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Senior executives from Microsoft's Xbox division have commented on Sony's plans for the PlayStation Portable, with Peter Moore dismissing the console's launch as being similar to a company trying to challenge the Windows operating system.

Of all the games due out with the Japanese PlayStation Portable on December 12th, we sensed Ridge Racers could well be the one to tip us over the edge and have us throw down insane amounts of money. And so it seems to be. That's not to say the three trailers streaming off Namco's promotional website this week are particularly revolutionary - it's just that we've had visions of quietly tearing round Crimsonrock Pass in the corner of a fire-lit drawing room whilst siblings row over which Christmas Special to watch and carol-singers hurl eggs at passing cars as the snow falls. It looks like Ridge Racer ought to look in our mind's eye. It could make our Christmas.

Codemasters has declared its support for the PlayStation Portable this afternoon, promising to release versions of both Colin McRae Rally 2005 and TOCA Race Driver 2: The Ultimate Racing Simulator on the Sony handheld in spring 2005.

The software line-up for the launch of the PlayStation Portable in Japan next month is beginning to take shape, with six titles now confirmed to arrive on day one, a further four arriving four days later, and at least 12 more launching by the end of December.

AIM-listed British developer Kuju Entertainment has announced that it is moving into full production on its first game for Sony's forthcoming PlayStation Portable system, with the working title of Project Interceptor.

It's probably a bit obscure for most of your tastes, but we're going to mention it anyway in the hope that it'll limit the amount of "rite mor abat PSP thx" emails we receive this morning. What are we talking about? Well, Sony's making a 3D, cel-shaded fighter for the PlayStation Portable based on a manga strip that appears in Japanese magazine Shonen Jump. See, told you it was obscure.

With just over three weeks to go until the PlayStation Portable launches in Japan, Sony Computer Entertainment has revealed that buyers will have six games to choose from on day one, with around 20 games total due out before the end of December.

Having unveiled a Nintendo DS puzzle game earlier this week in the shape of Zoo Keeper, Ignition Entertainment has furthered its involvement in the next generation of handheld games consoles by announcing that it is to publish a PlayStation Portable launch title from Archer Maclean's Awesome Studios called Mercury.

Drifting fills the nitro meter. Obviously. The more we hear about Ridge Racers (screenshots), the more it all makes sense. (Except the odd choice of name, which generally forces us to reiteratively point out that it's "Namco's forthcoming PSP update of the popular racing series" whenever we bring it up.)

Need For Speed Underground Rivals has slipped off the pace set by its host, the PlayStation Portable, and now won't be joining the Sony handheld on Japanese store shelves this December. Instead, gamers wishing to get their hands on Electronic Arts' cut-down wireless-enabled street racer will have to wait until February 17th.

PlayStation Portable will be capable of playing MPEG-4 videos, Sony has confirmed on its Japanese website for the handheld, which is due for release in Japan on December 12th.

Not long to go now until the first PlayStation Portable handhelds filter into Europe via all our favourite importers, and with them Namco's Ridge Racers. So, with the impending December 12th launch of the console clearly in mind, Namco has released details of all the various courses in the game along with the 30 track-strong soundtrack, which appeared on Impress Game Watch this week before 1UP helpfully translated it.

Six new titles for the PlayStation Portable have been revealed by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, with franchises including WipEout, MediEvil and World Rally Championship on their way to the new handheld.

Queues over a thousand people long formed at some retailers in Japan yesterday as Sony's PlayStation Portable went on sale, with fears of a shortage realised as stocks sold out within hours at some major outlets.

With the PlayStation Portable now officially available and nearly all of the 200,000-unit Japanese launch allocation already sold, word is getting around about some of the key issues that Sony has been unable or unwilling to address directly in the run-up to its December 12th launch.

Capcom is keen to extend its support of the PlayStation Portable, which launched in Japan on December 12th, and has been polling visitors to its Japanese website for what sort of games they would like to see the company developing.

As expected, the Nintendo DS has spent its first week in the open knee-deep in speculation, rumour, hype and cynicism, conjuring up a number of interesting stories since its debut last Wednesday, which we've been wading around in for the last few days.

Nintendo may not be telling us anything particularly concrete about its Dual Screen system ahead of trade show E3, but thanks to articles in Japanese magazine Famitsu Weekly and interviews with various high-ranking Nintendo executives we're starting to get a more rounded appreciation of the new platform.

Sega president Hisao Oguchi has told the Nikkei Industrial Daily that his company has "development tools" for producing Nintendo DS titles, and that Sega is "ready to offer software" for PSP when the platforms lands in late 2004.

We've already fished Nintendo president Satoru Iwata and former boss man Hiroshi Yamauchi's damaging N5 comments from Japanese newspaper Nikkei Industrial Daily, but the dual-screen duo had more to say than that. The article also revealed how much significance Yamauchi places upon the enigmatic Nintendo DS handheld, and a statement of Nintendo's current position with regard to online gaming.

Nintendo's forthcoming Dual Screen handheld console is almost certain to have short range, Bluetooth style wireless connectivity, if comments made by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata just prior to the DS announcement are anything to go by.

Nintendo Europe has dismissed "Nitro" or "Project Nitro" as little more than a discarded internal codename for Nintendo DS, rubbishing reports yesterday that the enigmatic handheld was to undergo a pre-launch re-branding.

A document leaked onto the Internet purporting to be a full specification for Nintendo's forthcoming DS handheld includes features such as a touch panel input device, 802.11 wireless LAN and a 3D graphics system.

The latest issue of Japanese Nintendo Dream magazine once again offers some interesting Nintendo DS titbits that were too juicy to ignore, principally the first confirmation that the enigmatic handheld will be on display in playable form at E3. Nintendo also once again repeated its assertion that the DS will be a distinct platform that won't infringe on the GBA's vast market share.

Japanese giant Nintendo has fired the opening salvo of its E3 publicity assault for the forthcoming Nintendo DS handheld, releasing a list of publishers supporting the device which includes most of the industry's biggest names.

Further information about the forthcoming Nintendo DS handheld has emerged just hours ahead of its official unveiling in Los Angeles - including what purports to be the first picture of the hardware, and details of some software demos.

For the last few months, Nintendo DS has been the subject of much speculation, the victim of a misguided derision, and the recipient of certain amount of cautious optimism. But that could be about to change.

Nintendo views DS as a product built in terms of innovation, and an innovative hardware approach demands an innovative software equivalent. It's clear from the off that the DS has that, because despite several impressive video demonstrations, a huge roster of proposed titles and pledges of support, the console is doing a wealth of business in hype purely on the basis of technically expressive demonstration software.

When we heard that Nintendo planned to announce 30 DS titles at E3, we scarcely believed it. A new console is one thing, but to announce 30 titles we'd heard next to nothing about for a console that we only had a vague conceptual idea about seemed far-fetched in the extreme. Shows what we know.

The two-screen Nintendo DS console is unlikely to be as profitable from the outset as the Game Boy Advance was, company president Satoru Iwata has warned, with the complex design of the handheld presenting both financial and supply problems.