According to a survey conducted by the Korean Film Council, just under half of South Korean Internet users download pirated materials from the web. In South Korea, downloading bootleg films has become a national Internet pastime, along with online gaming and porn archive collections.

About a third of surveyed users claimed that the cost savings of downloading movies was a prime motive and about 21 percent rationalized the downloads as being more hassle-free as opposed to purchasing legitimate products. 28 percent of people who said they have never downloaded any pirates materials said so because it was too complicated.

When the PS3 was first announced, Sony intended to trump the 360 and Wii, claiming that its PS3 system was an Ultimate Media Center, and not just a gaming console. This theory was pushed heavily by Sony top boffins at E3 and similar gaming conventions but now, after seeing significant stagnant sales in what should be an ever-growing market of consumers, Sony has said they are going back to marketing the PS3 as a traditional gaming console.

“[The PlayStation3] is starting afresh as a console to play games with. Although pricing strategy is important, now we would like to put our strength in the number of software games,” Sony Computer Entertainment’s Sony Chief Executive Kazuo Hirai told the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper. Hirai also said he wanted to see the PS3 “escape as soon as possible from the red and return to the black in fiscal year 2008.”

The douching-up of the PS3 has been ongoing for a few years now, but gamers are finally starting to see prices come down to a reasonable level. With Sony wanting PS3 to start “afresh” as a console to do gaming on, we may see Sony re-embrace the casual gaming market with further price drops.

Ultra know-it-all head-hancho, Kathy Vrabek, of EA Games said that she is definitely not concerned with the poor ratings that EA games get from online game review sites such as Gamespot, IGN and Joystiq because she firmly believes gamers don’t actually read any of the reviews.

“I get less concerned about game reviews because the casual gamers don’t read any of those things,” EA Casual president Kathy Vrabek said.

Sales figures and game review scores obviously don’t seem to share a connection when it comes to the purchasing power of the average gamer. Advertising and word-of-mouth chatter have been keeping some of EA’s terrible titles very successful, regardless of the pounding they take from the major review sites.

“[casual gamers are] not swayed by a low score on IGN or a low score out of one of these gaming sites,” she went on to say. “It’s a little bit amusing, in that it’s people reviewing games against measures that are important to core gamers yet are not important to casual gamers.”

Are game review sites such as IGN and Joystiq even worth having around for anything other than screenshots? Probably not. Lose those high-paid game reviews and focus on more screenshots and video previews please! Let the hype machine roll on!

Some dudes from J.R. Antrim’s site put together a pretty interesting videogame look-a-like video. Some of the look-a-likes are shameless ripoffs and others just make me scratch my head. I think my favorite one was the Solid Snake / Kyle Reese comparison (even the same friggin’ hip gear) ;)

Yesterday’s rumors have been confirmed: a long-term game reviewer for Gamespot has been fired after posting a negative Kane and Lynch review. Suspected to be related, another Gamespot editor has also also announced he will be leaving the organization. We all know that every gaming review organization is paid big bucks by publishing companies to give their games positive reviews, so it only makes sense that this editor’s ass was canned.

The nature-bullying capitalists at Dubai International Capital have have purchased an undisclosed number of Sony Corp. shares, estimated to be worth approximately $500 million. Dubai’s acquiring a substantial stake in Sony’s pie drove up Sony shares by 4.6 percent ($50.6 USD).

Analysts question the move by the oil-fed barons. “If Dubai Int. knows something about Sony’s plans for 2008, then they know a heck of a lot more than Sony’s own employees,” said Doug Pillates. “With the PS3 diving and Sony’s other products losing out to a substantially competitive market, we can only guess that something big is about to be announced.”

After the news was released, rumors swirled around the Internet about possible products coming in 2008, some individuals stating that a BlackBerry-style device from Sony was on it’s way in and others saying Sony has unannounced plans for their version of a multi-media iPhone/PSP hybrid.

Despite being on the market for over a year, retailers are claiming that Nintendo’s Wii console still continue to sell out of almost immediately after the system reaches stores. Nintendo has ramped up production on the system several times but waves of consumers trying to snatch up the system for the holiday season are leaving Nintendo with a challenging situation.

“Expect long lines this year for the Wii,” said a Walmart employee who wished to remain anonymous. “We’ve sold out our stock already and from what Nintendo plans to ship up in December isn’t going to be enough. Rather than leaving customers disappointed with no Wii system for the holidays, I’ve been trying to sell them Playstation systems and it’s worked in the past, but mostly people are dead-set on getting the Wii this year.”

The Wii was an incredibly hot system last Holiday season but Nintendo wasn’t re-stocking retailers until at least late January. If you haven’t gotten your Wii by now, you may be paying a higher price on ebay in order to complete little Timmy’s wish list.

For the past week, Internet rumors have been broadcast world-wide about a top-secret Nintendo project that has apparently been in the making for years. The game is Battletoads. The project has been under such tight wraps that not a single screenshot has been released but gamers are anxiously awaiting the date as Gamestop employees have been reportedly flooded with calls about the upcoming hit.

In and amongst the hundreds of news tips we received about this story today, a reader sent us a screen-capture from the Gamestop website, showing that the game was at one point available for Pre-Order on the Company’s website but we were unable to find the exact link. Only speculation now remains.

Rumor or not, the Internet is buzzing with reported details of the game. It only makes sense that Nintendo is bringing back another much-beloved classic to the system which can now be enjoyed by a whole new generation of fans.

Sony’s latest and greatest attempt to pull the PS3 out of it’s murky money sinkhole has been to get top designer Tom Dixon to design plush and elegant rooms to showcase the PS3 in. The rooms will contain workshops showcasing what the PS3 and PSP can do for you in your living room. Does Sony really think PS3 fans are that stupid that they don’t know how to use their own products? Retarded! This laughable attempt at popularizing the PS3 is one of the poorest marketing campaigns we’ve seen in a long time. Rather than showcasing the system, Sony feels the current lackluster titles of the PS3 would be better set off by being accompanied with soft leather sofas, pretentious cocktail bars and gentle piano music playing in the background.

“PlayStation and award winning designer Tom Dixon, with the help of some fresh new design talent along the way, created 3ROOMS to be your space as much as ours. It’s a modern East End apartment with a twist; here we host the most intimate of house parties for friends.”

“This innovative and inspiring space in East London is a much-needed place where creativity and technology coexist to form some great events. Versatile in design and rich in style, 3ROOMS is a place to communicate, relax and surround your self with the latest technology and wax lyrical about digital and its place in the real world.”

This sounds more like something you’d see at a pompous Apple media event.