• EA Acquires Firemint

    // Gradly // blog, Games, iPad, iPhone, News No Responses

    Indie Studio Firemint, the Australian company that has produced iPhone and iPad gaming hits like “Flight Control” and “Real Racing,” which have 4.5 million and about 2 million downloads in the App Store, is about to be acquired by the game giant within the next four weeks. EA announced that they’ll likely close the deal soon, giving no financial details regarding the acquisition.

    “The Firemint team is remarkable for its critical and commercial success,” said Barry Cottle, Executive Vice President and General Manger of EA Interactive. “Having them as part of EAi will accelerate our position as worldwide leader in game development for mobile devices and online gaming platforms.”

    The agreement follows EA’s recent acquisition of Mobile Post Production Inc. (MPP), the worldwide leader in high quality cross-platform development and porting of games for smartphones.

    Late last month, Firemint released an HD version of “Real Racing 2,” which allows users with the iPad 2 to hook up the device to a 1080p HDTV. Users can disconnect without interuppting the game, Firemint said.

  • Sony Santa Monica Studio is NOT Working on God of War 4

    // Gradly // blog, Consoles, Games, News, PS3, Rants & Raves, Rumors, Sony, Twitter No Responses

    Sony Santa Monica, the team behind those amazing God of War titles, is believed to be at work on God of War IV, which will likely be outed within the next few months. However, recent job postings have raised plenty of questions: several weeks back, we heard about a job listing for a Senior Online Programmer, and that caused everyone to assume the new GoW would boast online multiplayer.

    Now, the Superannuation Twitter page has turned us onto two new job listings for the studio: a Level Designer with experience in “open world games” and a Senior Combat Designer that has experience in “both first- and third-person shooters” and “working with, developing or designing vehicle combat.” So what? A GTA knockoff? Anybody have any bright ideas?

    We all know the fourth God of War will arrive at some point, and we’re fairly certain Sony Santa Monica will develop it. But they have to be working on something else, don’t you think?

    [via psxextreme]

  • More Details On PlayStation Network Hack

    // Gradly // blog, Consoles, Games, News, PS3, Rumors, Scandal, Sony 1 Response

    Sony Computer Entertainment has issued an update on last week’s “external intrusion” on its PlayStation Network, an attack that forced the network offline and may have exposed the personal information of millions of members.

    On the company’s PlayStation.blog, senior director of corporate communications Patrick Seybold writes that the PlayStation maker will be “taking steps to make our services safer and more secure than ever before.”

    That includes “a new system software update that will require all users to change their password once PlayStation Network is restored.” Presumably, that software update will come to both the PSP and PlayStation 3 within the week. Currently, PSN accounts are locked out of the system, making a change to personal information and passwords impossible.

    For PSN account holders who may be concerned about the damage already done to their personal information or credit cards, Sony offers the following updates.

    On the safety of your personal and financial information…

    The entire credit card table was encrypted and we have no evidence that credit card data was taken. The personal data table, which is a separate data set, was not encrypted, but was, of course, behind a very sophisticated security system that was breached in a malicious attack.

    On the credit card details that PlayStation Network and Qriocity do and do not store…

    While all credit card information stored in our systems is encrypted and there is no evidence at this time that credit card data was taken, we cannot rule out the possibility. If you have provided your credit card data through PlayStation Network or Qriocity, out of an abundance of caution we are advising you that your credit card number (excluding security code) and expiration date may have been obtained. Keep in mind, however that your credit card security code (sometimes called a CVC or CSC number) has not been obtained because we never requested it from anyone who has joined the PlayStation Network or Qriocity, and is therefore not stored anywhere in our system.

    [via: kotaku]

  • PlayStation Network User Information Compromised

    // Gradly // blog, Consoles, Games, News, PS3, Rants & Raves, Rumors, Scandal, Sony 1 Response

    The ongoing PlayStation Network outage that started last week has gone from bad to worse. Sony has confirmed that confidential user information – such as your name, address, password, and credit card number, were exposed to attackers who gained access to the PlayStation Network.

    Although we are still investigating the details of this incident, we believe that an unauthorized person has obtained the following information that you provided: name, address (city, state, zip), country, email address, birthdate, PlayStation Network/Qriocity password and login, and handle/PSN online ID. It is also possible that your profile data, including purchase history and billing address (city, state, zip), and your PlayStation Network/Qriocity password security answers may have been obtained. If you have authorized a sub-account for your dependent, the same data with respect to your dependent may have been obtained. While there is no evidence at this time that credit card data was taken, we cannot rule out the possibility. If you have provided your credit card data through PlayStation Network or Qriocity, out of an abundance of caution we are advising you that your credit card number (excluding security code) and expiration date may have been obtained.

    Assuming most of you will be affected by this, you may have already received an email from Sony with more information about what to do next. Otherwise, take a look at Sony’s blog post for more information (they’ve also compiled a list of frequently asked questions) on how to protect yourself.

    Sony is still unable to provide a specific date, they claim PSN operations will resume “within a week”.