The battle over video game 
motion control devices has moved to the accounting department.
Sony and Microsoft are both claiming to have momentum on their side with their new devices, releasing updated sales figures. No matter how you slice it, though, it’s clear that both the PlayStation Move and Kinect are enjoying a strong holiday season.
Sony’s keeping up the pressure in the console 
wars. The company has begun streaming content from BBC America onto the PlayStation 3.
Episodes of “Top Gear,” are currently available for $1.99 (standard def) and $2.99 (HD) per episode. Other programs, including “Doctor Who” and “Being Human” will arrive in December. To promote the new offering, Sony is offering users the chance to download an episode for free through Dec. 7.
[As Sony announces a tie-up with Vudu for HD 
movie streaming, Gamasutra editor-at-large Chris Morris looks at how the PlayStation 3 creator has started to gain ground on Microsoft’s array of on-console media content — the next big battlefield for game consoles.]
Long before Kinect, Microsoft had its own way of courting the non-gamer – offer functionality on the Xbox 360 that was unique enough to lure in people who weren’t interested in the latest Haloinstallment. And it was a pretty effective method.
With Netflix integration leading the charge in 2008, the Xbox 360 finally fulfilled the dream of the console as a Trojan horse of the living room. It gave the company a huge competitive advantage for a while, but recently that advantage has been slipping away. Sony, in particular, has gained a lot of ground in that battle and is threatening to overshadow Microsoft’s achievements.
As Major League Baseball reaps 
the benefits of expanding its online game streaming subscription package beyond the PC, the National Hockey League is getting in the game.
The NHL has announced its NHL GameCenter Live service is now available on the PlayStation 3, Roku and Boxee. The service, which was initially announced Oct. 5, lets subscribers watch up to 40 out-of-market games per week as well as classic matches.
Nintendo pioneered the motion gaming movement 
with the Wii. In September, Sony tried to better the experience with Move. And on Nov. 4, Microsoft will begin selling Kinect, which does away with controllers altogether. That’s when the battle will really kick into overdrive.
As holiday shoppers prepare their lists this year, they’ll be subjected to marketing blitzes and in-store kiosks for all three technologies, each hoping to separate people from their money. It’s the new front line for gaming companies and no one wants to be left behind.
Trying to decide which, if any, of these motion gaming experiences is right for you? We’ve broken down the pros and cons of each to make it easier.
Two years ago, Nintendo could do no 
wrong. The Wii was at the height of its retail domination and competitors were scrambling for second place.
Today it’s a much different story and the looming holiday season could be a crucial one that determines the strength – and perhaps the future – of the company’s core console business.
Up until now, PlayStation 3 owners who 
wanted to stream a film through Netflix’s “Watch Instantly” feature had to manually insert a disc into their devices. As of Oct. 18, they won’t have to bother anymore.
Next week, a system update will make instant Netflix streaming a native application on the game console – putting it in parity with the Xbox 360, which had exclusivity on dashboard streaming until now.
For the past four years, Nintendo has the market to itself 
when it comes to motion control gaming. That’s finally coming to an end – and it has some people wondering about how the company will fare moving forward.
In mid-September, Sony launched PlayStation Move, a motion sensor that mimics – and, in some ways, improves upon – the Wii remote. Come November, Microsoft will join the fight with Kinect, a camera-based system that eliminates the need for controllers altogether.
A year or so before the Wii controller was unveiled, 
I had the chance to sit down with Satoru Iwata, president and CEO of Nintendo. As I expect every other reporter did that day, I bobbed and weaved with him about what was so “revolutionary” about the company’s next product – and why they were guarding that secret so closely instead of getting consumers excited about it. His answer always stuck with me. Competitors, he said, tend to copy the company’s moves – and they wanted to own this market for as long as possible.
[As Sony’s PlayStation Move launches this weekend, Gamasutra editor-at-large Chris Morris gathers his thoughts about the debut of the PS3’s motion control device, and the intuitiveness and needle-threading it requires to satisfy all parties.]
A little over a week ago, my wife fell asleep early when we were watching TV. I knew if I played Halo: Reach, it would likely get too loud, wake her up and I’d be in the doghouse for the rest of the weekend, so I figured this would be a good time to do some testing with the new motion control device for the PlayStation 3, the PlayStation Move.
I had just set things up and was turning the system on when she woke up. She looked over at me, got a confused look on her face and asked, “Are you holding a vibrator?”
Chris Morris: Journalist 