"I Think Apple Rolls The Console Guys Really Easily"

Valve CEO Gabe Newell believes that their Steam Box living room PC will face its fiercest competition from Apple rather than the likes of Microsoft and Sony.

Look, shiny thing! And it's going to be the best, brightest, most shiny thing there is...until the iPad 5 comes out in a matter of weeks months.

Yes, it's time to start frothing at the gills with excitement, Apple fans! There's a new iPad on the horizon, and it's got ludicrous amounts of space inside.

Apple has blown the lid off the long-rumoured iPad mini, a slimmer tablet with a 7.9 inch screen, along with the fourth generation iPad.

Microsoft's Steve Ballmer has pledged that his company will "leave no stone unturned" when it comes to the technology battle with Apple, adamantly stating that Microsoft will look to engage in all mediums, across all platforms, to ensure strong competition.

David Darling, Codemasters' co-founder and Kwalee CEO, has pointed towards the relationship between console platform holders and retailers, saying that a reliance on traditional retail partnerships will lead to console extinction in the face of far more flexible business structures from Apple and Google that actually serve consumer needs.

Hardware manufacturer Acer's senior VP and president for Europe, Middle East and Africa has rained a little on Microsoft Surface's parade, casting doubts over the chances of success for Microsoft's upcoming tablet, and expressing concerns over Microsoft's focus, whic hcould have a knock-on effect for partners such as Acer.

Microsoft may be close to revealing a new tablet device if the machinations of the rumour mill are to be believed, with the Xbox manufacturer touted to unveil their new gadget as soon as June 18th.

Peter Molyneux, along with Mediatonic's Dave Bailey, has suggested that the industry leaders are under serious threat from the likes of Apple, and it's mainly down to laziness.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has suggested that the company is "not interested in being in the console business", at least as far as traditional gaming is concerned, but that he does consider Apple to be a large player in the games industry now, and sees growth in that area as inevitable.

Robbie Bach, the former president of Microsoft's Entertainment & Devices Division, spoke out at the end of last week at the Northwest Entrepreneur Network, crediting some of the success of the Xbox gaming brand in general to a series of "really not so smart things" conducted by their chief rival in the industry - Sony.

Valve's respect for Apple is a matter of public record, and rumours of a collaboration reached fever pitch when reports placed Apple CEO Tim Cook at Valve's Washington HQ last week. However, Gabe Newell has spoken out to squash the rumour flat.

Fallout 3 Fan Art Site Hit With Cease & Desist

Today brings us news of two new lawsuits levied against major companies. Apple has been sued for making it too easy for children to rack up enormous bills on the App Store, while Ubisoft has been accused of stealing the idea for the Animus device from author John Beiswenger.

And, depressingly, a Fallout fan site has been threatened with legal action for hosting high-resolution original artwork. We've got all the details below.

Eleventh hour rumours prophesied that today wouldn't mark the unveiling of the iPad 3, rather, they suggested Apple would be rolling out an incremental upgrade called the iPad HD. These rumours turned out to be half right, with Apple CEO Tim Cook revealing "the New iPad" during this evening's press conference. This powerful new device doesn't have a numerical suffix, but it does absolutely cane its predecessor in performance terms thanks to beefy dual core processor. What's more, Apple also brought a new Apple TV and iOS 5.1 along to the party - full details below.

Apple has announced a major press event for March 7th, which proclaims that they "have something you really have to see. And touch.” It's being held in the same venue as last year's iPad 2 reveal, so the smart money's on the iPad 3 finally breaking cover after months of rumours and speculation.

Not content with simply being the world's most valuable company, Apple smashed through the $500 dollar share price barrier yesterday, with the end of the trading day having seen the iCompany's stock finish on £502.60.

Apple now have a market capitalization of roughly $465 billion, which is 17 percent more than Exxon Mobile's $400 billion. The two of them had been leapfrogging one another in the bid to be the world's most valuable company, but off the back of huge sales for the iPhone 4S and the iPad 2, Apple are leading the charge.

When 1000 games industry professionals are surveyed by the London Games Conference to discover who they feel is the most influential person in gaming today, you might expect Shigeru Miyamoto or Gabe Newell to top the list. However, it appears that a whopping 46% voted Steve Jobs into a top five position, implying that Apple have had a greater effect on the gaming industry than any other company. The Apple iPhone also romped ahead in terms of gaming products with a 53% vote - trouncing the Wii, original PlayStation and Steam.

Can this be right? Yes, probably. The rise of apps and mobile/tablet gaming has created an entirely new and massively profitable ecosystem that's open to everyone from indie studios to AAA titans alike, and there's nowhere to go but up. We've rounded up the results below if you're interested, and we'd love to get your take on it.

But It's The "Wrong Philosophical Approach"

Apple have made great strides into low-cost gaming thanks to the overwhelming success of the App Store, and many pundits believe that they're perfectly placed to make a foray into the mainstream. Gabe Newell, CEO of Valve (and utter legend of the highest order) is among them - and he "suspects" that they will launch a living room-centric product that will oust the notions of dedicated consoles. However, he also believes that closed platforms are the "wrong approach" to gaming that will backfire in the long run... and that a hypothetical Steam console would let its games release on competing services. We've got the full quotes and story below.

On paper, the short answer would appear to be yes.

These are trying, testing times for the Big N, and there are those in the dark, dank corners of the internet who are no doubt muttering 'I told you so' and tittering to themselves, mumbling things about how the company deserved a dip in fortunes after the runaway betrayal success of the Wii, prophesying no small amount of doom and telling anyone who'll listen that the Wii U will be gimmicky, underpowered (by the time it releases) and will be a massive commercial failure and that the 3DS is best used as a door stop.

On that last point, they may well be right at the moment.

The 3DS is a big problem for Nintendo, as witnessed by the rather humbling tumblings in share prices, an aggressive price cut to try and stem the decline in sales and Satoru Iwata's shouldering of responsibility. Time was when Nintendo would have sealed up tight, raised the drawbridge and stood impassive against critical hysteria, implacably plodding on and doing their own things. Perhaps Iwata's brave public acknowledgement of mistakes that were made show a company finally prepared to accept, and have fully realised, the dangers posed by other emerging systems such as iOS.

With the 3DS, however, Nintendo got it wrong even before release, and there's a danger of them falling into the same trap with the Wii U. Marketing a new product, particularly one that you wish to portray as innovative and groundbreaking, invariably requires public demonstration. This was something that Nintendo managed particularly well with the Wii, something that Microsoft picked up on eagerly with Kinect too: letting people experience what it meant to embrace motion control - getting up off of your ass and having a really good time.

Xbox co-creator Seamus Blackley has suggested, in the latest edition of EDGE, that the rampant success of games on iOS and social networking platforms such as Facebook has not spelled doom for the console industry...rather it has underlined a 'total victory'.

Many years ago, Bungie created a seminal FPS starring a heroic Mjolnir Cyborg who had to defend humanity from a ravening alien hegemony. Wielding powerful rechargable armour, assault rifles and scoped pistols, he was a one-man army; capable of ultilising different weapons and tactics against the extraterrestrial menace on massive, sprawling maps. At his side was a rampant AI that provided him with mission objectives and guidance... and throughout the ensuing trilogy, players discovered a terrifying array of ancient technology left by a forerunner race that pre-dates the universe.

But we're not talking about Halo. We're talking about Marathon, which Bungie released on the Mac back in 1994. This trilogy not only provided the template for the Halo franchise, but delivered a gaming experience that was literally years ahead of its time.

Before we get stuck into exactly why Marathon was so revolutionary, it's worth noting that you don't have to take my word for anything you're about to read. Bungie officially classified the trilogy as open source, and the Aleph One project hosts the entire series as free downloads with Windows compatibility and high definition texture packs. Download it here, and while you're waiting, it's time we gave Bungie's epic space opera the credit it deserves.