In case you weren't aware, there's yet another study, within the multitude of studies, which has tried to unearth the truths about the relationships between children, reading and video games. A Reuters report insidiously points at the proposition that video games are depriving children of much-needed reading and homework time, but as the story winds its lazy little circle, you'll find that the headline assertion is as hollow as the study findings it addresses.

Yes, they did determine that the boys in the study invested about an hour into gaming each weekday and about an hour and a half on weekend days, while the girls in the study spent just under an hour gaming on weekdays and a little over an hour on weekend days, and they did determine that gamers seemed to spend less time reading (just the boys), and less time doing homework (just the girls).

The University of Michigan study seems to be otherwise inconclusive in as much as it appears that the study could not determine a correlation between video gaming and a decline in academic performance. Add to those findings the significance of the fact that the study apparently arbitrarily deemed gaming time to be a complete intellectual loss rather than an alternate means of stimulating cerebral activity. Video gaming can involve all the major functionality of the brain and most of the games that I play do in fact require a certain amount of reading. No, it's not reading about the Franco-Prussian War, but it is reading just the same.

The one bright spot in the meager findings of this study was that it determined the children were not sacrificing valuable time with family and friends to partake in video games. Apparently, no dungeon dwelling, video addicted, antisocial monsters were identified. So it comes down to the same old story that we've been forced to hash over since the dawning of television in the fifties: If they're good kids and if the parents are overseeing the entertainment and activities, for crying out loud, let them be kids and let them safely blow off some steam.

After all, as a kid I watched enough television that I can still sing you the entire theme songs for Gilligan's Island and The Flintstones. Just look where that got me.

Take Two Interactive's (NASDAQ: TTWO) Rockstar Games was expected to release its latest game, Manhunt 2, on July 10 for Nintendo's (OTC: NTDOY) Wii and Sony Corporation's (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation 2 consoles. However, Britain, America's friendly Democratic neighbor, has banned sales for -- get this -- "unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone."

I think that is how my mother referred to my dress code back in high school.

The banning comes after a 14-year old British schoolboy was murdered by a friend, Warren Leglanc, age 17. The parents of the schoolboy blamed a video game for their son's death. Patric Pakeerah, the father of the murdered boy, welcomed the decision, saying "It's a video instruction on how to murder somebody; it just shows how you kill people and what weapons you use."

I'd hate to see if Mr. Pakeerah ever watched prime-time television. Or the news, for that matter.

Sony Corp.'s (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation 3 woes continue, as Nintendo Wii continues to pwn the new console. April video games sales rose 20%. PlayStation 3, which was launched alongside the Wii in November, sold just 82,000 units, down from 130,000 in March. Wii sold 360,000 units in the U.S., up from 259,000 in March.

Here's what's most telling: PlayStation 2, which was launched seven years ago outsold the PlayStation 3. Industry observers wondered whether PlayStation 3's price point was prohibitively high, and the continued interest in PS2 indicates that it probably was: Why buy PS2 rather than PS3 if not because of money? Sony will probably cut the price of the new system in time for the holiday season, and hope to recoup some of its investment on software sales.

Nintendo is also beating Sony as a game developer, scoring the top 4 biggest hits of the month. Activision Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) also had a good month.

If you're interested in buying stocks to capitalize on the upcoming sales of games for the next-gen console, here are some other options: Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), THQ Inc. (NASDAQ: THQI), Take-Two Interactive Software (NASDAQ: TTWO), and Atari Inc. (NASDAQ: ATAR).

If Sony (NYSE:SNE) is anywhere close to Mudville, there is no joy there. The sales for PlayStation 3 sales during December were routed by Microsoft Corporation's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Xbox and the Nintendo (NASDAQ:NTDOY) Wii.

According to NPD, which seems to be quoted as the research firm of choice in almost every press account of software and consumer electronics, PS3 sold 490,700 units in the U.S. during December. Xbox sold sold 1.1 million of its 360 machines and Nintendo sold 602,400.

There is a theory that if PS3 did not have a supply problem, it would have had higher unit sales. Would have, could have, should have.

The old PS2 actually outsold all of its competition hitting 1.4 million units in the U.S. in December.

Makes Wall Street wonder why Sony bothered with the PS3 at all.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 WallSt.

I've been watching Sony Corp. (NYSE:SNE) taking a bit of undeserved bad press as of late and honestly, I don't think I like it. Ever since their PS2 took 70% of the market share in its class, I've been a convert. Unless they really screw up, it's me and Sony to the end. Yes, I have a PS2 sitting on top of my television right now.

I've been seeing Sony's share price wilting a bit and I wondered why that's happening. Surely the jerkiness of the PS3 release couldn't be shaking up investors that much. So I've hunted around to get the consumer-level view of Sony operations as best I could and I haven't found anything that would warrant such a stock value drop. There are some mild concerns about the release price of PS3, or at least that's what some writers are saying. I won't quote those prices here because I'm sure they'll be fluctuating a bit. I also read some comments that PS3 would make it's debut squarely into a lack of supported new gaming titles. What I found was that besides the fact that they have engineered the PS3 to support the previous two version's titles, PS3 even has it's own "maiden voyage" game title called Resistance: Fall of Man. More than 20 PS3 specific titles should be available through the holidays, giving PS3 the best software lineup ever offered to support a gaming console at time of launch. That fact goes directly against much of the negative sentiment I've seen alleged. It's expected that the majority of those game titles will be available for less than $60.00.

Here's a side tip on that, in case you like tangible investments, if the Resistance game gets good reviews, pick up about a dozen copies and keep them sealed in their original packaging. In about five years they could be worth about three times your cost. Be sure you buy copies that state they are "launch issues" if at all possible.

The one slightly negative aspect that I did find in my research was that the hand controller that is used in some of the media presentations I've seen is a prop. From what I can tell, Sony is staying with the old Dual Shock controller design. That's fine by me. I like the old controller, it feels good in my hands and is, in my opinion, a piece of ergonomic brilliance. All I can say about the media prop controller is that it looks sharp but I can't imagine something that is devoid of angles as being easy to control in your hands, but then if you've seen how the kids work those controllers, smoother might be better. Some critics have tried to use the controller scenario against Sony. To them I say, "Give it up".

If you want to get a nice first hand view of the PS3 possibilities and realities check out this site.

The last issue I'll touch on in my defense of a higher stock value for Sony is this: Do any of those negative-comment slinging writers have the fortitude to admit that on November 17th Sony Entertainment Corp. is releasing the latest 007 thriller, Casino Royale which should have box office gross receipts over $450,000,000? Get the full introduction here.

Sony slashes prices of it's PS2 console from $149 to $129.  This is a good move on Sony's part to tap that last segment of the market that doesn't own a PS2 to buy one.  Any sales they generate now will help sustain the PS2 platform's longevitiy and relevance which will begin their decline once the PS3 releases in November.  This deals a solid blow to Microsoft's XBox gaming platform.

The video game market basically looks like this right now:

Manufacturer -- Current Gen Platform -- Next-Gen Platform
Microsoft  -- Xbox --  Xbox360
Sony -- PS2 -- PS3
Nintendo -- GameCube -- Revolution

Microsoft has already laid all its cards on the table: Xbox and Xbox360. 

Sony and Nintendo both have released Current Gen platforms, but have their Next-Gen platforms in the pipeline.

So it's logical for Sony to generate as many more sales of their Current Gen PS2 before they release their PS3 (the causation being that PS3 release = no more PS2 sales.)

What does this signal for Microsoft? 

Microsoft has sold 24 million XBox units and will hit around 5 million Xbox360 units by June.

Sony has sold 101 million PS2 units to date.  PS3 is set to launch in November 2006.

There's a time to go for the 'first-mover' advantage and Microsoft may have been right in going for it, but if you are going to be the 'first-mover' then you need to capitalize and take the 'advantage'. 

Sony is making a good move in using price tactics to undercut Microsoft's sales, knowing that the XBox is already obsolete and that Microsoft can't cut the XBox360 price.

[Photo via Sony]