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The big news over the weekend (which would have been covered in a weekend newspost had I not literally fallen asleep in the middle of making it) was a massive leak on new Microsoft and Activision game details coming from an Intellisponse marketing survey. Microsoft is quick to point out that they're just concepts and may never actually see the light of day, and they aren't lying. I've taken surveys on several games over the years that never actually appeared, including a vehicular combat game starring Metallica, seen above. Yes, make the guy with the mumbly Danish accent "The Voice", this is an excellent idea.

I couldn't get through to Kotaku earlier today, and I suspect the cause lay in some combination of the survey news and this Digg link called "Playboy model does Wii Fit." It's what you'd think it is: A Playboy model in her underwear (hey, they're not giving it all away for free) playing Wii Fit. That's it. 3000 diggs and a crushed server for a woman in underwear swiveling her hips on top of a plastic plank.

I looked through the Digg comments (always a bad choice, I know, but I wanted to see if anyone else mentioned the site being down or if it was on my end), and saw that user "robbiedo" had weighed in with "The original Wii Fit Girl is cute, innocent, and voyeuristic. It's like watching a fluffy fledging trying her wings out, and discovers the wind."

I hate you all so Goddamned much.

Intellisponse survey leaks (treat as rumors):

• The survey lists new details on Guitar Hero World Tour, including naming several artists like The Doors and Jimi Hendrix and mentioning a wireless guitar with a "first-ever touch-sensitive neck slide."
• It also mentions a Tony Hawk game with a balance board peripheral, except listed as coming to the 360 and PS3 (and not Wii).
• There are no less than 14 different concepts for Spider-Man games on various systems under consideration.
• Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 will be set during Marvel's Civil War story arc.
• Microsoft is planning Mii-like characters called Avatars, to be added in the fall dashboard update.
• The "Lips" 360 project mentioned a while back is actually a karaoke game with "interactive" microphones and the ability to use and sing along to your own music. There's further rumor that this game is being developed by iNiS, makers of Elite Beat Agents and Ouendan.
• Multiplayer online social competitive games like game shows, trivia quizzes and fantasy sports leagues are coming to Live.
• Forza 3 will be 2 discs and contain over 400 cars and 100 tracks.

Industry and multi-console news

New media: Guitar Hero: Aerosmith feature on Walk This Way, leaked The Crucible footage -- assumed to be The Crucible: The Evil Within, developed by Silicon Knights

• There's a rumor that up to three dozen Team Ninja members are leaving Tecmo along with Tomonobu Itagaki, and they're going to sue too.
• Next Generation has analysis of May's NPD numbers.
• Gamespot has a Q&A with Sid Meier about Civilization Revolution and Civ IV: Colonization.
• Codemasters has dated Rise of the Argonauts for this fall.
• 1up lists the top five worst JRPG character names.
• Gamasutra looks at what video games can take from the Fourth Edition of Dungeons and Dragons.
• The mother of a child who had an epileptic seizure after playing Raving Rabbids on the DS has gotten British Parliment to debate on whether developers should be required to test their games for seizure-inducing material.
• Gamasutra talks to Koji Igarashi about Castlevania and 2D gaming in general.
• Postal won a Best In Show award at the Hoboken International Film Festival. The same festival gave Billy Dee Williams a Lifetime Achievement Award, so I'm not ruling out the possibility that the whole thing wasn't some elaborate prank.
• Army recruitment centers are going to become more high tech and interactive with flight sims, 270 degree video screens and, naturally, places to play America's Army.
• A University of Central Florida study finds that educational video games can increase math scores.
• On that note, here's a list of the 25 best games for the classroom.
• Capcom is looking to put faces of fans into Street Fighter IV.
• G4 will be airing episodes of the Championship Gaming Series this summer.

PC and mobile news

• A couple of Germans have hacked a Wii balance board to use it for things like controlling a World of Warcraft character or moving around Google Earth.
• LinuxLinks provides a list of 42 of the best commercial Linux games.
• Dan Rubenfield, who worked on the game, talks about the infamous Star Wars Galaxies NGE and where it went wrong.
• Also looking back on past failings, GSC says inexperience and over-ambition caused S.T.A.L.K.E.R. to be in development for six years. They also believe the game didn't do well in North America because the idea didn't appeal to people outside Europe and the game was too hardcore. "It seems that to appeal to North America you need really flashy, bright games, and you can see that every Eastern European game is very dark." Yeah, that Gears of War, it sure did tank.
• CamSpace is new software under development that allows almost any regular webcam to track objects like a Playstation Eye.
• A security breach has exposed the forum names, e-mail addresses and passwords of everyone who applied to the Battlefield Heroes beta.
• Continuing from my railing against horndogs, I will add: If you're going to be perverted, at least be creative about it. Like this guy who made a disturbing sex creature in Spore. That's dedication to the perversion craft.
• Try it for yourself: While the Creature Creator has been delayed by a day, the demo is available now. If you need more convincing, it even has Will Wright's head in it.

Nintendo news

New WiiWare titles: Block Breaker Deluxe, Cocoto Fishing Master
New Virtual Console title: Samurai Shodown
New media: Final Fantasy Tactics A2 trailer

• D3 has announced Riz-zoawd, a DS RPG using characters and themes from the Wizard of Oz. I refuse to believe that's a correct translation of the title.
• Sales of Boom Blox were fairly miserable, with only 60,000 units sold in May.
• The Nintendo Channel now displays survey results in its game database. For instance, clicking on Okami will show you that 69% of people say it's more hardcore than casual, and it has been played across 112,000 total sessions (of those who allow their usage data to be uploaded).
• Wii Fanboy has an interview with High Voltage, the people developing Wii FPS The Conduit.
• Nintendo wall decals are awesome in a very nerdy way.
• Koei has announced that G1 Jockey Wii 2008 will use the balance board for steering and jumping.
• Some are reporting that using React Recharge battery packs in the Wii remote affects the unit's weight and makes the Wii Wheel drive off-center.

Sony news

New media: Resistance 2 gameplay footage, Siren: Blood Curse screenshots

• The next PSP firmware update will add a Google search bar to the XMB.
• Gamespot's PressSpotting column takes a look at Qore, Sony's interactive magazine.. thing.
• Sam's Club is auctioning off a Snake statue. Yes, Sam's Club.
• New Afrika details reveal that you don't actually get to drive the jeep. That might be a little too exciting.

Microsoft news

New Xbox Originals: Guilty Gear X2 #Reload, Legend of Spyro

• This week's Live Arcade titles will be Elements of Destruction and Sea Life Safari.
• GamerBytes talks to Metanet, Merscom and Housemarque to get their opinions on Microsoft's Live Arcade delisting plan.
• A new Halo 3 map called Cold Storage was revealed at a recent Major League Gaming event.
• Robbie Bach says getting the 360 out first was a good decision which "has given us a leg up in a number of places that are super important. It helped us expand Xbox Live quickly. At a strategy level, if you asked if we wanted to be first again, I would say yes."
• Amazon's deal of the day is WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2008 for $19.99. They also have Armored Core 4 for $16.88 and Tony Hawk's Proving Ground for $22.51.