Google and Microsoft...the saga continues.

Human rights group and surveillance watchdog Privacy International has just released an interim report on the privacy practices of over 20 leading web companies, and the results don't look good for colourful, cuddly Google.

The big G was the only one in the group that included companies such as Microsoft, AOL, MySpace and eBay to be placed in the bottom section of the six stage colour coded scale and labelled hostile to privacy.

Just a day after the results were published, just to show how well the verdict was going down, Google representatives apparently tried to start a smear campaign against Privacy International, claiming it has "a conflict of interest regarding Microsoft". This information was sent to two European journalists by Google representatives, according to the privacy group.
source: Will Head from Tech Digest
here

Wii Continues to dominate.

First Wii was outselling PS3 5:1 on their home turf (Japan). Now Wii is outselling Microsoft about 2:1 on Microsofts home turf and continues to outsell all consoles in the PAL regions.
Recently I just checked Amazon.com to see the Bestselling in Video Games and Consoles. Sure enough, Nintendo completley owns the top 5 and has 8 of the top 10 spots. See here below.


The final telling factor? 6 months after launch in the United States, you can still not find a Wii sitting on a store shelf for more than 30 minutes.

Bravo Wii on your early come from behind victory.

Nintendo Pwns Sony in Japan

Well by now, we have learned to forget about the XBOX 360 in Japan. It only sold 11,082 units last month. However the more interesting fight is between Nintendo's Wii and Sony's PS3. Sony has undoubtebly held the uper hand for the past few years. However that appears to be changing. According to market analysis firm Enterbrain Inc, the Wii outsold the PS3 by a margin of 5:1. Thats 251,794 Wiis compared to approx. 50,000 PS3's. Alot of people say Sony has to do something, but what can they do? If they lower the price, it sells more consoles but means an even BIGGER loss than they are already earning. If they dont lower the price they have smaller losses, but sell fewer consoles. Basically, Sony shot themselves in the foot trying to push the Blu-Ray format apon us and they are paying ever so dearly for it now. Sony is blowing its once dominant lead in the multi-billion dollar gaming industry. Last generation 60%+ of all consoles were Sony consoles. This generation however it seems that Nintendo and Microsoft have 85% of the market. (According to nexgenwars.com)
Sucks to be you Sony.

Nintendo Wii Hard Disk?

According to various reports on the internet today, Nintendo may be getting a hard drive add on. This add-on hard drive for the Nintendo Wii will open up a whole load more options for downloading games.

The new hard disk is rumoured to get a world-wide look at next months E3 which starts on July 11th.

Currently the maximum amount of memory you can get is 512 MB, the problem is some games that are starting to come out require 350MB+, eating up alot of your memory. This is a rumour, but a rumour with strong motives and I wouldnt be suprised one bit if it turns out to be fact.

Halo 3 vs GTA IV

What will happen this fall when Halo 3 launches weeks before GTA IV? Well according to Michael Pachter, it could cause the delay of GTA IV. Full Story Here :
Halo 3 and GTA IV have the potential to be the biggest entertainment events of the year. I think it would be smart for Rockstar to delay GTA IV or 2 reasons. A) It will help their sales out B) It will give them more development time. Whatever the case, it will be an interesting fall season in games.
Halo 3 comes out September 25th in the USA and Septemer 26th in Europe
GTA IV comes out October 16th.

SCEA Losses trimmed

(<-Perhaps the only good use for a PS3?)
Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) announced recently that their losses were 630 million bucks for Q4 (ended March 31st). This number is smaller in comparison to recent losses. A 60 GB PS3 costs around $800 to make, and sell for $600. Everytime someone buys a PS3 console, they lose 200 dollars. The more consoles that sell, the bigger the loss. So a smaller loss indicated rather poor sales. And this is supported by the fact thatthe PS3 sold only 80,000 units in the US for April. This is compared to 360,000 units for the Wii, and 200,000 for the XBOX 360. Poor Sony, if they lower the cost they will lose even more money, but if they dont lower the price then they will lose something bigger than the PS3, and thats control of the Gaming Industry. You have to feel sorry for them, what can they do? Trying to push a next generation format into the console has really created quite a mess, and scores the 8th spot on the Top 21 Tech Screw Ups of 2006. Microsoft hasnt even made that list....yet.