Sony Mistakenly Retweets PS3 Jailbreak Code

Whoops.

Kevin Butler, Sony's fictional spokesman and vice president of several fake departments who appears frequently in PlayStation 3 commercials, retweeted the console's jailbreak code last night after apparently believing that it was a reference to the board game, "Battleship."

"Lemme guess, you sank my battleship?" read the tweet on @TheKevinButler. It was followed by the complete code, which had been tweeted to Sony's account by user @exiva. The user, whose name is Travis La Marr, according to his Twitter page, followed the code with a message to Sony: "come at me."

After realizing its mistake, Sony removed the tweet from Kevin Butler's Twitter feed. The company did not mention its error and instead went back to cracking jokes about the PlayStation 3, as it normally does in that Twitter account. However, people did capture screenshots before Sony removed the tweet.

Sony's mistake is all the more glaring, considering the company is so sensitive about the jailbreaking that continues on its PlayStation 3.

Last month, Sony requested a restraining order against famed hacker George Hotz, also known as Geohot, for creating a jailbreak that allows people to run custom packages on the PlayStation 3. Sony alleged that the jailbreak violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and asked a court to stop Hotz from making anything related to his hack available on the Web.

Hotz took issue with Sony's claim that his jailbreak violated DMCA, asserting that his solution was a jailbreak for a closed system, just like any jailbreak for mobile phones, which are explicitly allowed by DMCA.

After some jousting between Hotz's and Sony's attorneys, a U.S. District Court granted Sony a temporary restraining order. Hotz has since removed all mentions of the jailbreak from his site.

But if Sony really wants to stop the jailbreaking, it should probably stop tweeting the code itself.



Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20031148-17.html#ixzz1Db1mX5i9

Black Ops Nabs Xbox Live's Top Spot Of 2010

Call of Duty: Black Ops has broken sales records and been lauded by reviewers since debuting in November. Now, Microsoft has named it Xbox Live's top title of 2010.

Call of Duty: Black Ops is aiming high.
(Credit: Activision)

According to data compiled by Xbox Live's director of programming, Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb, Black Ops beat out the likes of Halo: Reach, Red Dead: Redemption, and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 to secure the top spot.

Nelson formed the list by compiling the number of unique users logged in each game's first seven days. This strays from the lists posted in 2008 and 2009, which displayed a full year's worth of data.

Nelson defended his methodology by saying, "I did the first seven days since that is a way to normalize the data and give all games a fair chance."


Source: http://www.news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20030567-1.html

Mobile Game Revenue To Top $11 Billion By 2015

Mobile game revenue is expected to nearly double by 2015, Juniper Research predicted today.

According to the market researcher, mobile game revenue topped $6 billion last year.

By 2015, Juniper predicts, that figure will be over $11 billion. However, the research firm noted that as time goes on, a shift will occur with revenue migrating from the "traditional pay-per-download model" to in-game purchases.

Juniper expects that by 2013, more revenue will be generated from in-game purchases than from actual downloads of mobile games. The research firm said "discoverability remains a problem for developers and publishers on some app stores," so offering a free title and then getting people to pay for more levels or virtual goods is becoming the more desired way to attract gamers and revenue.

It could be a smart move. Earlier this month, research firm In-Stat reported that virtual goods revenue is expected to reach $7.3 billion this year. In 2007, consumers spent just $2.1 billion on virtual goods. By 2014, the firm predicts, customers could spend more than $14 billion on in-game virtual goods. Although those figures include data from social-networking titles, in addition to mobile games, it effectively highlights the growth in this area.

Juniper also reported that although games are available on several different mobile platforms, "Apple's iPhone/App Store combination has set the benchmark, with a higher share of revenue for developers."


Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20024103-17.html#ixzz16nvlHUww

Retailers Get Ready For Black Ops Midnight Release

The Nov. 9 release of Call of Duty: Black Ops has got retailers preparing for a midnight release tonight of what should be the biggest multi-platform game release of the year. Best Buy, Gamestop, Walmart, Toys R Us are among the nationwide stores taking part in the midnight release.

GameStop will be hosting midnight releases at 4,408 of its stores where you can enter the “going camo” face painting and Call of Duty trivia contests, and also get 250 PowerUp Rewards bonus points when purchasing within 48 hours of the launch. The game will be viewable at 9:30 PM. Find a Best Buy location here.

Best Buy will also be open in more locations than last year’s Call of Duty release (over 400 this year) and will be offering sales support and deals for customers interested in 3D gameplay. You can find a participating Best Buy using this link.

At Walmart 24 hour locations we hear that you can apparently get there at 9:30 pm to play the game (if lines permit) and you’ll can also get a special Black Ops Bandana as part of the release. Find a participating Walmart store here.

Call of Duty: Black Ops from Activision will sell in three different editions for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 that include the Standard Edition for $59.99, the Hardened Edition for $79.99, and the Prestige Edition for $149.99.

‘Black Ops’ will also be available for Windows PC, Nintendo Wii, and Nintendo DS, however, only in the Standard Edition.

Xbox 360 Update Taps ESPN, Zune Music

Xbox 360 owners who power up their consoles today will be greeted with the fall update to the console's Xbox Live service.

The update includes access to ESPN content. According to Microsoft, the ESPN offering will give people access to more than 3,500 live and on-demand sporting events a year. The ESPN integration also includes scoreboards, voice chat, and the ability to "predict the winner" of games.

Through Zune Music, people will be able to stream "millions of songs" from the Zune Marketplace, as long as they have a Zune Pass music subscription.

Microsoft also said it has streamlined Netflix search, improved quality in voice chat, and made a fix that makes it easier to access wireless networks. The ESPN content, Zune Music, and Netflix search require an Xbox Live Gold account.

This week is shaping up to be a big one for Microsoft. The fall update comes three days before the release of the highly anticipated Kinect motion-gaming peripheral. Kinect lets people control on-screen action with body movements alone. It will sell for $150.


Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20021320-17.html?tag=mncol;title#ixzz149YHjKGc

Major Fefresh Coming To Xbox.com

Xbox.com will get a major overhaul tomorrow that will deliver several new features, Microsoft announced today.

The updated site will offer a browser-based avatar-editing tool that lets users create virtual characters and preview their design before purchasing it. In addition, Microsoft plans to combine "messages, friend, and game requests" into a single pane to make it easier for folks to see what's happening in their gaming network.

The new Xbox.com will feature Web-based games that users can play with their Xbox Live friends, Microsoft said. The site will also include reports featuring information on what a person's family members are doing on Xbox Live. The site's marketplace will feature "more powerful search and more intuitive ways to browse and filter," according to the company.

Starting at 2 a.m. PDT tomorrow morning, Microsoft said, Xbox.com will be down "for a short period of time" to complete the implementation of the new features.


Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20020070-17.html?tag=mncol;title#ixzz12qKhesEC

COD: Black Ops Preorders Higher Than MW2

Call of Duty: Black Ops, the latest title in the venerable Call of Duty franchise, has hit higher preorder levels than its predecessor, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Gamestop announced yesterday.

"GameStop is tracking to all-time, record reservations on Call of Duty: Black Ops," GameStop senior vice president of merchandising, Bob McKenzie said in a statement. "We are ahead of where we were with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 last year, which previously set the industry standard."

If Call of Duty: Black Ops stays on its course and potentially outsells Modern Warfare 2, it would be an impressive feat.

Modern Warfare 2 was called the "biggest entertainment launch in history" after it launched last November. In just its first five days of availability, it generated approximately $550 million in revenue, Activision said at the time.

Earlier this year, Guinness World Records announced that Modern Warfare 2 generated $401.6 million in its first day of availability, making it the biggest launch in the history of the gaming business. It supplanted Grand Theft Auto IV, which generated $310 million on its launch day.

Call of Duty: Black Ops, which is being developed by Treyarch, not Modern Warfare 2 developer Infinity Ward, is scheduled to launch on November 9 for all three consoles, the PC, and the Nintendo DS.


Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20019063-17.html?tag=mncol;title#ixzz1256yMhDN