Last week, Microsoft announced its financial results for the quarter ending September 30, 2006. As usual, its game division lost money--a lot of money. For the July-September quarter, the company's Entertainment and Devices division, which makes the Xbox 360, lost $96 million--an improvement over the $173 million the company lost during the same quarter in 2005.

Today, one of Microsoft's rivals in the game arena announced that it too would take a loss on its own game division. Speaking at a press conference in Tokyo, Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer announced that losses at Sony Computer Entertainment are expected to now total 200 billion yen--or around $1.71 billion--for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2007. The figure is nearly twice the shortfall Sony originally projected.

"Considering some of the additional costs of PlayStation 3, we have to generate some excitement and profits from elsewhere in the company to offset the performance of PlayStation 3," Stringer told the Reuters news service.

One reason cited for the increased costs is Sony's decision to drop the price of the lower-end PS3 model in Japan. At last month's Tokyo Game Show, the company announced it would lower the price of the 20GB version of the next-gen console from 60,000 yen (about $515) to 49,980 yen (about $429).

Despite the increased cost, Stringer expressed confidence that the PS3 will be a success. "The point really is that PlayStation 3 is already finished and has been tested in America and has been deemed a creative success," he said. "In the end that is what counts."

The executive also expressed apparent befuddlement about some gamers' anger that the PS3 launch was pushed back to March 2007 in Europe. "I think the idea of worrying about a delay in PlayStation is slightly strange to me," said Stringer. "Every complex technology runs the risk of delays." ...

In August, Guitar Hero publisher RedOctane and parent-company Activision filed suit against The Ant Commandos, makers of an unlicensed line of peripherals for the hit rhythm game, alleging a number of trademark infringements. The Ant Commandos fired right back with a countersuit alleging that RedOctane swiped the official Guitar Hero peripheral's design from its parent company's "Magical Guitar" controller, released years earlier for Konami's Guitar Freaks line of games.

However, what had the potential to be an unruly mess on par with anything related to the Sex Pistols could be ending early with nary an amp smashed, nor a bass drum kicked in. According to a court filing last week, the judge in the case granted a request by both parties that their arguments in the case be delayed while they try to hammer out a compromise.

"The parties are currently negotiating a potential settlement of this matter and have a reasonable, good faith belief that settlement may be reached within the next seven to ten days," the companies wrote in their joint motion, filed on October 26.

Representatives for RedOctane had not returned GameSpot's requests for comment as of press time, but a rep with The Ant Commandos said there was no settlement at this time, and declined to comment further. ...

Next-generation gaming consoles offer upgraded graphics, PC-like multimedia features, and...hefty price tags. With the PlayStation 3 and Wii launching next month, some have assumed that Microsoft will bolster its yearlong head start in the market with a price drop for the Xbox 360.

According to an article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Microsoft has no plans to drop the price of its new console anytime soon. Citing the higher price of its main competitor, the $499/$599 PlayStation 3, and the fact that Microsoft still loses money on the console, the Seattle PI says gamers will have "to wait awhile for a price cut."

The prospects of an early price drop aren't unsubstantiated. Six months after the original Xbox was launched, Microsoft cut the system's price by a third, going from $299 to $199 in an effort to match Sony's pricing moves. At that time, the PlayStation 2 had been on the market for about a year and a half.

However, roles have been reversed this time around as the Xbox 360 was the first system out of the gate last November, giving Microsoft the option of holding onto its original price point longer.

When asked about a price drop for the Xbox 360, a Microsoft rep would only say, "We have no announcements at this time." ...

Via Slashdot:

After several months of silence it was more or less accepted that Microsoft wasn't going to do anything about the firmware hacks that allow Xbox 360s to play backups. Rather surprising, considering the 'inventor' of the hack confirmed in March already that the mods are easily detectable, and the reports that piracy is running rampant in countries like China. It appears that Microsoft is finally taking action against them though, although they may be hitting the wrong persons ...

Microsoft to release 360 dashboard update tomorrow with 85 enhancements including 1080p and HD-DVD support

Microsoft has revealed that the latest Xbox 360 dashboard update will be streaming across the world tomorrow morning.

In addition to the long awaited 1080p resolution bump-up and HD-DVD add-on support, the update will also include a start menu item for XNA-developed games, improved Xbox Live Arcade and Marketplace functions, along with over 80 other additions and goodies.

Improvements to Live Arcade include the ability to automatically download trial games, an expanded achievements view, refreshed indexing of downloads and a new "tell a friend" feature to wax lyrical to your mates about your latest Arcade purchase.

In addition, the update also offers the ability to stream WMV videos from a PC using Windows Media Player 11, as well as play video files from CDs and DVDs and bolstered support for 50hz HDTV display modes. ...

Just made a bit of a cleanup to the interface of MVSPSPwifi, making it a lot more clean and friendly. I must say that NJ has done an incredible job with his emulators and they are a pleasure to work with.

Just been playing 2 player league bowling, and it is awesome.

So now I'm going to try and add wifi support to CPS2... stay tuned ...

I just recieved an email that looked like it came from Lik-Sang regarding their closing.

It said I could recieve a credit of $10 from the company, all I had to do was verify my PayPal account. Well, the link goes to www.ljk-sang.com, and i'm pretty sure it's a scam to steal people's PayPal accounts. Especially since I've never ordered from them before.

Be Warned!

Here's a copy of the email.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Dear valued customer,

Your Login/Email is: [email protected]
Your password is: ********

As of today, Lik-Sang.com will not be in the position to accept any new orders and will cancel and refund all existing orders that have already been placed. Furthermore, Lik-Sang is working closely with banks and PayPal to refund any store credits held by the company, and the customer support department is taking care of any open transactions such as pending RMAs or repairs and shipping related matters. The staff of Lik-Sang will make sure that nobody will get hurt in the crossfire of this ordeal. To read the full article please visit: http://www.yesasia.com/?/news.php?artc=3901

Our records indicates you can retrieve an additional $ 9,99 USD refund in your PayPal account. In order to successfully retrieve the refund please confirm your existing PayPal account on this page (scammers link deleted). Please notice that the confirmation of your PayPal account is needed to have this refund send into your PayPal account.

If your PayPal account is no longer active on this ([email protected]) address you will have to create a free PayPal account at: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/websc...gistration-run to retrieve this refund. Once your account is created and activated please confirm your account information at the above page.

We feel very sorry for any inconvenience and trying to make all refunds to take place as soon as possible.

Team Lik-Sang

------------------------------------------------------------ ...

Via Kotaku:

Joel Johnson posts over on GameLife that there's a PayPal Lik-Sang scam making the circuit among people who pre-ordered the Playstation 3 through them.


I'm surprised scammers were able to produce something so timely. Good thing Joel didn't fall for it, but I bet if they had thrown in some pills to increase the girth of little Joel, he totally would have. ...

Sony's upcoming PlayStation 3, due on US shores on November 17, sucks up 380 watts of power, a far cry from the PS2 which sips a mere 45 watts. That means the PS3 uses more than twice the 160 watts consumed by the Xbox 360. The PS3's 380 watts will cost you around $40 a year to run if you play it two hours a day.

This appears to bode well for the Nintendo Wii, which, according to Kou Shiota, a key member of the console's design team, will have outstanding power efficiency: "With a smaller chip and minimised power consumption, Wii can be left on 24 hours a day." Note that Shiota didn't indicate the exact wattage used by the Wii. And, Nintendo's Wiiconnect24 service requires the Wii to be left running 24 hours a day, so that might cancel out that power advantage. Either way, you gotta pay to ride the train. ...