This one also comes after longtime rumors.  On April 29 in the U.S, Microsoft will release the Xbox 360 Elite at a suggested retail price of $479.  It will be a black Xbox 360 that comes with a 120GB hard drive, an HDMI output port, and a HDMI cable (as well as the standard component cable).  The larger hard drive will also be sold separately for $179 with a data transfer cable (the cable does not come with the Xbox 360 Elite).  There are some restrictions on data transfers that will irk some.  Those are on the Joystiq article linked below.

What’s really odd is that Microsoft is so willing to practically forfeit its price advantage over the PS3.  The Xbox 360 Elite will be selling for only 20 bucks less than the 20GB model of the PS3, and won’t come with next-gen disc capabilities.  It does have a much larger hard drive, and something tells me Sony will have to do that in the not so distant future too, but the PS3 does play Blu-Ray, a next-gen disc format that is gaining momentum, due at least in part to sales of the system.  The Xbox 360 has a $199 HD-DVD attachment, but that’s it.  If you wanted to get both systems with the same capabilities, the Xbox 360 would cost 100 bucks more than a 60GB PS3 with more memory on the hard drive.  Not that this will hurt Microsoft in any way – sales of their newest console have been brisk and many were hoping for a larger hard drive to store all of their marketplace downloads.  But just by virtue of the price point I believe it significantly improves Sony’s position in the minds of many.  Maybe they won’t have to lower the price of the PS3 by the end of the year as many have suspected?

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6168182.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=newstop&tag=newstop;title;2 (XBOX 360 Elite)

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/28/new-xbox-360-120gb-hdd-comes-with-a-lot-of-conditions/ (hard drive transfer conditions)

After the success of the two LEGO Star Wars games, rumors had been circulating for awhile that Batman would be the next target of Traveler’s Tales’ LEGO franchise.  Well, the rumors came true yesterday, as LEGO Batman was officially announced.  Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment will be publishing the game once again.  Of course, Traveler’s Tales will hopefully bring all of the cooperative gameplay and quirky characters that we’ve come to expect from their past efforts.  If you don’t know what those past efforts are, you’re seriously missing out.  The LEGO Star Wars games are overflowing with character and fun contextual gameplay, and it’s cooperative.  If you don’t like it, then you hate fun.  Why are you at a site devoted to games in the first place, fun-hater?

Two days ago, two advocacy groups asked the Regional Transportation District in Denver to ban ads for Mature and Adult Only games (there has never been a comercially released AO game, ever) on buses and trains.  The Parents Television Council and the Campaign for a Commercial -Free Childhood both got together to request this action.  In November of last year the Massachusets Bay Transportation Authority to stop putting up ads of M-rated games.  In the IGN article on the subject, CCFC member Peter Simonson said, "It is unconscionable that RTD would accept advertisements for a game like Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories.  In Vice City Stories, players are rewarded for killing innocent bystanders, law enforcement officers and rival gang members, as they attempt to set up illicit businesses, such as drug dealing and prostitution rings, and commit armed robbery.  As a father and a Denver-area resident, I want to know that my children can ride public trains and buses without being subjected to ads that promote violence and lawlessness."

There are three problems with this.  First, the Regional Transportation Disctict in Denver is a bit of a small target for this sort of agenda.  Baby steps are good and all that, but these ads still show up on television, in movies, on billboards, and anywhere else in the nation.  Second, sheltering someone from these ads doesn't shelter them from any other form of violent media.  These same groups aren't asking for r-rated movies to be pulled or sexually explicit Tag body spray ads (use our product and hot women will have sex with you!).  Are violent video game ads really the problem?  And third, there is still no evidince that violence in video games (or their ads) causes people to be more violent.  Given the somewhat cartoonish nature of the GTA series I doubt that it will be the game that causes the sane to become insane killing machines.

If you're reading this then you probably think it's about time.  I mean, the Wii is already selling like hotcakes and is supposed to cover one third of our nation within four years (link 1 below).  Also, it totally makes you thinner (now think about all the weight you could lose actually playing tennis (link 2).  Anyway, Nintendo of America's VP Perrin Kaplan stated in a recent interview that Gamecubes were no longer being produced.  It doesn't matter for most of us but for those of you that were still hoping for that Kirby game announced three years ago, the dream is now dead.  Or is it?!  Below is a link to a Joystiq article that quotes a Nintendo UK rep saying Kaplan was wrong and that first party support continues for the console.  Which one is right and more importantly, do you care?

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6166286.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=newstop&tag=newstop;title;11 (link 1)

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6166231.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=morenews&tag=morenews;title;11 (link 2)

http://www.gamespot.com/news/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=25399636&sid=6166266&om_act=convert&om_clk=morenews&tag=morenews;title;6 (Nintendo of America)
(http://www.joystiq.com/2007/02/23/gamecube-back-from-the-dead-or-perrin-didnt-get-the-memo/) (Nintendo UK)
http://cube.ign.com/articles/759/759985p1.html (Lost games of Gamecube)