"We have really been outspoken lately about that. There is this broken story about the PC being on the decline, right? And that is one of these things like that we are really sort of being cranky about right now and being outspoken about and saying, it is not the PC market that is dying, it is the PC retail in the states that is dying."

Neogaf writes:

For those not following the past few months of Bungie Updates, or the giant Halo 3 mega thread, Bungie appears to have been dropping a series of hints about their first post-Halo project. Today three more iterations of the teasing showed up, so in the interest of keeping the discussion out of the Halo threads - since it's pretty clearly not Halo related - I've compiled all of the hints that have been spotted so far.

Former Nintendo and I-Play exec David Gosen has returned to the console business with Xbox ? and he has some forthright views on how to push the console forward.

"We have some very aggressive plans in terms of investing in this market to be successful. We are in Europe to win. We're not here to come second or third," says Gosen.

Talking to Gamasutra as part of a larger interview to be posted in the near future, Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg, director of product management for Xbox 360 and Xbox Live, has been commenting on Microsoft's attempts to attract casual gamers, suggesting that Wii customers are "going to want to graduate to an Xbox 360 experience" over time.

Sony is staying hush on when the pulled PS3 2.4 firmware update may be reinstated for download.

You, like CVG, would probably like to at least have a rough idea of how long it may be before Sony fixes the problem and delivers the goods, but in pestering Sony UK today, CVG was told there was "no further update".

Rather than a game, Wii Fit is more comparable to an exercise program. More specifically, it's something that most people would consider playing in short bursts each day. A recent poll, however, shows that close to two-thirds of Japanese gamers are already giving up on the product. ITMedia in Japan took poll data from 1000 gamers and a staggering 64% of the participants said they stopped using Wii Fit after purchase.

See the link for the full poll results.

Blizzard has unveiled only morsels of what to expect from its upcoming Action/RPG Diablo III through its new website. Already game-fans are protesting the inequities of an incomplete game they've never played in an online petition with over 30,000 signatures.

The latest Media Create figures show that the PSP topped the Japanese software chart, selling 58 861 units for the week ending the 29th of June.

Studio-backed push for Government support plans constituency MP visits to game studios and more

The organisers of the Games Up campaign have put out a call to action for further backing from UK games firms.

Infinite Undiscovery's official Japanese site says that the Square Enix 360-exclusive JRPG will come on two DVDs.

Sony UK has moved to reassure retailers that it will be providing 'regular' shipments of its new Dualshock 3 Wireless Controller this month ? but admitted that it can't guarantee stock for everyone on day one.

Mark Howsen, PlayStation's UK sales director, told MCV: "It's going to be a close call as to whether we can guarantee enough stock for everybody day one, however, we'll be making regular shipments thereafter, in order to satisfy demand."

Sony's PlayStation Network director lays out the firm's 2008 roadmap, telling Next-Gen that Home's fall launch "won't be a 0.5 release" and reiterating the company's commitment to delivering a PS3 movie download service this summer.

GamesIndustry.biz writes: "SCi Entertainment has appointed Robert Brent as the company's new chief financial officer.

Brent is currently head of research for KBC Peel Hunt, SCi's joint broker, and will join the company in the near future.

"Robert brings extensive knowledge of SCi through his 5 years of researching and analysing our business and the videogaming sector as a whole," commented Tim Ryan, chairman of the group.

"In addition, he has worked very closely with the new management team on the current re-structuring programme and communication of the new business strategy."

SCi is currently undergoing restructuring in a bid to cut its annual operating costs by GBP 14 million."

GamesIndustry.biz writes: "Earlier this year Microsoft announced plans to allow small independent developers and individuals to put their games on Xbox 360 using the XNA Game Studio and the subscription-based XNA Creator's Club. Under this system developers will make a game with XNA, submit it to peer-review from other members of the Creator's Club and release it on Xbox Live marketplace.

Chris Satchell, XNA's general manager, talked to GamesIndustry.biz at the recent GameHorizon conference about the project - the issues behind censoring user-generated content, games with a social agenda, keeping the industry creative, and the effects that digital distribution will have on traditional publishers."

Microsoft's Kevin Unangst has perhaps the most difficult-to-pronounce name in the industry (hint: according to a user on a genealogy board, it's "u-nanks"), and as the Senior Global Director of the Games for Windows initiative, probably one of the more challenging jobs. Case in point: At a press event held last week to promote the initiative as well as the latest games that will bear the brand, there were only two PC-exclusive titles on show.

A good deal of ink has been spilled pondering the perceived decline of the PC gaming market, much of it wrongheaded. But judging from what was on show at this event, it's hard to come away not feeling that, in at least some sectors, PC gaming is suffering from something of an identity crisis. Unagnst is more than aware of all the hand-wringing that's been going on, and at last week's event, GameSpy picked his brain about the state of PC gaming and what the Games for Windows initiative has in store for it beyond a logo and a few Best Buy endcaps.

If Microsoft buys SEGA, who will hurt or lose the most? There has been a rumor of "Microsoft buying SEGA" and well if Microsoft did buy SEGA what would happen.

CRN writes: "Intel (NSDQ:INTC) sees a "clear way" to manufacturing chips under 10 nanometers and when the semiconductor industry transitions to 450mm silicon wafers around 2012, the number of companies that run their own fabs will drop into the single digits. Those were just the first of a series of predictions Intel's Pat Gelsinger rattled off for media gathered in San Francisco Monday in a preview of celebrations surrounding the chip giant's 40th anniversary next month.

Intel marks its founding July 18, commemorating the date in 1968 when Fairchild Semiconductor physicists Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore struck out on their own to found Integrated Electronics, Intel for short."

What exactly is a video games analyst? Anyone can claim to be one but who judges whether they are qualified enough to comment? Yesterday UK retailer GAME announced record sales for the first half of the year up 52% based on the same period last year. A financial analyst stated that they believed sales have peaked at which point shares in GAME then plummeted by 14% despite the record sales. ButtonBandits.com offers an alternative opinion believing that sales will rise, attempting to prove that anyone really can be a games market analyst.

With a $50 price cut on Microsoft's Xbox 360 seeming more and more likely, Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey believes that now is an opportune time for Microsoft to take advantage and put pressure on Sony's PS3 business...

E3 may not be the bonanza it was in years past, but this year's show should at least reveal some new info on a few anticipated titles. With mammoth companies such as Activision-Blizzard pulling out of the show's lineup, though, you can't help but be concerned for the show's future. Will people still care in two or three years' time if companies with the reach of Blizzard hold their own private events to make big announcements? Will E3 still be the event people look to for all the industry's biggest news, or merely more of an minor blip where readers see a slightly increased number of previews on games they already know about?