At last: revenge.

Some might argue that Red still has some fight left in him, but it’s clear from recent announcements that the entertainment industry has chosen Blu-ray as their champion, leaving HD-DVD on limited life support.

The first blow came on January 4th, when Warner Brothers announced that beginning later this year they would release titles exclusively on the Blu-ray format.

Then two more in rapid succession: both Netflix and Blockbuster will dump HD-DVD for Blu-ray, though they plan to keep HD-DVD on the shelves for around a year before those titles disappear all together.

If that wasn’t enough, both Best Buy and Wal-Mart kicked HD-DVD to the curb barely a week ago. And today Universal issued a press release announcing their side in the Hi-Def Format War.

Oh, God, do you still think there’s a chance that HD-DVD might overcome? A small sliver of hope? Hope you have a hankie, because you’re wrong. HD-DVD’s most ardent supporter has also called it quits.

We barely knew him. May he rest in peace.

punk feels sorry for those who couldn’t wait to see who came out on top and bought an HD-DVD player. Really, he does. Hat-tip to Bennybum.

Amidst all the hoopla in the $40 billion global video game industry, it seems Santa doesn't care about Blu-Ray or overpriced consoles either.

Nintendo's Wii, the little arm-waving, ass-shaking system that could, outsold Sony's Playstation 3 by more than three to one in Japan in 2007, regaining first place in total sales. Mario & Co. couldn't be happier.

Nintendo enjoys the same 3-1 margin in sales against Sony in North America. When your system can't last long enough on shelves to gather dust (and customers are left sucking the dubious cash cow cock of chain stores to buy overpriced "bundle" packages), you're doing something right.

Or, you know, your company fails at increasing supply to meet demand.

I happen to have a sunnier disposition where the Wii is concerned. Mostly because I camped out for 12 hours outside the nearest Target that fateful November morn to be #2 in line. Your personal experience may differ.

Kamide also notes the Xbox 360 is still going strong this side of the pond. That's right. Microsoft is still #1 in the US, selling more than 4 million units this past holiday. However, Bill Gates' little "Red Ring of Death"ed love child is still holding the rear in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Not to mention the problems they encountered with Xbox Live outages.

Much like the storied sports rivalries of old, the fight between the Big Three and their loyal fanbases is everlasting. I don't know about you, but I'm too busy killing zombies and saving princesses to go throw the ball around.

thefreak owns 15 different gaming systems. He's a bigger dork than you.

Ken Kutaragi, the inventor of the PS3 is dead. To Sony, that is.

News of his "retirement" from the company precedes an upcoming report where the company will announce that its gaming division lost more than 2 billion dollars. Whoopsie.

The company's decision to include the proprietary next-generation “blu-ray” player resulted in a $599 price tag for the next-gen console. Depending on which numbers you believe—Sony lost between 2 and 3 hundred dollars on every PS3 unit it produced, helping to kill both the console and the stereotype that all Japanese are wonderful business people.

Adding to the system’s woes were early shortages of critical equipment and a very strong showings from Nintendo’s imaginative and inexpensive Wii.

Ken was always a foreward thinking man—and at the time of his departure from Sony he was thinking three flops into the future:

There's no telling how much you probably wouldn't have spent to not own one of those pricey future machines.

Ken leaves Sony with great memories of the PS2, the costly question mark that is the PS3 and presumably his own bloody pinky in a folded up handkerchief.

Fueled with booze and surrounded by boobs, self described “B-Level game designer” David Jaffe let loose some details on his “God of War” series recently at the Playboy Mansion. Drunkenly shooting down rumors that he has been working on part three of his series before part two is even released, Jaffe boldly admits that his PSP version was shit and ultimately scrapped to save face and cash. Jaffe’s gaffes continued tumbling out once the sauced up Sony marketing exec Jeff Reese tried selling some bullshit that only the most devoted of fan boys would have bought.

Multiple platforms? Unless Sony is developing another hand held device or wising up and not selling a console purchased solely by oil barons and virgins for life, Mr. Reese is just talking out his overly paid ass. Then again he is drunk and surrounded by the boobies so perhaps he gets a pass.

Jaffe goes on to rightfully praise the Xbox Live service and hopes the Sony equivalent will be competitive and perhaps surpass Live someday. Considering how unappealing it would be to have some geek shove a microphone in your face at the Playboy Mansion for an impromptu interview, Jaffe managed to indulge his fans (and ego) with some wonderful sound bytes. Not to mention giving birth to one hell of a catch phrase when bullied by the butt-hurt, alpha-male Sony exec.

For those not in the know, “God of War” is a sadistically sublime game on the PS2 wherein you control a bald (he shaves it!), Conan-like Man God that has his way with women and splits monsters from the Greek mythos right up the middle with his bloody hands and chained blades. Studies have shown that playing it for a mere hour is tantamount to cock-punching Mike Tyson and calling him “A Gay” to his face.

It's a rough gig getting a Playstation 3. As if it weren't bad enough that the machine will set you back over 500 bucks and Sony, due to a "blue diode shortage" in the game console's Blu-Ray drive is way under delivering on this initial shipment, but you also just might get your ass kicked getting one.

Multiple reports are surfacing today of PS3 line violence. In West Bend, Wisconsin, the 60 people waiting for the 10 available units went berserk jostling for line position, requiring police and and ambulance to be dispatched to the scene.

A Palmdale, California Wal-Mart's PS3 line was a chaotic mess as police had to move the line from inside the store to the parking lot, causing angry line waiters to wreck everything in their path in the process.

In Lexington Kentucky, three people and a local news reporter were the victims of a drive-by BB shooting. Since no one lost an eye or anything though, this is actually pretty funny.

Did anyone mention to these Mensa members that the PS3 will have almost no games available at launch (at midnight tonight) and will cost 500 plus bucks?

Ahh, the joys of natural selection.

If you really want to find out how few PS3's will be available in your area, try this tracker.

We obviously didn't come to see this shitty movie

Gears of War, easily the most anticipated Xbox360 game this side of Halo 3 was shown to lucky gamers last week at “The Match Made in Hell”, a four-city Gears preview held after a showing of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre : The Beginning”. The preview and game play are drawing almost unanimously rave reviews from the fanboy faithful in attendance. No, not fainting or a riot, but pretty damn close.



Gears of War is first person shooter with heavy horror and team game play elements. The game’s lush graphics and the recent announcement that it would support multiplayer game play brought Gears of War's anticipation level to a fever pitch.

The game means much more to Microsoft’s Xbox360 platform than your average holiday season title. When the Xbox360 launched in November of last year, it drew criticism for not being a large enough step graphically from the original Xbox to warrant the “Next Generation” moniker. By default, Gears has inherited the responsibility of being the first “true” Xbox360 next generation title, the first to really use the 360’s full processing horsepower. With November’s release of Nintendo’s groundbreaking Wii console, and Sony’s controversy-plagued PS3, the need for the 360 to shine has never been more vital for Microsoft.

Will Gears cement the 360’s strong lead on competitors Sony and Nintendo in the current phase of the console wars, or will it end up being just another FPS death orgy? We’ll know soon enough; Gears of War goes on sale November 7th.

here's a look:

In a nutshell, it sucks to be Sony right now.

It began a while back when laptop batteries began to spontaneously catch fire or even explode. In August, Dell issued the largest laptop battery recall ever; over 4.1 million. The fun doesn't end there. Sony, the manufacturer of the defective lithium-ion batteries also supplies most of the large PC makers with their batteries as well...

A couple weeks after Dell's announcement, Apple followed with a giant battery recall of all 1.8 million G4 Powerbook and iBook batteries sold since 2003; the biggest recall in their history. Now Sony's computer division has joined the “You might get 3rd degree burns while innocently updating your Flickr page” party by recalling their laptop batteries.

At last count, Fujitsu, IBM, Toshiba and Hitachi all joined the battery recall list.

This story seems far from over. It might be a good time to check and see if your laptop model is one of those potentially affected. Big companies don’t necessarily want you dead, but they also won’t go too far out of their way to tell you if your product is dangerous, so be smart and check your gear out for yourself (click the manufacturer links in this article to go to their respective battery recall info pages).

Unless maybe you would rather surf the SuicideGirls News Wire from the burn ward of your local hospital.

Come November 11th and 17th anyone in Japan and the US with a mysteriously large wad of cash will be able to pick up their beloved PS3 at their local electronics shop. Sony fans in the UK, Russia, Africa, and Australia have been anticipating joining their geek brothers in sweet solidarity on those same days. All was right with the world. Today Sony has sadly announced that due to a lack of fancy blue laser diodes they will not be making their previously set production goals.

Sony already has an uphill battle to face with the steep price tag of its PS3 and could have benefited from the hilariously loose spending habits regularly found around the holiday season. Consumers in those regions are now left with the more affordable and readily available Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii. Good luck Sony! You'll get it right one of these days.