Photo from blogposttoday.com

By Luke Baker
Copy Editor, Secret Agent Man

Singer and song-writer Amy Winehouse, 27, was recently found dead in her London apartment. According to TMZ, a press release from Metropolitan Police says that she was pronounced dead at the scene.

In a recent BBC post, Winehouse was said to appear “too drunk to perform” at a recent gig in Serbia and ended up pulling out of her European tour all together. Winehouse’s first album, Frank, debuted in 2003.

The highlight of her career was when she won five Grammy awards for the 2006 album Back to Black. Cause of death is still under investigation.

Source: BBC, TMZ

Image from cnet.com

By Luke Baker
Copy Editor, Secret Agent Man

It’s been a long, winding and bumpy road, but Sony finally has rolled out their “Welcome Back” program. Keep in mind that everyone and their mother is probably trying to download titles and log in at the same time. Be persistent.

If for some reason it looks like you’ve lost your download due to an error — you didn’t. Go to the XMB and under the PlayStation Network column, go to Account Management > Transaction Management > Services List > SCEA Promotions to correct any error in the download process.

Titles you will be able to choose from include:

Image from kotaku.com

For the PS3:

Wipeout HD + Fury
Little Big Planet
Dead Nation
Infamous
Super Stardust HD

For the PSP:

ModNation Racers
Pursuit Force
Killzone Liberation
Little Big Planet

Also included is a 30-day membership to Playstation Plus where you can download games and content for a discount and some select titles for free (active only during the subscription).

Image from geek.com

By Luke Baker
Copy Editor, Secret Agent Man

Playstation Network is finally back after several weeks without service. A new mandatory update is required to Firmware 3.61, where afterwards users will be prompted to change their passwords (reset by Sony). Online gaming and services such as Qriocity are once again fully functional.

Third-party services such as Netflix, Hulu Plus, Vudu and MLB.tv are said to be working once again. A map of the current status of PSN restoration can be seen on the Playstation blog website. To help ease the transition, Sony is offering a welcome back package with free content.

Kazuo Hirai, Representative Corporate Executive Officer and Executive Deputy President of Sony expressed apologies on the matter.

“We know you’ve invested in Sony and the Playstation Network and Qriocity services and we will do everything we can to regain your trust and confidence,” said Hirai. “We also know that actions speak louder than words, and we’re taking aggressive action to address the concerns that were raised by this incident.”

The newly beefed-up security includes the following:

• Advanced Security Technology
• Increased levels of Encryption
• Additional Firewalls
• Early Warning System

Update: A Twitter post from Sony says they are getting a huge amount of people resetting their passwords at once and are “turning the servers off for 30 minutes to clear the queue.”  Sony also went on to say, “If you’ve requested your password reset, it’s taking time to clear all of the ISPs, so please give it a bit of time to reach your email.”

You can watch Kazuo Hirai’s complete statement here:

Image from thinkhero.com

By Luke Baker
Copy Editor, Secret Agent Man

Guess who’s back? Back again. It’s not Shady. It’s Arnold … ok I can’t rap. Arnold Schwarzenegger is said to be starring in a lead role in one of the next installments of Terminator movies. Halycon acquired rights to the Terminator franchise sometime after 2009′s box office disappointment, Terminator Salvation. Creative Artists Agency (CAA) along with Halycon is trying to sell a package to studios that are interested for roughly $30 million.

It would seem that progress was minimal in finding a suitable studio for the price being asked — that is until Arnold entered the picture. According to deadline.com, “Universal, Sony and Lionsgate and CBS Films are looking hard at the package.” Robert Cort will be producing the film, however, there is not a screenwriter set for the project.

G4 also notes that the rights to the franchise to the films expire in 2018. This basically means that film companies need to make another Terminator film or two by then before it’s completely back in the hands of James Cameron.

Are you excited for a new Terminator film? Would Schwarzenegger’s return help or hinder the experience? Let us know your thoughts.

Source: Deadline.com, G4

Image from explosivemlm.com

By Luke Baker
Copy Editor, Secret Agent Man

Sony seems to be the talk of the town these days drawing loads of negative publicity, and it doesn’t get any better for them. Rothken Law Firm has filed a class-action lawsuit today in a California court, IGN said. Rothken is stating that Sony ”failed to take reasonable care to protect, encrypt, and secure the private and sensitive data.”

“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,” said Ira P. Rothken an attorney who filed the class action complaint, according to IGN.

Here is a copy of the complaint.

Source: IGN

By Luke Baker
Copy Editor, Secret Agent Man

With all the bad rap Sony has been getting in the past week about the Playstation Network being down, they are long overdue for some good news. Have no fear; the Playstation tablets are here!

Rumors have been circulating over the internet about the S1 for a couple months, but today Sony officially unveiled the S2 along with the S1. The S2 closely mimics the Nintendo DS having two screens. Playstation 1 and other Sony-approved games will be able to be played, officially, on both machines.

Kotaku says that “The S1 tablet, which is a Tegra-powered device and is tapered on one end ‘like holding a magazine’, will be the first Sony tablet device to carry the ‘PlayStation Certified’ label.”

Will it give the iPad and 3DS a run for their money? Only time will tell.

Source: Kotaku

Photo from kotaku.com.

By Luke Baker
Copy Editor, Secret Agent Man

**UPDATE 3** Sony has released new information concerning the shutdown of Playstation Network. Due to a breach in the security network infrastructure, Sony decided it was best to rebuild the entire system.

There has been no official statement saying that credit card information has been obtained. Sony does say it’s possible your name, address (city, state, zip), country, email address, birthdate, PlayStation Network/Qriocity password, login handle/PSN online ID, profile data, purchase history, billing address, and your PlayStation Network/Qriocity password security answers may have been obtained, however.

Out of caution, Sony does say to be aware of any email/mail/telephone scams in the event that any credit card numbers were obtained.

“We greatly appreciate your patience, understanding and goodwill as we do whatever it takes to resolve these issues as quickly and efficiently as practicable,” according to the Playstation blog.

You can read the whole statement in its entirety here.

—————

**UPDATE 2** Unconfirmed theories have been circling around the internet that the cause of Playstation Network being down may involve a custom firmware, free of charge, to allow users to hack into PSN. The moderator of PSX-scene, chesh420, claims that the firmware enabled regular PS3′s to have the same capabilities of a developer’s system. From there, plugging in a custom URL and a fake credit card number would allow the user to download as many games as they wanted. Sony has yet to confirm whether it is all speculation or not, however it is an interesting theory indeed. What do you think internet world?

Here is the post from the moderator of PSX-scene.

—————

**UPDATE** Sony has issued a new statement (April 22) on the matter of Playstation Network and their music service Qriocity being down.

“An external intrusion on our system has affected our PlayStation Network and Qriocity services. In order to conduct a thorough investigation and to verify the smooth and secure operation of our network services going forward, we turned off PlayStation Network & Qriocity services on the evening of Wednesday, April 20th. Providing quality entertainment services to our customers and partners is our utmost priority. We are doing all we can to resolve this situation quickly, and we once again thank you for your patience. We will continue to update you promptly as we have additional information to share,” said Patrick Seybold, Sr. Director of Corporate Communications and Social Media at Sony. **

—————

Playstation Network is still having issues. While earlier this month, an anonymous hacking group made threats against Sony for the legal action brought against George Hotz and other hackers involved in similar cases, it is still not yet clear as to whether this group is responsible or not.

Numerous users on Twitter and on Playstation.blog aren’t very happy about the repeated connectivity problems PSN has been having. Sony has, however, issued a statement addressing the network problems. Service may not be available for a “full day or two.” Patrick Seybold, Sr. Director of Corporate Communications and Social Media at Sony issued the statement today (April 21).

“While we are investigating the cause of the Network outage, we wanted to alert you that it may be a full day or two before we’re able to get the service completely back up and running. Thank you very much for your patience while we work to resolve this matter. Please stay tuned to this space for more details, and we’ll update you again as soon as we can,” said Seybold.

Interestingly enough, venturebeat.com mentions that the outage fell on the same day that Amazon.com had a major failure in it’s cloud-based service — which in turn took down many other Web 2.0 businesses. Nothing has been confirmed that there is a correlation between the two, but it might raise a few eyebrows.

Keep your fingers crossed, Playstation fans!

Source: blog.us.playstation.com, venturebeat.com

Image from ps3hax.net

Image from sonicthehedgehoggame.org

By Luke Baker
Copy Editor, Secret Agent Man

Time to get excited again for everyone’s favorite blue mascot! No, for real now. In celebration of Sonic’s 20th anniversary, Sega is planning to release Sonic Generations.

In the upcoming title, players will be able to play as either classic or modern Sonic. Old-time fans can finally say screw the skinny green-eyed hedgehog in exchange for the slightly fat black-eyed furball if they so wish. Sonic Generations will be able to be played in both 2D and 3D.

Levels won’t be exact copies of past levels, but more so combinations of bits and pieces of some of Sonic the best levels to pay homage. According to IGN, physics will not,  repeat, will not mimic those used in Sonic 4: Episode I, but  rather will be closer to the 16-bit titles we all grew up with. (Or heard about. Oh you kids you.)  Sonic Generations’ producer Takashi Iizuka said, “In [Sonic the Hedgehog 4] Episode I, we didn’t actually return to the old physics, and nor did we try to create something totally new. “What we tried to do was respond to the voices we heard in the fans, and create something based on the feedback we were receiving from fans. On this occasion, with Sonic Generations, we’ve created a game with a totally different game and with completely different physics.”

Sonic Generations will be available for the PS3 and 360 later this year (TBA).

Check out the trailer. Tell us what you think.

Source: IGN

Image from igniq.com

By Luke Baker
Copy Editor, Secret Agent Man

**UPDATE** CLICK HERE FOR UPDATES ON THIS CONTINUING INVESTIGATION.

Sony has been targeted by hackers once again. An anonymous hacking group on YouTube and on its own website recently threatened that they would take action against Sony for the legal action brought against George Hotz and other hackers involved in similar cases.

Numerous angry PSN customers are reporting difficulties signing into the Playstation Network.

Sony has yet to claim whether this is a result of the anonymous group or not. According to Sony’s official customer support Twitter page,  ”PSN (is) currently undergoing sporadic maintenance. Access to the PSN may be interrupted throughout the day.”

Here is a link to the anonymous threat.

This is the YouTube video that was uploaded. Judging from the comments, there aren’t that many happy campers about this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcSCUU4Fg9k

Image from ohmars.files.wordpress.com

By Luke Baker
Copy Editor, Secret Agent Man

Singer and former Death Row rapper Nathaniel D. Hale, a.k.a. Nate Dogg, passed March 15. According to The Press-Telegram, the cause of death was unknown.

Nate Dogg, however, had suffered from two strokes in 2007 and 2008, respectively. The Long Beach, Calif. resident was 41.

Nate Dogg started his career with Warren G and later went on to make an appearance on Dr. Dre’s The Chronic followed by various solo efforts.

Snoop Dogg mourns the loss of Nate Dogg as well.

According to the official Snoop Dogg Facebook fan page, Dogg said, “We lost a true legend in hip hop and R&B. One of my best friends and a brother to me since 1986 when I was a sophomore at ‘poly’ high where we met. I love u buddy … You will always be wit’ me forever and a day you put the ‘g’ in g-funk you put the one in 2-1-3 and you put yo stamp on everybody you ever did it wit’. I miss u ‘cuzz.’ I am so sad but so happy I got to grow up wit’ you and I will see you again in heaven ‘cuz’ you know the slogan — all doggs go to heaven. Yo’ homie ’n baby brotha, bigg Snoop Dogg!!”

Source: Press-Telegram and MTV