Quite a number of online and brick-and-mortar retailers across the US have started taking pre-orders for the PS3. We've also heard reports that Australia, Germany and the UK have joined the pre-order frenzy. In Denmark, several online retailers have set the pre-order price of the next-gen console at DKK 5000 ($850) for the 60GB version. The 20GB version will cost DKK 4000, or $683. Pre-order deposit is at DKK 50 ($10).

The 20GB PS3 will have the same price point as the PS2 when the latter was released in Denmark. For comparison, the Xbox 360 premium package goes for DKK 3000 ($510).

Xbox 360 games currently cost $80 in Denmark and PS3 games are expected to retail above $100.  The higher price point in Denmark is due to the taxes and import fees. The price will likely be the same for Sweden and Norway.

Looks like the Danes will have to cough up lots of kroner to get their PS3s. Tobias Dahl of Digital Battle couldn't have said it better: What are the American gamers complaining about, again?

Only 4 days after Ricoh announced the world's first hybrid HD-DVD and Blu-ray lens comes another ground-braking announcement from the Japanese company. Ricoh are going to release their own HD-DVD and Blu-ray hybrid player by late 2007/early 2008 onto the electronics market instead of selling their lens to larger manufacturers.

Ricoh's optical reader/writer that will be installed in the hybrid player works by using a new diffraction plate. The diffraction component adjusts the laser beam with its diffraction grating for each format and passes it to the objective lens. The lens then forms a beam spot at the appropriate depth for each disk format.

Before the announcement of their hybrid optical lens, I didn't even know who Ricoh were, but now it seems they may become a big player in the digital media market. Originally I thought their optical lens would be sold to established manufacturers such as Sony, Samsung etc and they would make money this way. However, it appears that Ricoh are taking their idea and going for the win by making their own player. They'll probably sell on the optical lens after the release of their own player to the big guns, giving their own player a head start. Good for them!

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.

Sony nearly crashed the internet the morning of Friday the 7th of July, all thanks to a teeny little, nearly invisible image roughly 5 pixels wide that showed itself, only for an instant on their Official US website. Since attributed to simple jackassery, for a few brief hours the image had the net raging with speculation, and as journalists scrambled to get to the bottom of the situation, many began to imagine what kind of PS3 an Apple/Sony co-operative venture would birth. Here's the answer: Quite simply the greatest videogame console we've ever seen.

Read the entire article after the jump!

In a recent interview Coded Arms Producer Yasuo Daikai reveals some interesting facts about the PS3 iteration of Coded Arms. While Mr. Daikai did mention a plethora of features, one feature (one that could have possibly been the most highly anticipated) has been outright excluded.

The feature which will unfortunately not make it into this installment of Coded Arms PSP to PS3 is the Cross-Talk ability. That's right! Who would have thought that such a strong candidate for pioneering this gimmick on PS3 would choose to forsake it all together? Coded Arms was the first FPS (First-Person Shooter) to make it onto the PSP's pretty screen and when we all heard that Coded Arms was coming to PS3 - everyone simultaneously had the same mind-spark, "Cross-Talk unlockables! Yay"!

Mr. Daikai's explanation for the omission of Cross-Talk from Coded Arms: Assault could probably be considered a disappointment in itself, "It is best to think of Coded Arms Assault as a new game with a shared theme of virtual reality. However the stories are not related at all. The direct sequel in terms of story would be Coded Arms Contagion on PSP".

On the brighter side of things, Mr. Daikai mentions that Coded Arms "has changed 180-degrees" in terms of its focus on gameplay. Assault will feature vehicles, 16 person multiplayer, downloadable content, and a (virtual-virtual) environment where virtually (how apt!) anything can happen. Among the multiplayer modes, a 4 player co-op campaign will let you explore exclusive maps to access weapons that are otherwise unobtainable in single-player.

All in all, Coded Arms: Assault seems to be coming along nicely, and I can't wait to see it play at home in the future. In regards to the game's graphics and the use of pre-rendered cut scenes, Mr. Daikai responds, "We feel there is no need for pre-rendered movies with the PlayStation 3. The E3 trailer is all using in-game graphics". Truly uplifting words.

Read the full interview after the jump!