In an interview with Eurogamer, Microsoft Game Studios VP Shane Kim says he's "happy" the company never got into the handheld market, explaining the division has plenty on its plate with the Xbox 360 and Xbox Live. He goes pretty deep into the issue, almost shutting down the idea of the Xboy entirely by expressing Microsoft is happy to let Sony and Nintendo fight it out.

Kim believes mobile is more important for MS and Windows Mobile is a really "compelling opportunity" for the company. He explains that it's a way for the company to get into the arena without having to worry about creating more hardware. Microsoft has certainly learned that making good hardware isn't easy and can be hazardous.

Well, PS3 owners don't really have much to look forward to this week from the PSN update, but those with a PSP can try out the new Secret Agent Clank demo. Maybe we spoke too soon, some people might be interested in the Rocketmen expansion or the Dragon Ball Z demo. Don't forget that new echochrome levels are now available, although it isn't technically part of the PSN update, it seems worth mentioning here. Find the full NA update after the break.

The European PSN update is happily posted in the town square over at PS3 Fanboy.

OK, don't get too excited just yet. Videogaming24/7 translated a piece from JeuxVideo*, which states that Ubisoft's Michel Ancel allegedly confirmed Beyond Good & Evil 2 has been in pre-production for the last year. Apparently, 10-12 people have been working on the project, but the Ubisoft suits aren't sure whether to move forward.

Beyond Good & Evil has become the stuff of industry folklore at this point. A great game that just released at the wrong time and suffered terribly at retail for it. Even if this sequel rumor is true, it would still be years away from seeing release (sad face), but at least we'd eventually get to hang with Jade, Pey'J and Segundo once again.

*Internet cookies for the person that can give us a proper translation of the French story.

Nintendo has been ordered to pay $21 million to Anascape Ltd. for infringing on a patent with its Gamecube and Wii Classic controllers. The AP reports Anascape Ltd., a "small East Texas gaming company," also sued Microsoft, but that was settled out of court. Nintendo says it will appeal the decision.

A representative for Nintendo stated that no infringement was found in any of the Wii's motion-sensing technology and it expects that on appeal the award to Anascape will be reduced "significantly." Remember kids, if you want to stick it to some big corporation in the future and cash in, just make patents for everything imaginable.

Lazard Capital analyst Colin Sebastian believes a price cut for the PS3 is unlikely this year. He states that Sony management is focused on achieving profitability in the PlayStation division and that a PS3 price cut won't happen in the near term.

Sony expects to sell 10 million PS3s this year, doubling the global number of systems stationed on our little big planet. With the HD movie war in the bag and an increase in HD television adoption, it's not unreasonable to assume the PS3 being people's go-to movie player. As this blogger's mother put it, "Why would I @$%&ing pay for a basic Blu-ray player when I can get a PS3 for the same price? I want to play my Final Fantasy. When is my Final Fantasy coming out?"

GameTap does a little better than last week with the addition of Outpost Kaloki to the subscription lineup. With Kaloki's addition, this is a good time to mention GameTap's indies section, where subscribers can peruse all the games which don't come from big evil publishers keeping the little man down. Yeah, like, la vie boheme, man.

• Five Card Deluxe (Windows) - Poker-themed solitaire. Sure, it sounds lonely, but isn't it supposed to be?
  
• Outpost Kaloki (Windows) - A "tycoon" game where players create a space station to stand the test of time and keep aliens happy.

GameTap's list of free games can be found after the break. The Battle of Europe flight-sim joins the free lineup this week for your Luftwaffe-destroying pleasure.

The PlayStation Blog announced today that 20 new user-generated levels will be available in echochrome between May 15-21, and those new levels may be replaced with even more content the following week. Despite our mixed feelings on the idea that the puzzles are replaced rather than added to a mega-list, it's still great to see how quick the promise of free extra content for the $10 Escher-iffic puzzler was fulfilled.

The additional levels will appear randomly in freeform mode if the difficulty is set to level 2 or 3 and there's also been a Flickr page created to give some recognition to the level designers. Definitely check out the demo for the game if you haven't tried it,

Vivendi Games, soon to merge with Activision and become the goliath Activision Blizzard, saw its sales fall 24% from Q1 last year, thanks to the lack of a World of Warcraft expansion. The percentage may be down, but the money still flows like an Azerothian river, with Blizzard contributing €192 million of Vivendi's €221 million in sales this quarter. Vivendi also announced that WoW added another 700,000 players and the Sierra divisions performed "slightly higher" than last year.

With Vivendi expecting the next WoW expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, sometime later in 2008, we'll plan on a Naaru size jolt to Activision Blizzard's cash flow at that time. For now, Vivendi will just have to enjoy the disgusting amounts of cash it gets from WoW, instead of the nauseating amounts Activision Blizzard will make from the WotLK release.

Zero Punctuation takes on Grand Theft Auto IV this week, but if you're one of the five people who didn't buy the game and are hoping for some ZP hate-fest on par with the Super Smash Bros. Brawl review ... then you have another thing coming. Yahtzee doesn't exactly suck GTA IV's "thumb" -- like he does Valve's -- but the issues he grasps onto are relatively minor points about getting lost in the side stuff. Not really full of his trademark, hyperbolic bile then. Shockingly, he even says that after finishing the review, he went back and played the game some more. It appears Niko Bellic has found a friend in Yahtzee.

Find this week's NSFW relative non-hate review of GTA IV after the break.

Those who wanted to pay extra to explore Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures' lands a little early are probably going to be upset to discover that "early access" is now sold out. A post on the MMORPG's official forums gives little explanation as to why this occurred, but eagle-eyed players who read the fine print point to Funcom having discussed limited availability.

Looks like MMO players will need to find some other game to grind in until Conan officially begins next week.

[Via Massively]

GameDaily has an interview with Silicon Knights president Denis Dyack where he talks about stepping down as head of the studio. He won't leave the company, but merely let someone else take over the business side while he focuses on creative. He admits it'll be a little "weird," but as the company continues to grow, he'd like to stay focused on making new IPs.

Dyack having a boss could be just what the company needs. Silicon Knights has notoriously slow development cycles and having an "evil" business director cracking the whip might help. We can only imagine what other projects the studio could have been working on had Too Human come out years ago as planned; instead of stumbling in this August.

Update: Dyack told GameSpot, "I was as surprised to see this as everyone else. I am not stepping down." The original quote Dyack gave to GameDaily: "So, in the end as the company grows, for my role I'll probably hire someone to be my boss and help run the company, which is kind of a weird thing, and I actually won't run the company while I continue to work at what is the company's bread and butter, which is original IPs with great stories and game concepts that are provocative to gamers."

The image above is not the complete ad from Sony's European ad agency, TBWA\Wien, but we have placed the full monty (literally) after the break. When viewer's eyes wander south they will not be greeted by a penis, but by a well manicured thumb where a penis should be, which, believe it or not, is actually a thousand times more frightening.

Ads of the World posted this Austrian PS3 ad which continues to make us scratch our heads as to why Sony only fired TBWA from doing its American ads. As this blogger has received about 10 IMs in the last twenty minutes asking if I've seen the Sony Europe ad yet, one could say the piece is doing its job. Whether its doing the right job is a whole other debate.

[Via GayGamer, PS3 Fanboy]

So, there's this game called Metal Gear Solid 4 ... it's apparently a big deal for the PlayStation 3. Well, above is the movie-style trailer (with movie-voice guy) for those interested in watching it. No pressure. Watch it, don't watch it. We wish there was more we could do to generate hype for this indie title made in some guy named Hijeo Koshima Hideo Kojima's garage on a shoe-string budget.

After the break you'll find three ads involving MGS4. It's really nice to see Sony taking an interest in this title. It warms our cockles to see a giant corporation give support to a game featuring geriatrics at war.

A rumor in Game Informer (full text from GI after the break) states that Gamerscores and achievements will be transferable to Microsoft's next console. As far a rumors go, this is one many Xbox 360 owners might pray Microsoft wouldn't prevent from becoming a reality.

Achievements and Gamerscores are two features of the Xbox 360 that have developed a strong following, particularly among "ch33vo-holics." We can already imagine the internet hissy-fit temper-tantrum freak out we'll see if the Xbox faithful can't transfer their data. Although the next console is still years away, it would be unfortunate to envision Microsoft not allowing gamers to transfer their data effortlessly to the next system.

[Via X3F]

Apparently game developers can hitch a ride with the devil if they're looking for some tax breaks. According to the Duluth Weekly, Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue signed into law the 2008 Entertainment Industry Investment Act, which gives financial incentives to film, TV and game development. Bill Thompson, deputy commissioner of the Film, Music and Digital Entertainment Office, points out the law makes Georgia one of the few states with incentives for the video game industry.

The signing took place at the studios of Turner Broadcasting, which not only runs several television stations, but also GameTap. The new incentives offer a 20% tax credit, with an additional 10% if it includes an animated Georgia promotional logo in the finished product. So, go on down to Georgia, developers. If you can survive the summers, they're giving away free money.

[Via GamePolitics]