Ah, Dragon’s Lair… The arcade game I had a love-hate relationship with as a child. The animation was amazing and unique, but the game ran me $1 for each 30 seconds of play. At some point I must have been mature enough to realize I sucked, either that or my mom stopped giving me money, and I would stand around (in amazement) watching the older kids who had memorized the patterns.

Anyhow, Dragon’s Lair has been remastered and was released on Blu-ray a few months ago and is now available on HD DVD today, retailing for $50 but it can probably be found for $30-$40 — certainly much less money than I spent in the arcade (over 20 years ago) for limited playtime. As you can see from the pic above, I have a review copy waiting for me to find some free time.

Wondering about that Xbox 360 update last week? I was - Major Nelson says it provides support for the upcoming wireless guitars (and a more substantial Xbox update is coming later this year). Though I’ve got to say I’m pretty much over Guitar Hero… and ready for my Rock Band drum set!

So I’m about a week late on this one… But over the weekend I was exploring the new video search site VeZoom and stumbled on a Kevin Smith QA session from the San Diego Comic-Con. Which got me thinking - I should go back one of these years. I had a blast the last time I attended and, since it’s mostly of-topic for ZNF, I wouldn’t have to “work.” A few hours later I’m poking around Xbox Live Marketplace (since Gamefly is still pretty slow - more on that later), and discover all kinds of (mostly WB-related) Comic-con video on my Xbox: Panels, trailers, and interviews (by Major Nelson). Sweet!

In other Xbox 360 news, Microsoft just launched a “Registration, Warranty, and Repair Service” website. Let’s hope I never need it.

Japanese gaming publisher Enterbrain is out today with July sales estimates:

• Wii - 396,752 units moved
• PS3 - 91,987
• Xbox 360 - 17,970

No surprises… The Wii’s on a worldwide tear. I plan on picking one up in another month or so once some of these upcoming games drop.

And speaking of upcoming games, the BIG news is that Grand Theft Auto IV has been delayed from Fall ‘07 until Spring ‘08. Ouch. Though not a console exclusive, the setback probably hurts the PS3 more than the 360 with (the exclusive) Halo 3 still tracking for a fall launch.

Word out of Sony’s (New Zealand) office is that they’re “hoping” to offer a digital tuner bringing DVR functionality to the PS3 next year. The blog coverage has gotten way ahead of itself… First off, a “digital tuner” in the South Pacific or Europe is not the same as an ATSC or CableCARD tuner needed for the US. Second, while Sony did produce TiVo hardware at one point - that relationship is dead even if the contract is not. Can we stop the silliness now?

Emerging Media Dynamics has a report out claiming that 20% of broadband homes (roughly 12 million households) will have media extenders by the end of this year. Anybody else astounded by that number?

The report is including in this category devices like Apple TV, the Xbox 360 and Sling’s SlingCatcher. All of these products are brand new so it utterly shocks me that 12 million people will have them by the end of 2007. Wishful thinking?

A periodic roundup of relevant news… from our other blogs.

• Wii - Gaming Genius or Fitness Fad: TechLore
• Mark Cuban Kills The Internet: Connected Home 2 Go
• Belaboring the CableCARD Issue: Connected Home 2 Go
• Terayon and Targeted Advertising: Connected Home 2 Go

Sony and satellite television provider Sky have announced the formation of a company to bring video-on-demand to the 2 million UK and Ireland PSPs early next year. No details were given on the technologies or conditions (file format, download and/or transfer methods, expiry, etc), though more info will supposedly be revealed August 22 at the Games Convention. GameSpot UK has more:

Sony also claimed that discussions were ongoing across Europe to roll out similar services in continental markets, but made no mention of American or Australian plans.

I still haven’t ebayed my PSP… Bring us some video download love here in the US. Or at the very least - a POP mail client and keyboard accessory.