A five-song AFI track pack is coming to Rock Band 's in-game music store next week along with one from '80s all-female band The Bangles. Handheld rockers are also getting two new tracks; one each from Dead Kennedys and Sleater-Kinney.

This sounds grim. Speakers at the upcoming London Games Conference are forecasting that in three years' time, retail would have been outstripped by digital distribution. Not only that, but 40% of the companies in the games industry will be caught unprepared for this shift in consumer choice.

Always quick with a comment, Michael Pachter has weighed in on the rumor about Microsoft buying Electronic Arts. As far as the Wedbush Morgan analyst is concerned, the rumor doesn't make any sense at all.

First, a disclaimer: this is just a rumor, so get your saltshakers ready. All set? Okay. Rumor has it that Microsoft is gunning for a takeover of video game publishing giant Electronic Arts.

Homebrew coder indrora has released a beta version of his new app Ebooter, a homebrew replacement for PBP Unpacker that allows you to read and edit your PSP's PBP files. More after the break.


Download: Ebootr Beta
Discuss: QJ.NET's PSP Development Forums

Exciting past couple of weeks, eh? The price cuts mad rush continued on this week with Microsoft joining in on the bandwagon. Meanwhile, Nintendo's sitting prettily and quietly, choosing the status quo, because, hey, they're on top in the status quo. Wouldn't want to change a thing about that now, would you? It's also one event after the another, from E3 to GamesCom to upcoming PAX and TGS. If this does not revive interest in the industry, I don't know what will. This latter half of the calendar year is just bursting at the seams, and we've got a portion of all that action here in this nice little bundle for you stamped as QuickPeek 87.

GamesCom sure did not disappoint this week, although it did color our front page purple for the most part. No doubt about it, Sony ruled the spotlight this past week, and there's even no point saying otherwise. Fanboy or not, plain fact is that Sony was responsible for probably 80% of the gaming-related activity on the Internet this week. But not to worry, you bet you can find other big news in QJ for the 86th week of QuickJump QuickPeek! All across our blogs! Jump in and find out for yourself.

The decline will narrow, but it will continue. This is Michael Pachter's prediction for the July NPD results, foreseeing a 22 percent downturn compared to the same month last year. See what he has to say in the full article.

The Gorillaz will be headlining next week's Rock Band update with three songs being made available as DLC for the game's PS3 and Xbox 360 versions. The Wii version is also getting its own update in the form of eleven tracks taken from the Rock Band back catalog, while Rock Band Unplugged will play host to a pair of new Iron Maiden songs.

Everyone sure had a lot to say this week, from analysts to company execs, all the way to the President, and even the regular commenting folks. Action-packed is the most apt word to describe the past seven days, I believe. A lot of controversies have been courted too, and quite frankly, the gaming scene did happily oblige for some. Don't just take my word for it. See all that you missed below. You'd want to catch up on this one definitely.