The Japanese stay at home as Microsoft launches the 360. Waiting for the inevitable price drop, some good games to come out, or possibly the PS3..

Sony, the consumer-electronics giant, today denied reports that it is planning to delay the release of its PlayStation 3 (PS3) games console.

The Japanese electronics manufacturer insisted that the console would be ready for spring 2006, but the company refused to give a specific launch date.

The denial was not enough to stop shares in Sony plunging almost 4 per cent on the Tokyo stock exchange, with investors worried that any delay could cost the company millions of dollars.

Sony’s denial was in response to a report from analysts at Merrill Lynch that said the PS3 might not be ready until the autumn in Japan and early 2007 in America. It is six years since Sony launched its highly successful PS2 on the global market, and gamers have been expecting the latest generation console since before Christmas 2004.

Microsoft says that it currently has no plans to release an Xbox 360 equipped with a next-generation DVD player. The unusually direct statement is a straightforward denial of a report from a Japanese news service yesterday, which claimed that the company planned to launch an HD-DVD compatible Xbox 360 in 2006.

Mobile games firm Jamdat is being bought up by gaming giant Electronic Arts (EA) in a $680m (£390m) deal.

Players of violent video games claim that they recognise the difference between brutality meted out on screen and violence in real life and play mostly to escape the humdrum, according to a new study.

800,000 PS3s sold in EU means success for Sony

Although hundreds queued to get the first PS3s doubts linger about whether the £425 device will outsell Nintendo's Wii

Eager London gamers that waited in line to get their hands on a PlayStation 3 this morning got way more than they may have bargained for before camping out. Sony, obviously in a generous mood, gave the first 100 customers to purchase a £425 ($834 USD) PS3 a free 46" HDTV and a free taxi ride home.

2007 has brought us a few more titles for Nintendo's hot new game system, and some of them have a little fun buried deep within them. Unfortunately, to get to it, you've got to dig through layer upon layer of clumsy, awkward use of the system's motion-sensing controls.

On Friday, Sony declares war on the video game market with the launch of its new PlayStation 3. It should be the most exciting technology event of the year. Instead, it’s in danger of falling flat. So what went wrong?