The long awaited sale of the Playstation 3 in Europe will finally happen this March 23, but a week before that, Microsoft will also launch its Xbox 360 Platinum Hits. Hard decisions must be made by gamers all across Europe, but we guess that the differences in these products' price tags: the equivalent of US$ 790  for a Playstation 3 console, and US$ 39 for Microsoft's Platinum Hits Range, will at least make choices easier to face.

The Playstation 3 was actually planned to be released in Europe earlier, but this initial date was postponed after encountering problems of mass producing the parts for the console's  Blu-ray disc drive. Sony said that 1 million consoles will be available at launch in Europe, with a fourth of this to be sold in the UK alone.

Meanwhile, the Xbox 360 Platinum Hits has been making rounds in the US since October. Titles included in this range are: Battlefield 2: Modern Combat, Burnout Revenge, Fight Night Round 3 and Top Spin 2.

More than the screens, trailers, reviews, and videos, it's news like this that can effectively hype up games and convince consumers to go out and grab a copy of a game.

Especially for gamers who put graphics before gameplay, bagging an award for a game's Visual Effects is a sure shot of peaking their interest for a game.

So. The "visuals people" (a.k.a. Christopher Sjoholm, Kat Kelly Hayduk, Rob Hilson, and Celia Jepson) behind Fight Night Round 3 (Xbox360, PSP, PS3) just won the Outstanding Real Time Visuals in a Video Game award at the recently held 5th annual VES Awards. EA faced tough competition from Ubisoft's equally stunning Assassin's Creed (Xbox360, PS3), but at the end of it all, EA still got into the ring and stepped up to the fight (so to speak).

Assassin's Creed's E3 trailer was also nominated for the Outstanding Pre-Rendered Visuals in a Video Game award, alongside Hellgate: London's E3 trailer and a CG sequence from Warhammer Fantasy. But as of this writing, no winners have been announced for that category. We'll keep you posted for more.

Thanks to GameTrailers and Xfire, all you video gamers can now vote for your favorite video game soundtracks for the upcoming 2006 MTV Video Music Awards. The '06 VMAs will feature two new categories: "Best Video Game Soundtrack," and "Best Video Game Score." Fans can vote from July 31 to August 28. While the winners will not be announced during the VMAs itself, they will be announced during VMA LIVE UNCENSORED on MTV Overdrive on August 31.

The nominees are:

Best Video Game Soundtrack:

Fight Night: Round 3 (EA/EA Sports)
Burnout: Revenge (EA/Criterion)
NBA 2K6 (2K Sports)
Driver: Parallel Lines (Atari/Reflections Interactive)
Marc Ecko's Getting Up (Atari)


Best Video Game Score:

Hitman: Blood Money (Jesper Kyd)
Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (Tom Salta)
Dreamfall: The Longest Journey (Leon Willet)
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Jeremy and Julian Soule)
Electroplankton (User-generated soundtrack)

Which game do you want to bring home the Moonman? Log on to GameTrailers.com or Xfire to vote now. Which game do you think will bring home the Moonman (or which games should have been included among the nominees)? Make bold predictions, quote odds, and otherwise comment on your favorite game soundtracks below.

The weekly list of the most played games over Xbox Live went out today thanks to Major Nelson and the list seems to be maintaining the top 3 with Call of Duty 2, being played most of the Xbox 360 games, followed by G.R.A.W. and then Chromehounds. NCAA 07 overtook Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. The announcement that Final Fantasy XI  has finally received achievements might have helped it overcome both BFMC and LoTR: BFME II. Once again Halo 2 is still the top game played over Xbox Live altogether but below is the full list of the top ten Xbox 360 games played over Live this week.

Xbox 360 Top Live Games

1 Call of Duty 2
2 Ghost Recon 3
3 Chromehounds
4 NCAA 07
5 Oblivion
6 Final Fantasy XI
7 BFMC
8 Lord of the Rings: BFME2
9 PGR3
10 EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 3

Here are the titles which topped the charts of the Xbox Live most played games for the week of 7/3/06, straight from Major Nelson himself;

(Xbox 360) Top Live Games
1) Call of Duty 2
2) Ghost Recon 3
3) Oblivion
4) BFMC
5) Prey Demo
6) Final Fantasy XI
7) EA SPORTS™ Fight Night Round 3
8) 2006 FIFA World Cup
9) PGR3
10) Perfect Dark Zero

(Original Xbox) Top Live Games
1) Halo 2
2) Battlefield 2: MC
3) Counter-Strike
4) Splinter Cell Chaos
5) Rainbow Six 3 BA
6) Star Wars: Battlefront 2
7) Pro Evolution Soccer 5
8) Madden NFL 2006
9) Forza Motorsport
10) Splinter Cell Chaos

Mr. Nelson apologized for not being able to give title-specific data, but he did say that if both lists were combined, Halo 2 would be number 1 on the chart (followed by all 360 games).

As always, Major Nelson has released his weekly update showing the top games played over Xbox Live. Original Xbox games and Xbox 360 games have been separated into two lists, but if the lists were combined then Halo 2 would top the charts. Rockstar's Table Tennis is doing well considering it's a game about ping pong (and a damn fine one at that!) and Hitman: Blood Money also has a great ranking for a newly released title.

Xbox 360 Top Live Games
1 Call of Duty 2 
2 Ghost Recon 3
3 Oblivion
4 BFMC
5 Final Fantasy XI
6 PGR3
7 Hitman: Blood Money
8 EA SPORTS™ Fight Night Round 3
9 Perfect Dark Zero
10 Rockstar Table Tennis

Original Xbox Top Live Games
1 Halo 2
2 Battlefield 2: MC
3 Counter-Strike
4 Splinter Cell Chaos
5 Pro Evolution Soccer 5
6 Rainbow Six 3 BA
7 Star Wars: Battlefront 2
8 Madden NFL 2006
9 Forza Motorsport
10 Ghost Recon 2: SS

Major Nelson posted the top ten games played over Live this week, check out who's in second place though, that's pretty surprising but everybody just seems to be addicted to Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion ,with count them ZERO multiplayer modes, even more so than G.R.A.W. Looks like some of EA's games are slipping off of the list now. Last but not least we have Burnout Revenge which is probably due to the fact of the 21 Days of Carnage Sweepstakes they have going right now.

1 Halo 2
2 Oblivion
3 Ghost Recon 3
4 Call of Duty 2
5 EA SPORTS™ Fight Night Round 3
6 PGR3
7 Perfect Dark Zero
8 Battlefield 2: MC
9 DEAD OR ALIVE 4
10 Burnout Revenge

Major Nelson has just released his list for the Top 10 Most Played Games on Xbox Live. As we all expected Halo 2 is still dominating the charts, but surprisingly enough Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter has already taken the number two spot even though it's only been out for a week! The rest of the list contains mostly EA games, with The Outfit demo just barely holding on to number nine. There's a good chance GR: AW could make it to the number one spot, but with Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion due for release this week, it's still anybody's game.

1. Halo 2
2. Ghost Recon 3
3. Call of Duty 2
4. EA SPORTS™ Fight Night Round 3
5. Perfect Dark Zero
6. DEAD OR ALIVE 4
7. PGR3
8. Battlefield 2: MC
9. The Outfit Demo
10. Need for Speed™ Most Wanted

So back to the scoreboard to check the stats. No big surprises this week. Looks like Halo 2 is still holding the commanding lead with Dead or Alive 4 and Perfect Dark Zero still holding in the top 5. A new top for this week is The Outfit Demo. Nice to see some new faces in the mist of all that's "holy".

1. Halo 2
2. Call of Duty 2
3. EA SPORTS™ Fight Night Round 3
4. Perfect Dark Zero
5. DEAD OR ALIVE 4
6. PGR3
7. Need for Speed™ Most Wanted
8. The Outfit Demo
9. Battlefield 2: MC
10. Madden NFL 06

Only you can make a difference, so get out there and play some Xbox 360 Live. Come on, everybody's doing it.

If you live in the United States, have a Xbox 360 and broadband access, and want to give Xbox Live a try, you are in luck! From March 31 through April 2 Verizon is sponsoring a Free Xbox Live Gold Weekend. Not only does this mean gamers will have 72 hours of multiplayer gaming online, but there will also be tons of prizes, contests, and other surprises.

Check out the details below and mark your calendar for a weekend you don't want to miss.

Top Weekend Events
Speaking of things you don't want to miss, here are just a few of the hot weekend events headed your way:

• Frag Doll Friday: Take on Ubisoft's fierce gaming crew on Sunday, April 2, starting at 6 P.M. Eastern (3 P.M. Pacific) in Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter.
• Beat the Xbox Team: Challenge Xbox insiders to College Hoops 2K6, Bankshot Billiards 2, and EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 3. Earn bragging rights and win awesome Xbox prizes! 

Verizon Million Microsoft Points Giveaway
As if all that wasn't enough, Verizon is sponsoring a giveaway of one million Microsoft Points! While supplies last, you can grab 500 Microsoft Points courtesy of Verizon. Redeem them for cool Xbox Live Arcade games, themes, gamer pictures, and more in the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Note this is for U.S. residents only. Broadband connection, Xbox 360 storage device (hard drive or memory unit), and free Xbox Live Silver membership required. Players who have previously been banned from Xbox Live are ineligible.