[Updated- 04/27/11]PlayStation Network is still down
Well Sony has announced that they have nothing to announce concerning the status of the PlayStation Network. Obviously its still down.
Update[04/27/11] - Sony really messed up big time. Sony believes that whoever hacked the Playstation Network a week ago has stolen user data. Personal information like name, address (city, state, zip), country, email address, birthdate, PSN password and login. Worse part is, they believe people who provided credit card information have also been obtained.
They believe between April 17 to April 19 is when user information was compromised. They will be sending an email to each PSN user informing them about this incident and to be aware of possible scams and encourages people to review their credit account statements for possible identity theft or any financial loss.
"We have a clear path to have PlayStation Network and Qriocity systems back online, and expect to restore some services within a week. We will keep the service down to allow us to conduct a thorough investigation to ensure smooth operation of our network services when they return; we are working hard to resume the services as soon as we can be reasonably assured our security concerns have been addressed."
Sony has a lot to do for the next few weeks. Even if PSN gets online soon, Sony will have to ensure people that something like this won't happen again and that their personal information is secured. Check the PlaystationBlog to see the latest information given. They have provided a FAQ to provide more information about the intrusion.
"I know you are waiting for additional information on when PlayStation Network and Qriocity services will be online," said SCEA's Patrick Seybold. "Unfortunately, I don’t have an update or timeframe to share at this point in time.
"As we previously noted, this is a time intensive process and we’re working to get them back online quickly. We’ll keep you updated with information as it becomes available. We once again thank you for your patience."
PSN failure goes mainstream
Uh oh. Looks like the situation has gone on for so long that it attracted the mainstream news. FOX news and CNBC have jumped on the story and CNN.com covered the story on their front page.
Strangely enough, Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal has written to Jack Tretton, Sony President and CEO, demanding to know why consumers were not fully informed about the details surrounding PSN's downtime.
"Although the breach occurred nearly a week ago," wrote Blumenthal, "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."
Here is the full letter in case you were interested.
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
The least of your concerns regarding PSN hack
This is a dark time for PS3 owners. With PSN down for a week now and the chance that some hackers know your credit card info, I think trophies should be the least of your concerns.
Hopefully this LOL moment can lighten up the mood a bit even if its just a bit.
Source: Destructoid
Call of Duty: Black Ops - Escalation: Call of the Dead Trailer
more zombies!! trailer is up for Black Ops' Escalation Zombie map equipped with a hollywood cast. We got Danny Trejo, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Robert England( Freddy Kreuger), Michael Rooker and George Romero. The first dlc map pack was ok but this content pack looks like a winner!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42dIAt2-VpM]
Who else is set to get the Escalation map pack?
Review:Dragon Age II
Let me start off by saying that Dragon Age 2 works just fine as a stand-alone game; meaning you don’t need to play Origins to understand any of the goings-on in Two… This is a bit of a disappointment to me. Being a huge fan of Origins, I was expecting an upgraded version of the original, with a new story that was closely related to the actions you took during the first game (assuming that you loaded your old save file). Instead we get a completely new game. Sure, there are certain elements that stay true to the original title (e.g. similar UI, same lore, etc…), but like I’ve said before, it’s a whole new creature on its own; think of it as switching your current car for a newer model from the same line. It’s essentially the same thing, only not.
Dragon Age II Developer: Bioware Publisher: Electronic Arts Platform: PC, Playstation 3, and Xbox 360
At first glance, the visuals of DA2 are stunning; even on the lowest possible visual settings, the game still manages to look miles ahead of its predecessor. From the character models, to environment details, up to the spell details, DA2 offers some of the best graphics compared to other games of the same genre. With all that said there is one major flaw; recycled environments. Sure the environments are nice, but one can only go so long till they get tired of the same old scenery, over and over again. In fact, if I wasn’t such a huge fan of the franchise, I would have thrown the game aside due to the sheer monotony. It’s a whole lot like the first time you saw something in 3D; the first couple of times is cool, but everything past that is just “meh”.
Audio:
Nothing breathtaking in this department, what I really like about it is the fact that it doesn’t get in the way of anything. It’s there to set the mood, nothing more, nothing less. What I did find funny was the fact that they decided to change the accents around (The Dalish now have Irish accents)… The Dwarves still have an American accent though (I always found that odd).
Game play:
Oh god, where do I begin? Remember that thing I said about DA2 and DA:O being like trading in your old car for a new model of the same line? Well, let’s add a change from an analog dash to a digital one, and changing from stick to automatic. Yeah… That’s about right. Bioware managed to keep the old layout of the UI, making a few changes to “revamp” the system. Players familiar to the old UI should be able to pick the game up with little to no effort at all, but the similarities end there.
Apart from the sudden disappearance and emergence of new spells and abilities, the new skill system features revamped tech-trees that are reminiscent of the Civilization V tech tree, albeit much smaller. Each school has its own separate tree (as opposed to the old “spell book” layout DA:O had) that would branch out into two to three separate veins, some of which may converge at some point. Some spells now gain “upgrades” which can be accessed just as if you were learning a new spell (e.g. Fireball can be upgraded to increase its blast radius, Horror can be upgraded to inflict spirit damage, and Chain Lightning can be upgraded to bounce off more targets).
A new combo system has also been introduced. The new “cross class” combo system creates a deeper synergy between party members. For example, a Warrior can “Stagger” a target, leaving it vulnerable to certain Mage spells or Rogue abilities. Rogues can “Disorient” enemies, garnering the same effects as “stagger”, and Mages get “Brittle”. They’re essentially the same de-buff, but caused and used by different classes. The CCC will make players think twice with regards to both their party lineup and tactics.
DA2’s difficulty across classes is insane. On my first run-through, I chose to make a mage, playing on normal difficulty. It was hard. Mages are no longer the “glass cannons” that they used to be. They now require “stagger” and or “disorient” effects to deal decent damage to elites and bosses. Sure, Cone of Cold was buffed and can kill normal enemies in one shot, but without the help of other characters, mages simply “gimped”. For my second run-through, I decided to run with a Warrior on Hard/Nightmare difficulty, and it was a cakewalk. The 2h Berserker-Vanguard build (plus party tactics) pretty much blows everything out of the water. I steamrolled right through the last two bosses in nightmare with little to no difficulty at all (I had to kite at one point, but that was it…). I’ve yet to finish my Rogue run-through (hard), but even so, it’s easy to see that the classes are not on equal footing. Another concern would be the Zerg-fest. Depending on the class you choose, Crow Control only becomes important on either Hard (mage) or Nightmare. This gives the game a “hack and slash” feel that I just can’t get used to. I can’t help but think that Bioware just got greedy and wanted to get more casual players to come in and buy their game by “dumbing it down” a notch.
Story:
Don’t take “spans a decade” seriously, it really isn’t any more longer than DA:O…
Since this game and Origins are technically different games, it really wouldn’t be fair for me to say that Origins had a better story… But it does. The story of DA2 lacks the cultural diversity found in Origins; if any at all, it would have been left to a bare minimum, and not as intriguing as the situations in Origins. The story of DA 2 follows the exploits of Hawke (I’ll be referring to Hawke as a man to make things easy) and his companions as they go about doing odd jobs, fixing both social and political problems, all while looking out for his family. It would have been great, only if the choices you made throughout the game actually meant something, and changed the outcome of the game…which it doesn’t (not in a major sense anyway). But my biggest problem would be the fact that the old save file that you’ve loaded during character creation does little to influence the game as a whole. People could argue that it is held in a different continent, but I’d like to see more than just a few cameos happen. Don’t get me wrong, the story of DA2 is pretty good, I just wish that there was more to it. All in all, the game just feels like it was rushed, not really polished all the way, and released just to make the pre determined release date.
Score: 75/100 - Good game, just not up to par with its predecessor.
Pros and Cons (for all you impatient nug-humpers)
+ Improved graphics
+ Better character models
+ Paced faster than it's predecessor
+ Tidy UI (HUD, character sheets, inventory, options menu)
+ Good musical score
+ Lots of easter eggs
+ Introduction of the "Cross-Class-Combo" system
- Recycled areas
- Can't play around with the preset "Hawke" faces
- You practically never miss
- God-aweful voice acting (besides Varric)
- Mages are TOO dependent on "CCC"
- Limited to being a Human
- VERY linear compared to it's predecessor
- Inability to "gear" your companions