With promises of the PlayStation Home service to begin its open beta phase this Fall, SCEE boss David Reeves admitted that they were perhaps getting a bit too ambitious with some of the planned non-gamer applications for it. He admitted that many of these applications such as blatant sponsorships might turn off many gamers. Check out what else he said in our full article after the jump.

The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) and some of its partners recently conducted a raid which yielded illegally copied Nintendo DS games stored on discs. Meanwhile, ELSPA's crime unit head, John Hillier, wants to remind gamers (whatever console you may own) the detestable effects of piracy on the whole industry. For more on this raid, head on over to the full article for more information.

Double Fusion's European Managing Director Frank Sagmier recently revealed that their firm may be acquired by a larger company in the next year or two, proving that game advertising is a fast-growing segment of the electronic entertainment business.

He highlighted the status of his company's niche by saying "clearly this is a business that is so prone to growth that big companies - and you've seen it with Microsoft and Google - would be very happy to get their hands on such a growing segment."

Sagmier refereed to Microsoft and Google's recent moves to acquire and franchise similar firms. Game advertising waters are relatively uncharted to conventional ad industry people, but with the break-out of the industry in recent years, multinationals have found themselves taking a dip.

Nike and Gatorade have both been actively bannering their wares in sports titles. Pepsi even took it to a weird level with its Cool Spot game in the Sega Genesis days and Pepsi Man in the original Sony PlayStation heyday. Now that gaming has become a more cohesive part of popular culture, game ad companies find their value rising.

Sagmier, however, warns that the market can be tough for people who aren't quite experts in the niche. Starting can be a really hard step and that's where a lot of upstarts stumble. "Bigger companies do not want to spend the resources, time and effort in a niche market until it becomes bigger, and by then it's too late. Therefore they buy," he explains.

Prior to his stint with Double Fusion, Sagmier worked with Electronic arts running major franchises like The Sims, FIFA and Harry Potter.

Custom-made and tricked out just how you like it: that's what the celebrity Playstation 3 gifts are all about. After some pretty wicked designs painted and laser-etched on regular PS3 units, Sony Computer Entertainment America was able to turn the regular black look to an artistic marvel. Trust us, you don't want these babies tucked inside your cabinet under the LCD TV. Because if you got it, you flaunt it.

Especially during the NBA '07 event and the whole 2007 NBA All-Stars Night gig in Sin City Las Vegas, Playstation 3s were custom-made to suit themes and the customers they would eventually serve. When Geoff Heighley of Spike Game Head was curious as to where the whole idea came from, PR manager of SCEA, Ron Eagle, said that the inspiration for creating custom-made PS3s all started "with the great folks at Nike."

Or more particularly, he pointed at the Sony-requested PS Air Force One sneakers they asked Nike to make. After being introduced to how Nike could customize just about every Nike brand to suit customer's taste, they probably thought they could do the same to the PS3. How? Easy, just use a huge laser etching machine. And hey, this is a whole new 3D printer folks!

So check out the video below to see just how they do it!

  

We know, we know. You serious gamers don't really dig much of them off-topic stuff. But this is just way too cool to pass up! Besides, even them serious news channels do have some space for the fun stuff, so lighten up.

Anyway, this is what has gotten all excited. If you're a Transformers fan, and a shoe-lover to boot, then this will get you revved up as well! Introducing, Nike's Transformers Air Trainer IIIs. Sporting the classic Transformers insignia with a splash of that wicked color combos we all grew to love, this one sure takes the cake.

Now, we ain't got any official info on this baby, be it pricing or mere availability. We don't even know if they'll have this out only as a limited collector's stash. But nonetheless, we're excited as heck. Now you've got something to cool to wear when you trek back down to the good ol' times.

  

Oh yeah, it's definitely on! NBA Street Homecourt will be coming on February 22 for the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360. Fans waiting for a chance to pick their favorite player and their own virtual shoes can get to grab a limited edition NBA Street Air Jordan. Electronic Arts grabbed the Jordan Brand of Nike to design a B'Loyal sneaker through the eyes of EA's own design team. There are only 100 pairs made and it only comes in black and blue.

Out of the 100 pairs, 60 pairs will be given away through an online contest that will start up pretty soon. As you can see, the design consists of black nubuck stitched with blue. There are also blue accents and a speckled midsole. It's poised to make you look like an NBA star before they were ever stars!

 

Aside from the hefty paychecks, the charmed life and all that jazz, celebrities are almost always entitled to some swags, during parties and award shows. And since celebs are hard to please, Sony is stepping up big time in an effort to revolutionize the gift bag.

As N'gai Croal reports, during the Super Bowl celebrations at the Playstation Oasis at the Raleigh Hotel in Miami, stars like Ludacris, Tom Brady, Serena Williams, John Legend, among many others were the recipients of a Sony gift bag. The swags? A 60 GB Playstation 3 and a limited edition 25th anniversary Nike Air force one sneaker.

That's not where the fun ended, each of the goodies are laser-etched with picturesque designs and could be further personalized with a computer-aided real-time laser etching of the star's choice. Here are some of the pics for you to drool over, hopefully Sony would also offer these intricately-designed consoles to the public.

    

  

We've told you about the PlayStation 3 Air Mac 90/360 Hybrid Nike Kicks, which is the brainchild of Sony and Nike to give more hype to the PS3. Just in case you have forgotten all about this, for kicks the two giant companies came up with a limited edition brand of rubber shoes, just how limited are they? Well, there are only 24 pairs of this existing, and a lucky company called bluesole was able to obtain one. Now, what do we do with a super-limited edition shoes? Of course, they sold it, but it was all for a good cause.

And since there were only 24 pairs, you would expect that this would sell for a far higher price than the gaming console itself. And yup, it sold for a hefty price...to the tune of US$ 4,530 that is, and among the 89 bidders, oxyzen1 emerged as the one who wants it the most. This just goes to show just how powerful the PlayStation brand is; it's amazing to see how much people will pay for an item with the PlayStation 3 name emblazoned on it. Couple the item with an equally popular Nike brand and you've got yourself a winner.

Good thing that the money will be used for something good. We can't help but wonder how high it would go on eBay though.

Quite literally kicking everything up a notch, Nike and Sony have just unveiled their love-child, the PlayStation 3 Air Max 90/360 Hybrid Nike Kicks (one heavenly mouthful) which are now causing Nike collectors everywhere to froth at the mouth.

Fusing Nike's latest technology as well as traits from Sony's newest superstar, they came up with this ultra-rare and VERY limited edition brand of footwear. How rare, you say? Only 24 pairs in the entire world, which is even less than last year's PlayStation AF1s which were limited to 150 numbered pairs and 50 unnumbered pairs. Basically, this just means that we won't be seeing this displayed at the department store any time soon, and that unless you have a friend that's this close to any Sony or Nike people... well, your chances of getting it are still close to nil, but they may let you touch it or see it in person, at least. Otherwise, you can just content yourselves with Mizuguchi's Lumines shoes.

In any case, this pair is currently up for charity auction, and with 77 bids and US$ 4010 already in there, we're thinking that whoever will receive the proceeds would be pretty happy. The auction still has 11 days left, so anyone interested still has a chance to bid!

So, what makes this baby special? Let us count the ways:

• Production run is limited to 24 pairs.
• Awesome Hologram Swoosh - The First Time Nike has created a Hologram Swoosh.
• Upper is Patent Leather which mimics the heat sinks on the PS3.
• Awesome 3M material sets these off!
• The back of the shoes have the PS3 Launch Date.
• Comes with two sets of laces; Red and Black.
• Insole says "Play Beyond".
• Inside the shoe has mechanical drawings of the PS3.

At a time like this, one has to ask that all-important question, WWJD - what would Jordan do?