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Over the last month, a number of gaming industry analysts have predicted that the Sony PlayStation 3 will "soon pass" the Microsoft Xbox 360 in global sales, and hold that place for good.

Sony, on the other hand, doesn't seem to care too much about passing its rival in sales, and cares more about the profitability of its console.

PlayStation software senior brand manager Scott McCarthy spoke to BI:

We obviously are very bullish on our platform. We do feel like we have a great message with Move... and we feel we have the strongest lineup we've ever had coming this year. PS3 has superior technology inside the box, and this is going to be the year where we make a lot of noise based on the exclusive titles you're going to be able to play.

Those things together will give us a voice. We gained a lot of momentum with the 'It Only Does Everything' message, and that was a great hardware message, but this year we're going to follow it up with another punch that is an 'Only on PlayStation' message. You know, LittleBigPlanet 2 led us off; then we've got Killzone 3, SOCOM, Infamous 2, Twisted Metal, Uncharted, Resistance... the list goes on. And that's excluding Move specific software. For the gamer there's a lot to look forward to, and for the Move consumer there's also a lot to look forward to.

Lenovo has unveiled six new Intel Sandy Bridge ThinkPad notebooks this week, some of which feature an incredible 30 hours of battery life, along with Dolby Home Theater v4, Nvidia Optimus graphic switching, and 'Instant Resume' for continuous wireless connectivity, says Beta.

The six models are the high-end T420 and T520, the mid-range L420 and L520, the ultrathin T420S, and the portable workstation for graphics-intensive applications, the W520.

All of the models will include a dual-mode videoconferencing microphone and 'Lenovo Turbo Boost' for faster PC performance.

Instant Resume was unveiled today along with the devices, a feature that will keep the Wi-Fi connection on for 99 minutes when the laptop is sleeping. The feature is meant for office users who want to move from an office to, say, a conference room, without losing their Wi-Fi connection after closing their notebook.

Confirming previously unconfirmed lists, Nintendo has revealed all 18 launch titles for the upcoming 3DS handheld.

The device hits Japan this week and the U.S. on March 27th.

Says Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime:

Seeing 3D visuals without the need for special glasses is just one aspect of Nintendo 3DS. The real test of any system is whether the games and applications draw you in and keep you engaged. Through the launch window and beyond, Nintendo 3DS delivers.

The device will sell for $250 in Cosmos Black and Aqua Blue bundles that include a free charging dock and a 2GB SD card. Each 3DS comes with the games Face Raiders and AR Games pre-installed.

Three of the titles will be Nintendo-published, and all titles have an MSRP of $39.99:

- Pilotwings Resort
- Steel Diver
- nintendogs + cats

And third party published:

- Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition from CAPCOM
- The Sims 3 from EA
- Madden NFL Football from EA SPORTS
- Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 3D from Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.
- LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars from LucasArts
- RIDGE RACER 3D from NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc.
- Super Monkey Ball 3D from SEGA
- BUST-A-MOVE UNIVERSE from Square-Enix, Inc.
- SAMURAI WARRIORS: Chronicles from TECMO KOEI AMERICA Corp.
- Asphalt 3D from UBISOFT
- Combat of Giants: Dinosaurs 3D from UBISOFT
- Rayman 3D from UBISOFT
- Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Shadow Wars from UBISOFT

Netflix and CBS have signed a non-exclusive, two-year licensing agreement that will give Netflix subscribers a chance to view older and some newer CBS content via the Watch Instantly streaming service.

For the "classic" library, CBS is making Frasier, Family Ties, Star Trek, the original Hawaii Five-O, Twin Peaks and The Twilight Zone available.

In the current content, Medium and Flashpoint are now available to Netflix users.

Says Scott Koondel, president of distribution, CBS Television Distribution (via THR):

We are very pleased that the titles offered through this deal will now also be made available to a whole new community through the terrific and convenient service that Netflix offers. We will continue to pursue additional non-exclusive distribution partners that are additive to our overall business.

Adds Netflix chief content office Ted Sarandos:

Netflix is now the only online premium subscription service with shows featured on all four broadcast networks and dozens of cable TV's biggest brands.

Despite a rumor circulating this week that the iPad 2 will be delayed until June, new sources say Apple will actually launch the updated tablet next week, March 2nd.

Following their release of the original iPad in April 2010, the iPad 2 will hit stores around the same time this year.

Apple will hold a special event on the 2nd to show off the new device, adds the source.

The initial rumor of a delay came via Taiwan, where a brokerage firm said manufacturer Hon Hai was facing production bottlenecks.

2010 was the year of the iPad, with the tablet crushing all sales estimates on route to 15 million units sold. Apple is expected to sell 40 million iPad/iPad 2 units this year even as it faces increased competition from Android, WebOS and BlackBerry tablets, all of which will make their true debuts this year.

The rumored iPad 2 will include dual-cameras, a dual-core processor, better resolution, and have a slimmer form factor.

Apple, Amazon and other digital music retailers are currently in talks with the major record labels in an effort to improve the audio quality of music files they sell via iTunes, Amazon MP3 and other similar stores.

Current offerings are 16-bit files, downgraded from the 24-bit high-fidelity formats they original come in as pressed CDs.

After that, the audio is compressed even further, into MP3 or AAC at 256kbps (usually), in an effort to minimize download time and the amount of space a track will take up on an end user's hard drive.

Jimmy Iovine, the chairman of Universal Music Group's Interscope-Geffen-A&M record label, seemed very gung-ho about the change back to high quality audio (via CNN):

We've gone back now at Universal, and we're changing our pipes to 24 bit. And Apple has been great. We're working with them and other digital services -- download services -- to change to 24 bit. And some of their electronic devices are going to be changed as well. So we have a long road ahead of us.

Amazon has rolled out their much-anticipated streaming movie/TV platform today, taking direct aim at rival Netflix.

The service is free to any Amazon Prime member, a service which costs $79 per year (or free for students) and gets you free two-day shipping or highly discounted one-day shipping.

As of launch, the service has 5000 TV shows and movies, and can be streamed through the computer or one of 200 Internet-connected media devices, like Roku.

Netflix seemed unmoved by Amazon's service (via Yahoo):

We've have said for a long time that we expect someone to compete with Netflix. When you have a big growing category it attracts competition.

Amazon's service differentiates itself from Netflix in the fact that you can also purchase or rent episodes and movies a la carte, via their popular Instant Video platform. Instant Video has 90,000 movies and TV shows, including all brand new releases, which both streaming services notably lack.

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop has said this week that smartphones running Windows Phone 7 will see their prices fall "very fast."

Microsoft and Nokia recently made a deal to have WP7 available on Nokia smartphones into the future and a key point in Nokia picking Microsoft was that they could bring prices down to "a very low price point."

Elop says: "We have become convinced that we can do that very quickly."

Microsoft will open its platform to other chipsets suppliers outside of Qualcomm, which should help reduce prices.

As a sign of support, Elop (a former Microsoft exec) sold all of his remaining Microsoft shares and used the proceeds to buy 150,000 shares of Nokia.

The PC Gaming Alliance (PCGA), a trade body, has said this week that PC piracy continues to decline, thanks mainly to the industry's move towards digital distribution.

Says PCGA president Matt Ployhar (via Bit):

What's really interesting is piracy was largely, historically rampant when you had an optical drive or a piece of physical media. And people would go and download the crack for it.

The only PC gaming business models that existed and continued to thrive and that could continue to live were MMOs. They did really well. And then there are free to play games. You can't really pirate free to play. You can but it doesn't make a lot of sense.

So, what's happening is game design is shifting and as a result of shifting game design, piracy, at least on the PC side, is actually declining as a result. There are stats that do corroborate that.

Ployhar does note that while the rates are declining, piracy will not ever disappear.

I'm not saying that piracy is going to go away. It's fascinating to watch. For example, you get a game like Crysis that got hit hard by piracy. Now what you're seeing to combat that are developers implementing achievements, in-game pets, all of these things that are tracked and stored in the cloud. So even if you pirate the game you're still not getting the bragging rights. You've got all these additional mechanisms where the value proposition of the game, where if you pirate it, it's just not going to be as fun.

Infamous hacker George "Geohot" Hotz has asked the world for donations today, in an effort to pay for a legal team to fight against Sony's lawsuit against him.

The company sued Hotz last month after the hacker used a master signing key to create a custom firmware for the PlayStation 3 that can run homebrew.

I will post the entire post here, which Hotz wrote this morning and has since updated to thank donators who have apparently already given enough to pay for his legal team.

Media, I need your help. This is the first time I have ever asked. Please, if you support this cause, help me out and spread the word.I want, by the time this goes to trial, to have Sony facing some of the hardest hitting lawyers in the business.Together, we can help fix the system. Donations here are for legal defense ONLY.

Sony are bullies
Sony doesn't care if what you did was legal, if they don't like it, they sue. Sony tried to sue a guy for getting his AIBO to do non Sony approved tricks, making it apparent that they don't really care about piracy, they care about control. In (Sony v Bleem), Bleem was the winner on all counts, but the high cost of a legal defense shut them down. Fortunately, that suit helped set precedent on the legality of emulators. I would hate to lose this case due to resource starvation, and with the support of the masses, I won't. Lets turn the bully back on itself. This case has the ability to set a huge precedent for consoles and all closed systems to come. The other two should be begging Sony to back off.

Sony has unveiled two new OLED TVs this week, the largest commercially available to date.

Adding the TVs to the Trimaster EL line, the new 17 and 25-inch OLED TVs will join the original commercial OLED display, Sony's 11-inch version.

OLED TVs offer the best power-efficiency, the deepest blacks, the richest colors, and the thinnest designs.

The latest displays are the first with RGB 10-bit drivers and the standard luminance is 100 cd/m2.

Says Sony (via Tom's):

These new monitors are the next step in professional displays, providing end users with extremely high picture quality. This is breakthrough technology for applications where visual performance and accuracy are paramount, offering an unbeatable combination of image reproduction, color accuracy, reliability and stability.

The 25-inch BVM-E250 will be released in April for around $29,000 and the 17-inch BVM-E170 will hit in June for around $15,000.

According to new data from research firm IHS, the Android Market saw revenue grow by 861.5 percent year-over-year (YoY) from 2009 to 2010, although the actual dollar figures are tiny compared to all the other major app stores.

Revenue grew from $11 million in 2009 to $102 million in 2010.

By comparison, the Apple App Store saw 131.9 percent growth YoY, jumping to $1.7 billion.

More surprisingly, the BlackBerry App World had revenue of $165 million, and the Nokia Ovi store saw revenue of $105 million, both larger than Android despite a much smaller selection of available apps.

Google says there are 300,000 Android phones activated daily.

Gamal Ibrahim, an Egyptian citizen, has named his newborn daughter "Facebook," following the social media's part in bringing about the recent revolution.

Ibrahim says he gave his daughter the name "to express his joy at the achievements made by the January 25 youth."

Many of the youths in the nation used Facebook, Twitter and other social media networks to organize the protests, which began on January 25th and eventually led to the end of President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year reign.

"The girl's family, friends and neighbors in the Ibrahimya region gathered around the new born to express their continuing support for the revolution that started on Facebook. 'Facebook' received many gifts from the youth who were overjoyed by her arrival and the new name," adds the Egyptian paper who broke the story.

Hotfile has begun taking a harsh stance on copyright infringement, says TF, with the cyberlocker deleting premium accounts, along with all the files in them.

Furthermore, the company is not paying out money earned in the site's rewards program.

The MPAA recently filed a lawsuit against Hotfile and its owner, claiming that "in less than two years, Hotfile has become one of the 100 most trafficked sites in the world. That is a direct result of the massive digital theft that Hotfile promotes."

This week, hundreds of account holders are reporting that their paid-up premium accounts have been deleted, along with all their uploaded files. Many had been uploading movies and TV shows and were being paid weekly by the rewards program, using piracy as a means of income.

One account holder says he has not been paid on the $1000 Hotfile owes him for uploads.

Says Hotfile of the matter:

Recently, we have become concerned that despite these policies, some users persist in attempting to use Hotfile.com to share materials to which they do not have the necessary rights. Therefore, we have implemented a more aggressive policy of terminating the accounts of users who are the subject of repeated complaints of infringement.

Microsoft has confirmed this weekend that the Zune HD is now available in Canada, years after its launch in the United States.

However, the Zune Music Marketplace is not available as a choice, yet, even though the video store is available.

It is unclear when the licensing issues will be corrected.

Available via Zune Originals, the 16GB model is $170 and the 32GB version is $200.

Canada is now the second country to get the Zune HD, as Microsoft has moved most of its development towards Windows Phone 7.