An article posted on Infendo ran a discussion on the prospect of the Wii, and in effect Nintendo, going monopolistic as it did in the NES era and taking over the gaming world. The article pointed to the weakening sales of main rival Microsoft Xbox 360 and altogether dismissed the significance of Sony's PlayStation 3 in this generation's console war.

Pointing to the successful marketing and innovations of the Wii while highlighting the decline in Xbox 360 sales, the article imagined Nintendo's hot-selling console rolling out in all directions and flattening everything in its path. The reports of Nintendo publishing 124 first-party games in 2007 seemed to suggest to the author that an encore of the SNES days may be at hand.

The article went as far as comparing the Xbox 360 to the iPod, saying "Apple's iPod rollout -- a product which sold at the time for more than the Xbox 360 -- it had sold nearly 30 million units. Microsoft is struggling to achieve less than half that....

Renowned game developer and Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi recently expressed his distaste for former Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Ken Kutaragi, criticized Microsoft's marketing strategy in Japan, and expressed no plans to make games for the Nintendo Wii as of yet.

The founder of, arguably, the most successful RPG franchise in history told Electronic Gaming Monthly that he didn't like Kutaragi and his creation, the Sony PlayStation 3. "The machine's architecture is tricky, and I don't like Ken Kutaragi," says Sakaguchi. He offered no explanation as to why he's no fan of the father of the PlayStation line of game systems.

When asked about Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sakaguchi said he found the games in the platform far superior to those of its rival's. Microsoft's problem, he says, is how to reach out to Japanese consumers. He said Gears of War is a great title but nobody knows what it's about. He then describe the Windows Vista commercial as a "terrible" one....

As expected, the game tie-in of the anticipated motion picture Spider-Man 3 is getting tons of attention from game fans across all platforms. Game rental chain GameFly reveals that rental requests for the week ending April 27, have poured in for the game, topping all other titles across the Sony PlayStation 3 and the Microsoft Xbox 360.

The Nintendo Wii, however, is a different story. Super Paper Mario had something to say about who's boss around there and held Spidey to second place. The red plumber from Nintendo explodes across two dimensions with logic-bending gameplay to thrill audiences globally into joining him in his trip across eight worlds.

Spider-Man 3 on the other hand, flags next-generation special effects and tells the story of Peter Parker's dark side. Missions are playable with the classic wen-crawler and the high-powered symbiote-costumed version. Of course, Sandman, Green Goblin and Venom will all be there to stop you in your quest for a normal life w...

If you're at all interested in the PlayStation Eye, the EyeToy for the PS3 generation, take a gander at this interview with its father, Richard Marks. Along with releasing four—yes, four—albums since 2000, Richard's added many new features to PlayStation's camera.
Among the issues seen as most important were low light environments, the 60 fps minimum requirement, compression block artifacts which led to uncompressed video, and the four-array microphone. Definitely a cool read if you're planning on using the Eye to record your own Singstar videos and show them off online. – Jason Chen
Geek Out: The Playstation Eye is Nearly Upon Us. Dr. Richard Marks Takes Us Behind the Scenes of its Birth. [Newsweek]

Video game retail outlet GAME seems to be gearing up for a big buyout of Activision's game adaptation of the "Spiderman 3" movie as their recent press release confirms that they're "expecting a huge demand for [the] game" and will be providing copies for all of their 400 stores region-wide.

They will also be making limited stock of the Spider-Man 3: Collector's Edition for the PlayStation 3 available to interested gamers who want to also play as the New Goblin.

The special edition has been announced to be only exclusively available at GAME for Europe, but there is no official word to confirm it as yet.

The first and second game adaptations of Spider-Man have jointly sold an excess of 1.6 million and some analysts believe that Spider-Man 3 (for the PC, Xbox 360, DS, GameCube, PS2, PSP and Wii) will probably do just as well as both games did, if not better.

GAME pre-release data has revealed that 74 of the pre-orders for the game have been made thro...

As probably known by the gamers, Activision's much sought-after Spider Man 3 game is launching this week for the Xbox 360, Wii, PS3, PSP, PS2, DS and PC. But while Spidey's been the center of attention, The Game Factory's Legend of the Dragon is also expected to jump into this week's fray for the PSP and Wii - we're itching to see how the game fares under the Wiimote.

PC owners will be getting a new horror title by way of Frictional Games' Penumbra Overture, and a new turn-based strategy game via UFO: Extraterrestrials. Just make sure to phone your local retailers before heading out, in case any of these games catch your fancy.

Xbox 360  
Spider-Man 3PlayStation 3 (PS3)
Spider-Man 3      Wii
Spider-Man 3      Legend of the Dragon      Heatseeker      PlayStation Portable (PSP):
Legend of the Dragon      The Cube      Tait...

Games Radar reveals what Official PlayStation Magazine (UK) had to say about Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3, Xbox 360) Okay, if you've managed to read them off the scans, well and good, wait for the next update from the internet about Rockstar's jewel. If not, as the title suggests, the word of the day is NO.

As in "virtually" no familiar GTA faces, for starters. This might mean that although there may be references to the prior games in the series (GTAIII onwards, plus both Stories and Advance, were single-universe - heck, you can argue even all the way to at least the second GTA), the characters from those games might not make any significant appearances in IV's storyline.

Too bad, though. A seven-way brawl among the leading con men of GTA would have been an interesting sight.

Yes, still no planes - although you do get helicopters - but Rockstar hopes there will be no loading screens either, all over the entire game. That means: no loading between islands, no lo...

The fifth book of Harry Potter has been out for so long now that a couple of you have read and re-read it enough to actually realize that the locket found in the Black house is actually one of (spoiler alert!) Voldemort's horcruxes. Well, speaking of spoilers, today's batch of screens for the PS3 version of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix has, what could potentially be for some, a spoiler on its own.

If you see one of the pics below, it's actually a screenshot of cough and ahem going head-to-head in the fountain-plaza of the mumble-mumble , which happened towards the end of the book. Dare to click the thumbs to enlarge? In any case, if you can see from the pic above, all that detail put into the characters is absurd. The resemblance of Potter to the Radcliffe kid is just too close that it's bordering on freaky. (or maybe that's just me)

Electronic Arts' Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will also be coming out on the DS, PC, PS2, PSP, Wii, ...

Later this year, the day of the Kaz begins. Analysts just love to crystal-ball the future of Sony Computer Entertainment post-Kutaragi, under former SCEA boss, now to-be SCE boss Kaz Hirai. BusinessWeek, for example, describes him as the "anti-Kutaragi."

Let's not get biblical about the title. It simply means that Kaz will bring a whole different ballgame to the head office than Ken used to bring.

Hirai's biggest weakness was Kutaragi's best strength, BusinessWeek observes: technological savvy. "Hirai isn't a techie and won't have the pull with engineers" that Ken had. At the same time, he would have to learn the technological side of SCE business - supply and parts management, long-term production, not to mention the PS4 (when the time comes for that).

Hirai's biggest strength, on the other hand, is that having been in corporate and dealing with SCEA, the guy networks. Michael Pachter tells BusinessWeek that he believes Kaz is more "in touch" with US game pu...