MCV lead this week with the story that, according to them, Sony are considering a re-design of the PlayStation to appeal to the younger generation of gamers (5-12-year-olds) and thereby increase the machine's shelf-life. Other stories on MCV's front page concern the news that both Codemasters and Take 2 are early adopters of the new £9.99 price point for PlayStation games and that distribution company CD ROM Distribution look set to close. Our favourite story of the week concerns US firm Digiscents who, apparently, demonstrated their new Scentware range at the recent Game Developers Conference. Scentware includes an iSmell hardware add-on, complete with 128 smells that can be incorporated into software. The firm are claiming that developers can scent-enable games in under an hour. Check out www.digiscents.com for a sniff yourself.

Trade rivals CTW major on the successful launch of PlayStation2 on their cover this week and, worryingly, report that rumours abound that High Street chain Our Price are to drop games in favour of mobile communications. CTW also give front page space to the good news that Gameplay.com have actually turned a profit and the bad news that Dutch games publishers Project Two have gone to the wall. Our fave story this week concerns ambitious Midas Interactive striking a sponsorship deal with Sheffield United Football Club. Apparently it's a four-year deal in which the Midas logo will appear on all team and replica shirts, as well as all printed material, merchandise, perimeter ad boards and just about everywhere else you could imagine. The sponsorship deal (said to be worth a six-figure sum) is set to start at the beginning of the 2000-2001 season. Cool!