Last Thursday, Sony launched the open beta for Home - a 3-D virtual world that anyone who owns a PlayStation 3 can visit for free. It is at once a grand, fascinating experiment in virtual community and social gaming ... as well as a theater of the absurd.

It is a place where people get together and connect over the games they love … and it's also a testosterone-fueled meat market where the men massively outnumber the women. It is absorbing, cool and frequently hilarious. But it also feels, at times, like a world where the madhouse inmates have been set free to run amok.

The new PS3 increases the system's storage capacity to 80 gigabytes from 60 gigabytes and also includes a retail copy of the online racing title "MotorStorm," a company spokesman said. It will be priced at $599.

The larger capacity machine won't be available in the United States and Canada until August.

It plays into the company's upcoming strategy of eventually offering downloaded high-definition movies, video games, movie trailers and demos, Sony spokesman David Karraker said.

Karraker said further details on high-def movies for download would be released at a later date.

The announcement comes two days before the E3 Media & Business Summit in Santa Monica, Calif., where dozens of industry heavyweights including Sony rivals Microsoft Corp. and Nintendo Co. are expected to show off their latest games and related products.

The seeming-MMO even includes casual games such as pool, bowling and arcade machines embedded into the world, but at any time you can invite a fellow resident to join in on any PlayStation Network-capable game. As for user-generated content, PS Home allows you to hang your own pictures on your apartment walls and share videos with friends. You can of course dress up your avatar in assorted virtual clothings -- for a price -- all while enjoying "dynamic advertising" of some sort. A large scale beta goes live in April, with the full product to be launched this fall. Make sure to hit up the read link for a gallery of the beautiful scenery and idiotic conversations you too can be enjoying in a few months.

It was almost like a scene out of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: Sony's new Playstation 3 went on sale in the U.S. and near riots broke out. One person was shot. One ran into a flagpole and was injured during a melee. Some people waited outside stores for up to three days to be first in line to buy the gaming system.

Sony plans to ship two million PlayStation 3 players this year to the U.S. and Japan, and six million worldwide by March. The Tokyo-based company said yesterday annual profit would fall 35 percent to its lowest in five years on price cuts of the console in Japan and a recall of 9.6 million computer batteries.

"The honest answer is it's more of a target" for PlayStation 3 shipments, Jack Tretton, co-chairman of Sony Computer Entertainment America, said yesterday in an interview. "Clearly we've had production issues."

A shortage of the PlayStation 3 would give Microsoft Corp. and Nintendo Co. a bigger head start in the $20 billion console market when they sell their players next month in time for the year's biggest sales season. Sony cut the price of the PS3 in Japan after consumers complained it was too expensive compared with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii.

"It would be a big hill to climb with a console that costs twice as much," said John Broady, an analyst for GameSpot.com, a unit of Cnet Networks Entertainment that tracks video-game sales. "A lot of this is driven by mothers. When they look at their budget, I think the Wii is going to be very attractive."

And then there's the fact that it will be all but impossible for normal, everyday consumers to actually find a PlayStation 3 for sale this holiday season. Sony will be able to deliver only 400,000 copies of the machine to North America at first, and those will almost certainly sell out within hours, even though the top version of the PS3 will cost a mighty $600 before you even buy any games. (There are going to be a lot of angst-ridden parents and frustrated kids out there this year.)

Sony's PlayStation 3 (PS3) has gone on sale on the web despite not being launched until November this year.

The next generation consoles are on offer as "pre-orders" to Europeans for £550 ($1,020) at online shop, play.com.

The website says that because of an expected European shortage, it cannot guarantee delivery before Christmas.

While gamers and many industry analysts are still recovering from their surprise at the high price tag for a premium PlayStation 3, the man whose division makes the machine said he doesn't understand the fuss.

"I think when you look at what we put into the box -- Cell, Blu-Ray, backwards compatibility, the ability to go online -- I think it's a very compelling package for consumers," said Kaz Hirai, president and chief executive officer of Sony (Research) Computer Entertainment America. "The totality of what we bring to the table makes it a good value for consumers."

With its highly advanced processor (called the "Cell" chip) and a top-of-the-line Blu-Ray disc player, the PlayStation 3 was bound to be expensive. Standalone Blu-Ray players cost roughly $1,000. But when Sony announced plans Monday to offer two versions of the PS3 for $499 and $599, it set a record for major console launch prices.

The two models have very different specs. As well as different hard drives, the cheaper machine will not have in-built wireless or an HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) connector necessary for hooking the machine up to a High Definition TV or monitor.

However, both systems will come with a new controller. Sony has abandoned last year's boomerang-shaped prototype and reverted to a design similar to the current model for the PlayStation 2.

One key difference is the inclusion of a motion sensor in the wireless Bluetooth controller.

In a demonstration, a virtual duck was made to jump out of the water by moving the controller upwards.

"By opening the Xbox Live entertainment network to the entire universe of Windows and mobile gamers, we're creating unparalleled gameplay opportunities that will drive incredible growth of the online community," said Gates. "Our vision is to deliver consistent, compelling experiences that make it easy for consumers to jump in and play, from any device at any time. It's a vision that only Microsoft can deliver."

Gates, making his first appearance at E3, joined Peter Moore, corporate vice president of the Interactive Entertainment Business in the Entertainment and Devices Division, on stage to announce a barrage of new game titles coming to the Xbox 360 and Windows Vista platforms.

Microsoft announced that it will have 160 Xbox 360 titles by end of 2006. The stunningly smooth high-definition graphics and sophisticated level of gameplay in these titles are proof positive that the development community is hitting its stride with the console's powerful hardware and programming tools.

3- Mimic your characters moves and get really into your game! After a few hours: you have completely forgotten the BODYPAD sensors... you just have "kata" and techniques that you fight your adversaries with... You can launch any blow by mimicking the gestures on screen!

Of course you are not obliged to make a somersault or to be an expert into martial arts: starting up a move is usually enough to trigger it in the game.

While it's impossible to tire of shooting someone in the face with a virtual shotgun, such childish activities might only be a minority aspect of your next-gen online experience -- we hear the PS3 will apparently even let you video blog and create a personal page for friends to read.

The word comes from reputable US mag, Playstation Magazine, which says Sony is planning an advanced PS3 "lifestyle server" that'll let friends tap into your multimedia diary even when your machine’s switched off.

It has been a trend with the video game consoles and portables to include more and more media devices like MP3 players, dvd players, etc. It it a logical transition for these devices to allow gamers to create video blogs and build communities. The PS3 will not be out until November -- a recent announcement said it would be delayed. Microsoft has been building an Xbox Live community and Nintendo is expected to offer similar features in the next generation of the Nintendo system called Revolution.

"In every other generation, the first guy to 10 million consoles was the number one seller in the generation," Ballmer told FORTUNE in an interview on Thursday afternoon. "Did we just get an even better opportunity to be the first guy to 10 million? Yeah, of course we did."

But Microsoft will not formally revise its projected market share for the Xbox 360, and it will not speed up production to capitalize on Sony's delay, because it's already producing the Xbox as fast as possible. "We've been saying 'make them faster' before yesterday," says Ballmer.

When the Xbox 360 launched last holiday season, Microsoft had its own missteps. Shortages led to sales of only 600,000 systems from the debut on November 22 through December 31, far fewer than Microsoft and market analysts expected.

There is still a production bottleneck because of problems with a component vendor, whom Ballmer declined to name, but he expects Microsoft to sell 5 million systems by June. "We're sort-of on track," he says, "though it would've been nice at Christmas to have one for everyone who wanted one."

Sony had been aiming for a spring launch for the successor to best-selling PlayStation 2.

The news was announced at a hastily-convened news conference, after reports of a delay appeared in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Japan's main financial daily newspaper.

The reports had triggered a 1.8% drop in Sony's shares to 5,470 yen ($46.56; £26.67) on the Tokyo market.

The PS3 is one of three new gaming consoles promising cutting edge processing and graphical power.

In one of the biggest partnerships to date between a vidgame publisher and a studio, MTV Films and Paramount are developing Midway Games' "The Wheelman" as a feature film.

Plan is to release the pic and the game simultaneously; Vin Diesel is signed on to star in and produce both.

"Wheelman" is an action-adventure title about an expert driver who comes out of retirement to protect a woman from his past.

ParPar and MTV Films bought the rights from Midway, which is already well into development on the game for next generation consoles Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Budget is believed to be north of $15 million -- on the high end for videogames.

There is a reason the developers describe Black as "gun porn".

In this four-course feast for the explosion-starved, players fill the hobnails of Jack Kellar, part of the world's most brutal strike force, as he hunts down an ex-CIA operative in the Eastern Bloc.

But just as Burnout threw realism to the wind in favour of pulse-pounding carnage, so Black is devoid of any real strategy, puzzles or needlessly complicated plot.

Instead it favours the most lethal cocktail of weapons ever seen in a game and with the emphasis on blowing up anything that moves.

In fact, even if it does not move, you can pretty much reduce it to rubble, as in the Red Faction game.

n an interview featured in today's edition of Japanese newspaper Sankei Shinbun, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata stated, "We can't disclose the Revolution's release period yet, but we have no plans to miss out on the year-end sales battle. As for North America, we need to release it by Thanksgiving, or otherwise we won't receive support from the retail industry. So the Revolution will be released prior to that period."

Iwata avoided any specific comments about how much the Revolution would cost. However, he reiterated that the console will be reasonably priced. "The amount of money that people are willing to spend on videogames is getting less every year," he said. "Even if it's a superb machine, it's not going to sell if it's 50,000 yen ($434). We plan to make [the Revolution] an affordable price."

Quoted in Interactive Investor today, Evan Wilson of Pacific Crest Securities, said that PS3 will "most likely" be released in November with 1 million units, followed by a European launch in March 2007. He said the Japanese launch would also be backed by about a million units this summer.

Coming on the heels of widely publicized news that Sony music CDs infected customers' computers with security-hole-inducing spyware, the campaign for the PlayStation Portable is being derided on the internet as an attempt to buy the credibility of street art.

In San Francisco, critics have expressed their disapproval by adding some spray paint of their own to the Sony ads. On a wall outside a beer garden in San Francisco's bohemian Mission District that caters to motorcyclists and bike messengers, someone spray-painted over every character, adding the commentary, "Advertising directed at your counter-culture."

Outside Casa Maria, a small Mission bodega, someone wrote, "Get out of my city," added the word "Fony" to the graffiti and penned a four-line ditty slamming Sony.

Other cities targeted in the campaign include New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Miami, according to Sony spokeswoman Molly Smith.

There is something SO wrong about Shadow with a gun though -- on the loading screen, Shadow cocks his gun, and the sound is just so not something I want to associate with collecting rings and bouncing on platforms. Magic, slingshots, rotten tomatoes ... why guns??

Shadow awakens with amnesia and is tormented by a dark past as he struggles to unveil his true identity. Was he created to save humankind or to do the evil bidding of the dark side? Only by collecting the seven Chaos Emeralds will Shadow unlock the truth. Caught in a complex battle between aliens, the G.U.N. army, and Dr. Eggman, Shadow becomes the very element that may tip the scales between good and evil forever. The epic is set…and the path that Shadow will ultimately take is completely up to you!

Capping off a November of expanded horizons that has him making his big-screen acting debut, 50 Cent will also star in his own video game. "50 Cent: Bulletproof" for PlayStation 2 and Xbox will let players blast bullets through the streets of New York, with G-Unit at their side. Written by Terry Winter, whose credits include "The Sopranos," "Bulletproof" depicts what the game's creators say is a scenario that could have played out if 50 hadn't gotten into music. The action is full of enough brutal kills that the game easily racked up an M rating.

But aside from letting players indulge 50 in his less gentle side, the game will serve as the closest thing 50 has released to a box set. Topped with three tracks recorded exclusively for the game, "Bulletproof" will also include 10 exclusive remixes to songs that have only appeared on 50's mixtapes. Also in the game are songs from 50's official albums and more than a dozen 50 and G-Unit videos.

The official track count is 53 songs from 50, 20 from G-Unit, 10 from Lloyd Banks, 10 from Young Buck and four from Tony Yayo, plus 47 tracks from DJ Sha Money XL and 15 videos from 50 and G-Unit. The entire collection is available to players at any point in the game; all gamers have to do is have 50 access his G-Pod.

"The release of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was widely anticipated, but an adults-only rating would have severely limited its sales in retail outlets," said Congressman Fred Upton of Michigan.

"It appears that the publisher has blatantly circumvented the rules in order to peddle sexually explicit material to our youth, and they should be held accountable. A company cannot be allowed to profit from deceit."

The vote follows calls by US senator Hillary Clinton for an investigation into who put the sex scenes into San Andreas.

Take-Two spokesman Jim Ankner acknowledged in an Associated Press interview that the questioned scenes were created by Rockstar programmers. "The editing and finalization of any game is a complicated task and it's not uncommon for unused and unfinished content to remain on the disc," he said.

In a statement, the president of the Entertainment Software Rating Board said the sex scenes were programmed by Rockstar "to be inaccessible to the player."

But ESRB chief Patricia Vance also acknowledged that the "credibility and utility" of the industry-run board’s initial "M" rating had been "seriously undermined."

Many retailers sell "M" rated games, which "may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older,” according to the Entertainment Software Rating Board, but won’t sell "AO"-labeled games at all.

She said she herself did not own a PlayStation because they were a "waste of time."

He believes that today's youngsters may never have to die, and points to the rapid advances in computing power demonstrated last week, when Sony released the first details of its PlayStation 3. It is 35 times more powerful than previous games consoles. 'The new PlayStation is 1 per cent as powerful as a human brain,' he said. 'It is into supercomputer status compared to 10 years ago. PlayStation 5 will probably be as powerful as the human brain.'

Nintendo, whose GameCube sales have lagged, hopes to gain ground, particularly among the fast-growing older-gaming market. Revolution is about the size of a stack of three DVD cases and has no visible knobs, buttons or ports for joysticks. The system will use only wireless controllers, and it sits flat or stands vertically.

With its front-loading slot for discs, it will play games on full-size DVDs as well as older GameCube games on mini-DVDs. Like Xbox and PlayStation 2, it will play DVD movies.

Nintendo, which mostly ignored the Net with GameCube, also is catching up with the online wave. Revolution will offer broadband access to a free Internet-based player matching service, similar to Xbox Live, that also will have downloadable versions of nearly every Nintendo game — from arcade classic Donkey Kong through current titles such as Mario Sunshine. (Nintendo hasn't decided whether downloading will be free.)