Hey, I'm back! At the risk of repeating myself...good lord is it ever nice to be online again. Thanks to Maarten for covering for me last week while I was Internet-deprived. And hey, what a week it was! Metal Gear Solid was announced for GameCube (from Silicon Knights nonetheless) a new Pilotwings was rumored (supposedly from Factor 5), those brave souls at Infinium revealed new plans to try their hands at a console again, GTA3 and Vice City are finally Xbox-bound, and new Metal Slug and Samurai Shodown games were confirmed. Victoly!! Alright, enough banter. Let's get to some hardcore, uncensored news. Oh yeah, baby.

	MGS3 at E3! IGN is reporting that Konami of America has confirmed that Metal Gear Solid 3 will definitely be shown at E3. Well...jeez...okay then. This show just gets better and better by the day. Note that no platforms have been announced yet, so this may be out for all three, or just one, or two, or...you get the point.
	Sega/Sammy Merger in the Can? A report from Bloomberg Japan surfaced over the weekend, claiming that Sega has decided to merge with Sammy after all, declining Namco's offer. A final announcement should come out soon, regardless of which one they have decided to go with.
	Another Handheld Gaming System? Well gosh, here's a surprise...another company is trying their hand at handheld gaming...this time the company is known as Tapwave, and their system is code-named "Helix." Full details aren't available yet, but what is known is that the company is backed by Sony, Motorola and Yamaha, and runs on the Palm operating system. Game publishers that have committed include Activision, Infogrames and Midway. We should know more about this Real Soon Now.
	Price Drops Confirmed? bosst0ne posted a comment last night that may lend credence to the buzz that price drops are imminent...he says his store received marketing materials advertising the Xbox and PS2 for $149 and GameCube for $99. These aren't official yet, but it's looking very likely that such price drops will be announced next week at each company's pre-E3 press conference.
	Xbox Live Upgrades Next Week? While details are totally unknown at this point, it is known that next week Microsoft will announce the final pricing for Xbox Live. Well according to a Reuters report, along with that will come substantial upgrades to the Xbox Live system, including new multimedia features and the ability to use the Xbox Communicator to conduct voice chats independent of any games.
	Next Dead or Alive This Fall The shockers keep coming tonight...Tecmo has announced that they will be holding a "Dead or Alive fashion show" (okay, now tell me what image that conjures up?) at E3 to celebrate the DoA series, and announce the next game, which will apparently be released this fall. Hopefully this is a full game and not a retread of some kind.
	Game Boy Demos on GameCube Demo Disc Some very cool news tonight for GameCube/GBA owners...according to IGN, the upcoming freebie GameCube demo disc will include playable demos for Wario Ware and Nintendo Puzzle Collection which can be downloaded to your GBA via a link cable.
	Shenmue III at E3? Games Are Fun points out a teaser in the latest issue of the Official Xbox Magazine (UK) that says Shenmue III will be shown at E3. As this was left off of Sega's recent E3 list I'm not jumping all over this yet, but if it's true, this could turn out to be the best show in years (as if it already wasn't looking that way).
	First GT4 Screens The first scanned (and subsequently blurry) screenshots from Gran Turismo 4 can be found at Games Are Fun tonight as well as in the GranTurismo.com forums.
	First Turtles Shot Revealed Also at GAF tonight is the first scanned screenshot from Konami's new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles title, and surprise! It's cel-shaded.
	Sony's E3 Site Sony has launched their official E3 2003 site, which has details and media for most of the major PS2 games that will be at the show. Note that these are all previously announced titles, so don't go here looking for GT4 info, because that game won't be announced until next week.
	Capcom's Revised E3 List On Friday IGN posted an updated list of games Capcom will be showing at E3. A list had been floating around the web last week, but this is slightly different, as Resident Evil 4 will not be shown, regardless of what the original list said. Plenty of other titles will be shown however, including Steel Battalion Online, Resident Evil: Outbreak and Maximo vs. Army of Zin.
	New Oddworld at E3 A teaser image has been posted over at the official Oddworld Inhabitants web site, hinting that their next game will be shown at E3. Is this the long-forgotten Hand of Odd which was talked about in the earliest days of Munch's Oddysee's development, or something entirely new? We'll know next week for sure.
	SOCOM 2? Here it is...your obligatory online retailer rumor of the evening...GameStop is taking pre-orders for SOCOM 2, saying that it will be released this October. Take this with a whole lot of salt. Update: You can spit out that salt, apparently the new issue of EGM has a preview, complete with screenshots.
	New Star Fox Grounded? Computer and Video Games is reporting that Star Fox: Armada, the Namco-developed Star Fox title that will be shown at Nintendo's booth next week, will feature third person action outside of spaceships, like Star Fox Adventures before it.
	Logitech Releasing PS2 Headset According to GameSpot, Logitech has announced plans to release a new USB headset for PS2 later this month. This is basically an improved model of the one that shipped with SOCOM, and with any luck this will cause more developers to support the device.
	Misc. Media Just a handful of stuff tonight: GameSpot has new shots from Star Wars: KOTOR (Xbox), IGN has new shots from Silent Hill 3 (PS2) and Games Are Fun has new shots from Dino Crisis 3 (Xbox) and a new commercial from Capcom's insane Viewtiful Joe (GC).