One of the biggest issues with the PS Vita’s current firmware is its disappointing web browser. While it’s adequate for basic browsing, most online videos can’t be streamed (including YouTube) and there are no options to adjust simple settings such as universal zoom level. The browser supposedly supports HTML5 but for some reason you can’t stream HTML5 videos on YouTube.

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PS Vita is still a few months away for those of us outside Japan but that doesn’t mean we can’t drool over it from afar in the meantime.

Sony Computer Entertainment has just launched a new PS Vita themed series on the PlayStation YouTube channel which promises to provide plenty of tantalising glimpses at the console and upcoming PSV titles while we wait for February 22nd to roll by.

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During Microsoft’s E3 press conference, general manager of Xbox Live Marc Whitten made some exciting announcements about the new entertainment features which will be included in the 360 dashboard update this fall (i.e. fourth quarter).

Kinect will play a major role in streamlining your entertainment experience, as you’ll be able to search the entire Xbox Live marketplace (including Netflix, Zune and Hulu Plus) simply by using your voice.

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If you watched the first episode of the live-action Assassin’s Creed short films, and coloured yourself impressed, then you’d best get to watching the remaining two episodes of the series.

Entitled Assassin’s Creed: Lineage, this series of short films was created in conjunction with Ubisoft and their in-house FX house, Hybride Technologies, and tells the story of Giovanni Auditore, the father of Assassin’s Creed II protagonist Ezio, leading up to the events of the second game.

The first episode of the series was watched 1.7 million times on YouTube’s front page within a period of 24 hours, so go on and watch the rest of the films, including the credits sequence, below:

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Released on YouTube last week to the apparent acclaim of Assassin’s Creed fans everywhere, the first episode of Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed: Lineage live action short film was viewed 1.7 million times on the video service within 24 hours.

This makes the first episode of the three part Assassin’s Creed: Lineage series the most watched video (within a period of one day) ever released on YouTube.

Quite a feat!

Ubisoft also confirmed that all three episodes of Assassin’s Creed: Lineage will be released and available online as of November 13th, mere days before the release of Assassin’s Creed II over the week of November 17th.

It’s been announced that the platformer/user-generated content extravaganza, LittleBigPlanet for the PS3, has managed to reach over two million online players around the world, while 750 000 homemade levels have been uploaded for others to play.

Those 750 000 levels have generated over four million players comments, and no doubt lead to the game being played a whopping 125 million times. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe content and platforms marketing director Mark Hardy said:

“LittleBigPlanet is giving people from every walk of life the opportunity to express themselves creatively. The game is just the start. This is Creative Gaming: never-ending experiences that take on lives of their own through their players.”

In the announcement, a few of the better, more creative and ingenious levels were named, with titles such as ‘LittleBigPlanet Takeshi’s Castle,’ ‘LBP Jurassic Park,’ and ‘LBP-MotorStorm,’ as well as ‘LittleBigCalculator,’ ‘Uncle Fritz’s Funhouse Frenzy,’ ‘Huge Pinball Machine’ and ‘Illumina Garden.’

If you own LittleBigPlanet, you should definitely give those a go.

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Making further use of the trends of the web and the social online space, Sony has opened a YouTube channel dedicated to… what else but the PlayStation brand!

At the moment, it just contains the usual assortment of videos and content you could expect from a video service, but the plan in the future is to encourage user-created content to be uploaded, such as players’ own LittleBigPlanet videos. For example. From the site:

“Here you’ll find the latest videos about your favorite PlayStation products direct from Sony Computer Entertainment, as well as consumer generated clips from other PlayStation fans. To stay up to date, be sure to subscribe below and check back often for the new game trailers, behind-the-scenes footage, in-game moments, tips and tricks and exclusive sneak peeks.”

It looks pretty clean and nifty. Go check it out over here.

Yep, you read that headline correctly. According to Reuters UK (who has probably earned our trust), Youtube, the hugely popular video-sharing website, owned by Google, will soon begin to sell music and videogames through its service, as well as experimenting with new advertising methods to improve revenue.

It doesn’t stop there though. Youtube is reportedly to become a full-on e-commerce site, selling not only the aforementioned music and games, but films, TV shows, books, concert tickets and various other ‘media’ related products. Why media related?

Well, whenever someone watches a video on Youtube, they will be presented with the option to buy a product related to the video. For example, you’re watching a music video for a song by your favourite artist, right there on the site, you’ll be able to click a link to go buy music or DVD’s from that artist.

This will all be made possible by partnerships with various online retailers, including Amazon.com and Apple’s iTunes store, who will share the revenue generated by Youtube.

More on Reuters UK.