Welcome back for another week of video game news, with Video Game Bits. Today's edition begins with the answer to the question “Will Wii be getting a Blu-ray drive?”. Nintendo got back to us about it over the weekend and the answer was quite clear. The company has “no plans to do this”. So the obvious question would be, why would a retail associate, especially one who is actually likely to know quite a bit about video games, think that such a thing were true? Well, we're still looking into that. If said associate was telling the truth, and that store's Nintendo rep did tell him that, we're wondering why. Until we have the answers though, here is today's Video Game Bits.

UT3 for PS3 ships

Midway Games and Epic Games announced today that the Playstation 3 version of Unreal Tournament 3 has begun shipping to retailers nationwide. This new version has a first for any console game. It is the first console game to ever allow user-generated modification s, meaning UT3 Playstation 3 users will be able to make their own downloadable content for the game. "We are thrilled to put Unreal Tournament 3 in gamers' hands before the holidays," said Mark Rein, vice president of Epic Games. "The game plays so amazingly, and I think this is the pick-up-and-play shooter people have been waiting for on PlayStation 3. In addition, UT3 is the first game ever to allow truly robust user-created content - we call them ‘mods’ (as in ‘modifications’) - on any console platform, and we can’t wait to see what the mod community creates for this game. User-created content has always been the remarkable backbone component of the Unreal Tournament series, and we think PlayStation 3 users are in for a huge treat when the mods start to appear." Unreal Tournament 3 for Playstation 3 will be available beginning tomorrow for $59.99 USD/$69.99 CAD.

2K enters the ring

2K Sports announced today that it will be publishing what it is calling “the most realistic boxing video game simulation”. Currently in development at Venom Games, the 2K studio responsible for Rocky and Rocky Legends , Don King Presents: Prizefighter is an in-depth, documentary-style video game that 2K hopes will provide the deepest, most authentic and entertaining boxing video game experience ever seen.

“ The combination of real-life fight scenarios, story-driven gameplay and photo-realistic graphics will set this title apart from the competition,” said Christoph Hartmann, President of 2K. That means that there is more to the game than just the fights and preparation for fights. “Players will responsible for building a career by overcoming adversity, avoiding temptation, and balancing their commitments to train and promote, all while focusing on the goal of ultimately winning and defending the title belt.” The entire storyline will also be presented in a sports documentary-style narrative, definitely something not generally seen in video games. Don King Presents: Prizefighter will be available in Spring 2008 for Xbox 360, Wii and Nintendo DS. Each version will take advantage of its platform's unique features.

Makers of PaRappa the Rapper to create exclusive Wii game

Majesco announced today that it has entered into a partnership with legendary multimedia musician and game designer Masaya Matsuura, and famed New York artist Rodney Alan Greenblat, to develop and publish an original music/rhythm video game exclusively for Wii. For those of you unfamiliar with Matsuura and Greenblat, they were the minds behind one of the original music/rhythm games, PaRappa the Rapper, which became an instant classic when it released for the original Playstation 10 years ago, meanwhile popularizing the music/rhythm game genre.

Majescos own CEO, Jesse Sutton, has very high hopes and expectations for the new game, and its creators, saying, “ Masaya Matsuura and Rodney Alan Greenblat are industry visionaries whose legacy was built on crafting groundbreaking, genre-defining entertainment experiences that everyone can enjoy. We are incredibly excited to be working with talent of this caliber and believe our game shares the same broad mass market appeal as successful music-based products like Activision’s Guitar Hero and MTV’s Rock Band .”

The new game is currently scheduled for release in late 2008.