The name Michael Pachter is no stranger in the gaming industry. Every so often, the Wedbush Morgan industry analyst makes a prediction, states an opinion, sometimes even throws a controversial comment. With that said, Pachter will be lending his voice and his knowledge of the industry to keynote the Game Investment Conference this November.

Newport Beach, California-based firm,  Shared Memory Graphics LLC, is taking out the big guns and going after three of the top tech makers in the industry, namely Apple, Nintendo and Sony, alleging that these companies have infringed on their patent rights.

Remember the California game law? You know, the one that wants to restrict the sale and rental of violent video games? Well, they went to the Court of Appeals to challenge the ruling, and guess what they got. Their appeal was denied, and the US Court of Appeals has ruled against the 2005 California gaming law. More in the full article.

Studies on violent video games can be very fickle. One minute violent video games are a healthy way of releasing pent up energy, and the next minute they're murder simulators. Sometimes you just have to wonder if the studies are actually credible.

According to the ECA, the latest one - the one that says violent video games make you more aggressive - is one such example of a study whose credibility is questionable. Right on.

Remember the California video game law? The one that wants to restrict violent video games? Well it's back, and it may even go as far as the US Supreme Court. More in the full article.

It was roughly a few weeks ago that Emotiv was able to introduce their EPOC neuroheadset to the whole world.

Now we got wind that the company is looking for candidates to be the beta evaluators for upcoming brain-controlled gadget. Find out the details after the jump!

Curiously enough, Sega Europe's bigwig Mike Hayes has hinted the company's plans to merge with rival publishers and developers in the future. Coinciding with Vivendi Games and Activision's merger on Activision Blizzard, did this recent consolidation of past rival companies spell a trend of more mergers to come? More details on Sega's plans after the jump.

The latest report released by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) reveal that the video game industry grew four times faster than the U.S. economy in 2003 to 2006. After seeing 17% annual growth, gaming left the national economy's 4% in the dust.

More interesting findings await at the full article.

In a drive to get the word out there, Nintendo Company Ltd's Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes A Day is out to conquer communities to give folks a taste of the game. While some of the locations in the list are expected, there are those that seem rather unorthodox for a brain exercise to be in, like a parlor. A parlor?

Yes, along with a 50-City Mall Experience scheduled between now and January 8 of next year, a hair salon is also on their itinerary list. The chosen one: the new Nelson J Salon in Beverly Hills, California. Hmmm... what do you know? Maybe more of those Hollywood celebrities could get their hands on Brain Age 2 and exercise their heads, huh?

Anyhow, apart from those locations, the popular DS title is also set to visit the Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk Events, where Nintendo will be sponsoring booths as their runs -- er -- walks in Chicago, Austin, New York, Washington, and LA. And still that's not all. There's also the Nintendo Street Team Appearances where members of the Ninty Street Team will bring Brain Age 2 to events like home shows and fitness expos in Atlanta and Long Island, to name just a few (running from from Sept. 28 - 30).

Whew. That certainly sounds like a busy calendar for Brain Age 2, don't you think?

In a staggering contrast with the commercial success of Wii and DS consoles, it seems that Nintendo of America (NoA) is having some problems on the corporate level. All of these began when the company announced its decision to move its headquarters either in San Francisco from Redmond.

A couple of months ago, we learned that NoA is looking for someone to replace VP Perrin Kaplan. Then a suspicious retirement leak for Harrison circulated around the Internet. Well, it turned out that the leak is not at all suspicious because George Harrison has just confirmed that he is indeed leaving the Nintendo family behind.

"I have confirmed to all employees that I will be leaving at the end of December and not making the move to California," Harrison told Reuters via phone. The VP first joined Nintendo back in 1992 as Director of Advertising and Promotions.

And we are sure, that he will be missed by Nintendo and its fans.