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Target, the US retailer, has received a new batch of PS3 consoles from Sony. They are the same recommended retail price of $399 but have a new product code (SKU) and inside the box are two ‘free’ games – Resistance: Fall of Man and MotorStorm. Is this Sony’s answer to a much hyped (and needed) price cut? We can’t see any other reason why Sony would produce such a package and it would obviously work in their favour to throw in a couple of games that cost them little to produce rather discount an already loss-leading console. It is not clear if this package will make an appearance in Europe. We’ll keep you posted on any updates.

Sony is preparing to release an impressive 2009 PSP line-up which includes headline titles such as MotorStorm and LittleBigPlanet. Hopefully this will help boost the handheld’s 3 million strong user base in the UK. The recent arrival of the PSP 3000 model along with rumours of a PSP 2 should also help to boost numbers and make up some ground on the much more popular Nintendo DS Lite.

Resident Evil 5 was released in Japan yesterday. Early figures for first day sales put the PS3 version of the game at 220,000 sales against the Xbox 360 version at just 56,000 sales. The PS3 obviously has a huge advantage but remember that in Sony’s home market their console has a user base some 300% higher than that of the Xbox 360. If haven’t purchased the Sony console yet then get yourself over to gadgets-4-free where you can claim a free ps3 so you’re ready for the excellent RE5.

Microsoft has cut the Xbox Live Gold price for a 12 month subscription to $39.99 in North America and £34.99 in the UK. It is applicable to all Silver memberships, although only for a limited time. Microsoft don’t specify how long the offer will last. A statement from Microsoft reads “currently running a promotion in-dash that gives Silver members a special opportunity to upgrade to the full benefits of Gold membership at a reduced price for a limited time.”

The new Grand Theft Auto IV expansion episode The Lost & damned from developer Rockstar has set a new revenue record on Xbox Live. The Xbox exclusive title has, according to Microsoft “eclipsed first-day revenue for all previous downloadable content on Xbox LIVE”. There is no word on whether their original fee to the developer has been anywhere near covered. We know the cost is $19.99 but Microsoft has not released actual sales figures.

It looks like the traditionally weak Xbox 360 sales in Japan are on the up. Reuters today reports that in the week ending 22 February the Xbox sold 21,013 units compared with Nintendo selling 16,900 Wii’s and Sony shifting 15,967 PS3’s. A good result for Microsoft which reinforces the PS3’s recent poor sales performance in other markets.

A Microsoft executive has commented that European sales of the Xbox 360 console was up 120% over the Christmas 2008 period compared to the same period in 2007. This backs up claims that the Xbox 360 has seen a huge sales growth in the US in comparison to a sales drop for the PS3.

Microsoft have today announced a special edition Red Xbox 360 to mark the imminent release of the first Resident Evil game on the platform. It will be released on 13 March, the same day as the game and will based on the top-of-the range Elite edition of the console. The package will include the usual Elite package (in Red rather than Black) along with the game and a special Resident Evil 5 theme. The special edition will be available in the UK, US and Australian markets.

Despite recent rumours that the highly anticipated God of War III will be pushed back to 2010, Sony have today issued confirmation that it will be released on the PS3 this year. Although no definite date has been given, we would expect it in time for the all-important pre-holiday sales period.

Sony have announced that they have sold 21.3 million PlayStation 3 consoles worldwide up to 31 December 2008. They do not split the figure down into territories.

Let’s see what figure Microsoft come back with for Xbox 360 sales! It should be much more considering their one-year head start and the recent sales performance reports.