In the wake of the recent E3 conferences we are beginning to get a clearer picture of how the big three console manufacturers are poised for the coming year. After the announcement of the new ready-networked PS2 package, the standard PS2 has shed $20, resulting in a shapelier $179 price tag. Not to be outdone, Microsoft has reduced the cost of its Xbox to [drum roll] …$179. Can you see what they did there? Whether or not those cuts will translate to pound sterling is unconfirmed, but not unfeasible.

Whilst Nintendo has yet to make any such mention of price cuts, president Satoru Iwata has suggested that work on the next console is well underway. As Microsoft and Sony battle it out to sell the most PS2s and Xboxes, Nintendo seem to be concentrating on an early start for the next war.

As for gaming on the move, the handheld market has really been shaken up by this year's E3. With Sony announcing its portable Playstation, Nintendo announcing a sizeable roster of GBA titles and Nokia stepping in with the new N-Gage mobile phone, it should be an exciting year for train journeys.