctioning off a number of sealed retro games from the NES, SNES and Game Boy, with proceeds going to the United Way.
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars is due for the Wii and DS this fall.

Sony news

New media: the first 18 minutes of the next Metal Gear Solid digital graphic novel

• ThreeSpeech has an interview with Kaz Hirai. He mentions he was surprised by Phil Harrison's departure, and admits it's harder for publishers to agree to console exclusives this generation.
• The PS3 edition of EndWar will use the Playstation Eye for gesture controls.
• Konami has asked print reviewers not to disclose the length of install time or cut scenes in Metal Gear Solid 4. Also asked not to review the game.
• PS3 Fanboy looks at the ten worst Playstation ads. I'm still not sure how official the thumbdick ad ever was, but I suppose introducing "thumbdick" into the lexicon is bad enough to warrant its inclusion.
• Konami would like you to know that the gunmetal grey PS3 is more than just a paint job. "It is a different material, which has more of a 'matte' finish and feel as opposed to the standard 'glossy' one. Also, the bundle comes with a DualShock3 controller which also is Gun Metal Gray like the console, as opposed to the standard controller, and is of course limited like the bundle is."

Microsoft news

New media: Too Human co-op featurette
New content: Army of Two map pack, Crash Time demo, NASCAR 09 demo, Ninja Gaiden 2 demo (Japan only -- the only word on the rest of the world right now is "soon")

• The website to sign up for the 360 EndWar beta has opened.
• The German game ratings board has added an entry for Galaga Legions to their database.
• Add the developer of Mad Tracks to the list of people not worried about the new delisting rules. " You know prior to making XBLA games, we were making retail PC titles. You get removed without notice after 6 months in most stores."
• A Gamasutra opinion piece tackles where Microsoft is going wrong with Xbox Live. "XBLA is already a constrained retail model and the threat of de-listing only intensifies that pressure. So what will happen is that sales-oriented developers will behave like retail publishers and start taking steps to get those high review scores."
• Lionhead is looking for models to appear in art hanging on the walls in Fable 2.
• Amazon's deal of the day is Prey for $14.99.