Conspiracy theorists, unite! Think espionage only involves Cold War era spies hopping back and forth across the Berlin Wall? Well, think again!

For millions of people, video games are happy distractions from life. For the hardcore fans, video games are a code to live by; to fight and die for. But for multi-billion dollar corporations like Microsoft and Sony, video games are a deadly serious business, where millions of dollars can be gained or lost with a bad demo, failed preview, or a lead developer who has had one too many martinis at a developer’s conference.

So what’s a little spying between friends? Let’s take a look at a few examples of recent possible economic espionage between some of the better known powerhouses.