Major publisher Activision might drop support for Sony's PlayStation 3 and PSP entirely if the consoles do not become more profitable, CEO Bobby Kotick has told The Times in an interview.

"I'm getting concerned about Sony; the PlayStation 3 is losing a bit of momentum and they don't make it easy for me to support the platform," Kotick explained. "It's expensive to develop for the console, and the Wii and the Xbox are just selling better."

"Games generate a better return on invested capital on the Xbox than on the PlayStation," said Kotick. He states that Call of Duty and Guitar Hero publisher Activision paid Sony over $500 million last year in royalties and other costs, quipping that the figure "probably still worked out at 400 per cent of the profit they made."

"They have to cut the price, because if they don't, the attach rates are likely to slow. If we are being realistic, we might have to stop supporting Sony," he said. "When we look at 2010 and 2011, we might want to consider if we support the console - and the PSP too."

Kotick adds that a new physical interface "could be ideal." Sony announced the motion-sensing camera PlayStation Motion Controller at E3 this year, arriving Spring 2010.

PlayStation 3 maker Sony has just unveiled a new motion-sensitive controller for the console. Used in conjunction with the PlayStation Eye camera, the device offers "true 1:1 tracking" and "true 3D pointing."

By moving the wand-like controller and its glowing top forward, back, left and right, the demonstrator was able to walk around a room in first-person, aim, and shoot. Another demonstration showed the precision of the device with handwriting and painting.

There's an analog trigger on the controller as well, demonstrated with a spray paint application. Yet another demonstration saw the player dual wielding two controllers to control a shield and sword, with each offering 1:1 motion.

Perhaps most impressive was the bow and arrow demo, which saw the player motion behind his back to pull out a virtual arrow, with the devices' position used to aim and calculate accurate (virtual) tension in pulling back and firing arrows.

Dubbed PlayStation Motion Controller by Sony CEO Jack Tretton, the device is due out in spring 2010, with more information promised to be coming as that time approaches.

Grand Theft Auto developer Rockstar North will be bringing a new game exclusively to the PlayStation 3, Sony CEO Jack Tretton announced during Sony's E3 conference.

A press statement released later touted Agent as "a paranoid journey into the world of counter-intelligence, espionage and political assassinations during the height of the Cold War at the end of the 1970s."

"The team in Edinburgh is doing an amazing job combining intense action, atmosphere and story in a great period setting to create something that feels quite unique," said Rockstar Games founder Sam Houser. "We are making what we believe will be the ultimate action game."

Following up on the inadvertent revelation of the PSP Go over the weekend, Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Kaz Hirai officially announced the download-only redesign of Sony's portable hardware, referring to it as "the worst kept secret of E3."

Sporting 16GB of internal flash memory, the PSP Go will arrive in North America and Europe on October 1, priced at $249.

Shacknews can confirm that the latest issue of Sony's downloadable PlayStation 3 video magazine Qore mysteriously appeared in the download history of subscribers today, offering an advance look at the oft-rumored, now-confirmed "PSP Go" redesign.

Due this fall, the PSP Go does away with the physical UMD drive and instead relies on downloaded digital content. It packs 16GB of internal flash memory, a 3.8" screen, Bluetooth support, and is 43% lighter than the last version of the PSP, the PSP-3000. Owners will also be able to expand storage capacity with a Memory Stick Micro.

Alongside word of the new hardware design, the long-awaited PSP edition of Gran Turismo and a new Metal Gear Solid title for the PSP were mentioned... Read more

Microsoft today dropped an Xbox 360 statbomb, showering figures on a range of metrics including the fact that the Xbox 360 has now sold over 30 million units worldwide.

After combing through financial reports and rooting around in bins, Shacknews offers the following list of worldwide lifetime console sales:

1. Nintendo DS - 101.78 million units (as of March 31 2009)
2. Nintendo Wii - 50.39 million units (as of March 31 2009)
3. PSP - 50 million units (as of February 13 2009)
4. Xbox 360 - 30 million units (as of May 28 2009)
5. PlayStation 3 - 22.91 million units (as of March 31 2009)

Microsoft also boasts it leads current-generation consoles in attach rate, with 8.3 titles being bought per console, as well as sales for third-party developers--$5.9 billion.

On the community front, Xbox Live's 20 million active accounts have downloaded nearly 1 billion pieces of Marketplace content. Sony announced in February that the PlayStation Network had 20 million registered users, though this includes forum and PSP accounts.

Rumors of motion controller-related announcements for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 are beginning to propagate once again in advance of E3.

Variety cites several sources in a report that claims Sony is preparing to announce a new motion controller for the PlayStation 3. The purported device uses a webcam and LEDs to achieve an accuracy of motion greater than that of the Wii.

Meanwhile, a tipster writing into Engadget says that Microsoft is readying a full-body motion sensing device. The rumor would see a high-tech sensor bar detecting a full range of movement without the use of an actual handheld controller.

As many motion controller rumors have certainly been proven false in the past, the Shack doctor recommends taking two grains of salt and calling us after the show.

Q-Games' downloadable PlayStation 3 tower defense force game PixelJunk Monsters will arrive in enhanced PSP form this fall, publisher Sony has confirmed.

Dubbed PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe, the PSP version packs all of the content found in the PS3 release and its Encore add-on, along with new stages, enemies and towers. The gameplay, building and upgrading static units to fight waves of foes, remains intact.

Deluxe also adds the oft-requested online co-op mode for two players, along with offline ad hoc co-op. At present, the PlayStation 3 version only supports two local players.

No word if Monsters Deluxe will be a downloadable game, as it is on PS3, or if it will be making the jump to retail shelves, but we'll keep you updated.

Sony Computer Entertainment has pulled back the curtain on Q-Games' next downloadable game for the PlayStation 3, a summer-due "strategic action shooter."

Tentatively referred to as PixelJunk 1-4, the latest from the PixelJunk Monsters and Eden developer sees players diverting the flow of liquids like magma and water as they navigate their heat-sensitive craft through the various cavernous stages... Read more

In a new interview with Gamaustra, Sony's Peter Dille called the problem of rampant PSP piracy "sickening," and said that Sony now believes a large amount of software sales are lost to illegal sharing.

"I'm convinced and we're convinced that piracy has taken out a big chunk of our software sales on PSP," said Dille.

Stating that third-party developers were "just about ready to jump off the cliff and pull support for the platform" around 18 months ago, Dille explained that Sony has been "evangelizing" the platform since, in an attempt to pull in more original PSP projects outside of PlayStation 2 ports.

But with millions of piracy-capable PSPs still on the market, Dille admits that the "toothpaste is out of the tube."

"[Piracy is] not good for us, but it's not good for the development community," he said. "We can look at data from BitTorrent sites from the day Resistance: Retribution goes on sale and see how many copies are being downloaded illegally, and it's frankly sickening. We are spending a lot of time talking about how we can deal with that problem."

Sparking a wave of internet-wide speculation, GameStop CEO Dan DeMatteo has told CNBC that the retailer expects "a Nintendo key property" to release this year.

"They haven't given us any insight, but they have told us to reserve [shelf] space," he added. After E3 2008, Nintendo revealed that the teams behind the Zelda and Mario games were "hard at work" on new titles. While Nintendo announced The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks for the DS in March, so far all's quiet on the Mario front.

DeMatteo also offered his opinion on console prices. He criticised Sony's $399 PlayStation 3, saying "That price point is clearly an issue in this economy." Responding to rumours of a $50 cut, he said "I don't know that $50 gets you that much... Read more

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe president and CEO David Reeves is to retire from the company at the end of this month.

Reeves joined SCEE in 1995, initially managing several regional offices and helping launch the original PlayStation in Europe. In 1999 he moved to the UK to become senior vice president for sales and marketing before the launch of the PlayStation 2. After such successes, Reeves was named president of SCEE in 2005 then CEO two years later.

Stepping into Reeve's shoes as president and CEO will be Andrew House, former chief marketing officer of Sony Corporation, who has been with Sony since 1990 and led the marketing strategies for the PlayStation, PS2 and PSP in America.

House steps up with a very businesss-like statement of "I'm delighted to return to the PlayStation fold and excited to take on this new challenge", while Reeves steps out with a jubilant yet slightly sinister "I am going to spend my time now trying to repay society for all I have taken from it. If your children are... wondering why their ski instructor is very elderly... or the social worker keeps bringing you PSP games, then it could just be me!"

Publisher Sony Computer Entertainment has filed for two new trademarks, with one, "Starhawk", seemingly lending credence to that "Warhawk in Space" rumor.

The rumor popped up after Dylan Jobe and other veterans of the multi-modular multiplayer-only PlayStation 3 effort Warhawk left Incognito to create LightBox Interactive.

Sony's other trademark listing, however, was not nearly as insightful. As noticed by supernnuation and Joystiq, that second filing covers the phrase "Dominion."

At the very least, Dominion appears to be some kind of game, as both filings were classified under "computer game software and video game software" and "operating a real-time game for others over global and local area computer networks."

Following last week's launch of the Nintendo DSi, SCEA director of hardware marketing John Koller has taken the liberty of firing a few shots in Nintendo's direction in a statement to Engadget.

"If Nintendo is really committed to reaching a broader, more diverse audience of gamers beyond the "kids" market that they've always engaged, there isn't much new with the DSi to support that," said Koller.

"Significant gamer demographic groups are being ignored," continued Koller, "and there continues to be limited opportunities for games from external publishers to do well on the DSi. Compare that with the PSP platform, where we have many blockbuster franchises from our publishing partners launching this year, representing a wide variety of genres and targeting diverse demographics.

For those keeping score, Nintendo shipped its 100 millionth Nintendo DS unit early last month, while Sony reported that it had shipped 50 million PSP handhelds as of February.

Sony's PlayStation 3 firmware 2.70 update today hits consoles all across the land.

The highlight of this update is the long-overdue text chat. You can chat in three chat rooms at once, with up to sixteen people per room, which remain accessible in-game. New copy and paste features will help keep your browsing and chatty happy.

Rounding out the features, you can now backup videos from the PlayStation Store to external devices and also play videos purchased for a PSP on your PS3. The dynamic normaliser can keep music volume consistent across songs, and an "internet search" option will pull up more information about an installed or inserted game.

To download the update, simply sign into PlayStation Network.

The hard-edged Jak and his lovable sidekick Daxter are returning for yet another action-adventure with Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier, coming to PS2 and PSP this fall.

The game picks up after the events of Naughty Dog's Jak 3 (PS2), as the duo once again must defend the world from the effects of the nefarious "dark eco" energy. It's not just on-foot combat though, as the two can take combat to the high skies via aircraft.

High Impact Games, most recently responsible for Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters (PS2, PSP) and Secret Agent Clank (PS2, PSP), is developing the project. The studio was formed a few years back by a number of staffers from Ratchet creator Insomniac.

Sony has announced today that its PlayStation 2 will cost a mere $99.99 in the US starting tommorow, down from the current price of $129.99.

Industry analyst EEDAR believes the price cut will help sustain PlayStation 2 software sales, which it estimates to be 21% of all home console software sales last quarter and predicted to drop to 16% this quarter--a figure EEDAR has now revised to 18%.

Sony also boast that the PlayStation 2's game library will reach over 1900 titles this year.

Many have been predicting Sony would reduce the PlayStation 3's price as part of the ongoing 'console wars,' where the PS3 lags behind Microsoft's Xbox 360. The cheapest PS3 model costs $399 while Microsoft's hard drive-less Xbox 360 Arcade is only $199.

While developer Insomniac has long teased a new Ratchet & Clank game for this year, publisher Sony Computer Entertainment today made it official, revealing that the next PlayStation 3 adventure for the lombax-robot duo is subtitled "A Crack in Time."

The action-adventure platformer picks up where last summer's downloadable entry Quest for Booty left off, and promises to answer "some of the franchise fans' biggest questions" through the magic of time travel. It's slated to hit retailers this fall.

Today's Game Developers Conference panel on "Evolving Game Design: Today and Tomorrow, East and West Game Design" wasn't just the folks behind Fallout 3, No More Heroes, Ico and Shadow of the Colossus talking about poop and new projects.

Moderated by Mark MacDonald, the all-star panel saw Shadow of the Colossus/Ico creator Fumito Ueda (Team Ico), No More Heroes creator Goichi Suda (Grasshopper Manufacture), and Fallout 3 developer Emil Pagliarulo (Bethesda) discuss storytelling, the way games change during development, and yes, cold medicine.

Rather than summarize any further, we've transcribed the notable bits. Be warned, however, that there are spoilers for some of the above games... Read more

During a joint panel at GDC 2009, the developers of Shadow of Colossus, Fallout 3 and No More Heroes all spoke of their new projects.

Mark MacDonald moderated the panel between Shadow of the Colossus/Ico creator Fumito Ueda, No More Heroes creator Goichi Suda, and Fallout 3 developer Emil Pagliarulo.

After opening up the panel for questions, Suda took the chance to ask one for the crowd: what games are Ueda and Pagliarulo working on next?... Read more