Sony’s PlayStation division finally has some good news, or at least some signs of it, amidst disappointing financial reports from Sony. Although the PlayStation group has reportedly lost 4.7 billion dollars since it launched the PS3 console, sales seem to be picking up.

Adding up its second-quarter results, Sony reports 3.2 million sales, a 1.1 million increase over the same quarter a year earlier. The same period also saw a signficant increase in game sales for the PS3 console.

Meanwhile, Sony’s little-engine-that-could, the PlayStation 2, is finally showing signs of decline. The system has been selling comparably to the PS3, as well as other current-generation competitors, the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii. Now, the PS2 has declined to 1.9 million in sales with only about half of the total games sold compared to the previous year.

The PSP also had a bit of a decline, dropping from 3.2 million to 3 million in sales, though game sales are up.

Sony bet heavily on the long-term adoption of its technically-superior PS3 console when it realased the device in November 2006. The console had to compete with the Xbox 360, which was out a year earlier, and Nintendo Wii–both of which had lower price-tags and comparable, or arguably superior, game libraries.

Adoption of the PS3 has been slower than Sony expected, but if sales continue to rise there’s hope for the PS3 yet.

Nintendo’s repackaging of its Nintendo DS handheld, the Nintendo DSi, has been given release dates outside of Japan.  Nintendo announced yesterday and this morning that North Americans can get their hands on a DSi this April 5, while Europeans can get theirs April 3, and Australians get it on April 2.

The Nintendo DSi is 12% smaller than the DS Lite, but features slightly larger screens.  The new package also boasts dual cameras — inside and out — as well as an SD memory card slot and new music playback features.

The Japanese market has been enjoying the DSi since November.

Sony North America has announced that it will drop online support for several older PlayStation 2 and PSP games. The servers for these games will be shut off on June 30. The games being disconnected are:

PlayStation 2 (PS2)

• Amplitude
• Destruction Derby Arenas
• Everybody’s Golf
• EyeToy Chat
• F1 ’04
• Jak X
• Lemmings PS2
• My Street
• Syphon Filter Omega Strain
• This is Football 2004
• This is Football 2005
• Twisted Metal: Black Online

PlayStation Portable (PSP)

• Lemmings
• World Tour Soccer 2

Guitar Hero has reached a milestone: In the 26 months since the first Guitar Hero title was released for the PlayStation 2, the rock-and-roll franchise has hit the $1 billion U.S. mark in its North American sales.

Activision, the game’s publisher, was quick to point out that Guitar Hero III broke sales records by both unit volume and dollar value for a single calendar year. Michael Griffith, Activision’s president and CEO, commented on the event:

“Guitar Hero is one of the biggest brands and one of the most powerful distribution platforms in all of entertainment today. Guitar Hero’s popularity with broad audiences is a confirmation that video games have become a true mass medium.”

The first Guitar Hero title hit the PlayStation 2 console in November 2005, and since then has spawned three sequels. The collective total sales is in the neighbourhood of 14 million units.

A big help to Activision in the dollar count is that each Guitar Hero title is sold both as a stand-alone disc and in a bundle with the guitar peripheral that allows gamers to rock-out in style rather than play with a standard game pad. Most Guitar Hero players have at least one guitar, while others purchased the new peripheral with each release, driving up the average dollar value of each sale.

Activision also said that in the weeks since Guitar Hero III was released, over five million add-on songs have been downloaded for the game.