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Things just keep worse for the electronic's company who admitted to a security breach one week after it actually happened, leaving millions of user's credit card information among other personal information out in the open. Sony was slapped with the Class Action Lawsuit by the Rothken Law Firm in California. "We brought this lawsuit on behalf of consumers to learn the full extent of Sony PlayStation Network data security practices and the data loss and to seek a remedy for consumers. We are hopeful that Sony will take this opportunity to learn from the network vulnerabilities, provide a remedy to consumers who entrusted their sensitive data to Sony, and lead the way in data security best practices going forward," - Attorney Ira P. Rothken stated and co-counsel J.R. Parker followed with, "Sony's breach of its customers' trust is staggering. Sony promised its customers that their information would be kept private. One would think that a large multinational corporation like Sony has strong protective measures in place to prevent the unauthorized disclosure of personal information, including credit card information. Apparently, Sony doesn't,". If things could not get any worse publicly for Sony, a Conneticut Senator has also made his outrage known about the recent breach by sending Sony CEO Jack Tretton an email demanding answers that was made public for all eyes to see. via IGN

An attack on Sony's PSN has not only angered Playstation owners at the thought of their credit card information being comprimised, but also Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal who sent a letter to Sony's CEO, Jack Tretton demanding to know why Sony failed to report to users on April 20 when the attack happened instead of waiting for a week to pass by before users were notified of the data privacy breach. "April 26, 2011 Mr. Jack Tretton President and CEO Sony Computer Entertainment America 919 East Hillsdale Boulevard Foster City, CA USA 94404 Dear Mr. Tretton: I am writing regarding a recent data breach of Sony's PlayStation Network service. I am troubled by the failure of Sony to immediately notify affected customers of the breach and to extend adequate financial data security protections. It has been reported that on April 20, 2011, Sony's PlayStation Network suffered an "external intrusion" and was subsequently disabled. News reports estimate that 50 million to 75 million consumers – many of them children – access the PlayStation Network for video and entertainment. I understand that the PlayStation Network allows users to store credit card information online to facilitate the purchasing of content such as games and movies through the PlayStation Network. A breach of such a widely used service immediately raises concerns of data privacy, identity theft, and other misuse of sensitive personal and financial data, such as names, email addresses, and credit and debit card information. When a data breach occurs, it is essential that customers be immediately notified about whether and to what extent their personal and financial information has been compromised. Additionally, PlayStation Network users should be provided with financial data security services, including free access to credit reporting services, for two years, the costs of which should be borne by Sony. Affected individuals should also be provided with sufficient insurance to protect them from the possible financial consequences of identity theft. I am concerned that PlayStation Network users' personal and financial information may have been inappropriately accessed by a third party. Compounding this concern is the troubling lack of notification from Sony about the nature of the data breach. Although the breach occurred nearly a week ago, Sony has not notified customers of the intrusion, or provided information that is vital to allowing individuals to protect themselves from identity theft, such as informing users whether their personal or financial information may have been compromised. Nor has Sony specified how it intends to protect these consumers. PlayStation Network users deserve more complete information on the data breach, as well as the assurance that their personal and financial information will be securely maintained. I appreciate your prompt response on this important issue. Sincerely, /s/ Richard Blumenthal United States Senate" Sony has responded publicly to Playstation users by stating on the Playstation Network Blog: "Thank you for your patience while we work to resolve the current outage of PlayStation Network & Qriocity services. We are currently working to send a similar message to the one below via email to all of our registered account holders regarding a compromise of personal information as a result of an illegal intrusion on our systems. These malicious actions have also had an impact on your ability to enjoy the services provided by PlayStation Network and Qriocity including online gaming and online access to music, movies, sports and TV shows. We have a clear path to have PlayStation Network and Qriocity systems back online, and expect to restore some services within a week." 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. "Detainee discussed remote-controlled firing devices (RCFDS) which were found during raids in Karachi in September 2002. These RCFDS were built inside black Sega videogame cassette cartridges to protect the RCFDS and to make them appear innocuous." - Department of Defense Records 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

Zombie lovers unite. This week's Deal of the Week are items to help wage your war against the zombies in Dead Rising 2. Dead Rising 2: Case Zero - 200 MS Points Dead Rising 2: Case West - 400 MS Points Psycho Skill Pack - 80 MS Points Soldier Skill Pack - 80 MS Points The Deal of the Week ends on May 2. via Major Nelson

The fiscal year ending in March 2011 has proven to be a bloodbath for Nintendo as their loss of earnings has been reported. Nintendo's shares dropped 66% and according to Joystiq, this marks the third year for profit declines which is not what Nintendo previously predicted. Also reported from Nintendo's camp is that the previously rumored "Wii Successor" will be at E3 in the form of a playable model. Nintendo has the new console that is supposedly more powerful than the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 set to launch sometime in 2012. via Nintendo Investors

"Unfortunately, the circumstances didn't allow us to make a 360 exclusive," stated Mortal Kombat creator Ed Boon in a statement to Eurogamer regarding the question that left many wondering why the Xbox 360 did not get an exclusive character like the Playstation 3 version did with one of Sony's most recognizable characters, Kratos from the God of War series. With the tight lippedness that is going on around NetherRealm Studios many are speculating that NetherRealm wanted to include Master Chief or Marcus Fenix however their contract with Sony regarding the exclusive Kratos has some underlying terms about what the term "exclusive" meant or that Microsoft wants to add an iconic character in the form of DLC for a later release. "I'm not allowed to talk too much about it, but I can tell you we certainly wanted to do an exclusive for 360, but that's all I can say. It was not a decision we made where we said, oh, let's not do one for the 360," continued Ed Boon about the mystery surrounding an exclusive character. We will see how much this decision effected the sales of the Xbox 360 version of Mortal Kombat when the numbers roll in. via Eurogamer

For a limited time only, purchase a Kinect sensor on Amazon and receive 50% off of "select" Kinect titles. There are a couple of workout gems in the pile of mostly rubbish "select" titles like Your Shape Fitness Evolved and The Biggest Loser Ultimate Workout. The other titles aren't even worth a second glance or a mention. via Amazon

Have you been trying to train Fido to go bring you a can of beer from the refrigerator so you do not have to leave your couch during an intense session of gaming? Or has your wife become your personal beer grabbing waitress over the years allowing you to beat that level you were stuck on for weeks? Fido and your wife can now relax thanks to the Octane 120 Driving Pro Beer Arcade. Designed by Dream Arcades, this frothy gaming brew beast can hold two five gallon beer kegs and contains a cup holder that is perfectly placed with a tap above for an easy refill. The at home arcade is mainly designed for gamers who love racing games and the 1080p HD projector arcade itself comes with 150 arcade games. It also has an integrated high end PC and PS3 connectivity. The Pro Beer Arcade will cost you $6,000. via Dream Arcades

Lace up your running shoes and stretch those muscles, because Rare is looking for you to race into the record books. On Saturday, April 23 gamers from all over the world will have one chance to break the Guinness World Record for "the most people running a virtual 100m dash at one time." All you have to do to participate is download your entry in the form of a free Xbox Nations gamer picture. Turn on your console on April 23, make sure that Kinect is running, pop in Kinect Sports, and complete a sprint mini game. Rare has stated that if you choose the entire Track & Field event, it will not register. For those of you who complete the sprint mini game during the specified times mentioned below, Rare is giving out a free Guinness World Records t-shirt for your avatar. Saturday, April 23 @ 10 am PDT ~ 1 pm EST ~ 6 pm UK ~ 7 pm CET via Rare

According to IGN, Nintendo will be revealing a new console that is higher powered than the Xbox 360 and PS3 at this year's E3. Game Informer is also claiming the same thing by citing mulitple sources and that the new console will be able to run games at HD resolutions. The new console is expected to get a 2012 launch and Nintendo is supposedly hoping that they can bring back third-party developers and "hardcore" fans.

While the hardcore fans of the long time running survival horror series might not be happy with recent announcements regarding Slant Six's take on the Resident Evil world in their entry into the series, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, a new trailer has surfaced showcasing the return and possible demise of Leon Kennedy. Confused? Don't worry. Slant Six claims in the latest edition of OXM that depending on how you play the game you can kill fan favorite characters changing Resident Evil history and this in no way is a "numbered" Resident Evil game. via Examiner

Xbox 360 users who own the motion based Kinect are in for a treat today. An update for Netflix has gone live allowing Kinect users to their hands and voice to navigate through the many menus of the popular movie and television show database. Do not get to excited yet to toss your controller aside and cuddle up on the couch with a bubbly beverage of your choice. According a Microsoft Representative who spoke with Joystiq, while all of the titles are Kinect enabled now, there are only a select number of titles that are available from the Netflix Kinect dashboard that can use both voice command and hand gestures. You can find these as "recommended" movies and shows. via Joystiq

F2P games or Free to Play games have seen much success in the world of PC gaming especially lately with social games such as Mafia Wars and Farmville where you can play the game for free, but in order to enhance your gaming experience you need to purchase special items or upgrades. How would you like F2P games to come to Xbox Live? According to IGN that might be happening very soon. A trusted source close to IGN is claiming that Xbox Live will be adding these style of games soon which will "allow publishers and developers to release games through the service for free where users can then purchase additional content, such as weapons, experience points, in-game currency, and perks.". While this is just a rumor, what do you guys think? Are micro-transaction games the future of video games or just another excuse for developers and publishers to make money on those willing to shell out the extra cash? via IGN

Do you love watching the sweaty bare chested men of the UFC duke it out in the Octagon splattering blood across the mat and found yourself wishing that you could do that without having to leave your living room? Thanks to THQ, now you can. THQ announced that they are launching UFC Personal Trainer for the PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360 sometime this June. The mixed martial arts trainer was designed by the National Academy of Sports Medicine and three MMA trainers including Mark DellaGrotte, Greg Jackson and Javier Mendez who throughout their training careers have worked with top UFC fighters gave their input to the excerise based game. According to Lead Designer Troy Sheetz, in UFC Personal Trainer there is a workout routine for everybody regardless of what you want to do. "There are actually a whole lot of different programs in the product. We have 30 and 60-day programs, each with different goals. Whether you want to lose weight, build muscle, or just build endurance, we have a program for you. And when you're going through the programs, you are handed routines each day, and sometimes they are as little as 20 minutes, sometimes they are as much as an hour." THQ's Director of Production, William Schmitt has also said that the game is the real deal as far as getting in shape and losing weight. "It really sank in to me after talking to our developer. We have three testers on site, and after two and a half months of working out, the three testers have lost a combined 100 pounds. It gets you up, it gets you moving, and when you're playing this game, you're going to get 20-minutes to 60-minutes of activity and you're going to sweat it out." UFC Personal Trainer will be Kinect enabled and according to Joystiq will have a full motion body tracker, voice command navigation, and some exclusive elements that you will not find in other versions. via ESPN

"We weren’t an independent studio making ‘our’ games anymore – we were making games to fill slots. Although we did all believe in them, they were more the products of committees and analysts. The culture we’d worked on for so long gradually eroded just enough so that it wasn’t ‘ours’ anymore", said the Creative Director with Bizarre Creations Martyn Chudley during an interview with Edge where regrets and the option to buy Bizarre back after Activision closed the 17 year studio in February 2011 were explained. During the interview Chudley details how it was making games for Activision and that they were just "fill slots". "I don’t think the atmosphere differed too much during the years before Activision. We were always proudly independent. However, when Activision took over, we really felt that they would leave our culture alone, and for a while it was fine, but slowly the feeling did start to change....” Gareth Wilson, the former Design Manager chimed in and concluded that it was difficult managing a team without someone feeling left out. "...just the reality of managing so many people. It’s a challenge for any studio these days to make everyone on the team feel like they’re really contributing to a game when there could be well over 100 people on a single game in production.” An interesting tidbit brought up during the interview was made by Chudley who claimed that they had the opportunity to buy the company back. "Without going into details, yes, there was [an opportunity], but I personally thought there was far greater potential for the security and well-being of the company if a third party could come in." Some former staff members of the defunt studio that brought such hits to game shelves such as the Project Gotham Racing series and Geometry Wars announced that they formed a new studio called, "Hogrocket" which will focus on games for the iPhone, iPad, PC, and Mac. via Edge

All this week Sega has been teasing about "big news" coming to Sonic the Hedgehog's Facebook page. Fans of Sega's favorite blue chili dog eating hero start tapping your feet, because Sonic is back in a new game coming to the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 later this year. The colorful 3D teaser trailer which you can view checking out Sonic's very own Facebook page, shows Sonic speeding along, leaping from platform to platform only to make one big jump and another blue Sonic appears beside him. Does this mean the new game will be co-op or has Sonic gotten a speedy doppleganger? via Sonic the Hedgehog's Facebook

Kameo: Elements of Power, a colorful launch title for the Xbox 360 in 2005 almost had a followup with Kameo 2, but Rare cancelled the game in 2009 before it got off the ground. Artwork has surfaced from the planned sequel that shows Kameo would have gotten a more "womanly" appearance had the game had lived to see a release. via Eurogamer

One of the most successful casual gaming companies in the industry is bringing a new slightly edgy studio into the mix. PopCap Games announced that their new studio "4th & Battery" will be situated in Seattle and that the name comes from where the studio is located. Jason Kapalka, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer at PopCap Games says to "expect weirdness" from the new label that gives their designers free range. "4th & Battery is a purely experimental, creative label with none of the typical concerns like schedules, profitability, or even target audience. It’s kind of the video game equivalent of B-sides or short films. Expect weirdness." The studio has already announced their first game, Unpleasant Horse. The game will be a free download on the Apple App Store and is geared towards mature audiences.

Gears fans anxiously awaiting for the September 20 release of Gears of War 3 might find the following little nugget of information bitter sweet. Executive producer Rod Fergusson spoke to CVG and said that fans will finally get closure to the Marcus Fenix story, however the universe within Gears will go on. "We're not blowing up the world so Sera and the Gears universe will live on, but for us we didn't want to betray our customers and community by having a cliff-hanger ending where you're like 'argh I just got duped, now I've gotta wait until the next game. We wanted to have closure, we wanted people to have some satisfaction that they were along for this ride and they lived through a story. We're not going to reveal everything because we want some mystique left in our universe, but this is the Marcus Fenix story and people should feel satisfied after playing through that." While Marcus Fenix's fate among with the other COG members remains up in the air, according to VG247 there are rumblings of Gears of War Kinect game in the works. via CVG

Retailer GAME Australia has revealed the new DLC map "Escalation" coming to Activision's Call of Duty: Black Ops before Activision had the chance to announce details about it. The flyer, which has since been taken down contains a release date of May 3 and shows that the content will feature five new maps with one of them appearing to be a Zombies map. via VG247

Yesterday a hacker who goes by the name of "Predator" claimed that he hacked into the Xbox Live account of Stephen "Stepto" Toulouse who happens to be the head of the Xbox Live Enforcement Policy Team and said that he only wanted to help Microsoft. Toulouse who spoke to Joystiq regarding the incident is telling a far more disturbing story. "He got an old cell phone [number] of mine, and yeah, he called it occasionally". Toulouse then played it for Joystiq who said that they could not print the expletive and derogatory filled message because it was not suitable. Toulouse later said, "I have a six minute one where he and his friend discuss all the different ways they're gonna have sex with my wife." He also adds that most of the messages he has received are harrassment and that "Predator" is not just trying to "reach out for contact". "I would say 'reaching out for contact' is an extremely generous phrase. Most of the stuff that he leaves on there is flat out harassment. It's not contact. He's not trying to help or do anything. He's mostly just insulting me. And I get that from time to time. It's just the nature of my role. The kids sometimes try to go after me -- it's not that big a deal." Toulouse did mention that his Xbox Live account was not "hacked" as "Predator" claimed and that it was a result of social engineering and that they are investigating the matter, because he believes that what he has been doing is a crime. "What he did, from a lot of people's point of view, I think, is a crime, and we're going to be investigating that." via Joystiq

"Predator", an Xbox Live hacker who claims he has had over 35 console bans and hacked his way into Trixie360's account last year, has released a new video on Youtube showcasing his latest hacking victim, Xbox Live's Policy Enforcement Lead, Stephen "Stepto" Toulouse and in his video states that Toulouse had it coming. "Predator" who spoke to Joystiq about hacking into Toulouse's account claims that this proves that everybody's account is open for hacking and that he only wants to help. "I'm simply letting them know I'm willing to help them secure accounts from future hackers. All accounts are open for hacking." Besides hacking into Toulouse's and Trixie360's accounts he also claims that he has done many "illegal things" and "nothing has happened to him yet". "I've done many illegal things on Xbox -- I've taken Trixie360's account, 15 Original Gamertags, 4 H3 Pro's [Halo 3 pros], and a few randoms." The comments on the Youtube page has been full of not surprising negative and hateful remarks towards "Predator" with one person even calling him out and placing his supposed name, address, and phone number for all to see. via Joystiq