Sony's PlayStation 3 is one heck of a machine which, admittedly, has a rather high price tag. After seeing its capabilities, it seems that everyone within the video game industry has just one request from its maker: lower its price to attract more consumers to it.

You can now add Sega Corporate Director Masanao Maeda to that list of petitioners. According to Maeda, Sony needs to substantially cut the price of its game console by the end of the year to stimulate low demand.

The corporate director further explained, "Name brand, price, and software are what count. Since it's getting difficult to make software availability a differentiating factor, superior marketing and pricing strategy will be the key for Sony".

If you've been penny-pinching to save up for upcoming games, here's a little primer on US retail releases this week, starting July 2.

Eye catcher of the week (for the grown-ups) would be Ninja Gaiden Sigma for the PS3 and Vampire Rain for the 360. We've been covering both games for quite some time now, and the anticipation is fit to burst through Rachel's black leather suit.

Moms and dads may also want to get Platinum Sudoku or Vegas Casino for those quiet times when the kids are busy with Marvel TCG and Taito Legends 2.

What a way to start the month of July! New month, new week... new games!

Dead Reefs. In this adventure title, you'll have to investigate the mysterious goings-on at island Dead Reefs. Pirates. A curse. Arrr!
PC - July 3, 2007US 19.99ESRB T (Teen)DreamCatcher Interactive and Streko-Graphics
Jewels of Cleopatra. This puzzle title will have you racing to find the jewels of Cleopatra before your art dealer competitor.
...

Playstation 3 owners: Fiddle with that programmable monster remote no longer. Nyko is here to save you the hassle with the Blu-Wave IR remote control, a simple USB/remote solution that will let you control DVD playback in a more traditional way rather than with the Sixaxis, Sony's official Playstation 3 controller. The buttons on the remote mimic the same functionality the Sixaxis provides, and communicates via infrared to the USB adapter which plugs into any port and doesn't require additional setup. The best part of it all? The Blu-Wave is only $20.
As a DualShock veteran of DVD playback on the Playstation 2, controlling the menus with a Sixaxis isn't a big deal for me. However, this remote is perfect for people who have made attempts at Bluetooth workarounds to try to get the Playstation 3 to recognize a programmable remote and find it too much trouble. Just plug the adapter into any USB port on the Playstation 3, put two AAA batteries in the remote, and keep within 25 feet...

Dear Giz readers: As you may know, last week wasn't normal. We were a little bit preoccupied with the launch of a certain Apple product, and judging from the traffic, you were too. It didn't mean we threw all the other news out the window. But it does mean a lot of it got swept under the rug.
In a normal, iPhone-free week, you might have been buzzing about announcements from the other big mobile carriers: T-Mobile introduced HotSpot @Home, a way to save mobile minutes by talking over Wi-Fi. Verizon Wireless upgraded its nationwide EV-DO data network to a faster Rev. A status. Sprint announced a follow-up to the LG Fusic names Muziq. (OK, maybe some of these stories were intentionally buried.)
In gaming news, Sony made some rumbles about the return of the PS3 SIXAXIS Rumble controller, while the Wii got itself a billiard cue.
D-Link was the first to get not one but two products approved by the Wi-Fi Alliance as draft 2.0 compliant for 802.11n, meaning guaranteed...

All of us are closely monitoring the next-gen console race, and some may even think that they know the outcome. But that's just for the meantime.

According to DFC Intelligence, a marketing research and consulting firm focused on gaming, the console wars is just getting started. It all depends on whether or not the hardware manufacturers manage to fulfill their shipment goals for the next year. If they all do, DFC said, none of the systems will have more than 40 of the market shares by next summer.

When speaking about the PlayStation 3, DFC stated that it is quite hard to assess a product that is meant to last for a decade, so it's best to expect something different after a couple of years or more. It is just a matter of letting game developers get a feel of the PS3's full potential.

Another interesting point to note is DFC's prediction that none of the competing systems (all together now, folks: Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) will get the same level of succe...

The 2007-2008 NBA season hasn't even started yet, but incoming rookies Greg Oden and Kevin Durant are already starting a rivalry that could rage on for years. Durant is EA Sports' poster boy for NCAA March Madness, so here comes Oden as 2K Sports' cover athlete for College Hoops 2K8.

"Greg Oden has been called a 'once-in-a-decade player' and he made an undeniable impact in college basketball," said Greg Thomas, President of Visual Concepts, a 2K Sports studio. "His amazing talent combined with dedication, work ethic and winning attitude will continue to make him a great basketball success. These admirable qualities easily made him the natural choice to represent College Hoops 2K8."

Oden has recently been selected as the number one draft pick overall by the Portland Trailblazers who are ushering in a new era with the arrival of the former Ohio State Center. He led his school to the national championships in his only NCAA season and was selected as the league's best def...

E3 is the major event for gamers, developers, and publishers alike. Whatever waves that huge hurricane of video games create can decide whether something will end up a tsunami, or ultimately flop. That said, Sony will need a great boost from this much anticipated gathering where everyone is fighting for the spotlight.

Industry experts Michael Pachter, Billy Berghammer, N'Gai Croal, and Shane Shatterfield sat down with Geoff Keighly to discuss about what can revitalize the PS3 and PSP.

Hottest issues on PS3's shoulders include exclusivity, the steep price, and the fact that some don't experience hardware superiority that Sony promised.

The guys at Bonus Round pretty much concluded that the PS3 needs more games to increase momentum. Lair, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Final Fantasy XIII, and Metal Gear Solid 4 have been mentioned. As Shatterfield said, "Metal Gear Solid 4 can't come soon enough, Final Fantasy XIII can't come soon enough."

Pachter, know...

More details are beginning to emerge for Konami's latest installment to their Pro Evolution Soccer franchise, during their presence at the recently concluded Interactive & Digital Entertainment Festival (IDEF) in Cannes, France.

The first juicy bit of news we'll be reporting is that Konami expects to have a playable version of PES 2008 available this August 22, at the town of Leipzig - we imagine they're talking about this year's GCDC event.  

Also mentioned by Konami's that the game's Japanese version is expected to be identical to whatever game Europe will receive, citing that the reason that the game developer lacked resources to make different versions for the game's three major markets (Japan, North America, Europe).

Lastly, there's also the matter of the game's technical differences between its PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 incarnations. There aren't going to be any, according to the inquiry, although we'll just have to confirm this come the...

 
(Welcome to the first issue of QJ.NET's weekly feature, QuickJump QuickPeek! This weekly-updated spot will run the top news of the past week, think of it as your own directory of sorts to the week's news breakers in our second home we like to call video gaming industry. This page could contain something as trivial as Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft bigwigs gathering together for an afternoon teaparty or as groundbreaking as that teaparty turning into a free for all, take-out-as-many-gaming-exec-as-you-can brawl. With that, we take you to this week's mover and shakers...)

We weren't treated to news of filthy rich gaming execs going at each others' throats this week, but we did have an equally gory debacle with Manhunt 2 and Red Ring of Death bad rap. There's also the groundbreaking release of PSP homebrew hero Fanjita's Illuminati exploit (via Lumines UMD) that later on brought us the highly anticipated 3.50 downgrader. Throw in the talks about Nintendo's WiiWare and t...

Phil Harrison warned consumers that you shouldn't judge a console based solely on its launch titles. And he should know: he's the corporate executive and representative director of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) and Executive Vice President of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE).

While some have said that the PlayStation 3 lacks launch titles demonstrating its superior technology over its competitors, Harrison cited Resistance: Fall of Man and MotorStorm as a counterexample to these claims. He then went on to mention the success of the PlayStation 1 and PlayStation 2 and their launch line-ups.

Here's what he told GamesIndustry.biz:

Now, it's always dangerous to judge any system by its launch lineup... You only have to go back to the games that launched Playstation 1 and Playstation 2.

If you took those few dozen titles and analysed them, you would never have imagined that either of those formats would have on to sell over 100 mill...