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The launch of the revised Slim PS3 has given Sony a huge sales boost, with them selling 38,000 consoles more than they did the previous week, This represents a whopping 104% week-on-week increase. Next week should see even bigger gains as the figures were taken pre September 1 when the new console wasn’t fully available.

Thanks to the recent price cut Microsoft’s Xbox 360 saw a 32% sales increase, selling 74,689 units compared with 56,448 during the pre-price cut week. Total Xbox 360 sales were just 1,242 units shy of the PS3’s total.

Without a revised console or a price cut to boost sales, Nintendo saw a 4% drop in the same week. Despite this it still sold an impressive 74,245 units, only a few hundred shy of the Xbox and less than 2,000 off the PS3.

June’s NPD hardware sales figures are out and they reveal that the PlayStation 3 sold just over 164,000 consoles with the Xbox 360 selling 240,600 units in the same period. The Wii was again the leader with 361,000 sales.

Media Create figures reveal that the Sony PlayStation 3 weekly sales figures for week ending 3 May were again ahead of the Wii and Xbox 360. The PS3 sold 23,500 units against 21,500 for the Wii and just 7,300 for the Xbox 360. This is the third week in a row that the PS3 has been ahead of the competition. Good news for Sony and probably bad news for those hoping for a price cut.

Sony currently offers motion-sensing capabilities in the DualShock 3 wireless controller, which is available as an accessory to the PS3. However, the new controller would be far more advanced, possibly eclipsing the accuracy of the controller for the Nintendo Wii console.

The Sony controller would use light-emitting diodes and a Webcam to track the gadget’s movements, according to Variety. The technology would be able to track the direction of movements better than the Wii-mote, and also track velocity.
A Sony spokesman said Friday the company wouldn’t comment on “rumours or speculation.”

The controller is the second new product Sony is expected to unveil at E3. The game fan site 1UP.com reported this week that Sony would introduce the next iteration of the PlayStation Portable handheld game console.

Variety isn’t the first to report a new Sony controller is in the works. The site Kombo.com reported last month that Sony was reaching out to game developers, asking them to add support for the device in future games.

What impact the controller has on PS3 sales remains to be seen. Sony has been hit hard by sliding consumer demand during the economic downturn, which has impacted PS3 sales. Not helping demand is the higher price of the PS3 compared with Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Nintendo’s Wii. Sony has cut prices before on the PS3, which starts at $400. Analysts have said they expect the company to cut prices this year by about $100.

Source: Information Week

Autosport have revealed that Codemasters’ F1 2009 game will be released this autumn, but only on the Wii and PSP. The PS3 and Xbox 360 versions will follow sometime in 2010 after receiving a makeover to enable HD resolutions. All versions of the games will feature the new KERS kinetic energy recovery system, slick tyres and the full 2009 aero rules. All of the current cars and drivers will feature including the new and very successful Brawn GP team with their BGP001.

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.

Research group NPD has revealed that sales of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 grew 25.5% from 230,000 consoles sold in January 2008 to 309,000 sold this year. Nintendo made an even bigger gain with sales of its Wii console up 59.5% from 274,000 units shifted last year to 676,000 this year. A report on Sony’s PS3 sales will be up later today.