Countdown to the PS3

There are still a lot of questions surrounding the Nov 17 launch of the PlayStation 3 ? in particular, just how many people will be able to buy one. But Sony is proceeding as though the PS3?s production issues are nonexistent.

Sony, instead, has been emphasising on the console?s online PlayStation Store, which will allow users to download arcade games, demos and bonus content for store-bought titles ? stuff that?s been available on Microsoft?s Xbox Live for a while now.

Sony also demonstrated its motion-detecting Sixaxis controller, showing how you would tilt and jerk the device to control a dragon in the forthcoming medieval fantasy ?Lair.?

Advertising in games?

Nielsen Media Research, a company that compiles TV ratings, knows why fewer young people are watching prime-time

programming: They?re too busy playing video games. So the company has announced it?s going to start tracking the amount of time gamers spend with joysticks in their hands.

The new data should lead the way to more advertising in games; if a company finds out you?re playing a particular game for 20 hours a week, it will want to spend money to put an ad there.

?The value of an entertainment medium is directly proportional to how well it is measured,? said Nielsen vice president Jeff Herrmann. Funny, all this time it was thought the value of an entertainment medium was in how entertaining it was.

Movie version of halo meets road block

Peter Jackson, who defied all Hollywood expectations by bringing ?The Lord of the Rings? to the silver screen, may have a tougher challenge on his hands: Delivering the first blockbuster video-game movie.

When Jackson signed on to produce the film version of the game ?Halo,? the project looked unstoppable ? until co-financers Universal and Fox abruptly backed out.

Hollywood trade paper, Variety, reported rumours of an out-of-control budget, but a representative for Jackson and his partner, Fran Walsh, said that the studios had demanded a pay cut for the filmmakers at the last minute.

Microsoft issued a statement saying, ?We are disappointed that Universal and Fox wanted to significantly renegotiate the financial points of the deal,? but added that Jackson, Walsh and ?the rest of the creative team are dedicated to ensuring the Halo movie becomes a reality.?