As reported from Eurogamer, Jefferies has stated that the reason for the drop is due to TV manufacturers such as Sony, Samsung, LG and Philips equipping 720p LCD TVs with resolutions of 1366×768 rather than true 1280×720. What this means is that the image will be upscaled no matter what, using TV hardware.

In relation to the Xbox 360, developers such as Black Rock Studios are no longer required to stick to the 720p requirement, meaning they can add more graphical features such as extra anti-aliasing by using a slightly lower resolution.

Jefferies added: “Now we are free to make the trade-off between resolution and image quality as we see fit,”

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It is thought that the logo will apply to all their Playstation branded products, (Playstation 3, PSP and PSN) as well as their upcoming range of 3D-powered televisions.

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The first thing they have pointed out is the sheer beauty of the game. Running in full 1080p HD, the visuals are really stunning with NextGen comparing GOW3’s graphics to a ”classic Greek painting brought to life”.

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The hands-on preview indicates that the landscapes featured in GoW3 will be around 4 times larger than those seen in in GoW2. The demo gives you the chance to participate in hack-n-slash levels which take place entirely on the back of moving Titans.

As you would expect, Kratos comes with a fresh repetoire of moves, as he is now able to grab one of his enemies and use it as a battering ram to crush the remainder of the group, in true GoW style. The article even mentions that the game will be able to display around 50 enemies on the screen at one time, impressive.

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Some analysts thought Sony might announce a price cut at the E3 video game convention that wraps up Thursday. Others predict the cut would come in September, ahead of the winter holidays.

Such a move would boost Sony’s console sales, lift demand for gaming software and increase foot traffic to retailers, experts say.

And with a big portion of holiday season sales at stake, rivals Microsoft Corp and Nintendo Co Ltd might follow suit, or perhaps offer promotions that bundle in free games or accessories.

Jack Tretton, chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment of America, said in an interview that as of now, the company planned no price cut.

Asked how long that would remain true, he said: “It is tough to predict the future. There is nothing on the horizon. It depends on how far you see the horizon.”

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter expects a drop in the U.S. base price of the popular console to $349 or $299, from the current $399.

It could use the help. Pachter estimated that through April, U.S. cumulative hardware sales of the PS3 stood at 8 million units, trailing by far the 20 million for the Nintendo Wii and 15 million for Microsoft’s Xbox 360, which debuted a year ahead of the PS3.

Microsoft cut prices on the Xbox 360 last year. And Reggie Fils-Aime, President of Nintendo of America, told Reuters this week the market leaders had no plans for a price cut on the Wii.

TO CUT OR NOT TO CUT?

During its two-hour presentation on Tuesday, Sony unveiled new games, introduced a slimmed down version of its PSP portable device and demonstrated cutting edge controller technology. Lower prices of the PS3, which started selling in Japan and the United States in November 2006, was not on the agenda.

Sony’s Tretton reiterated that PS3 sales continue to grow at current prices of $400 to $500, depending on features. He adds that shoppers get more bang for their buck because of services connected to the machine, beyond purely playing games.

“We have added so many things to our (PlayStation 3) platform, without having the consumer invest another penny,” he said in an interview on Wednesday.

Still, he did not deny that lowering prices was an option the company may someday employ, saying that Sony was not done with efforts to find ways to trim the cost of making the box.

“We will continue to focus our efforts on (adding features) while working on production efficiencies to ultimately bring more and more attractive retail pricing to consumers,” he said.

“If consumers ask, ‘what do I get when I buy a PlayStation 3′, I don’t think that $399 is going to stop them from making that purchase,” he added.

While shoppers would clearly vote for lower prices, Sony’s corporate bosses have to keep in mind the consequences: less revenue and slimmer profit margins — if any.

Last month, Sony forecast its first back-to-back annual losses since listing in 1958, underscoring troubles for a company that has fallen behind Apple Inc’s iPod in portable music, Nintendo in video games, and is losing money on flat TVs.

In 2007, Sony cut the price of the PS3, which has a built-in Blu-ray disc player that drives up production costs, making its retail price at launch twice as expensive as the Wii.

He said PS3 was in year three of what was originally foreseen as a 10-year life span .

There should therefore be no rush to slash prices – a lesson Sony has learned from past models. Its original PlayStation was introduced in 1995 in the U.S. and discontinued in 2006, and its PlayStation 2 model — the best-selling console ever — is still in demand after nine years. Sony cut the PS2’s price this year to $99.

“I think we have demonstrated that we know how to manage a product life cycle,” Tretton said.

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The long-rumored PSPgo is a new PlayStation Portable system with a smaller form factor, designed especially for users who are content to download games and videos. It’s planned for an October release in North America, Europe and Asia for $249.

While the price for the PSPgo seems steep compared to a PSP-3000, which retails for $170, It’s certainly competitive with the iPod touch, which costs $229 for an 8GB model or $299 for the more comparable 16GB model. And the PSPgo emphasizes the “portable” in PlayStation Portable thanks to a neat design that’s lifted from some smartphones and Sony’s own Mylo Internet communicator.

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The PSPgo measures 5.04 x 0.65 x 2.72 inches (128 x 16.5 x 69 mm) and weighs 5.6 ounces (158g). It retains a 16:9 aspect ratio display that measures 3.8 inches and 480 x 272 pixels, the same resolution as other PSP models, albeit smaller). Compare that to the 6.7 x 0.7 x 2.7 inch dimensions of the PSP-3000 and you can see where Sony made the cuts — the PSPgo is easier to stick in a pocket and lighter, besides. It’s worth noting, however, that the PSPgo’s display isn’t a touchscreen, like the iPhone and iPod touch.

The 3.8-inch TFT display slides upward to reveal control surfaces, just like a smartphone. Only instead of a QWERTY keyboard you’ll find a directional pad, specialized buttons, a small analog thumbstick, start and select buttons — the same interface you find on the full-sized PSP-3000 that Sony will continue to sell even after the PSPgo’s release.

That’s not the only reason the PSPgo is smaller, however. Sony has also removed the Universal Media Disc (UMD) optical drive from the PSPgo, emphasizing the unit’s suitability for digital entertainment content transferred from the PlayStation 3 or directly over the PlayStation Network, an online service Sony has created for PS3 and PSP users, which offers video content and games for download.

This puts the PSPgo squarely in the same territory as the iPhone and iPod touch as a game-playing system, at least as far as downloads are concerned. No more UMD disks to lose; simply download your games from PSN and take them with you on the go. Sony promises loads more downloadable games from the PlayStation Network in time for the PSPgo’s release.

The PSPgo features built-in 802.11b Wi-Fi and support for Bluetooth 2.0 wireless peripherals, including headphones, headsets and PS3 wireless controllers. The PSPgo can also be attached to a television or home entertainment system so you can watch videos stored in the unit. The PSPgo includes 16GB of built-in flash memory, along with a Memory Stick Micro flash storage card slot that can be used to further expand the unit’s storage capacity.

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After commenting on the strength of the unflappable PlayStation 2 (nearly ten years old), Tretton ran through the usual sales figures, spun, like everyone else’s, to highlight the PlayStation brand in the kindest possible light.

And then he rolled out The Games.

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The Game I’m Most Excited For: Uncharted 2–Among Thieves

Naughty Dog took the stage to demo live gameplay of the sequel to one of the best action-adventure games on the PS3. Hoofing it along the highest points of a lively, sprawling city, returning protagonist Nate showed off some of the most impressively detailed environs the system’s yet seen. As a helicopter spit gatling fire, Nate dangled from the lips of crumbling ledges, hurling himself across gaps between bursts of bullets. He scurried across rooftops, ducking behind boxy protrusions for cover, and leaping over debris with ease. Curiously, the sequence was almost entirely shooter-oriented (a possible turn away from the meditative puzzle-climbing of the original?). The demo ended as the helicopter raked the building, ripping out walls, windows, ceilings, and pretty much trumpeting “Look at all the stuff we can make go boom!” Coming fall 2009.

The Insanely Populous Game: MAG

Zipper Interactive unveiled the first bits of live play, giving us a peek at a first-person shooter that pits 256 players against one another in massive, war-torn battle-scapes. Did I say 256 players? Sony claimed as many were actually live for the show, as several squads of eight were revealed to be subsets of even larger platoons, in turn parts of entire companies assaulting a vast base. The appeal of MAG? Serious battle simulation with sophisticated chain-of-command and delegate battle ops. It’s definitely not a game where, as in the Battlefield series, you can run off and fool around willy-nilly. Available this fall.

Leak Confirmed: Sony’s PSP Go

Kaz Hirai, president of Sony’s Networked Products and Services Group, was up next to describe the design process for the new PSP Go. Hirai said they had a couple of names for the system, including “The worst kept secret of E3.”

In case you missed our coverage, the PSP Go is essentially a smaller, lighter, Mylo-inspired PSP without the disc-based UMD drive and everything running off internal storage or supplementary memory cards. It has the same operating system as the PSP, integrated Wi-Fi, and it plays all the same games. Hirai said that Sony is targeting the “digital consumer,” and that it’s more than 50 percent smaller and 40 percent lighter than the original PSP-1000. As expected, it’ll have 16GB of internal flash memory, a slide-out control pad, integrated Bluetooth, and the ability to download games and movies from the PlayStation Network over Wi-Fi directly. The new expandable memory stick tech? We called it here first. Think 16GB SanDisk Memory Stick Micro, aka M2.

What wasn’t leaked beforehand? “Media Go,” a new PSP app that replaces the Media Manager and lets you access the PlayStation Store directly from the PSP in what Sony’s calling a “more intuitive interface.” A second new app, called “Sense Me,” will use a 12-tone recognition system (whatever that means–no relation to Schoenberg’s dodecaphonic system) to analyze your PSP’s music library in order to deliver playlists based on “moods” you select.

Hirai claimed that the PlayStation Network now has more than 24 million registered users in 55 countries, who’ve apparently downloaded more than 475 million pieces of content. He then revealed that Square’s PlayStation-original RPG Final Fantasy VII is finally coming to the Playstation Store, along with 50 additional PS-original classics. Also: Sony’s PSN video delivery service (movies, TV shows) will now be available natively on the PSP platform as well.

That brings up the lineage question: The PSP Go does not replace the PSP-3000 or the UMD, says Sony, which will support and market both devices indefinitely (sorta like Nintendo’s non-overlapping DS and DSi). All subsequent PSP titles will be distributed digitally online as well as at retail on UMD, and the PSP Go should be in stores in North America and Europe on October 1.

How much will it cost? Brace yourself: $250, says Sony, which made me cringe. No price drop on the PSP-3000 either. Considering that you’re basically paying for the miniaturization factor here, that price seems awfully high–a veritable force field to impulse buyers. Sony seems to enjoy being the most expensive ubiquitously, it seems.

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Sony Computer Entertainment president Kaz Hirai showed off a new PSP Go at a press conference in the Shrine Auditorium as a major Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3) got under way nearby in Los Angeles.

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“We call it the worst kept secret of E3,” Hirai quipped, referring to news of Go news leaks more akin to streams.

“There will be more content that is easier to get on your PSP. It’s entertainment everywhere.”

Go is half the size of the original PSP and built to download and store video, pictures and games, according to Hirai. Go devices have built-in wireless Internet and Bluetooth capabilities.

“It’s built for people who live a more digital lifestyle,” Hirai said. “It’s designed to bring all kinds of content to the PSP.”

All future PSP videogame titles will be available for digital download, skipping any need to buy software on disks, according to Sony.

A new Sense Me feature analyzes music stored in Go devices and then creates playlists to suit users’ moods. Go gadgets will also be built with a video delivery service Sony launched last year.

Hot videogame franchises including “Gran Turismo,” “Metal Gear Solid,” and “Resident Evil” are creating new games tailored to Go devices, according to Sony.

“I think the PSP is getting really hotter,” said Hideo Kojima, whose eponymous studio makes the “Metal Gear Solid” franchise whose protagonist is a fearsome soldier called “Snake.”

“And Snake is coming back on the PSP.”

Go devices will be priced at 249 dollars, or 249 Euros respectively, when they are released in the United States and Europe in October, according to Sony. The gadgets will be available in Japan in November, Sony says.

Nintendo reports that it has sold more than a million of its new-generation DSi hand-held videogame gadgets in the United States since they became available here in April.

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