The impassioned call rang out above all others in a recent Sony investors meeting:

With the company in the red yet again in its most recent quarter, Japanese investors were in an unhappy mood. “I bought shares in mighty Sony,” cried a woman whose holdings had lost nearly two-thirds of their value. “What are you going to do about this?”

Wired Magazine investiages the company’s future with Can the PS3 Save Sony? and comes to the ultimate conclusion that Sony’s various teams and departments are in such dire straights the fate of the entire company rests on whether or not the PlayStation 3 can be a profitable success.

Sadly, the future is not looking any brighter this day. Joystiq reports: European launch of PlayStation 3 delayed until March 2007, and this heartbreaking blow to the fastest growing game market is quicky followed up with North American, Japanese PS3 launch limited to 500,000 units.

Add on the fact that the unit itself still costs $600, and trendsetters like Penny-Arcade have sworn off the launch as “bullshit” and even the editor of Official PlayStation Magazine will be opting for an Xbox 360.

Maybe I’m not seeing the glow of Sony fans right now. Entire sites like This is Waiting mock the future of the PS3, and literally hundreds of posts on digg, youtube, and blogs all across the net collectively laugh at every single mis-step. The detractors aren’t watching Sony fail, they’re actually cheering it on.

There is little doubt Sony will sell through the initial stock quickly. I’m sure they’ll also meet their trimmed goal of 2 million by Spring 2007.
But with Xbox360 poised for its second year and reporting rapid success, and the Wii celebrated at the most talked about console since console wars began 20 years ago… Does Sony even have a shot now? I mean, could this be the end of the road for the biggest company in gaming? A year ago I’d say this was impossible, but now I wonder if a Playstation 4 will even see the light of day.

You know who I’m talking to. You went back and checked out the original “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” novel after playing the strategy game of the same name to read up on your favorite character. You compared notes to the in-game Dynasty Warriors encyclopedia to see if they got your favorite character right. You decided to major in history after playing Samurai Warriors gave you an intrest in feudal Japan. Yeah, I see ya hiding. Don’t make me call out your name. It’s all good, becuase I’m one of you.

Koei’s games sell like hotcakes in Japan, but they don’t get nearly enough love over here. Samurai Warriors is a spin off in Koei’s Dynasty Warriors hack and slash games. Samurai Warriors differs from Dynasty Warriors in that it’s set in ancient Japan. The original SW had a number of gameplay features that made it unique from DW, and after playing SW, I was disappointed to see that these features weren’t integrated into Dynasty Warriors 5.

Samurai Warriors 2 comming to Xbox 360 and PS2 later this month will take the series where it has never been before: online. Although it’s only for 2 players, it’s long overdue. Also, Xbox 360 users will notive that several special mounts and bodyguards are already available for purchase over the Xbox live market place. Beside conforming a Sony/Nintendo fanboy’s biggest criticism against the Xbox 360 (Charging people for a special item! GRRRRR!!), this opens up the possiblities for what Koei could have planned for future Xbox support. Unfortunantely though, it seems that just as in the 360 version of Dynasty Warriors 5 Empires, this new version will receive minimal graphics enhancements at best. If you don’t care too much for graphics though, get ready to sharpen your sword and head back to the battlefield this fall!

Last fall, we had no less than 5 classic gaming compilations from Capcom, Namco, Taito, Tecmo, and Midway. Now this is shaping up to be another good fall for fans of classic gaming. You already know about the Wii, and it’s ability to download Genesis and Turbographix 16 games, but what you may not know is that you don’t have to buy the new system in order to play some of Sega’s classics. Indeed, comming this November, the Sega Genesis Collection will be comming to PS2 and PSP with over 30 titles! Shniobi 3, Comix Zone, and Golden Axe 2? I think I’m gonna cry.

If that isn’t enough, Konami is giving Xbox 360 owners old school action via the Live Arcade. You already know that the arcade versions of Contra and Super C are comming, but early next year, Konami is also gonna hit us with the definitive Castlevania game, Symphony of the Night! This is shaping up to be a good time for those who enjoy the games of thier youth.

Grab your gravity gun, Half Life 2 is making a second pass at consoles.
After a positive, but decidedly lukewarm, reception for the bare-bones Xbox release last year, the top rated PC game of 2004 will arrive on PS3 and Xbox360 at the same time the second episode for the PC is released.
Valve’s Gabe Newell spoke at an EA Press event today and said not only would the full Episode 1 and 2 be packed in with Half Life 2, but they’re also throwing in Team Fortress 2 and a new title called “Portal”
This could not come at a better time for me personally. I just finished Half Life 2 on Xbox tonight, and I’m itching to get my hands on Episode 1 (I’m in the Mac camp, so Valve’s games have been off-limits to me unless they get ported).
The Xbox release also lacked any multiplayer at all, which was a big difference from the PC version where you’d get Counter Strike Source and Half Life 2: Deathmatch. Still, the game by itself is glorious achievement to even get running a standard Xbox, I was happy to play, even with PS1 style load times and downgraded graphics (from the PC, compared to other Xbox titles, Half life looks fantastic)
For all its acclaim, this will be the first chance for many console players to try Half Life for the first time. And even though the game will be 2 years old by then, I anticipate a smashing success.
Wake up, Dr. Freeman. Wake up and smell the consoles!

Major Nelson has announced the Xbox 360 Dashboard release schedule. This comes right on the heels of his fright filled podcast, dreading not having any news for listeners.
Major Nelson is Xbox Live’s Larry Hryb, who frequently speaks of internal workings at Microsoft and about gaming in general. If you don’t listen to the podcasts already, its worth catching up on some of them. Tales of wandering into Sony’s VIP Booth at E3, interviews with Microsoft staffers, and playing Mario Kart against Tycho from Penny-Arcade in an airplane are common topics.

Peter Moore hit the nail on the head. Over 30 Thousand Joystiq readers voted on what consoles they’ll likley end up buying and the vast majority plan on getting a Wii and 360. Wii on its own scored very strongly as well.
This is hardly a scientific poll, but I’d say the PS3 has a real upward battle against the competition.
Link: Poll results: (Reevaluated) next-gen combo platters

The biggest gaming event of the year is apparently so big, news from it is still being reported on.
First, look how fast the Wii ejects!
The big hit of the show was not the Wii, but the GameCube! The devkit for the new Nintendo system is based so closely on the prior generation that demo units for the Nintendo Booth were made up of just a stock black gamecube with a couple modifications to utilize the controller!
Kotaku also sat down with Miyamoto for a good 25 minute interview and he address all the next-gen hot topics.
IGN and GameTrailers have also compiled best-of-E3 lists that kinda surprise. I mean obviously Halo 3, Smash Brothers, etc took a lot of the glory, but those games weren’t playable and had only a small actual showing. IGN hands the award to Bioshock, a game I totally missed last week. GameTrailers says Assassin’s Creed, which was announced for PS3, but anyone who got to play will be quick to tell you that they were holding an Xbox 360 controller to do so (Ubisoft says they haven’t announced a 360 port yet, but considering its already running on a 360, I’d say its a safe bet!)
Last, and least surprisingly, Karima Adebibe (the rookie model currently cast as Lara Croft) tells CNN how she handles the smell and numbers of fanboys at E3.

I want one. Like right now. But I don’t have the spare cash, and if I get a second job then I won’t have time to play it or anything else for that matter. Whats a gamer to do?
I’m going to try to gank one for free. After examining security and risk factors of my local Best Buy, I decided the safest way is to follow up on one of the billions of pop-up and banner ads telling me I can get one free or win one.
First things first, I made up a new gmail account just for email pertaining to these offers, surveys, and contests. I want this free, but I’m not going to flood my own inbox with new spam.
Next I just dropped “Free xbox 360” into google and clicked the first link. It asked me for simple information first like “Where should we ship your free gift?” and then asked me to check out some “great” offers. After clicking “No” to college degrees, cell phones, and diabetes treatments… i was taken to another page of offers. And a lot of them were repeats.
After turning down roughly 70 offers, I get to the meat of it. I have to complete 2 trials off a list before proceeding to the “shipping” phase. At this point, I finally go down to the disclaimer at the bottom. I must complete 2 trails now, with 4 more trials in the future in order to get to the 360. That doesn’t sound too bad, as long as I can cancel these when I’m done and still get my Xbox.
I’ll update later as I get closer and detail any time or actual dollars spent in pursuit of my reward.

By the way, within 20 minutes of starting I already had 3 spam messages in my new email.