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Chuck Palumbo is backstage at Smackdown tonight. There was also a leprechaun roaming around backstage. He is going to be a sidekick for Fit Finlay…

Tonight at the Smackdown tapings in San Diego, Calif., Super Crazy won the three-way no. 1 contender’s match over Kid Kash and Nunzio. He then had a faceoff with Gregory Helms after the win…

sharkscott writes to tell us that LXer’s Don Parris took a few minutes to get Kevin Carmony’s response to the large amount of criticism he has been taking over offering non-free software in Linspire. From the article: “Essentially, Carmony’s position is that, in ten years of holding out, the FOSS community has made relatively few gains, in terms of convincing vendors to release libre codecs and drivers. In other words, the strategy doesn’t seem to be working. Additionally, while some will be patient, most users would prefer to have something - anything - that works in the meanwhile.”

Roger Clemens says he’s not getting the itch to play baseball yet, but he says he thinks his family is warming up to the idea.

Filed under: Nintendo DS, E3

If you thought Reggie was skilled at assaulting posteriors and acquiring names, you’d best beware of the author of one highly comprehensive fact sheet that was pulled from Nintendo’s press website. A tipster sent us the document in question and, upon reading the list of currently planned titles and their projected release dates, we experienced something that could best be described as a seizure of delight. If the epic list is to be believed, zany courtroom adventure (and DS Fanboy favorite) Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is receiving a sequel in October. The rest of the document also contains a bunch of unannounced titles (none of them from Konami) and some specific release dates, including one for Star Fox DS. Another click will take you to the complete list. Trust us, it’s a good read.

[Thanks, Ryan F!]

Activision

Over the Hedge[TM] May 2006
X-Men[TM]: The Official Game May 2006
Marvel[TM]: Ultimate Alliance Q4 2006
Activision Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam[TM] Q4 2006

American Game Factory

Miss Spider: Harvest Time Hop and Fly May 2006
Strawberry Shortcake: Strawberryland Games Q3 2006
Cartoon Network Grand Prix Q4 2006
Code Lyoko Q4 2006
Garfield: Tale of Two Kitties Q4 2006

Atari

Arthur & The Minimoys November 2006
Totally Spies! 2 (working title) November 2006

Atlus

Contact July 2006
Deep Labyrinth Q4 2006

Bethesda Softworks

Star Trek Tactical Assault Fall 2006

Buena Vista Games

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest June 2006
Disney’s American Dragon: Jake Long Attack of the Dark Dragon August 2006
The Suite Life of Zack & Cody August 2006
Spectrobes September 2006
Chicken Little: TBD October 2006
Disney’s The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventure October 2006
Hannah Montana October 2006
That’s So Raven: Psychic on the Scene October 2006
Disney’s Herbie November 2006
Disney’s Kim Possible: Global Gemini November 2006
Meteos: Disney Edition November 2006
Disney’s Meet the Robinsons March 2007

Capcom

Mega Man ZX September 2006
Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney 2 October 2006

Codemasters

Micro Machines(R) V4 June 2006

D3

Break’em All July 2006
Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi: The Genie and the Amp July 2006
Fossil League D.T.C. Q3 2006
Dreamworks Flushed Away October 2006
Warlords Champions Q4 2006

Destination Software

Risk / Battleship / Clue / Connect 4 / Trouble / Sorry October 2006
B-17 Flying Fortress / Silent Running November 2006
Lionel Trains - On Track Q4 2006
Princess Natasha: “Student ~ Secret Agent ~ Princess” Q4 2006
Uno / Uno Skipbo / Uno Freefall Q4 2006
Uno 52 Q1 2007

Eidos

Tomb Raider Legend September 2006

EA

Madden NFL ‘07 August 2006
Superman Returns June 2006

Kemco

Spy Vs Spy: M.A.D (Mutually Assured Destruction) Q4 2006
Top Gear: Downforce Q4 2006

Konami

Lunar Knights: Vampire Hunters November 2006
Xiaolin Showdown November 2006
Castlevania Portrait of Ruin Fall 2006
Death Jr. and the Science Fair of Doom Fall 2006
Marvel Trading Card Game Fall 2006
My Frogger Fall 2006
Steel Horizon Fall 2006
Winx Club: Shadow of the Phoenix Fall 2006
Winning Eleven Pro Evolution Soccer Spring 2007

LucasArts

LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy September 2006

Majesco

Dino Master May 2006
Cooking Mama (working title) Q4 2006
Mech Assault: Phantom War TBA 2006
Monster Bomber TBA 2006

Midway Games

Happy Feet Q4 2006

NAMCO BANDAI Games

Point Blank June 2006

Natsume

Harvest Moon DS June 2006
Freedom Wings July 2006
Puzzle de Harvest Moon (working title) August 2006

Nintendo

New Super Mario Bros.(R) May 15, 2006
Big Brain Academy[TM] June 5, 2006
Magnetica[TM] June 5, 2006
Sudoku Gridmaster June 26, 2006
Tenchu(R): Dark Secret[TM] Aug. 21, 2006
Mario[TM] Hoops 3-on-3 Sept. 11, 2006
Mario vs. Donkey Kong[TM] 2: March of the Minis Sept. 25, 2006
Pokémon(R) Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team Sept. 18, 2006
Star Fox(R) DS Sept. 25, 2006
Children of Mana(R) Q4 2006
Clubhouse Games[TM] Q4 2006
Custom Robo[TM] Arena Q4 2006
Elite Beat Agents[TM] Q4 2006
Magical Vacation (working title) Q4 2006
Pokémon(R) Ranger Q4 2006
The Legend of Zelda(R): Phantom Hourglass  Q4 2006
Yoshi’s Island(R) 2 Q4 2006
Diddy Kong(R) Racing DS Q4 2006
Hotel Dusk: Room 215[TM] Q4 2006
Chibi-Robo[TM]: Park Patrol TBA
Kirby[TM] TBA
Archaic Sealed Heat TBA
DK[TM]: King of Swing DS TBA
DS Air TBA

SEGA

Charlotte’s Web Q4 2006

SNK

SNK VS CAPCOM: Card Fighters Clash October 2006

Square Enix

Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime September 2006
FINAL FANTASY III September 2006

Summitsoft

Mini RC Rally May 2006

Telegames

Ultimate Brain Games TBA
Ultimate Card Games TBA
Ultimate Puzzle Games TBA

Ubisoft

Open Season September 2006
Rayman November 2006

Vivendi Universal Games

The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning October 2006
Crash Boom Bang! October 2006
Eragon November 2006

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Conflicting reports continue concerning Rolling Stone Keith Richards’ fall from a palm tree on Fiji. While the New Zealand Herald reported he had two brain surgeries, and possibly sustained brain damage, the Rolling Stones deny it.

The Stones’ New York-based publicist, Fran Curtis, issued a statement denying a report in the New Zealand Herald that Richards, 62, had undergone two surgeries since his accident and that doctors were concerned about brain damage.

“Keith Richards did not undergo a second operation. The first and only operation was done on Monday, May 8, and was 100 percent successful,” the band’s statement said. “There was no brain damage. He continues to improve as expected.”

Background here.

Visit ESPN.com for the complete story.

Filed under: Nintendo DS, Action

Yesterday at their press conference, Nintendo officially announced that, among many others, Star Fox is coming to the DS. Already rumored earlier this week, the now-confirmed Star Fox DS will utilize the touch screen to “draw the routes they and their teammates will take, then battle the enemies they encounter as they take over bases and strategically advance across the map.” We are hoping it features the title’s rich history for colorful quotations, including:

• “Fox! Get this guy off me!”
• “Thanks, Fox. I thought they had me.”
• “Gee, I’ve been saved by Fox. How swell.”
• “Slippy’s not such a screw-up after all.”
• “You’re not getting away that easy!”
• “Do a Barrel Roll!“

Star Fox DS will take off in late September.

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Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, E3, MMO

One genre was conspicuously absent from Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft’s E3 press conferences — the humble massively multiplayer game. We at Joystiq are on the lookout for innovation in MMOs, and what better platform to push the genre to its limits than next-gen consoles? Yet few developers seem to be taking the bait.

While some console MMOs are under development, the PC is definitely the platform of choice, and nothing we saw at the keynotes has changed that. With the investment in connected online services for the next generation of consoles, it’s a surprise that the MMO isn’t getting any attention. Perhaps translating gameplay to console platforms is holding developers back, or perhaps it’s just too early for the genre to come into its own. Either way, it will be interesting to watch the few console MMOs that are launching soon, as well as Final Fantasy XI, to get some hints of what the future holds.

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Filed under: PC, Adventure, Online

Joystiq reader Danno has pointed out that, according to the Sam & Max F.A.Q., gamers will not need a GameTap subscription (a correction we need to make for the better of society): in fact, the title will still be available as a download via TellTale’s main page in the same manner in which Bone is currently offered.

The F.A.Q. further offers some tidbits about the voice acting (which is not being done by any Sam & Max veterans — “Take a few minutes to stomp your feet and swear at us. We’ll wait.”), their decision to work with GameTap (”They’re giving us the freedom to make the games Sam & Max deserve”), and their decision to work in 3D (series creator Steve Purcell’s day job).

We’re excited; the title is due out in the fall and a downloadable trailer is purported to hit the internet on Thursday — be sure to check it out for some old-school adventure action.

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Bush’s ship is sinking into the ocean. He’s fallen so far, The New York Times reports he may not be able to reverse the damage. He continues to lose support among his base as well as Democrats and Independents. According to the new CBS-New York Times poll,

Mr. Bush’s approval rating for his management of foreign policy, Iraq and the economy have fallen to the lowest levels of his presidency.

….Mr. Bush’s overall job approval rating hit another new low, 31 percent, tying the low point of his father, George H. W. Bush, in July 1992, four months before the elder Mr. Bush lost his bid for a second term to Bill Clinton. That is the third lowest approval rating of any president in 50 years; only Richard M. Nixon and Jimmy Carter were viewed less favorably.

There’s also good news for Democrats:

Filed under: Sony PSP

While everyone’s still reeling from the PS3 price announcement, UK gamers who want some shiny new Sony hardware before the PS3 launches are in luck. Sony has announced that the Ceramic White PSP will finally be released in Europe next Monday (May 15), with an expected retail price of £179.99 in the UK (€249).

As of June there will also be a range of Platinum UMDs, with titles like Everybody’s Golf available for £19.99 (€24.99). As if that’s not enough, a range of Lonely Planet-produced city guides, to be called Planet PSP, will arrive this autumn; also, in the near future we’ll see PlayStation Spot appearing in Europe.

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