I Just Solved the Obesity Crisis. Thanks, Ubisoft.

Image: Assassin's Creed. Ubisoft.

I’ve been playing Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood in preparation for Revelations, and I had a rather interesting thought during my playthrough. There are only about three people in the entire world of the game that appear even the least bit overweight. Oh sure, you could blame this on the starving peasant class of the Middle Age setting of the game, but I’m not so sure that’s the reason.

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Europe free of PS3 tyranny

Image: Public domain, just like my pants.

Thanks to the noble efforts of LG, the PS3′s march across Europe has been stymied. A copyright claim by LG arguing that Sony’s Blu-ray players violate their patents has resulted in PS3s entering Europe to be seized by customs.

Reports indicate stores have two or three weeks’ worth of supply in the pipeline before Europe is free of the four year tyrannical ordeal known as the PlayStation 3.

At present, the blockade is only set to last for ten days, but LG may be working to extend that count, or even aim to have the systems put out of their miseries permanently.

Somewhere, Geohot is laughing.

Source: MCV UK

Sony continues war against PS3 jailbreakers

Image: Ironically public domain.

It only does what Sony wants it to do. Or else.

Remember when hackers figured out the “public private keys” of the PS3, allowing them to run code on the system at will? Sony does, and they’re still trying to ensure no one is ever able to follow their instructions.

In addition to suing anyone distribution the code necessary to jailbreak the black monolith, the company is kindly requesting Google give up the IP addresses of people who watched a private informational video regarding the hack on YouTube posted by hack-spectacular George “Geohot” Hotz. They also want names to go with the Twitter accounts of fail0verflow members, also associated with the hack.

Oh yeah, Sony is also hoping to get ahold of Hotz’s computer, presumably so they can check it for evidence of pro-Linux, anti-corporate bias.

Source: Wired

Nerd rage vs. corporate rage, Sony not happy about PS3 hack

Image: Public domain, just like my pants.

I have a better grasp of liquid water than I do this subject, read at your peril.

In December of 2010, a team of hackers known as “fail0verflow” announced that they had figured out how to circumvent the entirety of Sony’s security on the PS3.

After George “Geohot” Hotz managed to discover a “memory line glitching exploit” they were able to jailbreak the system and even discover the “public private keys” for it, meaning they can now run code on the PS3 at will as though they were Sony themselves.

The group implied their actions were a result of Sony’s unjust removal of the “Other OS” feature of the PS3, which allowed owners to run Linux on their black monoliths.

Sony is displeased with this series of events, and is now taking slimy corporate action against the parties involved in the form of a rather unique lawsuit. In addition to monetary damages, the company wants the information necessary to hack PS3s ripped from the internet.

Sony looks a lot screwed on this one. Anti-establishment hackers and Lunix worshipers are probably none-too-interested in rolling over to corporate demands.

Source: NeoGAF

Sony teams up with American military, real apocalyPS3 dawns

The United States Department of Defense has revealed that they have forged a 1,760-PS3 strong supercomputer, designed for analysis of surveillance images.

The Condor Cluster is reportedly “the biggest, fastest interactive computer the Defense Department has,” and cost a pretty reasonable $2,000,000. The price tag is especially impressive considering the collaborators: some (me) contend that Sony and the DoD are Earth’s two greatest money-wasters.

It’s currently unknown whose side Sony is really on here. The military worked directly with Sony to get the machines, so it could be that the company acted out of curiosity at what could be done with the hardware. Then again, maybe it’s part of a planned 10 year life cycle to infiltrate the American military which will conclude with Sony’s own version of Skynet nuking humanity (not unreasonable). My guess is that it was just for fun, but will cease to be so when the next apocalyPS3 dawns and American military operations simultaneously go dark worldwide.

More encouraging, the PS3′s Blu-ray drives have been disabled, so military personnel will at least be spared the tedium of Gran Turismo 5.

Sources: Cleveland.com, Cleveland.com
Image: Department of Defense