It's quite an emotional rollercoaster, this week really was. Straight off from the news that the King of Pop has died, we went on to have the usual string of gaming news that rocked our own worlds.

With the usual news on lawsuits, layoffs, company shutdowns, convicted murderers over consoles, it was looking to be a sad state of affairs. Good thing we've got our own Neverland to brighten things up a bit. Unveiled teasers, confirmed new IPs, a hell lotta goodies, and the occasional comic relief, it's all in a week's work.

And now we've come to the Fourth of July weekend. Time to kick off those shoes, stretch out, unwind and celebrate. You know we all deserve it. Happy FOJ weekend, everyone!

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Gaming:

You know all those complaints about the proprietary UMD format for the PSP? They don't really matter now because Sony wasn't planning on having it as a PSP game format for very long. In fact, the plan was to release a PSP that had no UMD drive all along. That's what Sony is saying anyway. Up to you whether you believe it or not, but one thing's clear: Sony is putting all its weight behind digital distribution. I just hope it doesn't become the standard before I get a better internet connection.

Link: PSP Weekend Warrior


With Dark AleX not releasing any custom firmware versions for the official ones Sony has rolled out recently, other dev teams have come up with their own CFW releases. One of the most prolific is the team behind the GEN CFWs, who teased and promptly launched CFW 5.50GEN-B this week. We heard silence gaming-side this week, but hopefully that'll change in the next seven days.

Link: PSP Homebrew Weekend Warrior


Imagine this: You're really itching to play but your PS3 controller isn't working for some reason. You just shrug, grab some random object that's within arm's reach, and use that as a controller. Nice, huh? That's what a recently-spotted Sony patent -- one of the biggest PS3 news this week -- is suggesting.

Link: PS3 Weekend Warrior


It was another frenzied week for the Xbox 360 blog, with beat-'em-up fighters and persistent zombies taking the lead in news items. Yep, am talking about Street Fighter IV and Left 4 Dead, parts 1 and 2. On the Industry side of things, Microsoft's been relatively quiet... Oh yeah, I hear they're being sued yet again. This time for patent infringement on the XBL.


Link: Xbox 360 Weekend Warrior


Warning: The following recap may take a few minutes of your time, so reader is advised to walk over to the fridge, get a few snacks and a can of rootbeer, with which the news will taste so much better. That actually depends if you're gonna read everything, but if you really want to keep yourself up to speed in all things Nintendo, you gotta have a few snacks close by to enjoy your trip across the news.


Link: WiiDS Weekend Warrior


As predicted by the iPhone DevTeam, the iPhone OS 3.1 is coming quickly to fix the issues with 3.0, which is also one of the main reasons they opted not to release the jailbreak they've prepared. Now with the 3.1 demo out, the DevTeam warns would-be jailbreakers to stay away from the new update if they still want to use ultrasn0w. Catch the news behind the iPhone scene and plus our usual iPhone game news in this week's iPhone Weekend Warrior.

Link: iPhone Weekend Warrior

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Industry:

On the industry side of this week's QuickPeek:

We start off with grim news as 21-year-old Jonquel Brooks was sentenced to life imprisonment after shooting at four people, and killing one in the process. With the conviction of murder snugly handcuffed around his hands, he will be serving 25 years for the murder of Brant Daniels, 59 years for three counts of attempted murder, and another 25 for using a gun. Grand total of 109 years in jail. Over an alleged stolen PS2.

Link: 21-year-old to spend life in prison for murder over a PS2

Shortly after that, there came news that the late King of Pop Michael Jackson was a gamer as well. Paul Theroux of the Telegraph recounted an interview with MJ, who revealed that he loved the Mortal Kombat games. Truly a child at heart. May he rest in peace.

Link: Remembering the icon: Michael Jackson loved Mortal Kombat

Developer iD Software, meanwhile, is reported to be expanding, and in the process of putting together a new team for a new game. No concrete details as to what project this new team wil be working on, but throwing out a guess there, it may be for the mobile.

Link: iD Software expanding, putting together new team for next project

Pachter is of the opinion that by the year 2015, the Wii would be on top of the market (as if it already isn't the case), while the PS3 would have overtaken the Xbox 360 to second place. In fact, as early as the end of 2009, the Wii will allegedly have a 49% share of both the US and EU markets.

Link: Pachter: Wii on top by 2015, PS3 in second place

Much commotion was brought about by the news that the government of China has officially and finally banned the practice of Gold Farming for good. However, as soon as the next day, clarifications came out, saying painting that it's not the Gold Farming business that's being cracked down by China, but instead is the "use of the quasi-PayPal-like currencies extensively used to pay for virtual stuff.

Link: Gold Farming now officially banned in China
Link: China's gold farming ban is 'not about gold farming' after all

The NPD came out with another data earlier this week, revealing that 2009 was a good year for consoles to woo ladies. Apparently, female gamers rose from 23% in 2008 to 29% in 2009. Are there really enough "girly" games out there now to merit such attention from the ladies, or do you think they're really just warming up to the idea of playing video games so they can spend more time with their boyfriends?

Link: NPD: Gaming woos the ladies in 2009

The economic crunch still stings, even after a supposed good first half of '09. The latest casualty is the Damnation dev team, who's been reported to have been laid off following a series of unfortunate events, starting with issues with publisher Codemaster, and compounded by the lackluster sale of their game.

Link: Damnation dev team damned, laid off

After canceling the demo at the E3 2009, David Perry tries another time and succeeds in debuting his GaiKai streaming service. If all goes well according to plan, we just might see this technology running on games like Spore and World of Warcraft, as demonstrated on the show.

Link: Video: Tech demo for David Perry's GaiKai game streaming service

Unfortunately, more videogame-to-film adaptations suck than those that actually work. But nonetheless, super Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer remains optimistic that one day, Hollywood will get it right.

Link: Jerry Bruckheimer remains positive: video game-movie adaptations may still work, tasked to lure women to gaming

In time for the Fourth of July celebration is a debate to happen between Jack Thompson and gamer/ attorney Mark Methenitis. But as with all concerning JT, the preparations turned out to be not simple. This would be thanks to his demands such as being introduced with more than two sentences (I have never been introduced with 1 or 2 sentences.  Nobody can be introduced in that fashion...) and more. The debate will be happening at the SGC09. Will you be watching?

Link: Green light back on: Jack Thompson Debate to go on at SGC09

Did you think Resident Evil: Extinction ended way too quickly and without closure for your own good taste? Then worry not, because it's just been confirmed that a fourth movie will be coming out this year, courtesy of director Paul W.S. Anderson. The title: Resident Evil: Afterlife. Release date, late next year.

Link: Resident Evil: Afterlife to come out in cinemas in 2010

UK company Gfk-ChartTrack released their figures for the past 12 months reflecting the installed base of consoles in the UK. The data shows that there now exists a whopping 24 million installed base in the region, with a big chunk of the pie owned by Nintendo, courtesy of its Wii and DS platforms. Pretty much the same all over the world in that aspect, actually.

Link: 24 million installed base for UK consoles recorded

Midway is now officially the property of Warner Bros. The US$ 33 million acquisition offer of WB has been given the green light by the bankruptcy judge to finalize the buyout of fledging publisher Midway. There's still about a week left for the deal's complete closure, but all in all, it's a sure go.

Link: Bankruptcy judge okays Warner Bros. buyout of Midway

Square Enix means business with their business. A French retail store had to find this out the hard way as Squeenix sued them for selling pirated Square merchandise. It's just one store, but there's no doubt that if Square catches a whiff of other stores engaged in the same practice, they'll be going after them as well.

Link: Square Enix sues French retailer for selling pirated IP merchandise

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And that's it for another exhausting, but fulfilling week at QJ. Do join us again next week guys! Keep 'em jumping.

Enjoy your FoJ weekend!