It may be old news by now, but there will be no next generation Xbox or PlayStation unveiled at this year’s E3. I have hesitated to talk about this because by tomorrow we’ll likely hear more news that contradicts what we know today—but for now, that’s the story coming from Microsoft and Sony representatives.

Rumors up until a couple days ago have been pretty clear that both new consoles would make some sort of appearance at E3—not as clear, perhaps, as what was said by Microsoft France’s marketing director, Cedrick Delmax to Le Point.fr.

"We're in an industry that talks a lot, that likes to tell stories. I am not convinced things will happen this year.”

"Xbox 360′s cycle is not at all finished. The proof is that we don't see the logic in cutting the price this year. E3 is still premature. What's certain is that there'll be nothing new in 2012."

That last part is pretty clear.

In an interview on the same site, Playstation France’s CEO, Philippe Cardone also made it clear that Sony wouldn't be rushing its next generation console release.

"Wii is pressed for time because it's in decline. In our case, we have a lot less pressure. We were the last to release PS3, and we will probably be the last to announce something."

Competitive gaming tournament site, Virgin Gaming, recently announced that they have surpassed the one-million registered users mark. Since the service launched in June of 2010, over $7 million in prizes has been awarded to gamers.

This is great for the world of competitive gaming!

If you are not one of the 1M people in-the-know, Virgin Gaming offers free registration with the option of depositing a $20 minimum to compete in matches for cash. Currently, you can compete in 13 different games, ranging from FIFA 12 to Battlefield 3, on both Xbox 360 and PlayStaion 3 consoles.

Yesterday we asked FreekNation to vote: What game are you most looking forward to this year?

Some of your answers were disturbing (Hello Kitty Online), intriguing (Kinect Porno) and just plain racist (I am a Muslim). Rising to the top were most of the games you’d expect to see—but in an order that was somewhat surprising.

Here are the top 5 most anticipated games according to you:

• Grand Theft Auto 5 – 266 votes
• Halo 4 – 81 votes
• Next Call of Duty – 65 votes
• Diablo III – 47 votes
• Mass Effect 3 – 41 votes

This poll was given via our Facebook page, revealing the most anticipated game for 2012 is Grand Theft Auto 5. And I would have to personally agree. Rockstar Games’ premiere franchise is always something to get excited about. What surprised me, though, was the order of the next two.

Knowing you guys like I do, I surely thought the next Call of Duty would have beaten out Halo 4. I clearly misjudged you and I’d like to know why. Is it because a new CoD comes out every year and you’re finally getting sick of it? Is it because MW3 hasn’t been out very long and it’s still “new enough” for you? Is it because it’s been so long since you’ve seen your beloved Master Chief and can’t wait to kill Covees correctly? What is it? Leave a comment and let me know before I question even more about myself.

“Cideko Air Keyboard Conqueror” is a long and confusing name for a controller. Nowhere in the four-word-title is there anything alluding to the fact that it’s a sweet multiplatform gaming controller. So, just to make sure we’re clear: It’s a controller. It’s sweet. And you can use it for the PS3 and PC. We’ll get back to the gaming thing in a bit.

At its very core, the “Conqueror” (that’s what I’m unofficially, officially renaming it to) is a wireless keyboard/mouse combo. The USB AIR dongle—which stores within the controller body quite awesomely—just plugs into your PS3 or PC for easy setup and use. The full QWERTY keyboard, complete with function keys and everything else you’ll ever need, works great for web browsing and other light-to-medium typing duties. The motion sensing gyro mouse also works really well and completes a perfect setup for those with HTPC’s or those who like to kick back on the couch while browsing.

For gaming, the Conqueror worked better than expected. Playing through some of the more casual games in my Steam library, like Beat Hazard and Super Meat Boy, the dual analog stick controls, d-pad and face buttons all seemed responsive and even let me beat a few times in SMB—not saying it was the controller, but it surely didn’t hurt me. Not wanting to solely base my review on casual games, I switched over to my PS3 to try out some Battlefield.

You’ll all be very excited to learn (as I was) that the Cideko Air Keyboard Conqueror is compatible with KontrolFreek’s entire range of gaming products. This is good news, of course, and it’s been added to our controller compatibility guide which makes it official.

Things on the Battlefield went well. I was doing my thing and the controller didn’t miss a beat. The build quality and battery life is excellent and it feels really good in the hands. My only (minor) complaint is that the triggers aren’t perfectly positioned—but hey, neither are the DualShock3’s triggers and no one seems to care about that. I didn’t expect it to necessarily be a “performance” controller anyway; so I was pleasantly surprised it performed as well as it did.

For $99.99 the price of the Conqueror may induce some sticker shock at first—but once you take in to account that it’s replacing a mouse, keyboard and video game controller for PC and PS3, it all of the sudden doesn’t seem so high. Combine that with the fact that you can use your existing collection of FPS Freeks, and you’ve got yourself a winner.

A dispute over pay and working conditions resulted in about 300 workers climbing to the roof of one of the buildings at Foxconn Technology Park in China early last week. The incident began when employees asked their bosses for a raise but were denied. Employees were told either to quit with compensation or to keep their jobs with no additional payment. Many employees took the former, but the company decided to terminate the agreement anyway and not pay the promised compensation. The workers protested the action by threatening to jump to their deaths.

The standoff eventually came to an end when the mayor of Wuhan showed up and literally talked the former employees off the ledge.

These particular employees were responsible for manufacturing parts for Xbox 360 consoles and production had actually come to a halt for several hours during the protest.

Microsoft had this to say:

"Microsoft takes working conditions in the factories that manufacture its products very seriously, and we are currently investigating this issue," a spokesperson told the Huffington Post UK.

"We have a stringent Vendor Code of Conduct that spells out our expectations, and we monitor working conditions closely on an ongoing basis and address issues as they emerge.

"Microsoft is committed to the fair treatment and safety of workers employed by our vendors, and to ensuring conformance with Microsoft policy."

Foxconn factories in China were already under examination because of several suicides by employees in the past five years—actually forcing the company to install anti-suicide nets at some of their facilities. In addition to Xbox 360 components, Foxconn also manufactures products for Apple, Sony, Nintendo and many other Fortune 500 companies.

The new anti-piracy measure put in place by Croteam for their recent first-person shooter, Serious Sam 3: BFE is simple, effective and innovative. Those playing pirated copies of the game will sooner or later encounter a relentless, invincible arachnoid enemy who follows and beats the bejesus out of you until you eventually die and can no longer progress through the game. This, of course, is brilliant and hilarious to witness and it makes me think of other opportunities all over the place that developers are missing. For example:

Skyrim – A dragon voiced by Ray Romano who follows you around giving you a play-by-play of your actions. “Ooh look, your carryyying waaay to much treeaaasuuuurrree.”

Modern Warfare 3 – Replaces your competent team of military personnel with the cast of ABC’s The View.

Battlefield 3 – Game reverts back to the beta build.

These are just a few anti-piracy ideas off the top of my head but this concept could be used for just about every game I can think of. Can you think of any good ones? Tell us about it on our Facebook wall.