Yes, yes, we know. While some just seem to be figuring this out, Final Fantasy XIII is coming to the Xbox 360 *and* the PC. Square Enix announced this way back at its E3 press conference. Probably going lost in the jaw-dropping Xbox 360 announcement. To review, here's how the FFXIII development cycle is going down: First do the PS3 version, then the PC version and then the Xbox 360 version. And hey, there's been Final Fantasy games on the PC game before, so this isn't exactly something out of left field.

In case you missed it, here's our liveblog of Square Enix's E3 presser.

Criterion is now "aiming", as it says, for an early August release for its long-awaited "Cagney" update to Burnout Paradise on Xbox 360. The developer had originally announced a July 10th release date, but now says August 4th is the "EARLIEST" (caps Criterion's) that it can be expected to be available.

The update rolled out onto PS3 on time, marking almost an entire month's delay for Xbox 360 users. "We're in the final stages of testing the revised version and will announce a concrete date as soon as we have one", wrote Criterion on its developer blog.

The update contains 70 challenges, new online game modes — Marked Man, Stunt Run and Road Rage — the Live Page and Calendar, new cars, liveries and what the developers describe as a "mountain" of smaller improvements.

Full explanation post-jump:

The Halo Universe Comic-Con panels is getting underway, focusing on — as far as we know — Halo Wars and the Halo novels. The panel, a star-studded Halo cast includes: Graeme Devine of Ensemble Studios, Frank O'Connor of Microsoft Game Studios, Joseph Staten, author of Halo: Contact Harvest, Eric Nylund author of Halo: The Fall of Reach and Halo: First Strike, Tobias Buckell, author of Halo: The Cole Protocol and Jon Goff and Corrinne Robinson from McFarlane Toys.

Hit the jump for the up to the minute live blog action! Boosh!

Just ten days ago Acitvision let us know that Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2 would be hitting the Xbox Live Arcade on Aug. 6. Now they've gone and surprised us by letting us know today that the game has been pushed up to July 30. That's one more week that will be lost to SCHMUP fever.

The 800 point game will include five additional game modes: Waves, which they say has been supercharged and tweaked; Pacifism, which has been promoted from achievement to full game mode, and new modes King, Deadline, and Sequence. All of the modes can be played solo or with up to four players on a single console. The multiplay allows for both co-op and competitive modes. You can also play co-pilots where one person drives and the other shoots.

Sounds like you're getting a lot for your Microsoft scrip.

This Crash Bandicoot: Mind Over Mutant video gives you a quick glimpse of Crash's mutant wrangling abilities and touches on the free-roaming and co-op play aspects of the game.

Sony Computer Entertainment honcho Kaz Hirai is confused. Just look at his Giant Kaz Face, see how tranquilly baffled it is? That's some serious confusion. When Xbox bossman Don Mattrick said Microsoft would sell more consoles than the PS3 this generation, Hirai wasn't quite sure what that meant. How long does Microsoft think the generation is? Is the Xbox 360 going to be around for ten years like Sony claims the PS3 is? Questions, questions, questions. Here's Kaz's take:

A Kingdom for Keflings Revealed [IGN via Xbox 360 Fanboy]

Forget what you think about how those E3 pressers went, Xbox honcho Don Mattrick is here to tell you what he thinks. And what does he think? He thinks the other companies have been slacking off — that they've been "on vacation". No, not just "on vacation", make that "on an extended vacation". Here's the sound-byte:

I think we got more than 12 months' work done, and others went on an extended vacation. Hopefully they got some good vacation photos, because they sure weren't showing up at work... Of course I'm going to be biased, but so far what I've heard is that Sony and Nintendo have disappointed. And Microsoft has been leading, innovating and driving a very comprehensive global programme... We're building momentum and we're on a scale that no other consumer electronics company or entertainment company has been able to achieve in nine years. It's been a very good show and I'm very pleased with what we've been able to accomplish. I think there was a lot of good work, a lot of innovation and a lot of news from us.

Oh, Don.

Mattrick: Rivals have been slacking off [MCVUK]

As can be witnessed by their decision to, after only a year, cut their losses and start offering the service for free, Microsoft's Games for Windows Live initiative hasn't exactly set the world on fire. But just because it hasn't, doesn't mean that it can't. What could help spice things up a little? How about, oh, the ability to play XBLA games on both your 360 and PC? Would that help? It's something Microsoft are obviously thinking about, because after being asked about the subject by 1UP's Shawn Elliot, Microsoft's Kevin Unangst replies:

Afro Samurai will be demoed to the public for the first time at this week's Comic-Con International in San Diego, Namco Bandai announced today.

The playable demo will give gamers a chance to check out what looks to be a pretty stylistic fighter based on the Samuel L. Jackson executive produced anime series. There will also be an Afro Samurai panel on Thursday featuring the creators behind the show. Panelist members will include Samuel "Snakes on a Plane" Jackson, THe RZA, Takashi Okazaki and Leo Chu. The group plan to talk about the development process, dish on some behind-the-scenes anecdotes and explain the inspiration behind the characters, music and story.