Here on the PlayStation.Blog we give you plenty to read but perhaps not enough opportunity to speak. That’s going to change, starting with a new regular feature: The Friday Debate.

Each week, I’ll set a conversation topic and invite you to speak your brains in the comments. It could be the hot gaming topic of the week or something completely off the wall. If anyone would like to suggest a discussion topic, let me know in the comments or via Twitter.

This week’s topic came to mind during yesterday’s live chat with four minis developers. One of our readers, Rebecca, asked if the guys knew many female developers and, while they did, they said that the industry is still predominantly male.

As an extra bit of background, the reader survey that was conducted on the blog recently showed that more than 98% of respondents were male.

Are you a female gamer, or a woman that works in the games industry? Are your gaming communities, be they on forums or your PSN friends list, mostly guys? Do you think that there are particular games that appeal to women or is it a case that we’re all gamers, regardless of gender, and that it’s pointless making the distinction.

Let’s discuss this in the comments section and, as with anything new I try on here, let me know if you want to see more of this in the future.

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If you cast your mind back just a few short weeks ago, you may recall that, at E3, a brand spanking new trailer was revealed for Gran Turismo 5.

Some of you may also recall the title track – a guitar-driven composition by specially commissioned musician, Daiki Kasho.

Thanks to this track you have the chance to get your name immortalised in what is destined to be one of the biggest titles to grace the PS3.

So just how might such a thing happen? Well it’s pretty easy really. First, have a listen to the trailer.

Then having being suitably inspired or moved, simply think of an appropriate song title and send in your entry to gtcom-song2010-eu@polyphony.co.jp. You can find more details about the competition, as well as everything else GT, at gran-turismo.com

Kazunori Yamauchi, the GT series creator, will then select his favourite title. All you have to do after that is wait for your moment of glory when your mates check your name in the ‘Special Thanks’ section of GT5 when it launches later this year.

You haven’t got long to get your entries in – the competition closes at 11.59PM GMT on 25th July 2010, so best get a move on.

There’s plenty more news to come on Gran Turismo 5 and its going to be on here and gran-turismo.com so don’t forget to keep checking back.

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A couple of weeks ago we had some pretty cool prizes up for grabs with our The Karate Kid competition. If you were a martial arts movie fan, we asked you to write a review of your favourite martial arts film. So, quite a few of you spilled your hearts out about your love for kung fu, karate, kick boxing, ninjutsu, dakenthaijutsu (maybe not that one so much) films!

The submissions have been reviewed by the judges, who have chosen their favourite reviews – some made them smile, some made them desperately want to watch the film and some just made them want to do a high five kung-fu kick (a-hem). The best reviewer per territory will not only win tickets to attend the premiere, but also a Sony Vaio P Series and a Sony Bloggie camera.

So, here are the lucky winners:

• London: David Hill
• Berlin: Burhan özacardi
• Paris: Mohamed Haddag
• Madrid: Enrique Arroyo Terán

Check the Blog next week for yet another Karate Kid promotion…

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Live is such a scary word in this business but I’m throwing caution to the wind and inviting four of the brains behind the finest minis available from PlayStation Store in for a live chat.

From 4pm UK time we have:

• Antonio José, CTO & Chairman at StormBASIC Games, publisher of the minis Tehra Dark Warrior and Dynogems.
• Paul Croft, Cofounder & Director of Games at Mediatonic, publisher of the minis Monsters (Probably) Stole My Princess and the upcoming Who’s That Flying?!
• Joe Dixon, Lead Coder at Tag Games, publisher of the minis title Car Jack Streets.
• Martin Brouard, Executive Producer at Frima Studio, publisher of minis Zombie Tycoon and Widgets Odyssey.

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Hi Everybody,

It’s my great pleasure to announce to you today that James Gallagher is now officially our new Blog Manager.

I’m sure you’ll all agree with me that James, over the last month, has been doing a fantastic job of updating you with the latest news from E3 and creating some original and interesting features. I particularly liked the build up to E3 with the reviews of the previous years. If you’ve missed these posts you can read them here

James comes from a journalistic background and has a high interest in games. He has been creating content for eu.playstation.com for the last two and half years.

When James applied for the job, I asked him what he would like do differently on the blog and he had some really good ideas; you can definitely expect more interactive content such as live chats and competitions. But above all, James will do his best to be at the start of conversations between you and PlayStation whether you read the Blog, follow us on Twitter or get involved on our Facebook fanpage .

Please join me in congratulating James for his new position and don’t hesitate to let him know what kind of content you’d like to see more of on the Blog.

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