Brace yourselves PlayStation 3 gamers, for Sony has lined up tons of downloadable games coming to the PlayStation Network soon. During their lengthy conference at the E3 Media & Business Summit, Sony talked about titles soon to be distributed over PSN including that of SCE Liverpool's WipEout HD, Idol Mind's PAIN and even Incognito Entertainment's Warhawk.

In a previously released announcement over press wire, Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) named Bluepoint Games' Blast Factor: Advanced Research, Jon Mak's Everyday Shooter, Yuke's Go! Sports Ski, SCEA San Diego's High Velocity Bowling, Kuju Entertainment's Nucleus, Q Games' PixelJunk Racers and Super Stardust HD, among others, as games soon to be available over PlayStation 3 via the PlayStation Network.

Trailers of PAIN and WipEout HD were provided during the presentation along with some commentary, while PlayStation Home was mentioned for a fleeting five minutes, which included mention of it...

Analysts and gamers have often pointed to the Sony PlayStation 3's price point as the biggest reason it's trailing its competitors in terms of sales. Capcom Europe bigwig Mark Beaumont, however, has other things in mind.

Beaumont says that it may very well be the content that the platform currently has that's not clicking. "I would say Sony's product portfolio has had more to do with holding them back than the price point of the hardware itself," he comments.

Beaumont also raised the question on whether the console sales are driven by people who just want to watch movies, pointing out that the high-end console is still the cheapest Blu-ray player in the market today.

Beaumont says that the sales should pick up once new content makes it to the system. He draws references from Sony's statements comparing the PS3's start to that of the PS2's. The older console also started off slow but eventually dominated thanks to a wide array of content and big exclusive game...

Pianist/composer/singer Ruslana of Ukraine might be the first voice actor - actress, in this case - confirmed for Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto IV (soon to hound PS3s and Xbox 360s everywhere). But see, as we heard from QJ reader DolphGB - thanks for the tip, btw! - even you even stand an off-chance at bagging some bragging rights to say that you did voice acting for GTA 4.

Liberty City's We Know The Truth (WKTT) Radio is holding a contest open to participants over the age of 18. All you have to do is hook up with their website, read the terms and conditions, and and finally phone-in (yes, they've got the actual phone number listed in the website) to talk/rant/squeal about your take on the war in terror.

By calling up the "radio station," it's your chance to air out some grievances you might have on Liberty City - and of course, a chance to be part of the in-game content.

Make sure you read the fine print, because that's where you'll find the "The Promotio...

In a GamesIndustry.biz's E3 interview, head of Microsoft's interactive entertainment business division Peter Moore expressed his views on Microsoft's current position with the Xbox 360 and commented on Sony's as well.

Moore discussed how Microsoft is increasing exposure of the 360, focusing not only on selling its consoles but its games as well. He was also firm in expressing that they have "no plans right now to make any pricing announcement whatsoever." Japan, however, recently got the news that it will not get a price cut.

When asked about the reported US 1 billion cost in repairing faulty 360 units, Moore replied on a more personal level, saying that it was a hard decision to make but it had to be done: "It was a tough day - a really tough day. But I like to think we did the right thing. Even then you get criticised for doing the right thing."

He was also asked if that huge amount would not allow Microsoft to afford a price cut. Moore gave a definite no:...

The HD-DVD group has earlier announced positive signs coming from the European front of the high-definition format war where it says that its stand-alone HD-DVD players are outselling Sony's Blu-ray players on a three-to-one scale.

The data, the group says, comes from research firm GfK and covers countries Italy, Spain, France, Switzerland, and Germany. The numbers included all current HD-DVD players stacked up against players outside of the Sony PlayStation 3 console which is also capable of playing Blu-ray movies.

The group, however, made it clear that Blu-ray discs are still outselling HD-DVDs in the same region and declined to comment on whether or not the format is losing money in the United States and other markets around the world.

Comparisons have already been drawn between this format war and the rivalry between the Betamax and the VHS formats from about three decades ago. Others have likened it to Netscape versus the Internet Explorer from back in t...

Even more news in the saga of the continuing discontinuing saga of the 60GB PlayStation 3. We first said it was discontinued, then not discontinued, but now Sony's Kaz Hirai is confirming that they're no longer producing that model. He says:
We're no longer in production for [the 60GB PS3], so once that product is gone from the retailers shelves, then we're back to the $599 SKU only, so it's not like we have a two-price strategy here in the US market, which we found out very early on, that consumers react mostly to having one SKU as opposed to two. So in short, the 60GB will be around for a while, and if you want the hardware backward compatibility with PS2 games, you'd better get the $499 model. [Kotaku]

 
Earlier, we reported that the 60GB PlayStation 3, recipient of the highly-lauded US$100 price cut, is pretty much going to be phased out, with Sony just waiting for current stocks to disappear from store shelves. Now, in a rather surprising turn of events, we find out that even though Sony Computer Entertainment America stepped in to deny the phasing-out of the US 499 SKU, Kaz Hirai himself has just now confirmed that the 60GB PS3 will indeed be done away with.

Confused? Don't be. Here's what's happened so far: David Reeves of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) commented that the US 100 markdown in the 60GB SKU's price tag is merely SCEA's plan to clear store shelves of any remaining SKU of that memory capacity.

Once supplies have run out due to the sudden increase of demand, the only remaining SKU available will be the 80GB PlayStation 3, which is pretty much back to square one for potential Sony buyers(US 599). SCEA, upon finding out about ...

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After some turbulent hours of confusion over this story, Sony finally got its facts straight and let the world know that it is in fact not going to discontinue its 60GB PS3 in US once current stock runs out. According to SCEA's Dave Karraker, "As announced this week, SCEA's product offering in North America consists of a 80GB PS3 available in August at $599 and a 60GB PS3 available now for $499. We have will have ample supplies of both models to meet the needs of our consumers for the foreseeable future." Apparently the confusion arose from Sony Europe's David Reeves explaining that if they cut the 60GB price in Europe, they'd run out of stock in Europe by the end of July. So, false alarm people, please resume buying / not buying your $499 60GB PS3s in an orderly manner. 
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

When David Reeves, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe's Prez said that the 60GB PS3 was history after this batch of stock goes dry, he was either wrong, or accidentally spilling the beans. Sony is now officially saying that the PS3's 60GB version will be around for a while. So no fears about losing the console's hardware PS2 emulation to the sands of time, just yet. [Kotaku]

 
If Max Payne gave gamers a quick fix of the stylized slow-motion ballet of bullets trademarked as Bullet Time, then John Woo's Stranglehold for the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 is the fatal overdose. Yours truly is not going to beat around the bush, this game is looking like the most awesome third-person shooter to date.

These gameplay videos are actually Part 1 and Part 2 of what could be the obligatory Skyscraper level of Stranglehold, with Inspector Tequila gunning down each and every nameless henchman standing in his way. There's also an awesome bit in the second part where you dodge gunshots with a simple turn of the head, before sending a round or two of your own back. Enough spoilers from us, enjoy the video!