Some are estimating that the next generation games will cost up to $60 million to develop and one publisher is already expresing concerns over current generation costs. Activision boss Bobby Kotick is suggesting that unless there’s a price cut for the PS3 the company might have to reconsider supporting the console: “I’m getting concerned about Sony; the PlayStation 3 is losing a bit of momentum and they don’t make it easy for me to support the platform.”

He suggests that if the price for the console doesn’t drop the attach rates will diminish, following that line of thought with: “if we are being realistic, we might have to stop supporting Sony. When we look at 2010 and 2011, we might want to consider if we support the console – and the PSP [portable] too.”

Considering the as-yet untapped potential of the console and Sony’s insistence that their strategy is long term, things could still be turned around, but if enough publishers and developers shift their efforts elsewhere the console could founder before it has the chance to take off, though I doubt this is actually going to happen. This could very well be nothing more than posturing to achieve some greater concessions from Sony in their business arrangements.

It’s growing steadily and is getting a huge foothold in a substantial marketplace: China. In 2008 the online video games market in China grew by 63% to reach $2.8 billion. Analysts at Pearl Research are expecting this trend to continue, with a projected market of over $5.5 billion in the next four years. Industry members attribute much of this growth to the rising popularity of social networking sites which make it easier for users to be introduced to new games, which in turn gets them bringing their real-world friends on board.

The three most popular games are all of Asian origin, two being from Chinese companies and one a Korean company. World of Warcraft however holds a strong foothold on the market with one million users. Some might attribute the greater popularity of the other games over Western-world dominating WOW to cultural bias, but it seems some of the appeal of the other titles could be simply financial as all the other titles are less graphically intensive than WOW and thus require less computer upgrades.

Take Two also revealed that worldwide, the sales of GTA 4 are evenly distributed between the PS3 and Xbox 360, whereas in the US, where it has sold 5.5 million copies, the Xbox 360 version leads the PS3 by over a million games.

Take Two did not reveal how many copies of the “Lost and Damned” expansion were sold, but analysts have estimated that over a million have already been sold, and that it will sell another million by the end of October, when Take Two’s fiscal year runs out.

Most of the people making these predictions though either have a vested interest in saying so (like working for Apple) or aren’t involved in the industry (business analysts). Nintendo has insisted that they’re not concerned about the mobile gaming industry, saying that they in no way designed the DSi as a competitor for the iPhone or other cellphone gaming devices.

David Yarnton, general manager of Nintendo UK said that in designing the system the company left out many features they could have included, planning on keeping with their approach of letting the software sell systems. “We could have added lots of things, but then you become a jack of all trades, and a master of none. One of the things we are really honest about is that we stay faithful to our roots, of being a games company. The most important criterion is to make sure that what we’re offering can do the best games.”

He’s also warning people already that systems will be in short supply come this holiday season.

How can I tell that the game has an agenda, you ask?  Well, it’s not tough.  Basically, you have two options–hand out bags of loot or slap petitioners for cash upside the head.  Seriously–your buttons are “bag” and “slap”, with accompanying sound effects. Meanwhile, at the bottom of the screen is a bar, ostensibly the economy.  You watch as your choices cause the bar to go up and down.  It’s interesting that most of the time, when you hand out large wads of cash to businesses, the bar goes down, whilst handing out the loot to homeowners (who ask for relatively little alongside the corps) usually makes the bar trend up.

Circumstancial evidence, you might say, indignantly.  All hearsay!  Well, if you still don’t think there’s an agenda from my admittedly roundabout proofs, how about this quote about the game’s description?

Punish greedy fat cats and save honest peoples! Hand out moneys to homeowners. Put the hurt on dudes in suits! Do it right and save the world!

Agenda?  Oh yeah.  The problem with this, of course, is that the agenda was the overmastering point of the game, to the point that they forgot to make a game.  If you play it exactly as described, you will win. The economy will recover.  Try it in a contrarian fashion (back the businesses) and it’ll be bread lines for all.  It’s a bad sign when they actually tell you how to win in the game’s description, and doesn’t make for much fun.  I like a hint when I’m stuck, not when I walk in.

The most important thing for us as a company in the very short term is for us to start making money.

Reeves added that the company is on track to be profitable as they promised back in March last year. Sony still loses quite a lot of money on every PS3 sold, and has to rely extra much on the games sold. With Killzone 2 to slated for release next month, it should be a lot easier to turn a profit — no matter hos big or small — the last fiscal quarter.

Back in December, the developer/publisher closed it’s Austin studio and simultaneously cut their workforce by 25% — some 180 jobs.

Sony released a short statement saying “We do not plan to announce additional restructuring measures at this time. We don’t have any such plan”. Analysts are betting the other way, though.

The machines include other stuff travelers might find useful: headphones, SD cards, batteries, digital cameras and so on.

It might seem like a big loss on each console sold, but keep in mind that the original PlayStation 3 (without the new hardware) cost Sony almost $700 to manufacture.

Isuppli also notes that the newest PS3 version is a lot simpler to make, having only 2820 individual parts, as opposed to a first gen PS3 with a whopping 4048 individual parts. They expect Sony to break even on the PS3 sometime in 2009.

Midway currently faces $240 million in debt, according to an SEC filing, with $90 million owed to Redstone’s theater business National Amusement. The company currently has 20 days to notify investors of the control change, with creditors getting 30 days to demand payment.

If creditors do demand their money, Midway will be in deep excrement, with the company stating that “it would not have the ability to satisfy its obligations to repay these amounts.”

To aid their precarious financial situation, the company has brought on analyst firm Lazard to “assist it in the evaluation of strategic and financial alternatives available.”

He would not offer any details on the supposedly lower piracy rate, nor how Sony gathered data on piracy. The system itself has been pretty popular in recent months, especially in the US where it is outselling its big brother – the PS3.

“There’s certainly people that are standing up and fighting for what we consider the good side, the rights of developers and publishers to make money on their IP,” he observed. “And then there’s certainly the other side that believes that they can take as warranted. It’s kind of been nice to see other consumers going and help and fight the battle for us.”

Konami revealed that the game moved three million units since its June 12 debut, pushing their PS3 business to 57.3% of its total sales in the quarter ending June 30. The figure is a massive improvement over the same period last year where PS3 sales accounted for just 1.3% of sales. The company added that sales of the game are still “steadily increasing.”

We learned of Peter Jackson’s Halo project back at X06, and we haven’t really heard much since. Fortunately, a new job listing has been posted by Microsoft seeking a Creative Director, Producer, Game Engineers and others for a “new experience in the Halo universe.” Microsoft has since confirmed that the new employees will indeed be working along side Peter Jackson on his new venture.

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GRID, a TOCA Touring Car series video game developed by Codemasters, will be seeing in-game advertising by eBay Motors. In order to receive part upgrades for your car, you’ll have to revisit the eBay Motors storefront.

It does get kinda annoying seeing constant brand names pop up in your face when you’re playing a title that you already purchased. Isn’t enough that you shelled out the money to buy the game in the first place? But then again, it’s always nice to see that investors are lined up for ad opportunities in video games, which will only make the production value of the game greater and further fuels the industry.

Read (Next-Gen)

But then again, isn’t it the parent’s responsibility to make sure what your child is allowed and not allowed to do in the world? There are plenty of violent movies that are running ads in the CTA, and I’m sure a lot of them contain more adult themes than Rockstar’s creation. Movies can be sneaked into, and can usually be watched without parents even knowing. But video games are played at home most of the time, and it’s unlikely that a kid will be able to purchase a full-priced retail game without a help of an adult.