Trade paper MCV leads this week with news of Sony's PlayStation 2 development conference, which is set to take place at Shrigley Hall in Cheshire on August 12. PlayStation creator Ken Kutaragi is expected to address some 100 studios and publishers from across the UK. "The main aim of the event is for developers to hit the ground running," Sony's Director of Technology Paul Holmon told MCV.

MCV's other main front page story regards Interactive Ideas' appointment as exclusive distributor for SNK's Neo Geo Pocket Color handheld, which will be available at retail in October. "It's a real coup for us," Interactive's Sales Manager Tal Sidi told MCV. "This product is going to be a lot bigger than people think." It certainly looks like a nice little machine, but there's another handheld on the market which is quite popular itself.

Dreamcast pods are in demand at independent retailers according to distributor Gem. Some 125 pods have been snapped up to date and Gem boss Paul Donnelly told MCV, "We are very open about Dreamcast, giving retailers the chance to ask questions and meet Gem and Sega staff, and that seems to have been appreciated. The pods have gone down well across the trade and the reason for that is because they will undoubtedly help stores sell more Dreamcast product."

Computer Trade Weekly leads with news surrounding the battles to take over both GT Interactive and THQ. CTW reckon that Hasbro are favourites to grab GT, while Mattel are thought to be at the front of the queue for THQ. Are the toy giants taking over?

Retail giants Comet are to open a chain of out-of-town superstores featuring games areas, according to CTW. In fact, they plan to open up to 70 of the blighters in the next three years, apparently. "We will be quite aggressive with our price points and we'll be running a lot more offers and promotions," a Comet spokesperson told CTW.

All in all, a quiet week then.