(Credit: Sony)After riding so high last week at E3, Sony was bound to stumble eventually.

That happened Tuesday night, when some gamers who installed the latest firmware update (version 4.45) for their PlayStation 3s got a nasty surprise -- a bricked system.

The problems didn't affect everyone who downloaded the update, and Sony, it should be noted, has since pulled the firmware from its servers. But soon after the update went live, complaints started to pour in from users that their systems were not booting up properly.

Xbox One's Kinect camera at work (Credit: Microsoft)Privacy concerns surrounding Microsoft's Xbox One have reached Capitol Hill.

The U.S. House of Representatives has introduced legislation that could force the console to visibly alert users that they are being monitored.

The “We Are Watching You Act of 2013” bill (honest, that's the name) isn't just aimed at consoles, however. Its broader focus is any set-top box device that includes a camera capable of monitoring the activity of users.

The Nintendo 3DS was the month's best seller (Credit: Nintendo)Last week's E3 conference was a celebratory look at the growth that's expected to come in the gaming industry's near future. This week, though, it's back to the present -- and its harsh realities.

Retail sales of video game hardware and software were down 25 percent in May, according to The NPD Group. Total software sales -- combining console, portable games and PC titles sold at retail -- were down 44 percent compared to last year to $187.6 million.

Glory to Rome (Credit: Cambridge Games Factory)Not all successful Kickstarter campaigns can be called successes. In fact, some are downright tragic.

Ed Carter launched a campaign to raise money to create a deluxe version of his company's original card game, Glory to Rome, according to news blog Quartz. Carter initially sought around $21,000 in funding. Much to his surprise, he scored over $73,000 from eager backers.

So far, so good. But then things started to unravel. According to Quartz, Carter ran into problems when his head of operations, who spoke Chinese and could communicate with the company producing the games, called it quits.

Microsoft's Don Mattrick (Credit: Getty Images)Sony was E3’s big winner in large part because of the company's decision to price the PlayStation 4 at $399, a full $100 cheaper than Microsoft’s upcoming Xbox One.

But the man in charge of Xbox maintains Microsoft is offering an incredible deal.

Don Mattrick, president of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business, defended the Xbox One's price tag against the heavy criticism it has been receiving, telling Bloomberg TV the price is more than fair given all the system has to offer.

(Credit: Getty Images)The game industry’s annual E3 convention isn’t just about showing off new ways to play -- it’s also about showing up the competition and walking away the “winner” of the expo. Is “winning” a trade show a totally ridiculous concept? Absolutely, but E3 is a ridiculous trade show, a chaotic whirlwind of hot games, new technology, and enough corporate smack talk to make Donald Trump blush.

The idea of an E3 victory is so ingrained in the heart of the 20-year-old conference that it’s difficult not to think in these terms. Besides, it’s good fun.

So who “won” E3 2013? Truth be told, it was over before it began. With the show in the rear-view mirror, here’s how the Big Three are currently stacked up:

The epic saga of Duke Nukem has taken another unexpected twist.

3D Realms, the creator of the iconic gaming character, is suing Gearbox Software, saying it is due $2 million in royalties over sales of Duke Nukem Forever.

Gearbox was something of a white knight for the game, which many thought would never see the light of day. 3D Realms spent 12 years on Duke Nukem Forever, but was forced to lay off the entire development team when publisher Take-Two Interactive Software pulled all support for the game, having run out of patience for the constant delays.

Andrew House, president and Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment (Credit: Sony)“You could argue that it’s a storm in a teacup - a very vocal minority of passionate gamers,” says Sony Computer Entertainment chief executive Andrew House, speaking to Yahoo! News in Los Angeles this week. “This huge outpouring of feeling around the concept of ownership of content. But I have to say I don’t see it that way.”

British-born House was speaking in the wake of Sony’s press conference at the E3 game show, where Sony revealed that, unlike rival Microsoft, it would not use a digital rights management system to allow publishers to control the resale of used games.