Consumers aren't the only ones happy about Sony's recent announcement of a US$ 100 price drop for the PS3. Publishers have also praised the company's decision, with Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello in particular calling it a "great move."

We already heard numerous rumors about the leaked PS3 slim before, we even have a video snippet from the Philippines just last week. Now here comes another one from the latest 1UP podcast. David Ellis has revealed that the much awaited PS3 slim will debut this August and will be bundled with the upcoming Madden NFL 10 (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PSP, PC, PS2).

CEO fight! Sony CEO Howard Stringer has responded to threats from Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, dismissing them as "noise." More from Stringer after the jump.

So earlier we reported about the threat  issued by Activision Blizzard Boss Bobby Kotick to Sony about the possible pullout of his company to publish games on the PS3 and the PSP if Sony does not cut the price of the PS3 and reduced its licensing fees. An SCEE representative then gave a short response about the matter but refused to comment any further. Well here comes Playstation spokesman Patrick Seybold to the rescue.

Activision Blizzard President and CEO Bobby Kotick said in a statement earlier that he plans to abandon Sony's PS3 and PSP platforms unless Sony drops the PS3's price and reduced its licensing fees. Sony's reaction: we're not reacting on that one.

Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith has revealed that they have now set their sights on breaking into the action genre with a brand new IP. Details about the IP are still scarce, but Griffith did share with Develop why Activision, which has become decidedly restrictive when it comes to new IP, made the decision. I bet you guys can guess why.

Shocking title? No, not really. That's not meant to bash the E3 2009 event. After all, it was a HUGELY successful one, and we're really happy for ESA that it all worked out so well. After all, it was only last year that they were practically declared clinically dead by the industry. And it was a big comeback they sure showed this year. BUT. All that you're gonna see here are news items and industry happenings that did NOT happen at E3, although not necessarily with absolutely nothing to do with the stuff that went down in LA. Hopefully you'll still read up on this one despite that limited scope. There is life beyond E3, after all. *wink*

The biggest PS3 news this week? The lack of a PS3 price cut announcement. We also didn't hear anything about the PS3 Slim. The software side of things fared a bit better, and ironically enough, the biggest news this week -- jump-wise -- was the arrival of a 12-year old game on the PSN and the impending PSN release of another title from 11 years back. You know what I'm talking about. Read on for the rest of the PS3 Weekend Warrior.

It's nice to sometimes see corpo-bigwigs share the sentiments of common lay folk, especially when it comes to price cuts. Activision CEO Bobby Kotick would be one example of such corpo-bigwig, and yes, he too, like many of us out here, was disappointed that no console price cut was announced at E3.

Hollywood Reporter is reporting that there's gonna be a "Call of Duty: The Movie" headed to the cinemas soon, if Activision carries out its intention of having one. According to an inside source, talks have been underway for the big screen version. Do we say "Uh-oh..."?