At E3, Nintendo revealed Wii Speak, which appears to bring voice chat to the Wii via a speaker and microphone that go on top of the sensor bar.

It acts as a "community microphone" that lets everyone talk in a room, and users can also post messages to friends' cell phones and message boards. It was demonstrated alongside the new Animal Crossing: City Folk for Wii.

We'll bring you more info as it becomes available.

Interview: Catching Up On Microsoft's Big Announcements

Portal: Still Alive Dated 2008 For Xbox LIVE Arcade

Microsoft community manager Chris Paladino does a video walk through of Microsoft's E3 line-up. Games mentioned in the clip include: Fable 2, Gears of War 2, Guitar Hero World Tour, Rockband 2, Lips, Uno Rush, Galaga Legions and Portal: Still Alive. Wait, wait, wait. Portal: Still Alive? The game is hitting Xbox LIVE Arcade in 2008. It will feature single player and "a new challenge mode." Last April, Valve's Doug Lombardi stated, "You won't see a new Portal at retail this Christmas because of that. That's the trade off. People want more, but we don't want to give them more of the same right away because that would just be boring."

Thanks Brian for the tip!

Nintendo's just announced Wii MotionPlus, an accessory for the Wii Remote. The add-on attaches to the bottom of the Wii-mote and more accurately traces motions in 3-D space by better orienting the controller. Hit the jump for the full press release details.

We expect Nintendo to divulge more at its E3 press conference tomorrow.

Madden Soundtrack Coming to Rock Band DLC

Reuters are reporting that a deal between Electronic Arts and MTV will make the Madden 09 soundtrack available in the weekly downloadable content update for Rock Band.

The nugget of info was couched in a broader report about the run-up to the 20th anniversary of the seminal sports simulation. Huge hat tip to reader Max for spotting and pointing it out to us.

Ah, the onward march of technology. Though the fiddly arguments over what “next gen” really means are unceasing, the general trend is that games get bigger, slicker, richer and more lifelike with every passing year.

Soulcalibur’s Ivy may be the poster child for this annual augmentation – literally. It seems with each passing year, her endowment multiplies, ushering in each passing technological evolution with more ludicrous, top-heavy jiggle than the era before.

But it’d be unfair to pick on Miss Valentine. After all, unrealistic body types in games are nothing new, a conversation-starter as old as Lara Croft. The fact that “sex sells” and the proliferation of exploitive body types is a cultural pandemic, not simply a video game issue, is the easy way to explain it, but the “easy” way is seldom very enlightening, nor does it help us learn about why we play.

What does it all mean, in an interactive medium where realism, immersion and engagement are the primary goals? Are we seeking idealistic images as avatars for ourselves, to complete the fantasy of power that gaming can provide?

Is this a case where the gaming audience has been misjudged through the ages by marketing teams who assume each and every one of us is a vapidly salivating 15-17 year-old male – until their assumptions have unconsciously shaped our taste?

Well! If Brain Age gets a naughty movie, then one would correctly assume that Wii Fit must get one as well. Japanese adult video maker Gekidan Carnival has just released Geki Fit, which features the tagline "Fitness Is Erotic!" Geki Fit features 115 minutes of young ladies in various stretching and yoga poses against an all-white background. While there are no Wii-motes, Wiis or Balance Boards, the movie does feature font and packaging "homages." (Gekidan Carnival probably doesn't want to get sued back to the stone age by Nintendo!)

Hit the jump for the cover. The distasteful sweat might be NSFW.

Playgirl Model Shows His Wii Fit

This is only fair, we guess. Wii Fit Girl and Playboy's Jo Garcia showed just how saucy playing Wii Fit is. Playgirl model Nicholas Ryan tosses his hula hoop in the ring with a YouTube video showing the male retort — among other things. The video quality isn't as high as in the Jo Garcia clip, but Ryan attempts to make up for that with a variety of underpants, a riding whip and nunchakus.

Hit the jump for the clip. It's NSFW and there is man ass. You've been warned.

Inside The 169-Page Thompson Report: Judge Recommends $43k Fine Also

Judge Dava Tunis' full report to the Florida Supreme Court in Jack Thompson's Florida Bar Trial, in which she recommends permanent disbarment for the attorney, also recommends he pay disciplinary costs of $43,675.35.

Judge Tunis, Referee in the case, noted in her 169-page report that she considered some 5,900 pages of evidence, "hundreds, maybe more" documents submitted over the past eighteen months of litigation.

Among these, according to Tunis:

Therein were page-sized photos of men, portraying full frontal nudity, including photos depicting men engaging in oral sex. This fax was accompanied by at least twenty websites, whose names suggested they were websites containing pornographic material.

The report also details Thompson's many legal maneuverings in the case, including a request for a continuation citing unfair treatment of his case in light of his wife's poor health. Attached to the report in support of several claims of misconduct against Thompson were letters he wrote to numerous attorneys, governors, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, actor Joe Pesci and even President Bush.

Thompson: Judge Recommends Permanent Disbarment

Judge Dava Tunis recommended a permanent disbarment for Jack Thompson with no opportunity to apply for reinstatement, according to a mass email sent out by Thompson this afternoon.

Your Referee down here, Dava Tunis, the one who does not have a federally-mandated loyalty oath even to be on the bench, just today issued her final Referee’s Report in the above matter, and she rejected The Bar’s recommendation of a ten-year disbarment for me and instead is asking you to disbar me permanently with no opportunity ever to apply for reinstatement.

Just in case all of those retailer circulars from Best Buy, KMart, et al, wasn't enough proof of an Xbox 360 price drop coming on Sunday, here's one more tidbit of proof.

A GameStop employee has sent us cell pics of the internal announcement for the coming Xbox 360 Pro price drop announcement. They also included pics of the shelf art all of which will go on display on July 13, the day before E3 kicks off with Microsoft's press conference.

So, while still not official, it seem pretty clear that come Sunday you'll be able to pick up an Xbox 360 Pro (aka Premium) for a penny shy of $300.

If true, I can't help but think that this means that Microsoft wanted to clear the decks of pricing news to make room for something more interesting, or at least they want more attention on, come their press conference. Motion controls? Minority-Report-like interface? Who knows.

2.40 Problems Fixed, 2.41 Firmware Goes Live

While the 2.40 PS3 firmware was eagerly anticipated, it didn't go as smoothly as Sony would've liked. Sony actually had to take 2.40 down due to issues a few users were having while installing the update. And as we previously mentioned, the 2.41 firmware should fix any problems 2.40 had. Over at the PlayStation.Blog, PSN director Eric Lempel blogs:

As many of you know, we released PS3 firmware update v2.40 last week, but had to take it offline temporarily because, for a limited number of users, the XMB wouldn’t display after the update was installed. We’ve been able to fix the problem, and I’m happy to report that firmware update v2.41 will be released shortly.

We want to extend our apologies to the PlayStation community for any inconvenience. Now we’ll be looking forward to seeing everyone online and racking up those trophies!

So there ya go, all better!

PS3 System Software Update (v2.41) [PlayStation.Blog Thanks Joshua!]

Yes, This Is The Chrono Trigger DS Trailer

Well, we've seen a Kill Bill Guitar Hero guitar before, so a 360 casemod is not all that surprising. But this one is very well done and, furthermore, was accomplished by Kotakuite Chu Boi, who shows his work on his blog. It's got some great touches, such as the blood spatter across the faceplate, and the stenciled movie quote on the underside.

Probably a good thing he violated his warranty by disassembling the machine (which already RRoD'd, and somehow received a second heat sink in the process) as I doubt he'd want to send this work of art off to be scrubbed clean or replaced. Of course that means no chance for the rest of us to randomly get this as a refurb unit. And how cool would that be.

Making the Kill Bill Xbox 360 [chuboi.com]

There are differing leaks out there regarding the track list for Rock Band 2. Both are unattributed, one to a friend of a friend who got a look at an email from Harmonix to MTV or something. But in the interest of rumormongering, we'll repeat both with the caveat that there is no way of knowing if this stuff is for real or not. But if, combined, they're half right then this could be one hell of a track list, possibly the best of any rhythm game.

Also, an IGN Insider interview (transcript provided by reader Max) let slip that buyers of Rock Band 2 will have access to all of the songs off the original Rock Band disc, available as free DLC. Full details on both after the jump.

Ah, and finally, the pre-E3 hype train picks up a little steam. Citing both Sarcastic Gamer and their own "sources", CVG are claiming that a new Halo game will be unveiled at E3. This Halo game might be Peter Jackson's game, it might not be, but either way, they say it won't feature the Master Chief. Chew on that for a possibility while we dream of a point-and-click "Where In The World Is Master Chief?"

New Halo game for E3 [CVG]

Playfire Launches PS3 Trophies Gamercard Service

I feel, as a culture, we've gotten really joyfully achievement-obsessed. We check our point scores as compulsively as we do our bank accounts, we demand to know what achievements will be available in games that aren't even out yet, and we have anticipated the launch of PS3 trophies with fervor. Fervor, I tell you.

A big part of this is so that we can show our play habits and our performance off to our buddies; seeing a My Gamercard on someone's website is like an instant badge of recognition. So it's unsurprising that a company called Playfire has rushed to be the first to create a Gamercard service for PS3 trophies (hopefully 2.4 squares away soon). It's currently in beta, and here it is!

The... trophycards? support themes, too letting you skin the cards with Killzone 2, Metal Gear Solid 4, LittleBigPlanet or SuperStardust HD.