Not that none of you have anything better to do than to read a holiday blurb from myself, I nonetheless felt compelled to wish you all happy holidays and safety as you travel, be it around town or abroad.

I personally am thankful for the long-standing partnership and (more importantly) friendship I have with Carl Rhoades, and I feel confident in expressing on both our parts that we are very much looking forward to 2007 for what it will bring you, our respective audiences, and ourselves as we press forward with some very bright ambitions. We’re frankly having a tough time being patient and not spilling our guts now as to precisely what all of that means, but it will be well worth the wait.

Thank you all for your continued support of iONvideogames and its mastermind, Carl Rhoades, and I’m very excited to now be directly involved in its day-to-day operations. Merry Christmas.

Out of Tokyo, Sony Corporation implicitly stated today that it has no plans to alter either targets for its PlayStation 3 video game console or its margins on the bottom line, in spite of recalls of laptop battery recalls and numerous setbacks on the PlayStation 3 production line.

“It is true that it took us some time to bring the PS3 to mass production as blue laser availability worked as a bottleneck,” Sony President Ryoji Chubachi told a media round table.

Referring to the company’s plans for end of the year and end of March 2007 shipments for the PlayStation 3, however, Chubachi said, “…2 million and 6 million are within our reach.”

Nevertheless, analysts commenting to the Associated Press persist in their skepticism that Sony will perhaps be unable to maintain production in the manner they deem necessary for the company to meet its fiscal goals. Sony has admitted that the PlayStation 3 is its most important fiscal and strategic product for 2007, hence the continued scrutiny into even the least hitch in the gameplan.

Regardless of the seemingly renewed optimism and persistence on Sony’s part, the company’s shares inched up 1.8 percent at the news, adding to the fears of analysts and investors alike concerning the ability of Sony Corporation to deliver upon its promises.

Reporting from London, Reuters has quoted several bigwigs involved in England’s soccer leagues, including the head coach of the nation’s World Cup team, as stating that among other things (such as big money drawing players elsewhere) that video games are one of the primary reasons as to why they are no longer cranking out droves of top-tier soccer players.

One official indicated that in Brazil soccer is a religion, that it is a way of life, and that those who play aspire to be the best and are not as distracted.

The moral of the story is, video games will keep you from maximizing your potential. At least, that’s what we are being told to believe.

From Los Angeles today, Reuters has reported that Manifesto Games, out of New York City, has announced that “The Shiva” will in fact be the first game of its kind, in that it will star the head of a Jewish congregation.

Manifesto, a developer of downloadable games, has said that the game’s story revolves around a rabbi who is trying to hold together his congregation, which is experiencing a crisis of spirit due to the alleged murder of either a member of the congregation or someone related to a member. The catch is, Rabbi Stone, the protagonist, is the individual who receives the inheritance from the controversial member of the congregation.

The title, which will sell for $5, is the first commerical product of creator Dave Gilbert.