Since the iPod’s release in 2001, Microsoft’s consumer electronics have often lagged behind Apple’s with respect to technical innovation and style. In order to put a stop to this trend, Microsoft has invested a huge amount of capital into researching promising consumer electronics technologies.

At the All Things Digital Conference, Microsoft showed off the fruits of its renewed concentration on this space when it previewed an exciting new touch screen technology. This technology will be incorporated into PCs through Windows 7, which will utilize a multi-touch interface that allows users to stretch, move, or rotate objects with their fingers. Windows 7 is scheduled to be released in late-2009.

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Weeks after the closing of EA-land, formerly known as The Sims Online (TSO), the head of the Sims Division at EA is hinting at a multiplayer future for this popular life-simulating strategy game. Isn’t she, like Merlin, getting the timeline backwards?

Surely the bestselling computer game of all time would have experienced a smoother transition from single- to multiplayer, especially a game with a social needs bar; friendless Sims end up moping around on the couch and experiencing Social Bunny hallucinations. Yet TSO was poorly received.

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“You either have to be first, best, or different.” Sound advice to follow. Since it took me as long as Tommy Boy to graduate from college, I’ve realized I’m going to have to be something ‘different.’ For example, I start off everyday wearing flaming red boxers with airplanes on them.

So when Strauss Zelnick, Chairman of the Board of Take-Two (Rockstar Games), publicly entertains the idea of creating a rhythm game, I’m forced to wonder what type of boxers Take-Two is going to put on its new title. What will make this one stand out from Guitar Hero, Rock Band, Dance Dance Revolution, and the other popular rhythm franchises that have beaten Rockstar to the punch?

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The same criticism of Metal Gear Solid 4 is present in nearly every review, and these complaints are nothing new to the series.

Since Metal Gear Solid’s debut in 1998, the franchise has carved a niche as a solid espionage action title with an involving and, at times, overly complicated narrative. It has drawn in hardcore escapists, but always deterred those gamers who didn’t want to take notes in hopes of making sense of the painfully complex storyline or wait through cutscenes that sometimes are as long as feature films.

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Last week, Activision announced that it has been the root cause of over 10M minor cases of post traumatic stress disorders around the world associated with the most recent installment of its incredibly realistic FPS franchise.

Call of Duty 4 has sold over 10 million copies across all game platforms.

Activision would not break down the sales by platform, but they did report that CoD4 has sold the most copies on the Xbox 360. Oorah!

Since 2000, there have been a few other games to reach this landmark number of sales, such as GTA: San Andreas and The Sims 2. According to many industry insiders, Grand Theft Auto IV and Wii Fit will sell this many copies as well.

“It’s a very souped-up Playstation 3,” or at least that’s what David Turek, vice president of IBM’s supercomputing programs, said about his company’s newest baby, The Roadrunner. “We took the basic chip design [of a PS3] and advanced its capability,” said Turek, speaking about the computer’s use of a modified version of the PS3’s lauded “Cell” microprocessor.

Roadrunner is effectively twice as fast as IBM’s last record breaker, the Blue Gene.

Sadly, the Roadrunner won’t ever be used for the noble pursuit of gaming; instead, Roadrunner will be relegated to mundane tasks such as simulating nuclear explosions and mimicking the human brain. Yawn.

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Debrief: ladies and gentlemen, this man is Jason Bourne, the world’s most highly trained assassin. This $30 million dollar amnesiac is now completely in your control. Oh yeah, and his game, The Bourne Conspiracy, kicks ass.

The Bourne Conspiracy – on both the Xbox 360 and PS3 – puts you in the shoes of Jason Bourne as he fights, shoots and drives through the best actions scenes of the first film, The Bourne Identity. While we get to relive those moments in fine, bone-crunching fashion, we are also invited into Bourne’s past. “Interspersed throughout these familiar missions are playable flashbacks that hark back to the time before Bourne’s amnesia when he had no qualms about leaving trails of bodies and bullets en route to his objectives” (Chris Watters, GameSpot).

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