Earlier today, Konami and Kojima productions revealed the games that they'll be taking to GamesCom. Apart from showing off what these games have to offer, the publishers also promise special presentations of the games, and maybe they'll be sitting down for interviews as well.

Speaking to Destructoid about Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition, producer Craig Derrick from LucasArts explained the motivation behind updating the game. He goes on about the main reasons for the decision, but citing digital distribution as an important factor in making the Special Edition possible, the producer adds that digital distribution itself increases interest in retro gaming.

EenVandaag, a Dutch current affairs TV program, recently conducted a survey on their youth's downloading habits. What the survey found was that a whopping 93% of the youngsters download content in a manner that most laws would consider illegal, citing the use of BitTorrent among other popular download programs.

It was a very pre-mature knock out for Britain's Ricky Hatton in his "fight" against the Pacman, Manny Pacquiao, and I say that's a darned good way to end this week in gaming news (the astounding fight, I mean, not Hatton's shocking cuddle time with the floor), which, in itself also saw an intense fight in and out of the ring. From big games' updates to last-minute reveals, this edition of the QuickJump QuickPeek is a definite winner. And we've got it all stored here for you. Quick as a flash, like the Pacman's deciding left hook.

Here's a cool fact about Smart Bomb Interactive's brand new Snoopy game, Snoopy WWI Flying Ace, it owes more to McGuyver, The A-Team and the Lego series than it does to Warhawk. Could this hint at some sort of vehicle or weapon creation and customisation aspect to the game? Are there plans for DLC? Who would win in a knock down, drag out fight to the finish between Snoopy and Lucy?

Find out after the jump!

We scored an interview with Clark Stacey, Vice President of Smart Bomb Interactive, the folks who brought us Snoopy vs. the Red Baron on PS2, PSP and PC. Clark was nice enough to answer our questions and divulge the first details of Snoopy's brand new adventure, DLC, multiplayer, gameplay mechanics, and brand spanking new screens lie just a click away!

Over at the other side of the Atlantic, some game industry observers have expressed concern that the launch of Nintendo's Wii Fit may offset the sales of Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto IV (Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation 3). Analyst Jesse Divnich begs to differ, though. He says there may be a bit of a hit early, but things shouldn't be as rough as some may think. Details in the full article.

Cheating in video games is almost as old as video gaming itself. It's never long before someone decides that he wants to take the easy way out. This would seem unfair to others who choose play by the rules of the game, however.

But what is cheating anyway? And when is it allowable, and when is it unfair?

Granted, the video game console is rapidly becoming saturated with the same genres: shooters, action, sports, sandbox. Innovation did happen, but a lot of it was stove-piped, locked within the genre rather than in the greater world of console gaming itself.

Brave is a title that bucks conventions and is willing to take risks. One more recent development was bringing the traditionally PC-centric real-time strategy genre to consoles, which until games like Full Spectrum Warrior and Battle for Middle-Earth II, were rather clunky and painful affairs. But now, we have Command & Conquer 3, and Ensemble is spinning Halo Wars up to speed.

In the same vein I'm taking another PC-centric game genre and looking at its chances in console gaming. Except this time, unlike RTS games, I'm less confident about its chances - not because it can't be done, but out of the fear that just like innovation, interests in console gaming are rather stove-piped as well. And for the most part, the console is locked to shooters, action, sports, and sandbox.

Pity, really. Consoles could be a potential breakout ground for the submarine simulator.

Thar she blows up, Cap'n. Appreciation - and cynicism - for console subsims after the jump.

 

GameInformer has scored a few more bits of information regarding the Half-Life 2 Orange and Black Boxes. According to the website, Valve's Doug Lombardi clarified that console users will only be able to purchase the Orange Box, while PC users have a choice between the two.

Both the Orange and Black Box editions of Half-Life will be available at either retails stores or via Steam (for PC users only, of course). When these editions launch, you won't be able to buy the contents separately. You'll have to buy the whole package.

Speaking of consoles, a Wii release from Valve is also something that has sparked a lot of fan discussion. While Valve currently has no Wii projects in development, Lombardi stressed that "the company was quite surprised by the interface and wouldn't rule out anything just yet."

Lombardi also cleared things up regarding the delays that have surrounded Half-Life 2: Episode 2. While a lot of people believed that the next installment was delayed to include the two other games, Lombardi said that this wasn't the case. According to Lombardi, "Nothing is done yet. Portal is the closest, but it's not done today."

Those who have already upgraded their PCs' video cards to support Direct X 10 will also be happy to find out that both Episode 2 and Team Fortress 2 will support Direct X 10. Valve also plans to include Direct X 8 support, and the company is also planning to support the older Direct X 7, but no confirmation has yet been made regarding the latter.

Some reports have pegged the release of all three versions of the packages as Winter 2007 but according to Lombardi, the current schedule is to release them concurrently in the Fall.