The Xbox 360 will be able to play HD DVD movies, Microsoft's European console business chief, Chris Lewis, has apparently confirmed. "It will give people access to HD DVD," said this week.

In an interview with Germany's Der Spiegel, Lewis dismisses Blu-ray Disc as another Betamax.

Sony has cut the price of the PlayStation 2 to $130 in the US and CAD140 north of the border, the consumer electronics giant announced today. The move was forecast last week as an attempt to boost demand for the PS2 in the run-up to the launch of its successor in November.

Former senior Gizmondo staffer Stefan Eriksson this week pleaded not guilty to charges of embezzlement, grand theft, driving while drunk and the illegal possession of a firearm. Eriksson, 44, made the plea through his attorney during an appearance before the Los Angeles Superior Court yesterday.

Sony is close to announcing PlayStation price cuts, in the US at the very least. Stateside, the price will fall from $149 to $129 before April is out, an industry analyst forecast yesterday.

Who exactly is winning the handheld wars? Sony says it is, and Nintendo says it is. Sony says the PSP is selling faster, from launch, than the PSOne or PS2. The PSP is selling neck-and-neck in the US and Europe with Nintendo's DS. In Japan, however, the DS is clearly trouncing the PSP. Whatever the reality is of who is edging out who, Sony's learning some tough lessons in the handheld market. For the first time in a while it isn't a clear market leader. And, worse, not only are the fanboys not with Sony, but key software corporations aren't either.

Malibu police arrested former Gizmondo executive Stefan Eriksson this weekend almost two months after his $1m red Ferrari Enzo was totalled in a smash on the Pacific Coast Highway. Two other sportscars, including a second black Enzo, were taken from his home and impounded.

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has claimed reports that its senior staffers let slip how much the company plans to charge for the PlayStation 3 when the console ships next November are "incorrect".

The PlayStation 3 will set European consumers back €499-€599 (£349-£419), a senior Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) executive has let slip. Sony is expected to announce worldwide pricing and other such details at an 8 May event the week before the E3 computer games trade show.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 console contains illegally used technology, Lucent alleged last week - and filed a patent infringement lawsuit against the software giant to back up its claim. It is seeking unspecified damages and a jury trial.

Games Digest A slew of new revelations about Nintendo's next console, the Revolution, have not so much set the games world alight as poured cold water over it. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata last week said: "We don't think it's necessary to do the simultaneous worldwide launch simply because others are doing this."

Nintendo's Revolution console will be powered by a 729MHz processor - 50 per cent more clock cycles than its predecessor in the GameCube - and a graphics chip set to run at 243MHz, it has been claimed.

Sony has stopped manufacturing the PSOne - the redesigned version of the original PlayStation aka the SCPH-100 - it has emerged. With the PS3 due to ship in November, the PS2 is set to become the entry-level system, so there's little need to keep making PSOnes.

Sony has confirmed that the PlayStation 3 will not impose a region-coding scheme on games. That the consumer electronics giant was considering such a move was first signalled in November 2005, but it was made official policy this week by the company's head of games development, Phil Harrison.

Taiwanese manufacturer Bluetake has announced a Bluetooth stereo audio adaptor for Sony's PlayStation Portable. The gizmo's neatly contoured to fit along the base of the handheld console and clip into the PSP's earphone socket.

Transmeta has confirmed it is engaged on "proprietary" design work for Microsoft, a revelation that will undoubtedly fuel speculation that the software giant is working on a mobile version of its Xbox 360 games console. In fact, it's more likely to relate to the shipping 360 product.

Microsoft is doubling or tripling the number of XBoxes it will send out to retailers every week. It has added a third manufacturer - Celestica - and has got a solid supply of components.

The UK's Office of National Statistics (ONS) has placed Apple's iPod and the some of the company's iTunes Music Store downloads in the standard shopping basket the organisation uses to monitor the cost of living in Britain.

Comment World+Dog is this week feverishly reporting on rumours that Microsoft is hard at work on an iPod killer. Or it may be a PlayStation Portable killer. Or perhaps a PMC killer. No, wait a moment, PMC - aka Portable Media Center - was Microsoft's last attempt at an iPod killer, and just look at what that did to restrict Apple's revenue growth...

Sony has revealed it will demand punters pay a penny under £150 for the basic PlayStation Portable package when it launches here on 22 March. Announced last week, the box contains just a PSP and a mains adaptor, unlike the bundle-heavy Value Pack that launched in September 2005.

Games Digest Sony Computer Entertainment's president, Ken Kutaragi, announced a raft of new details about the PS3, PSP and PNP at a press conference in Tokyo last week. The big announcement, that the PS3 will launch in mid-November in Japan, the US and Europe simultaneously, has already been covered by Reg Hardware. But more interesting is the emerging picture of how Sony sees the PS3 squaring up against the Xbox 360, Nintendo's Revolution and the home PC in the living room.