After nearly two and a half months since hackers compromised its network, it looks like Sony is close to restoring full service for users of its PlayStation network later this week. The final piece will be when the company takes the service back online in Japan. Of course, the company has been saying it will get things back online for awhile now.

According to Bloomberg, Sony has been working with the FBI to identify the LulzSec hackers who were responsible for the attack on its San Diego data centers, during which the hackers obtained account information for more than 100 Million PlayStation Network users. Reportedly, LulzSec rented and used servers from Amazon.com’s cloud service to facilitate the attack.

The attack is the second-largest online data breach in U.S. history, and will cost the company an estimated $173 Million in direct costs to repair and shore up its security. The actual cost in terms of the company’s brand and consumer confidence has yet to be measured.

Chairman Howard Stringer told shareholders last week the services will continue to be a main source of growth. Sony CEO Howard Stringer apologized after the attacks and offered a year of identity theft protection to those affected by the breach, as well as a free month of access to PSN.

If you’ve been one of the people banging your head against the wall waiting for Sony to restore the PlayStation network so you can get on with your life (trust us, we know people who are doing exactly that), you’ve got more time to wait. On its PlayStation Network blog yesterday, Sony gave an official statement on when the PlayStation Network will be back online.

Sadly, the answer wasn’t “right now.” Instead, the answer is that the network won’t be restored for “at least a few more days.” I’m sure you recall that both the PSN and Sony’s Qriocity networks suffered a major security breach recently where hackers reportedly stole 12.3 million credit card numbers and compromised personal data from 101 million accounts. Awesome, right?

“I know you all want to know exactly when the services will be restored,” Sr. Director, Corporate Communications & Social Media Patrick Seybold wrote on Sony’s PSN blog. ”At this time, I can’t give you an exact date, as it will likely be at least a few more days. We’re terribly sorry for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience as we work through this process.”

Sure we will. I can hear cash registers all over the world ringing right now with sales of brand new XBox 360′s.

Sony better hurry, get the network back up and running and make this right with users or soon nobody will care and will have switched to XBox 360 and XBox Live.

That is, if they haven’t already.

Poor Sony just can’t seem to get a break lately. With hackers already breaking into Playstation Network and Qriocity services only last week, the company now says hackers may have stolen the personal information, including credit card numbers, of 24.6 Million users of Sony Online Entertainment.

“We are today advising you that the personal information you provided us in connection with your SOE account may have been stolen in a cyberattack,” Sony wrote in a statement on its website on Monday.

Sony Online Entertainment is a division of the company that publishes online multiplayer games like the recently released DC Universe Online. Sony turned off all SOE game services Monday after it learned of the intrusion.

Sony said that the compromised personal information includes customers’ names, addresses, e-mail addresses, birth dates, gender, phone numbers, logins and hashed passwords. Also at risk are the credit card numbers and expiration dates of 12,700 non-U.S. customers, plus 10,700 direct debit records from customers in Austria, Germany, Netherlands and Spain, containing bank-account numbers, customers’ names and addresses.

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Much like the roommate that disappeared with your credit card, Playstation is crawling back to life this week after over 2 weeks of being down due to an alleged “hacking”. There were plenty of rumors as to why the gamer network went down, and one fact that was floating to the top was that some credit card numbers and personal information would have been compromised.

With that scary seed planted into thousands of PSN customers’ minds, the network is making it’s way back this week with both regular and a few new features. GeekWeek‘s got a full breakdown.

• Restoration of Online game-play across the PlayStation®3 (PS3) and PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) systems
  -This includes titles requiring online verification and downloaded games
• Access to Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity for PS3/PSP for existing subscribers
• Access to account management and password reset
• Access to download un-expired Movie Rentals on PS3, PSP and MediaGo
• PlayStation®Home
• Friends List
• Chat Functionality

The network is said to be back at 100% by sometime this month, with no specific date announced yet. So the network is coming back. That should be enough for most people right? Not so much.

With droves of PSN customers screaming mad because they haven’t been able to access the network for 2 weeks, Sony and PlayStation have decided to sweeten the pot a bit with some free features and bonus material. here’s the list.

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As a part of the March 10th system update for the PlayStation 3 (v3.60), PlayStation users will be allowed cloud game save support. This feature will currently only be available to PlayStation Plus subscribers, PlayStation’s incentive based online subscription program which up until now has allowed for game discounts as well as features like Hulu.

According to IGN, a Playstation representative has stated, “We haven’t announced any plans for it to be available to everyone at this time.” While this doesn’t rule out free users being able to do this in the future, the space and bandwidth aren’t going to come free and a feature like this is definitely an incentive for hardcore gamers to subscribe to avoid loss of their game data from a system crash.

They also announced that 150mb of data with a maximum of 1000 data files will be allowed per PlayStation Plus account.

It will be interesting to hear if this affects PlayStation Plus subscription rates moving forward.

For current PlayStation Plus subscribers, PlayStation has given advanced instructions on how to use this feature. Check them out after the jump, and go to the cloud!

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We’ve seen a lot of mock-up PSPs in the past. Whether they were imitation PSPGos, PSP Phones, or PSP2s, these were either very good, or very bad, models of the gaming system we all know and like.
However, the supposed PSP2 pictures that have recently leaked onto the internet don’t look like mock-ups.

Perhaps that’s due to the crappy image quality, but it’s definite these weren’t thrown together on Photoshop by a fanboy. From what we can see, this PSP slides like the PSPGo, but looks much bigger. It’s also got two analog sticks, a microphone, touchpad, and camera.

We’re unsure whether this model will ever see the light of day, as Sony has stated they’ve designed several different variations of the PSP2, but it’s definitely interesting to see what they’ve been thinking about for the device.

According to Kotaku‘s report, the images have been confirmed by a development source. You can make your own conclusions after the jump.

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Yesterday we brought you news that may have changed the console race between PS3, XBox 360, and PS3 as it was announced that the Wii owners will no longer need a disc to stream Instant Netflix on their console. However, mere hours later, the same was announced for the PS3, with a all-new browsing and search functionality, that may just blow XBox 360 out of the water.

Coming with this new system is the ability to browse through the thousands of movies and TV shows available to stream instantly via Netflix by way of genre, category, and even suggestions. Also added is a fully functional search feature, which is new to all forms of the streaming service.

Dolby 5.1 Stereo and 1080p video are also available to help the PS3 keep the edge on video playback.

Finally, and probably the coolest feature in the system, is the new Browser feature that allows you to cycle through each movie, while a select scene plays in the background. Just in case you need extra incentive to watch that classic episode of Dexter. Check out a full video of the new features after the jump.

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When I was about twelve, I picked up a game for my Playstation 2 called Sly Cooper and the Thievius Racoonus. With its slick cel-shaded animation, humorous storyline, and addictive gameplay, I probably played this game and its subsequent sequels many times. Which is why, when I heard they were re-releasing it for the PS3 in 3D, I had a little fan-girl freak out. I got a chance to try out The Sly Cooper Collection at Comic-Con, and it definitely left an impression.

You’re probably wondering why they’re re-releasing these three games instead of making a brand new one, especially because the graphics in these games are obviously a little bit outdated. The obvious answer to this is that these games are great, but once you get in front of a screen, put on those glasses, and pick up the controller, it pretty much speaks for itself. 3D makes these games look fantastic! The graphics were cleaned up a bit for this release, but there’s so much about the cel-shading from the original games that enhances the 3D.

One particular level we got to try out was a flying level, where Sly had to shoot his way to victory against a bunch of different airplanes and baddies. The depth of the environment around the characters and the way it felt to fly around that 3D environment was pretty awe-inspiring. The third game in the series was actually released in 3D on the PS2, and while the technology now was nothing like it is then, it made a really easy transition to the 3D we’ve come to know and enjoy these days. The 3D graphics in Sly Cooper Collection will even be able to be adjusted to avoid eye strain and headaches as well as change the angle at which the game can be viewed.

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One of the great things about the Playstation Network is that, as opposed to Xbox Live, using the network and playing online has always been 100% free for Playstation 3 owners. At Sony’s E3 press conference today, Sony acknowledged this fact, but still wanted to offer players more. That’s why they announced “Playstation Plus” a new premium subscription service that will supplement the Playstation Network and will offer a more “enchanced experience”.

By subscribing to Playstation Plus, Playstation Network users can gain access to demos earlier than other gamers, receive discounts on purchases made on the Playstation Network, and watch the Playstation lifestyle series Qore. In addition, subscribers to the service also will get free Playstation Minis and even classic Playstation games every month.

Playstation Plus will cost $49.99 for the year, or $17.99 for three months of service. Content from Playstation Plus will only be accessible as long as your subscription is active. The service launches later this month, and all Playstation 3 owners will get a free three-month long trial of Playstation Plus. All other features of the Playstation Network will continue to be free.

Back in 2008, Playstation 3′s LittleBigPlanettook took the world by storm with it’s innovative gameplay and ability to essentially create your own video game to share and challenge other players across the globe.

The plot of the game was pretty simple: you’re a tiny sock character who goes through a gigantic world, solving puzzles, uncovering secrets, and collecting points to buy more add-ons. The true beauty of the game lied with the ability to create full levels and set them loose in the real world for other people to try out and play. The game sold nearly 500,000 copies between the US and UK alone, making it one of the highest grossing PS3 games of all time.

Now, barely2 years later, Media Molocule is doing it again, but this time on an even bigger scale, with LittleBigPlanet 2.The new game boasts itself as a “Platform for Games” as opposed to the first being a platformer. The game is said to be 100% backwards compatible with the first game, giving players complete run of over 2 million user-created levels.

The game is on a much larger scale, and upgrades the customization feature nearly 4-fold. The ability to create non-playable AI characters in each of your custom levels is a new feature as well as millions of new additions to the original list of customizable options. Fans can now also compose their own score and play director with a new film-shooting feature.

Take a look at the brand new trailer for LittleBigPlanet after the jump, featuring an awesome tune from Passion Pit, and keep it here as we bring you more news leading up to it’s release later this year.

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Last week, we got word of the first new downloadable characters for the sequel to Marvel Ultimate Alliance in X-Men’s Psylocke and Spider-Man’s Carnage. After that, in one of the promo screen shots for the character, we got a glimpse at a few of the other characters soon to be announced, including Magneto, Black Panther, and Cable.

It looks like that may have jumped the boat, as the developers announced this weekend that Cable is indeed the next downloadable character for Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2. There’s a new trailer for the character after the jump, which you can check out, and there isn’t a whole plethora of information on when the content will be hitting our consoles and for how much.

No word yet on Magneto and Black Panther, but seeing as how it only took a week to announce 3 new characters, don’t expect to have to wait very long to play the Ukanda King and Master of Magnetism. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 is now available on all next gen systems.

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ThisTuesday, Sony’s newest version of their popular gaming console, the Playstation 3 Slim, will hit shelves across the country. If you’re one of those on the fence about purchasing it, we here at The Flickcast have got you covered. Here’s the lowdown on the differences between the older, fatter PS3 and the slimmer, more streamlined PS3 Slim.

What We Like

-This time around the PS3 will be 33% smaller and 36 percent lighter. Not only will this save gamers space, it will also make it easier to move between play sessions.

-$299 price tag. This finally puts the PS3 in the same price bracket as some Blu-ray players and the Nintendo Wii.

-New textured surface. The previous PS3 had a glossy finish, making it susceptible to scratching.

-120 GB Hard Drive, which is now easier to upgrade and will not void the warranty if removed.

What We Don’t Like

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