This is why government offices have monitor walls. Don't buy that "oh we need all these screens to keep track of important terrorist information" business.

Industry and multi-console news

New media: Damnation screenshots and trailer

• The Madden Curse is so strong it's struck itself, as the cover of Madden NFL 09 will have Brett Favre in a Packers uniform despite the fact that he just got traded to the Jets. EA says they will issue a patch prior to release that puts Favre on the right team, and you'll be able to print out an alternate cover from EA's website if you're really anal.
• Travelers Tales is already working on new Lego titles based on Warner IP.
• EA plans to make games based on the ..For Dummies books for the PC and DS, including titles like Solitaire for Dummies and Brain Training for Dummies. Same casual crap, different name.
• Phantasy Star Universe tops the list on the new Japanese sales chart.
• 1up has some details on Godfather II's strategy elements.
• Warner Music CEO Edgar Bronfman isn't happy with the "paltry" license fee for music for video games. "I think the [games] industry as a whole needs to take a very different look at this business and participate more fully and in a much more partnership way. And if that does not become the case, as far as Warner Music is concerned, we will not license to those games."
• Konami has trademarked the name Suikoden Tierkreis, whatever that may mean.
• David Hellman discusses the process of creating the art for Braid.
• BioWare is looking at the possibility of more Mass Effect DLC.
• Valve's Chet Faliszek talks about the company's tradition of extensive playtesting.
• Sega of America's Sean Ratcliffe admits that some of the criticism of the Sonic series is "probably warranted." Probably?
• Ozzy Osbourne and Zakk Wylde will appear in Guitar Hero World Tour as characters. Along with them will come the Ozzfest venue and songs Crazy Train and Mr. Crowley.
• For you single-issue voters: the last game Barack Obama played was Pong.
• GamePolitics notes that list of the ten most dangerous games the Thai government produced yesterday was just copied from a list released by Detroit prosecutor Kym Worthy last year.
• Hitler won't be making an appearance in the new Wolfenstein. Still on as the surprise final boss in Wii Music.
• The G-Phoria Awards air tonight on G4.
• Akihabara is now available in Google Street View, so you can tour Japan's famous electronics district without the travel. Or the stabbing.
• Luc Bernard is removing the Destructoid robot from Eternity's Child after the site gave the game dual 1/10 reviews.

PC and mobile news

New GameTap title: American McGee's Grimm: Little Red Riding Hood
New content: Halo 1.0.8.616 patch

• Ubisoft is suing a disc-replication firm they hired, alleging that an employee of the company was able to take home a copy of the PC version of Assassin's Creed and post it to the Internet through "an extraordinary breach of trust and gross negligence."
• Asus has created the Eee Stick, a motion controller very much like the Wii remote for their Eee PCs.
• Blizzard is looking for a new art director for Diablo III, but say "this change won't impact the game."
• Leonard Nimoy will be at the Star Trek Experience on August 10 to unveil gameplay footage from Star Trek Online.
• Destructoid has details on what's improved in The Witcher: Enhanced Edition.

Nintendo news

• Now Nintendo's got Patrick Stewart is doing DS commercials. "You see I touch this witch and she tries to cover herself but it's too late. I've seen everything. I've seen it all."
• Amazon's deal of the day is Drone Tactics for $17.99.

Sony news

New media: Macross: Ace Frontier trailer, Motorstorm 2 screenshots and concept art, Heavy Rain screenshots now with less creepy mannequinism

• Gamers who pre-order SOCOM: Confrontation will get access to the beta on September 1, while Qore subscribers get access September 8.
• A woman in Sinapore bought a PSP for $1000 basically because she let a salesman swindle her. But hey, she haggled it down from $3500.
• The official Playstation blog tells you how to apply to the Home closed beta.

Microsoft news

New content: Battlefield Bad Company Conquest mode

• Fable 2 has been dated for October 21, and 1up has details on the collector's edition.
• Tales of Vesperia is getting a collector's edition too. That means, uh.. it has a soundtrack in it.
• The official Braid walkthrough tells you not to use a walkthrough. "Some of the puzzles will be hard. But when you manage to solve those hard puzzles, you will feel very good about it. The game will feel very rewarding. Don't rob yourself of that feeling by reading a walkthrough!"
• Roosterteeth has a video guide to getting the Smile achievement in Geometry Wars 2.
• Modder Ben Heck cracks open a 60 gig 360 to see if anything's changed.
• Despite how often they're slighted, Rare says Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo sold "phenomenally well."