Another week flies by. It was the week after Apple finally announced the iPhone in the UK... And it's a week closer to the release of Halo 3 and, so Microsoft is hoping, a sharp spike in sales for its Xbox 360.
The never ending HD story
The HD format war is still raging on both fronts. Is anyone surprised? Last week, the HD DVD Promotional Group said it was to release a triple-layer 51GB HD DVD disc, something that was quickly labelled " a publicity stunt" by Frank Simonis, chairman of the Blu-ray Disc Association.
Who's got the upper hand? HD DVD? Blu-ray? Does it matter? On Monday, Screen Digest said the two high-def formats are likely to co-exist, echoing what we've been saying for a long time.
Over in San Francisco, Intel hosted another one of its Intel Developer Forums. Intel announced that not all members of the new 45nm Nehalem processor family will be based on a single-die design. Some Nehalem processors with integrated graphics will actually be built using two separate chips packed into a single processor package.
Apple iPhone
Undoubtedly the biggest news of the week was that we finally got the word that O2 is to get the coveted Apple iPhone contract in the UK. Sadly, it wasn't the 3G version of the Apple iPhone we had expected, but Steve Jobs explained that you can't yet have '3G' and 'good battery life' in the same phone.
Plenty of 3G power could be found in the super 3G phones in Japan, racking up 200Mbps connections. Japan's NTT DoCoMo announced a new chip capable of the computation needed for such speeds, yet small enough to fit in a phone.
We also reported that Apple may set future firmware updates to 'brick' all unlocked Apple iPhones in a bid to stifle devices being hacked. We also told you that a third software update for the Apple iPhone, enabling Apple's Wi-Fi iTunes Music Store, is on its way.
We also heard that Sony was bringing its rumble pack controller back to life. Rumours about a 'Dual Shock 3' for the PlayStation 3 have been circling the web for some time, but we got a tip-off that Sony was to make an announcement during the Tokyo Games Show. It did.
Console comparisons
In other PS3-related news, the man in charge of the PlayStation brand said that it's unfair to compare the PlayStation 3 console to the Nintendo Wii because the two consoles are so vastly different. Sony may also be about to sell off its PS3 cell chip plant to Toshiba. Then again, it might not. Depends who you read.
We also speculated that the forthcoming PlayStation 4 may have added voice recognition, after patents outlining future Sony gaming hardware was discovered online.
Microsoft, on the other hand, said it had sold 11.6 million units of its Xbox 360 games console. This would put it ahead of the Nintendo Wii, despite Nintendo's claims that it was overtaking Microsoft. Nintendo is still making shed-loads of cash from Wii sales, though. The firm has made $80 million in profit from UK Wii sales alone, whereas both Microsoft and Sony are losing money from every unit sold.
In other breaking Wii news: Star Wars fans will finally get the chance to wield your very own lightsaber around as part of the forthcoming Star Wars: The Force Unleashed game, due for release next year.
Just make sure to take a break in between playing games so you don't end up as the 30-year-old Chinese man who reportedly died after playing online video games for 72 hours without a break.
