We think the Playstation 3 seems nice, but the fact is it costs a lot and lack of HDMI on the cheaper model is a severe buzzkill to anyone looking to get this as a "cheap" Blu-ray player. Apparently, Sony agrees because they've announced a 20% price cut for the low-end 20GB model -- only in Japan so far -- and added HDMI 1.3 as well. You read that right, all Playstation 3 consoles will come with digital video outputs (we suppose asking for a cable too would be out of line?). Adding features and cutting prices is something we can't really argue with, although glass half-empty individuals could see this as more incentive for studios to possibly introduce ICT in the future, since digital output is now standard on the PS3. They've also been taking shots at Microsoft's 1080p support and showing off several games (Ridge Racer 7, Gran Turismo HD, Virtua Tennis 3 and Mobile Suit Gundam) running 1080p natively at 60 frames per second, despite some saying we wouldn't see that many this soon. Now all we need is a US price drop and we'll forget all about how Sony is ignoring our European friends this year.

We've already got the info on the Japanese prices and 1080p support (whether it's really necessary/useful or not), but how about we see the thing in action. Microsoft gave a live demo of the HD DVD drive at the Tokyo Game Show and the guys from Xboxyde were there to see it. The cam video isn't HD, only 960x540, but you can get a good look at the much-ballyhooed special interactive features of the Fast and the Furious 3: Tokyo Drift HD DVD coming soon, as well as the Xbox 360's ability to bring the guide up as the movie continues to play in the background. Even if you're not thinking of getting the HD DVD add-on, who could miss a moment of the glory that is Fast and the Furious 3? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

Even though we expected the Tokyo Game Show to be the coming out party for the Playstation 3, Microsoft just couldn't let them get all the limelight and Engadget has all the details. First, the Xbox 360 HD DVD external drive finally has a pricetag and launch date -- in Japan. ¥19,800 (about $170 US) and November 17 are the magic numbers, now the question is will the US be rounding up to $199 (or £199)? We'll have to wait to find out for sure but with X06 kicking off on the 27th, there's no way we'll be waiting too long. The other big news of the night is that the fall dashboard update will add 1080p output via analog to games and movies. If you have a TV (or projector) that takes 1,920x1,080 input via component or VGA you'll be able to select it in the dashboard and move on. Does this mean HD DVDs will play in full 1080p via component? AACS would seem to answer a big no to that question, but until more details are released we can't say for sure. Future games will have the option to render natively at 1080p (DigDug HD?) while current games will be upscaled. Looks like Sony isn't the only one supporting "the true definition of HD".

Update:Word from Microsoft's press conference in Japan pegs the price at ¥20,790 ($180~ US) and a launch on November 22. This conflicts with previous info straight from Microsoft so we'll keep waiting to get all this straightened out and some local info.

Microsoft had a pretty good response (1.5 million individuals downloading 5 million pieces of content over several days certainly qualifies as pretty good) to their Bring Home E3 event on Xbox Live, allowing Xbox 360 owners to download large amounts of trailers, demos and high definition video direct from the show floor, so for the next nine days they'll be doing it all over again. With the Tokyo Game Show and their X06 event in Spain coming in the next few days, they plan on making over 100 pieces of content available including HD video from the show. Since our passes to the shows appear to have been lost in the mail, we're definitely feeling this. Add in the ability to queue up 5 downloads at a time added in the Spring dashboard update and it's even easier to get everything posted for the next nine days. Make sure that you do because some of it will disappear forever after September 29th. We're still playing the Lost Planet demo from E3, as good as reading about all the HD gaming coming our way is, we'll take actually experiencing it at home any day.

[Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]