No cries of Developers Developers Developers during this interview with the CEO of Microsoft, penned by the Joysiq and Engadget folks.  In the interview, Ballmer discusses everything from backwards compatibility to integration with the iPod.  Definitely worth a read here.

Engadget and Joystiq combined their efforts to offer up some great live coverage of the Playstation 3 announcements during E3.  Photos of the new machine, game shots, even powerpoint slides.  Check them out here.

Hack might be an aggressive word to make use of, but Reuters and Engadget are reporting that various individuals have "jostled" the operating system and in-built applications of their PSPs to enable more functinoal functions like IRC, TIVO transfers, eBooks and comics.  Heck… Engadget even has produced a roundup of hacks - you can find it here.

Wired has an almost frenetic review of the new Playstation 2 game, God of War.  The description of the game is awesome and the game-meets-film aspects of this game are sure to get people thinking about the cinematic future of game experience.  A hot little section describes the way in which the game play viweing angle is auto-selected by the game - drawing us out of whatever hapitual user mode we might normally choose.  They claim the results leave the player with a more impressive experience of the game design.  I am going to guess it also makes some people a bit motion sick ;-)

A company called Information Appliance Associates, through their PocketMac.net website, has made availabel an application that enables Mac users to sync iTunes, iPhoto and contact information between OSX and the PSP.  The size of your memory stick RAM will obviously impact the potential here, and we have not been able to confirm whether the group has been able to find a way to play Fairplay encrypted files on a PSP (the encryption used on tracks purchased through iTunes).  They apparently have found a way to bring contacts managment to a piece of hardware lacking such functionality, but as far as music goes, you will probably need to stick with formats the P2P can handle (like MP3).  Via Cnet.

A judge put a stay on this ruling, but earlier this week a federal judge ruled that Sony should halt all sales of the Playstation in the US and pay upwards of $90.7 million in damages to Immersion Corp.  Immersion owns patents related to the vibrating feedback and other "force feedback" features of game controllers.  Serious stuff.

May 17, at E3, is going to be the day for the inevitable showdown among the three gaming platforms : Nintendo Revolution, Xbox2/Xenon, and Playstation 3.  Rumors are circulating that Sony will try to jump the gun with an "official" unveiling the the third playstation some time before E3.  With a new CEO and troubled times in the music hardware group, Sony is probably going to bet big on the Playstation 3 launch.  In response, more rumors fly that Microsoft will somehow release Halo 3 on whatever day Sony chooses to put the Playstation 3 up for sale.  Will these actions really matter?  Will the prices for the consoles fall so quickly that the avid gamer will just buy both platforms, even if only for 1, or 2 games.  So the platform makers take a loss on each platform, while the game market is split more evenly, such that big hits will be released EA-style, on both platforms (they usually release on multiple platforms, don't they?).  What difference will the platform make - is the video game industry about to become all about the games?

Here is a groovy site, VGMaps.com, offering up pixelated maps of the worlds you live within when playing oodles of video games.  There are maps for games from Price of Persia to Grand Theft Auto III.  Very cool site.  Some people must have alot of free time.  Via BoingBoing, via Waxy.

Sony has announced the first crop of movies available in the PSP portables UMD format will be priced from $19.95 to $28.95 in the US.  Recently anounced titles include House of Flying Daggers and Final Fantasy VII, while previously announced titles include Apocolypse, Resident Evil, Once upon a time in Mexico and XXX.  As many of you know, the PSP will ship with a copy of Spider-Man 2 (don't forget the hyphen).

If it is truly the case that the upcoming Xbox console is to be called XBox360, then I will have to ask - Why?  Have corporate goofs taken over the XBox development, so much so that 360degree performance measures have spilled into the naming of products.  Would any 20-30something gamer be excited to sit down for a few hours in from of the "Xbox360"?  C'mon.

Next they will call it Xbox361, since 361 degrees, being one more than 360, mean the company is really working on all angles.  Let is be know that my own search through US trademarks for "Xenon" or "Xbox 360" have come up with nothing having to do with computer games or Microsoft.

The word is spreading, through the Inquirer, Engadget, Slashdot and GamesIndustry.biz, that the upcoming XBox console will ship with wireless game controllers.  Not a major shift, but a feature gamers will probably appreciate.  Further mentions suggest the console will forgoe BluRay, for the standard DVD compatibility.

14 million.  Now thats a big number.  Due to apparent fire hazards, Microsoft has recalled 14 million power cords of their Xbox machine.  According to the company, only 1 in 10,000 machines were exhibiting the symptoms of the firey cord.  However, the firm decided to recall the whole lot to avoid any consumer concerns or outrage.

Should you find yourself in West Edmonton, Alberta (Canada) in the next few days, drop by the local mall and see if Bioware could use your face.  The company, makers of Neverwinter Night and Knights of the Republic, is looking for "face models" for upcoming games.  They will take a shot of your face from three angles and pay a "performer's fee" to those whose faces are chosen. 

IBM, Sony and Toshiba showed off the specs of the upcoming Cell processor.  The chip is to be the brains within upcoming Playstation 3, IBM workstations and Toshiba televisions.  Though intended to be OS agnostic, the chip has not been confirmed by those in the know to be being tested with Windows.

Looks like EA may have started a waterfall of announcements regarding games for the upcoming platforms.  According to Joystiq, rumors are Activision announced Quake 4, Tony Hawk's Underground 3, Ultimate Spiderman and Call of Duty 2.  These are rumors, so stay tuned.