CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs, has stepped down, with Apple COO Tim Cook being his replacement, following a recommendation from Jobs’ himself. Steve will remain with the company as Chairman of the Board.

The following letter was published by Steve:

To the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Community:

I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.

I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.

As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.

I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.

I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.

Steve

Goodbye Steve. Through your rule as head of Apple, personal computing, music, and smartphones have changed forever. Although we knew this day would inevitably come, we will still miss you and your iconic black turtleneck.

Crytek is joining the world of motion control with its upcoming Kinect game, Ryse. Previously named Codename Kingdoms, the game puts players in the role of a Roman soldier as they engage in gladiatorial style first-person combat.

Ryse looks to be a promising game for hardcore players looking for some motion controlled gaming. [via Crytek]

Minecraft is making its way exclusively to the Xbox 360 later this year. The indie sensation, developed by Mojang, allows player to interact in a completely open world, with graphics straight from the nineties. The game will have Kinect support, though it can be played with a controller as well.

It’s going to be interesting to see how Minecraft works on a console, including whether or not there will be multiplayer support and how the constant updates will be handled. In any case, Minecraft for the Xbox is great news for fans looking to play the hit game on their TVs.

Described as being a “living storybook,” Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster is a family-centric game that uses the motion functions of the Kinect to bring the characters from the popular children’s show to life, right in your living room.

Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster will arrive this fall. [via Once Upon a Monster]

Bring the magic of Disney home with Kinect Disneyland Adventures. The game allows players to explore the original theme park virtually, interact with various Disney characters, create souvenirs, and play a range of mini-games.

Kinect Disneyland Adventures will hit store shelves this holiday season and is sure to be a hit among younger gamers. [via Xbox]

Dance Central has been one of the better Kinect titles and it’s getting an upgrade in Dance Central 2. The latest installment in the series offers two-player simultaneous dance battles, improved Break It Down mode, ability to turn off the Freestyle segments, and other improvements.

Dance Central 2 will launch this fall and ship with 40 songs. [via Dance Central]

Kinect Sports is coming back for another season. Kinect Sports: Season 2 features new gestures and voice controls. These include being able to change clubs with your voice and leaning forward to get an overhead view of the course in golf. In additions, there’s a new lineup of sports, including skiing, tennis, and football.

Kinect Sports: Season 2 will arrive this holiday season. [via Xbox]

Previously named the NGP, the PlayStation Vita is Sony’s next portable game console and the successor to the PSP. The Vita, which means life, is aimed at being the first product that blurs the lines between entertainment and your real life.

On the hardware side, the Vita features a 5-inch 960×544 OLED multi-touch screen, a quad-core ARM Cortex A9 processor, dual analog sticks, a rear touchpad, 6-axis motion sensing technology, front and rear cameras, stereo speakers, microphone, compass, Wi-FI, Bluetooth, a memory card slot, and optional 3G (AT&T) and GPS additions.

Some games coming to the system include Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Ruin, ModNation Racers, LittleBigPlanet, and Street Fighter x Tekken.

At launch, the PlayStation Vita will be available in two versions, a Wi-Fi model for $250 and a 3G and Wi-Fi model for $300. [via PlayStation]

Sony has been a big supporter of 3D on the PlayStation and now they’re making it more affordable than ever with the Sony PlayStation 3D TV. The 24-inch TV offers 1080p resolution, edge LED backlighting, integrated stereo speakers with a dedicated subwoofer, and quad-speed frame sequential display technology to minimize 3D crosstalk distortion. In addition, the TV is capable of allowing two people to play multiplayer without the need for split screen.

The Sony PlayStation 3D TV will be coming this fall and be bundled with a copy of Resistance 3, a HDMI cable, and a pair of 3D glasses. The bundle will cost you $500, while additional pairs of 3D glasses will cost $70 a pair.

After reporting losses and a sharp drop in sales from April to June, Nintendo is slashing the price of the 3DS in the US from $249 to $169 starting on August 12th, with other regions receiving similar price cuts.

Current 3DS owners who connect to the Nintendo eShop by 11:59PM EST on August 11th will be automatically enrolled in the “Nintendo 3DS Ambassador” program and be rewarded with 10 free NES virtual console games and 10 free Game Boy Advance virtual console games by the end of this year. These games include The Legend of Zelda, Balloon Fight, Ice Climber, and Yoshi’s Island from the NES and program exclusives like Super Mario Advance 3, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Metroid Fusion, WarioWare Inc.: Mega Microgames, and Mario vs. Donkey Kong from the GBA.

This is certainly an unusual move, seeing how the 3DS has only been released for six months, but indicates the pressure Nintendo is under to make the 3DS a success and reach its goal of selling 16 million 3DS units in the financial year.

The upcoming Sony PlayStation Vita certainly isn’t helping either. [via Nintendo]