£237 for a steering wheel? You could buy a car for that! (PlayStation 3)

How rich are you feeling? Fanatec brought their new Porsche 911 Turbo wheel to the GR offices for a hands-on demonstration… and left us gobsmacked when they told us it costs 300 Euros. That’s over £230 or $470. In other words a LOT of money, or enough to buy an Xbox 360 or Wii on its own.

So we asked the company’s CEO, Thomas Jackermeier, to give us five reasons why the wheel’s worth the money. And this is what he said:

God of War III will be at E3 (God of War 3)

It’s being reported that a Sony rep has let slip at the GDC Paris event that God of War III will make its debut at E3 next month in Los Angeles.

According to a few different French sites the game’s not likely to be playable at E3, but to be fair, it’s not expected out before the back end of 2009 anyway, so that doesn’t surprise us.

The only official mention of the game in recent months was an ad on the back of the manual for God of War: Chains of Olympus, saying that the game was “coming soon.”

Rock Band & Guitar Hero fight over Beatles (Guitar Hero World Tour)

Representatives of The Beatles estate are in talks with both Activision and MTV Games to include the band’s back catalogue in either Rock Band or Guitar Hero.

The deal could be worth several million dollars and could be reached within a matter of weeks, according to a source for the Financial Times.

Back in March, we reported that a top executive at the music publishing company that owns the Lennon-McCartney copyrights said he’d be interested in a dedicated edition of Guitar Hero for the Beatles.

UK developer: Game degrees ‘a waste of time’ (PlayStation 3)

David Braben has slammed British gaming degrees, claiming that developers are finding it increasingly hard to find UK graduates looking to enter the industry.

“95% of video gaming degrees are simply not fit for purpose,” Braben told the BBC. “Without some sort of common standard, like Skillset accreditation, these degrees are a waste of time for all concerned.”

Braben’s comments are highlighted in an article claiming that a number of industry jobs are moving from Britain to Canada, which has recently overtaken the UK as the third leading country for games development.

Japan: PS3 dominates hardware sales (Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots)

The release of Metal Gear Solid 4 and the ongoing success of PSP made it a Sony one-two in Japan last week, as PS3 skyrocketed to the top of the hardware charts.

In the week of June 9 to June 15, 75,311 PS3 were snapped up – a huge increase in sales over the previous week, in which the PS3 sold around 10,000.

Metal Gear did the trick, then, as it trounced the software chart with 465,000 sales, and Mario Kart Wii in second with a comparatively measly 38,000 sales, according to the Media Create figures here.

Full Guitar Hero: Aerosmith listing leaked (Guitar Hero: Aerosmith)

The complete listing for Guitar Hero: Aerosmith has appeared online and it’s somewhat more varied than the title suggests.

Whilst Aerosmith dominates the list, there’s a few choice tracks from artists like The Clash, The New York Dolls and Stone Temple Pilots.

Here’s the full list:

    * “All the Young Dudes” by Mott the Hoople (cover)
    * Draw the Line” by Aerosmith
    * “Dream Police” by Cheap Trick
    * “Make It” by Aerosmith (re-recorded)

Official: Trophies, in-game XMB in firmware 2.40 (PlayStation 3)

After what seems like years of rumour and speculation, Sony has finally spoken about the next major PS3 firmware update. You know, the one every PS3 owner has been waiting for since they bought the console.

We all knew that firmware version 2.40 would deliver that “in-game XMB access” we’ve all been gagging for, so messaging and other options can be done without having to quit your game.

But Sony has also confirmed that the update will include trophies, as well as some other new enhancements. Trophies are thought to be the PS3’s answer to 360’s Achievements system, but Sony is yet to give specific details.

EXCLUSIVE: First James Bond: Quantum of Solace screenshot (007: Quantum of Solace)

It’s been awhile since news spread about Treyarch developing the next James Bond game, and we’ve been waiting patiently to see the master spy back in action. At last we have the first sighting of the elusive man of action in Quantum of Solace, the game based on the next Bond feature. Here it is:

Above: An elusive exclusive

That is only a taste of the powerful amount of details and screens you can peep in the upcoming issues of Official Xbox Magazine and PlayStation: The Official Magazine, which should be hitting subscribers in the mailbox any day now.

Sony voted more innovative than Apple (PlayStation 3)

Remember Sony’s Walkman brand? It used to be synonymous with portable music players until Apple’s iPod wiped the floor with it, yet it’s Sony that’s come out on top of a recent survey on brand innovation.

Apple had to settle for second in the list after the Incite survey asked 500 people between the ages of 18 and 65 to name the brands they consider to be the most innovative.

Nintendo, renowned for innovation among the gaming community, ironically placed the lowest out of the three major console makers, slotting in at seventh below Microsoft at third. It seems that, despite selling a billion Wii consoles a day, Nintendo has yet to defeat Sony’s brand power among the masses.

US Marshals pay Jack Thompson a visit (Grand Theft Auto IV)

Jack Thompson was visited by a pair of US Marshals after he wrote a letter to Florida Bar member Judge Moreno, claiming Moreno was giving him fewer rights than a prisoner at Guantanamo bay.

According to Games Politics, Thompson wrote the letter on Friday expressing his frustrations that he can not obtain judicial relief in his battle against the Florida Bar.

“We find yesterday that enemy combatants at Guantanamo are to get more due process from federal judges than what I am to have,” he wrote.