Word is that Sony is considering an “online pass” program. Right now Sony already approves of third-party publishers like EA and THQ, charging used games buyers to play their games online, and according to Andrew House, president of Sony Europe, the company is actively seeking a similar solution for its first party titles.

House says “On the principle of making online portions of the game available or unlocked from the disc-based release for a fee, we’re broadly supportive of that,” How this will affect how people want to trade/sell their used games in the future is another issue entirely.

The PS3 has been a tough nut to crack for hackers. Many have tried and failed, but now an Australian online store called OzModChips is claiming that they have a thumb drive that’s loaded with the world’s first PS3 Modchip.

The drive is available for a pre-order price of $169AUD which is about $150. I guess thats not a bad price to hack the device and copy games from discs and play pirated games. Not that we endorse that. It apparently works with any model of the PS3.

Gran Turismo 5 will launch in Japan and Europe on November 3. But the most shocking thing here is that Titanium blue PS3 shown above. That shockingly colorful console will come bundled with the racing game over in Japan this fall.

It will cost you ¥35,980 (or $421) for the Gran Turismo 5 Racing Pack, which will consist of a Limited Edition copy of the game plus a repainted PlayStation 3 slim with a 160GB hard drive.

We don’t have many details, but according to a recent edition of Game Informer Australia, Sony has stated that developers are already getting games ready for the as yet unannounced PlayStation 4. Sony’s PlayStation 3 has been with us for several years now, so it’s entirely possible.

Speculation is that the next-generation console will arrive by 2012. It makes sense as developers need time to develop games way ahead of launch and they need to get familiar with the hardware. I guess we will see.

IGN spotted a listing today for a slim PlayStation 3 with 160GB of storage, with a shipping date of today for $299.99. The listing has been removed since then, but it has shown up at Newegg for the same price with a projected arrival date of August 19 .

Interestingly, Sony has a press conference lined up at GamesCom for mid-afternoon ET tomorrow, where this might be announced. It’s getting hard to keep up with all of these capacities.

It makes us sad to see consoles like this. I can only thank god that my own PS3 is still pristine and unburnt. Let’s bow our heads in silence for a moment.

Yes, this is what a PlayStation 3 looks like after a fire. Sniff. I promised myself I wouldn’t cry. No gamer should ever have to go through this. What kind of sick world would do this to a console? Everyone raise your PS3 controller high and hit the X button in a mock 21 gun salute.

You wanna do some boxing with the PS Move, but you are worried about throwing the controller through your HDTV. Perfectly understandable. That’s where CTA Digital’s glove peripheral will help. It keeps the controller attached to your palm.

The Ultimate Boxing Gloves feature velcro pouches that will secure your Move controllers while you punch. There is also a second level of velcro security in the adjustable wrist straps, which make sure that both glove and controller don’t go flying.

Seems like folks are always having problems after they upgrade their PS3 firmware, but we can’t say we’ve experienced any problems. Firmware 3.41 seemed like a minor update that added a new “You May Like” section to the PlayStation Store, but some people are saying that it’s been causing problems for anyone trying to upgrade the hard drive in their console.

There’s a 30-page plus thread on the official PlayStation forums where folks are venting about issues upgrading their hard drive. They’ve been getting a “no applicable data” error after trying to install the update, which has left them with a non-working PS3 and, in some cases, a corrupted original drive.

Want to play stereoscopic PS3 titles in full high definition? Too bad. According to Joystiq, Sony guidelines won’t allow for 1080p 3D. They will run even native 1080p content at a lower 720p resolution, allowing enough processing for a smooth 60fps framerate and to reduce eyestrain.

3D Blu-ray movies are exempt from the specification and run at a slower, but larger, 1080p24. Native 1080p titles are hard to come by anyway, so you really can’t complain.

Sony thinks we need more 3D so Sony’s 3D Blu-ray update for the PS3 console will arrive in September, a few weeks earlier than expected. There’s also another update in the works that will add support for 3D YouTube, and 3D photos that use the .mpo format.

Users will be able to capture 3D photos from supported cameras and view the content using a PS3 and 3D compatible TVs. Some of the supported cameras include the recently announced Cyber-shots with 3D photo capture.

The Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) firmware update 3.40 is now available, packed with such features as a Photo Gallery that lets you browse photos from Facebook or Picasa Web Albums and share them with friends on the PlayStation Network.

The Video Editor & Uploader tool can be found on the XMB and lets you edit, save and upload video files stored on the PS3. No news of this firmware causing problems yet, which is always nice. We like smooth upgrades.

Good news for those of you who don’t like the Move Navigation Controller. At $30, I don’t blame you. It can be replaced by the DualShock controller. It may be a less comfortable solution, but you already have a DualShock controller.

Plus you get to hang on to that $30. At an E3 presentation about the Move, Anton Mikhailov has confirmed that the two controllers are interchangeable. It’s nice to know we have the option. Sony did right by gamers again with this news.

It didn’t take long at all for the PlayStation Move accessories are start showing up. You’ll want to pick up the shooting attachment, but you’ll also want some more practical hardware like this piece from Nyko.

This Charging Station is a nice looking and minimal one. It features four ports for charging Motion Controllers and your Move Navigation Controllers. You can pre-order from Amazon for $20 to keep all of your gear charged.

Looking to pump up the sound on your PS3? You’re in luck. Sony has just released their new surround sound system for the PlayStation 3, with 10Watts per channel @ 6Ω 1 kHz, and a power of 15Watts x 2 for the built in sub woofer.

The new Sony CECH-ZVS1 surround sound speaker system has been specifically created for the PlayStation 3 so this is the solution you’ve been looking for. It’s designed to enhance the audio quality by providing an immersive surround sound experience. It also fully supports the new PlayStation move motion controllers, together with stereoscopic 3D content as well as traditional Blu-ray movies.

We knew it was coming and today at E3 PlayStation Plus has been announced. Before you get your Playstation panties in a bunch, the PlayStation Network will not change. You still have what you already have for free. But if you like you can upgrade for $50 a year or $18 for three months.

The first three months are even free. You get a whole bunch of premium content, including “hundreds of dollars of products” throughout the year, early access to betas, and Qore. It’s for the gamer who doesn’t want to miss anything.