The trouble began sometime in April for Sony and the PlayStation brand. On April 19th the company began investigating unusual activity on the PlayStation Network. The next day the company discovered exactly what was going on. A massive security breach had left sensitive information regarding 77 million PlayStation Network users exposed to hackers who may or may not have taken advantage. On April 26th Sony shutdown the PlayStation Network immediately and later informed users of the breach in security.
 
 

Sony’s troubles only increased later on when the company discovered that the information on an additional 24.6 million users had also been hacked into. The hackers who struck Sony performed the virtual equivalent of backing moving company trucks up to the corporate headquarters and making off with cabinet after cabinet of sensitive files.
 

The PlayStation Network is a system that allows gamers from around the world to play together online, as well as update and download games and other content online. As such, many of the systems users not only have sensitive information regarding where they live but also have credit card information stored online.
 

Just this past Tuesday the company announced that their goal is to have the PlayStation Network up and running again by the end of May, but that hasn’t slowed the problems facing the company. While Sony has not been informed of any illegal uses of the information stolen in the hacking, it continues to investigate the situation and deal with the aftermath. In an email sent out to PlayStation Network users the company informed users of the breach and informed them of free options for tracking their credit and protecting their credit cards.
 

Sony has been heavily criticized for the manner in which they dealt with the breach in security. Although the company discovered the breach on April 19th, they did not inform gamers until April 26th that their information may have been compromised.
 

In the United States, a group of lawyers has filed a lawsuit against Sony on behalf of Kristopher Johns. Johns is claiming that the company was negligent in their protection of sensitive user data and did not inform users soon enough about the exposure of their credit card information. Lawyers are hoping the lawsuit can gain class action status.
 

The problems experienced during the massive online intrusion could cost Sony dearly. The company’s PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Network have been beating the competition from Microsoft’s Xbox360 and Nintendo’s Wii during the past few years’ console wars. Microsoft and its Xbox Live network, a system similar to PlayStation Network that allows online gaming, could gain users after Sony’s massive breach. The breach could also cost the company millions pending the outcome of the lawsuit.
 

Author Bio: He has been a gamer from the time he could move his opposable thumbs. Rob loves everything involved with video games. He’s a dedicated member of the Playstation Network under the alias, NeWbKilr4, come check out his skills if you’re ever looking for an online battle. To support his habit, he functions as a research agent dealing in travel and international travel insurance.
 

This game is being directed by the creator of the Resident Evil series and developed by the same studio who brought to us the highly acclaimed action game Bayonetta. The demo size is 467.3 MB, so make sure you have enough space for it.
 

Note: The demo is only available for download in the US XBL marketplace. The same demo will be available in the US PSN store today (in few hours). So keep checking.
 

The list for December is populated with two Final Fantasy games with Final Fantasy VIII topping PSN sales for December:
 

1. FINAL FANTASY VIII (PS3/PSP)
2. PixelJunk Shooter
3. FINAL FANTASY VII (PS3/PSP)
4. Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (PS3/PSP)
5. Resident Evil 2 (PS3/PSP)
6. Frogger Returns
7. Call of Duty Classic
8. Borderlands: The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned
9. MARVEL VS. CAPCOM 2
10. Battlefield 1943
 

The original AfterBurner was ported to consoles and was featured in Yu Suzuki epic, Shenmue 2. AfterBurner Climax was released in 2006 in the arcades. The game introduced two new flyable aircraft to the series: the F/A-18E Super Hornet and F-15E Strike Eagle. The iconic F-14 Tomcat from previous games has been replaced with the F-14D Super Tomcat. The game was licensed from and was developed with assistance from Boeing and Northrop Grumman.
 

‘Some late night #MW2 tweaks just went into affect. IWNet matchmaking on PC just got improvements & invites on PSN are good to go now. Gnight’
 
 

We have yet to see if everything is fine, but it’s good to hear some positive news. Are you still having problems while playing Modern Warfare 2 online? Let us know.

The demo is a promotion for the Japanese version of Infamous. Sony is giving out codes to download a God of War III Japanese demo from the PlayStation Store. Codes can be redeemed from November 19 to February 2010.
 

The main problem is: current generation of gamers barely knew about this masterpiece. Also, why would Sega consider releasing shenmue 3 for gamers who hadn’t played the previous games in the series? Marketing and sales wise, it doesn’t make sense for them.
 

So, one of my suggestions was to release shenmue 1&2 on PSN or XBL, in an attempt to revive the franchise and to make current generation of gamers asking for a third game. Fans of Shenmue (like me) has been asking many times for a third game, but we must be realistic about it.
 

But after the leaked information from the infamous meeting between Sony and Sega, everything could change. Sega is considering now to release some classic Dreamcast games on PS3, which could open the opportunity in reviving the Shenmue franchise through releasing the two previous games on PSN. If Sega did this and they became satisfied by how many times shenmue 1&2 has been downloaded from PSN, we will have a higher opportunity of seeing Shenmue 3 in our hands.
 

I hope Sega to consider releasing Shenmue games as a part of the deal. But nothing has been confirmed to this point, so we will have to wait and see.
 

On May 15, 2006, at the PlayStation Business Conference, Sony unveiled their online service for the PlayStation 3, tentatively named “PlayStation Network Platform” with free online play. The full list of features available at launch was announced at their TGS 2006 press conference.

 

Now the PSN is so much more improved and stable than the day it was first released and Sony also managed to add unique features like playstation HOME which is a dream that comes true for a lot of social life simulation fans and also a nice set of downloadable games available on the PSN store.

 

Well, online gaming is where PSN really lacks, and I’m not claiming that PSN is not good enough, but undoubtedly it still needs lots of improvement at that reach, just check out the list below and you will probably find out that implementing one or more feature from this list can really improve your online gaming experience being a PSN gamer.

Lately the Firmware 3.0 went live on the PlayStation Network, and while it provided a lot of general improvements to the PS3 as a console, the latest firmware lacked what PS3 gamers needs the most to improve their online gaming experience.

Cross game chatting
 

One of the most noticed PSN shorts is the lack of the cross game chat feature, Sony PS3 firmware developers is trying their best to invent any any other acceptable communication channels between PSN gamers, but I can assure you that they will never succeed because simply Sony’s alternatives are all text oriented and I think we all agree that text chatting will never replace voice chatting even after they added the chat rooms where a small discussion to agree with your friends on which game you are planning to start playing online can take no less than ten text replies!

Online friends party

Experienced online gamers can really grant the importance of this feature and how much pain in the ass it could preserve!
 

Online gaming will never reach even near “bugs free” level due to the varied factors that any network depends on, and the fact that most of the online games sessions depends on one of the gamers inside the session “Host” who may simply switch off his console, and now WHAT? you will start gathering your friends again.

Now simply with online party available, the PSN can treat all the party as one player, whenever you disconnect while matchmaking you can rejoin your party in no time and start searching for another game without loosing your time gathering your friends.

PSN Cards

With all of the great content available on the PSN Store, PlayStation Network cards make a great gift for family or friends, but it’s unfortunately not available everywhere, PAL region is still waiting and people who believes in “I Don’t Give My Credit Card Online” still have to wait! PSN cards can give a huge push to the PSN Store sales figures specially that there are so many “other world” countries still not listed under the PSN covered countries list!

Online gaming zones

One of the coolest XBL feature, which is also still missing at PSN is the ability to choose your gamer zone, which can easily helps in telling others the kind of player you are, and also it could be counted as another step that ensures you synch up with like-minded players when matchmaking and guarantee a much more enjoyable gaming expreince.

Games & Players Rating

The ability of sharing your own rating for games is still missing on PSN, after all you can never find better rating source for your most anticipated games than gamers them selves and an average rating of more than 10000 users can really make your mind.

On the same level we would be more than happy to if we could submit reviews about other players we played with, and I don’t mean negative ones I mean both negative and positive reviews and later these reviews can help gamers in finding like-minded players when matchmaking, and also it may help the PSN and online games admins in discovering cheaters so quickly and minimize their interference level.

By reaching this point of the article you probably saying to yourself that this guy is just comparing the PSN with XBL, and he meant to mention everything above which are already available on XBL just to let the PS3 fans down, but let me tell you that this is not the truth.

Before you start Criticizes me, I just want to say that the XBL also have it ups and downs, but it just seems like they listen to their players a little bit more, PSN gamers for example were requesting cross game chat for more than two years now and Sony’s PS3 developers are still working on so many other features, despite the fact that some of these features seems much more technically complicated than cross game chat.

Now, Both are looking great and I can say they are the best racing sim out there, but let’s talk about these two predators, you might want to know what both games will have to offer before any racer lay down his money on a console and end up with a bad choice.

FORZA MOTORSPORT 3 :

Turn 10 did a great job on this 3rd version, the game contains 100+ tracks around the world including all tracks from the old FORZA games and more than 400 fully customizable cars and futuring larger tuning options for its racoholic fans. The graphics looks stunning with smooth 60 frames-per second and can be upscaled to fully 1080p for the hardcore gamers who like hig-end display, Forza community is growing bigger and bigger thanks to the variety of options that they bring to us like the online auction house, car modding and the ability to use your imagination to paint your vehicles the way you like with tons of new decals and art equipment. Lets not forget the improved damage model that allow the cars to flip and spin over with amazing damage details.
 
 

GRAN TOURISMO 5 :

Polyphonic Digital didn’t come empty-handed this time, the game will feature a new NASCAR mode with all its car models, themes and physics, pit crews, also a WRC experience with off-road circuits and fully functional rally cars, weather effects and realtime damage for all rally fans out there. The graphics still stunning with 1080p support for gamers who like to play hard, GT5 community will feature enhanced online functionality and many new improvements for online options. GT5 still offering a lot of unique super cars and a lot of real tracks around the world, and for the first time ever polyphonic digital is bringing a fully functional damage model to all cars “”whooooot”" yes thats true, finally about time, better late than never, now you can drive your FERRARI to a wall and see what will happen.

*** FORZA MOTORSPORT 3 VS GRAN TOURISMO 5 ***
 

Now, I wish it can be the judgement day for these 2 predators, both games has not been released yet, but FORZA3 will be in stores in October-31-2009 and GT5 is TBA… yeah we get used to that since all XBOX360 users are burning rubber in Forza Motorsport 2 and PS3 users still test driving their GT5 prologue (DEMO) which make me wonder if GT5 will really ever comes out!? Well let’s hope it will be released at the end of this year.

Both games look promising, I played both games Forza Motorsport 2 and GT5 prologue, I will combine this experience with the info that we all gathered about GT5 and FM3 from official sites and watching videos, gameplay, demos, previews and many more. Let’s make a comparison about the important things that can be the key of delivering a true racing experience:
 
* 1st-DAMAGE:

The damage in forza motorsport 2 is very impressive, and the new damage model in FORZA 3 looks much better than the old one, Well in GT5 (watching the vehicle in damage demonstration gameplay videos) as they run through a wall in high speed (yes you see the car is wrecked) but the vehicle still keeping the same speed, so its like playing GT5 prologue, you never use brakes to slow down on corners… just hit the wall and let it steer your car back to the road keeping the same speed, but only with a car wreck this time! Well you never see that happened in forza motorsport. I know they are not finished yet, but i hope they fix this problem and take it seriously before the game is released.

* 2nd-GRAPHICS:

The graphics, they both running 60 frames-per second supporting 1080p, they both look stunning, but I have to say that GT5 is still better looking because the colour tone is way more realistic than Forza Motorsport 3, Team forza did a great job on the new Forza Motorsport 3 ingame graphics, but they still need to enhance the colours.

 
* 3rd-SOUND EFFECTS:

The sound effects, I’m not talking about engine sounds, both games have a great similar engine sounds, I’m talking about the sounds that the tires make in braking, drifting, high speed corners… etc. Well in GT5 prologue the tire sounds rediculous, annoying and cheap especially when you lose control and the car spins comparing to the tire sound in forza motorsport 2, I hope they will fix it in the upcoming GT5.

 
* 4th- TUNING, MODDING CARS, CUSTOMIZATION:
 
We all know that GT is lacking many of these things, these are important things to every racer, and Forza Motorsport deliver these things with perfection, so SONY and Polyphonic Digital need to work hard to deliver these things in GT5 that I call them essentials in every racing game and to die-hard racing gamers.

* 5th- GAMEPLAY, ONLINE GAMEPLAY:

Well both FORZA MOTORSPORT 2 and GT5 prologue give a great feeling and can be fun in online racing (XBL or PSN) even offline if you don’t have internet connection. We all like to see a larger online options in GT5 and FORZA MOTORSPORT 3, they are equals and you can have fun with both games any time, try use the new Logitech G27 for GT5 and the new Fanatic 911 wheel for Forza Motorsport for better racing experience.

*Overall…
 

Let’s wait until those predators are released, then we start the hunt, we would like to see massive changes in both games, there will be one winner and we will find out soon, both games are looking impressive and every game do offer a lot of options.
 
Finally I hope this information helped many gamers before lay down their money for the wrong game.
 
 

No one can urge the fact that Uncharted 2: among thieves and GOW3 are undoubtedly among the most anticipated PS3 exclusive games at this generation of consoles. GOW known as the game that pushed the PS2 capabilities and produced a remarkable unique experience like no other at that time, while Uncharted is counted as one of the greatest PS3 hits with its highly detailed varied environment and astonishing graphics even when we compare the original game with some of the latest hits.

GOW3 starring the legendary Kratos waiting to stretch his muscles on the current generation of consoles for the first time after he was getting bored from his previous PS2 limitations. Where he couldn’t ride on monsters forcing them to hit their alliance, Kratos the one we saw throughout the current year trailers and leaked videos is much more powerful & stronger than ever, however is he strong enough to break some of the PS3 sales records? Personally I doubt it, not because the game wont be that great, on the contrary I’m sure that it will be something extraordinary, but I have my reasons which we’ll talk about later on in this article.

Uncharted 2: among thieves starring Nathan Drake one of the current generation most popular characters studied at Lara croft’s school and he even managed to overcome his master, even though his butt is not as sexy. Drake is more human like than Kratos, even though he managed to crack his way down to the fortune on the original game by his acrobatic and highly interactive moves. Uncharted 2: among thieves Drake is facing a new challenge dealing with thief’s in a totally different and complicated environment. The original uncharted did well on the market just like what it did in reviews eventhough it lacked in any multiplayer support & to have such a remarkable sales record without having any online support in your game well enough said the game must be off the chart, and we all know  that the sequel will have an organized online gaming feature, so I personally can’t find any reason why uncharted 2: among thieves wont make it again and crash its prequel sales record.

Kratos undoubtedly has the upper hand if we compare the two hero’s, But Drake has already left his footprint on the current generation of consoles. So I guess its hard to judge who will really be the winner between them, but if you ask me I suggest that Drake has slightly a better opportunity not because uncharted is better than GOW,  Its just that I think Uncharted has a better release date than GOW. Also Uncharted 2 will reach out to a wider market than GOW due to the fact that ESRB will most likely decided to make GOW  17 +. Last but not least Uncharted will have an amazing online gaming experience – based on gamers who experienced the beta version – adding a higher value and longevity to the game’s lifespan making it somehow a better investment for the gamers money.