I’ve just read over on Dan’s Blog, that he had been blogging for 12 months now.

So thinking that I started around the same time, I just had a look at my first post. Now although this is my first post on the site as it currently stands, I did have a site up previously, based on .Net Nuke.

Amazing really to think how long I’ve been sprouting this rubbish.

Thanks to all those that read my thought’s and rubbish on any sort of regular basis.

Oh dear. Sony have announced that it wants to concentrate on a Japanese and American launch for the Playstation 3 this year. Making them look quite silly in light of the “we can do a worldwide launch better than Microsoft” comments it made at the Xbox 360 launch .

It doesn’t even sound like Sony Japan have kept their UK colleagues terribly well informed, given that UK boss Ray Maguire has stated he’s “extremely disappointed” that their new Uber console won’t arrive in PAL (Europe, Africa, Audtralia, Middle East and Far East) territories this year.

So where does this leave Sony? Well, besides the egg on the face for not being able to match the Xbox 360 launch, let alone bettering it – and remember that this was a launch that they have very publicly criticised – news of the delay will have alienated many of its supporters in the affected territories.

Many of the people who’ve been saving up all year for the long awaited and much needed replacement to the PS2 will now just go out and buy one of the other consoles at Christmas.

This will be a bonus for Microsoft, but the real winner, from my point of view, will be the Nintendo Wii.

Rumour has it that Nintendo already have their consoles built and ready. They have made the correct choice; opting for ingenuity over cutting edge. They have no Blue Ray to worry about. They have no Cell processor to worry about.

Sony have made U-Turn after U-Turn with their console. The processor has taken several steps down in speed, and Sony are still struggling with the manufacturing yield on them. Blue Ray has been a thorn in their side, being both expensive and difficult to manufacture, and the console has gone from being a nice looking device to a behemoth 'health grill/toasted sandwich maker'.

Nintendo, on the other hand, have gone for proven technologies with proven reliability. The clever parts of the Wii are the interface, which could be the best thing to happen to gaming in years.

Microsoft are also going to have a good Christmas. All the people that have been waiting for the PS3 to take up next gen gaming, will now look back on their decision and think seriously about picking up the only real next gen console out there.

The Xbox has a good catalogue of games. In fact, the PS3 launch line-up is basically the same titles as the XBox will have a month beforehand. The prices are starting to come down for the consoles now, and have a proven reliability record.

What possible reason is there to buy a PS3? Blue Ray? Nope. I do believe that the Blue Ray camp has shot itself in the foot with all the arguing over copy protection, and finalising the standards. Cell? Well, IBM and developers have both openly commented that the PS3’s Cell will do nothing that the XBox360’s processors cannot do. 1080p? If you have the money to buy a native 1080p display, then you will buy all three devices anyway. Premium content? On this subject as well Sony have failed. The only exclusive content the PS3 will have that is possibly worth waiting for is GT4, and let's be honest, one game does not make a console.

What have the others got going for them? The XBox 360 will get the DVD-HD add-ons shortly, and this is the format that I believe will win the next gen DVD war, purely on a cost basis. The games are released at the same time as the PS3 games and, yes, Microsoft do have some exclusive content worth thinking about. There’s Bungie's games, Bizzare Creations’ games, Microsoft's in house games (like Flight Sim 2007 etc). Microsoft also have the Rockstar boys on board now, so GTA games will launch on PC/XBox first. And then there’s the whole Live experience including Arcade. Sony just cannot match this now or at anytime soon. The only slight downside is compared to the Wii, the XBox is still expensive.

Nintendo and the Wii have one overriding thing going for it: Compared to the other new consoles it will be cheap! There are also other benefits to the history of the Wii. Not only will it be backward compatible with its predecessor like its rivals, but it will play all of Nintendo's impressive back catalogue. Yes, it will be a bit like the Live Arcade experience – a concept which has proved that microtransactions can work - but it has the whole Nintendo back catalogue, and other major players have signed on saying they will host their games on the Wii, like Sega (Nintendo's old rival).

What will this all mean to Sony? I think it will be a strong year for both Nintedo and Microsoft, with Sony probably selling more PS2 unit's than it does PS3. The PS3 is going to have teething issues as well, all consoles do, which will have an impact on their losses. Sony have also realised that the Japanese audience will not queue around the block for the new device, only allocating 100,000 unit's for sale in it's home teritory, with the other 400,000 going stateside.

The console, even at the stratospheric price at which it will launch, will make a massive loss. I just cannot see them recouping on peripherals, hardware, games and online. And to add insult to injury, they have lost the vibrate functionality in their controllers.

The PS3 may just be the nail in the coffin for Sony as it currently stands. In recent months they have cut back on R&D and have seen a lot of their assets fail. The new 'WalkMan' range has not had the impact they where hoping for, neither has the PSP, and the PS3 will be the same.

I can see a time when Sony may just try to cut its losses. It may have to sell off the music and movie businesses and attempt get back to its core. Either that, or the electronics side of the company will be snapped up by one of the other consumer electronics giants like Matsushita (Panasonic, Technics and Quasar brands as well as others) who are the biggest electronics company in the business.

Thanks to Dan at IsThereFood for the help on this article.

Ulrich Bez says he is looking to buy Aston Martin "as rapidly as possible". So it looks like the current MD for the brand could keep it for himself.

The brand is again profitable, and has the DB9 Vanquish coming along shortly. That and the tie up with the Bond series of movies could mean that the Marque could cost Ulrich a few quid.

But after all, it might be in Fords interest to do it this way. If they do it would be likely that the Ford group would stay on as technical support, with parts and platform sharing continuing with the other Ford Marques. However if Ford sell Jaguar as well, who would share the Aston platforms?

More shot's of the Audi R8 Supercar have turned up over at www.autohochzwei.de.

As I have mentioned before, I am really looking forward to this car. It's the first time Audi have made a 'real' Supercar under their own name (Gallardo etc are excused, because they are Lambo's)

It looks, both pretty, meaningful and menacing at the same time. If the quality of the inside is up to the outside (and Audi's usual high quality), then this car will be a winner.

Performance is going to be good with either of the engines it will be released with (both the Lambo/Audi 5Ltr V10, and the Audi 4.2ltr V8 currently in the RS4). Obviously it will not be as quick as it's LeMans name sake, but hey it's a road car.

Prices are said to be between 60 and 80 thousand pounds, so it looks like it will be good value as well.

The only slight issue is the Gallardo, yes not a much power will be available in the R8 (450/420 for the V10/V8) but it is a lot cheaper than it's 'brother' (it share a fair chunk of it's underpinnings), and the V10 engine will be re-tunable to the Gallardo's sort of levels.

If you want to see the Test Mule being run at the mighty Nurburgring then pop over to AutoExpressTV. It sounds as good as it looks.

With all the hype at the moment around the movie, this caught my attention.

It’s a re-voice of the original 80’s series/movies. Quite amuzing…….

Gizmodo have a great video of the Lexus LS460 L doing it’s very clever self parking.

It works using the sensor’s front and rear to detect the space and work out the angles.

Pop along to Gizmodo for the full write up.

The final road going version of the new Civic Type R will be unveiled soon at the Paris Motor Show soon. To celebrate it's 'coming out' the Honda guys have set up www.redh.co.uk.

The Red H site is so named because of the badge that the Type R's and F1 cars wear.

There is an application that will bring you desktop news about the car, and the launch.

It's been a topic of discussion on the Skoda forums for a while, Why have Skoda not released a soft roader?

Well now they are, it's called the Skoda Octavia Scout. It's based on the same underpinnings as the Octavia saloon (Golf MKV), and uses Skoda's 4×4 system.

The whole design has something familiar about it, yes there is some Octavia in there, but there is some of the Audi Allroad, and if you look at the rear end, there is some of the Porsche Cayenne (the only good looking bit of that car in my opinion).

For the most part though, it looks like it should, a chunked up Octavia. It will get the 2.0TDi and the 2.0FSi lumps (so 140 and 150BHP, but the diesel will be the engine of choice due to it's torque).

All in all I think a decent entry into the market. I wonder how it will fair against the new Freelander?

Want to see 1000 cars racing on a digital landscape? It's quite impressive, although it would be even more impressive if the collision detection and damage models worked

Have a look Here  

It seems that the earlier rumors of Ford looking to sell of some of it’s marques is true. The rumors had Jaguar and Land Rover being the targets for sale.

It seems however that Ford believe that there is a better chance of selling on of the premium marques, and as such have put Aston Martin up for sale. The only slight change to the previous rumors, beside the fact that it is Aston for sale, is the fact that Ford are looking to sell part or all of it, where they were looking to keep control of the manufacturing part of the Jaguar/LR deals.

“As part of our ongoing strategic review, we have determined that Aston Martin may be an attractive opportunity to raise capital and generate value,” said chairman and chief executive Bill Ford.

“Aston Martin Lagonda has flourished under Ford ownership, which is why we believe it is prudent to consider a sale of all or part of this prized brand.”

I must admit, that even though I am not the biggest Ford fan in the world, they have done well for the Aston Martin brand, allowing them to retain there own identity, even if the parts and technology share between the companies is high.

Aston is one of the only profitable parts of the Ford PAG (Premier Automotive Group), that also includes, Volvo, Jaguar and Land Rover. Jaguar and Land Rover have struggled to make money in the recent years, with Volvo not being massively profitable either.

Earlier in the month JCB had said it was interested in taking on the Jaguar brand if it was going to be sold by Ford, so perhaps they will be interested in the Aston sale as well. After all Aston Martin and Jaguar have always had a good working partnership.