Rob Fahey (Page 121)

Electronic Arts has scored its fourth number one of the year, with UEFA Euro 2004 taking the top spot in its second week on sale - while it's a good week for the Cube, with Pokemon Colosseum outselling Xbox exclusive Ninja Gaiden.

Microsoft has quietly lent its support to Nintendo's DS handheld, it has been alleged, with wholly owned British studio Rare apparently already working on two titles for the new console.

Electronic Arts' chief executive Larry Probst has told <I>GamesIndustry.biz</I> that he believes that some of the company's competitors will not manage the next console hardware transition - leading to significant industry consolidation.

The two-screen Nintendo DS console is unlikely to be as profitable from the outset as the Game Boy Advance was, company president Satoru Iwata has warned, with the complex design of the handheld presenting both financial and supply problems.

Publisher and peripheral manufacturer Majesco has announced two new wireless products for the GBA - one which allows multiplayer games to be played wirelessly, and another which turns the console into a wireless messaging terminal.

British middleware and developer services specialist Criterion has backed a winner in the Japanese races - with Enterbrain's chart-topping Derby Stallion '04 utilising the company's popular RenderWare architecture.

Japanese publisher Square Enix could be on board as a developer for Microsoft's next console, according to company president Yoichi Wada, who says the next-generation Xbox "would fully deserve consideration."

Key US online retailer EBGames has listed the Nintendo DS console on its website with a price tag of $199.99 and a shipping date of November 29th, although the company notes that these figures are not yet officially confirmed.

Gamers will be able to get their hands on Sony's PlayStation Portable device for the first time at the Tokyo Games Show, it has been confirmed - with the first playable software set to be demoed at the Japanese consumer event this autumn.

Monolith's massively multiplayer title The Matrix Online is now to be published worldwide by Sega, the company has announced at E3 - quashing speculation that it would be handled directly by IP holder Warner Bros.

Infinium Labs has announced details of the hardware in its Phantom game console, which has been publicly unveiled for the first time at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles and is set to launch by the end of the year.

One of the least-reported announcements of E3 to date is also one of the most worrying for Microsoft - with Sony and IBM announcing co-development on a Cell-based workstation which is aimed at the content creation market.

Impressive specifications are one thing, but Sony's PlayStation Portable launch also put a strong emphasis on the wide range of developers working on the handheld; what about the movies and music aspects of UMD, however?

Nokia's E3 press conference has revealed that a number of new publishers are set to support the N-Gage game deck, including Atari and Capcom, with eight new software titles for the system being unveiled.

Nintendo's pre-E3 press conference in Los Angeles has seen the Nintendo DS handheld taking a public bow for the first time - confirming the veracity of earlier leaked information and images, and revealing an impressive line-up of software.

Sony has taken the wraps off the latest addition to the PlayStation family at its pre-E3 press conference in Los Angeles, with the diminutive PSP revealed to be remarkably similar to previously released concept designs.

Sony's first announcement of E3 this year was that the PlayStation 2 is to drop in price to $149.99 in the United States, effective immediately - mirroring a similar drop by the Xbox at the end of March.

Further information about the forthcoming Nintendo DS handheld has emerged just hours ahead of its official unveiling in Los Angeles - including what purports to be the first picture of the hardware, and details of some software demos.

The capabilities of the Xbox Live service are set to be extended once again later this year, with new video chat functionality and the ability to download arcade style games being announced at Microsoft's pre-E3 conference.

Giant publisher Electronic Arts has finally settled its differences with Microsoft over the Xbox Live online service, and will be Live-enabling most of its key titles in future - including, crucially, the bulk of the EA Sports range.