Today Sony announced they will be launching a 40GB PS3 in Japan on November 11th, a year to the day after the console was initially launched in Japan. The new 40GB PS3 will have a few changes changes from the units currently available including no memory card reader or backwards compatibility and will be short two of the four USB ports, which sounds just like the model recently announced for the UK.

Love golf? Love Mario and Luigi? Then rejoice, Nintendo fanboy. This is your lucky day. Mario Golf isn’t just for the TV screen anymore. Now you can enjoy it on your desk too. Choose from either Mario or Luigi. They come with a Famicom style remote that controls the swing using the A and B buttons.

No collecting coins, or jumping on turtles here. No final showdown with Bowser. These guys are on vacation and just want a relaxing game of golf. Both Mario and Luigi are 3″ tall and require 2 AAA batteries. Each comes with 2 balls and a hole.

Microsoft has released an official announcement confirming rumors from earlier this week that Bungie Studios, developers of Halo, and Microsoft will be parting ways and Bungie will become its own independent company.

Bungie and Microsoft together have brought the Halo franchise, exclusively for the Xbox 360, to the gaming phenomenon it is now with “Halo 3″ which recently brought in over $300 million its first week out. This move will allow Bungie Studios to continue to build on their success and expand their games to other non-Microsoft platforms such as Sony’s PS3 or the Nintendo Wii. According to Harold Ryan, studio head for Bungie, it doesn’t sound like they announcing plans to jump the Xbox 360 ship quite yet, however.

It looks like Nintendo is trying hard to avoid a repeat of Wii remote control injuries like it had last fall and has now started to ship a Wii Remote Jacket accessory with every new Wii remote purchased.

The new clear silicone sleeve fits over the remote control and aside from just giving you a better grip it also gives any unintended targets of a flying Wii-motes a fighting chance with it’s padded covering. This is the third addition/modification Nintendo has made to the safety features of the Wii remote after beefing up the straps and adding a clip.

Since its launch last November the Nintendo Wii has consistently been the leader in the latest-generation game console sales and has been simultaneously behind the curve in having enough consoles to meet consumer demands.

In a recent interview with the San Jose Mercury News the Nintendo of America CEO Reggie Fils-Amie admitted that the company is not likely going to meet demands through this holiday season, either.

It’s no secret that Sony needs to pep up sales of the PlayStation 3. Nintendo’s Wii and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 continue to outsell the PS3 and as the holiday season starts to approach Sony needs to do something to get its console on the Christmas wish lists of kids. But what could they do? For starters how about introducing a cheaper PS3?

Check out these inflatable boxing gloves intended for use with the Nintendo Wii. They even come with a little pump so you don’t have to wear yourself out blowing them up before your bout. Inside you can grip the Wii Remote and Nunchuck controllers in each hand and have at it, giving you a little bit more realistic feel during on your boxing game. Just be sure not to get too carried away and hit anything around you, or each other for that matter.

Whether you’re a gamer or not it’s hard to ignore the recent build-up to what just might be the largest game rollout in history – the release of Microsoft’s “Halo 3″. Any closet hardcore gamers in your office could very possibly be outed on Tuesday as more than 10,000 retailers across the nation plan to be open at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday morning for the launch. Retailers participating in the Halo 3 “Midnight Madness” include Best Buy, Circuit City, Game Stop, Wal-Mart and more. Most of them will also be hosting special promotions along with the launch.

You don’t need to frequent one of these popular gaming retailers to catch some of the hype, though. More than likely you’ve already been exposed to the Halo 3 nation through places like Burger King or 7-Eleven who have Master Chief plastered on their products. Even NASCAR is getting into the frenzy with the No. 40 car at the Dover 400 Nextel Cup Series race featuring a Halo 3 paint theme in today’s race.

With billions of dollars up for grabs all based on the perception of who’s winning the next gen console war is it any wonder that representatives from Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft will use every chance they get to drop sales figures to the press? The latest salvo comes from the big M touting their Xbox 360 horn. According to gaming mag Next Generation Microsoft has sold 11.6 million consoles in 37 countries and more 360 games have been sold (24.3 million units) than all of the PlayStation 3 and Wii games combined (19.8 million units.) The company’s Xbox Live service is the largest social network in the living room with 2.6 million IM, text and voice messages sent over the service every day. To underscore their bragging rights, a new Xbox Live subscriber joins the network every 8 seconds.

Microsoft also provided the top ten most played Xbox Live games, the most downloaded demos and the most popular arcade downloads. We’ll show you the top ten most played Xbox Live games but to find out who made the top of the charts for the other two you will have to follow our link to the source site after the jump.

The PlayStation 3 needs a killer game. Fighting with low sales (Nintendo’s Wii currently sells more units than the PS3) and increased competition from Microsoft (“Halo 3″ is easily the biggest game for the fall/holiday season) Sony had been hoping that its “Home” social gaming network would be ready for the fall and generate some needed excitement amongst gamers. Unfortunately for Sony “Home” isn’t ready for a Q3 launch and has been moved back now for a spring 2008 debut so that it can “improve product quality.” Citing the need to make environments that fulfill the needs of America, European and Asian gamers, Sony chief executive Kazuo Hirai said “We aim to launch this as something that can meet expectations of people all over the world.”

LucasArts has announced that its sending The Force to Nintendo in early next year by providing Star Wars – The Force Unleashed for the Nintendo Wii. We all know just how much Nintendo is already dominating the game consoles market and this will certainly help them along.

The Force Unleashed will of course take advantage of the Wii’s motion sensitive remotes letting users wave the Wii Remote as a lightsaber as we all have dreamed of doing at one point or another. (I can’t wait to hear it make that signature swooshing sound effect.) The Nunchuk controller will also take part giving you another hand powered with The Force.

Once again, Nintendo appears to be the clear leader in game console sales for August beating out rivals Microsoft and Sony, according to the latest NPD numbers for United States sales in August.

The Kyoto-based company last month sold 403,600 Wii game consoles, along with 383,200 units of the Nintendo DS handheld game console. According to the Financial Times, the Nintendo Wii is now also the number one best selling “next-generation” game console in the world, pulling ahead of …

While it may look like a painted-up controller for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 it is in fact made for the Nintendo Wii. This is the Thrustmaster T-Wireless NW controller and it’s designed for play with the older, classic video games that are being ported for play to the Wii generation.

You get about 30 feet of play range out of it and you can customize the keys, mini-sticks and the D-pad for whatever function you desire. There are also two unusual buttons that will help you get better scores with your Miis: a turbo bottom which you only need to press once to get the same action as repeated button mashing; and a slow button which, if you can guess, slows the on-screen action down when reaction time is of the essence.

It looks like Brando might have beat Nintendo out of the gate with their own Wii controller “tommy gun” configuration. This Wii 2 in 1 Light Gun from Brando looks a lot like the Zapper that’s expected to be released by Nintendo in November, which will ship along with a Crossbow training game.

This version from Brando is available now and is listed at $18, $2 under the expected price of the Zapper but with no game. But, unfortunately we’re still going to have to wait a little longer for the Wii games to come out that take advantage of this plastic mold.

What true Nintendo fan’s room would be complete without a Mario Kart clock radio at their bedside
? This little rendition of Mario racing is his go-cart is an actual working alarm clock with an LED display across the front.

It comes complete with an AM/FM radio which allows you to wake up to the radio or a buzzer, and of course Mario’s smiling face, each day.

Unfortunately this item is currently sold out, but the novelty site selling the clock radio states that its looking for more sources, so if you find one somewhere …