Are UMD movies going the way of the dinosaur? Well, Kotaku reports a rumor today from an alleged Target employee stating that at least his retailer is getting rid of the poorly-supported format.

The story goes that the employee works in the electronics section at a Target store and when he walked in today he noticed the PSP UMD movies section was missing. His boss supposedly said that Target wasn't going to be selling UMD movies any longer. This employee supposedly then called other Target stores in his city, and they also said they had pulled the disks.

So, does this mean UMD movies are going, going, gone?

Well, we reported earlier that Wal Mart may get rid of UMD sales this year and that Universal movies studios are no longer going to make movies for the UMD format.

But Target online still lists around 500 UMD movies for sale, so these disappearances from Target could just be a regional effort. Or it could be the beginning of a trend to move away from the format.

What do you guys think?

I guess people who live in Taiwan have all the luck. Well, make that Sony PSP users in Taiwan. Sony PSP users there are being offered free wireless access to the Internet by WiFly.

The deal comes from a combined effort between Qware Systems & Services, the builder and operator of the city-wide broadband WLAN WiFly system in Taipei, and Sony Network Taiwan, the operator of local Internet-access services So-net.

Back in September 2005, Sony launched its PSP WLAN services globally first in South Korea. Then, near the end of March 2006, services became available in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Right now, PSP WLAN Internet surfing is available at hot spots; but WiFly extends those services to both indoor and outdoor areas in urban Taipei, according to So-net. Note that PSP users have to use Sony's NUD (Network Utility Disc) to surf the Internet through WiFly.

According to reports, over 70% of PSP users in Taiwan have played on-line games through ADSL or WLAN. And more than 200,000 PSP consoles have been sold in Taiwan.

In a non-suprising move, Electronic Arts announced Friday that Reggie Bush will be on the cover of NCAA Football 07.

Bush, the former University of Southern California All-American running back and 2005 Heisman Memorial Trophy Award winner, was excited about it.

"This has been an amazing year for me and being chosen for the cover of NCAA Football 07 is a great way to end my college career," Bush said. "I've grown up playing EA SPORTS games and never imagined I would see myself on the cover of one."

Bush, destined to be one of the top picks in the NFL Draft this weekend, was one of the college football's most decorated football players this past season. He won the Player of the Year, Best Collegiate Running Back, 2005 Associated Press Player of the Year Award and The Sporting News Player of the Year Award. Bush started all 13 games for USC, and led the nation with 222.3 all-purpose yards per game and an average of 8.7 yards per rush. Most importantly, Bush led the Trojans to their third straight NCAA national championship game.

EA Sports said the NCAA Football 07 will feature an all-new momentum system where "big plays, defensive stops, and special teams keep you in constant struggle for momentum and can change the game at any time. Unprecedented graphics produce living stadiums that capture every moment in complete detail, including the authentic stadiums, mascots, and marching bands, making NCAA Football 07 the most realistic college football gaming experience ever."

NCAA Football 07 will be available for the first time on the Xbox 360 and the PSP system this year, and also on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in July.

Family Guy fans will probably go wild during E3 when more of the upcoming game's details are revealed. But until then, they'll have to settle for this scoop.

2K Games' upcoming game based on Seth McFarlane's Family Guy cartoon will apparently feature three playable characters, several different gameplay types, and of course, several takes on pop-culture entrertainment, according to GameSpot.

Gamers will be able to switch back and forth between three characters: daddy Peter Griffin, baby Stewie, and Brian the dog. Another cool feature is that each character will have a separate storyline. Peter will be trying to stop Mr. Belvedere from world domination. Stewie will face his rival Bertram, and Brian will attempt to escape wrongful incarceration.

Just like the show, the Family Guy game will be full of jokes about at pop culture, but these jokes will be interactive with the gamer. Gameplay has been called a mix of "combat, stealth, and puzzle-solving gameplay" taking place in Quahog, Rhode Island.

Family Guy, which hasn't been priced or rated, is scheduled for a fall release. More details will be forthcoming at E3.

Can you say "no longer PlayStation exclusive"? I hope you can, because GameReactor Denmark is reporting that the sequel to Stuntman is expanding its horizons.

These two scans are from Stuntman 2. But there are differences from its predecessor. The sequel is being developed by Paradigm instead of Reflections. And, more exciting, this time is its not just for Playstation! It’s coming to the Xbox 360, along with the expected Playstation 3 and PSP.

In Stuntman 2, you earn points by performing stunts to earn “stuntpoints” and unlock new missions.

Have you already played all of the SOCOM 3 online maps? Are you ready for a new challenge? That's the question posed in an eSEALs briefing today.

SCEA is making downloadable SOCOM 3 Map Packs available. Some of the most popular SOCOM/SOCOM II maps will be reformatted for play on SOCOM 3 The first Map Pack will include the SOCOM II classic HDD levels After Hours, Liberation and Last Bastion. For only $5.99 you'll get SOCOM/SOCOM II maps updated to support multiple game types (including respawn) and both night and day versions are available. Brand new SOCOM 3 maps are also being created and will be available for download in the near future.

Apparently, you will only be able to purchase the maps in-game by downloading to a compatible USB Mass Storage Device (like a USB Flash/Thumb drive), internal hard disk drive (40GB) for PlayStation 2, or even the PSP system in USB Mode. Of course, the length of the download time will vary based on your Internet connection and the speed of the USB Mass Storage Device used.

All players can use the maps in LAN mode but in order to use it online it has to be purchased with your current SOCOM 3 account. Once purchased, the maps can be downloaded as many times as you like, so no need to worry if you lose your USB Flash/Thumb drive. Note that these maps can only be used for online and LAN gaming, not single player.

Thanks for the tip, Keith Goldrick!

For those who think gaming's popularity is slowing down, forget it. It's booming - at least according to last year's earnings for video game retailer GameStop.

GameStop is reporting a record profit of $100.8 million for the fiscal year 2005 - $85 million of which was generated in the fourth quarter, which ended January 28. Strong holiday sales helped the video game retailer along with the October acquisition of Electronics Boutique. The retail giant earned 135% over their previous fourth quarter.

The growth is expected to continue. For fiscal year 2006, sales are projected to grow between 14% and 17%, highlighted by the anticipated launches of Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Revolution in November.

Just in case you are worried there won't be enough places to shop for your latest games and consoles, in 2006, GameStop plans to open 400 new stores, and ramp up to an estimated 600 stores in each of the next two years.

All you iPod and PSP owners now have another way to upload video and share it with others. And it's free! Macworld reports that GUBA is expanding its offerings by starting a free video upload and sharing service that automatically transcodes into different formats, including iPod and Sony PSP.

The new service lets content creators upload short films, video clips and home movies, all hosted on GUBA servers. Those videos are then available to GUBA subscribers and non-subscribers for no cost. At first, the service will be limited to 200MB uploads, but that will grow to 1GB by April, according to the company.

GUBA Upload embeds content with information you provide, including name, tags, categories and date. An individual URL is provided so you can share uploads with friends and family. GUBA restricts uploads to user-generated content; the service will not allow users to index feature-length films, for example.

GUBA users who want to download the content can subscribe via Really Simple Syndication (RSS), and the service handles on-the-fly transcoding to ready the content for playback through iTunes, on an iPod, Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP), or in instant playback on the Web browser using Flash video.

The industry's biggest conference has released it's agenda for 2006. The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3Expo) conference and workshop is scheduled for May 9-11 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The program highlights over 175 video game industry experts in the areas of business strategy, technology and creativity, and marketing analysis, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) announced today.

Some topics to be discussed include: secrets of the best-selling titles; management of business risk; mobile game opportunities; the integration of entertainment; and new trends in game development.

See the full agenda below for more info, and be sure and check the E3 wesbite daily, as speakers are continuing to be added. We're also excited to be bringing you our own coverage of E3 as QJ.NET sends its own delegation to the biggest electronics bash this year!

It's time for gamers to take a stand politically about the games we play. And now we can with the "Video Gamer Voters Network", a new grassroots political network for gamers that officially launched today at www.videogamevoters.org. The website was created as a means for American adults who play computer and video games to organize and take action on important policy issues affecting the computer and video game industry.

"Computer and video games represent one of the most important new media developments of this generation. Unlike many other forms of entertainment they offer players the opportunity to explore, be creative, learn through interaction and express themselves to others," said Will Wright, Chief Designer at Maxis. "It is vitally important that we protect and nurture this new art form so that it can reach its full potential. Like most new forms of artistic expression that have come before (music, novels, movies), the primary critics of video games are the people that do not play them."