Image source. Yes, the post-E3 news void is so boring I can't think of anything more interesting to say than "image source." Hey, did you hear Estelle Getty died?

Industry and multi-console news

• Midway is merging its LA and San Diego studios, with most employees offered the opportunity to transfer.
• Take Two's Strauss Zelnick says the company can be profitable in non-GTA years.
• When asked why EA's stock hadn't gone up in response to better review scores, CEO John Riccitiello said “I don’t think the investors give a shit about our quality. They care about our earnings per share. They wait for it to happen."
• Scholastic has announced Goosebumps Horrorland for the Wii, DS and PS2.
• This week's Guitar Hero III DLC is the Virtuoso Pack, featuring songs from Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Buckethead.
• Paramount has announced video games based on Clueless, Mean Girls and Pretty in Pink.
• Writer Sande Chen talks about adding emotional intensity to games to make them more meaningful.
• Remedy has shot down the rumor that Alan Wake will be showing at TGS.
• GamesRadar names the top seven lazy character cliches.
• The governor of New York has signed a new video game bill into law.
• New Zealand's Society for the Promotion of Community Standards has been given the go-ahead to appeal Grand Theft Auto IV's R18 rating.
• Christer Ericson looks at ways of determining the prevailing wage for game industry jobs.
• GameSetWatch has an opinion piece on the subject of when games should end. "A television season consists of a predetermined number of episodes with those episodes at a fixed length. A movie is somewhere between 90 and 180 minutes. No such guidelines with video games. They lack an intuitive metric: it'll fall between one and one hundred hours."
• GamesRadar's Tom Francis is tasked with the job of finding love in an online game. "'Orite ^^ & yea i am Lol :p'. Wow, I got an eyebrow raise, a laugh with a capital L and a protruding tongue. Picturing this salvo of facial responses was confusing, but I think the overall impression is positive."
• GameTrailers has updated with episode 7 of their Star Wars game retrospective.
• Kristen Kreuk will be appearing at Comic-Con at Capcom's booth.
• Gary Oldman has revealed that a Dark Knight game is in the works, though he probably wasn't supposed to.

PC and mobile news

New content: Pro Cycling Manager 2008 demo, Empire at War 1.05 Rev A Mac patch, Lost Empire: Immortals 1.05 patch
New media: Dragon Age: Origins screenshots and gameplay footage

• Microsoft has announced that all Games for Windows Live multiplayer features are now free.
• And they released the first details on DirectX 11.
• GameTap is adding THQ games to its service like S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Company of Heroes, Red Faction and Saints Row 2.
• Gamasutra has an interview with the co-founder of NetDevil about their upcoming Jumpgate sequel and the failure of Auto Assault.
• Hot Hardware has a review of the Neural Impulse Actuator, the first "brain-computer interface" brought to the retail market.
• Starfeeder has an interview with TossGirl, Korean Starcraft pro-gamer and "one of the most famous female gamers in the world." I'll take their word for it.
• Amazon's deal of the day is The SimCity Box for $25.99.

Nintendo news

• Nintendo is facing a ban on some of their controllers after they lost a bid to overturn a $21 million patent-infringement verdict.
• Wired talks to Cammie Dunaway -- aka the crazy lady from Nintendo's E3 conference -- who assures us that "I'm really a genuinely smiley, nice person." I don't think being nice was really the concern. She also mentions that we have now seen the extent of Nintendo's 2008 holiday line-up.
• Stephen Totilo looks at the failure to communicate between Nintendo and its fans. "Who is right and who is wrong? When the sides are this sharply divided it’s usually safe to assume that each side’s points have their merits. That’s not necessarily the conclusion that anyone will draw in this case, though, because both parties — Nintendo and its fans — have been used to being totally right about each other’s mistakes in the past."

Sony news

New media: The Last Guy gameplay footage

• 2K won't be improving the visuals for BioShock on the PS3.
• There are photos floating around that are claimed to show a new PSP model which will include a microphone.
• Sony is bringing the full two seasons of Xam'd: Lost Memories to the Playstation video service. It's an anime series from BONES, the makers of Fullmetal Alchemist and Eureka Seven.
• It's all over, pack it in guys. CNBC writer Jane Wells provides "the ultimate proof that Sony is winning:" Her 16 year old "ultimate expert on the video game industry" son traded in his 360 for a PS3 and MGS4. Listen: He participates in chat rooms about games. On the Internet.
• Amazon has Hori's Soul Calibur IV arcade stick for $41.99.

Microsoft news

New content: Rock Band tracks

• Capcom is planning to patch the Street Fighter II HD open beta after saying they wouldn't.
• The Puzzle Quest expansion pack Revenge of the Plague Lord is coming to Live Arcade July 23.
• It seems people have figured out how to share porn through Halo 3 filesharing.
• The XNA Creators Club tells you how you can make XNA games and sell them for cash.
• If you'd prefer to buy XNA games instead, they will be ranging in price from $2.50 to $10.
• Geometry Wars 2 will not have online co-op.
• Major Nelson says you can keep using the blades if you don't like the new dashboard. "We've taken those blades and moved them to the Guide. Every single function that you can do today in the Dashboard you are going to be able to do in the New Xbox Experience in the Guide."
• Marc Witten explains why the dashboard change was needed in the first place. Basically, it's too hard to find things, to the point that many 360 owners were completely unaware of some features.