$1.99
Release date: 10/25/2011Price: $1.99

Racing Gear Pack (90 items)
This DLC pack adds racing gear items of famous drivers to your Gran Turismo 5.
Contains helmets and racing suits of 8 famous WRC and NASCAR drivers, 12 helmets and suits in all. In addition there is the Official Gran Turismo helmet, and new gear from Alpinestars and Simpson.

$2.99
Release date: 10/25/2011Price: $2.99

Racing Car Pack (15 Cars)
This DLC pack adds new cars to Gran Turismo 5.
Includes the new model of the X2010 ultimate racing machine, the Red Bull X2011. There is also a lineup of specially tuned touring cars and three new racing karts. Expand your garage with these exciting new racing machines.

$7.99
Release date: 10/25/2011Price: $7.99

Course Pack (2 Tracks, 5 layouts)
This DLC pack adds the new tracks to Gran Turismo 5.
The new Course Pack includes SPA-Francorchamps (with weather effects) and Kart Space layouts I and II (each layout supports normal and reverse).

$4.99
Release date: 10/25/2011Price: $4.99

or all for 11.99?

[Major Changes and New Features]
- Standard Cars now given simplified cockpit views
The over 800 standard cars included in the game are now given simplified cockpit views. You can change your view using the SELECT button when racing, to change your display to the exciting cockpit view.
*Unlike the cockpit view of premium cars, the simplified cockpit is shown in a dark silhouette, and the gauges used for the car will be standard in-game instruments.

- New Opening Movie
A new opening movie is now available from “Gran Turismo TV”. When you download this movie, it will replace the current opening movie. The previous version will be viewable within Gran Turismo TV.

- Addition of the weather change menu
On some tracks with weather changes, it is now possible for the user to set time and weather changes from the Quick Menu in both the Arcade Mode, and “Practice” of the GT Mode. Also, you can make more detailed time and weather changes while editing in the course maker and in the online lounge.

- Multiple car settings/save feature
We’ve added a setting sheet feature that allows you to save multiple car settings.
From the [Setting Sheet] on the lower right of the screen, you can check the current settings. You can switch between 3 settings A, B, and C, allowing you to change between your personal settings easily according to the type of race and your objectives.

- Added 11 NASCAR cars
The newest NASCAR 2011 models have been added to the car dealerships. The added cars are the following:
Toyota 2011 Denny Hamlin #11 FedEx TOYOTA CAMRY ’11
Chevrolet 2011 Tony Stewart #14 Office Depot CHEVROLET IMPALA ’11
Toyota 2011 Kyle Busch #18 M&M’SR TOYOTA CAMRY ’11
Toyota 2011 Joey Logano #20 The Home Depot TOYOTA CAMRY ’11
Chevrolet 2011 Jeff Gordon #24 Drive to End Hunger CHEVROLET IMPALA ’11
Chevrolet 2011 Juan Montoya #42 Target CHEVROLET IMPALA ’11
Ford 2011 AJ Allmendinger #43 Best Buy FORD FUSION ’11
Chevrolet 2011 Jimmie Johnson #48 Lowe’s CHEVROLET IMPALA ’11
Toyota 2011 Brian Vickers #83 Red Bull TOYOTA CAMRY ’11
Chevrolet 2011 Dale Earnhardt Jr. #88 AMP Energy/National Guard CHEVROLET IMPALA ’11
Ford 2011 Carl Edwards #99 Aflac FORD FUSION ’11

- Added the Nissan GT-R N24 Schulze Motor Sports
The Nissan GT-R N24 Schulze Motor Sports has been added to the car dealer. This is the car entered in the 2011 Nurburgring 24 hour race by Schulze Motorsports of Germany, and is the very car in which Kazunori Yamauchi drove and achieved a class victory.

- Avatar now usable in Photo Travel
An Avatar ON/OFF feature has been added to Photo Travel. Now you can photograph your avatar together with your car.
You can turn the driver avatar ON/OFF by pressing the △ button while positioning the car.

- Replay Fast Forward/Rewind
All replay videos recorded after the 2.0 update will have [Forward] [Rewind] buttons.
You can now easily search for the scene you are looking for and play back a certain section whenever you want to, adding even more fun to the photo mode.

-Improved Online Lounge
[Car Restrictions] has been added in the regulations. You can now limit participants to specific categories such as “NASCAR” and “Super GT”. Also, there are now more cars that can be used in shuffle races, and a new “Shuffle Base” setting allows you to set the performance level of cars allocated to each player.
For details, please see Top screen – [Manual] – [Online Race] – [Event Settings] and the “Regulation Settings”.

- Additional features to Remote Racing
A “Graph Display” has been added to the remote race screen in GT My Home of granturismo.com, where you can enjoy B-Spec racing. This allows you to visually see the changes in positions in each lap. A time difference display for each car in the race has also been added.

- New Photo Stage Added
The “Indy: NASCAR Pit Stop” stage has been added to photo travel. We invite you to come see and capture the energy of NASCAR’s famous pit stops.

- Addition of the Consecutive Login Bonus
When a user logs in consecutively, a bonus will now be applied to experience and race rewards.
It will increase to 110% in the 1st day, 130% in the 2nd day, 150% in the 3rd day, 170% in the 4th, to a maximum of 200% in the 5th day. This will apply to all events both online and offline, so logging in every day will make the game progress faster.

- DLC (Downloadable Content) Compatibility
A [Downloadable Content] button has been added to the lower right of the top screen. Here you can install content purchased from the PlayStation®Store.
Please refer to the product information page of gran-turismo.com for details regarding downloadable content.
*The release of the DLC is planned for 25th October, 2011.

- Official Support for the G25/G27 Racing Wheels
The Logitech G25 Racing Wheel and G27 Racing Wheel are now officially supported. You can now change button assignments for various racing controls on these wheels.

[Other Improvements]
- User interface improvement
- Quick Menu can now be accessed while the race is loading.
- It is now possible to save and resume endurance races.
- Two NASCAR cars selectable in Arcade Mode have been changed from the 2010 models to 2011 models.
- In the Arcade Settings of [Options], AI Car Characteristics settings has been added. You can now change the aggressiveness of the AI against you in Arcade races.
- Some effects of Traction Control have been adjusted. When the TCS level is set to 1, it will not come into effect as much especially in tight corners on dirt tracks.
- Surface Water and Tire Load Indicator displays have been added to the race screen. The Tire Load Indicator can be set from the Quick Options menu that is displayed during the race (when the game is paused using the START button), or the standard Options menu.
- The option to Create Thumbnails for All Cars has been added to the context menu of the Garage. This will update the thumbnails of all cars in the garage.
- Experience gained in online races have been increased by 60%, and rewards have been increased by 66%.
- You can now change the Slipstream Strength settings in the lounge.
- In the Lounge and in [Option] – [General] – [Arcade], it is now possible to turn Visible Damage ON or OFF.
- Drivetrain settings has been added to the regulation settings in the Lounge.
- A setting to prohibit “Tuning” of cars has been added to the regulations settings in the Lounge.
- Adjusted the driving speed of formula cars in banks, and auto-drive when coming onto straights.
- Added a button to [Reset Playlist to Original Settings] under the settings menus of [Menu BGM], [Race BGM] and [Slideshow BGM].
- Personal BGM can now also be set in [Slideshow BGM]
- A new brand “AMG” has been added to the MUSEUM.

[Correction of Known Issues]
- Corrected an issue where the “Torque Sensing Center Differential” installed on a Lancer Evolution X was not functioning.
- Fixed an issue where you could participate in the Intermediate/Tarmac Rally of the Gran Turismo Rally in a Ferrari F1 by using the power limiter.
- Fixed an issue where the Controller Steering Sensitivity was not applied correctly.
- Fixed an issue where there was a server connection problem in certain network environments.
- Fixed an issue where auto-drive would make braking mistakes.
- Fixed an issue where the system would misjudge whether deceleration happens in time when making pit stops in the rain.

[To Check Your Current Version]
To check the version of your software, press the “Manual” button at the bottom of the main menu screen. The version number will be located on the upper left of the index page.

If the number starts with Ver. 2.00, you are playing the latest version of the game.

If not, please press the PS button and exit the game. The game will be updated automatically when you restart it with your PS3™ system connected to the internet.

What is PCI? The PCI Security Standards Council which is responsible for the development, management, education, and awareness of the PCI Security Standards including Data Security Standards, Payment Application Data Security Standards and PIN transaction Security requirements.  Why is this important? Well because Sony stores sensitive data and credit card information on it’s servers. Basically they audit your servers, provide a list of recommendations that you should implement to protect your servers. After a company is audited it’s recommended that you look to implement the recommendations on your servers to make you more secure, rinse and repeat.

I’m curious to know when Sony’s last PCI audit happened, what recommendations came out of the audit, what did Sony fix and Sony didn’t fix?

To me, Sony handled this perfectly. They were hacked but didn’t know to what extent. They hired professionals to help and than once they realized the extent of the damage they informed the public.

Back to the Timeline:

April 3, 2011 – a group called “Anonymous” launches cyber attacks against various Sony websites because Sony was suing George “GEoHot” Hotz and Graf_Chokolo who hacked the PS3

April 11, 2011 – Sony settles with Hotz

April 19, 2011 – Sony’s Network team detects unauthorized activity in the PlayStation Network system

April 20, 2011 – Sony discovers unauthorized intrusion and that data had been taken off the PSN servers. Sony hires a forensic investigation team. They can’t determine what data was taken and the Playstation network was taken off line.

April 21, 2011 – Sony hires a second forensic team

April 25, 2011 – Forensics team determine the scope of personal data that was illegally taken from all PSN and Qriocity servers. No indication if credit cards where taken.

April 26, 2011 – Sony finally informs the public of the hack and notifies authorities of the attack

April 28, 2011 – Hotz denies any invovlement

April 29, 2011 – House of Representatives  wants more information about the attack

April 30, 2011 – Kazuo Hirai speaks to the public for the first time about the attack and apologies to its customers. Hirai states that PSN should be back up a week and that network security has been beefed  up.

• 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 new security measures implemented include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Added automated software monitoring and configuration management to help defend against new attacks
• Enhanced levels of data protection and encryption
• Enhanced ability to detect software intrusions within the network, unauthorized access and unusual activity patterns
• Implementation of additional firewalls

Complimentary Offering and “Welcome Back” Appreciation Program
While there is no evidence at this time that credit card data was taken, the company is committed to helping its customers protect their personal data and will provide a complimentary offering to assist users in enrolling in identity theft protection services and/or similar programs. The implementation will be at a local level and further details will be made available shortly in each region.

The company will also rollout the PlayStation Network and Qriocity “Welcome Back” program, to be offered worldwide, which will be tailored to specific markets to provide our consumers with a selection of service options and premium content as an expression of the company’s appreciation for their patience, support and continued loyalty.

Central components of the “Welcome Back” program will include:

• Each territory will be offering selected PlayStation entertainment content for free download. Specific details of this content will be announced in each region soon.
• All existing PlayStation Network customers will be provided with 30 days free membership in the PlayStation Plus premium service. Current members of PlayStation Plus will receive 30 days free service.
• Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity subscribers (in countries where the service is available) will receive 30 days free service.

Additional “Welcome Back” entertainment and service offerings will be rolled out over the coming weeks as the company returns the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services to the quality standard users have grown to enjoy and strive to exceed those exceptions.

May 1, 2011 – Sony finds files that says “Anonymous,” “We are legion.” That’s the slogan for the hacktivist group.

May 2, 2011 – Playstation blog update ” One other point to clarify is from from this weekends’ press conference. While the passwords that were stored were not “encrypted,” they were transformed using a cryptographic hash function. There is a difference between these two types of security measures which is why we said the passwords had not been encrypted. But I want to be very clear that the passwords were not stored in our database in cleartext form.”

May 4, 2011 – Sony sends letter to Congress answering questions.

May 5, 2011 -  Sony’s global network and security teams at Sony Network Entertainment and Sony Computer Entertainment began the final stages of internal testing of the new PSN system

May 6, 2011 -  More testing

May 14, 2011 – PSN returns sort of? Video from Kazuo Hirai

PS3 software update announced – The update (v3.61) is mandatory and is available now

May 15, 2011 – users updating passwords, severs can’t handle the load, suspended servers to catch up. Sony recently had to turn off services for approximately 30 minutes to clear the queue.

May 16, 2011 – PSN FAQ – Restoration Questions Answered. Details for PlayStation Network and Qriocity Customer Appreciation Program in North America

May 18, 2011 – Sony temporarily took down the PSN and Qriocity password reset page. Contrary to some reports, there was no hack involved. In the process of resetting of passwords there was a URL exploit that we have subsequently fixed.

May 24, 2011 – PSN down Maintenance

May 30, 2011 – Full PSN Services, including PlayStation Store, Return This Week

June 1, 2011 – Important PlayStation Network Maintenance,The server maintenance performed at this time represents a crucial step in the full restoration for PSN, including the PlayStation Store.

June 1,2011 – PSN STORE BACKONLINE!

June 3, 2011 – Welcome Back Program Available Now – Details Inside

Q: What’s in the Welcome Back Program?
A: To start, all PSN members who had signed up before the outage (April 20, 2011) will be able to select two games for the PS3 system and two games for the PSP system.
For PS3 owners, go to the ‘Welcome Back’ section in the PlayStation Store, and select 2 titles from the following list:
• Dead Nation
• inFAMOUS
• LittleBigPlanet
• Super Stardust HD
• Wipeout HD + Fury
For PSP owners, go to the ‘Welcome Back’ section of PlayStation Store on your PSP system and select 2 titles from the following list:
• LittleBigPlanet (PSP)
• ModNation Racers
• Pursuit Force
• Killzone Liberation

Massive PSN store update

June 4, 2011 – PlayStation Home Welcome Back Package Details

June 6, 2011 – PS3 System Software Update (v3.65)

Tokyo, May 31, 2011 – Sony Corporation and Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) announced today that Sony Network Entertainment International (SNEI, the company) will fully restore all PlayStation®Network services in the Americas, Europe/PAL territories and Asia, excluding Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea by the end of this week.  The company will also resume Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity™ for PlayStation®3 (PS3®), PSP® (PlayStation®Portable), VAIO and other PCs.  Details for Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea as well as the remaining services on Qriocity will be announced as they become available.

The company implemented considerable security enhancements to the network infrastructure, as well as conducted testing of the payment process and commerce functions.  The first phase of PlayStation Network and Qriocity restoration began on May 15 in the Americas and Europe/PAL territories, followed by Japan and Asian countries and regions on May 28, when the company brought partial services back online.  With this partial restoration users were able to access to some of the services such as online game play, account management, friend lists and chat functionality were restored.  The full restoration of PlayStation Network as well as part of services to become available on Qriocity will include:
•        Full functionality on PlayStation®Store
•        In-game commerce
•        Ability to redeem vouchers and codes
•        Full functionality on Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity for PS3, PSP, VAIO and other PCs
•        Full functionality on Media Go

Customers can now purchase and download games and video content from the PlayStation®Store on PS3 or PSP.  In addition, consumers will have full access to Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity through PS3, PSP, VAIO and other PC’s.  Service restoration of Video on Demand powered by Qriocity™ and Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity for a variety of network-enabled Sony devices will be announced later.

“We have been conducting additional testing and further security verification of our commerce functions in order to bring the PlayStation Network completely back online so that our fans can again enjoy the first class entertainment experience they have come to love,” said Kazuo Hirai, Executive Deputy President, Sony Corporation. “We appreciate the patience and support shown during this time.”

The company will be offering customers a “Welcome Back” package of services and premium content to all registered PlayStation Network* and Qriocity account services.  The details of this program will continue to be detailed regionally.

Tokyo, December 10, 2010  – Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) announced today that the cumulative worldwide sales of the Gran Turismo® franchise, a genre-defining racing and car-life simulator available on PlayStation®, PlayStation®2, PlayStation®3 (PS3™) and PSP®(PlayStation®Portable), has exceeded 60 million units* as of December 6, 2010.  This remarkable sales figure was achieved in just 12 years and 11 months since the Japanese launch of the first title in the franchise, Gran Turismo, in December 1997.

The Gran Turismo franchise, from the original Gran Turismo to the latest Gran Turismo®5, has continued to evolve alongside the PlayStation platforms.  With its outstanding gameplay, beautiful graphics and true-to-life driving simulation, the franchise is recognized as the world’s number one automotive game title on the PlayStation format, receiving high regard not just from game fans, but from professional racing drivers and enthusiasts in the automotive industry.

The ninth installment of the world’s best-selling racing franchise, Gran Turismo 5 for the PS3 system, features a completely new physics engine for an improved feel for steering during turns and drifts, delivering a more intuitive driving experience than ever before.  The game also features an impressive line-up of more than 1,000 licensed karts and cars from the world’s top manufacturers.  Other highly anticipated features include stereoscopic 3D support, real-time car damage, dynamic weather effects, kart racing, a Course Maker, and a deep online and community feature set where players can race online with up to 16 players through PlayStation®Network.  With the widest scope and depth of gameplay options in the Gran Turismo series, Gran Turismo 5 offers users an entertainment experience that is only possible on PS3.  As of December 6, more than 5.5 million units of Gran Turismo 5 have been sold worldwide. Gran Turismo 5 will further continue to contribute to the expansion of the PS3 platform.

For all Gran Turismo fans around the world, SCEI and the developer of the Gran Turismo series, Polyphony Digital Inc., will continue hereon to vigorously promote development of the Gran Turismo series, which can be expected to evolve even further through the PS3 platform and broadband network environment.

*   Sell-in number

Cumulative Worldwide Sales of Gran Turismo Series (million units)
Title        Japan         North America*1         Europe*2          Asia        WW
Gran Turismo        2.55        3.98        4.24        0.01        10.78
Gran Turismo 2        1.71        3.96        3.65        0.02        9.34
Gran Turismo 3 A-spec        1.89        7.14        5.76        0.01        14.80
Gran Turismo Concept 2001 TOKYO*3        0.43        —        0.94        0.13        1.50
Gran Turismo 4 Prologue        0.79        —        0.39        0.16        1.34
Gran Turismo 4        1.27        3.02        6.40        0.17        10.86
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue*4        0.75        1.13        3.04        0.11        5.03
Gran Tursimo (PSP)*5        0.34        0.67        1.19        0.04        2.24
Gran Turismo 5        0.55        1.25        3.56        0.16        5.52
Total        61.41
*1: Including Latin American countries
*2: Including PAL territories
*3: Including series tiles
*4: Including Download Version and SpecⅢ
*5: Including Download Version

Title Release Dates in North America
Gran Turismo                                May 12, 1998
Gran Turismo 2                                December 7, 1999
Gran Turismo 3 A-spec                        July 10, 2001
Gran Turismo 4                                February 2005
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue                April 15, 2008
Gran Turismo (PSP)                                        October 1, 2009
Gran Turismo 5                                November 24, 2010

PlayStation, PS3, PlayStation logo and Gran Turismo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
All manufacturers, cars, names, brands and associated imagery featured in this game are trademarks and/or copyrighted materials of their respective owners.  All rights reserved.

ModNation Racer’s is developed by  United Front Games who is located in Vancouver. The motto behind MNR is “Play, Create, and Share”, you may remember a similar motto from another Sony title Little Big Planet.

The game looks great and the controls work really well. The typical premise of a racing game is to drift around corners, collect boost, collect power up’s to blow your enemies out of the track and you also have the ability to block enemy attacks as well.

I had the most fan sitting down making my character and I think the real legs of this game are going to come from the user generated content. I wish I had more time to sit down and design a track for everyone to play but don’t worry as soon as the game is released on May 25th I’ll be working hard to get a level out. I’m also excited to see what their downloadable content plan will be for this game. What kind of crazy cool stickers, objects, animals and potential tie in’s with other Sony franchises.

Photo’s from the Event:

From the moment you start Uncharted 2 you will notice how gorgeous this game is, in fact I will say I don’t there is a better looking next gen game. This games audio is a reason to get a surround sound system or a very end set of headphones is to experience the audio. The gun sounds; the rain and music simply compliment and go hand in hand with this game. The voice acting is simply brilliant throughout the game Nathan Drake will simply leaving you laughing at the remarks he makes. The supporting cast in the game also has some tremendous voice acting. The actors can only do so much with a script that the writing team gives them and wherever Naughty Dog found these writers they deserve a big pay raise.

Uncharted 2 does not do a whole lot different from the first game but it just does it better. The combat in Drake’s Fortune was one of the weak spots of the game, the team over at naughty has greatly improved the shooting mechanics and it certainly shows. Enemies are no longer bullet sponges unless they are completely covered in Kevlar armour. The cover mechanics have also greatly improved allowing Nathan slide from cover to cover effectively. Blowing enemies up with grenades is always fun but it was a real struggle in first game which involved using the D-pad or six axis. Now all you have to do is aim and tap L2. It’s much easier and more effective. Melee combat is just more fun to use as well and there are several trophies available to encourage melee combat. There is also a heavy focus on stealth whether it be shooting enemies from ledges, pulling enemies off of ledges or running down the very quietly and then knocking out the enemy.

I played it on normal and beat the game just under 10 hours that has Nathan Drake searching for a mythical city of Shangri-La because he wants unravel the mystery of Marco Polo’s voyage from China in 1292. After spending time with Kublai Khan, Marco departed with 14 ships and 600 passengers and crew but when he arrived at destination he only had 1 ship and 18 passengers. Throughout the course of the game Nate encounters friend Flynn who turns into a foe, Chloe, Zoran Lazarevic, our good friend Sully and Elena.

One of the biggest editions to the game is multiplayer. There is Co-operative multiplayer as well competitive multiplayer. First up for co-op will allow 3 players to take on roles of Nathan and 2 other characters as they make their way through gun fights and team based objectives. Should one of your comrades should fall you will need to revive them and I have to say as someone who was downed a lot good teammates are key to this mode. Gold Rush has players team up to get a treasure and return it to their base. You also have survival mode where you take on wave after wave of bad guys or girls. For competitive play you get the usual deathmatch, elimination and capture the treasure and much more. There is a bit of RPG element to the multiplayer as you can gain ranks and in turn allows you to buy perks or upgrades with the cash you earned in game (if you finished Uncharted you’ll start with 80k). Levels have been taken right out of the first player campaign so that means you can climb up to the get the higher ground on the other team. Naughty has also implemented a party system that works extremely well for a Playstation 3 game.

If you own a Playstation 3 there is no reason why you shouldn’t play this game. It’s gorgeous looking, it’s funny and it was one of the first games in a long time made me completely lose track of time. The single player campaign is epic and multiplayer is quite fun and for 60 dollars this game is a steal!.

Sony’s current offerings

Microsoft’s current offerings

All prices were determined on the XBL Canadian Marketplace, Canadian Playstation Network store, Bestbuy.ca,futreshop.ca and amazon.ca

Teh Bad:
Levels feel very short, leaves you wondering where’s the where the hell is the rest of this level?
Useless motion control
Story? What story!

Overall this is a much needed first party game for the Playstation 3. It packs great visuals,great cut scenes, overall great game play. Oh and yes the multiplayer is what pushes Killzone 2 into a must buy title.