Blog Posts by Chris Morris

Chaos Computer Club Annual Congress - Getty Images Everyone hates a copycat, but the cyber attack on Sony's PlayStation Network has created more than a few. For hackers seeking notoriety or fame, there is no easier target these days than gaming companies.

The latest victim is Bethesda Software, makers of hit games like Fallout 3 and the Elder Scrolls titles. LulzSec, the group that has claimed responsibility for the Memorial Day weekend takeover of PBS Websites (posting false news stories that rapper Tupac Shakur was still alive and living in New Zealand), says it has breached the company's servers and plans to release the data today.

Bethesda confirmed a hack attack, saying it did not believe any financial data was taken, but it was

L.A. Noire was a bright spot. - Rockstar Games After riding high from the thrill of E3 last week, the video game industry got a harsh slap in the face Monday.

As reported by the NPD Group, sales of video games in the month of May were down 19 percent compared to a year ago -- the worst performance for the industry in nearly five years.

You have to look back as far as October 2006 to find a dive this steep. And, making matters worse, none of the industry's fortunetellers saw it coming. Analysts had expected May to be relatively flat thanks to a Wii price cut early in the month.

Game software sales came in at $375.8 million, $90 million less than May 2010. Year to date, the industry is a worrying 14 percent off of 2010's retail sales

E3 is a three-ring circus -- and like any circus, it's filled with spectacular sights and things of wonder. (And, thanks to Twisted Metal, it also has a few freakish, scary clowns.)

But it also has a slew of attractions that are just downright weird. We didn't see any lines of dancing poodles at this year's show, but here are a few of the less common things on and around the show floor.

Kiss Controller - Hye Yeon Nam Motion control is *so* last year. At E3's small IndieCade
showcase of independent games, one developer was demonstrating an experimental
title that was controlled by sticking your tongue down someone's throat.

In Kiss Controller, one partner wears a retainer-like headset, while

Wii U's main console hardware - Nintendo Nintendo, for the majority of this console generation, has been content to play its own game. Now it's ready to take the fight to
Microsoft and Sony.

The company on Tuesday unveiled its next generation home video game machine -- dubbed Wii U -- that will be flush with the high-definition graphics gamers have come to expect, as well as a unique, touch-screen
controller. It's scheduled to launch in 2012.

Like the Wii, the Wii U (which, despite the name, is not an institute of higher learning) revolves around and innovative controller. Equipped with a 6.2-inch LCD touch-screen, a camera, a microphone and an accelerometer, the controller acts as a sort of fusion of a gamepad, tablet PC and a

Pokedex - Nintendo Early adopters of the Nintendo 3DS have been a pretty patient bunch. New games for the system haven't exactly been rushing to retail, and there's only so much you can do with that 3D camera. But relief is on the way.

Nintendo says the long-awaited 3DS eShop will launch June 6 -- and to celebrate, the company is letting owners of the handheld system download a copy of Excitebike 3D Classic for free, if they grab it within the first 30 days.

And while Pokemon fans may not have a game for the 3DS yet, the store will let them pick up a copy of Pokedex 3D, letting them see the critters from Pokemon Black and White in 3D with animated motion and sound. They'll also get an augmented-reality

The Nintendo DS Lite Nintendo is increasing the stakes in its fight for control of the handheld gaming market.

The company will drop the price of its popular DS Lite portable system to
$99.99 on Sunday June 5. That $30 cut is the first time Nintendo has adjusted
the system's price since 2006.

Five years without a price cut is virtually unheard of in the gaming industry, but there really hasn't been any need to do so with the DS Lite. The system has consistently been one of the industry' best-selling hardware items for years - until recently. Added together, the various versions of the DS line have sold more than 48.9 million systems over the past seven years.

But as the iPhone has increased its gaming focus,

Playstation 3 - Sony The ever-creeping deadline to get the PlayStation Network
fully operational has crept a little further out - but the company says it's
now confident everything will be up and running by the end of the week.

Sony, in a blog posting, said Monday that it expects to have its online service fully
operational by the end of the week. That's a few days later than the previous
vow to have it up and running by the end of the day - and more than a week
later than it told developer partners it hoped to have the PlayStation Store operational
again.

"We have been conducting additional testing and further
security verification of our commerce functions in order to bring the
PlayStation Network completely

Go Elite The long-rumored subscription service tied to the hit Call of Duty franchise is finally reality. And that has some gamers worried and
confused.

Activision has formally unveiled Call of Duty: Elite, a premium service that adds a social layer and exclusive content - along with a
monthly fee - to the popular shooter. But the addition of that fee and the
features the publisher have discussed have muddied the waters a bit around the
franchise. Here are some answers to some of the biggest questions:

Do I have to pay to play online now? - No. While
Elite will offer some additional features for subscribers, players will still
be able to play online for no additional charge - just as they always