All eyes are on Sony as they prepare to announce their restructuring plans in the next few days. Word is that they'll be cutting out some products from their hardware lines. While SCEE's David Reeves is sure that the PlayStation Group is safe, the mood is definitely tense as the clock ticks down to Sony's announcement.

Electronic Arts' John Ricitiello made a bold statement regarding the state of entertainment media. He spoke of video games and movies. With the way things are developing now, he said that Hollywood needs video games more than it needs them. Find out the details in the full article.

A lot of people have split opinions on the effectiveness of in-game advertising. However, Sony's chief executive Howard Stern expressed his doubts on the potential of that particular marketing trend. He wasn't alone in the idea either; other big names from major companies such as NBC Universal and Activision Blizzard voiced similar sentiments.

For more details, check out the full article after the jump!

Reports of Ubisoft staking a bid in a buyout of UK games publisher SCi may have been premature as Financial Times reports about a source in the company saying that they're not exactly pushing for a takeover. "We are not in discussion with SCi Entertainment any more than we are with any other company in the industry," says the source who is familiar with the SCi situation.

The Financial Times report suggests that the more likely development to happen is a buyout from a private equity firm rather than an assimilation from a major player in the industry.

Ubisoft once pursued Eidos, makers of the Tomb Raider franchise, but failed in the pursuit by offering a sixth of what SCi is currently worth. Other big firms reported to be after SCi Entertainment are Electronic Arts and Time Warner.

Incidentally, the name of Iranian business tycoon Robert Tchenguiz has been involved in the issue as a possible bidder. The billionaire subsequently denied the rumor even though he owns 20 percent of SCi.

SCi admitted last week that it is holding preliminary buyout talks with interested parties, though it did not reveal specific names. Analysts suggest that the entire deal could be worth some US$ 600 million.

Sony Computer Entertainment hopes to boost PSP sales. Analysts are expecting a package of new PSP online services to be revealed in the middle of March of this year. Also, analysts are expecting a tie-up with a major ISP like Yahoo!.

Nobuyuki Oneda, Sony's chief financial officer, told the Financial Times that the games division has to get its act together if it wants to meet the goals set by Sir Howard Stringer. If you'll remember, Stringer is Sony Corporation of America's Chairman and CEO, and he said that Sony plans to have a profit margin of 5% by the end of this fiscal year. This means the PS3 has to break even by the end of the year and the PSP has to start making lots of money.

Analysts think Sony's action plan is this:

To promote the PSP as a more user-friendly device capable of downloading films, television shows, and back-catalogue PlayStation and PlayStation 2 games. The changes could allow users to download games and other content anywhere the PSP can be connected to a WiFi network.

Now you see why Sony might tie up with a company like Yahoo!. Sony needs to get more mainstream users interested in buying PSPs and downloading games and other content.

However, the source did not say how much PSP owners will have to pay in order to have access to the new online services (i.e., will the new online services they'll reveal in March be free?). As homebrew fans, that's one thing we really want to hear more about because PSP homebrew already gives us content at a low price (i.e., fun for free, PSP tools and apps for free), so Sony's downloadable content will have to be high-quality content at reasonably low prices.

 

Finally, we'd like to add that we think the "Find Me" TV spots (also at Sony's official site) are a good step in getting mainstream non-hardcore-gamers interested in the PSP.