Thanks in large part to Konami's Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Sony is licking some serious PlayStation 3 sales chops. However, the overall leadership remains with Kyoto-based Nintendo as their twin juggernauts Wii and DS posted huge stats again. The official reactions of both companies after the jump.

After revealing 50 Cent: Blood in the Sand (Xbox 360, PS3) for its May issue, Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine's upcoming June issue is revealing the next-gen resurrection of Splatterhouse. Splatterhouse and its sequels are considered to be the arcade games which paved the way for survival-horror titles. Head over the full article to see what else is there for the June EGM issue.

She may have missed small details before, but we found it hard to resist telling you guys about Surfer Girl's latest batch of rumors. This time, an announcement of Diablo 3 was mentioned and other intriguing  games were brought to light. Head over to the full article to find all the details.

 

According to a report by German site Heise Online, movie production giant Universal Studios "stepped out" of their exclusive HD-DVD deal with Toshiba. This rumored information, spilled through a press conference held by Blu-Ray advocates Pioneer, also came with a mention that Universal was the last of the exclusive HD-DVD format supporters in Hollywood.

Major publishing giants Paramount and Warner also stepped down from the HD-DVD exclusive agreement with Toshiba, some time before Universal followed suit. It was publicly announced that Universal would be supporting the HD-DVD format back in January, but following this development coming from the pro-Blu-Ray camp, Universal might have chosen to stay neutral in the HD format wars.

And if this development is of any consequence, it might give Sony a level battlefield with Toshiba in vying for domination of the future HD movie format. As of publishing, Universal has yet to officially confirm or deny these claims made by Pioneer.

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UPDATE: According to Engadget, Universal Studio's Craig Kornblau has stated that the rumors of Universal studios "going neutral" are "totally false." Engadget, however, feels that this may just be a ruse before the real news storm brews:

As much as we love to get the official word straight from the horses mouth, we can't help but feel like this is like the time the head coach was denying rumors of his star quarterback getting traded, right before the trade goes through.

Thanks to our commenter keepUp for the tip.

It seems 2007 really is shaping up to be the year of Blu-ray. After getting a lot of support from various outlets and having a steady stream of releases, Blu-ray has now become the first high-definition video format to sell more than one million discs. As the icing on top of the cake, it managed to reach this milestone in less than a year.

According to TMCnet, sales figured published by Home Media Research reveal that Blu-ray disc sales accounted to 70% of the high-definition movies sold during the first quarter of this year. The same HMR figures also showed that "nearly three out of every four high-definition movies sold in March were on Blu-ray."

"Blu-ray Discs have been outselling HD DVD by more than two to one since the beginning of the year and the gap is steadily widening," said Andy Parsons, Chairman of the Blu-ray Disc Association's U.S. Promotion Committee and Senior Vice President New Product Development at Pioneer Electronics.

"It's exactly what we've said all along would happen - the strong support for Blu-ray among movie studio and equipment manufacturers means that consumers have more choices when it comes to players and titles. And they're choosing Blu-ray by an ever-increasing margin."

Microsoft Corporation has always boasted about its online gaming service, Xbox Live. Probably a pioneer in its own right, this online feature has been, for a number of times, a redeeming factor of the X360. As of this week in fact, a grand total of 4 Million users have logged on and used Xbox Live since its introduction in 2002.

Not to be outdone, Sony included an online service for its soon to be born baby, the PlayStation 3. However, it would be hard for gamers of the rival console to just jumped in and shout "copycat" for Sony tweaked its gamerscore features and SCEA Executive V.P. Jack Tretton thinks its a rather intelligent change.

Instead of having the "Achievements" feature Xbox Live style, PS3 would have it in a game by game basis. "It's very difficult to draw analogies your success on SOCOM and your success on Madden. Madden players care about peoples' success on Madden," Tretton declares. Publishers, as the executive put it, would then have a robust ranking system on a game-centric level rather than pan-platform  style.

As of now though, Sony has yet to come up with a name for this, although the name "Entitlements" has been mentioned in some speculations. Also, there would be a total of 19 online games at launch day. Tretton can not ascertain whether those games will have the mentioned feature or not though.

Holding your breath for the winner in the Blu-ray vs HD DVD War? Hold it a little longer. The next-gen DVD format war has been reset to sometime 2007 due to the shortage of blue laser diodes needed by the optical drives for both systems.

According to DigiTimes sources, manufacturers of the blue laser diodes admitted they are way behind. This prompted Sony to suspend shipping its own blue laser diodes to other customers. Instead, it is diverting them to its PS3 production line. Sony pledged to ship 4 million (or 2 million, depending on who's doing the PR circuit) PS3 units by the end of this year.

Philips, Sony, Matsushita, Hitachi, Ben-Q and other CE players already announced their HD DVD or Blu-ray drives, but according to DigiTimes only Pioneer, Plextor and possibly Toshiba are likely to meet their roll out dates.

Despite consumer demands, the race for the next-gen DVD format is still doing warm-up rounds for now and until blue laser diodes supply pick up around first quarter 2007.

Computer pioneer and inventor Allan Kotok, has died of a heart attack at age 64 in his home in Cambridge Massachusetts. A native of Philadelphia, Kotok is an MIT alum and a W3C associate chairman.

Known for being "technically adept well beyond the norm," Kotok worked for a variety of high tech firms. While working at Digital Equipment Corp (DEC) Kotok designed a family of computers, did some consulting and went on to fulfill various leadership roles.

His background in creating the AI for chess computers was subsequently found to be indispensable in his capacity as a tech researcher and game inventor. Mr. Kotok's life was a catalyst for growth in the fledgling gaming and computing industries of his time, and he is someone all gamers should know about.

Credited with creating the first videogame, along with the joysticks used to play them, his role in the history of gaming and computing in general cannot be overstated. Who knows, without his contributions to the history of gaming, the gaming industry we see today could be drastically different.

Mr. Kotok is survived by two daughters, a son and two grandsons. Everyone who uses computers or enjoys gaming today should recognize Alan Kotok as an integral figure in the evolution of the videogame industry.

In the battle of next-generation DVD players, Blu-ray isn't quite ready for Europe.

The Taipei Times reports that Pioneer admitted this week it would not be ready to launch its Blu-ray players by the time of the Sept. 1 trade fair IFA in Berlin, which is the main consumer electronics show in Europe.

However, this opens the door for HD-DVD to get a stronger foothold there. Toshiba, which makes Blu-ray's rival standard HD-DVD, says it will be ready when the Berlin show begins.

At a briefing in Germany, Pioneer added though it has no "concrete" plans for its European launch, they believe the January 2007 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where Blu-ray movie-players may be available in bulk, could lay the groundwork for Europe.

A HD-DVD player for European shoppers will be available in a Toshiba-designed case at IFA, but Toshiba hasn't disclosed the cost or what components will be inside.