Today in gaming I will be discussing general news in the industry including, PS3's new development plans, Nintendo's success with the DS and a fantastic offer for World of Warcraft players.

Firstly, last year at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, Sony revealed 'Remote Play' a feature that allowed gamers to stream music, video and games from their consoles to their PSP. A firmware update in November updated this function to allow the use of the Internet in streaming too, instead of requiring a local link. Of course, I can imagine that this was a great feature, allowing gamers to utilise media from their PS3 at a whim if they choose to go out for a day, for instance, and need some entertainment. On 11th December, the CEO of Sony, Sir Howard Stringer (the first Welsh CEO of Sony in history, if that interests you), announced that the 'Remote Play' feature would be later expanding to allow the PS3 access to phones and other electronic devices, opening up what I would believe to be a vast large quantity of media to share for whatever the occasion, granting much more freedom to PlayStation owners. This update will be part of Sony's three-year business plan, commencing on 1st April 2008.

Moving onwards, Nintendo declared that with 6 million DS's sold in the United States this year, they possess trully the most selling console of 2007. Apparently, this would mean that a DS was being sold every five seconds - incredible! George Harrison, Executive of Nintendo claimed that the success of the portable console lay in its appeal to "core and casual gamers". I would definately agree with him - the DS uses a different input method (a touchscreen and a pen), although hardly revolutionary, making it certainly interesting to use compared to the classic buttons and thumbsticks. Naturally, being portable it has attracted a certain audience, which is the mobile community of today: almost everyone. The holiday seasons played a large role in this success, with 10% of their sales beig made in the week of the American Thanksgiving. I do not own a Nintendo DS and doubt I ever will, but still, Kudos to Nintendo.

Thirdly, 'FingerPrints', newly founded by the ex-Microsoft employee, Ed Fries, allows World of Warcraft players to print 3D models of their characters from the game! This excellent idea comes in the form of what is similar to an inkjet printer, but instead of printing onto paper, the head places ink onto plaster powder. After some research, I discovered the process. A think layer of plaster powder is laid across a platform followed by a printhead placing ink right into the plaster, which hardens. This process is repeated, building up layers of the figurine, using 250 layers per inch! This amazing device is availble for $151 (roughly £74), so is reasonably expensive. I never found myself particularly thrilled with World of Warcraft, but I am sure many devout fans will be excited about this great development.

Finally, for those who remember 'Final Countdown' from not long ago, I would like to mention a great performance given by a group of three cellists (yes, that is correct) who are just astounding. Definately worth watching if you enjoy some music. As always, have a great week!