A month ago, the CEO of Activision, Bobby Kotick, complained about the high cost of Sony’s PlayStation 3. Kotick’s threat to Sony, to lower the price of the PS3 or Activision stops making games for the console, is covered here.

Yesterday, in an investor call, Sony CEO Nobuyuki Oneda revealed that manufacturing costs of the PS3 are down by 70%.

Sony reported the company’s first annual loss in 14 years when it released its fiscal first quarter earnings yesterday. Further, the company is projecting over a $1 billion loss through March 2010. Sony may be blaming poor sales on the state of the economy, but people like Bobby Kotick would be sure to argue the price of the PS3 is to blame.

Why does Sony’s PS3 cost so much?

The cost of manufacturing each console is roughly $800. The price to buy a PS3? $399. While it may be the highest priced console against its competitors, Microsoft’s Xbox and the Nintendo Wii, Sony is taking a hit for every PS3 sold.

Sony saw some relief in January when it announced that the cost of manufacturing had dropped by 35% to $450. Though a 70% drop in cost seems to be just what the company needs, which would allow, as rumored, Sony to drop the price of the PS3. But will Sony really want to eat into its new profits, especially after a first quarter in the red and a poor outlook for the rest of the fiscal year?

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In an interview with the Times of London, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick threatened to stop making video games for Sony’s PlayStation 3. Kotick blames the high cost of the PS3 and the company’s poor sales of the No. 3 video game console. To the Times, Kotick said, “I’m getting concerned about Sony; the PlayStation 3 is losing a bit of momentum and they don’t make it easy for me to support the platform. It’s expensive to develop for the console, and the Wii and the Xbox are just selling better.”

The No. 1 video game console in the United States, the Nintendo Wii, has a price tag of $250. The cheapest version of Microsoft’s Xbox costs $200.  But Sony’s PS3 goes for a staggering $399, causing complaints among many of Sony’s game publishers.

Unfortunately for Kotick, who is calling for Sony to make some price cuts before losing more business, Sony refuses to do as such. Despite reporting a $1 billion loss last quarter, Sony insists that the PS3 is losing momemtum in the mark.  In response to Kotick’s threats, Sony issued this statement, “We enjoy healthy business relationships with and greatly value our publishing partners and are working closely with them to deliver the best entertainment experience.”

Kotick may give Sony until 2010-2011 to make a price cut before reconsidering Activision’s support of PS3 and the PSP.  But with a market value of $16 billion as the world’s largest independent video game developer, we’re pretty sure Activision has no qualms about cutting Sony out.

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In this full cinematic trailer, you get a glimpse of the dark world of Prototype.  Based in New York, the opening of this game shows a tactical team gunning down some type of mutant riot group that’s chasing a young woman.  After annihilating the mutants, the tactical team decides to go ahead and kill the girl that they just rescued from them.  Nice huh?  I am guessing they killed her because they were worried about her being contaminated by the mutants.  That is when the game’s protagonist Alex Mercer shows up and goes postal.

I found out about another one of Alex’s abilities in this trailer, that I was previously clueless about.  Alex is able to shape shift and take on the form of other people.  One scene in particular, Alex takes the form of a tactical agent to fool one of his pals, and then dispenses of him.

Prototype will be released June 9 for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

Courtesy of an Activision press release we are getting our first real look at the peripheral for the new DJ Hero. We first heard about it way back in October, and now we are finally getting to see the hardware for this much anticipated music title.

“The company’s groundbreaking DJ Hero expands Guitar Hero’s signature social gaming to all-new consumers with the addition of diverse music genres including hip-hop, R&B, Motown, electronica and dance. Introducing an all-new innovative turntable controller, DJ Hero transforms players into DJ’s who rule the club scene by creating original mixes of popular songs and music from the world’s most exciting artist and DJ’s.”

DJ Hero is expected for release in the fall.

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The past few months have been a roller coaster ride for the Ghost Busters title.  There have been rumors, failed plans, and even a few road blocks in the game’s development.  Today we have found out that the roller coaster may finally be ready to dock and let us unbuckle. With the announcement that Atari will be releasing the multiplatformer Ghost Busters in June 2009.

After Activision dropped Ghost Busters, it was unclear whether it would ever see the light of day, but Atari picked up the title and has recently announced the release in June 09. The release date announcement at the  Atari Live Showcase today and it was also announced that the game will be released for…well basically every single platform known to man.  So you will be busting poltergeists no matter what platform you prefer to use.

At last the fans who are eagerly awaiting this title have finally got the confirmation they have been longing for.

What started as a rumor swirling around on-line has finally been confirmed.  Activison, the creators of Guitar Hero 2, and 3 have announced their latest creation DJ Hero.  The rumor began when Trademork revealed Activision had purchased the trademark protection for the title DJ Hero, and in doing so their intentions become clear, in what was to follow.  The title was discovered through an impromptu announcement made during an interview with Activision’s Brian Bright and Joystiq.

Brian was quoted as saying “Activision’s doing a DJ Hero game, and I can’t comment on what we’re doing. But… we’re working on the future and next gen. If I wasn’t excited about it I wouldn’t be there.”

The game is being developed by FreeStyleGames of the UK (makers of B-Boy a break dancing title), and they have been working on it for 2 years now. according to Kotaku, and 1UP; when released the game will include a smash up soundtrack, a co-op mode, and a cool turntable peripheral.

After the Activision, Blizzard merger this is one of the few titles confirmed by the companies. Although no release dates, or platforms have been announced we do know this game is currently in development and is due for release into millions of fingers just itching to scratch some vinyl.