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Microsoft's X05 press conference has just finished and the net result is that we've got some new games to talk about, but there's still no definitive word on what we can expect to find on the shelves alongside Xbox 360 come December 2nd in Europe - or November 22nd in the US for that matter.

Another morsel to make its way down the line to us from X05 is that EA's FIFA 06: Road to FIFA World Cup, announced as a 360 launch title early this morning, will feature content specific to next year's World Cup. Not too surprising, that - and in-keeping with EA's previous World Cup festivities.

"It came to a point where the company was willing to release a sequel without me," Keita Takahashi has said of his reluctance to make this game. History will show that he then got on board and didn't make one anyway. We Love Katamari is an anti-sequel. It doesn't really continue or escalate (on the latter point - we rolled up the world last time, so how could it?); it manipulates itself under the guise of celebration and repopulation.

Ubisoft has just announced that Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell 4 will be released in spring 2006 on current and next generation consoles as well as PC. And yes, one of those consoles is obviously Xbox 360 given the timing.

And so the rush of releases timed to coincide with X05 begins. EA already got there first this morning with news of its launch line-up, and it's just announced that it's collaborating on a game based around the Superman Returns film called, ingeniously, Superman Returns: The Videogame.

Devil May Cry 4 producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi has says we can expect some big changes in the series' PlayStation 3 debut but has admitted it's still very much in the planning stages.

Sony Computer Entertainment has launched a new website for Tourist Trophy, the new PS2 motorbike racer from Gran Turismo creator Polyphony Digital.

We love stupid webgames. We're playing one right now (ooh how META, or something). So we should probably say nice things about the Nintendo DS, because thanks to its stylus-based input system it's helped give us plenty of web-based demos. The latest of which is... oh, you read the headline. The SEGA website has 'em.

No surprises at the top of the chart this week, as FIFA 06 steamrollered the opposition and made it to the top of the All Formats Top 40, topping all the home console charts in the process and making reasonable inroads into the PC and handheld spaces - with the PSP version still in the offing, due to hit on October 21st.

We love the Burnout games. They embody many of the things we see as the basic principles of What Makes A Good Videogame, namely: 1. They allow you to do things which aren't possible in real life, at least without risking violent death or long-term incarceration; 2. They present many opportunities to make your friends look stupid and feel angry; 3. They can stilll be enjoyed whilst extremely drunk.

Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks is conflicted.

Shigeru Miyamoto has confirmed that Nintendo is currently developing a more conventional controller for the Revolution - one that's designed to compliment the "freestyle" remote control unveiled at the Tokyo Game Show.

Sony's announced that it plans to release a new battery pack for the PlayStation Portable in Japan. We'd been hoping for this for a while of course, so it's slightly disappointing to learn that it merely lasts up to 20 per cent longer - but still, it's something. The Pack, part number PSP-280, should retail for 5,300 yen, which isn't much more than £26 / €38.

Too many games forget to be playful. All too often they're over-serious, po-faced, or just don't get the joke. They're the kind of game that it's easy to laugh at behind its back. Come to think of it, they're quite often the games that lead us to bash the fantasy genre unfairly: because they really don't get why we find them pompous and embarrassing.

Bungie's confirmed reports that a Halo character will appear in Tecmo's Xbox 360 launch title Dead or Alive 4. Neither company's been prepared to say who, but GameInformer, which originally ran the story, reckons it isn't the Master Chief.

The PC version of Quake 4 is finished and will be released in the US on October 18th, id Software and publisher Activision announced today. The fourth instalment in the FPS series has been in development at Raven Software under series creator id's supervision and is also due out on Xbox 360 later this year.

Robbie Bach says that Bill Gates' widely reported comment about Halo 3 launching against PlayStation 3 next spring was a philosophical one rather than a specific pledge.

EA appears to have confused a few people with its description of Burnout Revenge for Xbox 360 as "a new title in the Burnout Revenge franchise", but having spoken to Alex Ward of developer Criterion this week we're happy to repeat what he told us about the game.

[Rummages around for sporting metaphors.] Electronic Arts has touched down at Microsoft's X05 showcase early, racing out of the blocks ahead of the Amsterdam event by confirming that it plans to hit the ground running come launch day with five of its heaviest hitters. [Alright, enough of that.]

Sony this week quietly continued its push to plant the PSP in the pockets (or at least handbags and backpacks) of new gamers with the announcement of Go! Sudoku, giving fans of the Japanese newspaper import 1,000 new puzzles to contend with and the promise of customisation, multiplayer and downloadable content. It's due out on the PSP in Europe this December.

I've been God for quite a while now. It began back in the 80s, and I've been filling the role ever since. Funny thing - I'm used to it. It was special at first - I had the power to raise and lower the ground itself, change the weather, summon forth great changes to the world, and most of all, influence the lives of my subjects to my whim. Meh, that's old news now. Being God is good, yes, and I'm not trying to suggest otherwise. All I'm saying is, I'm past the point where being reminded of my abilities is enough to get me going.

Hideo Kojima has revealed some more details of the fourth instalment in the Metal Gear Solid series, including news that Revolver Ocelot will be back and ready to take on Snake once again.

When a budget-priced offering such as Summit Strike ends up beating all of its squad-based rivals in every department you could mention, it makes a complete mockery of the very concept of the full-price release. Even at its undiscounted price tag of £19.99 (and £12.99 is more likely if you shop around) it beats its hyped rivals hands-down in every single area to an embarrassing degree. The idea that punters are shelling out more than double to play the likes of Rainbow Six Lockdown and Conflict Global Storm seems not only a ludicrous concept to us, but actually quite depressing.

So here's the thing. Imagine you're the development studio behind one of the biggest gaming franchises of all time. You've had hit after hit, praise heaped upon praise and you've created games so good that people have gone out and bought consoles just to play the beggars.

In the first part of the interview, we talked about the conceptual grounding for Creative Assembly's move into the third-person mass-combat game. Now, with the effusive Lead Programmer Clive Gratton, we have a look through the technical demands of a game that manages to keep hundreds of people hurting each other on screen without dropping a frame.

Almost ten years ago, my dad came bursting into our living room like a deep-space marine in Berserk mode. He entered at such speed that there may well have been nitrous leaving his rear end. "Ronan," he said in a voice nothing like Mario's, "It's time you learned how to drive!"

Taito has revealed the first details of Lost Magic, an RPG that's currently in development for the Nintendo DS.

Shinta Nojiri, director of Metal Gear Acid 2 for the PSP, has revealed more details of what we can expect from the new instalment in the turn-based card battling series.

We played lots of things at the Tokyo Game Show. Xbox 360 games, PSP games, PS2 games, bread roulette. All sorts. One of the ones we get asked about most though is Sony's PSP tilty platform puzzler thing Loco Roco, which we included in our quirky PSP game roundup.

Sony's "had" to apologise to Christians after an advert featuring a smiling man wearing a crown of metal twisted into PlayStation's trademark geometric button shapes apparently caused outrage amongst religious types.