Well, Netflix streaming on the PS3 works. Of course, you need to use the special disk (can’t just download the software eh? how quaint). But it appears to be working correctly. Check out the video inside, which demonstrates that it’s working, and working smoothly.

While the Nintendo Wii continues to have a stranglehold on console sales, both worldwide and in the United States, the Xbox 360 and PS3 are battling it out for the the second place position for year-to-date sales. Just a little over two months ago, Sony announced that they would be slashing the price of their game console, the PS3, to $299. Microsoft quickly followed suit, and in just ten days dropped the price of their most expensive console, the Xbox 360 Elite, to $299. Nintendo, who has sold nearly double the number of consoles worldwide as these two, decided to lower the price of the Wii on September 27th to $199: this was the first time since its inception that the Wii has had a price cut. All three console manufacturers hoped that the decrease in price would help them to increase sales and finish the year on a strong note. The results have been mixed: while all three consoles have seen an increase in sales, the PS3 has seen astonishing growth in the US and abroad, and has wrestled the second-place position in worldwide YTD sales from the 360. As for the Xbox, even in its upgraded Elite form it has seen only minimal gains since the price drop.

It appears that reports of 360 exclusivity for Netflix have been greatly exaggerated. You could always hack it onto your console, but this is a little more official. The streaming-video service will arrive on PS3s next month, and current Netflix subscribers will be able to watch to their heart’s content at no extra charge. However, in a rather absurd turn, streaming will only be enabled when you have a special Netflix disc in your PS3. What the hell is that about?

Sony may be coming out with a motion controller of its own, but that’s apparently not soon enough for accessory maker Blaze, which will be putting one out before that. And this one is so familiar to the Wiimote that I’m wondering how long the knockoff is going to stay on the market.

This probably won’t come as a surprise to any of you, but September was a Very Big month in the life of the PS3. For the first time ever, since its launch in fall, 2006, the PS3 was the best-selling video game system. See what amazing things happen when you price a product at an affordable level?

It only took Sony three years for it to get its act together! The recent introduction of the PS3 Slim was, as you know, a pretty big success, and today we have another metric: for the first time ever, the PS3 outsold the Wii in Japan last month. Everyone party!

I’d hate to be Ben Heck. You wake up in the morning and suddenly there’s a modded Nintendo DS in your stool. You got eat breakfast and find a modded Commodore 64 inside a cereal box. Then you go to work and suddenly instead of beers coming down the conveyer belt at the bottling plant you start finding modded PS3s inside laptop cases.

He used a 1280×720 17-inch laptop screen and has a front-loading Blu-Ray drive and a two-tone grey color scheme. You just press the button and “sexy time” happens.

Questing in Kalimdor, I received word that, yes, the Wii has dropped in price to $199. After I logged out, I got to thinking: how long can this last? Like, the Wii (and the PS3) came out three years ago, and the Xbox 360 came out four years ago. Given how quickly consumer electronics evolve, how long we can expect to play these systems?

Koei Tecmo has a giant at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, and their flagship title surely is Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 for PS3. It was playable and looked pretty cool. The same is true for Quantum Theory by the way (another Koei Tecmo action game) whose early version was impressive graphics-wise (but pretty buggy unfortunately).

Sony’s God of War III for PS3 is playable at the Tokyo Game Show 2009, looks great and will go on sale in Japan in March 2010. The upcoming God of War Collection for the PS 3 (American version) will include a playable God of War III demo by the way (but the one seen at E3 2009).

Sony laid out its motion controller plans the other day at the Tokyo Game Show and mentioned that Resident Evil 5 and LittleBigPlanet would be the first games to take advantage of the system. Well, freaks and geeks, wanna see some actually gameplay? ‘Course you do.

So yeah, the PS3 motion controller will be available this Springtime, and the first “big” games to make use of it will be Resident Evil 5 and LittleBigPlanet. High Velocity Bowling will also use the controller, and it sounds absolutely thrilling.

I just came back from this year’s Tokyo Game Show and must say I am pretty disappointed with the show this year. There were hardly any highlights, Sony didn’t show their motion controller anywhere after the announcement during their keynote (picture of the device below/more info later) and staff members often didn’t let me shoot any pictures or videos (which I did anyway if there was the chance).

Here are some pictures from two booths of the show. The picture on the left shows the final event of the first day (Sunday is the final day). More material from the Tokyo Game Show follows today and tomorrow.

A document on Sega America’s official FTP server suggests that Sony will launch it motion control thingamajig this Spring. The document summarizes a meeting between Sega and Sony, which took place last month.

It’s been about three years since the Nintendo Wii was first released here in the good ol’ USA. Its number one claim to fame, motion control, sure isn’t unique anymore, what with Project Natal for the Xbox 360, and whatever Sony’s improved motion control thing is called coming out fairly soon. But are these motion control deals mere gimmicks (I think so, just based on how I play game; the public may well think differently), or something more? “Gimmicks!” yelled Square Enix’s Yoichi Wada.

The BBC is running a piece about “the yellow light of death,” the PS3’s equivalent of the Xbox 360’s “red ring of death.” Well, perhaps the word “equivalent” isn’t the right one to use, since, at least according to Sony, less than one half of one percent of PS3s sold in the UK have turned up bad.

Quick, grab something—anything, it doesn’t matter! Now drop everything! 2K Games has just announced the release date of BioShock 2: February 9, 2010. That’s the same day Zeno was crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire!

Sony’s ballyhooed motion control system for the PlayStation platform is months away from launch, but the PS Blog has some intriguing behind-the-scenes-like video with the R&D team that’s currently fine-tuning the system. Have a look at two videos after the jump.