The latest skirmish in the console wars took place this weekend, at the Mission District’s ultra-hip Foreign Cinema. That’s where Microsoft offered the gaming media a hands-on media preview of Halo 3, one of gaming’s most anticipated titles— and the company’s bid to expand their broadband audience.

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The Chinese government will begin regulating the number of hours that minors spend playing online games starting April 15. The new law requires national game providers to install anti-addiction software that warns under-18 gamers when they have played longer than three hours a day, what the government considers a “healthy” level.

Gamers that continue to play above the three-hour mark will only receive half the normal points up to five hours. After the five-hour mark, players receive zero points in addition to an annoying message every 15 minutes that reads: “You have entered unhealthy game time, please go offline immediately to rest. If you do not, your health will be damaged and your points will be cut to zero.”

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Microsoft’s Windows Live Messenger for Xbox 360, announced earlier today, might sound cool to some, but to us it seems like a ploy to sell more high-margin peripherals, like keyboards, thereby boosting company’s game division revenues. After all, that tactic has worked well for Apple and its iPod line-up.

It is a wily move by Microsoft - after all, to instant message someone you would need a QWERTY keyboard-based device, which no surprise, Microsoft will start selling later this summer at an undisclosed price as an attachment to existing controllers.

Unless the first 10 million 360 adopters upgrade their controllers, don’t expect ubiquitous IM use from them. Even then, it’s unlikely what is being sold as a game machine will transform into a secondary messaging box over night – if ever.

In the interim, gamers will need to rely on the cumbersome on-screen virtual keyboard to communicate with friends. Yeah right – trigger happy gamers are going to do that.

Former rivals Nintendo and Sega announced today a mashup title featuring the largest two franchise characters in video game history. Mario and Sonic At the Olympic Games will exclusively ship for Nintendo’s DS and Wii platforms later this year preparatory for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Granted, cross-promotional games like Square/Disney’s Kingdom Hearts and Lego Star Wars have sold well in the past, but here are five reasons why the announcement doesn’t really matter. More

In a public note to investors yesterday, GameStop CEO R. Richard Fontaine criticised Nintendo for what he believes to be managed scarcity in an effort to further balloon the buzz surrounding the hot-selling Wii. “…This is just my opinion, but I think [Nintendo] intentionally dried up supply because they made their numbers for the year. The new year starts April 1, and I think we’re going to see supply flowing.”

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After months of disavowing rumors that a souped-up Xbox 360 was on its way, Microsoft officially unveiled what was already confirmed last week: a new black premium 360 dubbed Elite. The system hits stores on April 29 at an $80 increase to $480. Usually console manufactures either keep or drop prices while adding features later in a system’s life cycle. But console manufacturers usually don’t compete alongside the even higher priced $500-600 PS3.

Outside of the new black exterior, Xbox 360 Elite ships with a 120 GB hard drive and HDMI support. Microsoft also announced new video content deals with New Line Cinema, A&E Network, the National Geographic Channel, and TotalVid to further take advantage of the larger hard drive.

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The British have gone crazy for the PS3. So much in fact that the new platform has become the fastest selling home console in the country during its debut. According to MCV, Sony sold 165,000 PS3s, or 75% of its launch stock, in the UK last week. The release is second only to Sony’s PSP which sold 185,000 units in its opening weekend back in September of 2005.

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GameSpot announced stronger than expected quarterly results today citing an increase in sales for games, consoles, and portable handhelds. The largest US gaming boutique saw its shares increase by almost 12% to $129.8 million, or 81 cents per share up from $85 million, or 55 cents per share last year. The company expects a 14-16% sales increase for fiscal ‘07 ending February 2008.

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Here are the most anticipated games out this week in terms of online awareness and purchase intent according to GamerMetrics‘ Mindshare score. Mindshare monitors traffic data for nearly 16 million IGN visitors, the largest audience of video gamers online.

Expected winners this week include publisher EA dominating total game mindshare by over 70%. PCs foster 41% of platform interest this week followed by Wii with 20% and PS2 with 15%. More

According to Digital Spy, market research firm NPD says the PS3 is selling marginally better in its first four months than the 360 did for the same period. “Figures show that the PS3 is selling slightly faster in the US than the Xbox 360 did at the same stage in its release,” an NPD spokesman told the UK publication. The news comes amid a lackluster PS3 launch across most of Europe last week.

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