Engadget is reporting that a 12 GB flash-based PlayStation 3 retail SKU is set to hit North American markets on August 18. The story first surfaced when Engadget spotted a flyer from Canada's Future Shop showing off the 12 GB PS3 for $199. The 12 GB PS3 was released in Europe last October, but never made its way to North America.

The Sony board has rejected a proposal by Third Point LLC CEO Daniel Loeb - one of Sony's largest investors - that would have spun off 20 percent of its entertainment divisions into a separate entity. The board's rejection of the idea was unanimous. A letter to Third Point from Sony expressed that the company sees value in owning entertainment content in this connected, digital age. Sony also told Third Point in its letter that maintaining total ownership of its divisions encourages "internal collaboration and efficiency."

Where do babies come from? Here's a PS Vita or a PS3.

Kotaku points out a new ad campaign running in Argentina that offers a unique marketing pitch: buy your kids Sony's systems so you can avoid talking about sex. The ad was sent in by Kotaku reader Damian Hernaez, who saw it in Buenos Aires and sent a picture in. Translated into English, the tagline for the ad (pictured to your left) reads:

A PSN account holder allegedly used ill-gotten PlayStation 3 and Vita trophies to bid on items in Sony's Bid for Greatness campaign. The campaign gives PSN users a chance to bid on one-of-a-kind props originally used by actors in the "Greatness Awaits" PlayStation 4 trailer that was shown during E3 2013 in a special auction.

All good things must come to an end, but some come to that end sooner than later. Sony Computer Entertainment announced today plans to take three of its PlayStation 3 games offline early next year. The three titles are MAG, SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation, and SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs. The three titles will have their multiplayer support cut on Jan. 28, 2014, according to a tweet from the official PlayStation Twitter feed.

Sony has quietly changed the digital rights management policy for its Video Unlimited feature on PlayStation devices. With the change in its DRM policy, consumers can now re-download purchased content from the company's Video Unlimited service. In a statement on the official website for the service, Sony detailed what this means to subscribers:

A new research report from ABI Research claims that new technologies like cloud-based streaming will not be a game changer for new consoles coming out this fall. In fact the research firm predicts that new console numbers will not be on par with the previous generation's retail sales number in the first five years. ABI Research says that the push to "market online video access in the new consoles is undermined by the availability of cheaper streaming devices from Roku, Netgear, WD, Apple and Seagate, among others."

An interesting report from Ars Technica compares the pricing of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 with consoles released in America all the way back to 1977 with the release of the Atari 2600. At E3 Sony announced that the PS4 would retail for $399, while Microsoft announced that the Xbox One would cost $499.

Firmware version 4.46 for the PlayStation 3 replaces version 4.45, and fixes the previous issues while adding the ability to hide Trophy notifications. Users who weren't locked out of the PlayStation 3's XrossMediaBar after downloading the previous update will be able to download PS3 firmware 4.46 through the System Update menu.

For those who were locked out, Sony has released step-by-step instructions:

Sony announced via its PlayStation Blog that the PlayStation Network will be undergoing maintenance June 25 from 12:30 p.m. ET to 7 p.m. ET. The 6+ hours of maintenance will make it so that users will not be able to visit the PlayStation Store or PlayStation Home, or manage their accounts.

As of this writing, PS3 firmware update 4.45 has been taken down from the site and Sony Computer Entertainment has said publicly that they are currently fixing the problem. Users have been advised not to update their PS3s until further notice.

Sony has confirmed with VideoGamer.com that auto-updates, social features and some entertainment on the PlayStation 4 will not be behind a pay-wall. In confirming this news Sony says that it is "trying to be as balanced and as fair as we possibly can." TV and online movie services will also continue to be free to all PS4 users.

Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida believes that the PlayStation 4 will have a lifespan of over ten years, just like previous PlayStation family home consoles. Speaking with CVG, Yoshida said with PS4 there is room for growth should games start to exceed the 8GB of RAM, and that Sony plans to support the console for at least 10.

One of the issues some players have with transitioning to a fancy new console is leaving behind a massive library of games because newer systems tend not to support backwards compatibility. Sony's new console is no exception because it has abandoned its old architecture in favor of a new one that is completely different from what the PS3 uses.

But Sony has found a round-about way of allowing players to enjoy their old games on their new system - even though it will likely cost consumers a little extra money for the pleasure of playing those old games.

Sony put to bed a lot of questions this evening at its E3 Expo 2013 press conference that Microsoft stumbled with, fumbled and mangled last month. While Microsoft said it was up to publishers whether or not gamers could sell, trade, or loan their Xbox One games out, Sony threw out a phrase that resonated with gamers tonight: "True Consumer Ownership." Sony promised no restrictions on used games or rentals, loaning games out to friends, selling them, etc. This is what consumers had hoped to hear from Sony and the company did not disappoint them.

Blizzard announced this morning that Diablo III will be released on the PlayStation 3 on September 3, 2013. The company also revealed that an Xbox 360 version of the game has been in the works for quite some time and will release on the same date. Both games will be released simultaneously in the U.S., Canada, Spanish-speaking Latin America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.

Electronic Arts has cut the price of online passes for dozens of its games - and in some cases - has made them free of charge, according to Eurogamer. Earlier in the month EA announced that it was discontinuing the use of its online pass system.

While some may be worried that the PS3 and Xbox 360 would be abandoned as soon as the PS4 and Xbox One is released to retail at the end of this year, EA says that it plans to continue to support both platforms with new games for at least another four years. Chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen revealed the company's commitment to the current generation during his recent keynote address at the Stifel 2013 Technology Conference in New York. Games already widely known to be in development for the current generation systems include Battlefield 4, FIFA 14 and the next Need For Speed.

The Columbus Dispatch reports that 23-year-old Todd M. Miller has been sentenced to one year of house arrest for his part in the 2008 security breach of Sony's PlayStation Network. Miller wasn't convicted on charges directly related to the hacking, but for destroying computers the FBI was interested in investigating related to the crime. Miller was sentenced last week.

Last July South Korea began enforcing a law that would keep teens under the age of 16 from playing games during a six hour block at night. The law was dubbed the "Shutdown Law" and promised strict enforcement and punishment for places where teens go to play online whether that be a cyber cafe or using online services such as the PlayStation Network or Xbox Live.

According to this Bloomberg report Sony executives have agreed to forgo salary bonuses for the second year in a row following another year of less than stellar profits from the electronics giant. According to a Sony spokesperson (speaking to Bloomberg), around 40 of the company's executives will return bonuses scheduled to be paid out following a general shareholders meeting this June.

An interesting story via the Huffington Post (based on this CBC report) details sexual predators in the United States using online games and consoles to talk to children in Canada. This particular report focuses on Winnipeg, but it's not far-fetched to imagine that if it's happening in one province, it's happening to some degree in other provinces as well.

Sony Computer Entertainment Japan and Sony Computer Entertainment Asia have been consolidated into one business unit operating within Sony, according to this press release - as uncovered by Kotaku. The combined operation will now be called Sony Computer Entertainment Japan Asia.

When Diablo 3 lands on the PS3 and PS4 it won't have some of the features or the requirements that its PC counterpart currently has. According to Polygon, a Blizzard official told them at PAX East this weekend that Diablo 3 will not require a constant internet connection in order to play.

Fans of Level-5's 2010 RPG White Knight Chronicles will be sad to hear that Sony is pulling the plug on online game servers June 18. A tweet about the same thing happening to White Knight Chronicles 2 online servers from the official PlayStation Twitter account was tweeted but has since disappeared.

The controversial God of War: Ascension trophy "Bros before Hos" will be renamed to "Bros Before Foes" via a day-one update, according to a statement sent to Joystiq by developer Sony Santa Monica. The trophy caused a bit of a controversy last week when Adam Sessler and other complained about its sexist nature.

Update: PlayStation Lifestyle has an extensive trophy list (may contain spoilers) that lists the "Bros before Hos" trophy being earned by escaping the "Fury ambush," and not by simply curb stomping a Fury.

CCP Games announced that its long-running subscription-based sci-fi MMO EVE Online has surpassed the 500,000 subscriber mark worldwide for the first time in the game’s history. The milestone is a major one in the game's ten years of operation and follows the December 4 release of EVE Online: Retribution, the game’s 18th free expansion. CCP says that this latest expansion is its most successful ever. Also in December, EVE Online relaunched in China with new partner Tiancity to bring the game to a massive new audience where it has been thriving ever since.

Diablo 3 for the PS3 and PS4 will not feature cross-platform play but it will include an offline mode for PS3 and PS4 players. PC players cannot play the game without being connected to Battle.net - even when playing single-player. The clarification on cross-platform play was made by the game's community manager Vaeflare on the Battle.net forums.

If you have ever left your PS3 untouched for a long period of time, chances are that the next time you turn it on you'll have to download and install a firmware update. The problem with this has always been that you can do nothing while this is happening - and if your connection is spotty at times - waiting for it to download can take what seems like an eternity.