There's No SCEE Michael Jackson Love We're Afraid.

If you’re a hardcore British gamer who likes nothing more than chillin’ to the back catalogue of Michael Jackson – then you’re out of luck. Sony has confirmed to VG247 that there are no plans to bring the recently announced “This Is It” bundle to the UK.

The bundle’s due for release in Japan later this month. Guess you’ll just have to make do with like a PS3, and a copy of the “This Is It” blu-ray. Seperately. Think about it though: it’s the same thing.

This Is Like A Little Slice Of Heaven (Or Hell), That You Can Actually Purchase.

SCEE has announced a lovely little God Of War III collector’s edition heading to Europe this March. The pack includes, obviously, God Of War III and the recently US-only God Of War Collection among a host of other lucious goodies.

The pack includes (deep breath):

• God of War III
• God of War Collection
• Extra PSN game content (God of War Combat Arena containing an exclusive environment and seven challenges to complete, Dominus character skin, Apollo character skin, Phantom of Chaos character skin, Forgotten Warrior character skin)
• Exclusive PSN video content (God of War: Unearthing the Legend Franchise Documentary. This is a full-length documentary detailing the history of the God of War franchise)
• Bonus audio content (God of War Trilogy Soundtrack – God of War, II, and III scores from the game – and God of War: Blood and Metal EP – a heavy metal homage featuring original music inspired by God of War)
• Additional content (artbook and postcards)
• Replica of Pandora’s Box.

Oh my goodness. No details on date or price yet. But we’re all over this.

Andrew House Is Obviously Feeling Confident About Sony's Position.

The Playstation brand is kicking again. We’ve seen rather steady dominance for the Sony platforms over the past 3 or 4 months in the Playstation’s homeland, and even a hint of celebration in the US; the Sony swagger is back. And that means Andrew House, Sony Europes head-honcho, can start talking about the competition again.

“I think at a time when we’re seeing one of the major competitors somewhat losing a sense of momentum – at least in many of the markets I’ve looked at – it’s gratifying to see a platform that’s always had a very significant share of sales go to third party publishers capture that momentum again”, he told GamesIndustry.biz.

“The knock-on effect can only be a positive one if publishers are making up 75 per cent of the sales on a particular platform, as opposed to a much smaller share elsewhere, then that’s the platform I think it’s in their interests to see succeed – and I think that’s the dynamic we’re seeing return right now.”

But which competing platform in particular is House discussing? “From data that we’re starting to see, in some of the publicly-released figures, we’re seeing a significant year-on-year downturn for the Wii. I think that’s just a factor of this Holiday season.”

We don’t want to take anything House said here out of context, but sometimes, we do kinda wish the Sony execs would stick to talking about the Playstation platforms.

Sony Intend To Add 50 Movies A Week To The European Video Store.

Having had chance to browse around the Playstation Video Store this morning, we have to say we are very impressed. The pricing is more than reasonable and the range of content on offer is already staggering. It’s a flawless update from the folks at SCEE, and we have to congratulate them on that.

But with 2000 movies already on offer from the service, you’d be forgiven for thinking SCEE might let the service settle a while before receiving another update. That’s not going to be the case however, as European product director Mark Hardy assures us “the plan is to update the store on a weekly basis and add a minimum of 50 movies every time we update.”

While we’ve no doubt that number will eventually slow down a little, it’s really great to hear Sony’s committment to the service. We’ve already got 10-15 movies ear-marked for rent, and we’re sure that number is only going to increase. The problem is, there aren’t enough hours in the day.

The Playstation Video Store Is Totally Available In Some Parts Of Europe, Right Now!

… And that means, like, right now! Trust us, we checked. There are an absolute ton of movies to buy or rent (in SD or HD). To be precise, more than 2000 movies are available. It’s a pretty impressive roll out from SCEE, and a service we’re looking forward to using.

Renting a movie in HD costs around the £4-mark in the UK, with SD a bit cheaper and full-purchase options available for some films. Those of you outside of France, Germany, Spain and the UK will have to wait until 2010 for the movie service but, hey, you’ve already waited this long, right?

Do you guys intend to use the Video Store? What will you buy/rent? Let us know.

Europeans Will Be Able To Go All Mya-Heee, Mya-Haaa When Vidzone Launches In More Regions.

It’s easy to forget while we’re dancing around to Glockenpop that other regions across Europe are yet to receive the Playstation 3’s Vidzone application yet. Worry not though Europeans. The service is on its way. In fact, here’s a list of the where and whens.

• November 23: Austria, The Netherlands, and Portugal
• December 3: Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden
• December 10: Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland and New Zealand

Happy chappys?

Sony Seem Confident That The Playstation Motion Controller Will Deliver Core Experiences.

Playstation 3’s studio boss Mike Denny reckons the Playstation Motion Controller is being treated as a platform by Sony. In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Denny said of the Playstation Motion Controller: “The motion control system we’re putting in place going forward is we’re treating as more of a platform.”

“You’re right that here in Europe we have a lot of experience helping develop the peripherals for our social games but we see the motion control solution and experience as being broader than that.”

Denny was adamant in insisting that Playstation Motion Controller won’t just be about casual games, a philosophy Sony have stuck with ever since the controller’s announcement.

“We do believe it can come into a core experience as well,” Denny added. “The development of motion control software and games is a worldwide venture for us.”

Interesting. Surely Sony have to show this stuff at some point, though? We assume we’ll see it in the new year.