What is the last video game you played?

[Henry B 50]

I played "The Arrival," the final piece of DLC for Mass Effect 2. Yes, it does set the stage for Mass Effect 3, but the plot is pretty shallow. Basically yet another "infiltrate X and stop some evil plan" mission. I feel like so much of this DLC's appeal banks on the return of Lance Henriksen as Admiral Hackett. It's nice to see the guy (finally) after his absence in Mass Effect 2, but it doesn't make up for the dull dialogue and repetitive combat.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

It was released right around the time I was finishing up the game, so it fit right in with everything else nicely. I really dug the Lair Of The Shadow Broker DLC.

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

are those free?

I dont think so :/. Pass.

[Quintus 5,399]

Today I have mostly been playing iPad RPG action game Infinity Blade.

It's good.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Just beat Portal 2. Amazing.

[Jay 37,372]

Didn't it just come out Tuesday?

Was it really easy, or did you devote a ton of hours to it?

I heard the co-op mode is awesome

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

ipads can manage games?

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Didn't it just come out Tuesday?

Was it really easy, or did you devote a ton of hours to it?

I heard the co-op mode is awesome

Devoted a ton of hours. I'd say I played the single player for roughly 10 hours or so. At least that's what it felt like.

Depends on how quickly you figure out the puzzles. I found them to be quite challenging without frustrating you. A hard combination to perfect. I never felt like any of them were impossible, and once you figure out the key for each one, it feels fantastic.

Not to mention it's the funniest game I've played since Red Dead Revolver.

Oh, and the co-op is awesome.

[Quintus 5,399]

An excellent retrospective of Half-Life 2, for any fans here http://www.next-gen.biz/features/the-best-games-of-2000-to-2009-half-life-2

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Finished up Crysis 2. Not a challenging game at all, really. I found myself just sprinting past 75% of the enemies in stealth to reach my goal. But like Quint told me earlier, the higher difficulty levels give it some extra oomph. I'll start it over in Superhuman some time soon.

As for the story itself, I honestly had no idea what any of it was about

[King Mark 3,631]

Are your PS3 network down?

I have an error code when I try to acess and I read it has been down for the past 4 days or so. The console let me update the software and game patches though

I want to get the free stuff from Dragon age 2

[Bellosh 3,419]

Are your PS3 network down?

I have an error code when I try to acess and I read it has been down for the past 4 days or so. The console let me update the software and game patches though

I want to get the free stuff from Dragon age 2

It's been down for about 6 days now.

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/04/25/psn-update/

There's a few posts there concerning it.

It's kind of a big deal right now for them to fix.

[King Mark 3,631]

6 days wow.

[Bellosh 3,419]

6 days wow.

Check this out...

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2011/04/25/did-sony-shut-down-psn-to-combat-piracy.aspx

User chesh420 says he's a moderator at PSX-Scene.com, and the shutdown can be traced to a custom firmware that allowed users to validate fake credit card numbers on what PSN deemed to be a secure network. Here's the entirety of his post (all spelling in context):

Ok, I've seen a bunch of speculation of why people think PSN is down, and I thought I should just post what the community knows in comparison to what Sony is telling everyone. The truth is, there was a new CFW (custom firmware) released known as Rebug (link omitted). It essentially turns a retail console into a dev console (not fully, but gives you a lot of the same options that usually dev's only have access to). Anyway, this new CFW was quickly figured out to give CFW users access to the PSN network again via the dev networks. With a little manipulation of the URL's through a proxy server you could get your hacked console back online. Not that big of a deal, right? Well, it also turns out that some people over at NGU found out that you could provide fake CC# info and the authenticity of the information was never checked as you were on Sony's private developer PSN network (essentially a network that Sony trusted). What happened next was extreme piracy of PSN content. Sony realizing the issue here shut down the network. Now, before you go freaking out about the latest information posted about Kotaku, no ones personal information was accessible via this hack. Not to say they couldn't get it, but no one is admitting to it being available. Anyway, that's the real reason for the PSN downtime. Sony is now rebuilding all of it's PSN servers to be more secure and (hopefully) make sure the CFW users cannot get online anymore.

It would take something major for Sony to shut down the entirety of their network, and a custom firmware that allowed for rampant pirating is obviously reason for concern. Take this with a grain of salt, as we have no way of verifying whether this Reddit user has an inside track or not. We've reached out to Sony for comment and will let you know if we hear anything.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Interesting read, Bellosh.

Sony is handling the publicity of it all poorly, but I understood from the beginning that they were working to make it safer and more secure. Not something I have a problem with. Six days is a big stretch though, last night I was starting to jones for some online gaming. Playing single player is starting to wear me out. I did absolutely everything in Portal 2's single player, and I'm already a third of the way through Crysis 2, again.

[Trent B 337]

I agree that Sony's handled this hacking of the network very poorly from day one. I too found myself the last couple of days been wanting to play Black Ops, despite it had been pissing me off before the network got hacked.

I'm hoping it's back up by the end of this week, if not there's gonna be a lot of pissed off people.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

There were millions of pissed off people after day 2.

Like I said before, I don't have a problem with the down time, just how their communication about the problem.

They were hacked, so now they're trying to make sure that never happens again. Good, just tell us in the first place. Then you'd have a lot less pissed off people.

[Trent B 337]

There were millions of pissed off people after day 2.

Like I said before, I don't have a problem with the down time, just how their communication about the problem.

They were hacked, so now they're trying to make sure that never happens again. Good, just tell us in the first place. Then you'd have a lot less pissed off people.

Agreed.

[Charlie Brigden 7]

Update: http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/04/26/update-on-playstation-network-and-qriocity/

[Bellosh 3,419]

Damn, now that's some gnarly stuff.

woot woot for pre-paid PSN cards.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Wow... that's an incredibly serious security breach.

I'll be buying my PS Store content from Amazon now.

[Quintus 5,399]

What a fucking joke.

[King Mark 3,631]

That's why I have no subscriptions to online media services including itunes

I didn't have a PSN account yet (I wanted to make one yesterday to get the free stuff from Dragon Age 2 ),but I guess I never will now

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Just don't input your credit card information. That's not necessary for an account.

[Bellosh 3,419]

So I beat the Light World in Super Meat Boy last night! Woot! Woot!

The Dark World and Cotton Alley are still to come....should be brutal.

Also, The Hospital's Light World music is F*CKING awesome.

[Charlie Brigden 7]

More Sony

[Marian Schedenig 8,207]

More Sony

And in there you can find what I've been thinking these past few days:

The whole notion that password details have been taken defies belief. There's a reason that most internet sites can't tell you what your own password is and can only reset it – it's because the server itself doesn't actually store it at all. Your chosen password is hashed when it's first transmitted, and only this checksum is stored. When you enter your login, the password is hashed again and compared to what is on the system – if we have a match, you are granted access.

Storing plain text passwords is pretty much the biggest security sin you can commit. With all their panic about hackers and so-called pirates, Sony is running a closed, proprietary network (apparently with well-known issues), which in itself is an ideal target for hackers and always hard to control (see security by obscurity). But storing plain text passwords on top of that...

One more reason not to trust Sony.

[Bellosh 3,419]

Nedry: You know anybody who can network 8-connection machines and debug two million lines of code for what I did for this job? If you can then I'd love too see them try.

Hammond: I am sorry about your financial problems Dennis, I am really am but they are your problems.

Nedry: Oh you're right John everything is my problem.

Hammond : I will not get drawn into another financial debate with you Dennis I really will not.

Nedry: There has hardly been any debate at all!

Hammond: I don't blame people for their mistakes but I do ask that they pay for them.

Nedry: Thanks DAD

[Red 75]

Sorry Sony but...

Very glad their system doesn't have my credit information right now.

[Marian Schedenig 8,207]

I don't see the point in storing credit card information server side. Some web shops do it, the better ones allow you to decide for yourself, but in these cases, it's because it can't be stored in the browser. The PS3 is one fixed system, it can just keep the necessary data stored locally and include it in submissions related to credit card transactions. Keeping the data stored on the server would be a big issue if it wasn't dwarfed by the plain text password thing.

[Trent B 337]

Sony posted some Q&A's earlier today.

Q: Are you working with law enforcement on this matter?

A: Yes, we are currently working with law enforcement on this matter as well as a recognized technology security firm to conduct a complete investigation. This malicious attack against our system and against our customers is a criminal act and we are proceeding aggressively to find those responsible.

Q: Was my personal data encrypted?

A: All of the data was protected, and access was restricted both physically and through the perimeter and security of the network. 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.

Q: Was my credit card data taken?

A: 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.

Q: What steps should I take at this point to help protect my personal data?

A: For your security, we encourage you to be especially aware of email, telephone, and postal mail scams that ask for personal or sensitive information. Sony will not contact you in any way, including by email, asking for your credit card number, social security number or other personally identifiable information. If you are asked for this information, you can be confident Sony is not the entity asking. When the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services are fully restored, we strongly recommend that you log on and change your password. Additionally, if you use your PlayStation Network or Qriocity user name or password for other unrelated services or accounts, we strongly recommend that you change them, as well. To protect against possible identity theft or other financial loss, we encourage you to remain vigilant, to review your account statements and to monitor your credit reports.

Q: What if I don’t know which credit card I’ve got attached to my PlayStation Network account?

A: If you’ve added funds to your PlayStation Network wallet in the past, you should have received a confirmation email from “DoNotReply@ac.playstation.net” at the email address associated with your account. This email would have been sent to you immediately after you added the funds, and will contain the first 4 digits and last 4 digits of your credit card number. You can also check your previous credit card statements to determine which card was attached to your PlayStation Network or Qriocity accounts.

Q: When or how can I change my PlayStation Network password?

A: We are working on a new system software update that will require all users to change their password once PlayStation Network is restored. We will provide more details about the new update shortly.

Q: Have all PlayStation Network and Qriocity users been notified of the situation?

A: In addition to alerting the media and posting information about it on this blog, we have also been sending emails directly to all 77 million registered accounts. It takes a bit of time to send that many emails, and recognize that not every email will still be active, but this process has been underway since yesterday. At this time, the majority of emails have been sent and we anticipate that all registered accounts will have received notifications by April 28th. Consumers may also visit www.us.playstation.com/support and www.qriocity.com for notices regarding this issue. In addition, we have taken steps to disseminate information regarding this issue to media outlets so that consumers are informed.

Q: What steps is Sony taking to protect my personal data in the future?

A: We’ve taken several immediate steps to add protections for your personal data. First, we temporarily turned off PlayStation Network and Qriocity services and, second, we are enhancing security and strengthening our network infrastructure. Moving forward, we are initiating several measures that will significantly enhance all aspects of PlayStation Network’s security and your personal data, including moving our network infrastructure and data center to a new, more secure location, which is already underway. We will provide additional information on these measures shortly.

Q: Has Sony identified the party or parties responsible for the PlayStation Network hack and subsequent theft of personal information?

A: We are currently conducting a thorough investigation of the situation and are working closely with a recognized technology security firm and law enforcement in order to find those responsible for this criminal act no matter where in the world they might be located.

Q: When will the PlayStation Network and Qriocity be back online?

A: Our employees have been working day and night to restore operations as quickly as possible, and we expect to have some services up and running within a week from yesterday. However, we want to be very clear that we will only restore operations when we are confident that the network is secure

[Marian Schedenig 8,207]

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.

Fact: Storing passwords in plain text is NOT a sophisticated security system.

[Trent Hoyt 13]

I've been playing A World of Keflings on the XBLA. It is a very peaceful game. You just walk around and build your city.

[King Mark 3,631]

I beat The Last Remnant.

Great game, can't believe it sat on my shelf for 2 years. I totally disagree with the Gamespot and IGN reviews

Well, I still have a bonus post-game dungeon to clear.It's usually my favorite part of a JRPG

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Disclaimer: Contains bad language.

[Quintus 5,399]

Finished Portal 2. GotY so far. Sublime elegance in its mechanics and drive; with a fierce intelligence underlining each and every second of its design. There's only one VALVE.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Agreed. Superb ending, too.

[Trent B 337]

According to the article below supposedly the Playstation Network will be back up on May 4th. We'll wait and see...

http://mashable.com/2011/04/28/psn-day11/

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I've been reading May 3rd, although I don't remember where.

I beat Crysis 2 on Superhuman today. I've come to the conclusion that the game is unbelievably easy. Put on your cloak, and sprint like hell to your objective. I got through the game killing probably only 100 enemies. Maybe even less!

[Trent B 337]

I've been reading May 3rd, although I don't remember where.

I think it was on Wednesday when Sony made the announcement that they would have the network back up a week from the day before, which would be Tuesday.

[Quintus 5,399]

I've been reading May 3rd, although I don't remember where.

I beat Crysis 2 on Superhuman today. I've come to the conclusion that the game is unbelievably easy. Put on your cloak, and sprint like hell to your objective. I got through the game killing probably only 100 enemies. Maybe even less!

Dude, I invisi-sprinted through 90% of that game on Supersoldier, it's stupidly easy to do

Indeed, it's the game's single biggest flaw that you are able to do so. Such a daft oversight on the part of Crytek.

Having said that, there was still one or two battles which had to be fought and they were quite frigging' tense moments. The night time fight against the big robot thing in the station springs to mind, it was quite a scary and hard confrontation, that one.

[King Mark 3,631]

Trying to pick my next game

Looks like DragonAge 2

[Quintus 5,399]

You should play Portal (the original).

It might surprise you. There's no guns, or killing.

I know you like good stories, and Portal has a great one. Don't make the common mistake that it's "just a puzzle game."

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I've been reading May 3rd, although I don't remember where.

I beat Crysis 2 on Superhuman today. I've come to the conclusion that the game is unbelievably easy. Put on your cloak, and sprint like hell to your objective. I got through the game killing probably only 100 enemies. Maybe even less!

Dude, I invisi-sprinted through 90% of that game on Supersoldier, it's stupidly easy to do

Indeed, it's the game's single biggest flaw that you are able to do so. Such a daft oversight on the part of Crytek.

Having said that, there was still one or two battles which had to be fought and they were quite frigging' tense moments. The night time fight against the big robot thing in the station springs to mind, it was quite a scary and hard confrontation, that one.

Yeah the terminal fight was the only part that I got stuck on for a little bit. I was anticipating the final fight with the cloaked aliens to be a tough challenge, but I surprisingly killed them all off in like 2 minutes and never died.

[Trent Hoyt 13]

I started playing Dead Space 2. I heard good things about, I'm at the beginning but it seems like a Resident Evil game in space.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I was very skeptical about Dead Space when it first came out. At that time Silent Hill was still something worth playing (I think), and it seemed like a rip-off to me. But then not too long ago my friend bought it for cheap and let me borrow it. It took me awhile to get into it, but it's a good game with certain drawbacks and flaws.

The sequel is a big improvement. I still haven't finished that one, although I should considering the PSN is down and it makes sense. But it took me like 6 months to beat the first one, so why not the second as well?

[Wojo 2,453]

I installed Super Meat Boy, and got up to the fifth or sixth stage before I reached a level that is simply not possible with just the keyboard. That's fine, because I did manage to get drivers for my ten year old gamepad to work in XP -- it works great with Spelunky -- so I have every intent of using that to play it. I just wanted to see how far I could get.

Gamepad is not required, but then again, neither is bathing.

[King Mark 3,631]

You should play Portal (the original).

It might surprise you. There's no guns, or killing.

I know you like good stories, and Portal has a great one. Don't make the common mistake that it's "just a puzzle game."

ok, I do have the Orange box and never played Portal

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I have The Orange Box and Portal was the only thing I played from it.

[Wojo 2,453]

I paid full price for both Half-Life 2 and Episode One on the days they came out, so I would have been damned to hell if I was going to buy The Orange Box to get them again just for Portal, which was the only thing I was interested in. Neither TF2 or Counter-Strike interest me, and as far as Episode Two was concerned, it took too long between HL2 to get Episode One, and again to Episode Two. I figured I would wait for Episode Three or just HL3 proper before touching either. So I never bought The Orange Box, and even though I signed up for Portal during last year's giveaway, I never downloaded it.