Sony's defence against Halo 2

Microsoft will put its massive marketing might behind the imminent launch of Halo 2 on November 11. Good game or not (and no one knows, because MS has refused to preview the single-player game until next week. Which is a little bit suspicious), it's bound to sell a million and get PS2 owners thinking: maybe I should get an Xbox for Christmas. Mind you, GTA: San Andreas is bound to be another PS2 smash, reinforcing the platform's desirability this Christmas.

Yet Sony still seems a little worried about Halo 2. What's it got in reserve to combat the Halo effect? I think I saw the answer last night and its name is Killzone, a war-based FPS exclusive to the PS2 which is due on November 26. It look terrific, plays well and builds in 16-player online multiplayer. Sweet.

Many gamers tend to buy purely on the strength of the ads, so the size of marketing budget will have a strong influence on the outright winner. Sony Ireland is furiously pushing Killzone and is believed to be setting aside €250,000 in the marketing kitty to pump up the sales.

Looks as if this will be the mother of all skirmishes in a game of my ad is bigger than your ad. Nonetheless, given the number of PS2s sold in Ireland and hence the number of potential customers, the smart money's on Killzone coming out as top gun.