LOS ANGELES - Microsoft Corp., which has struggled to gain share in the intensely competitive sports video games market, on Tuesday said it would not release new versions of its sports games this autumn.

"After analyzing market conditions and customer feedback, we're focused on closing the quality gap between our sports line-up and that of our competitors," Kevin Browne, who manages sports games for Microsoft Game Studios, said. "Therefore we will not be shipping new versions of our sports games this fall."

A Microsoft spokesman said three titles that had been planned to be released annually -- "NFL Fever," "NBA Inside Drive" and "NHL Rivals" -- were affected, as were three other titles -- "Links," "Top Spin" and "Amped" -- that were not necessarily on an annual release schedule.

Those six titles were exclusive to Microsoft's Xbox video game console. Another sports game, "RalliSport Challenge 2," is still on track for a May release.

The company said it would keep its "XSN Sports" brand, which it launched last May as a way to unify and promote its sports properties, and would maintain its online leagues and downloads for existing XSN titles.

Microsoft, Sony Corp. and Sega Corp., among many others, have been forced to contend in recent years with the increasing dominance of Electronic Arts Inc. in sports games, particularly football. EA's "Madden NFL 2004" was the best-selling console video game of 2003.

Of all the football games released for the Xbox since its late-2001 launch, "NFL Fever 2002" ranked ninth and "NFL Fever 2003" ranked 10th in an average of reviews compiled by Gamerankings.com.

"NBA Inside Drive 2002" was 10th in a list of basketball games for the Xbox in Gamerankings' database, while "NHL Rivals 2004" was ninth.

ALBUQUERQUE — President Bush Friday urged affordable high-speed Internet access be available to all Americans by 2007 and that they have several choices for the service known as broadband.

"We ought to have universal, affordable access to broadband technology by the year 2007," Bush said in a speech in Albuquerque, New Mexico. "And then we ought to make sure that as soon as possible thereafter consumers have plenty of choices..."

Telephone and cable companies like Verizon Communications and Comcast have been fiercely competing to sign up customers to high-speed Internet service, which is seen as a lucrative market.

However, fierce competition is limited to certain regions of the country. A ruling handed down by the Supreme Court this week is likely to limit access choice for rural citizens, by allowing states states to forbid cities and local governments from offering their own communications services.

The relatively high cost per customer of doing business in sparsely populated areas has traditionally discouraged telephone companies from offering service in those regions. Instead, they're often served by just one or two regional providers.

If there was one indication that last week's wild rumor of Microsoft buying Time Warner's sluggish America Online subsidiary would never come to be, it would simply be that the pairing makes too much sense. Those kinds of deals -- in which logic reigns paramount -- rarely happen.

But let's start with the reason why Mr. Softy gets dragged into the hearsay. With nearly $53 billion in cash and short-term investments, Microsoft isn't even a fill-in to the Mad Libs approach of mega-merger rumor mongering. It's a given, and only the name of the company to be allegedly bought out serves as the real variable.

In that sense, any Microsoft buyout rumor is silly. It can be argued that one of the many reasons why the company is so flush with cash is that it's always under tight regulatory scrutiny, given its gargantuan size and checkered monopolistic practices of the past. That's enough to shackle any promising buying spree opportunity.

But let's think about this one. When Time Warner ditched its AOL moniker -- and ticker symbol -- it spoke volumes. Unloading America Online, even if it would be at a fraction of the company's stand-alone value in its dot-com heyday, would be one way for Time Warner to get back to basics with a rejuvenated balance sheet.

Microsoft, on the other hand, rarely fails. Even against the class of Apple or the thrifty open source of Linux, Microsoft remains the operating system software of choice. It's a shoehorn that quickly made it the leading player in everything from Web browsers to productivity software.

But Microsoft isn't a powerhouse everywhere. Its Xbox is awfully cool but it's still a very distant second to Sony's PlayStation 2. Then you have the Internet in which everything from MSN.com to WebTV have fallen more than a few foot soldiers shy of global domination. As stagnant as AOL's growth may have been in recent years, it's the one ubiquitous online service in a sea of commodity connections. Subscribers who are willing to pay a premium for America Online, over those who opt for discounters like United Online, are a marketing gold mine.

Say what you will about growing broadband usage nullifying the original selling points of AOL, it's still a nifty platform of proprietary content with a loyalty-endearing interface that stands out in a cookie-cutter world.

So will it happen? Don't wait up. But, if anything, the fact that AOL is losing market share to its non-Microsoft rivals may make it a smoother transaction to run past the governing regulatory forces. The price would be good, too.

But it won't happen. It makes too much sense.

Is Time Warner really putting AOL on the block? Does Microsoft have a shot -- or even an interest? If you were Time Warner and decided to keep AOL, what would you do to try to revive the franchise? All this and more -- in the Time Warner discussion board. Only on Fool.com.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz has been an AOL member since the early days of 1992. He does not own shares in any companies mentioned in this story.

firefox_corp cut with all the bull s h i t. we dont give a F U C K and do u think we will actully read that much

Why do you mirror perfectly valid and fast download posts , then put them on RapidShare where no one can get them? hahaha
Durr - me ead ertz

is it works on CD-ROM..????

**sorry 4 stupid question**

Does DVDIdle Pro v5.9.8.3 work with quicktime player

to cyberloner: thanks 4 ur 100% working link.

where is the file

What the h.e.l.l. is going on here in 9down?
I see posts introducing softwares but no link for download or broken one!?
Anyone got an idea for that?