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Nintendo virtually conceded the next generation console war today in Los Angeles, unveiling a new console that, rather like the DS, focuses far more on the game experience than hardware evolution.

With just hours to go until Nintendo's pre-E3 conference kicks off in LA, first pictures of its next-gen Revolution console have appeared on the Internet. You can take a look at Revolution here.

Obviously Nintendo would have liked to invite the whole world to its press conference this morning in LA (and made a pretty good go of it actually, having to set back the start time about 45 minutes as fire marshals bitched and whined about people standing at the side of the auditorium), but naturally that wasn't possible.

A new picture of the Nintendo Revolution has been released, showing a flap that can be raised to reveal a collection of controller ports and memory card slots. You can see it here.

So, all three next-gen consoles have now shown their sleek, shiny and in some cases removable faces, and though the jury's still out on who'll claim victory in the console war it's clear that Nintendo's offering isn't going to win in the tech specs category.

Pricing, launch date and other details of Nintendo's Revolution console will be unveiled before the end of 2006, company president Satoru Iwata has told the Reuters news agency.

Just over a year ago, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe president David Reeves made a number of specific comments about PlayStation 3 which were published in error on the company's official website. Sony quickly pulled the article and has clammed up about the console ever since. The following is a reprint of the relevant parts of our sister site GamesIndustry.biz' report on the revelations which, in the absence of significant discussion or even naming of the format in the intervening period, take on rather more significance in the face of what may even be a full unveiling in Los Angeles at 11PM BST on Monday...

As the battle of the next-gen consoles truly gets underway, Bill Gates has revealed his master plan for taking on the PS3 - a simultaneous release of Halo 3.

Metal Gear Solid 4 is coming to PlayStation 3, Kaz Hirai has confirmed at Sony's pre-E3 conference.

Sony has finally taken the wraps off its next generation plans, unveiling the PlayStation 3 console at a special event in Los Angeles and confirming an incredibly impressive hardware specification and a comprehensive range of multimedia functionality.

Sony's overwhelming pre-E3 press conference, which focused exclusively on the unveiling of PlayStation 3, is now over here in Los Angeles and amongst the highlights were countless showreels of games drawing upon both old and new franchises and news of support from numerous high profile developers.

One of the ways Sony chose to demonstrate the power of its PlayStation 3 console during today's unveiling was to use the tried and trusted tech demo. Indeed, it began by revisiting PlayStation 2 technical demonstration videos used to unveil that console, aiming to wow us with a significant increase in detail. And by significant we don't mean the difference in scale between a car and a bus; after a few minutes it felt like the difference between a car and a planet.

Unreal Engine 3 has quickly established itself as the engine of choice for Xbox 360 developers, but Microsoft will have been left a little worried after its most impressive showing yet at the Sony pre-E3 conference on Monday here in LA.

Sony showed off a lot of PlayStation 3 software today. It put Microsoft to shame somewhat, and that's from somebody who was really excited on Friday morning after Xbox 360 landed and what we got to see what it was. Inevitably there was little talk of gameplay evolution at Sony's conference, with the emphasis firmly on next-generation technology, but that's not to say there was none whatsoever. The following rundown of games that we saw in video form touches on little innovations wherever it can, and there's a degree of putting two and two together, while the focus remains getting the point across about each of them. Hopefully you'll find it useful; what is particularly inevitable, given the strength, volume and variation, is that you'll find something you're interested in. More on these, hopefully, later in the week.

Given that one of the most exciting things we saw at Sony's PS3 unveiling was MotorStorm, a game that slung mud around in increasingly unbelievable ways, it's probably fitting that the feedback aftermath is comprised more or less entirely of mudslinging.

Gaming is a complex business. It's also a business with a complex. Everything has to be big, long lasting and expensive. It's a philosophy observed from top to bottom. Publishers want a certain number of missions and hours, developers talk in terms of breadth of experience and replay value, reviewers complain bitterly about games that can be completed in less than an evening, and you, the people handing over hard-earned cash to play the end product, want something that will last you until you find yourself in a strong enough position to plunge another £30-40 into your hobby.

It looks like Xbox 360 is going to cost less than PlayStation 3. No big surprise there, then, especially if you've been following the news this week.

US developer Handheld Games has filed a lawsuit against Gizmondo Europe and its parent company, Tiger Telematics, alleging that the creators of the recently launched Gizmondo console breached a development contract with the firm.

Two developers are offering you the chance to get fifteen minutes of fame by appearing in their forthcoming games. All right, so it's not exactly like going on Big Brother, but at least you don't have to live with anyone called 'Science' for 12 weeks.

A Shanghai court has given 41 year-old Qiu Chengwei a suspended death sentence for murdering a man following a row over a virtual weapon.

Bandai has announced plans to produce games for the Nintendo Revolution, according to a report on Japanese website FujiSankei Business - suggesting we could see the likes of Gundam, Digimon and .hack on the console.

Some of Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo's highest-ranking executives have spoken out in the pages of a Japanese newspaper just after the Electronic Entertainment Expo, addressing one another's next-generation ambitions in rather scornful terms.

These days, not everyone has time to figure things out for themselves. That's why we have little shortcuts that we all take for granted. When you want to know the time, you look at a watch; when you want to eat a pizza, you call Domino's; when you realise you want to visit Plymouth, you go and see a psychiatrist. Etcetera. So why shouldn't the same be true of games? Everyone loves the thrill of making something really hard look really easy, but not everybody has time enough to get truly stuck in and uncover the hidden depths.

As the next-gen console war heats up, Sony Computer Entertainment boss Ken Kutaragi has launched an(other) attack on his company's competitors.

Another week, another list of games half of which I know very little about. Such is life (especially when your editor skives off to go to Alton Towers with his girlfriend, and your neighbour accidentally locks herself out and goes for a wander so you decide to stand outside waiting for the bike courier her husband's sent with the keys to turn up for half an hour). Fortunately we've reviewed enough of them already that I can fudge through my word count. Ah, the magic of games journalism. Hey, at least I'm not just copying IGN.

After a night of historic significance (I convinced my sister to buy a Nintendo DS), those of us living in the UK awake this morning to a country transformed. Yes! It was a robot in disguise all along! Now we march on the US, the Atlantic swirling round our robotic ankles (formerly Cornwall) and a maniacal Mancunian cackle emanating from our lips as our twirly arms (East Anglia and Wales) batter their missiles out of the air and we hurl council estates and Dorset at coastal defences and smother the White House in that frickin' Millennial tepee! Hahaha!

The following is an extract from the introduction to Difficult Questions About Videogames, a book we very much enjoy, followed by an extract from chapter two. The book was edited by James Newman and Iain Simons, and published by Suppose Partners. If you take a shine to it yourself, you can find details on where to get hold of a copy on its homepage, PublicBeta.org.

So then. This is the new Eurogamer. It's quite a change, isn't it?

Tokyo-based developer Idea Factory is taking its popular Generation of Chaos series outside of Japan for the first time with a PSP version. You can see some screenshots here.

Earlier today we learned that special forces piposarus have taken control of Metal Gear, and from their impregnable Fort Banana are demanding 10 billion bananas in 72 hours or else.