The Mole: Enough news to choke a donkey

Wii News - Last week Nintendo finally announced the price of its new system...sort of. Officials from the company confirmed the Wii will not exceed $250 (or 25,000 Yen for those of you in Japan). The exact launch date and the titles available at launch were not disclosed.

Get Lost - Ubisoft announced an agreement with Touchstone Television to make a video game version of the hit TV show Lost. The game is scheduled to hit stores in 2007 and hopefully won't be as bad as the X-Files video game.

About Damn Time - Microsoft will finally be making an Xbox Live Dashboard update available later this week. The long awaited update (at least for me) includes the following:

- Downloading files in the background, the option to boot directly to the dashboard and friends knowing if you're idle.
- The download will take less than a minute to download and apply. Users not on Xbox Live will be able to get this update in future game releases.
- An additional Media and Entertainment menu that will include new categories for New Releases, All Media and Entertainment, Movie Trailers and Short Films, Television, Music, Sports, and More,
- Gaming Community Videos, Game Tips and Support Videos, and optional Ipod support.
- A new games option will organize your downloads, Xbox Live Arcade games, demos, and video and trailers for games.
- The new update will allow you to download files in the background while you play retail games, watch movies, and more. Users will be able to queue up to six downloads at a time, and if online multiplayer matches begin your downloads will automatically pause and start up after you're finished.
- A number of improvements along the video, music, and DVD playback front. For movies, there will be a new DVD bookmarking feature, so if you stop a movie in the middle to play a game, when you pop it back in you’ll be able to start back up where you interrupted the film.
- On the music side, if you’re browsing through your music and decide to do something else, the 360 will know where you stopped browsing. This will be particularly helpful for those who search through massive lists of music stored on their networked PC or iPod.
- The content will include imbedded software to support the upcoming Xbox 360 camera, which enables video chat and shooting pics of yourself to be used as your gamer picture.

Halo 3 - Designers at Bungie have not only been playing through a single player level of one of the Xbox 360's anticipated games, but daily multiplayer tests are going on right now. I took this off of Bungie.net:
""Paul Bertone, one of our lead designers, let us play something that blew our minds. That was single player, and from a mission very early in the game. And one that takes place before the events seen in the E3 trailer, but Lars, one of the new(er) multiplayer designers, has a regular multiplayer test in session now - that happens every day - and with surprisingly polished-looking graphics, although I'm told a lot of the textures and decorator objects are just placeholder at the moment." Does this mean Halo 3 will be ready by the PS3 launch??? I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Best of E3 - Just in case you were curious (and I'm sure you are) 38 gaming publications hand out the Game Critics: Best of E3 awards. Below are the list of nominees with winners being announced May 31. While these games aren't out yet, it gives you some ideas of titles you should be looking forward to.

Best of Show- Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft for PlayStation 3)- Bioshock (Irrational Games/2K Games for PC and Xbox 360)- Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Games Studio for Xbox 360)- Spore (Electronic Arts for PC)- Wii (Nintendo)

Best Original Game- Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft for PlayStation 3)- Bioshock (Irrational Games/2K Games for PC/Xbox 360)- Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Games Studio for Xbox 360)- LocoRoco (SCEJ/Sony Computer Entertainment for PSP)- Spore (Electronic Arts for PC)- Wii Sports (Nintendo for Wii)

Best PC Game - Crysis (Crytek/Electronic Arts for PC) - Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (Splash Damage/id/Activision for PC)- Hellgate: London (Flagship Studios/Namco Bandai Games for PC)- Supreme Commander (Gas Powered Games/THQ for PC)- Spore (Electronic Arts for PC)

Best Console Game- Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft for PlayStation 3)- Bioshock (Irrational Games/2K Games for PC and Xbox 360)- Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Games Studios for Xbox 360)- Mass Effect (BioWare/Microsoft Games Studio for Xbox 360)- Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo for Wii)

Best Handheld Game- Elite Beat Agents (Inis/Nintendo for Nintendo DS)- Killzone: Liberation (Guerrilla/Sony Computer Entertainment for PSP)- LocoRoco (SCEJ/Sony Computer Entertainment for PSP)- Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (Kojima Productions/Konami for PSP)- The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo for Nintendo DS)

Best Hardware - DS Lite (Nintendo)- Logitech G25 Racing Wheel (Logitech for PC)- PlayStation 3 (Sony Computer Entertainment)- Wii (Nintendo)- Xbox 360 Wireless Headset (Microsoft for Xbox 360)

Best Action Game - Crysis (Crytek/Electronic Arts for PC) - Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (Splash Damage/id/Activision for PC)- Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Games Studios for Xbox 360)- Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (Capcom for Xbox 360)- Resistance: Fall of Man (Insomniac/SCEA for PlayStation 3)

Best Action/Adventure Game- Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft for PlayStation 3)- Bioshock (Irrational Games/2K Games for PC and Xbox 360)- God of War 2 (Sony Santa Monica/SCEA for PlayStation 2)- Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo for Wii)- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo for GameCube/Wii)

Best Fighting Game- Heavenly Sword (Ninja Theory/Sony Computer Entertainment for PS3) - Mortal Kombat: Armageddon (Midway Games for PlayStation 2/Xbox) - Tekken: Dark Resurrection (Namco Bandai Games for PSP)- Virtua Fighter 5 (Sega for Arcade/PlayStation 3)- WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2007 (Yuke’s/THQ for 360/PS3/PS2/PSP)

Best Role Playing Game - Final Fantasy XII (Square Enix for PlayStation 2)- Hellgate: London (Flagship Studios/Namco Bandai Games for PC)- Mass Effect (BioWare/Microsoft Games Studio for Xbox 360)- Neverwinter Nights 2 (Obsidian/Atari for PC)- World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard for PC)

Best Racing Game - Excite Truck (Nintendo for Wii)- Formula One 06 (Studio Liverpool/SCEE for PlayStation 3)- Gran Turismo HD (Polyphony Digital/Sony Computer Entertainment for PS3)- MotoGP 06 (Climax/THQ for Xbox 360)- Test Drive Unlimited (Eden Studios/Atari for Xbox 360, PC, PS2, PSP)

Best Simulation Game - Microsoft Flight Simulator X (Microsoft Games Studio for PC)- Sid Meier’s Railroads! (Firaxis Games/2K Games for PC)- Spore (Electronic Arts for PC)- The Movies: Stunts and Effects (Lionhead Studios/Activision for PC)- Wii Music Orchestra (Nintendo for Wii)

Best Sports Game- Madden NFL 07 (Tiburon/EA for PS3 / Xbox 360)- Madden NFL 07 (Tiburon/EA for Nintendo Wii)- NBA 2K7 (Visual Concepts/2K Sports for Xbox 360)- NCAA Football 07 (EA Tiburon/Electronic Arts for X360/PS2/Xbox/PSP)- Wii Sports (Nintendo for Wii)

Best Strategy Game - Company of Heroes (Relic/THQ for PC)- Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth II (EA for X360)- Medieval 2: Total War (Creative Assembly/Sega for PC)- Supreme Commander (Gas Powered Games/THQ for PC)- World in Conflict (Massive Entertainment/Sierra for PC)

Best Puzzle/Trivia/Parlor Game - Elite Beat Agents (Inis/Nintendo for Nintendo DS)- Guitar Hero 2 (Harmonix/Red Octane for PlayStation 2)- LocoRoco (SCEJ/Sony Computer Entertainment for PSP)- Lumines II (Q Entertainment/Buena Vista Games for PSP)- WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Nintendo for Wii)

Best Online Multiplayer Game- Battlefield 2142 (Digital Illusions/Electronic Arts for PC)- Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (Splash Damage/id/Activision for PC)- Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Games Studio for Xbox 360)- Huxley (Webzen for PC/Xbox 360)- World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard for PC