115w ago - Update: IGN now reports that Sony stated the following regarding the Anonymous Hacker Group's actions, to quote:

"We are currently investigating, including the possibility of targeted behavior of an outside party. If this is indeed caused by such an act, we want to once again thank our customers who have borne the brunt of the attack through interrupted service. Our engineers are working to restore and maintain the services, and we appreciate our customers' continued support."

Shortly following, PlayStationLifeStyle.net reported that Sony has enlisted a DDoS Defense Firm to combat the hackers.

Today Wired reports that an anonymous hacking group originating from the 4Chan board has has officially declared war on Sony for alleged abuse, victimisation and privacy violations in the legal action against a group of PS3 hackers.

Sony's Sr. Director of Corporate Communications & Social Media Patrick Seybold has confirmed that PSN has been experiencing intermittent service...[/U]

230w ago - Earlier this month that David Jaffe, the brain behind the Twisted Metal and God of War franchises, had a big 'dog and pony show' with Sony.

Since then, it was revealed that this green light showing will take place Thursday morning. Jaffe and his studio are trying to get Sony's approval for the game at this meeting, so it's an important showing for Jaffe's fledgling studio.

Jaffe also said they were running a few nights of focus groups for the new title, one just about the concepts of the game, and the other actually showing the title off. Jaffe may have also accidentally slipped up and revealed the title of his game.

During his video blog, he shows a sheet of paper with questions for the focus group. Some people are saying with an image processing program you can read the title off the top of the page and it says Twisted Metal.





Perhaps if the moons align and the planets collide in the right way, you might be able to read it, otherwise we're stumped, but feel free to speculate and comment below!

238w ago - The National Institute on Media and the Family is to release its 13th annual video game report card today and have given a list of 10 games parents should not buy their children.

They are Blitz: The League II, Gears of War 2, Saints Row 2, Dead Space, Fallout 3, Far Cry 2, Legendary, Left 4 Dead, Resistance 2 and Silent Hill: Homecoming.

The group recommended the following five T-rated games: Guitar Hero World Tour, Rock Band 2, Rock Revolution, Spider-Man: Web of Shadows and Shaun White Snowboarding.

To quote: Bloodshed and brutality are staples in the list of 10 games to avoid. All the games were M-rated, intended for those aged 17 and over.

"Blitz: The League II" players can target which body part of their football rivals they want to injure. Warriors in "Gears of War 2" use a combination rifle and chain saw. "Saints Row 2" features gang violence and allows players to shoot police officers.

Other games listed were "Dead Space," "Fallout 3," "Far Cry 2," "Legendary," "Left 4 Dead," "Resistance 2" and "Silent Hill: Homecoming."

Meanwhile, the institute recommended five T-rated games, intended for ages 13 and older: "Guitar Hero World Tour," "Rock Band 2," "Rock Revolution" "Spider-Man: Web of Shadows" and "Shaun White Snowboarding."

250w ago - Accoding to GameViper, Spore has already been cracked and leaked onto the Web. One Web site is reporting that over 10,000 people are downloading the leak on just one public tracker. This all comes just days before the Official release date in North America.

For those unfamiliar with Spore: Maxis, makers of The Sims, present the next big bang - Spore. Create your unique creature and guide it on an epic journey through a universe of your own creations.

To quote: After news of Spore breaking the street date in Australia, we hear that Spore has already been cracked by a group called "RELOADED" despite it's use of SecuROM, the anti-pirating software. (the same one used in BioShock) There are currently over 10,000 people downloading the game on just one public torrent tracker. All this 4 days before the game even comes out in North America.

Direct2Drive is allowing pre-orders of the game for those who want to download Spore legally.

264w ago - Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 is the leading web browser, but the fresh-outta-beta Firefox 3 and Apple's Safari 3.1 are gunning for its crown, each claiming new speed records. So which is the fastest? We fired up all three to find out

A few short years ago the browser war seemed dead and buried. After Microsoft's Internet Explorer usurped Netscape's Navigator in the late 1990s, it's domination of the Internet seemed complete, over 95 percent of us using a version of IE.

Those days are gone. The guts of Navigator were reborn in 2004 as Firefox, a browser that has been drinking more and more of IE's milkshake ever since. Firefox now owns at least 18 percent of the market, with some estimates giving it more than a quarter.

More recently, Apple has threatened to start a three-way fight, using the software updater included with iTunes to slip its Safari browser onto PCs. While its market share is miniscule - less than one per cent among PC users and around three per cent overall -Safari offers a PC users a credible third choice.

Meanwhile, IE 7 is groaning under the weight of bad press, criticised for its instability and sluggish performance. Apple is trumpeting Safari 3.1 as the world's fastest browser, while Firefox 3 - which is now out of beta and into the...