204w ago - Sony and Nintendo have studied each other over the years and formed patterns to combat against each other.

Nintendo relied strongly on superior first-party offerings, while Sony created strong third-party relationships and offered a wide variety of exclusive titles.

A change of strategy is now being made according to the Examiner, to quote:

This generation, Sony has become much more reliant on the prospect of first-party offerings to bring in the gamers. Uncharted, InFamous, Killzone 2, LittleBigPlanet, two Resistance titles, Ratchet and Clank, etc, have become the mainstay titles to the PS3.

Thankfully, the first-party offerings from Sony have been amazing. Introducing several new franchises from established developers, Sony has been able to create a lineup strong enough to rival that of Nintendo. On the flipside, Sony doesn't have the in with the third-party developers.

This biggest, and by far one of the best games this generation, third-party title Sony has exclusive rights to is Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. After MGS4, we have scrapings of major releases.

Several niche titles have seen release like Disgaea 3 and the under loved Valkyria Chronicles. Sony had to make a shift and start crafting AAA first-party titles to counteract...

208w ago - According to Arstechnica's favorite inside source, a price drop is coming to both the Sony PS3 and Microsoft XBox 360 consoles this fall.

To quote: Since we can't name the source, we're treating all this information as rumor, but the Mole's reputation in the industry for breaking large stories and outstanding track record for accuracy speaks for itself.

The 80GB model is going to see some serious hardware constraints in the weeks ahead, and retailers have about 60 days worth of inventory before the systems will become hard to find. Expect to see many more 160GB units on store shelves.

Those units have no constraints yet, but if the retailers sell through that supply as quickly as they did the 80GB, Sony is in a good place for the final part of its plan in 2009: dropping the price of hardware and launching the PS3 Slim in the fall.

Expect the Xbox 360 Pro to disappear in July or August, but you're going to see some solid bundles to get those systems moving off store shelves. The Halo 3/Fable 2 bundle the Mole previously tipped us off to shows that Microsoft is willing to put some good games into the box to get people buying.

So what are we going to do without...

217w ago - The Entertainment Software Association of Canada is calling for tougher copyright laws in the country, including jail time for pirates and the criminalization of mod-chips.

To quote: A bill modeled after the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in the U.S. was introduced in Canada last year but died before it could be passed when the government called an election.

Grassroots resistance to the bill was strong, with critics claiming it was overly restrictive and would leave individual citizens exposed to huge fines. Nonetheless, Parr called for similar legislation to be introduced "as soon as possible."

Among the changes called for by the ESAC is the right for the Canada Border Services Agency - what used to be called Customs - to seize goods they know to be pirated, something they cannot currently do without a court order, as well as stronger penalties, including jail time, for intellectual property crime and the outlawing of mod chips. "In Canada,...

226w ago - In a follow-up to an article published earlier today, it seems that Microsoft has taken a back seat in making 'waves' in the gaming industry... most of which are PS3 exclusives as of late.

Now before the XBox 360 fanboys out there chew up this article and spit it out, hear me out... Earlier in the life cycle of the XBox 360, there were games released that were praised and adored for the technology and visuals they brought to gaming, one of which was 'Gears of War', this highly intense Third Person shooter was epic in every sense of the word, no pun intended.

'Gears of War' was THE game to own an XBox 360 for, with XBox 360 owners using it as a tool for arguments against PS3 users, who argued their system was more "powerful".

Everything from the games' graphics to it's cover-centric gameplay was brilliant, and indeed one of the many reasons the original 'Gears of War' was hyped for, was it's visuals. However after the release of the sequel, 'Gears of War 2', which saw noticeable visual improvements to the first, the XBox 360 has wittered out of the race to console visual superiority.

What am I saying? well if you take a look at the main set of upcoming games for the PlayStation...

231w ago - The recent trend, which apparently began with a new rash of PS3 hate, has assaulted the Internet and we're already feeling the negative effects.

You know, when narrow-minded 'journalists' make certain inane proclamations in an ill-advised attempt to present their opinion as fact, everyone suffers. Now, they're actually trying to prove a point with completely irrelevant statistics!

Here's a concept that everyone needs to comprehend and accept. The Xbox 360 launched one year before the PlayStation 3. It has a larger user base. Depending on the source you use, Sony has sold between 18 and 20 million PS3s and Microsoft has sold between 26 and 28 million 360s.

Now, we won't bother to show the obvious closing of the gap in the past two years; we'd rather stick to the point: when there are 8-10 million more of one particular console out there, the sales numbers for the corresponding software will reflect that gap.

Therefore, this isn't anything like comparing the software sales between systems with equal user bases, and that instantly alters the numbers. This is fact #1. Here's fact #2: evidently, the only argument the Xbox loyalists have left revolves around sales numbers. And they're desperately trying to cling to it like...