Yahoo! Games is running a piece comparing the PS3 and 360. They look at the hardware, software, and HD offerings for Sony and Microsoft's next-gen consoles. From the article: "Unlike the last generation, where Sony clearly held a commanding lead, the next generation of gaming is going to be a much closer race between the behemoths of Microsoft and Sony. Though there were many skeptics last fall, the past eight months have shown the Xbox 360 to be a very capable system and more than powerful enough to challenge the PlayStation 3. Microsoft also believes it will have 10 million units in the global marketplace before Sony even leaves the gate. So the question becomes: Which system do you buy?"

Yoshi writes "DCEmu have released an article detailing the current State of the Homebrew Scene on all consoles from the PSP to GBA and even to the Next Gen Nintendo Wii, the article explains whats needed to run emulators and games and if its worth bothering for each console."

Zwzo writes "Nintendo has been awarded a patent for a video game messaging service that utilizes a buddy list and can display information about game activities and user status." From the article: "Initially filed in 2000, a year before the release of Microsoft's Xbox and two years before the official launch of Microsoft's Xbox Live Internet service, Nintendo's patent is relatively broad and could potentially lead to litigation against other major players in the game console market. Although the text of the patent itself refers to the Nintendo64 and Game Boy Color by name, some have speculated that this patent could portend an instant messaging system for the Wii."

schnikies79 writes to mention an Ars Technica article revealing the pricing scheme for retro content on the Wii. From the article: "Iwata revealed that games for Nintendo's "virtual console" that will allow Wii owners to play old titles on their consoles will be priced at ¥500 and ¥1,000, roughly US$4.50 to US$8.99. For reference, classic retro games for the Nintendo GameBoy sold for upwards of US$35 for some titles, US$19.99 for others. Uptake was understandably low, as gamers were reticent to pay that much for old content." The piece goes on to say that they're ramping up DS production to meet command, and that connectivity with the DS will be a major selling point for the console when it releases.

Andy Updegrove writes "Recently, spokespersons for Microsoft's standards group have been promoting 'design, collaboration and licensing' as alternatives, rather than supplements to, open standards. There's an important difference between an open standard and any of these ad hoc arrangements among companies, however, and that is the fact that with a standard, everybody knows that they can get what everybody else can get, and on substantially the same terms. With a de facto standard, that's not the case - as Microsoft itself found out last week when Adobe refused to offer the same deal on saving files in PDF form that Apple and OpenOffice enjoy."

Gamespot and GameDaily have additional details on Nintendo's upcoming console. Gamespot reports on comments by Nintendo President Iwata that they were specifically not going for high-end graphics with the Wii. He goes on to say that some of their staff initially disagreed with the adoption of the Wiimote, but public and internal reaction has allayed the fears of detractors. GameDaily reports on comments from ATI, who says there is still a lot left to see from Wii's graphical output. What was shown at E3 was 'just the tip of the iceberg.' From the article: "Industry sources have said that the Wii GPU would be moderately more powerful than the GameCube's GPU, but how much more we don't know. Conservative estimates from developers have placed the Wii console as a whole at 2 - 2.5 times more powerful than the GameCube."

GameDaily has a look at comments by Nintendo's President Iwata about connectivity between the DS and the Wii. He also touches on the Virtual Console, and Nintendo's place in the marketplace. From the article: "Let's say your Wii is connected to the Internet in a mode that allows activation on a 24-hour basis. This would allow Nintendo to send monthly promotional demos for the DS, during the night, to the Wii consoles in each household. Users would wake up each morning, find the LED lamp on their Wii flashing, and know that Nintendo has sent them something ..."

Gamespot reports on the announced winners of the E3 Critics Awards. From the article: "Nintendo, which was nominated a show-high 13 times, took home the show's biggest prize for its Wii console. The system, in the running for the only two categories it could qualify for, was handed the coveted Best of Show award, as well as Best Hardware award. But the Japanese game-maker wasn't done there. The publisher grabbed three more awards for some of its games, including Best Handheld Game (The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for the DS), Best Sports Game (Wii Sports), and Best Racing Game (Excite Truck for the Wii)."

kukyfrope writes "In a recent interview with MTV News, Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto voiced his concern for the stereotypical image of gamers as kids alone in a dark room. He says that Nintendo wishes to change that image with the Wii, a sentiment made obvious by the wide array of people shown playing Wii in Nintendo's recent promotional videos." From the article: "I think it's time to break free from that stereotypical definition of what a gamer is, because until we do, we'll never truly be part of the national or worldwide culture."

Castar writes "Prior to E3, Famitsu readers were interested in the PS3, and Final Fantasy. Post E3, while there's still some excitement over Final Fantasy, they seem to be very interested in the Wii, and concerned about the PS3's high price. It certainly seems that in Japan, at least, Nintendo and Sony's fortunes have reversed. Will this hold through the launch and the succeeding years?" From the article: "Nearly 70% of readers said they are most looking forward to Wii. 21% voted for PlayStation 3, while the others voted for systems already released. 88.4% of readers believe PlayStation 3 is too expensive, while 10% believe it's 'about right'."

kukyfrope writes "What started as a guy simply trying to rescue his whiny girlfriend from an angry ape 26 years ago has since grown into one of the most recognizable faces in video gaming: Mario. GameDaily explores the different types of Mario games over the years, from Jump Man to Mario Kart, to the new Wii title, Super Mario Galaxy." From the article: "Mario Bros. was released in a combination cart with the shooting game Duck Hunt, and gamers ate it up aplenty. (It was so popular, in fact, that the game was released for the Game Boy Color and remains one of its highest sellers to date.) Super Mario Bros. 2 would arrive years later and would take a drastic turn in gameplay, as it was actually based on a Japanese game called Doki Doki Panic and not the "true" sequel that was released in Japan only (at the time- it would resurface in the SNES release Super Mario All Stars). It was a hit, and would see a release alongside the launch of the Game Boy Advance years later under the name Super Mario Advance."

kukyfrope writes "Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America's Executive VP of Sales and Marketing, talks about what went wrong with GameCube and how Nintendo will not make the same mistakes when launching Wii. Reggie admits that the initial software lineup for the GameCube was simply not 'diverse and strong enough from a first and third-party perspective,' and by Nintendo's showing at E3 2006, the Wii will launch with a wide variety of games for may types of gamers."

Wowzer writes "Nintendo has revealed to Famitsu.com, at the company's recent press conference unveiling its financial results, that Wii would arrive in Japanese stores with a maximum price tag of 25,000 yen. After taking in account various factors, the conversion to other currencies comes down to a launch price of: 225 dollars, 225 euros, and 150 pounds." Update: 05/25 13:45 GMT by Z : GamesIndustry.biz points out they hope to ship 6 million units by next March, and an Opera exec has said you can browse the internets with the wiimote.

Via Gamasutra, the announcement of the E3 Critics Award nominees. From the list: "Best of Show - Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft for PlayStation 3), Bioshock (Irrational Games/2K Games for PC and Xbox 360), Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Games Studio for Xbox 360), Spore (Electronic Arts for PC), Wii (Nintendo). Best Original Game - Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft for PlayStation 3), Bioshock (Irrational Games/2K Games for PC/Xbox 360), Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Games Studio for Xbox 360), LocoRoco (SCEJ/Sony Computer Entertainment for PSP), Spore (Electronic Arts for PC), Wii Sports (Nintendo for Wii)."

kukyfrope writes "Peter Moore recently led an intimate round-table discussion at E3 where journalists were allowed to pluck his brain on current industry issues. His comments cover PS3's high-price announcement, downplay rumors surrounding a portable Xbox, and actually admits he would like a Wii! 'Look, it's not partisan; I love what Nintendo is doing. They're in a different space.'"

kukyfrope writes "Satoru Iwata, Nintendo President, recently talked with GameDaily about the rumors surrounding the $249 Wii price point, his take of the PS3 price point and controller, and to reassure us that the GameBoy is far from dead! 'You may want to check our past records of price points when launching past hardware... I think you'll agree that we always come up with an affordable price point.'"

Joystiq sat down with Epic designer Cliff Bleszinski and talked about the much anticipated Gears of War, the news that Epic is in talks with Nintendo to do games for their new console, and his impressions of Sony's showing at E3. From the article: "We're currently talking with Nintendo. It's not really my department to pontificate on other people's system and comments that the wonderful Mark Rein will make occasionally to upset the fans. Again, I reserve judgment of the Wii until I get hands on with it. I was very judgmental about the DS until I actually got to play hands-on with it and I love Trauma Center and stuff like that. You know what, Nintendo is zigging while everyone else is zagging and they'll be just for it. I give them props for doing something different." For more on Gears, MTV Overdrive has the 'Road to E3' special they aired on MTV2 last week available for viewing. IE is the preferred viewer, of course.

kukyfrope writes "Nintendo's PR Manager, Matt Atwood, has confirmed accusations that Wii demo stations at E3 were not running inside the Wii case and instead were running inside Gamecube housing using Wii-spec hardware. 'The Wii hardware we exhibited at E3 2006 was made specifically for the E3 show and is not the final mass-production version. Some of this hardware was cased in Nintendo GameCube housing.'" Update: 05/19 21:08 GMT by Z : Changed 'hardware' to 'housing' in title.

joe 155 writes "The Register is reporting that ' the PS3 will cost £425 in the UK - over $800'. SCE UK Managing Director Rat Maguire said: 'I don't think it's an expensive machine - I think actually, it's probably a cheap machine. If you think a Blu-Ray player by itself might be £600-700, and we're coming in at just £425, it's a bargain.' Can a console really be viable at this price?"

Burlap writes "In a story at Forbes, Merrill Lynch predicts that Nintendo will severely undercut the competition with a $200 price point on the Wii." From the article: "An executive from SEGA, one of Nintendo's largest publishers, told Forbes.com on Tuesday that he expects the Wii to sell for less than $200. Post said the Nintendo machine, which features a wireless controller that responds to players' body movements, 'will appeal to a broad demographic of both hard-core and casual gamers.'"