At a press conference held in Los Angeles, California, today, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. revealed the outline of its Playstation 3 (PS3) , incorporating the world's most advanced Cell processor with super computer like power. Prototypes of PS3 will also be showcased at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the world's largest interactive entertainment exhibition held in Los Angeles, from May 18th to 20th. read more for details, and specs...

According to a Japanese newspaper, Sony and Toshiba are close to finalizing a plan to develop a common standard for next-generation DVDs to resolve a three-year-long battle over formats that threatened the industry's growth. Formal announcement and details are due next week, May 16.

Heavy.com today announced that Sony has selected it to be its first content partner for its hit multimedia- media player, the Sony PSP. Heavy will make its entire library of thousands of hours of animation and live-action video shorts available for free download on the PSP.

Reuters is reporting that Japan's Sony Corp. and Toshiba Corp. are in talks to develop a common standard for next-generation DVDs and end a fierce battle over formats that has been threatening to stifle the industry's growth. Sony and Toshiba, heading rival groups, have waged a three-year battle to have their new technology adopted by the industry and gain pole position in the multi-billion dollar markets for DVD players, PC drives and optical disks. Both parties are trying to avoid a repeat of the VHS vs. Betamax rivalry back in the 80's.

Sony Online Entertainment today announced plans for Station Exchange, the official auction site for SOE games. Station Exchange, scheduled for launch in late June, will be the official, secure way for EverQuest II subscribers to buy and sell the rights to use characters, items and coin in a player-to-player auction setting. The community has already raised questions about how SOE is going to handle item farmers or incompetent players just "buying" a high level character without either knowing to play the game, or having earned it.

Sony Online has continued efforts since launch to keep the EverQuest II game world free of players who use exploits to gain an unfair advantage, especially with bots and macros. Over 700 accounts were banned for various forms of cheating and exploiting during the past 2 weeks alone. It is our goal to continue investigations into suspicious in-game activity and ban accounts with violations. "A few hundred 'bot subscriptions just aren't worth the money when compared to keeping the game fun for hundreds of thousands of people" said EverQuest II Senior Producer Scott Hartsman.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California entered judgment in Immersion's favor in its patent infringement suit against Sony. The Court's judgment awarded Immersion $90.7 million in past damages and interest and also ordered Sony to halt U.S. sales of its PlayStation game consoles, although the judge immediately put her ruling on hold while the appeal is pending.

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe today announced the May 2005 release of SingStar Popworld, a perfect addition to the million-selling SingStar franchise launched in 2004 on the PlayStation 2.

Effective immediately, Sir Howard Stringer will replace longtime chairman Nobuyuki Idei, assume the position of Chairman, Group CEO and Representative Corporate Executive Officer, Sony Corporation. Sir Howard will be the first foreigner to take the Sony top spot and run Sony's overall group business operations on a global basis from headquarters in both New York and Tokyo. Sony Computer Entertainment president Ken Kutaragi also get the boot but will remain head of the SCE gaming division.

In a statement posted on the official Everquest 2 website, Sony Online claims "EverQuest II continues to grow at an amazing rate, not just in the number of players that have fallen in love with the game's rich, entertaining content, but also in the physical size of the world. We've got over 350,000 people logging in to our servers every week, with no delays or wait times and the game they are playing is only getting better." An obvious remark aimed at Blizzard's continuous server problems with World of Warcraft. SOE offers

SCEA today confirmed its plan to increase the initial launch shipment of the highly anticipated PSP to one million units. Extraordinary consumer response to PSP on a global scale has led to the company making an upward revision in preparation for its North American launch on March 24. This figure is part of the company's overall three million-unit worldwide shipment estimate by the close of its fiscal year ending March 31.

According to TechJapan, Sony has confirmed that the controller buttons on some PSP units may become stuck and not return to their default position. The defect occurs in part of the initial shipment of PSP units and is caused by excess plastic not being completely removed during the molding and manufacturing process of the outer cabinet. As a result, when a button is pressed, it can become caught on the excess plastic and not return fully to its default position. Sony is conducting a free repair program for users who have PSP units affected by this problem. The defect is not present in PSP units fabricated in 2005 and currently being sold.

Sony Online President John Smedley looks back at when EQ first luanched, but also towards the future and speaks out on where he sees Everquest going, and MMO's in general. Read more for the rest of his community statement ...

The highly anticipated microchip that will power the PS3 made its debut today, as IBM, Sony and Toshiba showed off the inner workings of a chip intended to run a new generation of electronics. Cell is based on IBM's existing Power processor line, and will work with various software packages, including Linux. The chip will have nearly a quarter-billion transistors and be built on 90-nanometer manufacturing technology. It will work with a memory technology developed by Rambus. Inside the chip, eight processing units will churn through data at speeds above 4 ghz. Read more for details ...

Reuters is reporting that they have received word from a company source that Sony could miss its end-March target for the European launch of its PSP. This would effectively be the second time it has delayed the European launch, since it originally planned to release the handheld in time for Christmas last year.

Sony Online Entertainment announced today that it has expanded operations with the formation of a development studio in Seattle, Washington. SOE Seattle will be headed up by Matt Wilson, who some of you may remember from Microsoft’s cancelled Mythica MMO. Ed Fries (formerly of Microsoft) will also be working with the SOE Seattle team in an advisory role, but will not be joining the company full-time.

Today Ubisoft announced an exclusive multi-title licensing agreement with Sony Pictures Consumer Products to develop and publish games based on "Open Season" and "Surf's Up," the first two feature-length animated films from Sony Pictures Animation.

SOE's President John Smedley has put up a message in the official EQ 2 forums outlining a roadmap for continuing to evolve the world of Norrath. SOE will add content to the game in three distinct ways: Live Updates, Expansion Packs and Adventure Packs. "Live Updates" will happen 1-2 times a month and expand the game both through new zones, npcs, quests, features, spells, skills and new gameplay additions as well as fixing any bugs or issues that arise. "Expansion Packs" will happen twice a year (first one due second hald of 2005) and are going to be large, game altering additions to the game that will be sold both at retail and online via digital download. "Adventure Packs" will happen 2-4 times a year, at a minimal cost (first one at $4.99) and are a new style of content, similar to "Modules" from traditional tabletop RPGs

The rivalry between Sony's Blu-Ray and Toshiba/NEC's HD-DVD rages on as today the first two game companies have announced their support for Sony's Blu-Ray solution. Electronic Arts and Vivendi Universal Games will announce their support for the Blu-ray Disc optical disc format on Thursday afternoon at the CES.

Sony will likely launch its new PlayStation Portable hand-held game console in North America and Europe in March, a top executive said on Wednesday. Sony has previously only said it will start selling the PSP, which can also play movies and music, in Europe and North America between January and March.

Sony Europe today released an avalanche of information on the upcoming PSP titles they have lined up for launch. Read more to check out info & screens for :

• WRC
• WipEout Pure
• Ridge Racer
• MediEvil
• Formula One
• Football
• Fired Up
• Everybody's Golf
• Ape Academy

Sony Online Entertainment today announced that it is working with Future Network USA to create Sony Online Entertainment Worlds, a limited collector's edition magazine. Sony Online Entertainment Worlds will offer comprehensive coverage of all of Sony Online Entertainment's games.

Gamania and Sony Online Entertainment announced what is potentially the largest global strategic alliance in the history of online gaming. The alliance of Gamania and SOE will include four primary undertakings: establishing a joint venture, Asia Pacific products operation, core technology transfer, and potential investment in China.

Sony Corp. expects to show off its latest PlayStation at the E3 trade show next May, it said on Monday, increasing pressure on Microsoft Corp. to take the wraps off its Xbox successor at that time.