Activision made the official announcement today and Guitar Hero fans will not be disappointed. The fourth entry into the Guitar Hero franchise is slated for a Fall 2008 release and it’s packed full of virtual goodness that is sure to appease even the most discriminating couch rocker. New features, check. Let’s start out with an available full drum kit including pedals and cymbals. Punching buttons on a plastic guitar is one thing but seeing how people fair with the new full drum set is going to be fantastic. There’s also a new microphone and Music Studio mode that allows players to “compose, record, edit and share their own rock and roll anthems.” Good lord. Eight-player “Battle of the Bands” mode sounds pretty intense as well; up to eight players can gather online and compete for the the virtual title. High school audience sold separately. The soon-to-be smash will be issued on Xbox 360, Playstation 2 and 3 as well as Wii. Ready ready people, it’s going to be getting pretty nutty.

[Via Electric Pig]

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Hot off the recent release of Grand Theft Auto 4, Sony is prepping for another landmark release. The company is getting ready to celebrate the MGS4 release in style, with 2 limited edition console bundles soon to be available to eager consumers. The first bundle is the Metal Gear solid limited edition bundle in Gun Metal Grey with a 40GB hard drive, coming complete with the new Dualshock 2 rumble controller, CD soundtrack, bonus Blu-ray disc, and a fresh copy of the game. All of this goodness should run you about $600, and is available exclusively from Konami’s website.. That’s quite a hefty premium over the standard console, even taking all of the perks into consideration. The second version of the MDS4 PS3 is identical to the one described above, but it’s available from all retail channels, and will cost you a mere $500. Bizarre, right? Which one will you be getting?

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Hoping to get your virtual PS3 world experience on by the Summer? Not so fast. The promised open beta for Sony’s Playstation Home service has been delayed yet again. Sony had been promising to deliver the Second Life-esque experience by the beginning of the summer, but is now saying that they need to extend the private beta testing phase until Fall 2008 in the interest of working out all of the kinks. So sad. To its credit, the company seems committed to releasing a fully fleshed out product, as opposed to rushing a half baked experience out the door, but that’s little consolation for anyone that has been patiently waiting to go Avatar crazy on their Playstation 3.

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Not to be outdone by the Wii (unless we’re talking sales numbers), the PS3 is the proud recipient of this stylish LCD screen. The 7" screen attaches seamlessly to the top of your console unit, and comes complete with a matching pair of stereo speakers. How stylish! It’s manufactured by a company called Clearvision, who has sadly yet to reveal pricing or availability info. While the PS3 is certainly less portable than a Wii, we’re guessing the small subset of the population that actually travels with their gaming console might be able to overlook the weight factor, and the joy of playing your personal PS3 in the back of an Escalade? Priceless.

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The Nintendo Wii continues to plow ahead of the competition, posting record sales month after month. According to a recent set of stats released by the NPD group, Nintendo moved 720,000 consoles during the month of April. Whoa! As if that number wasn’t impressive enough, things start to look even crazier when you consider that Microsoft sold just 262,000 XBox 360s, slightly ahead of Sony’s 257,000 PS3s. Nintendo, it seems, is doing something right. The Wii, slotting in at a significantly lower price point than either of its two rivals, has remained in steady demand since its introduction. While Sony’s 257,000 may seem unimpressive, it represents a 98% increase in sales over the same period of time last year. With the upcoming launch of GTA IV on both the PS3 and the XBox 360, Microsoft and Sony should make up some lost ground, but if things continue along these lines, the Wii will most certainly continue to dominate the console wars.

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Think Rockstar Games has a lot riding on the upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto IV? You would be correct. According to Variety, is looks like the Take-Two, Rockstar’s parent company, is expecting to rake in over $400 million during the first week of sales. Whoa! That would equate to roughly 6 million units sold over 7 days, which is a pretty insane number, especially given the state of the economy, but if anyone can pull this off it’s the Grand Theft Auto franchise. Given the new dual-platform release approach, coupled with the incredible hype surrounding the impending April 29th drop, epic sales are no brainer, but $400 million? We’ll just have to wait and see.

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Rock Band is a favorite around BGR World Headquarters, so we were quite pleased to see the following bit of news. The Rock Band online store has finally gone live, albeit only for our Playstation 3-toting brethren. The store features a large amount of downloadable content, sporting tracks from artists such as Nine Inch Nails, Oasis, The Police, and more. Tracks are $1.99 each, with a number of special "Track Packs" available for $5.49. The downloading process is a bit cumbersome, and requires a PS3 running OS 1.03, but it’s certainly worth checking out.

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As news trickles across the web that Apple may have fallen a bit short of their movie rental targets, word of a new player in the online movie store game is surfacing once again. Rumors of Sony’s entry into online movie downloads has been floating around for over a year now, but apparently Sony is now very close to launching its offering geared towards the PlayStation 3 console. Sony reportedly showcased a preview of its upcoming movie download shop at the Destination PlayStation conference last week in Scottsdale, Arizona. The movie download service will integrate with Sony’s current online PlayStation Store, which is due for an overhaul in the Spring. Details as to the launch date, DRM implementation and pricing structure for movies are still unknown, but word on the street is that the US will get first crack at the service. Initially, all offerings will be Sony Pictures titles but Sony is no doubt in talks with additional studios to expand its catalog as quickly as possible after launch. Those who observed the preview are claiming that Sony has a gem on their hands. It’s a good thing too; they’ve been at it long enough.

[Via electric pig]

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Here’s an interesting (read: controversial) perspective on the current state of the gaming console wars. EA seems to think that there will be more PS3s sold than Xbox 360s in the European market this year. Really? Really. Basing their prediction almost entirely on the upcoming crop of games, including Metal Gear Solid, Little Big Planet, and Final Fantasy, EA is predicting that Sony’s underdog console could begin to show some signs of progress. While they’re not making any such predictions for the all-too-important American market, their faith is an important indicator of the fact that the industry has yet to give up on the PS3. Given the seemingly inevitable demise of the HD-DVD format, we’re inclined to place a bit of faith on this analysis.

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It looks like the rumors were true and the 80GB PlayStation 3 is in fact going the way of the dinosaur. As retailers try to dump their remaining inventory, news that the more spacious PlayStation 3 model is on its way out was only heartbreaking for a few days. The move is now making a lot more sense of course, when considering the latest rumor to emerge from the gaming world. It appears that Sony has ditched the 80GB model because there will soon be a new sheriff in town. A meatier model is reported to be just over the horizon, boasting 120GB - 160GB of storage. Further details are still trickling in, but it’s said that the newcomer will ship with the highly-coveted Dual Shock 3 controller, which isn’t widely available outside of Japan at this point. The best news, which of course is the worst news for those who have already shelled out the cash for the 80GB model, is that the new model will come in at the same price point that its predecessor sold for. Nice! Word on the street is that the 40GB model should receive a 20% price slash around the same time. That brings the 40GB down to a svelte $299 and twice the price will bring you three to four times the storage with the upcoming model ringing in at $499.

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Parents all over the country will soon be primed to sharpen their fangs and break out the picket signs all over again. Rockstar Games, makers of what is likely the most controversial series of games this decade, has slapped a release date on the inevitable fourth edition of their brutal masterpiece. Yes, Grand Theft Auto IV is now officially slated for release on April 29th! Coming to both PS3 and Xbox 360, GTA4 looks like it may be the most controversial Rockstar offering yet. More violence, hopefully more sex, and even some drunk driving for good measure. No, that’s not a mistake; Rockstar game looks to be finding new and exciting ways to spark up as much opposition as possible. GTA4 actually lets players guide main character Niko Belic through a night of partying with friends. Once he emerges, in-car "drunk mode" takes affect complete with blurred vision and increased driving difficulty. Expect undereducated preteens around the globe to soon be emulating Belic by going out on benders and playing bumper cars with their parents’ SUVs. Of course their escapades won’t be a result of under-funded school systems or crappy parenting; the game told them to do it!

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If the contents of a leaked internal memo are to be believed, the answer is a very strong yes! Best Buy has apparently been circulating a memo to all employees, notifying them that the PS3 80 GB will no longer be gracing their store shelves. If true, this is but the latest indication that Sony still has some, ahem, things to figure out if they intend to push the PS3 successfuly. Given the recent holiday season sales report numbers that place both the Wii and Xbox 360 in a healthy lead ahead of the lowly PS3, the company may have already lost that battle. Whether Best Buy’s move signals a widespread discontinuation or just a store-specific decision remains to be seen, but given the fact that they are one of the country’s biggest electronics retailers, we wouldn’t be surprised if this was indicative of a widespread change in Sony’s PS3 strategy. The real bummer here is that Best Buy will only be selling the 40GB version of the PS3, which happens to be the only model that doesn’t retain backwards-compatibility with the PS2.

UPDATE: Nevermind, then! Best Buy has taken the 80GB PS3 off their website. Circuit City and other big box retailers still look to be carrying them, though..

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What does a good Christmas look like for the Xbox team over at Microsoft? Try selling 1.45 million consoles in a single month. How about 1.73 million Nintendo Wii’s? Yeah, it sounds pretty good. Both Redmond-based companies had a amazingly successful holiday sales season, pushing record numbers of consoles. Sony was less successful, selling only 854,000 Playstation 3 consoles. While the Wii is still clearly the most successful (and most sought after) console system, these numbers solidify the Xbox’s lead of Sony’s troubled PS3, and should serve as a great blow to anyone accusing the Microsoft unit of growing a bit long in the tooth. Our question, however, is just how many Wii’s would Nintendo sell if they managed to get their manufacturing system up to par? A lot, we think. Even more with pretty colors in their lineup…

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And the battle for console dominance continues. A new report from Game News identifies some pretty staggering sales numbers for the Playstation 3 over the past year. Black Friday was particularly kind to the Sony console, with sales up 245 percent over the same time last year. That’s great news for Sony’s sales department, but it’s just a small piece of a larger picture of victory. The company has seen unit sales increase by 178 percent, and overall sales $’s increase by 154 percent over the course of the past week, entering the holiday season with bang. This is due, in large part, to the recent price drop for the 80GB model, combined with the introduction of the 40GB model. Not bad at all, huh?

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Some love Xbox, some love Wii, but it looks like the Playstation’s got a serious fan, right? Made of 18k solid white gold and over 68.34ct of black diamonds, this is one impressive Playstation controller chain. The question we ask you, dear readers, is who’s chain is it? Jay-Z, Paris, or Shaquille O’Neal? Well, none of them. To find who rocks the rocks, hit the jump!

It’s BGR buddy Just Blaze, of course!

UPDATE: Just wants to tell all y’all to STFU! "It pays to have rich friends, get you some! It was a gift."

The not-very-secret secret out of the Wal-Mart camp isn’t exactly a discount on its PS3 offering this holiday season, but it’s still pretty significant. Snag an 80GB PS3 during the event, and you’ll be able to pick up 10 free Blu-Ray movies while you’re there. Not crummy, we-choose-them-for-you discs. Instead, you simply grab any 10 titles under $30, and the register will do the rest. This is on top of the 5 free movies you can get by mail. All this fun starts November 24th at 8:00 AM. Enjoy the chaos!

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Sony has done the impossible, pushing Playstation 3 sales to a point that might almost be described as…impressive. The newly released 40GB PS3 model seems to have caused a surge in unit sales, shoving the PS3 into competitive territory with Microsoft and Nintendo. Prior to the appearance of the 40GB version, the Playstation 3 was consistently moving around or under 30,000 units every week. Not great. The first week numbers for the 40GB model are in, however, and they’re a bit staggering. During the first week that the 40GB PS3 was available, there were 100,000 total units moved. Yikes. Whether this is a fluke, or signals a turning point along the rocky road towards console sales security remains to be seen, but whatever the outcome it’s clear that Sony is moving in the right direction.

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How does 500 Euros off a new Sony LCD TV sound to you? Pretty good, right? How about 500 Euros off in addition to a brand new Blu-ray player or PS3? Yeah, we’re not kidding. Either Sony has an amazing sense of generosity given the upcoming holiday season, or somebody is getting a bit worried about their slow moving product lines. Either way, we’re not complaining, though we wouldn’t mind seeing these sort of incentives and deals over here in the US. In the interest of full disclosure, we should note that the rebate is on a bit of a sliding scale, so not all models will warrant a 500 check, but at the very least you’re looking at 250 Euros and a free PS3.

UPDATE: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. It turns out that the rebate only comes after you purchase both a Sony LCD TV and a PS3. A 250-500 Euro rebate still isn’t anything to scoff at, but it’s not quite the fire sale we initially thought

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We’ve been hearing rumors of this for quite a while, but there’s nothing like a bit of confirmation, right? Recently leaked internal documents from Best Buy have revealed that the $399 Playstation 3 might indeed be a reality. It should sport a 40 GB hard drive, and come bundled with Spiderman 3 on Blu-ray, deading criticism that this low-end model would be shipping sans Blu-ray drive. It’s scheduled to be in-stock on the 28th of October, though there’s no official word on when we might expect this thing on store shelves. Thank God Sony has realized that no one wants to pony up $600 for a gaming system! Let’s hope this not only increases unit sales, but also serves to convince game developers that the Playstation 3 is worth sinking some R&D resources into.

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It requires a bit of digging, but the folks at G4 have managed to deduce that the new rumble-capable PS3 controller (no surprise) will have a much more sophisticated rumbility (yes, we know that’s not really a word) than any PS variant to date. When delving into the 1up.com preview of Metal Gear Solid 4, the writers noted: "As explosions rattled around Snake, we could actually feel the direction from which they were coming based on what part of the controller vibrated." Further digging suggests variable vibration, too. For those who have groaned for a PS3 rumble-controller out of the gate, it looks like it may have been worth the wait.

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It’s not all graveyards and anger for Sony’s Gaming division. Despite their lackluster Playstation 3 sales, especially relative to the success and demand for Nintendo’s Wii, the company is making strides in the handheld gaming market. Following the recent release of Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core, Sony has seen amazing gains with their PSP. Last weeks sale’s numbers were rather telling, with Sony pushing over 95,487 PSP units relative to Nintendo’s 79,974 DS’. Not too bad. Nintendo still blasted Sony in the home console market, selling 26,181 Wii’s while Sony pushed a mere 13,101 Playstation 3’s, but progress is progress, right? The question is whether Sony will be able to ride this success after the luster of the new flagship game has faded. We’re guessing not, but a Sony fanboy can always dream, right?

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Do you hear that? It’s the sound of Second Life fans breathing a sigh of relief. Sony announced today that it was delaying the release of its Second Life-esque Playstation Home until Spring 2008, giving SL fans another couple of months before Sony starts stepping to their game. Second Life jokes aside, this is the latest in a string of problems, PR issues, and poor decisions on the part of Sony’s gaming division. Claiming the desire to perfect and further polish the service, Sony continues to shoot itself in the foot by blundering the Playstation 3 with all its might. We understand the desire to release a fully developed product to the masses, but the simple fact is that product delays look bad, and do nothing but increase skepticism and concern over Sony’s ability to compete in the global gaming marketplace. This begs the question, does the Playstation 3 have one game that makes you want to buy the PS3? You know, like Xbox had Halo? Good luck, Sony.

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As 60GB PS3’s start to die off, speculation is abounding about the $499 price tag. Will Sony let it disappear? Will the 80GB version start sporting this price? Perhaps an "added value" bundle is in the works. Regardless of which Sony chooses (if any), the hot new rumor from simExchange is that they’ll make some kind of announcement at the Tokyo Game Show, which takes place later this month. Too bad none of these rumors address what gamers have been fighting for in the first place: more/better games, increased 3rd party support, and some kind of strategy to close the gap on the Xbox 360 and the "I can out-sell the PS3 three-to-one" Wii.

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According to an NPD report, as many as 70% of Xbox 360 owners are unaware of the HD capabilities (both gaming and video) of the Xbox 360.  It’s almost as bad for the PlayStation 3…as many as 60% don’t know that their console can play back Blu-Ray movies and only 50% are aware of the HD gaming aspects of the $500 console. (Awareness of the HD DVD add-on for the 360 was not included in the poll.)

it’s very likely that this is a side effect of the low user base for HDTV.  Even I, while "aware" of the HD abilities of the Xbox 360, was playing in Standard Definition until just recently. There have also been other stories recently about people buying HDTVs that are watching standard TV because of improper cabling and setup. Most people don’t have the visual sensitivity to notice the enhanced quality of HD.

It would have been interesting to have had NPD go the extra mile and ask how many of the respondents had an HDTV. I would suspect that the "awareness" factor would have been larger for those that had the prerequisite equipment. Still, the report tells a very interesting story…for two companies battling for HD supremacy, neither is getting the word out fully or doing a good job of educating their consumers. In fact, most people probably won’t even know what that shiny new HDMI port in their Xbox 360 is for.

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….and it’s November 5th. Activision, the madmen behind this seminal game series has announced that the 4th installment of Call of Duty will be available to the general public on November 5th of this year. The game will be released simultaneously for PS3, Xbox 360, and PC, with the poor Nintendo Wii getting the shaft. Sorry, little dude. The good news for PS3 owners is that the game has been verified to function at a full 60 frames per second, something that had been called into question due to previous frame rate issues. Gear up, buckle down, and get ready to attack Charlie with the quickness.

Those that have Playstation 3’s have probably also delved into the world of TiVo, or at the very least, some DVR that you got with your sat or cable service (I hate you, Comcast.) So, while the need to have your PS3 record TV isn’t a necessity, it is definitely one of those additions you’re not going to say no to. Announced on Thursday with a potential "early 2008" launch, PS3 users will be able to record their favorite TV shows, and then wirelessly transfer them to their PSP.  Pretty sweet, right? At this point, it’s Europe-only. A Sony rep told PC World, "We have no announcements at this time regarding DVR/PVR capabilities for PS3 in North America." Doesn’t mean it won’t happen, but it’s difficult to even speculate when they won’t even throw you the rumor bone.

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This is purely rumor status for the time being, but GameSpot UK seems to think there’s some truth in here. Sony’s head of New Zealand’s gaming division (say that one three times fast), Warwick Light,  made some statements the other day hailing the almighty PS3 as being a "future proof" device (though he failed to address concerns that, according to sales numbers, the device may very well be "now proof" as well). Standard corporate posturing aside, Light made some interesting statements about future PS3 revisions. The gem of the bunch? "Sony hopes to release a digital tuner for the PS3, turning it into a programmable TV recorder." There ya go. There’s no further word or confirmation on specifics, but we can at least confirm that discussions about DVR capabilities are in the pipeline. Whether or not this move would boost sales is anyones guess, but it certainly can’t hurt things.

[Via Crave]

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Come August, Hori will be releasing a new 160GB external hard drive for the PS3, removing any need to worry about whether your 20-60 80GB has enough room for your goodies. It’s USB powered, which means no external power supply…good for those of you who are cord-conscious. Look for the retail price to hover around $240, and then realize that the extra dough will only get you some potential PS3 badging, and otherwise, is just another regular 160GB drive that you could purchase, well, now. For less. But you never know…there are definitely people who prefer to buy things that are "designed" for their OEM gear.

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Lest one think that making interactive entertainment is all fun and games, the latest story breaking in the game industry should put all of that to rest. It’s a convoluted and disappointing development, but filled with allegations of sabotage and the kinds of corporate intrigue you might expect to find in a John Grisham novel. The headline is simple, Silicon Knights (Legacy of Kain, Eternal Darkness) has filed a lawsuit against Epic Games (Gears of War, Unreal Tournament) alleging that Epic filed on numerous occasions to deliver a fully-functional version of the Unreal engine to it’s partners, including Silicon Knights. It gets uglier when you start to read between the lines, however. Click on to read the rest!

Silicon Knights had what can only be called a disatrous showing at E3 2006, where their demo of the upcoming Microsoft Game Studios title Too Human was frequently referred to as a slide show or a stop-motion animatic; the game was suffering from severe framerate issues. Denis Dyack, president of Silicon Knights, urged game press to give the game a fair chance, that it was still early and wasn’t yet going through the rigorous optimization process. Behind the scenes, however, it turns out that Epic had failed to deliver a build of the engine that was due in March of that year (E3 was held in May), and didn’t deliver that build until November. Rather than hang Epic out to dry, Dyack fell on the sword himself, as any honorable knight would. Inside, however, he must have been seething, since elsewhere in the Microsoft booth, Epic was showing off Gears of War, running on a build of the engine that they were clearly keeping to themselves, as it was able to do things that were promised to Silicon Knights, but were impossible in the version of the engine they were given by Epic.  Epic’s work on Gears is also what Silicon Knights alleges kept them from offering adequate support for the engine, with the 75-member Epic team spread too thin over two titles (Gears and Unreal III) to support its licensees.

Rumors started to run rampant that Silicon Knights was going to ditch the Unreal engine and build their own technology to power the Too Human trilogy of games, but Dyack would brush these concerns off, clearly wanting to preserve the fractured relationship. Some months later it would be discovered that Silicon Knights had indeed dropped the Unreal engine and moved on to their own technology, a likely reason why Too Human, originally scheduled for release in 2006, has slipped two years out. Up until the lawsuit was filed, Silicon Knights had never publically said anything regarding the performance issues of the Unreal engine.

Also alleged in the complaint is that the PlayStation 3 version of the engine fails to live up to expectations as well. Sony themselves alluded to this problem during the recent E3 2007 Media Summit when they said that they were working with Epic to make sure that the Unreal engine would reach "the best of its potential". Kotaku’s Brian Ashcraft proceeded to list a series of PlayStation 3 games based on the Unreal engine that have either been cancelled or were significantly delayed: Stranglehold, BioShock, Lost Odyssey, Mass Effect, Rainbow Six: Vegas, Turok, Frame City Killer, Fatal Inertia and Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway.

Dyack issued the following comment: "We stand behind everything in our complaint and believe it is highly unfortunate that Epic forced us into this situation…Epic simply refuses to acknowledge the inadequacies of the Unreal Engine 3 code it provides to its licensees and refuses to accept the fact that its code has caused serious damage not only to Silicon Knights, but a number of other developers in the industry. We look forward to successful resolution of our claims in this court proceeding."

Epic’s Mark Rein denies all of the allegations, and swears to defend against the suit vigorously. However, Epic has licensed the Unreal technology to over a hundred developers, so it’s clear that we haven’t heard the end of the story. It’s possible this could turn into a class-action complaint. What’s unclear at this point is where first parties Microsoft and Sony will stand. It’s clear that Sony knows of the Unreal engine’s performance issues, but Microsoft has been very quiet, and is backed into quite the corner. Microsoft is the publisher for both Gears of War and Too Human, so you know that the developers taking off the gloves and going at it doesn’t sit well, but how can the behemoth choose sides in a war against a massive franchise and another potential mega-hit?