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What was originally meant to be a regional price cut for the Xbox 360 has extended to the United States, where the console enjoys its widest adoption. With this, the Xbox 360 Arcade bundle will now be sold for $199, or $50 less than the Nintendo Wii, which is still seasonally hard to get. This also makes the Xbox 360 the cheapest console of the current generation, go figure.

The standard Xbox 360 will now cost $299, and the Xbox 360 Elite bundle has been set at $399, the same price of Sony's PlayStation 3 base bundle in this market.

Even though the Xbox Arcade bundle doesn't carry a hard drive, industry analysts say once a console breaks the $200 psychological barrier, the system is set for massive adoption. With Xbox Live becoming an ever more important monetization tool for Microsoft, the software giant is certainly hoping its console to become the next PS2, which saw millions of sales after the eventual price drop.

Needless to say, it will be interesting to watch how Sony and Nintendo play their positions come the holiday season.

EA has announced that the original version of Command & Conquer: Red Alert is now available for free download, partly in celebration of the game’s thirteenth anniversary but mainly to promote the upcoming Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 – a title that many fans across the globe have been waiting to play for seven years.

You can head over to EA’s official page to download both the Allies and Soviets discs. Additionally, those who pre-order Red Alert 3 (due out next month) can download Red Alert 2 for free along with some other exclusive content. That means you can get all three PC games for about $50, so why not go back to where it all began before taking Red Alert 3 for a spin?

Both Red Alert 1 and 2 run only on Windows versions from 95 to XP, but the company says that you can find tips on getting them to work with Vista on various sites. In somewhat related news, Ubisoft is also offering a classic from their back catalog as a pre-order incentive, with the original Far Cry going for free to those who pre-order Far Cry 2 from its online store.

It's already a groundbreaking smartphone and digital music player, but with the arrival of the iTunes App Store there also seems to be a lot of potential for the iPhone as a gaming platform. About a quarter of the 1,000+ applications released thus far are games and just by taking a quick glance at their top downloads lists – in both paid and free categories – we can tell that clearly there’s a demand.

Up until now, however, gamers have pretty much been limited to tilt and multi-touch based gaming on the iPhone – but that’s about to change. A leaked slide from Belkin shows an upcoming gaming accessory for the iPhone, the JoyPad, which snaps onto the device from the two ends to provide a more traditional control scheme with actual buttons. What’s even more exciting is that coming from major accessory manufacturer it actually sounds possible that Apple will be providing support for the add-on in the system's SDK.

With Apple planning on selling over 10 million iPhones this year, developers far and wide certainly can’t afford to overlook it as a gaming platform. Then again, we still have to wait and see if the iPhone’s battery performance is strong enough to support the kind of “serious” gaming that this controller add-on suggests – that’s where the bottleneck is.

The Xbox 360 Arcade unit is about to officially become the least expensive current-gen console in Japan. During a media event held in Tokyo today, Xbox Japan general manager Takashi Sensui announced that starting September 11 the bare-bones Arcade unit will be priced at 19,800 yen – which translates to about $183.

This makes Microsoft’s Xbox 360 the first current-gen console to dip under the $200 level. In addition, the company will also reduce the price of its two more expensive units; a new model equipped with a 60GB drive will be priced at 29,000 yen ($275) and the Elite is getting a price reduction to 39,800 yen ($367). While the 360 is still struggling in Japan – with total unit sales of 684,695 compared to the Wii with 6.67 million units and the PlayStation 3 at 2.32 million units, according to Enterbrain – the move certainly has the potential to improve Microsoft’s status in the region.

If you are a Fallout fan and have been watching the development of Fallout 3, you'll definitely want to check out some newly released videos for the game. Bethesda showed five new videos for the upcoming title, and my initial perspective is that it looks simply awesome.

The updated HUD looks tiny but cumbersome, though it's definitely lighter in appearance than the original series were. The graphics don't leave anything to the imagination and the gameplay so far seems very smooth. The VATS system remains nearly true to its original form, which was something most fans were gunning for. The only thing I didn't notice was any remnant of the SPECIAL system. All in all, the videos are definitely worth watching, and at this point I am sold on getting it by day one.

Have you ever bought a game you had high hopes for, and then were disappointed, not by the game itself but all the politics and mismanagement surrounding it? Buggy and rushed releases, draconian copyright protection, intrusive download managers or updaters – all significant distractions from enjoying a game. Some feel so strongly about those distractions, developers included, that they have sought to craft a “PC Gamer’s Bill of Rights” that they feel should be used as a framework for game development and release.

Compiled by an independent game developer, it is composed of 10 rules they feel highlight the most common mistakes publishers make, most of which just anger and frustrate gamers, causing them to potentially avoid buying games in the first place. The rules include asking publishers to quit releasing rushed games, focusing on completing them rather than getting them out the door. It also asks to avoid using DRM, along with removing CD/DVD checks on launch. Some of the rules are very reasonable, and in fact if every game was released to those standards PC gaming would be a much different industry.

Most of them are just fantasies, though, as publishers these days would never agree to such terms. It's a good read, but perhaps more of a dream than anything close to reality.

The eagerly anticipated third installment of the Fallout series, being crafted by Bethesda, is due for release this October. Too long to wait for some, but a few lucky fans at PAX this week will get a chance to get some early play. Bethesda has stated that they will have a total six kiosks setup which they will offer for play, showing off the still in-development title.

Hopefully at least a few reviewers will get a chance to tinker with it and give the rest of us an idea of how the game is feeling so far. With the release date only a few months away, it should be a fairly accurate picture.

They'll also be hosting a public demo and other content, all in an attempt to generate more interest and hype on the game. The title has a lot to live up to, but so far Bethesda has responded warmly to the existing fan base. This includes working to remain true to the Fallout nature, which sometimes includes controversial content. I am certainly looking forward to release day.

Far Cry 2 isn’t even out yet, but a third installment of the franchise is already said to be in early development. Speaking at the Leipzig Games Convention, Ubisoft’s Patrick Redding confirmed that the game is in the “preliminary stages” and briefly discussed a possible setting for Far Cry 3.

Apparently, the team fell in love with Africa and wishes to further explore it in the new title. Redding explained that while the Far Cry 2 engine is flexible enough to handle other environments, sticking with the African setting in further games is likely to “save time.” It’s way too early to speculate but hopefully that saved time will allow them to work on the narrative and new gameplay elements.

In the meantime, however, fans of the series already have a game to look forward to, as Far Cry 2 is expected to debut sometime this fall on the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.

Nintendo is celebrating a milestone with Wii sales, as the console recently managed to break one million units sold – in Canada. While Nintendo's worldwide sales of the Wii are around the 23 million mark, having over a million sold in Canada is encouraging to Nintendo and the future of the Wii. Canada has a population just under 34 million, so you can assume that one out of every 34 Canadians now owns a Wii.

That's a pretty good ratio, and has the Wii one-upping the PS3 and Xbox 360 in Canada still. It also demonstrates a considerable growth in gaming adoption in Canada. These sales figures are a welcome bit of good news for the company, as opposed to the discovery last week that Nintendo was once again getting sued over their incredibly popular console.

Left 4 Dead, Valve and Turtle Rock’s upcoming survival horror zombie shooter, was originally set to launch on November 4 but has been pushed back by a few weeks. Though fans will be disappointed, the delay is a small one, with the game now expected to hit the U.S. on November 18 followed by a European release on November 21.

News came from Valve’s marketing chief Doug Lombardi, who pointed out that Valve delayed the launch for “fine tuning” and not because of the crowded fall season which will see popular titles such as Fallout 3 and Gears of War 2 debut. Left 4 Dead is based on the Source engine that powers Half-Life 2 and should hit both the PC and the Xbox 360 on launch day. Check out a short preview of the game here.

If you're a fan of Starcraft you've likely been eagerly awaiting the release of Blizzard's successor to the extremely popular RTS. Following the original announcement over a year ago, Blizzard has released small tidbits, including trailers, but not much in the way of specifics about gameplay. A lot has changed recently, and after demoing the latest addition to WoW, Blizzard showed off how far they've come on Starcraft II.

Offering gamers actual playtime, people were able to get a feel for it. It definitely has had a lot of development time sunk into it. The little playtime offered was enough to get a scope on how the game will feel, and so far the verdict is that it is remaining true to what people remember from Starcraft.

There wasn't much commentary on the 3D graphics used in the game, but from what screenshots show it looks suitable for the atmosphere of Starcraft. I certainly am looking forward to more.

Earlier this year rumors began to emerge that Microsoft was working on a motion sensing controller for the Xbox 360. While there’s been no official confirmation from the company, the aptly named “Xbox 360 Fanboy” site is now reporting that a “source close to Microsoft’s marketing department” told them about not only a $199 price cut for the console (which has been rumored before), but a motion controller pack-in too.

The new bundle will purportedly include the new Fall dashboard update, a 512MB memory card, as well as a selection of mini games developed by Rare designed to work with the new controller. Apparently the motion sensing controller will also be sold separately and be compatible with all existing models of the Xbox 360.

The bundle is expected to be released in time for the holiday season of 2008. Now obviously this is merely a rumor at this point, but it isn’t beyond the realms of possibility given Microsoft’s intentions to push into more casual territory.

In a move that has the potential to bring accurate global sales information to the gaming community, a new alliance has been formed between four industry leading market research firms – GFK (Europe), Chart-Track (UK), NPD (US) and Enterbrain (Japan) – to cooperate in providing a monthly “Top Global Markets Report.”

The reports are based on software point of sale data from the world’s three largest games markets and will track titles, unit sales, share, dollar sales and other stats. The first Top Global Markets Report reveals that Grand Theft Auto IV is the biggest seller this year to date, with a total of 6,293,000 units sold despite being released in late April and only in two of the three monitored regions.

The Nintendo Wii accounted for the second, third, and fourth best-selling games with exclusive titles Super Smash Bros. Brawl (5,433,000), Mario Kart Wii (4,697,000) and Wii Fit (3,604,000), while Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock rounded off the list with 3,475,000 units.

In a series of announcements this afternoon at the Leipzig Games Convention, Sony not only revealed it would begin shipping a new PSP model soon. The company also announced plans to introduce a new $499.99, 160GB PlayStation 3 bundle as well as a Wireless Keypad add-on for the console.

The bundle, slated for release in November, will include the game “Uncharted: Drake's Fortune,” as well as a voucher to download “PAIN” from the PlayStation Network. This marks Sony’s highest capacity PS3 to date and also confirms rumors of a new SKU that have been swirling around following the announcement of a new $399.99 model with 80GB capacity.

Also available in November will be the new wireless keypad, which mounts over the top of the PlayStation 3 controller and adds a full QWERTY keyboard that is operated with the thumbs. While a similar peripheral has been available on the Xbox 360 for some time, Sony's offering is different in that it can also double as a touch-sensitive pad to provide a mouse-like input on the screen just by gliding the finger over the keyboard itself.

One area where Sony's gaming division is excelling in is the PSP. No matter which way you look at it, the PSP is doing great, and Sony wants it to do even better. Thus they have announced that within the next few months a new model will be available.

The PSP-3000 doesn't have any cosmetic changes to it, but under the hood has some significant improvements. They've added a built-in microphone, upgraded the display screen and made Skype a default package with the unit. The microphone probably has something to do with the inclusion of Skype.

The PSP-3000 was originally rumored early this year, around March, though wasn't “officially” confirmed until just recently.

How much is PC gaming worth? Just what size industry are you supporting when you buy a new game? A pretty considerable one, with the PC Gaming Alliance stating that PC gaming raked in over $10.7 billion in 2007. That's a big chunk of change. More interesting than the large amount of money poured into PC gaming, though, is where specifically that money is coming from. Apparently less than a third of that actually came from people buy games off the shelves – but nearly half of it came from online gaming.

The subscription fee model is clearly working well for companies that employ it, with $4.8 billion of that 2007 figure being attributed to it. Another $2 billion was generated through digital distribution, such as Steam.

No matter which way you look at it, the sign is clear – PC gamers want to spend their money online more often than not, and it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest to hear that 2008 was the year in which digital distribution overcame retail.

Electronic Arts has announced it will finally drop its hostile $2 billion bid for rival video game publisher Take-Two Interactive today, after the latter repeatedly spurned a $25.74 per share offer it deemed too low. EA’s decision stems from the fact that it is now impossible for a takeover to be completed in time for the lucrative Christmas shopping season, but they are not discarding a deal further down the road.

With no chance to add the immensely-popular “Grand Theft Auto” franchise to its roster before the end of the year, EA will reportedly take a second look at its offer price. Interestingly, Take-Two has offered due diligence to review and discuss “strategic alternatives,” with them planning to present EA with a three-year product release schedule, financial projections and other nonpublic information meant to support its claims of what the company is worth. Ever more it seems that an eventual deal is likely; it’s just a question of when and at what price.

More console sales figures have been released, this time for July, and once again they put Nintendo in a positive light. The Wii and the DS both still continue to sell very well, the DS most of all, selling more units than any other console on the market today. The Wii didn't do as well but came close, selling more than twice the number of PS3s and Xbox 360s, at over a half million.

Unfortunately for Sony, they actually saw a sales dip. July netted them a little over 221 thousand PS3 sales, which gives them a “middle of the road” look. PS3 sales actually went down about 45% compared to last month, but even so they managed to best Microsoft by a small amount.

Depending on the estimates you look at, Nintendo is still enjoying a comfortable lead at nearly 23 million Wiis sold, Microsoft just under 20 million and Sony still floating around the 11 million mark. Sony's “blockbuster” titles really came too late last year and this year, impacting severely their sales. Impulse buy or not, Nintendo's low-cost console continues to impress.

Rock Band 2 is slated for an exclusive Xbox 360 release on September 14. Those who were planning on enjoying the early release while saving money with the special edition bundle are in for a major disappointment, though, as it now appears that the bundle has been pushed back by over a month to October 19.

Interestingly, that is the same day the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and Wii versions are set to arrive. Harmonix’s special edition bundle – which includes the microphone, drums, guitar and game disc – costs only $199.99, while the separate instruments and game add up to a total of $249.96. No reason has been given for the delay as of yet, but we can probably expect the game to have a slower launch on the Xbox 360 this way – then again, maybe not.

Following years of delays and setbacks, Spore, the latest brainchild from SimCity and The Sims designer Will Wright, has finally gone gold and off to manufacturing – thus confirming what we heard last week. The PC and Mac release is slated to hit U.S. retailers on September 7, but already you can download the creature creator utility to start building your own characters for the much-anticipated evolution game.

A slightly less ambitious version of the game, dubbed Spore Creatures, is arriving for the Nintendo DS on the same day while Spore Origins for the iPhone should launch on September 4. Meanwhile, another high-profile game from publisher Electronic Arts got an official release date today. Crysis Warhead, the standalone follow up to last year’s graphical stunner Crysis, is set for release in the U.S. on September 16 and Europe on September 12.