Tech Culture

Sony has hired a former Department of Homeland Security official to head up its cybersecurity efforts, the company announced today.

Philip Reitinger has been named a senior vice president and chief information security officer at Sony. In his role in the newly created post, Reitinger will be charged with defending the company's "assets and services" from any security or privacy threats they might face.

Reitinger became a deputy undersecretary at the Department of Homeland Security in 2009 and soon after became the director of its National Cybersecurity Center. He stepped down from those roles in June, citing … Read more

Boutique video game retailer GameStop is looking to mobile hardware to expand its business, a new report claims.

According to Apple blog 9to5Mac, GameStop told dealers at a trade show in Las Vegas recently that it will start selling iOS-based devices in its stores. The company reportedly said that it will sell the iPad, iPhone, and iPod to customers across its stores.

GameStop has slowly marched toward the sale of iOS-based devices. Earlier this year, the company started offering a trade-in program on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod in a select number of stores. The company's president, Tony Bartel, … Read more

LOS ANGELES--Thousands of devoted Call of Duty fans gathered here this weekend for the first Call of Duty XP, a convention devoted to the game's past, present, and future.

Activision secured the huge airplane hangars of Playa Del Rey in the shadow of Loyola Marymount University and a sniper's shot from Electronic Arts' Los Angeles headquarters. Howard Hughes used those hangars to build his concept aircraft, but they became multiplayer gaming centers and conference halls for Call of Duty XP 2011.

Activision used the event to unveil the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 to a hangar absolutely packed with fans eager for the game's November 8 launch.

Players could enjoy the multiplayer levels in preview play while David Vonderhaar, design director; Phil Tasker, senior level designer; Alex Conserva, lead programmer; and Dan Bunting, online director filled in on Q&A before unveiling special rollout trailers to foreshadow the missions to come.

The centerpiece of the event was the international Call of Duty 3: Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer tournament. The four-man team Optic Gaming (William "BigTymer" Johnson, Blake "Vengeance2T" Campbell, Joseph "Merc SD" DeLuca and Matthew "NaDeSHoT" Haag) will split the $400,000 grand prize. … Read more

The Web breeds fantasy.

It lets us become different people. It lets us impress those we never thought we'd ever have a chance of impressing. And it lets us believe that we are just as wily, difficult, and very slightly obnoxious as the most successful people in the world. The New England Patriots' coach Bill Belichick, for example.

Yet now that fantasy football has become more prevalent in human minds than, say, learning a foreign language (some say 25 million people will have teams this season), a couple of NFL players have come out and expressed some heartfelt--and not … Read more

Those with a condition commonly referred to as lazy eye may soon be assigned video game therapy, thanks to results of a new study published in the August issue of the journal PLoS Biology.

Participants in the UC Berkeley study who spent at least 40 hours playing off-the-shelf video games throughout the course of the study enjoyed better visual acuity and 3D depth perception scores than prior to playing the games. (Don't get too excited; these improvements have not been seen in people with normal vision.)

"This study is the first to show that video game play is … Read more

It's hard to believe, but Frogger has been hopping around the gaming business for 30 years now, and to commemorate the event, Konami has released a new installment of the franchise in Apple's App Store.

Dubbed Frogger Decades, the title gives gamers the familiar Frogger experience, requiring them to get across an area by maneuvering around obstacles and finding safe haven as they move to the other side. According to the description of the title in the App Store, the game offers classic D-pad controls for the nostalgic among us, as well as touch controls for those who want to experience the title in a new way.

Frogger first launched as an arcade game in 1981. The game, while quite simple, caught on with people around the globe who tried to get frogs across a road or river packed with obstacles. Over the years, as Frogger's popularity grew, several new versions of the title were made available, including Frogger II, Frogger 3D, and others.

But Frogger Decades is not the first title in the franchise to be made available on iOS; Konami already offered Frogger in the App Store. That title costs 99 cents.

Those hoping to get their hands on Frogger Decades can download it now to their iPhone or iPad. The game costs $1.99.… Read more

A splinter group of hacker collective Anonymous is turning attention away from corporations and governments and toward the beautiful people.

According to multiple reports, the Hollywood Leaks team has announced its intent to target celebrities in film, TV, and music--evidently, folks like Miley Cyrus, Tom Cruise, and rapper Kreayshawn have already been hit. The hackers are looking for dirt, such as nude photos, embarrassing e-mails or memos, scripts under wraps, etc. In general, Hollywood Leaks wants to leave a trail of showbiz carnage in its wake.

So far, the fruits of their dastardly labor include publishing online a list of celebrity cell phone numbers (Cyrus and Ashley Green, Helio Castronoves and Corky Ballas, who both previously appeared on "Dancing with the Stars") and the pre-release script of the movie musical "Rock of Ages" starring Tom Cruise. This morning, they served up Gerald Butler's e-mail address. Admittedly, that's not the most devastating list of achievements so far, but these are the early days yet.

"Nothing like a #LEAK for breakfast," the group tweeted this morning. … Read more

Sony's PlayStation 3 could outsell the Xbox 360 this holiday season if Microsoft doesn't cut the price of its console, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter said in an interview published yesterday with IndustryGamers.

"If Microsoft does nothing, I think PS3 will outsell Xbox 360," Pachter told IndustryGamers. "However, my friends at Microsoft are extremely proud, and they absolutely refuse to tolerate the possibility that the PS3 will outsell the Xbox 360. I think they have the ads printed for the Xbox 360 price cut, and will drop them on us the instant they see PS3 sales … Read more

Just a few weeks after announcing its decision to expand its streaming service to Japan, Hulu has made good on its promise.

Folks in Japan can now stream a host of movies from the service, including "Men in Black," "Troy," and "As Good As It Gets." On the television side, users will have access to "24," "Lost," and "Prison Break," among other shows. Like in the U.S., all the content will be available online, as well as on connected televisions, tablets, and smartphones, Hulu said. Support for … Read more