We know that a vast majority of the gaming media consumers out there have a fairly negative outlook when it comes to pre-orders for popular titles (did anyone really have a hard time finding Halo 3 last September?), but that's not why we're writing about the recent pre-order listings on Amazon and Gamestop for the next (Barlog-less) installment in the well-received God of War franchise. What we find intriguing is the March 2 release date listed on both websites -- three quarters earlier than the last rumored launch window for the title. Is this wishful thinking from these two gaming retailers, or could the further adventures of everyone's favorite ashy Spartan hit shelves much sooner than expected?

While it may seem seem like just yesterday that we first played Sony's love note to console gear heads in Gran Turismo, it was actually ten years ago ... a realization that made us feel incredibly old as Sony and developer Polyphony Digital announced that the sim, that first got its license in December 1997, has shipped more than 50 million units across the globe.

This figure, of course, includes the recently released Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, which according to Sony has shipped out more than 2 million units. The company is playing coy, though, as to whether this number includes just physical products or digital downloads over PSN as well. We'd like to extend our hand and congratulate the series for making it this far, but unfortunately it didn't stop between the two yellow lines on the pavement so it's going to have to go back to the start and try again.

We were jazzed to see our tipbox lined with messages heralding the release of this "Exclusive Debut Teaser" for the follow-up to the PS3's inaugural first person shooter, Resistance: Fall of Man. However, we must say that after watching this sneak peek, we're left a bit unsatisfied. Don't get us wrong, the twenty seconds-worth of two in-game cinematics flipped a Pavlovian switch in our brains, leaving us salivating for the further adventures of Nathan Hale, but we were left confused by the last few seconds -- is this a trailer for the game; or for the June 13 episode of GameTrailers TV, and its "World Exclusive Gameplay Premiere" for Resistance 2? You be the judge.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

We've all heard quite a bit about Haze, the next big (and easily-swappable) FPS coming exclusively to the PS3 sometime in May, but during a recent tour through Free Radical Studios led by lead writer Rob Yascombe (who is, in fact, a bona fide, bug-eyed madman), it was announced that the script for the nectar-enriched shooter is over 1,000 pages long. As a point of reference, the script for "Gone With The Wind" clocks in at a crisp 650 pages. Probably.

Before you linguaphiles begin frothing at the mouth in anticipation of a Bioware-caliber dialogue extravaganza, Yascombe explains that a lot of the script is composed of mid-battle NPC retorts -- some of which, he adds, will be delivered by none other than the Royal Shakespeare Company. We wonder if those dandy artistes will be able to deliver their bullet-riddled screams of agony in iambic pentameter.

Though not as critically acclaimed or financially successful as other games of its ilk, The Getaway series has found a cult following in the "Get Carter" crowd -- the aficionados of British crime cinema. This niche group of gangster-loving film buffs will probably be pleased to learn that not only is a Getaway release still on its way to the PS3, but a film adaptation of the game is also possibly in the cards.

These hints were dropped by The Getaway 3's writer, Katie Ellwood, who mentioned that SCEA was in talks with various production houses to try and hand off the rights to bring the series to theatres. It's certainly a better body of work to base a movie off of than other game-adapted films we can think of -- a sentiment we wouldn't suggest disagreeing with, unless you wish to be fed to half-starved pigs (link NSFW, and completely awesome).

It's not much of a shocker to learn the latest (and final) installment in the Metal Gear Solid series is a sizable one -- MGS games have a history of being big (and beautiful). However, a recent interview with series creator Hideo Kojima revealed a startling fact about MGS4 -- Kojima complained that a few features had to be cut from the game so it would fit on a Blu-ray disc. As format fanatics already know, that means the game takes up nearly 50 gigabytes of space.

If true, this is bad news for anyone who hoped to see anthropomorphic cow-bots on the 360 (unless that data was divided between about five dual-layer DVDs), but it could also mean a painfully long installation time for PS3 owners as well. We can only imagine that 49 of those gigabytes are taken up by thousands of variations on just three lines of dialogue -- "Snake? SNAKE? SNAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!?"

[Thanks, Beau Kebodeaux]

It really does seem like we can't throw a stick without hitting a new PS3 SKU or news of a price drop -- a recent advancement in Blu-ray technology could signal the creation of yet another PS3 model or lowered price for the system some time in the near future, should Sony decide to incorporate it into their home console.

Sony and LED manufacturer Nichia recently jointly created a smaller, more efficient Blu-ray laser that would significantly lower PS3 production costs should it replace the PS3's current "chubby laser". This, in addition to the many other cost-cutting innovations Sony implemented in the past year, might lead to yet another price cut for the system -- but the unmentioned, non-discounted inclusion of the lil' laser into existing SKUs is just as likely. We're certain we'll hear more about this in the coming months, once the PS3 hardware market has cooled its proverbial jets.

Any respectable connoisseur of the erotic arts can tell you that in this day and age, watching lo-def pornography is about as un-erotic as watching reruns of Murder, She Wrote. Once you've seen an unclothed bathing suit area at 1080p, lower definition skin flicks just seem to lose their appeal. Many porno purveyors have already made the leap to high definition formats -- such as Digital Playground, which publishes movies exclusively in HD-DVD, much to the chagrin of pornstars left with pockmarked skin after years of spite and heroin abuse.

However, Joone, the company's single-named founder, has recently reconsidered his position in the resolution war, agreeing to publish Digital Playground pictures (starting with their 2005 award-winning blockbuster Pirates) in Blu-ray as well. Why the change of heart? According to Joone, "A lot of people were e-mailing that bought a PlayStation 3 and they were basically saying, 'When are you guys going to release Blu-ray?'" Pornophilic PS3 owners can buckle their swashes when Pirates is released January 4th -- we suggest watching the timeless classic American Bangster to tide you over until then.

Have you ever seen anything so ... boxed in your entire life? What wouldn't you give to see that hot little piece of rumbling plastic shed its outer layer to reveal the deliciousness within, like some sort of be-dual-sticked piece of electronic corn?

... OK, so we can't claim to understand unboxing fetishists entirely, but we can at least try to make up for it by appealing to their basest desires. Engadget Tokyo has one of the first retail DualShock 3s and they're taking the clamshell off ... slow.

Some good news this morning for PS3 owners across the pond: Though Sony Europe has promised that the demo for Uncharted: Drake's Fortune would appear on the European and Japanese PlayStation Stores November 22, Naughty Dog has dropped the region specificity on the American demo, opening it up for everyone.

According to Christophe Balestra, co-president of Naughty Dog, the whole ordeal originated from a lack of knowledge about the PSN infrastructure. He claims they didn't know that European and Japanese PS3 owners couldn't access the US PlayStation Store and download demos - an oversight that Balestra himself corrected with the quickness. Now if Naughty Dog can just get the game out without boobies in their opening logo (link NSFW), they should be in the clear.

[Via PS3F]

It seems like having thorough, consumer-focused customer support is a huge deal in this iteration of the console war, which is why we were surprised to hear the woes of Ive, a Sony fanboy and owner of a broken PS3. According to Ive's story, he sent in his faulty system to be repaired, only to be told that his warranty had been voided by the massive amounts of dust that had accumulated within the casing.

Here's our favorite part of the story: When asked what part of the warranty says that a dusty system cannot be replaced, his helpful customer service representative told him that dust collection could either be considered customer abuse, or an act of God. We'd like to think that if the Lord did destroy Ive's PS3, he would do so with a plague of locusts, or perhaps a well-placed bolt of lightning. Dust collection just lacks that celestial panache, you know?

Update: The Consumerist has more on this, an apparent confusion within the realms of customer support. Dust obviously doesn't void your warranty, but it seems it was cited as evidence of neglect in this case (and forms of neglect do void the system's warranty).

[Thanks, SickNic]

Got a crazy craving for that sweet ADAM flavor that all the kids are talking about, but only own a PS3? According to 1UP's Quartermann's Nostradamian prediction you might be able to get your BioShock fix soon. In the latest rotation of EGM's rumor mill, the exclusivity of the underseas fiasco has been brought into question, and PS3 owners could find themselves frolicking through Rapture sometime in 2008. However, this report contradicts the statement of BioShock's lead designer Ken Levine that the game is not PS3 bound. 2K Games, would you kindly confirm or deny this rumor?

Quartermann also has great news for the feverish fans of FOXHOUND who were upset by the recent MGS4 delay - a new Metal Gear game for the PSP is on it's way, ready to heal those wounds. Reportedly, Kojima Productions is working on the title right now, which will "take Snake back to the early days of his career." Not his career as a master of espionage, mind you, but his first career as a pastry chef in a small Rhode Island bistro.

Also rumored: Sega isn't letting the lukewarm reception of their two first next-gen Sonic games break their stride, as they're apparently hard at work on a new, "real" Sonic game. We don't know whether "real" means a return to the game's classic platforming roots, or if we can expect more creepy interspecies make-out sessions.

Gamevideos shows two new clips of Pain, the extreme health insurance simulation. Well, like the rest of our murder simulators, Pain only shows the id-worthy, visceral high of crashing your sim-like characters into obstacles. Pain unrealistically omits the months and years of recovery.

Anyway, the jackasses in us have been scoping this upcoming, PS3 downloadable for its visceral high and unrealistic omission of months and years of recovery. See some of the ways you'll torture your characters after the break.

Booth suggests that PS3 games are often disadvantaged when ported, as developers have to jump through extra hoops in order to get Sony's system to do what the Xbox 360 can with more ease and less time. It's a fair observation from an insider, certainly, but hardly the blast of searing truth meant to burn away our many "misconceptions." With developers expressing discontent, PS3 publishers being sweet-talked and games stumbling over multiple, noted delays, it's been fairly obvious that the system has been getting a raw deal due to its technical composition and accompanying challenges.

It's bad news for the struggling PS3, but it's also not an unusual situation to arise during multiplatform development. When a developer chooses to develop the same game across different sets of technology, compromises and hardships are likely to rear their hideous, misshapen heads. If you don't think it's all business as usual though, feel free to read all the technical nitty-gritty yourself and respond with an eloquent comment (example: "what would you know about it? all of harmoniax games looks like shit").

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

We were perusing pictures of the 150 chocolate PS3s that Sony created for Italian event Eurochocolate when it occurred to us: Video game consoles are some of the few items we use in out day-to-day life that we're really glad aren't actually made out of chocolate.

Think about it. After the first time you played Lair then looked at the calendar and saw how long it was until Metal Gear Solid 4, would you have really been able to resist just eating the PS3 whole? Can you think of any Wii game that could be described as "better than eating a block of chocolate, a bar of chocolate, a rope of chocolate and an analog stick of chocolate"? And what about the 360? Can you imagine how tough it is to get melted chocolate stains off of an entertainment center?