Rumors and speculation have been coming out for a while now that Sony will be showing up to the E3 2012 party with a shiny new PS4 in hand thanks to videogame website MCV publishing a rumor story that E3 2012 was the magical time.

Today at CES the rumor was put to bed when Sony’s Kaz Hirai answered a question about the PlayStation 4 showing up at this year’s E3. ”Andy [House] is absolutely right in that we are not making any announcements at E3. I’ve always said a 10-year life cycle for PS3, and there is no reason to go away from that.”

The question now is: do you believe this is true?

This week’s PlayStation Store update is heaps better than the last two weeks combined as we finally have touchdown on the PSOne Classic Final Fantasy VI! Reported weeks ago as a coming soon addition from the Square Enix library, FFVI will run you $10 and, like all other PSOne Classics, can be played on PS3 or PSP.

PlayStation Plus subscribers get some super goodies (all of them free) this week starting with a free digital download of Tomb Raider: Underworld (the actual PS3/360 version)  as well as PSOne Classics of all 3 Spyro The Dragon games (Spyro The Dragon, Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage! and Spyro: Year of the Dragon) from Insomniac Games — the group responsible for the Ratchet & Clank and Resistance: Fall of Man series.

The December issue of  the interactive online magazine Qore is also available for download and sees the arrival of new host Jesse Blaze Snider and new field correspondent Tiffany Smith and features scoops on upcoming titles Final Fantasy XIII-2, Soul Calibur V and The Darkness II. While you’re there, grab yourself a free copy of the I Am Alive Dynamic Theme and PS3 Mini Orbit (which is an early exclusive for PS+ members).

Make sure to take advantage of the offers on these freebies because nothing on PSN stays free for long!

Launched in North America on November 17, 2006, the PlayStation 3 hits the 5 year mark today. It doesn’t seem like it’s really been half a decade since people were admittedly shelling out $600 for Sony’s newest entry into the console business but here we have it, the PS3 has proved itself as a solid system and is still picking up steam as it continues with it’s prescribed 10-year plan.

Thinking back on it, the PS3 had one of the slowest and rockiest starts in the industry. The systems were hard to find and the price tag for the console at launch made even the most ambitious of early-adopters pretty shaky. The Xbox 360 was already out the gates and had a yearlong head start (along with an impressive games library behind it) while Nintendo’s newest console (the Wii) was coming out in roughly 2 weeks after the launch of the PlayStation 3 and carried with it a very attractive price tag of $250. You could say there was some very heavy guns aimed its way.

In the five years since launch, Sony and their favored console has seen some of the biggest ups and downs this generation but at the end of the day, no one can say that the PS3 isn’t the sum of it’s parts. Having pioneered Blu-ray and beaten out Microsoft’s HD-DVD, Blu-ray has become a household name and was thrust into the forefront of digital entertainment. PS3 systems showed up everywhere triumphantly beside high-powered television and home entertainment rigs changing how movies (and television) would be watched. A vast catalog of features such as a built-in web browser, multimedia (music/video/photo) services, built-in Wi-Fi and out-the-box HDMI-readiness have helped to make the PS3 what it calls itself — a Computer Entertainment System.

Sony’s high priced demon was a force to be reckoned with, but the company did it at a considerable financial loss after manufacturing costs came into play. It took over 3 years for Sony to start making a profit on each unit sold — happening in early 2010. Hardware revisions helped to get Sony an upper hand as the system to this day has seen 10 different models (6 original and 4 slimline) each featuring less and less features — the biggest hit being the removal of PS2 backwards compatibility. Price cuts happened making the PS3 more appealing to the consumer and with a stellar lineup of first-party exclusives to run alongside regular console releases, entertainment is the name of the game.

The PlayStation Network, which is still free-to-use, keeps getting better and better offering an ever-expanding catalog of diverse gaming and movie options. The PlayStation Store is not the only face of PlayStation Network, as services like Netflix, Hulu Plus, Music and Video Unlimited offer more multimedia options to the system besides just gaming. PSN also loans its services admirably to enhancing the experience with Life with PlayStation (formerly Folding@Home) and the gamer lobby hub PlayStation Home.

With all the triumphs of the PlayStation 3, there have been a few fumbles along the way. Litigation over the patents for PlayStation’s trademark DualShock technology saw the system releasing in 2006 without a rumble controller. The Sixaxis controller (which bore the same shape and simliar design of Sony’s featured controller from the PS1 and PS2 eras) had to stand on its own for almost two years before seeing the reintegration of rumble to the controller. Sixaxis wasn’t a bad feature, but a lot of people were left at a disadvantage behind the fact that they had to manually manipulate the controller for enhancements to their games.

While the PS3 is built a lot sterner than its rival the Xbox 360, Sony would soon have to deal with similar nightmares as a result of product wear and tear when reports started showing up on forums and blogs about the dreaded Y(ellow)L(ight)o(f)D(eath). As with the RRoD, the YLoD basically signalled it’s time to spend more money and either replace your system or call Sony for repair (sometimes at a cost).

PlayStation Network took over 2 years to get a lot of the kinks straightened out and many a consumer felt that even with the service being free, the headaches sometimes didn’t justify all the hype. To make matters worse, PSN would suffer a critical blow to its viability after intrusions to the infrastructure resulted in a serious breach of private and financial information to Sony customers (PSN, Qriocity and SOE) and services on the PSN had to be halted temporarily. Sony managed to bounced back and through use of the Welcome Back Program, were able to not only regain the trust of the consumer, but to also bring in more and more customers.

With Sony’s vested interest in its current flagship console, the future is starting to look good and it’s definitely a good time to be a gamer — a PS3 gamer. Sony’s commitment to a 10-year strategy for the system means simply, more hard work and devotion for the consumers over the next 5 years. PlayStation Home has already received a facelift and Sony has started working on making PS2 games playable on the non-backwards compatible consoles via the PlayStation 2 Classics on PSN service. Sony has also made a better commitment to 3D and the PS Move which a lot of modern gamers/consumers view as little more than gimmicks.

Standing behind the slogan “It only does everything,” the PS3 is taking the spotlight at being the centerpiece of every living room.

Playstation Blog announced today that a PS Vita First Edition Bundle is set for the US and Canada and will be available in limited quantities. The bundle will be pre-sold at select retail locations starting today and includes the 3G + Wi-Fi model, a limited edition case, 4GB PS Vita Memory Card, and Little Deviants game for $349.99. The Canadian bundle includes a Wi-Fi model, a limited edition case, 4GB PS Vita Memory Card, and Little Deviants game for $299.99.

Anyone pre-ordering the bundle will be able to get their system on February 15 instead of the original February 22 release date. No information has been released for the locations taking pre-orders for the bundle. For more information about the PS Vita First Edition Bundle, head to the above link for PlayStation Blog.

If you caught Sony’s E3 show last month, you already know that the upcoming Street Fighter X Tekken is one title Capcom is working on for the Vita. Capcom even added Cole McGrath from Sony’s successful inFamous series to both the Vita and PS3 versions of the game as part of the partnership with Sony.

Reeves didn’t mention names of any other titles that are on the way for Sony’s next generation handheld but was gracious enough to say that the company is preparing one game for launch and teased that another release will be based off a popular IP in Japan.

“…There will be one launch title for Vita. I am not actually sure if it’s been mentioned, so I am not going to, but there will be a launch title for the platform. And then we will do Street Fighter X Tekken, and at least two others. I am sure you can guess what one of them has to be, considering the success in Japan.”

While there isn’t much else to go off of, the popular IP in Japan that Capcom is known for could point directly to the Monster Hunter series. The current PSP title, Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, has shipped over 4.5M copies in the last fiscal year and was even demoed earlier this year on PS Vita (to demonstrate the machine’s backwards compatibility). Capcom also showed off a demo of Lost Planet 2 running on the Vita in order to show the handheld’s ability to handle the MT Framework engine.

The possibilities exist for Sony’s powerhouse of a handheld! Which titles do you think could make the jump onto the platform?

No dates have been placed on when these games will be making it the PlayStation Store but once there’s more word, we’ll get it to you.