According to CNET the PSN and the Playstation Store is supposed to be up and running again “within the week”.

Of course the words from Sony are only somewhat comforting. It’s still not entirely clear what kind of data the hackers got their hands on, but Kazuo Hirai, chairman of Sony Computer Entertainment reiterated that they don’t believe credit card data to have been taken and added that the company has received no complaints of identity theft or credit card fraud yet.

While I am sure that our credit cards are safe they still were able to get away with some personal info, albeit things that we likely have in many other places already. Email addresses, home addresses, names, etc. General info that by itself isn’t exactly dangerous. Maybe they know you are interested in bluehost review now, but nothing serious…except…

They DID say that they may have gotten our PSN passwords and login info, however. This means that if you use the same password on other accounts like your personal email, facebook, or anything else that is connected may be at risk. YOU SHOULD CHANGE THESE PASSWORDS.

This is their proposed payoff of customers as CNET sates it:

The company today explained how it would try to make it up to customers. Sony will provide free identity theft protection service and “will consider” helping customers who have to be issued new credit cards. Sony will also be offering free selected downloads, as well as 30 days of free PlayStation Plus service. Music Unlimited subscribers will also get free service for 30 days.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-20058731-260.html#ixzz1LAKir1LY

Ladies are violent. This is no surprise .

In a study that I give absolutely no credence to, Rani Desai, associate professor of psychiatry and epidemiology and public health at Yale, and colleagues anonymously surveyed 4,028 adolescents about their gaming, problems associated with gaming and other health behaviors. They found that 51.2% of the teens played video games (76.3% of boys and 29.2% of girls). The study not only revealed that, overall, there were no negative health consequences of gaming in boys, but that gaming was linked to lower odds of smoking regularly. Among girls, however, gaming was associated with getting into serious fights and carrying a weapon to school. Whatever happened to girls just worrying aobut slimming wraps that work?

Yeah…I’m gonna go a head and say that this study is probably a bit damaged in some way.

“The results suggest that in general recreational gaming is relatively harmless, particularly in boys. This is in contrast to many previously publicized reports suggesting that gaming leads to aggression” said Desai. “However, the gender differences observed between gamers and non-gamers suggest that girls may be gaming for different reasons than boys.”

I just don’t buy it. Really nothing you can tell me that makes me think this study is accurate.

“Imagine a bright flower on a plant in a crystal clear growth chamber on the surface of the Moon, with the full Earth rising above the Moonscape behind it; these are the ideas that got me interested in space,” said Jane Poynter, president and founder of Paragon Space Development Corporation.

Paragon isn’t new to growing plants, or even raising animals in space. Paragon previously bred the first animals through complete life cycles in space, and grew the first aquatic plant in space. This would be the first plant grown from a seed outside of Earth, however. An interesting possibility and a step forward in the idea of living a future somewhere other than Earth. With actual food instead of living off the top diet pill of the future, or a cartoon idea of “steak in a pill”.

“The first plant to grow from seed and complete its life cycle on another world will be a significant step in the expansion of life beyond the Earth,” McKay noted. “The sooner we do it the better.”

Bear with me as I am always thinking about marketing in some way or another, but it occurred to me that the release of Home for the owner of the Playstaion 3 might be a place where you could do a bit of marketing.

Just looking at the idea initially is that “Home” is a 3D social network. It is, but it seems to be an opportunity once it gets rolling. Yesterday Sony released Home as an Open Beta for owners of Playstation 3 consoles for free, and those with PSN accounts, which are also free, and needed to get free demos, buy online content, etc. “Home” will remain free as it is their version of XBox Live for the most part, but with a lot of extras.

The 3D virtual world reminds you a bit of The Sims. You go an create your own avatar in any image you want. Soem guy walkign around with a beanie on his head to show who he is, a hot cheerleader, or whatever. Then you start your own “Home” online through your PS3 and can invite anyone you want to hang out with you in your world. There are places to visit, and you can talk to other avatars out in that world and ask to join their game, invite them into an online game, or just chill out. They have lounges where you can shoot pool, go to bowling allies, and more.

So…how do you think we could market in this universe? I have yet to go in and set up my own “Home”, but think it is something we might consider as a marketing opportunity. You have the ability to talk to people online , and I would suspect that there will eventually be “communities” that hang out together in these realms. Maybe those that talk about current event, or look for computer help, or even those that discuss making money online. At least this is how I envision it eventually. It is literally a 3D chat room, and social network that allows you to do all the things you can probably do on Facebook, or Myspace.

Just something to think about I guess. I’ll try and create a guy on there this weekend and see what kinds of things may be possible.

Now…only to get everyone to start buying Playstation 3s…lol

After being awarded the format victory earlier this year, it appears that blu-ray sales aren’t chugging along as one might expect. Sales were down 40% from January to February, and only increased by 2% in from February to March. This is for stand alone Blu-ray players and does not include the Playstation 3 version which is a complete steal for the cost.

HD-DVD players have fallen off the map. Dropping 65% from February to MArch, obviously due to the loss of the alleged format war., and the fact that no major studios are releasing in this format anymore.

Most agree that the pricing is probably the main culprit. Blu-Ray players were priced at an average of $300 over Christmas, but now are ranging closer to $400. When you can still get a DVD player for about $20, or just go out and buy a Playstation 3 for $399, what’s the point of spending $400 for just a Blu-ray player? There is none. I’d rather buy a PS3 that can play games, store music, photos, link to my peripherals like my ipods, and get me on the internet. Odds are that Blu-ray players need to be closer to $200 before I would consider buying one.

Probably the most anticipated game for me in quite some time. It is going to prompt me to buy a PS3 I guess too as I haven’t really found a need to get one yet. Just kind of trying to decide if I want to wait for the MEtal Gear Solid bundle in June, or just get the 40 GB system now and add a huge hard drive to it. I don’t need most of the crap on there like video, picture albums, and whatnot, so I don’t know if I want to wait since the 40 GB is the only one around right now. When a game makes you buy a new console you know you have a problem. Gaming for me is not as bad as it used to, but at one time I probably would use some sort of gaming help like most people need drug rehabilitation…lol

GTA IV got ranked a perfect 10 by IGN, who hasn’t given a perfect score out since the 90s. According to those guys the difference between the XBox 360 version and the Playstation 3 version are very minimal and the average person won’t notice the difference.

This game also showed me an interesting site that I had not been aware of before. Justin.tv which shows people playing games live. I watched people playing this in Online Mode yesterday for a bit and it looks pretty amazing. Pretty funny to watch as they have a chat window next to the video feed and people make comments. They have a moderator for the chat rooms, but they let most things slide so the little brats will annoy you at times.

As for the Grand Theft Auto IV Physics Engine, they have made some big changes from last releases. In this edition of GTA the physics engine showcases the Euphoria physics engine that was originally presented by Lucas Arts, the company that pumps out 50 Star Wars games per year.

Why bother wasting your time with reading when you can just watch the presentation of the physics engine from E3 a couple years ago?

Havok/euphoria physics engine:

Below you can see the Euphoria Physics engine used in Grand Theft Auto IV:

Christian “The Nigerian Nightmare” Okoye can’t be tackled:

I figured this game would be online now and it is. You can play Tecmo Super Bowl online at the site in the link there. Before we ever heard about things like HDMI splitters we had real games .

CNET Networks’ TechRepublic runs a regular series called “Cracking Open” in which it takes a look inside a variety of gadgets. This week they are taking a look at the XBox 360 Elite

Unlike the Wii, which feels more like exercise equipment, than a gaming console to me, the 360 is an amazing piece of machinery for gaming. That article is pretty interesting if you want to understand the nuts and bolts of the machine that plays the games. Plenty of pictures, an info there that I won’t rehash here.

1. Nintendo Wii
2. iPhone
3. ipod
4. XBox 360
5. Playstation 3

Prove me wrong.

1. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (XBox, PS2, PC)

This game is by far my favorite of that generation and bought it the day it came out. Many didn’t like the story, and liked Vice City better, but they were wrong. This game had everything in it and I still play it to this day every so often. It would probably be easier to list the things you couldn’t do than list the things you can do in this game. Just an amazing game from the time when I was in high school so the music was gold.

2. Ninja Gaiden: Black (XBox)

This game is absolutely incredible. Not much of a story, but it is fun as hell. I’m not a huge “fighting” game kind of guy, but this one is pretty amazing. At first you may think the controls suck, but they added a couple of nice changes to Black, that wasn’t in the original. Even has the original Ninja Gaiden NES game as an unlockable. What more could you ask for?

3. Resident Evil 4 (Gamecube, PS2, Wii)

This game came out originally on the Gamecube, but added a few more sidegames to the PS2 version, which is the one I played. Although the enemies in this game aren’t technically zombies like the others, this one moved the series forward big time in my opinion. The great weapons that you buy and earn make this game a necessity to play many times.

4. Final Fantasy X (PS2)

This was the first game I bought for the PS2 and I have played through it quite a few times. The graphics at the time were outstanding and the story was quite solid. It is teenie storyline stuff, but pretty good regardless. “Might” say it is my favorite Final Fantasy game. Final Fantasy XII has great gameplay I like, but the story doesn’t come close to this and that is one of the main drawing points from this series. FFVII was the first I was introduced to this series and I didn’t get any of the others until later so I kind of like that game still, although many say it sucks. They suck.

5. Fable: The Lost Chapters (XBox)

This was the first game I got on XBox when i finally decided to buy one. Wasn’t sure what to expect, but this game was really fun to play, although it was too short and had terrible load times. Considering those two things it has to be a damn good game to make the list. A classic game of choice in which you can be good or evil. Makes it a must to play through as both .