Posted 6/29/11 12:32 pm EST by Matt Clark in News, NGP, PS3, PSP
There's some corporate shuffling going on over at Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Given the company's recent troubles, you would be forgiven in thinking that someone within the group had received the axe, but it's actually quite the opposite. Kaz Hirai, SCEI's president and chief-executive officer, has been promoted to the position of chairman, effective September 1. His vacated seat is filled by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe president and chief-executive officer, Andrew House.
Posted 6/22/11 1:01 pm EST by Matt Clark in 3DS / DS, iPhone / iPad, Mac, News, PC, PS3, PSP, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360
Every year, judges from a wide variety of gaming media – including our own editor-in-chief, Russ Frushtick – vote on what they feel are the standout games on display at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Before those final votes are cast, however, the group releases their list of nominees. That list of hopefuls just went up, and though there aren't many surprises among the 17 different categories, it does serve as a nice snapshot of the industry's biggest upcoming games.
Posted 6/21/11 12:50 pm EST by Matt Clark in News, PC, PS3, PSP
Last week we told you about the hacking group LulzSec, who had claimed responsibility for shutting down a number of video game sites and servers. Games like "Minecraft" and "EVE Online" were taken down for a short period of time, and the group has since moved on to high-ranking government sites. Today, it seems as though Scotland Yard is investigating an arrested 19 year-old man for connections to the group, and his involvement with a recent wave of government distributed denial-of-service attacks.
Scotland Yard is also looking into the man's possible connections with the recent Sony data breach.
Posted 6/20/11 5:48 pm EST by Matt Clark in 3DS / DS, News, PC, PS3, PSP, Xbox 360
Fans of "Star Wars" and Traveller's Tales' ongoing Lego games franchise have something new to look forward to this fall. No, it's not another "Lego Star Wars" game – seriously, there's already a lot of those – but it does feature the characters from the games. It looks like the plastic heroes are coming to the small screen for a television special this September. The special is based on "Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars," which means it's a television special, based on a video game, based on a television show. My eyes just crossed.
Posted 6/14/11 4:19 pm EST by Jason Cipriano in 3DS / DS, PSP, Reviews
For the last three years, Arc System Works and Aksys games have been trying to make a dent in the crowded fighting game market with their entirely original creation, "BlazBlue." Three updates later, and it looks like the battlers that reside in the The 13th Hierarchical City Kagutsuchi may be here to stay, reinforcing the idea that you can release a new 2D fighter in the West and have it catch on. "BlazBlue Continuum Shift II" is the latest update to the series, and its first full appearance on handheld systems.
Posted 6/2/11 1:56 pm EST by Matt Clark in News, PS3, PSP
The day has finally come: the PlayStation Store is back online. Starting today, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable users can finally download all the content they've missed out on since the service went down on April 20. It's a few days late, but hey, at least it's back. If you've been waiting anxiously to play through the "Fallout: New Vegas" Honest Hearts expansion or to grab the "L.A. Noire" Rockstar Pass, now's the time.
Posted 5/31/11 2:04 pm EST by Matt Clark in News, PS3, PSP
Hey, remember when Sony said the PlayStation Network would only be down "for a day or two," and how PlayStation 3 users were subsequently unable to play online for nearly a month? Remember how after PlayStation Network partially went back up on May 15, how the company said that other services – like PlayStation Store – would see full restoration no later than May 31? Well, today is May 31, and the PlayStation Store is still down. This time, Sony says the service is going back online "by the end of the week."
Posted 5/24/11 5:21 pm EST by Matt Clark in News, PS3, PSP
There's still no sign of the PlayStation Store. Last week, we reported that Sony's development and publishing partners were given notice that the online marketplace may actually return today, May 24, instead of the previously announced deadline of May 31. It looks like PlayStation users will have to wait perhaps another week before they're able to access downloadable-content and games.
Posted 5/19/11 5:41 pm EST by Matt Clark in News, PS3, PSP
The PlayStation Network went back online Saturday, but certain elements are still missing from the service. Namely, the PlayStation Store – the online marketplace for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable users – has been delayed in relaunching, presumably to ensure data is secure from another breach. While Sony has maintained that it plans to have all network features back online by May 31, a Sony memo to developers claims that the company is looking to place the store back online on May 24.
Posted 5/18/11 11:51 am EST by Matt Clark in News, PS3, PSP
UPDATE: Sony's senior corporate communications director, Patrick Seybold, has commented on the exploit issue via the PlayStation Blog.
"We temporarily took down the PSN and Qriocity password reset page. Contrary to some reports, there was no hack involved. In the process of resetting of passwords there was a URL exploit that we have subsequently fixed," Seybold writes. "Consumers who haven’t reset their passwords for PSN are still encouraged to do so directly on their PS3. Otherwise, they can continue to do so via the website as soon as we bring that site back up."
So, no "hack," but there was an exploit; seems like a matter of semantics to me. As of this writing, the web-based network login is still "down for maintenance."
ORIGINAL STORY: Well, it looks like the hackers are not quite done with Sony, just yet. Sign-in capabilities on PlayStation websites has been disabled, and according to Eurogamer, this isn't just routine maintenance. The site claims to have seen video evidence that an exploit has been discovered which allows anyone with a PlayStation Network user's associated email address and birth date to take over the account; the exact same information compromised during last month's data breach.