Siren

The pinball hitmakers Zen Studios that are behind popular pinball games such as Pinball FX and Pinball FX2 for the Xbox 360 and ZEN Pinball for the Playstation 3 have announced that ZEN Pinball will be coming to the Android smart phone and tablets that have NVIDIA Tegra integrated into their software. ZEN Pinball THD promises to set a "new standard for realistic ball physics and graphical detail in pinball video games employing cutting-edge visuals, challenging tables, true-to-life ball and table physics and combines them with innovative features not found in any other pinball game." "We’re really impressed with the never-before-seen experiences that Tegra brings to mobile devices. ZEN Pinball THD really takes advantage of Tegra’s graphics power for out-of-this-world detail and realism. It looks absolutely stunning. Pinball fans are going to love it.” - Zsolt Kigyossy, Managing Director: Zen Studios There is no set release date for the pinball game, however it will be on hand at the Google I/O Developer Conference in San Fransico on May 10 - 11. via Zen Studios

The sexy and intriguing mystery/puzzle game Catherine, that is releasing in the United States on the PS3 and 360 July 26 has gotten some new screenshots for you to admire. via Siliconera

Lobster monsters, UFO's and "cartoony" vehicles? Until more details are made known, this sounds like one Burnout game that might get the pass. via ESRB

Yesterday Sony blamed the "hacktivist" group Anonymous for the late April attack on the Playstation Network that has their online servers down for weeks and angered their users and sparked a congress wide investigation. Now that the investigation has begun the testimonial stage, can Sony point the finger at themselves after recent findings? Dr. Gene Spafford, a professor at Purdue Universtity and a security expert took to the stand yesterday and made claims that Sony knew that their servers were at risk for months, because of out of date Apache software. "....some news reports indicate that Sony was running software that was badly out of date, and had been warned about that risk.... Nonetheless, the increase in sophistication of attackers, and the growth in data do not totally explain all the incidents. My personal conclusion from reviews of reports in the pressand discussions at professional meetings is that operators of these systems — both in government and the private sector — continue to run outmoded, flawed software, fail to follow some basic good practices of security and privacy, and often have insufficient training or support. The most commonly cited reason for these failings is cost. The cost of providing better security and privacy protection is viewed as overhead that is not recovered in increased revenue, and it is usually one of the first things trimmed in budget cuts. Running outdated software and unpatched operating systems exposes citizens to risks and consequences whose cost a company does not bear. Therefore a company does not have an immediate economic incentive to make the investment needed to prevent breaches." - Dr. Gene Shappord via Committee of Energy and Commerce If this revelation proves to be true, Jeff Fox a Consumer Reports Techonology Editor told The Consumerist that Sony needs to blame Sony. "If Dr. Spafford's assessment is accurate, it's inexcusable that Sony not only ran obsolete software on servers containing confidential data, but also that the company continued to do so after this information was publicly disclosed..." - Jeff Fox, Consumer Reports Technology Editor Sony did not directly respond to the latest allegations, however Sony President Sir Howard Stringer released another apology on behalf of Sony. During the apology Stringer still blamed the hackers for the main reason for the security breach. "I know some believe we should have notified our customers earlier than we did. It’s a fair question. As soon as we discovered the potential scope of the intrusion, we shut down the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services and hired some of the best technical experts in the field to determine what happened. I wish we could have gotten the answers we needed sooner, but forensic analysis is a complex, time-consuming process. Hackers, after all, do their best to cover their tracks, and it took some time for our experts to find those tracks and begin to identify what personal information had — or had not — been taken." - Sir Howard Stringer, Sony President While the hackers may have caused the security intrusion that left millions of users wondering if their credit card and personal information had been comprimised, Sony needs to start thinking about if the recent allegations of known outdated server software can hold up in court and what this means for the future of Sony in the video game industry if it can be proven. via Playstation Blog

Sony who had previously apologized to users for the Playstation Network and Sony Online Entertainment security breach is now playing the blame game and has turned their attention once again to the infamous "hacktivist" group, Anonymous. Yesterday, Sony called out Anonymous and said that they are to blame for the reason that the security breach happened, because Son'y defenses were down while dealing with previous attacks from Anonymous. Anonymous fired back at Sony in a press release for Congress stating that they had nothing to do with the credit card theft. The security breach that has launched an investigation by the FBI and angered not only users, but members of government, has left the PSN down for weeks and Sony is trying to get service back up and running for it's users by the end of the month. via Games Beat

In a rather ballsy and "superior" word filled message, EA CEO John Riccitiello told investors that Battlefield 3 will dominate Call of Duty when the game releases later this year. "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 mystery deepens as EA continues to taunt Assassin's Creed fans by releasing small images on Assassin's Creed official Facebook page that flash symbols, numbers, and show what appears to Altair. 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

Microsoft has added a Military State billing address that now allows soldiers and their families in the Armed Forces of America, Armed Forces of Europe, and Armed Forces Pacific to play on Xbox Live . via Major Nelson

No you did not read that headline wrong. 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

Nintendo is dropping the price of the Wii to $149.99 as of May 15th. The black or white colored console will now come bundled with Mario Kart Wii and the Wii wheel accessory instead of Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort. The Wii wheel accessory can purchased seperately for $9.99. 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

After the new Assassin Creed reveal many were left trying to figure out the quick flashes and somewhat blurred image that appeared to be Altair's blade from the original Assassin's Creed. Ubisoft has released yet another fuzzy reveal that has further complicated the minds of many, however thanks to one quick thinking Turkish website, the locale for the new Assassin's Creed game may have been figured out. 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

EA Week continues on Steam with today's discounts being Need for Speed related. 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

Can you imagine fighting locusts with COG members in Gears of War alongside Halo's most recognizable character, Master Chief? It almost happened. Cliff Blezinski spoke to Complex about what could been. "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

It has been 50 years since Marvel introduced everyone to the world of the Fantastic Four and to celebrate Marvel Entertainment and Zen Studios are releasing a Fantastic Four DLC pinball table on Pinball FX for the Xbox Live Arcade and Marvel Pinball for the Playstation Network. 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

News from Sony is not good this morning after they admit to losing credit card numbers and detail the extent of how many accounts may have been effected by another revelation that the security breach extends beyond the Playstation Network and out to Sony Online Entertainment. 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

In a statement made late last week, Chief Executive of Nintendo Satoru Iwata explained one of the regrets that Nintendo is coming forth about with the once considered landmark console, the Nintendo Wii. "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 has took to Facebook to announce the newest game in the Assassin's Creed lineup. However it is up to you if you want to look at the reveal. 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.

According to Peter Kafka, writer for All Things Digital plans were finalized over the weekend for a merger between website behemoth IGN and the smaller UGO to form one company. 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 have had to take the SOE service down temporarily. In the course of our investigation into the intrusion into our systems we have discovered an issue that warrants enough concern for us to take the service down effective immediately. We will provide an update later today (Monday). 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

In an attempt to win back their user's trust who are outraged that their personal information was compromised during the recent Playstation Network security breach, Sony issued a public apology and is offering a "Welcome Back" program. "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.

If you are participating in the Gears of War 3 Beta then listen up. You have the chance to earn up to five "Buddy Tokens" that you can give out to your friends to join you in playing the beta. You have until May 4th to complete one of the following taks or if you are a true Gears fanatic then all five: 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

If you have yet to pick up Mortal Kombat for the Xbox 360 or PS3, you might want to head over to Amazon to check out their amazing deal that will save you $20.00. 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

Microsoft has to be grinning from ear to ear today with the announcement of their third quarter fiscal year earnings. Much thanks to their hands free device that just so happened to claim the title of the fastest selling consumer device in history, the Kinect, Microsoft's Entertainment & Devices Division grew to 60%. 2.7 million Xbox 360's were sold, while the Kinect moved 2.4 million units. Altogether Microsoft is looking at $16.43 billion dollar profit from their third quarter fiscal year with earnings from the Microsoft brand. via Microsoft Investor Relations

If you are planning on playing Fallout New Vegas on the Xbox 360, do not accept the new update that it asks you to. Today, Bethesda released a patch to fix some problems with New Vegas that gamers have been experiencing. Turns out that this patch needs a patch of it's own. Gamers have been complaining on the Fallout New Vegas forum over at Bethesda about the update not letting them use their save files and refuses to recognize any DLC. Bethesda took to their Twitter today to annouce that they are working on a fix for the buggy patch. "We're aware some folks are having New Vegas save issues . We're working with Microsoft on this and should have more information soon." - @Bethblog 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. "I logged into my bank account just to check everything was OK and I found out there was some just over $2,000 in charges which I didn't personally accrue," 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. "The FTC may have jurisdiction in this particular case because it involves the loss of customer data through a security breach," - FTC spokeswoman Claudia Bourne Farrell 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