Microsoft and Sony have always been in competition for the hearts of the gaming masses. That said, one of the biggest draws for their two consoles has to be their respective online component.

Let's take a look at Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network in some detail, checking out their strengths and weaknesses, as well as what we think they should do to ensure a bright future for the respective services.

It's Thursday once again and it means another obligatory PlayStation Store update from the people at Sony. This week sees the return of Ubisoft's mascot, Rayman, as well as some downloadable puzzles with elephants. Want to know more about the latest update? Check out our full article after the jump.

Over on the FuSa project website, there's a new update that should make PSP users everywhere want to pick up a future version of FuSa for their PSP Slims. It seems highly possible that the next release of FuSa will support PS1 (POPS) games. Learn more after the jump!

We know hardly any of you would look this way, now that your pre-order of Snake's final chapter has shipped to your doorstep. But Sony would just like you to know that they've added new things to the US PlayStation Store this week, and some of it's even angled to enhance your Metal Gear Solid 4 experience. There's also a slew of free downloadable content for both the next generation console and the PSP, as well as UMD titles finally hitting the PC store. Read more to get the full list.

Ah, Kojima and his delightful sense of humor. It's a good thing that we're going to get more of it in Konami and Kojima Productions'  Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. In the video embedded in the full article you're going to see Otacon break the fourth wall and make a fun reference to the older MGS games; specifically, their need to swap discs.

Thanks to Rick for the tip!

Remakes of highly-successful games make for great gaming opportunities, and it seems the PSP is the way to go when it comes to Japan's system of choice for such a venture, according to a recent poll done by Dengeki Online. Learn more about the poll after the jump.

The PSP version of flOw has gone live on the European PlayStation Store. Along with flOw comes the Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare variety map pack and more demos, trailers, themes, wallpaper and PSOne games. Hit the full article for the complete list.

PSX2PSP lets you play your old PSX titles to your Sony PSP using a simple interface. With the previous build in mind, veteran homebrew coder KingSquitter decided that no more updates will be done, rather, just minor bug fixes. Version 1.3 brings us support for the conversion of multi-games. More details after the jump.

Download: PSX2PSP v1.03

Things are definitely looking up for Sony this 2008. As for those who own the PlayStation 3, you guys are in for one great year. In an interview, Sony's marketing VP, Scott Steinberg, dropped hints on a few upcoming features for their console. Read about them in the full article.

We just got wind of the latest developments on the rumor about Sony's 80 GB PS3 model being phased out in the future. Apparently, there's information that GameStop will no longer receive new shipment of the console. Details after the jump!