The latest news regarding the Vivendi and Activision merger has come in. It looks like the new company called Activision Blizzard has been given the go-signal by the European Commission. To find out more, head on over to the full article.

The Tony Hawk video game franchise is already a winner in itself, but Activision, Neversoft, and Tony Hawk still saw it fit to do some overhaul in the franchise's direction. Dubbed as the "Tony Hawk Innovation Plan," what can fans expect from this move? Read more in the full article.

In a presentation to industry analysts, Electronic Arts' president Frank Gibeau has announced that they will be releasing sequels for both Skate (Xbox 360, PS3) and Mass Effect as well as a new Burnout game. If you want to find out more, head on over to the full article by clicking on the "read more" link below.

In order to extend its success to 2008, Activision has several plans and a healthy line-up of games. Among its steps to make more money is innovating with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater to compete against Electronic Arts' successful Skate. Learn more about this at the full article.

Just when we thought we needed to wait a week more for the much awaited Devil May Cry 4 demo for the PlayStation 3, we've got news for all of those wallowing in disappointment. The DMC4 demo has gone via the PlayStation Network along with other releases. Check out complete list after the jump!

Video Games Live, the premier video game concert event, is performing at this year's Video Game Awards from Spike TV. The event, which will mark the group's television debut, will be aired on December 9 at 9:00 p.m. The group will perform some hits from their world touring event and other new material. They will also be releasing their Greatest Hits album in the future.

When a gaming company manages to churn out a hit franchise, we'd most probably think that they hit paydirt, like what Activision did when they came up with the Guitar Hero series of games. However, the benefits of coming up with a great title may be a bit of a bane as well.

According to analyst Mike Hickey from Janco Partners, the emerging competition resulting from Activision's Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk franchises may prove to be "damaging for growth prospects".

Of course, when talking about Guitar Hero's and Tony Hawk's competition, it can only mean Harmonix' Rock Band (for the Xbox 360, PS3) and EA's Skate (also for the Xbox 360 and PS3). Hickey said that Rock Band may prove to be a compelling option in the console music gaming genre, which may eventually mean trouble for Activision itself.

Hickey said that analysts are expecting the Guitar Hero series to develop and evolve with the addition of new music peripherals in the near future, which will help the franchise in staying afloat in the midst of competition.

Last week in On Shelves This Week, we saw an outstanding crop of releases across all platforms led by Folklore for the Sony PlayStation 3 and Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions for the Sony PlayStation Portable. This week, we're treated to another worthy banquet of titles hot off the studios to keep us all occupied.

Particularly noteworthy is Activision's Tony Hawk's Proving Ground which debuts on four platforms. Also good to see is Crash of the Titans finally landing on the Sony PlayStation Portable. There's a whole lot more where those two came from, so help yourselves to this week's batch!

Crash of the Titans. Crash is back and he's having his latest, larger than life showdown with the diabolical Dr. Neo Cortex. This time he shows off just how big he can be on the Sony PlayStation Portable as he flexes his platforming prowess.

• Sony PlayStation Portable - October 16, 2007
• US$ 39.99
• ESRB E (Everyone) 10+
• Sierra Entertainment

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Game of the Year Edition. One of the most critically-acclaimed games on the Sony PlayStation 3 will have a special release this week. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Game of the Year Edition includes the Knights of the Nine and The Shivering Isles expansions for a more immersive experience than ever.

• Sony PlayStation 3- October 16, 2007
• US$ 59.99
• ESRB M (Mature)
• Take-Two Interactive

Tony Hawk's Proving Ground. If you think that the Tony Hawk series is running out of tricks, think again. Tony Hawk's Proving Ground has more than just sweet moves, it also has a deep career mode and one of the most advanced replay editors in a game which will allow you to show your stuff online. Get your pads and helmet because this one's ready to roll this week.

• Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS- October 15, 2007
• US$ 59.99 (Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation 3), US$ 49.99 (Nintendo Wii), US$ 29.99 (Nintendo DS)
• ESRB T )Teen)
• Activision

* Article originally posted on October 15 at 12:32 AM

Buy: [Tony Hawk's Proving Ground (DS, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360)]

The M33 team has rolled out another update for their Custom Firmware (CFW) 3.51 M33 which adds quite a few functionalities that users have been asking for. In addition to this, they've also fixed a couple of bugs which prevented users from running some games.

Among the improvements include a few updates on the M33 NO-UMD driver, such as a bug fix which now allows games such as ATV Offroad Fury Pro, Steel Horizons, Tony Hawk's Project 8 to run on the firmware, and an improvement on the speed loading time.

Another addition to the firmware is its ability to now autodetect ta-082+ with brightness problems and correct it. Now, you should know that these display issues were found with the 1.50 kernel. Here are a few more of the changes in the CFW:

• Wlan fix is now done differently, patch is done in 3.51 kernel before going to 1.50 one.
• For those that don't read the readme file: we never would include in our files a sony prx! The fix was and is done simply with code. The 3.40 mention was to notice that the problem It was not a M33 bug, but a problem caused by Sony.
• 4th level of brightness enabled on 1.5 kernel too now.
• An option has been added to recovery, "Hard Reset on 1.50 homebrew." Use this, only if the wifi fix doesn't work with your psp still. It makes homebrew boot a bit slower.

So there you have it. kudos to the M33 Russian development team for their additional work on this one. As an added note, if you have the time and a little spare cash, the M33 team is accepting donations and have a link for that on their own site which you can access through our read link.

And finally, the usual warnings for beginners: This is custom firmware. Beginners are advised to do their research before attempting to install this. You could seriously mess up your PSP if you botch this up.

Thanks to Ryan F. for the news!

Download: CFW 3.51 M33 update #7

Loyal QJ fan and talented homebrew dev Xaniseth has released PSX Icon Pack v.1.00 for the PSP. This app has all the icons and backgrounds in the proper resolution and saved as .PNG files. When using a program such as Popstation GUI you can simply choose from Xaniseth's pre-prepared icon sets.

This is not the complete game set for all PSX games but Xaniseth plans to include all in time. The ones you will find here are the more popular titles. If you have a fave icon from a not-so popular game, Xaniseth says he does accommodate requests and will try his best to put it in his next update.

The partial list of icons included in PSX Icon Pack v1.00 are:

• Final Fantasy (7 and 8)
• Tony Hawk Pro Skater (1,2 and 3)
• Tekken (2 and 3)
• Syphon Filter
• Metal Gear Solid Integral
• Chrono Cross
  

Download: [PSX Icon Pack v1.00]

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UPDATE: Here's the next update to the PSX Icon pack; it's been upgraded to version 1.01. Compared to v1.00 this has far more icon and background sets - over 60 compared to v1.00's 24! You just need to unzip this folder into the folder where your favorite PSX ISO converter resides and enjoy.

Xaniseth's also got plans for this icon pack; he says that he plans to add all the Sony SLUS codes and hopefully a front end combining a Popstation GUI type program with a drop down menu system. Stuff to look out for, eh?

Thanks Xaniseth! This is a great way to start 2007!

Download: [PSX Icon Pack v1.01]