E3 in it new shape and form begins tonight with the Microsoft E3 press conference. You can watch it live over at 1UP. Just watched the new Guitar Hero 3 trailer with Slash from GnR, and I must say, I'm VERY excited for that game. I'm also expecting to here that Microsoft is dropping the price of their 360 by $50 and getting rid of the core system. But who knows until we see the conference at 8:30 PST tonight. I must say I'm eagerly awaiting to hear about a bunch of new games.

Confirming Internet reports from late last week, Sony Computer Entertainment America has officially confirmed the company will be dropping the price of the 60GB PlayStation 3 SKU to $499, effective Tuesday. Additionally, Sony will be introducing an 80GB SKU in August for $599 bundled with a copy of MotorStorm.

So far, the price drop is only for North America. Stay tuned for more details as E3 begins next week.

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So Sony has finally confirmed the $100 price cut that was leaked late last week. While its great that it is now $100 less, the new $599 package doesn't seem to have enough to justify the higher price tag with just 20gb more and a $60 game. I think they are going to announce that only the $599 sku will contain the new rumble controllers.

Now this look like why I would want a Wii.

Microsoft announced today they are extending all Xbox 360 warranties to three years, a policy that not only applies to new consoles but retroactively, as well. If you've had to pay for Microsoft to repair the red ring issue in the past, they will pay you back. At 2:30 p.m. PST, Microsoft will hold a teleconference to announce this.

"As a result of what Microsoft views as an unacceptable number of repairs to Xbox 360 consoles, the company conducted extensive investigations into potential sources of general hardware failures," said the company in a statement. "Having identified a number of factors which can cause general hardware failures indicated by three red flashing lights on the console, Microsoft has made improvements to the console and is enhancing its Xbox 360 warranty policy for existing and new customers."

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I tried to confirm this yesterday when it first hit, but was unable to. Today though I was informed that my 360 is on its way back and I do have a 3 year warranty.

Now I love GH2, I don't see Rock Band being a game that I'm going to want to buy. I would love to play the different parts, but I don't think I'll ever have 3 other friends over playing this game. I might get it for the tracks that they offer, but right now I'm just planning on getting GH3.

The good news keeps coming from Mistwalker for Xbox 360 owners who happen to love RPGs: Blue Dragon, the Sakaguchi-Toriyama-Uematsu lovechild that the entire staff has been drooling over for weeks, will see an international demo July 20th on XBLA, according to Dengeki Online.

The demo packs a portly 1.1 GB, and will clock in at about 2 hours, which should be plenty of time to dry those tears of gratitude. Also, by playing with your consoles language settings, it appears that you can play the demo using a multitude of voice-over/subtitle combinations. I, for one, would suggest Japanese audio and Bantu subtitles. Even better, you won't have to impersonate a Japanese pizzeria to get it. Such is the pleasure of international demos.

No matter what language you choose, don't waste too much time -- the demo will be gone by August 3rd, leaving you just a few short days before Blue Dragon hits shelves on the 28th (or the 24th if you're (un)lucky enough to live in the PAL region).

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Maybe I'll be lucky enough and have my 360 back by then, but I highly doubt it.