Are Sony and Blockbuster looking to form an alliance to bring Blockbuster's streaming video offer to the PlayStation 3? We'll know by 'early next year' says Blockbuster Video.
Sony and Blockbuster have some history together already. You may recall that Blockbuster was one of the first retailers in North America that they were going to be supporting Blu-ray on a much bigger scale than HD DVD. That announcement really got the ball rolling in Blu-ray's favor at the time.
Fast forward a year and we have Netflix signing streaming deals with every manufacturer they can find including an exclusive game console deal with Microsoft. Netflix has signed deals with TiVo Inc, Samsung, LG Electronics.
Now comes word from Blockbuster that, in the wake of their launch of Blockbuster OnDemand, they are actively seeking a partnership with Blu-ray player manufacturers. With Samsung and LG already in Netflix's corner, could this lead Blockbuster to seek out Sony as a... More »
After the secret source code for its then-unreleased shooter Half Life 2 showed up on file sharing services in 2003, game-maker Valve Software cooked up an elaborate ruse with the FBI targeting the German hacker suspected in the leak, even setting up a fake job interview in an effort to lure him to the United States for arrest.
The gambit ultimately failed, and Axel "Ago" Gembe remained safely in Germany. He was indicted last month in Los Angeles on new charges of creating the Agobot malware, and sharing it with a crew of U.S. hackers who used it to stage denial-of-service attacks in 2003.
In September 2003, the source code for the much-anticipated Half Life 2 game turned up online, and Valve's managing director, Gabe Newell, revealed that the company's network had been breached. In a post to the company's Web forum, Newell asked for gamer's assistance in finding the hackers responsible.
"If you have information about ... the infiltratio... More »
The term 'hacker' is perhaps not so accurate, but more and more forums are reporting stories of people whose PSN password suddenly changed and that with their credit card information, stored in the account, games are purchased by someone else.
With the numerous BETAs and codes which allow you to get additional content, there are a lot of people seeking access to these. They are sometimes fooled by others under false pretenses, and only their login and password to enter PSN is needed. Below is an example of someone who is trying to obtain someone's password to enter through the Home BETA.
People sometimes offer to 'swap' PSN games, however, if you have each other's account information you can download each other's games... this is not only illegal, but secondly someone can change your password so you no longer can access the account. Worse yet, others will be able to access your credit card information.
Sony nor their official developers will e... More »
Sony has announced it's online titles will host a variety of in-game Halloween events including EverQuest II's Nights of the Dead and more.
Press Release: GAMERS BEWARE: SONY ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT OPENS ITS BAG OF TRICKS TO THE ONLINE COMMUNITY THIS OCTOBER
Online Titles to Host Variety of In-Game Halloween Events Including EverQuest® II 's Nights of the Dead and First-Ever Star Wars GalaxiesTM Galactic Moon Festival
WHAT:
Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) conjures ghosts, ghouls and goblins for the gamer community in a variety of in-game events themed around Halloween. This October, EverQuest®, EverQuest® II, Star Wars Galaxies, Legends of Norrath™, Vanguard Saga of Heroes™, EverQuest® Online Adventures and The Matrix Online players can celebrate All Hallows Eve by participating in themed quests, donning avatar costumes and masks, and trick-or-treating for loot and candy!
Microsoft is suing shipping company DHL for allegedly losing 21,600 Xbox 360 consoles in a Texas train derailment, according to court documents.
In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle, Microsoft said it is seeking more than US$2 million in damages from DHL for two containers of Xbox 360 consoles that sustained "impact damage, wetting, pilfering and shortage" after a derailment near Duke, Texas.
The Xboxes were en route from a Microsoft office in McAllen, Texas, to Long Beach, California, for eventual delivery to Hong Kong at the time of the loss, which occurred on Oct. 13, 2007, according to court papers. Flextronics Industrial in Hong Kong was the intended recipient.
Microsoft claims that DHL has refused to compensate it for the loss, even though the delivery service "negligently breached its duties as a common carrier, handler, bailee, warehouseman, agent, or in other capabilities," acc... More »
This generation of consoles has barely got going, with the price war not really having even begun, and no sign of a winner yet being called (although the Wii is clearly the frontrunner). But, the next generation of consoles could be on their way sooner than we all think. The only question remains: who will actually be involved?
Actually I lied, the other question is when will the next-gen consoles actually arrive on the scene. We’ve spoken about this before, with 2010 being the earliest date mentioned in terms of when a new console could emerge from one of the big three, More likely given the state of the industry (healthy console sales but all three platforms still viable) is 2011 or 2012.
Nintendo is guaranteed to be in there. The Wii and DS have made the company so much money that it is likely to want to throw money at a new development in an effort to repeat the phenomenal success of this generation’s offerings.
Crytek is officially hiring for the PlayStation 3, prompting more speculation (from us) that its hi-tech PC shooter Crysis is heading to console in some form.
A job ad that's appeard on the Germans dev's Web site is advertising for a PS3 console programmer to develop "Next-Generation GameFramework based on CryEngine 2.0".
The applicant must have fives-plus or more years C++ experience and have shipped "at least 1 title for Nintendo GameCube, PS2 or XBOX or simultaneously." What if I've actually made two PS3 games then, is that not good enough to be a PS3 programmer?
The position doesn't come as too much of a surprise as Crytek's already gone on the record saying all of its future titles will be multiplatform from now on.
With that considered, this is probably a move to make CryEngine 2 work on consoles - but we'd still like to see Crysis on PS3, if only so we can run it.
The full job specs follow if you fancy your chance... More »
A funny thing happened a couple of months ago. After completing the PSP version of God of War, developer Ready At Dawn Studios posted a matter-of-fact news story on their site about how they were packing up their dev kits and sending them back to Sony.
The company behind one of the must-play games on the PSP was giving up on the system completely. Around the same time, Sony itself announced a new partnership program where universities could buy up PSP and PS2 development kits on the cheap. It would seem that Ready At Dawn isn’t the only studio giving up on the system.
Presumably, there is an assembly line at Sony headquarters where the old dev kits are repackaged for uni students. Maybe they throw in some typical student freebie favourites in the box, like free condoms, and booklets about doing drugs responsibly.
At any rate, this phase-out is already being felt at retail. There are fewer and fewe... More »
(3) 
