I’m opening myself up to complete public failure here, but in the spirit of Oscar weekend I thought it might be fun to share with peers and readers alike my picks for tomorrow’s 85th Academy Awards. Worst case scenario, I figure, is that my picks are so woefully off base that I’m quickly offered a well-compensated position within the Republican Party as a polling analyst. High hopes, I know, but ultimately it’s all in the name of fun. Here’s to hoping you the reader will enjoy comparing your predictions against my own and sleeping better at night as a result of your superior Oscar guessing power.

My half-witted Oscar picks aside, this week’s edition features category previews plus Adam and Matt’s own predictions, Snitch interviews with Dwayne Johnson and more, a character guide to Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, a roundup of recent Star Wars: Episode VII talk, and Sony’s PlayStation 4 announcement. Something that resembles a brief recap and link to each is starved for your attention after the jump.

Sony held a press conference in New York earlier today to announce their next-gen system, the PlayStation 4.  While Sony did reveal a fair amount of information as to the technology of the new console and the game developers who are expected to create software for the new system, there were no images of the console itself, no price points (though it’s been rumored at $429 and $529 for different models), and no hard release dates.  They did release a couple of looks at the new controller as well as a “Holiday 2013″ release window, but that was more than underwhelming for those who sat through the entire press conference.  Hit the jump to find out what we know so far. 

2010’s The Social Network proved that, with the genius pairing of an incredibly talented screenwriter (Aaron Sorkin) and director (David Fincher), a movie about something as trite as Facebook could be compelling, relevant, and entertaining.  With the success of that film still lingering, Sony may be looking at giving the same kind of treatment to another business-centered, “behind-the-scenes” film about a uniquely modern luxury: video games.

Battles have been waged in boardrooms for decades between rival video game console companies, with Microsoft and Sony currently duking it with the Xbox and PlayStation, respectively.  Now word comes that Sony may be developing a feature film to tell their side of this “Console Wars” story.  Hit the jump for more.

In 1999, gamers were given the opportunity to see who would win in a fight between their favorite Nintendo characters in Super Smash Brothers.  The series has gone on to become one of the gaming company’s most popular and lucrative franchises, and I was a bit surprised that no one else wanted a taste of the formula.  13 years later, Sony PlayStation has finally stepped into the ring to release their own exclusive character fighting game: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale.  According to Joystiq, the company has decided to clone the mechanics of both Smash Brothers and the fighting game Power Stone.

Hit the jump for more including the first footage from the game:

Amazon’s Gold Box Deal of the Day is Mass Effect 3 for $29.99 (50%) for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC.  While Bioware and EA have tried to bill the final installment in the trilogy as a place where newcomers can jump on, that’s stretching it.  Technically, you could start playing at ME3 and the massive Codex would fill in the backstory, but that’s not as much fun as playing the backstory.  The half-off is great because it gives newcomers the opportunity to save $30 bucks on picking up the whole trilogy, so today you could pay $66 on Amazon for all three Xbox 360 games (PlayStation 3 doesn’t have the first Mass Effect).  Despite the highly controversial ending of Mass Effect 3, the Mass Effect series is a high-water mark in gaming, and not to be missed.

Click here to go buy Mass Effect 3 for $29.99, and hit the jump for the game’s trailer.  [Note: Collider earns a small referral fee when our readers purchase something on Amazon through one of our links. The money generated helps pay our staff and keep the site running. Thank you for reading and supporting Collider.]