"We know we have a big competitor but head-to-head with Call of Duty in Q3, we have the superior game engine, a superior development studio, and a flat out superior game. Our goal is to significantly gain share in the huge FPS category and to put the other team on defense" - John Riccitiello, EA CEO

via Eurogamer

The latest reveal which appeared yesterday shows fans an assassin that appears to look like Altair. When the image starts to turn fuzzy glimpes of a double headed eagle carrying a sword and shield appear making some wonder in the comment section of the Facebook page if this game will feature two assassins instead of just one.

The first two reveals have also led gamers to question if the game will be set in Istanbul, why Ezio's birthday appears in the second reveal, and if the image of the assassin really is Altair.

Ubisoft is remaining mum about the details and if the indicator on the Facebook page that shows a 7% unlock is right, it might be awhile before we find out if any of these guesses are correct.

via Assassin's Creed Facebook Page

"We hope this makes it easier for the men and women in the United States Armed Forces to stay connected to the Xbox Live community," - Xbox Live's Major Nelson

via Major Nelson

In case you missed it at the end of April, there is free (YES FREE) DLC for WWE All Stars for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. The "Compatibility Pack 1" includes the Honkey Tonk Man.

via Marketplace

Also announced is the "Nintendo Selects" lineup of games that include Animal Crossing: City Folks, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and Mario Super Sluggers. These games will be priced at $19.99 and will feature a red cover with a gold seal in the upper left corner.

via Nintendo Press Release

Oyungezer analyzed the flashing photos down to the numbers and images in the background and discovered that one image appears to be the historic Hagia Sofia, another image that flashes briefly across the screen highly resembles the Ottoman Tughra which the official seal for an Ottoman Sultan, and if you watch closely you'll see the numbers "24061459" which Oyungezer believes is suppose to represent the birthday of Ezio which is June 24, 1459.

What do you think Gamercide? Is Oyungezer on the right track to figuring out these sneek peek reveal trailers that has left everyone puzzled?

via Joystiq

• Need For Speed Hot Pursuit - $29.99, $14.99
  
• Need For Speed Shift - $19.99, $6.80
  
• Need For Speed Undercover - 9.99, $2.50
  

via Steam

"I actually approached Microsoft on getting Master Chief into the game, but those guys are kind of squeamish. One of Halo’s successes is that it’s a soft M [rating]. Gears pushes it further. I’m creatively comfortable with that, though it can limit what you do. If you had to break it down, I'd say that Gears is like Mortal Kombat and Halo is like Street Fighter. But if we were to get Master Chief, we'd get his model, put him in a COG suit, make it blow up, and do some test animation work. We'd have to see what his head looks like being blown to smithereens or how his arm would look getting sawed off."

Somehow I doubt Microsoft was excited about the idea of blowing their beloved green Spartan into tiny, bloody pieces.

via Complex

The brightly colored table that features all four members of the superhero team will release on May 17 on the Playstation Network and on May 18 on the Xbox Live Arcade. The table will also contain new Achievements and Trophies for those of you looking to add to your collection or boost your gamerscore.

via Zen Studios

Approximately 12,700 non-US credit and debit card information was stolen from outdated databases in 2007, along with 10,700 debit records in other countries such as Australia and Germany.

"The information from the outdated database that may have been stolen includes approximately 12,700 non-U.S. credit or debit card numbers and expiration dates (but not credit card security codes), and about 10,700 direct debit records of certain customers in Austria, Germany, Netherlands and Spain." - Sony Online Entertainment Press Release

Not stopping there with details Sony further went on to release a statement regarding how many SOE accounts may have been breached as a result of the April 16-17 security intrusion.

"The personal information of the approximately 24.6 million SOE accounts that was illegally obtained, to the extent it had been provided to SOE, is as follows:

· name

· address

· e-mail address

· birthdate

· gender

· phone number

· login name

· hashed password

In addition to the information above, the 10,700 direct debit records from accounts in Austria, Germany, Netherlands and Spain, include:

· bank account number

· customer name

· account name

· customer address" - Sony Entertainment Online Press Release

Sony did say that this was not a new attack and that the issues with the Playstation Network and this newly founded second security breach happened at the same time in April.

Over the weekend Sony issued an apology to it's Playstation Network users and has offered a "Welcome Back" program and stated that they will handle credit card theft issues case by case.

via Joystiq

"I now regret that we didn't tie up with someone outside the company to market the Wii. If we had done that, the fate of the Wii might have been different. Now I am aware that we should not rely too much on ourselves. You will see what I mean by this when we market the 3DS and the Wii in the future." - Satoru Iwata, Nintendo's Chief Executive

Hopefully these regrets will turn their newly announced console that will be on hand at this year's E3 into a machine that their fans and third party developers can enjoy.

via Reuters

Ubisoft teases the reveal on the offical Facebook page for Assassin's Creed and only offers to show it if you hit the "like" button. Upon hitting the like button you are shown images that appear to be a very familiar assassin's blade.

No news on how or if this will have any effect on IGN's other smaller websites like GameSpy and UGO's 1up or if there will be any job cuts.

via The Escapist

We apologize for any inconvenience and greatly appreciate your patience." - Sony Online Entertainment Home

This statement can be found on the home page of Sony Online Entertainment's website making many question what is truly going on behind the scenes at Sony's camp, because according to Shack News Sony originally reported that SOE's servers were safe as they were kept seperate from the Playstation Network.

"We have been conducting a thorough investigation and, to the best of our knowledge, no customer personal information got out to any unauthorized person or persons." - Linda Carlson, SOE Director of Global Communications

via Shack News

"We deeply apologize for the inconvenience we have caused," - Kazuo Hirai, Chief of Sony's Video Game Unit

This apology made by Hirai also accompanied by an admittance on their part that they did not do enough to ensure that their users personal data including credit card numbers and birthdays were protected and that they knew about the attacks on April 17, however according to Fox News he denied that Sony purposedly delayed the announcement of the cyber attack.

Hirai later stated that regaining the trust of their users is one of the most important issues of all.

"I see my work as first making sure Sony can regain the trust from our users," - Kazuo Hirai, Chief of Sony's Video Game Unit

A writer from Japan who focuses on electronic security said that Sony will have a hard time recovering.

"What became clear today is that Sony didn't even know its server had a vulnerability. Sony's crisis management came too little, too late." - Yoh Mikami, Writer

What has become clear to many is that Sony is making attempts to win back their Playstation fans by offering a "Welcome Back" program when the Playstation Network is restored which they are estimating that some services will return this week and full service should be up and running in one month. The "Welcome Back" program will have the following with more to come.

• Each territory will be offering selected PlayStation entertainment content for free download. Specific details of this content will be announced in each region soon.
  
• All existing PlayStation Network customers will be provided with 30 days free membership in the PlayStation Plus premium service. Current members of PlayStation Plus will receive 30 days free service.
  
• Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity subscribers (in countries where the service is available) will receive 30 days free service. - The Playstation Blog
  

Sony's offerings to the Playstation community might be a little too late as a breakdown has emerged via Twitter from Mark MacDonald that shows how many accounts were at risk during the security breach that has caused everybody from senators to the FBI to get involved.

• Purchase Gears of War content on the Marketplace
  
• Play the Gears of War 3 beta for 20+ hours
  
• Purchase a 12 month Xbox Live subscription
  
• Play 100 hours of any Gears title
  
• Played one game of Gears of War 3 in the beta
  

If you complete any or all of these tasks, you will receive your tokens via email on May 8th that you can give out to your eager Gears of War friends. The tokens are part of the "Never Fight Alone" promo for the Gears of War 3 beta.

via MMOFG

As of yesterday, Amazon discounted both versions of Mortal Kombat from $59.99 to $39.99. No news on if this game deal is temporary or a permanent price slash.

via Amazon

via Eurogamer

News has broke this morning that the possible first case of credit card theft  from the Playstation Network security breach that happened last week may have been reported.

Rory Spreckley from Australia told ABC News that he logged in to check his bank account and noticed that there were $2,000 worth of new charges billed to his account that he did not make.

Sony has not made an official comment regarding this or another report that Playstation hacking site PSX-Scene is claiming that an underground website is trying to sell 2.2 million credit card user information from Europe that was supposedly stolen from the recent Sony security breach.

In the US, San Diego's FBI cyber crime units has gotten involved in the Sony case along with Attorney Generals in 22 other states and possibly the Federal Trade Commision who are all just trying to make sense of how the Playstation Network's security was compromised on such a huge level.

As the trouble mounts for Sony publicly regarding the intrusion of privacy, behind the scenes the trouble may be effecting the electronic's giant financially.  According UK Reuters, anaylists are estimating a $1 billion dollar loss for Sony as the aftermath of the security breach continues.

via Game Politics

Starting June 17th the kiosk based movie rental provider, Redbox, will finally move in to the games market at all it's locations.  With over 21,000+ locations nationwide, the $2 per day rental fee seems like a pretty decent price point.  Selections will include select games for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and the Wii.  The service has been tested in over 5,000 locations and must have done fairly well, with the full launch coming soon.

Check out the full press release:

Sony has responded publicly to Playstation users by stating on the Playstation Network Blog:

via Joystiq

South Korea has taken over the parent's job to monitor their children's onling gaming habits and are in the process of voting in a law that is being dubbed, "The Cinderella Law". 

The new law which was has survived rounds of voting with a unanimous "Yes" decision since last April, gives the country the right to restrict the hours that a child under the age of 15 can play online games.  The hours that will be restricted for online gaming only if this law is approved by the country's national assembly will be from midnight to 6 am.

According to World in Motion, South Korea ran a test during the original proposal of the "The Cinderella Law" that slowed down the connection speed of some online games when children remained logged in for consecutive hours.

South Korea is trying to address the high numbers of gaming addiction related deaths that have happened over the years in their country.

via Game Politics

The always under fire and controversial website, Wikileaks have released documents regarding Al Qaeda's plot to use Sega Cartridges to kill high profile individuals including Bill Clinton and Pope John Paul II.

Still want to find that Sega Genesis game that you have been searching for to add to your classic collection?

via Game Politics

How about this for adding some zombie loving spice to your DLC ?  Activision has announced that George Romero, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Robert Englund, Danny Trejo, and Michael Rooker are all in the "Call of the Dead" Zombies mode map for the latest piece of DLC for Call of Duty Black Ops, Escalation which is due out May 3 on the Xbox 360.

All of the celebrities have not only provided their voices, but their characters also look nearly identical to the real life version of themselves.

via Joystiq