Some people describe the Xbox 360 as a watered down version of the PlayStation 3. Those people are more right than they imagined. A new book reveals that the Xbox 360's tech was built around the technology of the PS3's Cell processor.

In life, it helps to have someone who can hold you accountable for your actions. In the case of electronics companies, it seems that Greenpeace is their accountability partner. The organization has recently released the current company rankings in its Greener Electronics Scale. To find out how certain companies fared, get "green-minded" and turn to the full article after the jump.

Remember amBX, Philips' ambient immersion technology for consoles, new entertainment sets, and PCs? Well it seems that the new immersive technology's about to gain support on Ubisoft's soon-to-be released titles: Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway and Far Cry 2. This is following an "alliance" that Philips announced recently over press wire. More at the full story.

80GB of hard disk goodness still not good enough for you? Well, James Yu of CNET Asia has detailed a handy tutorial on how to increase the storage capacity of your PlayStation 3 console.

All you need is an external storage device, a 2.5-inch SATA hard drive and a Philips-head screwdriver, and you're all set. For more information on how to play handyman with your PS3, read the full article!

Much had been said about the ongoing format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray. For one thing, it has caught the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in the crossfire. Depending on what format you prefer though, all of this is going to be over soon, according Blu-ray Disc Association Chairman Frank Simonis.

"Due to the fact that we have some hard competition which sometimes makes strange moves, it's very unpredictable," said Simonis. "But I think in the next 18 months it will be very exciting to see what's going on"

Simonis, who is also Philips' Senior Director for Communications, further mentioned that consumers will be deciding soon because of all the new products coming into the market. Apart from the format war, there will also a battle between different brands for both the Blu-ray and HD DVD that will further cost "price erosion".

Definitely a good observation from Simonis part but in the end, he couldn't help but somewhat sell his company's preferred one. He commented:

We don't like to oversell ourselves, but we right now see that there is a major transition taking place from publishers who said they would initially go only for HD DVD and now make the move across the Blu-ray. [This is] based on the sales numbers of software happening in the Far East, US and also now in Europe.

The Develop Conference & Expo happens on the 24th to the 26th of July and developers are gearing up from all over the world to take part in one of the region's biggest developer gatherings to take place on an annual basis.

Headlining the shindig are top-brass companies Sony, Philips, Autodesk, and Nokia, who will be the prime movers and shakers in the event. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe will once again be the Platinum sponsor of the event while Philips and Autodesk are at Gold and Silver respectively. Nokia is the mobile sponsor of the gathering.

The event seeks to bring together the development community with European gaming market interests in a three-day conference where interests and demonstrations are exhibited for industry insiders, game media and the public. Top-caliber speakers from within the industry are invited to share their views and knowledge of the business.

Animazoo, artemdigital, Audiokinetic, Autodesk, Beyerdynamic, CRI Middleware, Develop Magazine, Emergent Game Technologies, gamesindustry.biz, Hansoft, IGDA, Instinct Technology, Mobile Entertainment, Nokia, Perforce Software, Philips amBX, Sony Computer Entertainment, Southampton Solent University, Tech Excel, Testronic Labs and Tiga will participate in this year's event to be held in Brighton.

October 31st. This is the date that will mark the end of the first wave of Blu-ray Disc Players. Particularly, this date officially marks the mandate of the Blu-ray Disc Association, which will have all hardware streeting capable of playing back picture-in-picture video, thanks to the BD Java Interactive technology.

Cool, then. We're gonna have more Blu-ray options. But that isn't exactly bringing in good news for us consumers, and especially not the manufacturers. The thing is, there's only a handful of Blu-ray players currently out in the market that include picture-in-picture capability. For example, Sony's PS3.

The dilemma here rises from these stand-alone models not being able to play these newly-formatted Blu-ray discs because they lack this feature. As such, a disc with this picture-in-picture feature might not be able to play at all in these current models. Sony, and Philips as well (who also has a stand-alone Blu-ray Disc player model), would then have to find a workaround in order to get these discs working universally.

Well, they don't necessarily have to hold up the whole sky by themselves. But if they don't want to be left behind in the race by coming out too soon than the Association's mandate, then they'd have to have a good headstart brainstorming that workaround. And they better get to work now. Especially Sony, lest they get their hopes dashed of boosting the PS3 sales with the Blu-ray. After all, we doubt if those after the Blu-ray capabilities of the PS3 would be so enticed to get one if its features would turn out to be near-obsolete.

Of the three next-gen consoles locked in this three-way fandango that we call the console war, the Sony PlayStation 3 has received the bulk of the negative press lately. Issues regarding its price, backwards compatibility, and new hardware have drawn a lot of gamers to message board debates.

If you're a PS3 owner or still trying to figure out which game system to get, fear not. It's still too early to tell how this war will turn out and the high-end console is far from beaten. Here are seven reasons why it's good to have a PS3:

1.Exclusive games - Sony has had its wins and losses in the battle of keeping big games exclusive to its fold, but hey, the key pieces are still in place. When you've got the Metal GearandFinal Fantasyfranchises in your roster, you can never be counted out. How about the Ratchet and Clankand God of War series? They're still with Sony and there's a good chance that they might be for all time. As development tools are made more available for the system, we can expect a beefed up roster.

2. HD graphics - So far, the PS3 is the only console in the mix which can take full advantage of the power of a cool HDTV, and what we get is simply eye-popping. One can argue that HDTVs aren't in most homes at this point, but in the next three to four years, they may very well be.

Click on full article to see the rest of the reasons why you should love the PS3.

For the guys who ended up getting the shorter end of the stick and got stuck with the puny PS3 20GB, we know how you feel and the humiliation that goes with it when we feel...inadequate...compared  to the lucky mooks who got their hands on the bigger, badder 60GB set...grr...

It doesn't have to end that way, though, as we picked up this post over at GamersReports about how they decided to combat their shortcoming, and retro-fitted a new 120GB laptop HD to their PS3 20GB - effectively doubling the PS3's memory capacity. We're pretty happy with the idea of this swap, especially since it was mentioned it was possible, except we just didn't wanna try it without proper guidance.

For those with the stones to try this unofficial upgrade, read on - we don't claim any responsibility for what happens with this swap, so be absolutely sure of what you're doing.

For starters, you'll need the following bits of hardware:

• 1 Mini Philips head screwdriver
• 1 Mini Flathead screwdriver
• 1 Safe place to work (A sturdy, dry table)
• 1 .5MM SATA Notebook HDD (For safety's sake, one running at 5400 rpm, same as the PS3's HDD). Make double sure on getting this part, or it won't fit.
  

Okay, now for the swap.

Step 1: Find the HDD panel, which should be on the left side of the unit. It's emblazoned with the letters HDD. Use the flat head screwdriver to remove the plastic panel.

For the brave souls who want to try this mod, jump on!

We can probably live with the occasional advertisement inside a game, but that probably depends on the content and type of ad involved. We were rather surprised then when we found out this little tidbit about Ubisoft's Splinter Cell: Double Agent for the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii.

Nivea and its partner company Philips Norelco will be integrated into the game as advertisements and game-sensitive product placements. The report states the marketing program will show off certain products inside a hotel bathroom in the game, as well as through billboards placed on the game maps. We're pretty sure they're planning to use their men's line for this game, but you never know with these ad agencies.

In an interesting twist, the taglines they'll be using inside the game will coincide with the themes of the game. The messages for their ads will include the taglines, "There are many faces of evil. Don't let yours be one of them," and "The 'Good Guy' almost never has a beard." According to RDA International, the agency handling Beiersdorf's (parent company of Nivea and Philips Norelco) ad campaign, says this approach is meant to introduce the product lines of both companies to a "younger, hipper" audience.

In the spirit of this, we've devised our own little advertisement for the Nivea based on the approach. The tagline will read, "For a wonderfully touchable you... before Sam snaps your neck from behind." Got a tagline? Comment below, and enjoy the hilarity.

Pre-Order: [Splinter Cell: Double Agent]