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Video game industry analyst Michael Pachter has said this weekend that Nintendo has "blown" their chances to compete by not releasing the Wii 2 yet.

Pachter believes that since the Wii 2 will be playing catch-up to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, regardless, it should be available now, and competing in the "online space."

Says the analyst (via CVG):

With as much respect for Nintendo management as I can muster, I think Nintendo's completely blown it with their second generation Wii strategy. I think they have the mentality that to launch a new [console] they have to retire the old, and I think that's wrong.

I think the right strategy would have been to get a second generation Wii out and keep the old Wii at the same time, and have the second generation be the natural progression upgrade model.

Warner Music Group chairman and CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. has been convicted and fined over insider trading.

The ruling, in French court, came as a surprise as even the prosecutor had recommended that the executive be cleared of charges due to lack of evidence.

During his time as an executive vice president for Vivendi, Bronfman was known as a "mastermind" behind giant mergers in the telecom and media markets.

The disgraced exec received a fine of $6.7 million, and a 15-month suspended jail sentence. Additionally, former Vivendi CEO Jean-Marie Messier received a 3-year suspended sentence and a $200,000 fine for similar charges including misleading shareholders.

Both execs said they will appeal the decision.

Messier turned the small water utility company into a major media group during his 8-year reign, which ended in 2002 when the board of directors of the company fired him. When he exited, the company was around 45 billion in debt, after taking on companies like Universal.

Twitter has been hit by a new worm this week, one that uses the goo.gl URL shortener to trick users into downloading malicious code.

The worm uses the shortened link to take unsuspecting users to a site which offers the download for "Security Shield."

As with most malware, the "anti-virus protection" is really malicious code.

Writes Sophos security:

If you make the mistake of clicking on one of the malicious goo.gl links you are ultimately taken to a website which attempts to scare you into believing that you have a virus problem on your computer. You are then frightened into installing malicious code on your PC, and asked to pay money to disinfect your systems.

In general, please use caution when clicking on links. If you click on a link and find yourself unexpectedly on a page that resembles the Twitter login page, don't give up your username and password! Just type in Twitter.com into your browser bar and log in directly from the Twitter homepage.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who announced last week he will be stepping down to be succeeded by co-founder Larry Page, will receive a $100 million equity award as a parting gift.

The stock and option award will be the first for Schmidt since he joined the company in 2001.

Whilst losing his title as CEO, Schmidt will remain as executive chairman, in charge of external matters like relationships with governments and other partnerships.

Page says the decision was made to "speed up decision-making at the top" of the search giant.

Furthermore, Schmidt will cash out of $335 million worth of company stock. After the move he will still have $5.4 billion in shares remaining.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, during a panel discussion about intellectual property protection, has made sure to tell Chinese President Hu Jintao that around 90 percent of Chinese citizens are running pirated Microsoft software.

Microsoft's most popular software includes the Windows operating system and Office word processing suite.

President Obama even went as far as to discuss Ballmer's concerns (via NW):

We're making progress on making sure that the government procurement process in China is open and fair to American businesses. And we've made progress as a consequence of this state visit.

Some of it has to do with intellectual property protection. So we were just in a meeting with business leaders, and Steve Ballmer of Microsoft pointed out that their estimate is that only 1 customer in every 10 of their products is actually paying for it in China. And so can we get better enforcement, since that is an area where America excels -- intellectual property and high-value added products and services.

The Chinese State Radio Regulatory Center has approved Apple's iPad with 3G support, suggesting the device will go on sale in the nation soon.

Until recently, only the Wi-Fi version was allowed in the country.

The Regulatory Center, which is part of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, issued the approval last month, says the WSJ. The approval is for an "Apple 'data terminal' that supports 3G mobile technology standard Wideband Code Division Multiple Access."

Apple noted that it plans to offer the 3G model of the tablet in China, but did not give any specific timetable.

The site does note that most products "need multiple approvals from Chinese regulators before they can be sold in the country, including approval for a network access license," so the iPad may still be months away from total approval but on the right track.

Apple has announced today that the iOS App Store has hit 10 billion downloads, the latest milestone for the service.

The App Store has over 300,000 apps available.

Apple added that they will be giving the 10 billionth downloader a $10,000 gift card to iTunes.

Seven billion apps were downloaded in 2010, alone.

In the last month, the company has announced that the iPhone 4 will be headed to top U.S. carrier Verizon, breaking an exclusive relationship with AT&T that lasted since 2007.

Apple sold 16 million iPhones in the last quarter.

As was done with the 'God of War' collection, and soon with 'ICO/Shadow of the Colossus,' it appears that the classic 'Metal Gear Solid' trilogy will be re-released for the PS3, on Blu-ray and in HD.

The rumor comes via UK's Official PlayStation Magazine, who cites 'insiders.'

Metal Gear Solid 4 was released for the PS3 in 2008 and was met with rave reviews, with many calling it easily the game of the year.

It is unclear how the classic games will be reworked for HD (MGS was made for the PSX in 1998), but the God of War Collection sold very well, and included improved graphics and trophies.

Earlier this week it was reported that Sony will officially announce the upcoming PSP2 at an event in Japan on January 27th.

Today, multiple sources are reporting that the event will be called the "PlayStation Meeting."

PS Meetings used to be held annually, but there has not been one since 2005.

In 2005, Ken Kutaragi used the PS Meeting to show off plans for the PlayStation 3.

Sony will also use the event to outline plans for its networked entertainment services to share games, movies and music among handheld products, TVs and other devices.

In February, at the Mobile World Congress, Sony will show off the Sony Ericsson-branded PlayStation smartphone.

Less than a week after Hugh Hefner tweeted that an uncensored version of the Playboy app was headed to the iPad, Apple has shot down the rumor, saying it will stick to its strict no-nudity policy for apps allowed into the App Store.

Instead, Playboy will be creating a service where users can view all the uncensored archives online.

"The service will be iPad compatible and will utilize iPad functions," explains the company.

Playboy does plan to create an iOS app, but it will have censored images, and contain articles and jokes.

At the time, Hefner had said: "Big news! Playboy--both old & new--will be available on iPad beginning in March. The IPad Version of Playboy will include the whole magazine from the first issue to the latest and Playboy on iPad will be uncensored."

XBMC, the free and open source cross-platform media player and home entertainment system software has now been ported to the second-gen Apple TV, iPhone 4 and iPad, giving jailbroken users a chance to enjoy the very popular media center.

The software now works on the A4 chip used in the iOS devices, and will allow for content playback way beyond what Apple's devices natively support.

Apple TV owners can now enjoy 1080p video, although Engadget says some videos are choppy in Full HD.

As the group says, "your AppleTV2 is no longer chained to iTunes."

Additionally, XBMC has been ported for the iPhone 4 and iPad and will require your device to be jailbroken with the Cydia market.

According to Nokia, 20 percent of all mobile phones sold in the world are illegal clones, unlicensed copies that sell for a fraction of the cost of phones they are copying.

The world's top mobile phone maker says the "gray market" is killing their positions in emerging markets like South America and parts of Asia.

Says Nokia exec Esko Aho:

It is mostly China-originated, but it is global. It is not only in Asia, but also in Latin America and even in some parts of Europe.

Trapster, the free iOS/Android/BlackBerry app created to help users find police "speed traps" has alerted its 10.06 million users that their security has been breached and all accounts have been compromised.

All current users are told to immediately change their passwords, and change passwords for other services if using the same email and password combination.

Says the company (via Mash):

The Trapster team has recently learned that our website has been the target of a hacking attempt, and it is possible that your email address and password were compromised.

We have taken, and continue to take, preventative measures to avoid future incidents, but we are recommending that you change your Trapster password.

Opera Software has announced today that they will be bringing their popular Opera browser to Sony Bravia HDTVs and Blu-ray disc players.

The company says the browser will bring applications, widgets, a full and robust Web browsing experience, and HTML5, HbbTV and OIPF.

Flash is so far not supported.

Opera says they want to give TV users a chance to enjoy VOD, exchange "opinions with friends through social networks about the program they are watching," and quickly be able to purchase items they just saw in ads, or TV shows.

Adds Christen Krogh, Chief Development Officer, Opera Software:

The Web as we know it is evolving, and we are committed to making it more accessible across diverse devices. Our ability to address key hybrid broadcast-broadband initiatives in numerous markets makes us a natural fit with Sony. By delivering both a global viewpoint and the necessary technology, we are able to stay on the cutting edge of the industry.

Nvidia has finally confirmed their plans to release the ARM-based Tegra 3 chip, bringing quad-core processing to tablets and possibly smartphones in the future.

General manager of mobile business Michael Rayfield would not give a time frame, however, just saying the chips will make an appearance "soon."

Speculation is the company will show off the designs at next month's Mobile World Congress Expo.

The announcement comes just a week after the company announced "Project Denver," a Tegra chip for desktops and servers, mixing the CPU with a GeForce GPU.

Pricing for such a powerful mobile chip is still unclear, as well as power draw.