Sony has become aware of a new PlayStation 3 security nightmare after a day in which a brand new, PSN-enabled custom firmware was released for hacked consoles, swiftly followed up by publication of the console's LV0 decryption keys - which some say blows the system wide open. The release of the new custom firmware - and the LV0 decryption keys in particular - poses serious issues. 

Okay not PC related, but still. For those of you anxiously awaiting the next installment in the Halo series, the official Halo 4 'Scanned' trailer is now live. Master Chief's mind is violated by a powerful new enemy, who in searching for Chief's weaknesses, finds the source of his strength. Video after the break.

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCE) today announced that a new PlayStation 3 (PS3) computer entertainment system (body color: charcoal black / classic white), featuring a new design and a downsized form factor, will become available worldwide this holiday season. The new PS3 will come in 3 models including extended built in Hard Disk Drive (HDD) capacity of 500GB model and 250GB model, and a newly added 12GB flash memory model initially for Europe only.

Nintendo has announced its Wii U game console will be released on November 18th in the US and November 30th in Europe. The console will come in two flavors; the 8GB Wii U Basic for $299.99 and the 32GB Wii U Deluxe for $349.99. Basic Set includes: Wii U Console (White), 1 x GamePad, 1 x HDMI cable, 1 x Wii U sensor bar, 8GB of storage, Price: $299.99

Samsung has confirmed its flagship phone the Galaxy S3 and little brother the S2 will receive the update to the latest version of Android, known as Jelly Bean, as soon as October according to CNET. If you can't wait that long then the 4G version will be available with Jelly Bean as standard.

Point of View releases the ProTab 3 IPS 9.7" and ProTab XXL IPS 10", two new dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 based tablets with quad-core Mali 400 graphics, 1GB DDR3 memory and the Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean" operating system. Other features include 8GB or 16GB of internal NAND flash memory storage, micro SD memory card (max 32GB), 802.11b/g/n WiFi, 0.3MP front and 2MP rear camera, headphone-out, two micro-USB 2.0 ports, and Mini-HDMI 1.4. 

"Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn" is a live-action digital series that takes fans back to the terrifying beginning of the Human/Covenant war, when the Master Chief inspired a young cadet who would eventually become a leader aboard the UNSC's greatest vessel: the UNSC Infinity. 

A new FCC filing by Sony reveals the company is working on a "CECH-40" revision of its PlayStation 3 game console. The features of this new model are unknown, some believe it's just new hardware that's cheaper to manufacture, while others think that this model may also have a new, ultra-slim form factor.

Apparently, Sony is preparing to introduce PlayStation 3 model CECH-4001x, according to the AK8CBEH19C1 filing with FCC. Sony's model numbers for PS3 always begin from CECH-**, where ** are model prefixes that point to the generation of the console as well as onto it core specs like chip revisions and their manufacturing technology, mainboard versions, etc. The remaining digits and letters point to other region the device is intended for as well as the hard drive capacity. The first-generation PS3 consoles carried CECH*-like model numbers, whereas the second-generation PS3s (slim) are marked according to the new nomenclature: CECH-20, CECH-21, CECH-25 or CECH-30. All-in-all, the CECH-4001x model number clearly points to a brand-new generation of Sony PlayStation 3 game system intended for selling in 01 region, or the U.S. and Canada.

Google provided an update about the Android installbase. It reveals 10.9 percent of Android users now run Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0.x), while Gingerbread (2.3.x) is still the most widespread with a marketshare of 64 percent.

Sony announced it acquired cloud-based gaming company Gaikai for approximately $380 million. Details on how Sony plans to use Gaikai's technology for its PlayStation brand are unknown, but it's rumored that Sony may use cloud-based gaming as a way to add backwards compatibility for PS3 games to its next-gen PlayStation 4 console.

Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) today announced that it entered into a definitive agreement on June 30, 2012 (Japan Time) to acquire Gaikai Inc., the world's leading interactive cloud-based gaming company, for approximately USD 380 million. Through the acquisition, SCE will establish a new cloud service, ensuring that it continues to provide users with truly innovative and immersive interactive entertainment experiences.

"By combining Gaikai's resources including its technological strength and engineering talent with SCE's extensive game platform knowledge and experience, SCE will provide users with unparalleled cloud entertainment experiences," said Andrew House, President and Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. "SCE will deliver a world-class cloud-streaming service that allows users to instantly enjoy a broad array of content ranging from immersive core games with rich graphics to casual content anytime, anywhere on a variety of internet-connected devices."

"SCE has built an incredible brand with PlayStation and has earned the respect of countless millions of gamers worldwide," said David Perry, CEO of Gaikai Inc. "We're honored to be able to help SCE rapidly harness the power of the interactive cloud and to continue to grow their ecosystem, to empower developers with new capabilities, to dramatically improve the reach of exciting content and to bring breathtaking new experiences to users worldwide."

Established in 2008 and headquartered in Aliso Viejo, California, Gaikai has developed the highest quality, fastest interactive cloud-streaming platform in the world that enables the streaming of quality games to a wide variety of devices via the internet. With this acquisition, SCE will establish a cloud service and expand its network business by taking full advantage of Gaikai's revolutionary technology and infrastructure including data centers servicing dozens of countries and key partners around the world.

The transaction is subject to certain regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

Quite a lot of rumors about Sony's and Microsoft's next-gen consoles have hit the web this week. IGN claims this new console, codenamed "Orbis", will feature AMD's A8-3850 APU and the Radeon HD 7670 graphics card. However, the source of the rumor stated that while current plans for the device make use of the chips mentioned, it's possible that changes could be made prior to the system's launch.

By current standards, the HD 6670 is an entry-level processor with a price of about $74.99. Benchmark tests place framerate performance for taxing titles games like Metro 2033 and Crysis 2 set to high settings at a resolution of 1920x1080 (1080p) with average framerates of just over 30 frames-per-second. The chip also supports HDMI1.4a output, which is necessary for the system's rumored 4k output. Naturally, a comparably lightweight operating system and console-optimized games will likely improve performance, but the PS4's real edge could come from the secondary GPU provided by the APU.

Onboard the A8-3850 is an HD 6550D, which makes the APU capable of running games at baseline specs and lower resolutions without the help of a discrete GPU. When the APU is paired with the HD 7670, however, Sony will be able to utilize an asymmetrical CrossFire configuration to share the load of realtime graphics processing.
VG247 on the other hand has some details about the launch date. It's said to be 2013 and Sony is reportedly gunning to be ready with the PS4 before Microsoft launches the Xbox 720.

Following continued reports last week that PlayStation 4 is to be based on AMD hardware and is being planned for a 2013 release, a VG247 source has said Sony is aiming to get the machine to market ahead of Microsoft

VG247 has learned that Microsoft has now detailed Xbox 720 to certain partners and has internally confirmed the machine for a Christmas 2013 release.

The next generation Xbox will have a Blu-ray drive, contrary to a recent report. Multiple sources have confirmed this morning that the machine will have two GPUs. One said: It's like two PCs taped together.

We're waiting for final confirmation of specs, but the graphics cards are thought to be equivalent to AMD's 7000 series GPUs, but "not CrossFire or SLI". The GPUs aren't structured as they are in a normal dual PC set-up, in which the two chips take it in turns to draw lines of the same object: Xbox 720's graphics units will be able to work independently, drawing separate items simultaneously.

There will be "four or six" cores to the Xbox 720 CPU, one of which will be reserved for Kinect and one for the OS. Xbox 720 will require an always-on internet connection as an anti-piracy measure.  We've also been told that the next generation of Kinect will be built into the device as standard.

At launch, both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 offered amazing theoretical CPU performance that was significantly higher than that of contemporary PC processors plus GPU performance that went toe-to-toe with discrete graphics cards costing as much as the consoles themselves. If the rumor mill is right, the next generation of consoles will be a lot more modest, and incapable of taking on even today's high-end PCs.

While bad news for NVIDIA, it's probably worse news still for another demographic: current PlayStation 3 owners. The radical shift in architecture, from Cell with NVIDIA graphics to x86 with AMD graphics, means that the next generation PlayStation is unlikely to offer backwards compatibility with existing titles (rumors are already pointing towards Sony removing this feature, in fact). Emulating Cell on the CPU will be impossible, as the CPU simply won't be fast enough.

Console gamers of all kinds may also be disappointed the new machines won't be as tremendous a leap over current systems as past systems have been. Consoles have already been eclipsed by PCs

Kotaku is reporting a few details from the successor to the PS3...particularly the name and a few of the specs.
While the official reveal of Sony's next home console could still be months away, if not longer, Kotaku has today learned some important details concerning the PlayStation 3's successor.

For one, the console's name or at least its codename/working title is apparently Orbis. And it's being planned for release in time for the 2013 holiday season.

The details in this story come from a reliable source who is not authorized to talk publicly about next-gen hardware but has shared correct information with us before. What they're telling us in specifics matches much of what we've heard and reported in generalities in recent weeks.

Our main source supplied some basic specs for the console, but as the future is always in motion, bear in mind these could easily change between now and the Orbis' retail release. Still, if you'd like to know what developers are being told to plan for now, here you go.

• AMD x64 CPU
• AMD Southern Islands GPU

The former, that's largely something we've heard before, but the latter is interesting. That's the name given to many of AMD's 2012 roster of high-end PC cards. The PS4's GPU in particular, we're told, will be capable of displaying Orbis games at a resolution of up to 4096x2160, which is far in excess of the needs of most current HDTV sets. It'll also be capable of playing 3D games in 1080p (the PS3 could only safely manage 3D at 720p).

Microsoft had intended to unveil its next-generation Xbox console during the annual E3 conference this year according to a BGR source, but it now looks as though that won

In this video you can can clearly see an Xbox 360 gamers making use of hacks such as walking AC-130's, infinite ammo, superspeed and many more:

So guys, MW3 lobbies are possible on xbox 360 console due to recent leaks etc. In the video you'll see me who's fallen victim to the de-ranking of the guys doing these lobbies who are running around with Walking AC130 Walking Reapers IMS etc unlimited ammo." - Ecko

Okay console game, but still very interesting to see. Get a peek behind the scenes of the new PS3 tech demo from Quantic Dream, the creators of PS3 classic Heavy Rain. 

Quantic Dream has released a behind-the-scenes video which shows the motion capture process for the firm's KARA tech demo. In order to capture as much movement and emotional responses from the actors, the studio invested in 65 motion capture cameras: 

Valve marketing director Doug Lombardi confirmed that the company is experimenting with Steam boxes for a Big Picture Mode user interface, but he added that Valve is a long way from shipping any sort of hardware.

"We're prepping the Steam Big Picture Mode UI and getting ready to ship that, so we're building boxes to test that on," Valve marketing director Doug Lombardi said, referring to a new Steam interface that will make the online gaming service easily useable for people who want to play Steam games on a PC that's connected to their TV. "We're also doing a bunch of different experiments with biometric feedback and stuff like that, which we've talked about a fair amount.

"All of that is stuff that we're working on, but it's a long way from Valve shipping any sort of hardware."

DailyMail claims Microsoft's next-gen Xbox will no longer have a disc drive. The console, said to be slated for a 2013 launch date, will focus on digital distribution but will offer compatibility with some sort of interchangeable solid-state card storage.

The follow-up to the Xbox 360 is due out next year - and the machine will no longer have a disc drive, according to a source within Microsoft. Instead, games will download to the hi-tech new console - or gamers can carry them on a memory card.

Gaming industry trade magazine MCV reported the leak from an unnamed source, who claimed the information was covered by a strict non-disclosure agreement. 'Although the console will not include a disc drive, it will offer compatibility with some sort of interchangeable solid-state card storage, although it is not known whether this will be proprietary or a more standard format such as SD,' said MCV's Ben Parfitt.

More details are expected at the E3 show in Los Angeles in May.

Over the weekend this rumors already appeared in our forums but the Verge has the story that they're not only working on such hardware, but they plan to make Steam 'the center of an open gaming universe that mirrors what Google has done with Android.'

Valve head Gabe Newell recently told Penny Arcade 'Well, if we have to sell hardware we will' and followed that up with 'We'd rather hardware people that are good at manufacturing and distributing hardware do [hardware]. We think it's important enough that if that's what we end up having to do, then that's what we end up having to do.' Meaning they might have someone else build the box for them, but the system would run Steam, and if this all turns out to be true, it could change the entire industry.

"Apparently meetings were held during CES to demo a hand-built version of the device to potential partners. We're told that the basic specs of the Steam Box include a Core i7 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA GPU. The devices will be able to run any standard PC titles, and will also allow for rival gaming services (like EA's Origin) to be loaded up.

Part of the goal of establishing a baseline for hardware, we're told, is that it will give developers a clear lifecycle for their products, with changes possibly coming every three to four years. Additionally, there won't be a required devkit, and there will be no licensing fees to create software for the platform.

We're hearing that a wide variety of USB peripherals will be compatible with the boxes, though it will likely ship with a proprietary controller. It's possible that the controller will even allow for swappable components, meaning that it can be reconfigured depending on the type of game you're playing. Think that sounds odd? Well Valve filed a patent for such a device last year. "

 Times reports Huawei has revealed high-end smartphones and tablets based on a quad-core chip designed by the company's HiSilicon division. Huawei officials claim the 1.2-1.5GHz KV32 chip outperforms NVIDIA's Tegra 3 SoC by 30 to 50 percent across a range of benchmarks.

A 64-bit memory bus--twice the width of the tegra3--is one of the main factors in the performance of the KV32, said Jerry Su, chief architect of the chip. Built in a TSMC 40 nm low power process, the chip fits in a 12x12mm package

The KV32 uses four ARM Cortex A9 cores and a 16 core graphics chip co-developed with an unnamed U.S. chip designer. The two collaborated on the GPU