Looking to go virtual bowling with your South African friends in PlayStation Home? Think again! According to a Sony representative at E3, Home will be region locked. While you can visit anyone's private apartment, all public pavilions are restricted by your geographical area.

Responding to a question at Nintendo's 2008 E3 developer roundtable about whether or not a new Pikmin is in the works, Miyamoto says he'll announce a new sequel when he's ready. Apparently he's ready now. "We're making Pikmin," confirms his translator. (Is this the megaton you have been waiting for, dear Fernando?)

Speaking at the Nintendo's 2008 E3 developer roundtable, Shigeru Miyamoto has confirmed that the Wii Music "game" disc will contain 50 songs, featuring a variety of of public domain songs, as well as licensed music. As for DLC? Nintendo is "not really thinking" about digital song distribution, instead focusing on using WiiConnect24 to share music videos.

While spending some quality hands on time with Halo Wars at E3 (hint: it's good, more on that later today), Microsoft's Jim Ying, who was guiding our demo, gave us some great news for Halo fans (there are lot of them, you know). The Covenant, the alien race hellbent on humanity's destruction, will be playable in Ensemble's upcoming Xbox 360 real time strategy game Halo Wars. The only question that remains now is whether or not the parasitic Flood will also be playable. We asked, but Ensemble isn't talking. For the moment, we'll just have to be satisfied knowing that we can finally slake the Covenant's (Grunty) thirst for blood.

SCEA president Jack Tretton has aired his feelings on Square Enix's decision to nix PS3 exclusivity for Final Fantasy XIII. During a roundtable chat this morning, Tretton said that he was disappointed by the decision, but not exactly caught off guard.

"Am I disappointed by it? Yes," Tretton told us, adding: "Am I surprised by it? No." He was quick to stress that the game remains a PS3 exclusive in Japan, but that "seeing as there isn't that big of a [PS3] installed base in [there], I don't know how big of a coup that is for us."

Speaking to the concept of paying third parties for exclusives, Tretton said that Sony has "invested so much money in the [PS3] hardware" that it simply "can't write checks for exclusive software."

Echoing statements made by Sony Worlwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida prior to E3, Tretton said that Sony's is more focused on exclusive titles from its own teams. "You've got to create platform-defining franchises that you own," he said. "It's the only way you're going to guarantee exclusivity going forward."

We had a chance to speak with newly appointed general manager of Microsoft Game Studios Phil Spencer earlier this afternoon but there's good news and bad news. The bad news: We spoke with him just a couple hours before Bungie announced that the very same Microsoft Game Studios "changed" plans to announce the game this week. The good news: We just so happened to ask Spencer about the lack of a Bungie announcement in Microsoft's press conference (as expected) and the publishing relationship with Bungie.

Spencer: "Our relationship with Bungie was always about a triple-A creative studio building content for our platform, and our working relationship brought about Halo 1, Halo 2, Halo 3 – which I think are great games. If that's the core of the relationship, creative people building content for our platforms, I don't think the relationship has changed. We have a relationship with a very talented studio who wants to create games for Xbox.

We've known about it for a while years, but it was nonetheless nice to see the next Wolfenstein formally announced for PS3 and Xbox 360 tonight. Activision, id, and Raven Software have finally shown a trailer showcasing the fruits of their collective labor – one that's over rat-a-tat-tat fast.

It was revealed that the game's most intriguing hook will be the ability to enlist the aid of underground resistance in combating a nigh-endless flood of nazis. Nazis who are attempting to rip open a hole between our dimension and one called "Shrell," which we assume is Raven's way around officially licensing "Hell."

id's Todd Hollenshead, who was on hand to introduce the quick clip, announced that more footage (and, we hope, details) will be dished out at QuakeCon on July 31.

After weeks of speculation regarding their new project, Bungie just updated their site with the sobering news that plans to announce the game at E3 "were just changed by [its] publisher." We can only assume that that publisher is none other than Microsoft Game Studios; if so, it's certainly not a promising sign for the newly freed Bungie's publishing relationship with former parent company Microsoft.

We've put requests into Bungie and Microsoft. Read Bungie pres Harold Ryan's message after the break. (Note there's no mention of the publisher; looks like they want to keep it clean).

[Update: We just heard back from Bungie's Luke "Luke Smith" Smith who tells us, "We still have an exclusive publishing agreement with Microsoft, as we confirmed when we announced the split last year. That arrangement has not changed." So, there you have it. No word back from the Big M. Update 2: Luke's keeping busy. He left two comments on NeoGAF (here and here) not only assuring skeptics that this was in fact not a part of the game's marketing plan ("not our style") and that Bungie's publisher is, indeed, Microsoft.

Update 3: Those sleuths at X3F have noticed a sort of reversal in Bungie's teasing: references to the superintendent in Halo 3 have been removed. Update 4: We interviewed Microsoft Game Studio's Phil Spencer earlier this afternoon, just before this news broke, but conveniently we had already asked him about the absence of Bungie's game at the Microsoft press conference. Read his comments here.

Update 5: Xboss Don Mattrick has confirmed that Bungie is in fact working on a new Halo title. Whether or not this unannounced project is that title is unclear. Update 6 (17 July): Mattrick tells the L.A. Times the Bungie announcements was cut to -- get this -- save time. After all, they had an "embarrassment of riches" as it was.]

Ubisoft has officially announced I Am Alive, a new adventure that forces players to "think, react and take risks that will directly affect themselves and those around them" as they navigate a Chicago "left in ruins." The game is currently targeted for release on "current generation video game consoles" during Spring 2009. Not much else is known about the title, though earlier reports suggested that Assassin's Creed producer, Jade Raymond, would be taking the reins of this disaster game.

We'll let you know as soon as we learn more. Update: Teaser trailer after the break.

BioShock for PS3 will feature "exclusive" DLC puzzle scenarios which take place outside of the game's narrative -- the DLC will be accessible through a separate section on the main menu. There is currently no release date or pricing at this time.

The BioShock DLC takes place in arena-type levels designed to look like Rapture. The scenario we saw involved a little sister stuck atop a Ferris wheel -- she needs to be rescued! The first thing that has to be done: Hit the control box with the shotgun's electric buck, causing the wheel to move a little. To move it a little more requires finding a booby-trapped room featuring an electric crossbow inside a safe. Shoot the control box with the crossbow and cut the line to give it a charge, and the wheel moves a little more. Every electric item found will move the wheel a little more until the Little Sister is saved. No other scenarios were discussed.

At their E3 press conference today, Andy Beaudoin from Zipper Interactive (known for the SOCOM series) revealed a new project called MAG, short for Massive Action Game. The game will break up to 256 human players into eight-man squads fighting each other simultaneously in a total free-for-all. Characters will be able to advance their statistics as they play. More as we get it.

At its E3 press conference today, Sony announced that, starting in September, the 80GB PS3 would be available for $399.99, down from the $499 Metal Gear Solid 4 bundle currently in place for the 80GB configuration. The newly priced 80GB system will be on par with "the current functionality of the 40GB PS3," according to Sony CEO Jack Tretton. We're not sure if this means the cheaper 80GB system will be losing functionality (like SD card readers and software PS2 emulation) that the 40GB system doesn't have, but we'll let you know as soon as we get this clarified.

After a long bout of denial, Namco finally confesses to an English language version of Eternal Sonata for the PS3. Formerly an Xbox 360 exclusive, the PS3 version will include brand-new content such as new cut scenes and characters.

Playable characters include Serenade and Crescendo, and players can now customize the look of members of their party with a variety of new outfits. New dungeons and different endings should add some flair to a tried-and-tested J-RPG. Eternal Sonata is set for a Fall release for North America.

While apparently not worthy of mention among juggernauts like Cooking Nanny Navi and Chinatown Wars during Nintendo's E3 2008 keynote, Rhythm Heaven was quietly announced on Nintendo's E3 press site today. Rhythm Heaven is, of course, the localized version of Rhythm Tengoku Gold, itself a sequel to one of Nintendo's last and greatest efforts on GBA, which was sadly never released outside of Japan. Today's confirmation (need not import!) included a fact sheet with these few tidbits:

• Players hold the Nintendo DS system sideways like a book and tap their stylus on the touch screen to the rhythm of the music. Players tap, slide or flick the stylus to hit the right beat.
• Rhythm Heaven features catchy tunes, charming characters and a wide variety of rhythm games.
• Well-known Japanese music producer TSUNKU♂ (pretentious, ain't he?) helped direct Rhythm Heaven and composed the music for it.

Rhythm Heaven's release date is currently TBA.