PS3 to break-even in August

28 Apr 2008 | 09:06 BST

By Dean Pullen

AFTER THE news shocker that GTA IV was released early by pirates, Crunchgear has had a look at the proliferation of the game with pirating circles - and it doesn't make good reading for Rockstar, even though the game will almost certainly break various sales records.

Xbox 360 The first leaked copy of GTA IV was a PAL copy of the game, on the Xbox 360.

Kotaku reports that while Microsoft hasn't released an official response, Major Nelson has noted the "need to look into this further," suggesting that action may be taken.

Microsoft has stated that the Xbox 360 has passed the 19 million sales mark. The figures come off the back of a successful third-quarter for the company, which saw revenue from the Entertainment division increase by 68 per cent, helping its huge bottom line bulge even further.

PS3/PSP
Nikko Citigroup has upgraded its rating of Sony last week in anticipation of it breaking-even on PS3 costs earlier than anticipated - earmarking August as the milestone month.

This ties in with previous murmurings from Sony's CFO who said the console would break-even in the second half of this year, but analysts had previously predicted this as Novemeber.

Engadget believes that it is therefore safe to assume that the Cell and/or the RSX will have shrunk by then, and this is the reason the company will finally be able to bre ak-even.

SCEE has confirmed that a PS3 GTA IV bundle is coming to Europe - the €439 package will contain a 40GB Playstation 3, a Sixaxis controller and a copy of GTA IV.

If you think your new GTA IV bundle won't be protected enough within its shiny plastic casing, consider Messiah Entertainment's "Hardwear Console Armor" viewable at Engadget.

Wii/DS
Nintendo has confirmed that the company is not thinking about cutting the price of its Wii or DS consoles.

Why should it, when it can't even make enough to meet demand?

Also in demand is Wii Fit, which was released in the UK this week to much fanfare. The free paper 'Metro' which lines the seats of many a tube train, had its front and back covers surrounded by a Nintendo advertisement for Wii Fit. Most stockists now seem out of stock, and the game + device seems to be selling on Ebay for around £100 a pop - £30 over the RRP.

There's been a fair few NES cart-mods floating about, but

If you really love your Wii, consider getting these Wiimote cuff links. Classy.

Here's Eurogamer's usual Virtual Console round-up. µ

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