The DFC Intelligence analyst group is back with new predictions. This time, they're forecasting what will drop for the three current-generation consoles in 2008 and beyond. To give you a hint, they're expecting record sales for the Wii this year, while the PS3-Xbox 360 duel is said to be in for a momentum shift. Is Sony ready to overtake Microsoft after it closed the gap in monthly sales? See the full article for the full details.

The director of product management for both the Xbox 360 and Xbox Live, Aaron Greenberg, recently shared a few thoughts about the upcoming 360-exclusive downloadable content for Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto IV (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3). He also threw out a response to how Sony's year is shaping up. To find out what he had to say, head on over to the full article.

(And once again we welcome the dawning of a new era... er, QuickPeek issue!)

Game launches, release updates, 10-year plans, hacks, attacks, crackdowns, bomb disposal robots, inter-company business drama, insanely early April Fools' pranks, console-moving games and... magic regenerating powder? All that and more in QuickPeek 40! Let's get it on!

Kudos to some very keen gamers who saw the reason why we're seeing lots of browns and grays in our next-gen game screenshots. True, a lot of us have spent some wakeful nights drooling at the screens and downloading the demos just to get a load of the stuff that the next-gen consoles offer.

One thing that stood out from the graphical aspect is the color. We're asking, why all these sepia shades and gray, smoky filters... haven't the game developers done a roundtable discussion and decided to turn browns and grays into a cult next-gen phenomenon?

We're not game developers, but we've heard of terms such as "bloom" or "post apocalyptic". Truth is, most next-gen games are set in warzones and desolate environments such as Gears of War or Killzone. The developers make sure that the setting is at its most realistic. The "bloom" concept in photography occurs during dusk or dawn - which is when these games are mostly set. If anything, all the developers do is take advantage of photorealism.

And we agree, they're as realistic as any design programming could achieve. (Thanks Subnet6 and Pince for some really "enlightening" ideas.)