Good news for anyone who's ever got mind-numbingly bored downloading from Xbox Live; the next system update will feature something called 'Active Download', which will let you download files from the Marketplace whilst playing games, watching DVDs or even building a small fort out of empty cereal boxes.

This is all according to a Microsoft Knowledge Base article, which details 'Active Download' along with several other features originally due for an update last Tuesday. Alongside the download feature - which according the Knowledge Base entry allows you to "stream music, play DVDs or CDs, play arcade titles, and play games while you download an item from the marketplace" - dashboard and DVD playback tweals are also detailed.

Apperantly you will soon have the option to boot directly to the dashboard without booting a game or DVD disc, which we're sure will please the legions of fans campaigning for the option. The ability to resume downloads is also talked of, along with some sort of update for the console's DVD playback.

The penned date for the update has obviously passed and Microsoft has since pulled the Knowledge Base article, but we think it'd be safe to assume the detailed updates will be streaming down our broadband pipes eventually. We'll let you know when Microsoft presses its big red button.

Via CVG ...

Nintendo has predicted sales of six million units by next March for its upcoming home console, the Wii. That's according to Reuters, anyway. Furthermore, the company expects to have flogged over 17 million units of software during the current financial year.

Nintendo's predictions arrive as the company announced a 19 percent fall in annual operating profits, blamed on dwindling sales of the GameCube - that little purple thing in the corner of your room, just in case you've been wracking your brains, trying to remember what the hell it is for a while.

An annual operating profit of 110 billion yen is expected by the end of March 2007 - less than the predicted 113.74 billion yen by, er, some yen. Nintendo is hoping that the forthcoming Wii will give them ample excuse to roll around in a giant money pit shouting, "Rub my back Martha, there's a barnacle in my bathrobe!".

Via CVG ...

PSP News and Lik Sang are proud to announce the first 15Day Lua Coding Competition Results

Entries

Entry #1 PengBobsled v0.9

Good dodge the rocks game score 7/10

Entry #2 PSP Drug Lord

Unique build your money up game, score 8.5/10

Entry #3 PSP Game Builder

Great PSP Game Building app, score 8/10

Entry #4 BMR 1.2

DDR type game, score 7/10

Entry #5 Kramer's Lua Demo

Simple demo, score 3/10

Entry #6 Maze Thing

didnt work, score 0/10

Entry #7 GALPSP

create your own adventure game, score 7.5/10

Entry #8 Serve 'N Go

addictive game score 8/10

Entry #9 Math Facts v 1.0

nice educational title for the PSP, score 7/10

Entry #10 Cargame v0.2

racing game, score 7/10

Entry #11 Electris 1.0

Unique puzzle game my fave 9/10

So there you have it, i did write longer reviews but the bloody computer crashed and at this time of day im keeeping things short and sweet.

I would like to say a massive thanks to all entrees, there was some real gems amongst them and to be honest it was very hard to choose a winner.

Massive thanks to Lik Sang for supporting another PSP coding competition

So for those who havent read above the winner is

Entry #11 Electris 1.0

and second place

Entry #2 PSP Drug Lord

They share the 4 prizes donated by Lik Sang winner gets to choose if he wants the cradle/battery pack or the faceplate/buttons, the runner up gets the prizes not chosen.

can the winner/runner up pm me to discuss choices/ addresses etc ...

Via Spong

If you haven’t seen it already, check out the latest bed-bound Japanese advert for Nintendo’s New Super Mario Bros, played on a 'can’t-make-them-fast-enough' DS Lite.

You will see the lovely Nanako Matsushima, the well known Japanese actress and model (if anything, you probably know her for her role in the splendid horror film Ringu) reach a stage of ‘heightened pleasure’ through playing with the Big Fella on her little DS Lite. Jumping around on her bed on her knees, screaming with joy. As all girls do, in secret.

Before you check out the ad by clicking right here, also bear in mind that a rough English translation of the above commercial goes like this: “Ah, something came, something came, something came. Ahh. Jump! Jump! Jump! A big one appeared. Huge. Waaaaaah. Yippie! What's this? What's this? I'm so happy! Wow, sooo strong. Oh, it's over. *laughs* " ...

via slashdot

Via eToyChest, a sobering look at the not so distant end of the Xbox. The article at 'Dubious Quality' also discusses the current/next-gen boundary for Sony, Nintendo, and the PC. From the article: "While there are already 40 Xbox 360 titles earmarked for release in 2007, the original Xbox has exactly zero titles currently scheduled with the retail chain. What does this mean exactly? Not much on its own, as company's could have things planned that are simply not in the system yet, but it sure does not paint a very rosy picture for the gigantic console that gave us so many fond memories ...

Via Slashdot

Next Generation reports on Sony's hopes that it will be able to prevent the resale of PS3 games. The article argues that it is unlikely they'll succeed in this goal. From the article: "One expert in retail law told Next-Gen.Biz, 'Sony can theoretically sell a license to play the game, but the user would have to acknowledge acceptance of the license. You've seen this when you install software on a PC. I'm not sure that the license agreement is enforceable if the licensee doesn't agree to it. Also, even if the agreement is enforceable, it's hard to preclude subsequent sale of the disc. The consumer could theoretically agree that he doesn't own the right to transfer his license, but why couldn't he sell the medium that held the license (the disc)? Sony can't enforce the agreement against a third party, as it lacks privity with the third party.' ...

With $59.99 price tags being the standard for next-generation games and the cost of the systems themselves going through the roof, penny-pinching gamers will no doubt be happy to see that what goes up can still come down. While Xbox 360 games like Rockstar's Table Tennis and Koei's Dynasty Warriors 5 Empires are being released for under $40, many of their once full-priced competitors are joining them in the low end of the system's pricing spectrum.

Electronic Arts has reduced the prices of the Xbox 360 launch titles Madden NFL 06, NBA Live 06, FIFA Soccer 06: Road to FIFA World Cup, and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 at its official online store. All of those titles, as well as the more recently released Burnout Revenge, have been marked down to $39.95.

EA isn't the only company cutting costs for consumers. THQ's The Outfit is now being offered from the publisher's Web site for $39.99, and Ubisoft is selling Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie for $39.99 at its own online store.

All of these price cuts are also being mirrored on a number of retail Web sites.

Via Gamespot ...

Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo's celebrity game designer and the mind behind Mario, Donkey Kong, and The Legend of Zelda, is rarely seen without a smile and the exuberance of a boy on Christmas Day.

It's rare to hear the industry vet say something negative about anything, but in an interview with CNNMoney's Chris Morris, Miyamoto does talk about something that he didn't initially like--the name "Wii."

"When we first thought about it, myself and others felt that the name Revolution was very appropriate to what we were doing," he told CNN. Like several of the Nintendo faithful, he did eventually come around, citing the Wii's main mission of being as nonthreatening to nongamers as possible. "So we thought [Wii] was more friendly and inviting," he said.

One way of getting the non-gaming crowd into games is to actually put them into the game. Those who saw the Nintendo pre-E3 press conference this year will recall the doubles tennis match played between company bigwigs Miyamoto, Reggie Fils-Aime, Satoru Iwata, and a contest winner. Each player's character (save for the contest winner) had cartoonish representations of themselves rather than a generic player model.

Miyamoto implied that this process of personalizing characters may not be limited to just those with the best parking spaces at the company. "We have some different ideas about how to take advantage of that functionality--and we will be sharing that type of functionality with third parties."

On the mainstream console front, Sony first put characters' faces in games with the PlayStation 2 game Tony Hawk Underground in 2003, and further explored the idea with the EyeToy camera peripheral. Microsoft has already announced a camera for the Xbox 360, due for release this fall. While Miyamoto did not go into detail, his carefully chosen words could mean a camera peripheral is in the works for the Wii.

One of the biggest bits of news at this year's E3 was the pricing of the PS3 at $599 for the high-end model. Miyamoto, like other gamers, did a double take when he heard the news. "I knew...it was going to be expensive. Even then, it was a bit of a shock. But I think it's clear that they don't want to lose a lot of money per unit."

Sony was also behind one of the other surprising announcements of the expo--the PS3 controller would be motion sensitive, like the Wii's. One word often associated with Nintendo is "innovative." How does Miyamoto feel about Sony's...sincerest form of flattery?

"That always seems to happen and we kind of expected it," he said. "We've gotten used to others copying what we do--and we're having a lot of fun with it."

Via Gamespot ...

You shouldn't believe everything you see on the internet, but sometimes it doesn't hurt to let yourself go. According to this GameSpot article, big name retailer EBGames has let it slip about a few titles that haven't even been confirmed yet. While this is not uncommon, the preemptive listings could give us insight into the future.

Apparently gamers may see Gordon Freeman surface on the next-gen Sony machine before it's all over with. EA could be the ones bringing Half-Life 2 to the PlayStation 3, as well as Burnout 5.

Both would be nice renditions on the PS3, but then again, we officially don't even know anything about them.

Via PS3fanboy ...