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Sony fined $395K for 2011 PlayStation Network hack

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has been fined 250,000 pounds (US$395,775) by the Information Commissioner's Office in the U.K., following the massive hacking of Sony's PlayStation Network in 2011 that saw million of users' personal data leaked.

The monetary penalty on Sony comes after the "serious breach of the Data Protection Act," the ICO said in a statement today.

When the Sony PlayStation Network Platform was hacked in April 2011, it compromised the personal information of millions of customers, including names, addresses, e-mail addresses, dates of birth, and account passwords. Customers' payment card … Read more

What Britons need to know about U.K. 'cookie law'

If you've seen a "cookie settings" warning like this recently, you're not the only one.

A few high-profile U.K. Web sites have in the past few days started to warn its visitors that it uses cookies on their sites.

If this is the first you've heard about it and you own a U.K. Web site that uses cookies -- such as those with shopping carts, adverts, a log-in function, or text-size preferences -- or develop for a mobile application platform...whoops.

You had until today to comply with the new European cookie law.… Read more

Remastered video games: Good or bad?

This holiday season, we're seeing a trend toward classic games presented in close-to-original form, but with their original graphics rerendered at the higher resolutions today's consoles and displays use. Is this a great way to make older games more accessible, or is it, like colorizing black-and-white movies, widely considered a bastardization of the original art?

Unlike film or music, video games age badly. Technology changes, screens get bigger, and the host games of even a few years ago look positively primitive to the jaded eyes of consumers. Despite this, we've still seen some vintage games enjoy a second, or even third life as iOS arcade classics, hermetically sealed retro downloads on GOG.com, or even those vintage-game-filled joysticks that plug directly into a television.

What we're seeing more than ever of this year is a little different: classic games presented in almost their original form, but with redesigned graphics, or at least with the original graphics rerendered at the higher resolutions today's consoles and displays use. … Read more

preGame 59: Rage; Ico and Shadow of the Colossus Collection

Today on preGame we've got an early look at Rage, hitting consoles and PC on October 4. Then we'll battle a giant colossus in our demo of the PS2 HD reboot for PlayStation 3, Shadow of the Colossus. Shadow makes up one half of the highly anticipated rerelease, the Ico and Shadow of the Colossus Collection. For CNET's full take on the game, check out our review here.

Today's demo of Rage includes strong language and violence. Viewer discretion is advised.

Want to be a part of our live taping? Make sure you head to http://cnet.com/live/pregameRead more

Ico and Shadow of the Colossus make triumphant debuts on PlayStation 3

Ask any self-respecting PlayStation 2 owner about must-have titles for the console and just by default, Ico and Shadow of the Colossus will eventually come up. Not only were both brilliantly unique in their gameplay and style, but they were also pivotal steps in changing the way we think about and play games. Developed by the same team, the games aren't necessarily specifically related, but there is an undeniable spiritual connection between the two.

Fortunately for gamers, Sony has bundled the two critically acclaimed titles onto one Blu-ray disc as The Ico and Shadow of the Colossus Collection. It features HD remasters of the original games, trophy support, as well as the option to play the titles in stereoscopic 3D. There are even special video features that dive into the making of the games. It's available now for $40.

Jeff: For me it's easy to recall my favorite game on PlayStation 2. When Shadow of the Colossus debuted in October 2005, I was blown away at the game's ability to suck me into a larger-than-life tale. While the storyline was a bit ambiguous, I felt an undying need to wander the world in search of the 16 enormous bosses.

With its 2011 refresh, Shadow of the Colossus looks better than ever, beautifully rendered in high definition. It still holds up compared with current-generation efforts, but it's interesting to see where the generational divide has left us. While linear at its core, Shadow feels wide open in its design. The game is a relentless teacher, refusing to give any hints aside from a beam of light that points the way forward. The real genius of Shadow is that it expertly disguises "levels" as each colossus and the environments that surround each beast.… Read more

NHS laptop loss could put millions of records at risk

A laptop containing unnamed patient information has gone missing from a subsidiary of the National Health Service North Central London health authority,

The Sun reported on Wednesday that the laptop, which was lost along with 19 others three weeks ago, contained the unencrypted health details of over 8.63 million people and records of 18 million hospital visits, operations and procedures. It was taken from a storeroom of London Health Programmes, a medical research organization based within the NHS North Central London health authority.

Both the UK's privacy watchdog, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), and the police are … Read more

Icons on the go

Need to make icons on the go? Look no further than IcoFX Portable. This lightweight program packs a well-designed interface and plenty of features into a package that will fit on your USB drive. This program would be pretty great even if it weren't small enough to carry around with us, but its portability makes it a real stand-out.

IcoFX Portable has an attractive, intuitive appearance that will be easy to navigate for anyone who's used a graphics program of any sort, even Microsoft Paint. When users create a new icon, the program has them set the dimensions … Read more

Sony repurposing Team Ico games in HD, 3D

Last week's Tokyo Game Show brought with it plenty of new-game announcements, but also a reminder that Sony is very much interested in selling backward compatibility to PS3 owners who don't have the means to play PS2 games. If you purchased a PS3 with an internal hard drive larger than 80GB (including all PS3 Slims), odds are your system is one of these unfortunate pieces of hardware.

We already saw last year's God of War Collection prepare gamers for God of War III and Sony has just revealed that the highly anticipated holiday 2011 release, The Last … Read more

After God of War: PS2 franchises that could get fresh life on the PS3

Sony's announcement this week of a PS3 edition of the first two PS2 God of War games, called God of War Collection, was exciting--unless you already own both games.

With 720p HD support added in, however, it raises a serious question: will backward-compatibility be a relic of video game days gone by? With the PS3 no longer able to play PS2 games, fans will be ever more reliant on re-releases and virtual console titles to resell them the greatest hits of the last generation.

As long as the old re-releases are lovingly upscaled to HD and given some extra … Read more