Whosa whatsa!? It was recently revealed that Killzone PS3’s production is aiming to be the most expensive in Dutch history, topping the 16 million EUR ($21 million USD) mark of the Dutch WWII movie Black Book. A large part of the costs are attributed to localizing the game into 20 different languages. Yes, 20 different languages. As the bubble continues to inflate, fanboys around the world quiver in anticipation.

Read more: Killzone PS3 costing way too much

The Method Reporter, a collective blog based in Chicago run by Medill graduate journalism students, has an impressive story of a Chicago-land man who helped keep things orderly while waiting in line for his PS3 at a local Best Buy. By arriving early and taking charge, 24 year old Angel Colon, a train conductor and engineer, setup a mini-utopia in his line, creating a running list of all those in line, a break schedule for everyone on the list and even ran security keeping unwanted line hoppers at bay. Angel even coordinated with Best Buy management for the various issues that popped up throughout the weekend ordeal. Order was kept, everyone had fun and respect for one another and best of all, Angel and his family got out of it with a few new friends and a few PS3s to boot.

Good on you Angel, if only more stories like this were out there.

Read more: Chicago Best Buy utopia

DING DING DING. In what will probably be their most expensive marketing campaign ever, Nintendo has stated that they will spend more than $200 million USD in order to market the Wii console. With Nintendo’s success with the DS handheld and their profit on every piece of hardware sold, Nintendo has built a nice little war chest in order to compete against the new PS3 from Sony and Microsoft’s Xbox 360. 80% of the marketing spend will go towards adult markets, also marking a shift in strategy for Nintendo, which is trying to broaden it’s appeal among adults as the gaming market ages and younger consumer tastes continue their shift towards the mature market. Nintendo is projected to shift over 1.2 million units of the Wii this holiday season, with projections of only around 500,000 units for Sony, thanks partially to the manufacturing difficulties of Blu-Ray components. It’s also not helping Sony that their new console is over priced and their image among many gamers is severely damaged after months of public relations mis-steps.

Read more: Nintendo to spend $200 million

Alright, see, we’re getting there Sony. Finally a commercial that does a pretty ok job of being oddly interesting AND trying to get us a little excited about an actual feature that we’d get from the incredibly high price of the PS3. One of the latest in the ongoing, ‘weirdness in an empty room’ series of Sony PS3 commercial, this one focuses a bit more on the Sixaxis controller and does an ok job of it.

Watch the commercial after the jump..

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Whoa man. My mellow is being harshed really badly. Really things are getting out of control with these PS3 bad trip commercials. In this recent commercial advertising the upcoming PS3 launch, an animated baby doll is excited by a floating PS3 console on the other side of the room from it. It makes some freaky noises, creeps me out, then it starts crying…..in reverse……..ooooookaaayyyyy.

Flashback to your bad trips after the jump..

Read more of “Sony PS3 commercial provides bad trip flashbacks“

Wow. My distaste for Sony has hit an all-time high with the announcement that Lik-Sang, the best one stop nerd shop for all things games importing, are shutting their doors due to Sony’s multiple lawsuits “protecting” European consumers from the dangers of importing. My poor Wii pre-order, why Sony, WHY!!!???!?!

Official statement from Lik-Sang below..

Hong Kong, October 24th of 2006 - Lik-Sang.com, the popular gaming retailer from Hong Kong, has today announced that it is forced to close down due to multiple legal actions brought against it by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Sony claimed that Lik-Sang infringed its trade marks, copyright and registered design rights by selling Sony PSP consoles from Asia to European customers, and have recently obtained a judgment in the High Court of London (England) rendering Lik-Sang’s sales of PSP consoles unlawful.

As of today, Lik-Sang.com will not be in the position to accept any new orders and will cancel and refund all existing orders that have already been placed. Furthermore, Lik-Sang is working closely with banks and PayPal to refund any store credits held by the company, and the customer support department is taking care of any open transactions such as pending RMAs or repairs and shipping related matters. The staff of Lik-Sang will make sure that nobody will get hurt in the crossfire of this ordeal.

A Sony spokesperson declined to comment directly on the lawsuit against Lik-Sang, but recently went on to tell Gamesindustry.biz that “ultimately, we’re trying to protect consumers from being sold hardware that does not conform to strict EU or UK consumer safety standards, due to voltage supply differences et cetera; is not - in PS3’s case - backwards compatible with either PS1 or PS2 software; will not play European Blu-Ray movies or DVDs; and will not be covered by warranty”.

Lik Sang strongly disagrees with Sony’s opinion that their customers need this kind of protection and pointed out that PSP consoles shipped from Lik-Sang contained genuine Sony 100V-240V AC Adapters that carry CE and other safety marks and are compatible world wide. All PSP consoles were in conformity with all EU and UK consumer safety regulations.

Furthermore, Sony have failed to disclose to the London High Court that not only the world wide gaming community in more than 100 countries relied on Lik-Sang for their gaming needs, but also Sony Europe’s very own top directors repeatedly got their Sony PSP hard or software imports in nicely packed Lik-Sang parcels with free Lik-Sang Mugs or Lik-Sang Badge Holders, starting just two days after Japan’s official release, as early as 14th of December 2004 (more than nine months earlier than the legal action). The list of PSP related Sony Europe orders reads like the who’s who of the videogames industry, and includes Ray Maguire (Managing Director, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd), Alan Duncan (UK Marketing Director, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd), Chris Sorrell (Creative Director, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd), Rob Parkin (Development Director, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited), just to name a few.

“Today is Sony Europe victory about PSP, tomorrow is Sony Europe’s ongoing pressure about PlayStation 3. With this precedent set, next week could already be the stage for complaints from Sony America about the same thing, or from other console manufacturers about other consoles to other regions, or even from any publisher about any specific software title to any country they don’t see fit. It’s the beginning of the end… of the World as we know it”, stated Pascal Clarysse, formerly known as the Marketing Manager of Lik-Sang.com.

“Blame it on Sony. That’s the latest dark spot in their shameful track record as gaming industry leader. The Empire finally ‘won’, few dominating retailers from the UK probably will rejoice the news, but everybody else in the gaming world lost something today.”

Sony’s recent advertising campaign is hitting the airwaves and it’s how should I say, hmm, oh yeah, arrogant. I’m probably just reading too much into it, but, it seems to me that Sony is basically saying that we’re all little consumer sheep sitting and waiting anxiously to throw several month’s rent at them in exchange for their next gaming system. But that’s ok, Sony always has some top notch marketing and they’ve made up for my perceived insult by including a brilliant track by Brian Eno in a recent-ish Canadian commercial. The track is “An Ending (Ascent)” from the album “Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtrack” (Playthrough’s #1 Eno favorite album) by Brian Eno, his brother Roger and Daniel Lanois, which has also been featured in many movies in recent years.

Watch the Canadian PS3 is coming (to bankrupt you) after the jump..
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There is still hope for Star Wars Galaxies, somewhere. With the upcoming release of the Star Wars Galaxies: The Complete Online Adventures, Sony and LucasArts are trying to shore up interest in the once massively popular MMORPG by offering a 14 day free trial to new users (and presumably to the scores of people who left). Available now, I for one will be checking out some of the changes that are happening throughout the game, which I haven’t played since it began years ago and maybe see if I can live out my dream of being a jedi master.

Read more: Star Wars Galaxies offers 14 day free trial

Sony once again takes a page from Apple’s book, with the release of the Sony SRS-U10, a mini-amplified speaker system that is PSP-compatible, similar to Apple’s “boombox for the 21st century”, the iPod Hi-Fi. Though it appears that Sony’s version is meant more for a bedside table or hip penthouse apartment, the unit sports a massive 3.6W of house-shaking power and supports Sony DAPs, PSPs and mobile phones. No word on price yet or when it will actually hit the west, but I certainly don’t see this as a reason to actually use my PSP.

Images of the Sony SRS-U10 after the jump..

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Wow, no matter what Sony does, it really seems like they want the upcoming PS3 launch to fail miserably. With more and more worries being expressed throughout the industry regarding the PSP’s slow decline and the upcoming PS3 launch, one would think Sony would have already locked-in their united message for the future of their gaming division. Not the case it seems, since everytime a Sony rep opens their mouth they somehow end up with their foot placed firmly inside. This time it’s SCE Worldwide’s European VP Jamie MacDonald, whose recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz brought this pleasant little nugget out for the Europeans:

Q: What would you say to consumers who like Sony and want to buy your products, but perhaps feel that because they’re in Europe they’re always last in line?

A: European consumers have shown that historically they don’t mind that, because they end up buying as many PlayStations, if not more, than the US and Japan. In Europe, it doesn’t seem that the release of our platforms after the US and Japan - in the long run - affects how consumers feel.

So, let me get this straight, because the demand is actually there for the product and consumers go out and buy your product when it’s available, that must mean that they must not care that your company constantly treats that region as if it’s a small town in North Dakota? Hmmmm, never, ever have I heard someone say straight out, “yeah, I don’t mind that we’re screwed on release dates here in Europe”, but then again, I’m obviously out of touch and Sony’s marketing analysts really have their fingers to the pulse of the EU market. Shall I go ahead and point out how much more appealing the Wii60 combination is sounding everyday?

Read more: Interview with SCE Worldwide Europe VP Jamie MacDonald