Sony has begun taking steps to secure the PlayStation Network to deal with the threat of the PS3 lv0 boot loader key leak and the ability for hacked consoles to play online alongside legitimate users.

Sony released the PlayStation 3 on November 11, 2006 in Japan; in North America on November 17, 2006; and in Europe, Australia, the Middle East, Africa and New Zealand on March 23, 2007. China never got access to the system because the Chinese government didn't approve it for sale in the region. Nearly seven years later it looks like Chinese gamers finally have some hope of playing PlayStation 3 titles legally.

Last week we detailed a new hack for the PlayStation 3 that has some in the PlayStation Network concerned that they could face another major security breach like what happened back in 2011 when millions of users' information was compromised by hackers. But security firm GFI Software says that PSN users shouldn't be all that concerned about it.

Sony's PlayStation 3 is facing a new security threat - one it hasn't seen since the system was cracked via the PSJailbreak in 2011. According to a report on Eurogamer, a new PlayStation Network-enabled custom firmware was recently released along with the publication of the console's LV0 decryption keys.

A federal judge has dealt a class action lawsuit filed in early 2012 against Sony several blows that have seriously hindered their plans to take Sony to task for the 2011 security breach on the PlayStation Network, Qriocity, and Sony Online Entertainment.

It looks like Sony has decided that it will no longer support Stanford University's Folding@home distributed computing project via PlayStation 3. According to a post in the European PlayStation Blog, Sony will kill the ability for current and future PS3 owners to contribute part of the CPU power to the project with the next firmware update scheduled to go live sometime later this month. Sony didn't really give a reason why they have decided to do this...

Bridgestone Tires has responded to a Sony lawsuit claiming that a recent Bridgestone tire ad featuring actor Jerry Lambert infringed on its IP. Sony alleges that Lambert was playing fictional PlayStation executive Kevin Butler in its new ad which featured lab technicians playing Mario Kart on the Wii. According to a Bridgestone representative, the actor who plays Kevin Butler simply appeared in the commercial as one of the company's engineers.

A "day late and 30 minutes short" would be the best way to describe Episode 23 of the Super Podcast Action Committee as host Andrew Eisen struggles with being sick and co-host E. Zachary Knight rails against the wickedness of the state of Oklahoma keeping his preferred candidate off the ballot. In between these trials and tribulations, Andrew and EZK talk about Kevin Butler being sued by Sony, Nintendo's non-gamer ad, the latest poll on GamePolitics, and troubles at the drive-in.

Kevin Butler may once have been the face of Sony's PlayStation 3, PlayStation Network and the PSP platform as the fictitious Vice President of various made-up departments within the company division. But apparently Sony has decided to sue the man (actor Jerry Lamber) that plays Kevin Butler and his company - advertising firm Wildcat Creek - over the Kevin Butler IP. Sony claims that Wildcat used the character in an advertising campaign for Bridgestone Tires, with a "Butler-type character" wearing a lab coat testing out Mario Kart Wii.

Were you planning on dropping a C-note in the PlayStation Store this month?  If so, you’re in luck because Sony announced on the PlayStation Blog this morning that gamers who spend $100 dollars during the month of October will get $20 credited to their wallets next month.

Sony Computer Entertainment America announced a new digital content program for customers called PSN Day 1 Digital. The goal of this new program is to provide consumers access to digital versions of retail releases of PS3 games on launch day via the PlayStation Store. The program begins on October 1.

Beginning today, PS3 owners can pre-order a handful of select titles ahead of their release dates as well. Pre-ordering these titles will earn consumers a ten percent discount.

Sony Computer Entertainment President and group CEO Andrew House told Reuters that his company is relying on its PS3 business to help it return to profitability this year.

"I think we will be profitable this year," House told the news agency at Tokyo Game Show this week. "We have a growing installed base, growing connectivity of the PS3."

Despite announcing two new PlayStation 3 SKU's for Japan and North America and three for Europe, Sony says that it has absolutely no plans on slashing the price of its older PS3 models that are in stock around the world.

Speaking to Engadget, Sony's John Koller justified the position by saying that customers are tired of "weird price moves" often made by the hardware manufacturers related to promotions such as price promotions, gift card offers, etc.

Sony announced today that a new PlayStation 3 will launch next week, offering 500GB of storage and a super-slim case design that promises a 25 percent reduction in size and lower weight than the current model. The hardware comes with a sliding disk cover and will be available in black (and white in Japan), due for release September 28 in the UK.

We're not sure if Sony approves of this or not (we're going to guess "not"), but YouTube user FistFullofPotions has created a video showing how to transfer PSOne Classics to PlayStation Vita via PlayStation 3 - including games not included in Sony's list of the nine games "officially" available in North America.

Usually it's Xbox 360 players who get premium content first for Battlefield 3, but Premium subscribers that bought a subscription on PlayStation 3 will be delighted to hear that they will get to play the latest expansion, Armored Kill, before anyone else on September 4. Xbox 360 and PC owners will have to wait until September 11, while those who don't have a Premium subscription will have to wait until September 18.

Sony is doing all it can this week at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany to breathe new life into its latest hand-held, the PlayStation Vita. Earlier in the week it announced that it would give consumers a free copy of a Vita game when they purchased a select PS3 game, and announced that an upcoming firmware update would make PlayStation Classic games compatible on the hand-held.

At Gamescom in Cologne, Germany today Sony announced a new initiative that will give PS3 players an incentive to buy: free games for the Vita. Dubbed the "Cross Buy initiative," players who buy a PS3 game in this program will get the PS Vita counterpart game for free.

For example, gamers who buy the PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale will get the PlayStation Vita version free. Sony also announced that Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time and Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault will be part of the initiative.

Sony Computer Entertainment will shut down some old servers that provide multiplayer for several PSP and PS3 games, the company announced this morning. SCE will start by shutting down the servers for MotorStorm Pacific Rift for the PlayStation 3, and the PSP titles MotorStorm Arctic Edge and SOCOM: Fireteam Bravo 3 on October 1.

Of course all of these games will still be available for offline play.

According to Sony Online Entertainment CEO John Smedley, 70 percent of DC Universe Online players prefer the game on the PlayStation 3. Speaking to GamesIndustry International, Smedley says that his company has proven that free-to-play gaming on Sony's console is a viable market, and one that's supported well. Smedley makes a good point considering that there are more MMO's on the PS3 than there are on any other console and the PS3 is the only console system that has successfully supported the free-to-play model in games like DC Universe Online and Free Realms.

One of the reasons that the game cheat industry collapsed was because Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft created systems that had varying degrees of connectivity to online, achievements, and multiplayer. That's why products like the original Game Geneie from Galoob and the GameShark have long since died. But Hyperkin is jumping headfirst into the abandoned space with a brand new Game Genie. You may fondly remember the Game Genie as a popular cheat device for such consoles as the Sega Genesis and the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Square Enix’s worldwide technology director Julien Merceron says that Microsoft’s and Sony's insistence on extending the lifecycle of their respective consoles has ultimately hurt the industry. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry International he called this protracted life cycle the "biggest mistake ever made" and claimed that this move has ultimately damaged the overall console market. Those are fighting words.

According to a Dealnews survey (accompanied by a handy dandy infographic) that polled 1,551 Dealnews readers the Xbox 360 is the gaming console of choice according to 38 percent of respondents. PC gaming comes in at second with 27 percent of those surveyed, followed by 20 percent who said they use the PS3, and 6 percent said they play exclusively on their smartphones.

According to several published reports, Sony will bring backwards compatibility back to the PlayStation 3 via a new partnership with cloud-based game streaming company Gaikai. Using the company's game-streaming technology PlayStation 3 owners will be able to play first- and third-party classic PlayStation One and PlayStation 2 titles through the service. Sony is expected to make some sort of announcement related to cloud-based gaming next week during its E3 Expo press event in Los Angeles.

Atlus USA delivered some great news to fans of its ultra popular online-focused RPG, Demon's Souls: the game's servers will not go offline. On April 12 Atlus had announced that it would be shutting the online servers down for the PS3 game on May 31.

But today a tweet from the company's official Twitter account, @AtlusUSA, revealed some great news:

This week on the podcast we talk with Ben Sawyer, Project Director for Games for Health. Ben gives us a preview of what the event will offer next month and even talks a little bit about the impact of gamification on our privacy.

Andrew Eisen and E. Zachary Knight delve into the fine print of Microsoft's recently announced $99 Xbox 360 and detail why it's not really a good deal for anyone. They also discuss the sorry state of the big three console makers.

Sony reported less than stellar results for Fiscal Year 2011 today. Sony posted revenues of 6.5 trillion yen ($81.5 billion), down 9.6 percent from 7.2 trillion yen ($90.1 billion) from the same period a year ago. The company also posted losses of 456.7 billion yen ($5.7 billion), compared to losses of 259.6 billion yen ($3.3 billion) from the same period a year ago.

A new profile of George "Geohot" Hotz, the guy who jailbroke the iPhone and then the PlayStation 3, went live today in The New Yorker Magazine. 

EA, BioWare, and Sony have finally worked out whatever differences they had to allow owners of the PS3 version of Mass Effect 3 to take part in multiplayer online events via PlayStation Network. The first one of these events that includes PS3 owners is Operation EXORCIST, which begins later tonight.

BioWare said in a blog post today: "Good news Spectres! Starting with Operation EXORCIST, N7 Weekend Challenges will extend to the PlayStation 3 platform."

According to the official PlayStation Blog, the PlayStation Network and related services will be down for maintenance for around 13 hours. How will we survive, I wonder? Beginning at approximately 2pm GMT / 6am PDT / 9am EDT various PSN services will go offline as Sony tinkers, tweaks, and upgrades them. The maintenance will last until approximately 3am GMT / 7pm PDT / 10pm EDT.