At their E3 press conference today, Sony announced a new hardware bundle for their still-running-strong PS2 system. The package will come with a copy of Lego Batman and a DVD of the Justice League animated movie, all for $149. Not a bad deal, especially considering the system alone costs $129 these days. Sony also stressed the strength of the still-growing PS2 library at the conference, mentioned 130 games coming to the system in 2008, including Yakuza 2, Force Unleashed, NCAA Football, Tiger Woods, Warriors Orochi 2, Singstar Pop vol. 2, Madden, and Mercenaries 2: World in Flames.

It's the stuff great urban legends are made of: A drunk University of Wyoming student supposedly knocked himself out and earned a trip to the hospital after urinating on a still-plugged-in PS2 at an off-campus party. The story got pushed by Fark on Monday and is slowly making its way into the mainstream media, getting a mention yesterday on Fox News Live.

We're a bit incredulous. First of all, it's arguable whether or not the physics of the story would even work. The popular Discovery TV show Mythbusters determined that it's nearly impossible to get shocked by peeing on the supercharged third rail of a train track because the urine stream isn't consistent enough to carry a charge. Even if the drunken party-goer somehow did get close enough for a solid stream, we find it hard to believe that the measly power output of a PS2 would knock someone out for a full ten seconds.

The original report itself doesn't exactly inspire confidence, either -- Fun Tech Talk is not exactly a well-known and respected source for news. While the post reads like an AP brief, there's no link to any outside sources or mention of who originally reported the story. There are some journalistic inconsistencies too -- the party supposedly happened late Saturday night, but the dateline says it was written that same Saturday.

The final nail in the coffin? None of the three students mentioned in the piece turn up on the University of Wyoming's online student directory.

While we'd like to believe in the poetic justice for anyone stupid enough to pee on a game system, we've got to nip this one in the bud. As the Mythbusters themselves might say, this one is busted.

So, Sony's been having a rough couple days ... eh, disregard that. Sony's been having a rough week. Fine, fine -- month. But there's a silver lining -- none of this has hurt Sony's brand power. AlixPartners, a global corporate-advisory firm, says after surveying more than 5,000 consumers that Sony is #1 in their minds.

The company's press release states, "The AlixPartners Brand Power Index draws a clear distinction between mere popularity, which a brand can achieve temporarily through discounting, etc., and true brand power, which the index measures on a consumer trust-versus-distrust formula." Sony came in first place followed by Johnson & Johnson and Kraft. Dell and Hewlett-Packard were the only other consumer electronics in the top ten and they were way at the bottom. No word on Microsoft or Nintendo brand power.

There's no arguing Sony's brand power and it's a good sign that in 5,000 consumer's minds it's the tops. Thing is with the PS3 nobody had issue with the brand power, just look at the sales of the PlayStation 2 -- that thing is still a money making monster. Not to mention at $130 the PS2 is worth every penny for a family. A DVD player and an amazing game console in one small neat little package. Sony's problem with the PS3 isn't brand, it's price. Forget us as gamers and techno-babble Blu-ray freaks who will fanboy flame-out and just spend money. Sony execs should talk to the single mother waiting at the bus stop in the morning, go to a neighborhood barbershop, find a sixth-grade elementary school teacher to talk to. Nobody will ever deny Sony's brand power, but people are stuck at $600 as a jumping-off point for a game console.

One man decides to give up the World of Warcraft, for another addiction entirely, and the result is an experiment in cinematical over-the-topness. Sweeping soundtracks, fighting, Burning Crusade Collector's Editions flying through the air ... what more could you ask for?

If you're going to give something up, it's probably best to do in a grand way, involving videotape, your friends, trailers for other games, and lots of slow-motion. One thing everyone is asking though, would you go mental living in that house?

Amid concerns that the European version of the PlayStation 3 will be less than fully backward compatible, Sony has unveiled a new web site listing old games that will work under the version 1.6 firmware, due to be released concurrently with the European launch on Thursday. Unfortunately, the site is organized in a rather user-unfriendly paged format that requires a lot of clicking around to get to the data you want. We did some extra legwork and copied the data into a couple of convenient Google Docs spreadsheets (PS1, PS2). We also crunched the numbers to see just how extensive the European PS3's backward compatibility will be at launch.

The results are a little underwhelming. While over 2,800 combined PS2 and PS1 games are listed as working on the PAL PS3, they represent only about 56 percent of the approximately 5,000 discs available for both systems in PAL format. Unlisted games like Metal Gear Solid 2, Final Fantasy VII, Resident Evil 2 and all the Ratchet and Clank games will not work at all come launch day -- as it says in the fine print of the site, "if your game is not listed here, emulation is not yet supported on PLAYSTATION®3." [update: added fine print quote -- thanks Ian] (Note: Discs are listed by serial number, one game may be listed under multiple serial numbers).

What's more, of the roughly 2,800 listed games, only about 1,800 of them (approx. 63 percent) work with "no known issues." A good 550 or so have "noticeable issues," according to Sony, among them big names like Metal Gear Solid and Tomb Raider II on the PS1 and Final Fantasy X, Kingdom Hearts, SingStar, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on the PS2. [Update: Moved Kingdom Hearts from PS1 to PS2. Whoops!]

Of course, these numbers will only go up as Sony continues to update the firmware, but as a starting point, we're a little disappointed that roughly two-thirds of the PlayStation/PS2 library won't work perfectly on Europe's launch day PS3s.

Continue reading for a quick breakdown of the numbers and more chartly goodness.

When video game analysts are mentioned, most of us who closely follow game news think of Michael Pachter. Like any analyst, their predictions aren't perfect. In fact, many abide by the 51% rule; if you get at least 51% of your predictions right, you're a good analyst.

Back in November, Pachter predicted GameStop (GME) to ride a wave of consumer spending on video games. GameStop has released some information proving that buy a good one. GameStop has increased its already strong revenue outlook by $50 million and its Q4 earnings per share from $1.53-$1.59 to $1.58-$1.60.

On top of other interesting sales promotions, GameStop certainly enjoyed the console launches and top-selling games like Gears of War immensely. GameStop is still looking like a strong buy with the strong Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii lineups for 2007 along with continuing PS2 support (though not everyone is in consensus on this). Since we're going to make some money off this one, we're going to forgive Pachter for some of his missed predictions.

Everyone's favorite renegade cop, Vic Mackey (played by Michael Chiklis, without his more recent orange rock outer layer), will be appearing on the PlayStation 2 and PC in early 2007, giving gamers a chance to intimidate witnesses and beat the crap out of criminals while wearing a badge. Well, beat them up (sometimes) and intimidate them verbally (a lot).

Firing Squad has an interview with game creators Kraig Horigan and Rob Sandberg up, and they talk about the ins and outs of turning The Shield into a game. Apparently the hardest part was in figuring out how to tone Mackey down so that the player has an alternative to applying brute force to every situation. But hey, that's what he does on the TV show, and that's also the version of the game we want to play.

Sadly, this great FX TV show looks like it'll be getting the "let's turn this property into a crummy video game" treatment, based on the screenshots alone. At least Kenny Johnson came in to do some voice recording. He may be off the show, but he'll live on in the game. Lemonhead, FTW!

The Guitar Hero II game and guitar autographed by Dave Navarro are still up for grabs, giving you an excellent opportunity to score a sweet gift for yourself, or someone on your holiday list. We'll be announcing a winner sometime soon, but in order to get into the running, simply post a link to a funny picture of yourself goofing on Guitar Hero, playing an instrument, or just generally acting mental. We'll pick the top three pix to win -- first place gets the guitar and the game and the two runners-up will get a Guitar Hero II poster signed by Navarro and a Guitar Hero II t-shirt.

If you're still wanting to upload a video of yourself doing something with a guitar (keep it clean, folks), then follow the link to the original contest announcement, instructions are there. We'll take a closer look at the video submissions, but if one of you sends in a photo that makes milk squirt out of our nose, then chances are you'll be a winner.

We wonder how much time these guys spent on this thing. If it was more than one Sunday afternoon, then we fear for their souls. It starts off pretty decent, and the costumes are nifty (check out Link's ears and Riku's hair -- dang), but then we get to the fighting and it just slows. way. down. Watch as I SWING WITH MY SWORD AND THEN ... *tap*. Check out Link's off the rock spin move, eh? He's so proud of it that he does it several times.

The video ends with, "It's not over yet." Dear god, why not? Is there a sequel brewing? Don't get us wrong, it was a nice effort ... just two minutes and 41 seconds too long. Check it out after the jump.

On the heels of THQ's quarterly report comes some more positive gaming news. According to the NPD Group the gaming industry has posted a 16% jump in software sales. An interesting trend noted by the NPD Group is the average price of games sold has declined by $2.40.

The decline in price could be confusing to many gamers, especially those staring down the $60 price tags on new Xbox 360 (and soon to be PS3) games. The decline in price was due mainly to the fact that new release PS2 games are now in the $40 range and six of the top ten software games were for the PS2 (the top ten was rounded out by three Xbox 360 games and one Xbox game). If the revenue is up and the game prices are down this means that unit sales are WAY up.

The data pokes in the eye the argument that next-gen software needs a $60 price point to make a profit. If PS2 games are selling for $40 -- and selling well at that -- keeping $60 price tags emblazoned all over our precious games is absurd when gamers are clearly buying $40 merchandise in droves. By selling next gen software at even $50, gaming companies can easily use economics of scale to their advantage. The increased production costs can easily be drowned out by more sales generated by a lower price point. Stop gouging us guys ... you know you can make a profit without that $60 price tag.

Nolan Bushnell , founder of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese, looks to be a new member of the Microsoft Defense Force. In an interview with Red Herring, Bushnell took the time to trash the entire PlayStation brand, not just the PlayStation 3. While we can expect the SDF to come out swinging, Bushnell's comments leave even those of us sitting on the fence with raised eyebrows.

Bushnell is absolutely convinced the PS3 will fail ... and not just fail to reach the vaunted nine-digit milestone for the third time, but outright flop. Bushnell told Red Herring that "It would not surprise me if a year from now they'll be struggling to sell 1 million units ... I think in the the number of early adopters you have is actually around 300,000." Furthermore, he goes on to say the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 were merely accidents, reaping rewards not by being the best, but by being in the right place at the right time.

The PlayStation did not succeed because Sony had a Field of Dreams moment; it was supported because developers loved how it was easier to develop than the cumbersome Saturn and consumers bought it because the software was far cheaper than the N64. My PlayStation didn't just fall off the shelf and into my shopping cart, I bought it for a reason. While it would take a fanatic to believe the PS3 will sell over 100 million units, thinking the PS3 will only sell one million units by this time next year -- and fail to sell out of the launch units -- is crazy.

[Via GameDaily]

Hot guitar strummin' and finger pickin' action collided with the corporate man at Best Buy in Los Angeles on Monday, with Dave Navarro (because real rockers love the game too) on hand to promote Guitar Hero II, and Joystiq was there. We lined up about half an hour early to get pix and vids, quietly slipping in amidst the obsessive fans of either Navarro or this game. After talking to about a dozen people, we realized that they could have sent James Taylor to plug this thing, and the same people would've shown up. Everyone was stoked for the midnight release of the game, and one hardcore fan even drove up from San Diego, just to get his axe signed.

A representative from BB handed tickets out and told us that they were only giving out 50 so that you could get in line to have things signed. Once they finally opened the doors and let us flood in, we spent some time at the various demo stations they had set up (with pretty sweet speaker systems that looked like they were on loan from a K.I.S.S. concert), and then dutifully took our spot in the signing line. We grabbed a game en route to the table and pulled the guitar out of the box, got it signed by Navarro, and then -- surprise! We were told that Activision was buying the game for those first 50 tickets. Score! Big announcement about that guitar & game soon on Joystiq, so keep your eyes open.

Pictures and video after the jump, but sadly no Carmen Electra since she and Dave went splitsville earlier in the summer.

[Update: added some rockers]

Gaming is frequently blamed for many of society's ills. One social problem, child obesity, is now being taken on by gaming. Gymkids, a UK manufacturer of children's fitness products, has released the Step2Play,seeks to tackle the problem of childhood obesity not by taking the games away, but turning every game played into a workout.

The theory behind Step2Play is that outdoor activities aren't necessarily for everyone and that many kids simply won't put down the controller. The Step2Play system, which resembles a stair-stepper workout machine, plugs into the child's Playstation 2. If the child wishes to play the game, he must use the machine. If the child stops, the controller cuts off and the game cannot be played. Parents can even change the pace the child must keep up to develop a workout regimen.

For £115.00, parents can buy a tool that could prove valuable in battling life-long illnesses that result from obesity. The site does not indicate if the product works in other markets, such as the United States, or if they will ship internationally. The product does have opponents who claim that Step2Play only highlights the problems with society; however, why should we undertake an impossible social re-engineering program when it's far easier to convince people to better themselves by playing on what they normally do every day?

[Thanks Jose]

Here's a collection of useful (and useless) PlayStation 3 facts compiled by GamePro -- and complimented by our parenthetical remarks:

• Touch-sensitive power and eject buttons are a nice touch - literally (but we prefer handling said activities from the couch, with a remote or controller)
  
• 15,000 kiosks across the nation by the end of November (you might not be able to score a unit until 2007, but at least your local retailer will have one)
  
• The PS3 is not just a cheap Blu-ray player (actually, it's relatively inexpensive)
  
• Not all games will be 1080p (now that's an understatement!)
  
• The Sixaxis controller doesn't feel too light (we disagree)
  
• Speaking of which, the Sixaxis motion sensing takes some getting used to. (uh-huh)
  
• The PSP will connect via Wi-Fi to the PS3's hard drive (a good reason not to sell your PSP)
  
• The Sixaxis gets roughly 30 hours of battery life (if true, it blows Microsoft's Xbox 360 rechargeable -- but easily replaced -- battery away)
  
• There's no "lag" on the wireless Sixaxis controller, either (and there shouldn't be!)
  
• The Sixaxis's wireless range tops out at over 65 feet (20 meters) (how far away do you sit from the TV?)
  
• A new controller will set you back 50 beans (and there's no first-party wired alternative)
  
• Your PlayStation 2 save game files can be transferred to the PS3 (thank goodness! Transferring Xbox saves to 360 is tedious and requires purchasing third-party apps/equipment)
  
• The Blu-ray disc drive is slot loading, and it works like a dream (yeah, but does it have a paperclip-hole fail-safe?)
  
• One LED on the PS3 seems dedicated to tracking hard drive activity (so ... ?)
  
• The first 500,000 PS3s will be packaged with a free Blu-ray feature film (but it's Ferrel's "Talladega Nights")
  
• There's still a hard "power-off" switch on the back of the system, just like the PS2 (annoying)
  
• The PS3 is very, very shiny (so keep your greasy paws off it)
  
• As a whole, the PS3 itself looks incredibly sexy (see previous)
  
• The PS3 is super quiet (we hope -- 'cause the 360 is damned loud!)
  
• You can plug in a USB keyboard and surf the 'Net (and a mouse too?)
  
• The power supply is integrated directly into the system (in other words, there's no brick to trip over)
  
• Re-download all your merch to someone else's PS3 (or better, download a friend's merch on to your PS3)
  
• First-party games are priced at $59.99 (so are some of the 360's -- *sigh*)
  

[Via Digg]

Following rumors that the PlayStation 3 version of WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007 has been cancelled, THQ confirmed that its perennial wrasslin' series will not boost the PS3 launch lineup this holiday. Instead, SmackDown 2007 will ship for PS2 and PSP, and more importantly, will make its 'next-gen' debut exclusively on Xbox 360. THQ did add that the SmackDown franchise would eventually make it onto PS3, but not until holiday 2007.