Sony released pictures of the first Move bundle for the Playstation 3. The bundle includes the Playstation 3 (duh), one standard controller, one Move controller a camera and a set of games reminiscent of Wii Sports.

Pics, after the break.

The Net is alight over the recent sales figures for Sony's ailing Playstation 3 device. Reportedly, the introduction caused a 1000% increase in sales week on week. Wow, that sure sounds like an incredible feat! But upon closer inspection...

These figures come from UK market watcher Chart Track which is generally known to be fairly accurate with its numbers. They also have some other interesting data to share, that tell a different, less impressive story.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 adds a... innovative new way of controlling your... erm... character. You see, the Playstation 3 motion detecting Sixaxis controller is tied to the boobs of the two playable characters Momiji and Ayane. Their boobs will respond to the movements of your hands. Odd? We thought so. A Tecmo spokesperson revealed this new feature, with the simple words: Momiji and Ayane are only playable in co-op mode, so the effect may be somewhat small. We are certainly interested if this... special move has any other impact than causing nervous giggles from underage players.

Dutch game developer W!Games introduced their new Turn-Based Strategy title Greed Corp to the public today. The game will be available exclusively on the PlayStation Network.

Greed Corp is set in a hex-based fantasy world in which the player fights over scarce and valuable resources. The hex tiles can be destroyed, causing the resources on them to be destroyed as well. This allows for a multitude of strategic options, among which are to defend titles close to ones base or destroy those close to the base of the enemy.

The game is expected to launch in September.

Check out our Game Hub for some screenshots.

Tecmo announced the official release date for Ninja Gaiden Sigma II today. The US release date is the 29th of September, Europe will follow a few days later on October 2nd. The Playstation 3 game is a port from the Xbox 360 version of the game, titled Ninja Gaiden II, that was released back in June of 2008.

A demo of the game is expected to be available on PSN in September.

Low quality footage and taken with a camera, but interesting nonetheless.

Sony finally revealed the release date for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. The game will hit US stores on October 13th, with Europe following four days later on October 17th.

A host of pre-order bonuses at various stores have been announced as well. Gamestop punters will be the first to play the multiplayer demo, along with a downloadable Revenge Attribute that other players will have to work hard for during their upcoming multiplayer sessions. Best Buy ups the ante with a cool looking golden AK-47 that will be available in multiplayer games only. Amazon's bonus focuses on the single player game, giving those who pre-order a map with the locations to hidden treasures.

Where there's smoke, there's fire. Rumors of a "slim" version of the PS3 are almost as old as the console itself. Not surprisingly: sony has a history of releasing "miniaturized" versions of its consoles. It's a great business model. Without evidence, we never gave much credence to the rumors though.

This changed about 2 months ago when the pictures turned up that looked remarkably like a squashed down PS3. Speaking to CVG, Sony denied that these were pictures of a new PS3 (note that they did not deny the existence of such a machine) and looking at the pictures, the shape in it looks more like a mold than an actual game console. In hindsight, maybe it was.

A Taiwanese site called UDN, now reports that Sony has placed orders with two plants to produce Slim PS3's. As my Taiwanese is rather rusty (read: non-existent), I have to make do with Google translate:

To be honest, the English in that quote is so poor that its source might even be the recipe for tomato soup. If we assume it is not, it looks like the slim PS3s are already in production and are actually due to be shipped at any time.

Another rumor? We can't be sure, but it would put a couple of things in perspective. One of these being why Sony has been so adamant about not wanting to lower the price of its flagship console. A price reduction timed with the introduction of a slimline PS3 would make complete sense.

It seems that consumers really, really don't want to buy the PS3. So why is Sony bothering trying to sell it? Or better yet, why are publishers still developing for the platform?

Digital Battle reported that a recent price cut caused a spike in PS2 sales in April in the US, selling 172k units. With that, it actually outsold the PS3 which only sold 127k units. Can you believe that this is a mere two months after Killzone 2 was released? Sony's "definitive Halo killer" has sold 1.6 million units but apparently very few people bought a PS3 for the game.

The rumored price cut for the PS3 this coming fall might help to boost Sony's sales, but one has to wonder if it is not already too late. Just the other day I was wondering if the 'installed base' of the PS3 is big enough for game publishers to actually earn back their investments. While huge franchises such as Metal Gear will reach many homes, the numbers don't add up for those who do not have the same following. We all know that the PS3 is one of the most difficult machines to develop games for, and as such it will also be the most expensive. How many copies does a game need to sell before it recoups its money? I don't know, but I'm willing to bet that any game that sells under 200k will surely make a loss and that big budget games such as Killzone 2 and Resistance 2 will need a lot more than that to break even.

If we take a look at which games sold best during last year's holiday season, it is easy to see the trouble that Sony is in. Not counting Wii Sports (it is 'sold' with every Wii), worldwide sales figures for the top games in December look something like this:

Nintendo Wii

• Wii Play - 2.7 million (lifetime: 20 million)


• Mario Kart Wii - 2.7 million (lifetime 13 million)


• Wii Fit - 2.4 million (lifetime 13 million)


• Animal Crossing: City Folk - 1.5k (lifetime 2.3 million)


• Guitar Hero: World Tour - 1.1 million (lifetime 2 million)

Microsoft XBOX 360

• Call of Duty: World at War - 1.8 million (lifetime 4.1 million)


• Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures - 1.3 million (lifetime 2.6 million)


• Kung Fu Panda - 1.3 million (lifetime 2.2 million)


• Gears of War 2 - 1.1 million (lifetime 4.1 million)


• Sega Superstars Tennis - 850k (lifetime 1.6 million)

Sony Playstation 3

• Call of Duty: World at War - 1 million (lifetime 2.4 million)


• LittleBigPlanet - 750k (lifetime 1.7 million)


• Resistance 2 - 600k (lifetime 1.2 million)


• Need for Speed: Undercover - 550k (lifetime 900k)


• Prince of Persia - 500k (lifetime 500k)

(lifetime = total units sold up until December 2008)

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that if you are developing a game, you better do so for the Wii or even for Microsoft's X360. The slowest selling top 5 game on the X360 sold almost as much as the hottest PS3 game in December. Looking at the total number of games sold we see 17 million PS3 games against 27million for the X360 and 43 million for the Wii. In other words: As a publisher you are 2.5 times as likely to sell your game on the Wii than you are on the PS3.

With rates as these, it is only a matter of time before big Playstation franchises will start appearing on other consoles, most likely the X360. When that happens, Sony will be effectively be shoved in the 'forgotten box' for this generation.

To be honest, if something doesn't happen soon, I wouldn't be surprised if the PS3 will start losing publisher support after this coming holiday season. In the end, publishers want to be paid for their investments, they're not about keeping Sony on life support indefinitely.

LittleBigPlanet is one of the most creative games we have ever come across here at Hooked Gamers. So creative in fact that it inspired us to build a new fan site for the game that has just launched. Come and join LittleBigPlanet Gamers for all the latest news and updates while we wait for the game itself to be released on October 21st.

PS3 Fanboy reports that 2K Boston -the guys behind Bioshock- is currently looking PS3 developers. 2K for has refused to even consider bringing Bioshock to the PS3 but it looks like the pressure to do so has been mounting over since its release.

From PS3 Fanboy: 2K Boston, the team behind the wildly success Bioshock, is looking for a number of PS3 programmers. "PS3 and production experience using Python or Ruby will be highly regarded" for the Tools Programmer position. "Experience with PS3 development is highly desirable." for the Senior Console Programmer position. "PlayStation3 experience highly desirable" for the Programmer position.

The game has come out on top in many Game of the Year awards (including ours) so it would not be surprising at all that the team is looking to repeat that feat for the PS3 in 2008. Stay tuned, official announcement imminent. :)

A lower price causes better sales? Really?

According to figures from publisher Enterbrain, Sony shifted 183,217 PS3s during the four weeks ended November 25, in comparison to 159,193 Wiis, reports Reuters.

Having dominated the gaming hardware market during the previous generation, Sony has struggled to establish its next-gen console amidst fierce competition from Microsoft's Xbox 360 (in the US and Europe), which launched a year prior to the PS3, and Nintendo's family-friendly Wii, both of which have built up far larger user bases.

Now we wait to see if this is a one-time deal, or something that will start happening more often. The full post can be found at Next-Gen

Sony announced today that Europe will not get its PS3's this year. "Look for them on the shelves in March of 2007" they said with a smile. Ehm... If I were a console gamer, I'd be off to the shops buying an Xbox 360 right now.

Before I continue, it should be clear that I will probably never own a PS3. I'm a PC gamer, I own a Nintendo DS because it offers a stylus with which I finally feel in control of my handheld games, and I may at some point consider a Wii. It's not that consoles don't appeal to me, but I have little enough time as it is. :)

With that said: Oh - my - God Sony you are so lame! For years you promise a worldwide release and now you're telling us the world consists of North America and Japan?

I must admit I saw this coming from miles away. I used to work in the gaming retail business and even then, Europe was always the last in line when it came to roll-outs of major hardware.

Late last month you announced that only 700.000 PS3's would be available per major territory. You'd need 4x as much for a proper launch, so... what were you thinking!?

But the writings on the wall appeared earlier, much earlier. The rumors about the problems with your design were too plentiful to just ignore. The fact that your third party developers got their materials too late, the fact that developers said it was too difficult to develop for the machine, the list goes on and on.

So, let's face it. You have been wearing the console crown for years but you were unable to follow in your own footsteps. With everything this tight, this problematic, I hope you're setting up a good customer services department because there is no way on Earth that you will be able to produce 500.000 units in a hurry without making some major mistakes.

You're still banking on that BlueRay drive?