A couple of months ago, we had a report from CNET saying that Sony had been talking to some recording industry types about providing downloadable music for the PSP through the PlayStation Network. Now that rumors of PS Cloud being a social networking tool has been debunked, the latest from the mill alleges that it's actually for this music service.

The pirates have struck the X-mark again, claiming illegal booty with digitally ripped software. After hearing Rock Band: Unplugged's leaking into the Internet a month ahead of retail release, this bit of news brings another damper to the fight against piracy. It's been reported that The Sims 3 has now also found its way to torrent sites online, some two weeks ahead of its scheduled release (June 2).

Sony CEO Howard Stringer recently let Nikkei Electronics Asia on some of Sony's plans for their hardware, including of course the PlayStation 3. One of the most interesting things Stringer mentioned is that Sony is  now transitioning from being a closed system to an open one. Stringer also said that expansion to other Sony hardware is definitely in the cards for the PlayStation Network.

Those who missed out on Firaxis and 2K Games' Sid Meier's Civilization IV the first time around will be getting another chance to get their copies of the game. Not only the base Civilization IV game, mind you, but also the game's three expansion packs.

Wow. It's a good thing I haven't downloaded Broken Steel yet. Fallout 3 players are reporting installation issues with the latest DLC from Bethesda. It's like The Pitt all over again, only this time it's for the PC version.

Electronic Arts is distancing itself even further from the much-maligned SecuROM security software by confirming on the BioWare forums that the PC version of BioWare's upcoming RPG Dragon Age: Origins will not have any SecuROM DRM.

An ongoing drama is brewing in the Wiibrew scene, particularly between Team Twiizers and the makers of the Argon modchip. In a nutshell, Argon is locking "homebrew solutions" into their modchip without permission from the authors, in effect selling other people's works that are already free to begin with. In their latest effort to dodge copyright claims from Team Twiizers, Argon claims that Marcan didn't even write the Twilight Hack. More idiocy in the full article.

Several changes have been made to the iTunes Store you'll want to hear. The biggest one is that by April, they'll be offering songs at three price points, 69 cents, 99 cents, and US$ 1.29. What other changes can we expect? More after the link.

Whew!  It is not true that Electronic Arts (EA) is banning gamers from playing their games if they  get banned from the forums, as one moderator threatened players with. EA's official statement on the matter can be found at the full article.

You'd think that a publishing company will fight tooth and nail just to maintain a game title. Apparently, that's not sound business practice, as we learned from John Riccitiello. If something's not meeting quality expectations - which should be high - then there should be no qualms about dropping it off the cliff -- for good.