Microsoft has finally fessed up--Nintendo's Wii has won this generational battle in the console wars.

In a reversal of its "we're winning if you don't count the Wii" policy, the company behind the Xbox 360 has acknowledged the success of Nintendo's sold-out, remote-waggling wonder box and instead declared victory over rival Sony and its PlayStation 3.

In his best PR voice, Microsoft VP Don Mattick told BusinessWeek, "I'm not at a point where I can say we're going to beat Nintendo ... [but] we will sell more consoles this generation than Sony."

As of March of this year, worldwide console sales are listed below. Since then, the Wii has come close to 30 million sold and the PS3 has topped 14 million, but Microsoft has not released numbers for the same period.

1. Wii - 24.45 million units
2. Xbox 360 - 19 million units
3. PlayStation 3 - 12.85 million units

Codemasters has provided the first screenshots of Asobo Studios' open-terrain off-road racer FUEL. The screenshots show the game's "alternate present" world where climate change has ravaged the planet's climate and racers compete for fuel.

FUEL will include a variety of locales, like forests, mountains and deserts, and both two-wheel and four-wheel racing. Codemasters promises the globally-warmed title will arrive in 2009 on PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.

Though many celebrate consoles for bringing video games into the mainstream, developer Lorne Lanning believes that consoles are holding the industry back due to rising development costs.

"I think the consoles are a problem," he told GameDaily BIZ. "Years ago I was excited about consoles, but anything that makes development more expensive, rather than better, faster, cheaper, I think is a step backwards."

The creator of console titles such as Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee (PC, PSX) and Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath (Xbox), Lanning sees the PC market as more exciting because the platform allows "for more smaller games to be sold that can be delivered to anyone who's connected at much lower price points."

He added: "There's a big difference between spending $50 or $60 on a game and hoping I love it and buying a game for $5 and then buying additional content for that game, so by the time I have invested $50 in it I really love it and I've personalized it a lot more to what I'm interested in."

Curiously, Lanning makes no mention of the cheap downloadable games that are available to PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii owners. While full-fledged console titles are usually priced between $40 and $60, downloadable releases are typically priced between $5 and $15, with more content often available post-release.

Update: Dead Space is not yet banned in Germany, as the game is still under review at ratings board USK, according to Eurogamer.de. (Link is in German.)

Original Story: EA Redwood Shores' sci-fi survival horror title Dead Space, which was recently pushed up twice for finishing early, has hit a snag: the game has been outright banned from sale in Japan, Germany, and China, reports Destructoid relaying the Dead Space site.

According to the report, publisher EA has not yet announced whether or not it will re-work the game for release in those countries. On our shores, the game is still set for its new early launch date of October 14 on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. A PC version will arrive on October 20.

Germany is no stranger to video game censorship, as the country often receives versions of games with violent content toned down. China is also moving in a similar direction, but Japan--a country that produces violent games like Capcom's Resident Evil and Dead Rising--may come as a surprise to industry watchers.

Next week's downloadable Rock Band songs will add three new tunes from metal rockers All That Remains to the multi-instrument musix game, developer Harmonix today revealed on its message board.

Per usual, Xbox 360 owners will gain access to the tracks next Tuesday, September 9, with PlayStation 3 gamers receiving the pack the following Thursday, September 11.

All That Remains 3-Pack (All Master Tracks)
• This Calling
• Chiron
• Two Weeks

The entire bundle will sell for 240 Microsoft Points ($2.50), while each track will be available for individual purchase at 80 Microsoft Points ($1).

Two of the tracks--"Two Weeks" and "Chiron"--hail from the band's new album, which hits September 16. Until that date, those two songs will only be available via Rock Band.

Microsoft Europe today announced a new program that will allow select members of the Xbox Live community to see upcoming films before their theatrical debut.

Known as the "Xbox Live Film Club," the initiative steams from a recent partnership with Paramount and will launch with a special sneak preview of Tropic Thunder, which hits the United Kingdom on September 19.

By following the entry guidelines on the official site, UK Xbox Live members can win the chance to see the film early. While Microsoft allows Xbox Live members to stream movies from the online Xbox Live Video Marketplace, winners will need to attend a real-life event instead of enjoying the unreleased flick from their living room.

Presently, the Film Club program is not available for Xbox Live members in North America, though Shacknews has contacted Microsoft for more details.

Continuing its wave of Guitar Hero World Tour announcements, publisher Activision today revealed that beloved bands Tool and The Police will be featured in the game.

Along with the below on-disc tracks, the multi-instrument music title will sport a specially-created Tool venue, made with the help of the band and said to highlight the "art style that has become a staple in their music videos, live shows and album artwork."

• Tool - "Schism"
• Tool - "Parabola"
• Tool - "Vicarious"
• The Police - "Demolition Man"

In addition, The Police vocalist Sting will be a playable character in the game.

Bringing drums and vocals to the once guitar-only franchise, Guitar Hero World Tour arrives on PS2, PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii this fall. Vicarious Visions is handling the Wii release and Budcat is on the PS2 edition, with Neversoft doing the PS3 and 360 entries.

Five years is virtually an eternity in gaming years, but that hasn't stopped analyst Michael Cai at Parks Associates from looking that far into the future and predicting that online-enabled consoles like the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii will generate $8 billion in revenue in 2013, as relayed by Gamasutra.

Cai sees growth in digital distribution services for games and videos as well as "avatar-based microtransactions" for services like Xbox Live avatars, PlayStation Home, and subscription fees for Xbox Live and console MMO games.

Underpinning all that growth will be an ever-increasing user base with broadband internet connections. The report notes that Microsoft currently leads the online market with the successful Xbox Live Marketplace, but Sony and Nintendo may catch up in the near future with their respective marketplaces PlayStation Store and Wii Shop Channel.

Online sales on consoles are currently in the hundreds of millions but rapidly expanding. Microsoft, for example, made $180 million in the last year. Counting digital sales on PCs, Electronic Arts earned $90 million in just three months. Meanwhile, across the entire PC market, digital distribution was worth nearly $2 billion last year.

THQ sends along this new Red Faction: Guerilla (PC, PS3, X360) trailer, showing how the ability to destroy buildings and other environmental objects can be used to take out enemies.

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In development at Volition, Red Faction: Guerilla will be released early 2009.

Another trailer for EA Black Box's skateboarding sequel Skate 2 (PS3, 360) has arrived, which puts amateur skateboarding and set construction action to the tune of Public Enemy's "Harder Than You Think."

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Rockstar San Diego's oft-postponed racer Midnight Club: Los Angeles (PS3, 360) has suffered yet another delay, publisher Take-Two Interactive announced today.

Once slated to arrive on October 7, the game's release has now been pushed until October 21. In a conference call today, Take-Two CFO Lainie Goldstein explained that the delay was due to marketing reasons.

In related news, a new trailer for the latest Midnight Club game was released today as well, meant to highlight the many customization options available to virtual gearheads.

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EA Redwood Shores' sci-fi survival horror effort Dead Space will arrive in North America even earlier than was once expected, with the game now slated to hit PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on October 14, followed by a PC release on October 20.

Created in part by Iron Man and X-Men writer Warren Ellis, Dead Space was originally scheduled to hit in late October. However, the game was finished early, prompting EA to reschedule the console versions for an October 24 release in Europe.

It had been speculated that the game would arrive earlier in North America as well, though EA had offered no official word on the subject until today.

King of Fighters '98, the arcade and Neo Geo brawler with a cult following, is coming to the Xbox 360 via the online Xbox Live Arcade service.

The game was recently re-released in Japan as King of Fighters '98: Ultimate Match on the PlayStation 2, and that version will be the one headed to XBLA, according to SiliconEra. The newest version of the game sports extra characters and balance changes for competitive players.

The SNK Playmore-developed remake does not have a release date, but it will appear at the Tokyo Game Show in October.

Death Tank, once a mini-game in Lobotomy Software's PowerSlave for the Sega Saturn, is coming to Xbox 360's Xbox Live Arcade, as was hinted by Germany's software ratings board.

Now developed by Snowblind Studios, the game is a two-dimensional multiplayer shooter a la Worms, but made real-time instead of turn-based. Lobotomy staffer Ezra Dreisbach, who is credited with the development of Death Tank, now works at Snowblind.

The digitally-downloadable revival will support four players on the same console and up to eight players online. A release date and price have not yet been announced, but the game's first screenshots were released by the studio today.

Rock Band developer has Harmonix has followed up on its previous announcement regarding the ability to import songs from the first Rock Band disc and play them in the sequel, due September 14 on Xbox 360 and later this season for PlayStation 3.

Only three of the tracks from the first Rock Band will not be playable in the sequel, the studio revealed on its official forum. As was previously estimated, the ability to export songs from the RB1 disc onto the hard drive and play them in RB2 will cost 400 Microsoft Points ($5) due to licensing fees.

That fee only applies to songs from the original Rock Band, with all previously released Rock Band downloadable content already compatible at no extra charge.

The ability to purchase the license and export songs from Rock Band is now available within the Xbox 360 version of the original, following an automatic that was released today. The following Rock Band disc tracks are not available for export:

• "Paranoid" as made famous by Black Sabbath (Cover)
• "Run to the Hills" as made famous by Iron Maiden (Cover)
• "Enter Sandman" by Metallica

As a result, the following 55 are all exportable under that $5 transaction:

Main Set List (covers denoted by asterisk)

• Rolling Stones, "Gimme Shelter"
• Mountain, "Mississippi Queen" *
• Deep Purple, "Highway Star"
• The Who, "Won't Get Fooled Again"... Read more

With the long-rumored Ninja Blade now officially unveiled, publisher Microsoft has provided new screenshots and higher resolution takes of older shots from the game.

An Xbox 360 exclusive set in a realistic recreation of Tokyo, the From Software-developed action title will see players defending humanity from "a horrific, genetically mutating disease," according to Microsoft, when it arrives next year.

Following up on the first two trailers, a third glimpse of the impending Max Payne film has arrived courtesy Yahoo, providing another tease of Hollywood's latest video game-to-film adaptation.

Inspired by the Remedy Entertainment-developed PC shooting series of the same name, Max Payne hits theaters in the United States on October 17.

Capcom's survival horror / action Resident Evil series has sometimes been known for unconventional control schemes, but the fifth time might be the charm.

The newest entry in the series will feature a control scheme inspired by Epic's successful Xbox 360 shooter Gears of War, as reported by Kotaku.

The feature wouldn't be the first one for Resident Evil 5 to be borrowed from its chainsaw-wielding, gore-fest cousin. The sequel will also sport 2-player, drop-in / drop-out co-operative play, and Gears' trademark cover system.

The now Gears-esque Resident Evil will debut on March 19, 2009 on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

The price cut tag gets a warm welcome today as Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb has finally confirmed what has circulated the retail world for several weeks: the Xbox 360 will soon be cheaper.

In line with previous predictions, the new prices are as follows:

• Xbox 360 Arcade (No Hard Drive): $199, down from $279
• Xbox 360 Pro (60GB HDD): $299, down from $350
• Xbox 360 Elite (120GB HDD): $399, down from $449

The price cuts are effective Friday, September 5. Meanwhile, eyes are on Sony to see if it will respond in kind. The rival console maker has denied that it will lower prices on its PlayStation 3 system this year, but hardware manufacturers often slash prices in response to competitors' cuts.

The price cut tag gets a warm welcome today as Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb has finally confirmed what has circulated the retail world for several weeks: the Xbox 360 will soon be cheaper.

In line with previous predictions, the new prices are as follows:

• Xbox 360 Arcade (No Hard Drive): $199, down from $279
• Xbox 360 Pro (60GB HDD): $299, down from $350
• Xbox 360 Elite (120GB HDD): $399, down from $449

The price cuts are effective Friday, September 5. Meanwhile, eyes are on Sony to see if it will respond in kind. The rival console maker has denied that it will lower prices on its PlayStation 3 system this year, but hardware manufacturers often slash prices in response to competitors' cuts.