PixlBit

PSN is free for everyone except Sony.

As a precursor to its fiscal year 2010 earnings report this past Thursday, Sony released a revised earnings statement announcing an estimated $171 million price tag for the shutdown of PlayStation Network. This is a “reasonable assumption,” and Sony states it will have to spend this on its “personal information theft protection program,” not to mention “welcome back programs,” customer support, network security, and legal costs. In addition, Sony has taken into account potential revenue loss from the outage and recovery.

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Want to know which 2-D Zelda is the best Zelda? It isn’t Link to the Past! (WARNING: POSSIBLE STORY SPOILERS!!)

Here’s a little shocker for you: my first Zelda game was Ocarina of Time. I didn’t get into Nintendo’s other big franchise until Zelda made the jump to the Nintendo 64 in 1998. After experiencing Link’s first adventure in 3-D, I wanted more Zelda. I learned about the previous Zelda titles in the franchise, thanks in part to the awesome player’s guide Nintendo put out, and my need for more Zelda was quickly fixed with the arrival of Link’s Awakening DX. The “DX” part standing for “Deluxe”.

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Developed by Griptonite Games, the long anticipated title will arrive in stores this September.

Today, Sega officially announced Shinobi for the 3DS, in development at Griptonite Games. The game's existence was originally leaked in a resume posted on LinkedIn and again later on the cover of Nintendo Power. According to the press release, players will once again be able to experience the classic side-scrolling gameplay this September.

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Nick takes a look at the claims and provides some counter points to the study.

Based on a PR email I just received from the University of Missouri, they have finally proven the link between violent video games and an increase in aggressive behavior. The study performed was a fairly simple one. A group of 70 participating children were each randomly assigned a violent or non-violent video game to play for 25 minutes. Immediately after, each of the participants were given the ability to give an opponent a blast of loud noise. The level of the noise blast was used as a gauge of aggression. As you might expect, the findings have indicated that those who played the violent game were more "aggressive" than those who did not. I don't want to get too in-depth, but I find these claims dubious, to say the least.

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