Trade paper MCV's front page has the exciting news that Microsoft will have the X Box on retail shelves in a little over 18 months. MCV are saying that Microsoft have recently had a secret meeting with some key third-party software developers and outlined their plans for the machine, which include branding it with the Microsoft name and ensuring its software is incompatible with PCs. Interesting stuff, eh? Also on MCV's cover is the story that because sales of Nintendo's Game Boy Color are so high at present, the company may decide to withhold the launch of the Game Boy Advance until 2001. Another story demanding front page space concerns Dutch company Midas Interactive securing the PlayStation rights to Lionhead's forthcoming Black and White for all territories. There's also the story that the Ministry of Arts and the local Board of Censorships in Singapore have jointly banned the game Half-Life from being sold in their territory, claiming that the game is too violent.

The Game Boy Advance's possible delay also merits front page space in CTW this week, as does the story that the latest magazine sales figures from ABC (the Audit Bureau of Circulations) are disappointing as the majority are down. This, as we mentioned last week, is being attributed to the fact that there are a lot more casual gamers around these days - they're buying games without buying magazines to guide them first. Elsewhere in CTW is the bizarre story that complaints about a Sony ad for PlayStation entitled 'Eat as much as you can' and featuring a close-up of a human stomach tinted red have not been upheld by advertising governing body ASA (the Advertising Standards Authority). Someone mistakenly thought the stomach, which showed a navel surrounded by hair, was an anus, while another thought it was a vagina. Now we don't know about you, but having seen all three things in real life, we'd find it hard to confuse them ourselves. Some people, eh?