Sony’s e-book reader may have been put in the shade by the Amazon Kindle, but the consumer electronics giant is planning a superhero-style comeback in the comics genre.

At a San Francisco event on Thursday night, Sony showed off its new handheld PSPgo console, launching on October 1, some forthcoming downloadable “Mini” games and its Digital Comics, an addictive new service for the PSP coming in  December. Continue reading "Holy Kindles Batman! Sony comics have e-readers licked"

The first data are starting to appear on sales of Sony’s revamped Playstation 3 “Slim” since price cuts went into effect at the start of September. The data are good. The question is whether they are good enough.

In Japan, research company Enterbrain says that Sony sold 150,252 PS3 Slims in the four days between its launch on September 3 and September 6. That is the highest weekly sales number Sony has recorded for the PS3 since its launch in 2006 and also compares well with products past, such as the 170,779 units of Nintendo’s DSi handheld console sold during its first two days in the shops last autumn. Continue reading "A good start for the PS3 Slim - but is it good enough?"

Microsoft has been reluctant to reveal the technology behind its Project Natal gesture-based control system unveiled at the E3 video game trade show in June.

But at a DisplaySearch conference on emerging display technologies in San Jose on Thursday, a Microsoft partner spilled the beans. Continue reading "Microsoft’s Natal secrets revealed"

Pocket God, an iPhone application that achieved brief omnipotence in the best-seller list and lasting adoration from gamers, serves as a pocket guide on how to make an impact on a platform where more than 65,000 apps are now vying for consumers’ attention.

As part of our Media Challenge series, I spoke to Pocket God’s creator Dave Castelnuovo of Bolt Creative about the techniques his two-man team - himself and artist Allan Dye - used to make Pocket God a million seller in the App Store. Continue reading "Pocket God earns iPhone worshippers"

Sony has changed the dimensions of its PlayStation 3 console and the dynamics of the current generation console wars with the introduction of the PS3 “Slim” from September 1 at $299 in the US.

Sony gave me a quick tour of the new console in San Francisco on Wednesday. Take a look at the smaller, lighter, less shiny PS3 in a video after the jump. Continue reading "First impressions of the PS3 “Slim”"

Electronic Arts reported that losses widened and revenues fell over the past three months. But the world’s second-largest videogame maker had a better than expected quarter thanks to some well-timed releases.

Even as overall spending on videogames is down, EA results were bolstered by strong sales of “The Sims 3″, the latest release in one of the industry’s best-selling franchises, and “EA Sports Active”, a new title for the Nintendo Wii. EA lost $234m in the three months through July, compared with $95m during the same time last year.

EA didn’t adjust its forecast for the year, an indication that despite this solid quarter, the videogame industry could continue to suffer for months to come.

THQ and chief executive Brian Farrell (pictured) made a fighting comeback in the June quarter, with their mixed-martial arts game selling nearly 3m copies and returning the video game publisher to profit.

THQ reported sales up 77 per cent on the previous year at $243.5m and profits of 9 cents a share compared to losses of 41 cents.

UFC 2009 Undisputed has sold 2.9m copies worldwide to date and was the best-selling title in the US in the quarter.

However, THQ will have to live on that success for a while, with no new releases planned in the current quarter.

Forecast sales of $85m - $95m were well below Street estimates of $123m and its shares were knocked down 6 per cent after-hours in New York as a result.

World of Warcraft, the world’s biggest online role-playing game with more than 11.5m subscribers, looks set to receive a serious treatment by Hollywood.

The record of video games being translated to the big screen is not great, but WoW the movie will be directed by Sam Raimi, director of the Spider-Man trilogy, Blizzard Entertainment announced today.

It will also have a heavyweight producer in Charles Roven, a producer on Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Cast and planned release date have yet to be announced. We’ve also no idea about the plot, but would like to see pitched battles involving  Chinese gold farmers.