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Sony has announced an interesting new concept to sell its PlayStation 4 console: a bundle where you get to pick which game you want.

Starting today, Sony is offering a 500GB PS4 with a digital download voucher that can be used for either Destiny, Far Cry 4, LittleBigPlanet 3, or NBA2K15.

Called the "Four Games. One Pick. PlayStation 4 Bundle," Sony is making the bundle available for $399.99, the normal price of the console without a game included.

Here are Sony's description of the games:

Destiny – The ultimate Destiny experience is on PS4, with exclusive content including an additional multiplayer map, Strike mission, an expanded repository of exotic weapons and gear, and player ships. Don't forget, the first Destiny expansion, The Dark Below, is coming out on Dec 9, and it includes exclusive content for PlayStation gamers: a new Strike, The Undying Mind, and an exotic shotgun, The 4th Horseman. Destiny Expansion I: The Dark Below will be available for $19.99.

Far Cry 4 – A game many are calling a contender for game of the year, Far Cry 4 will take you on a breathtaking adventure through the perilous and wild region of the Himalayas struggling under the regime of a despotic self-appointed king. PS4's exclusive "Keys to Kyrat" feature allows you to send up to 10 keys to your PSN friends, so they can join you in Kyrat for a two-hour online co-op session, even if they don't own a copy of the game.

Analysts seems to believe Nintendo has turned a corner and will return to strong profitability this year on the back of popular first-party titles.

The most recent bullish analysts believe Nintendo can see its profits reach $305 million for the year, a huge improvement over last year's $193 million loss.

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has stuck by his guns for the last couple of years, as the industry begged the company to start releasing their most popular IP for mobile devices and for other consoles. New hits like Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart have boosted Wii U sales significantly this year, and the latest hit - Amiibo - has seen sales of over $1 billion in the U.S. alone.

Shockingly, despite being on the market for two years, the Wii U only has 53 games available and the small catalog is a big reason why the company has only moved 7 million units over its lifetime.

Source:
BBG

Last week, we reported that the new Capcom Street Fighter V would be a PC and PlayStation 4 exclusive, leaving Xbox One gamers in the dark.

This week, Microsoft's Phil Spencer responded via Twitter to the news, simply stating that Microsoft cannot be a part of every business deal for exclusive games, and that the company would rather invest in its own "Killer Instinct" title.

Reads the tweet: "Business deals happen. We won't do all of them. When we have a 1st party franchise in a genre I'd rather invest in ours."

Of course, Microsoft does invest in third-party games, as well, recently making "Rise of the Tomb Raider" a timed exclusive when it launches next year.

Apple has a new commercial for the iPad Air 2 that shows multiple owners using an iPad Air to assist with all kinds of projects.

The ad is titled "Change" presumably because of how it shows the iPad Air as a tool that can be used to change the way you do things. For example, one user is using it to help build a new surfboard, another is sketching a fish mask and another actually builds an iPad into his motorcycle.

Sales of iPads were down 13 percent last quarter when compared to the same period of 2013, and the Cupertino giant will be hoping for a strong holiday performance from the product to make up for it.

Watch the ad:

YouTube is reportedly offering some of its best and most famous video makers bonuses to commit to the platform as rivals have been attempting to lure them away with tempting incentives.

The Wall Street Journal reports that YouTube is offering some of its biggest names bonuses if they sign multiyear deals that gives YouTube timed exclusivity on content before it can be uploaded to rival's websites. YouTube's move comes as other web firms have reportedly been trying to lure YouTube videomakers away. Facebook and Vessel are among those trying to bleed YouTube of good and popular video makers.

YouTube has already been offering to fund some of its video makers content for months now, according to the WSJ's sources.

They say that YouTube is particularly concerned with Vessel, a video start-up that has raised $75 million in venture capital and was founded by Jason Kilar, the former chief executive of Hulu. Vessel has reportedly already offered to pay some users an advance based on how well their content is doling on YouTube and has been pushing the benefits from a subscription model from the content creator's point of view.


Source: WSJ

The teaser trailer for the upcoming Star Wars Episode VII - The Force Awakens has been out for a week, but the creator of the enormous franchise still hasn't watched it.

George Lucas was asked for his reaction on the teaser trailer during an interview with Page Six, when he admitted he still hasn't sat down to watch it yet. "I don't know anything about it, I haven't seen it yet," he reportedly said.

Lucas went on to explain that he avoids early footage because he enjoys going to the theater and seeing the entire movie without seeing parts of it beforehand. Lucas is credited as a creative consultant on the film, so it is unlikely he will be able to keep in the dark that much.

I wonder if Lucas will be pleased with JJ Abrams new direction for the Star Wars franchise when he does go to see it in December 2015.

Here's the teaser trailer if, like Lucas, you haven't taken the time to watch it yet.

Having not even shipped yet, Sony's limited 20th anniversary grey PS4 consoles are being resold for thousands of dollars on eBay.

Sony sold 12,300 of the limited edition units for $499. Needless to say, they were sold out very quickly when they became available. Now the only way to get one in the United States is to attempt to buy it online, but you'll be shocked at just how much you are expected to pay.

There are many active listings for the limited consoles on eBay and they are finishing for quite a markup of ~300%. One particular listing from a seller in Bellflower closed at $21,100. Another from a New Jersey seller finished at $15,000, and the seller has since confirmed that the buyer paid in full.

The other listings are going for significantly less on eBay but there does appear to be quite a lot of sellers looking to make a very quick and juicy profit from the limited console.

Those who managed to pre-order the consoles from Sony can expect them to be shipped out on December 21 in the United States. Sony will also be selling the limited units in Europe and in Japan.

Indian's Capital City has reacted to news of an alleged sexual assault on a woman by an Uber driver by banning the service from operating in the city.

Uber India has been operating illegally in New Delhi, according to Special Commissioner of Delhi Transport Department, Satish Mathur. He told the Economic Times that the victim in this case was provided an All India Permit Taxi which is not allowed to ferry customers from point to point in the city.

"We will also be issuing a public notice saying Uber is not authorised to provide any taxi services in the capital so that customers are aware which are the authorised radio Cab services," he said.

"Uber is not a authorised radio cab service and has been operating illegally."

The service is now active in more than 250 cities in 50 countries, and has aggressive expansion plans for the coming year. It recently raised $1.2 billion in a financing round, valuing the firm at a whopping $41 billion. The extra resources will be used partially toward investing in the Asia Pacific region.

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick is so confident in Uber's ability to grow that he predicts it will generate more than 1 million jobs in cities all over the world in 2015.

Sony's PlayStation Network and Store are having problems on Monday as a group called Lizard Squad takes credit for their downtime.

The same group took credit for an Xbox Live outage last week. While there are reports that PSN is up and working for some users again, at this time visiting the PlayStation Store still returns an error reading: "Page Not Found! It's not you. It's the internet's fault."

UPDATE 1: Sony is continuing to work on getting its services back to normal this morning, and has urged anybody who has experienced difficulties with PSN to try it again. We will update with any further information. Original article continues below.

The group Lizard Squad, which has a website based in Russia, tweeted this following in reference to the outages:

PSN Login #offline #LizardSquad

-- Lizard Squad (@LizardPatrol) December 8, 2014

PSN update: we are aware of the issues some users are experiencing, and are working to address them. We'll keep you updated.

-- PlayStation (@PlayStation) December 8, 2014

James Franco was the host of this week's 'Saturday Night Live' sketch show, and the actor tried to make light of the recent Sony Pictures hack in which the entire company's network was taken down and terabytes of data was stolen including contracts, social security numbers, addresses, internal passwords and full-length screeners of movies like 'Annie' and 'Fury.'

Joking, Franco said: "Something pretty crazy happened this week. I have this movie called 'The Interview' coming out at Sony and this week Sony Studios got all their computers hacked. This is true. These hackers have leaked real personal information about everybody that works at Sony. Social security numbers, emails, and I know eventually they're going to start leaking out stuff about me. So before you hear it from someone else, I thought it would be better if you hear it from me."

"Soon you'll know that my email is CuterThanDaveFranco@AOL.com. My password is LittleJamesyCutiePie -- and this is all just a real violation of my personal life."

'Interview' co-star Seth Rogen then joined Franco and made a few more jokes. As part of the leaked documents, the world learned that Rogen was paid $8.5 million for the movie, and Franco was paid $6.5 million. The film is about two journalists who are recruited by the CIA to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jung-un. North Korea publicly denounced the film.

Video sharing site Dailymotion has been fined €1.3 million after a court ruling by the Paris Court of Appeal confirmed copyright infringement.

The site had been accused by infringing copyrights of the private national French TV channel TF1 and the news service LCI.

Legal action was brought against Dailymotion in 2007, and TF1 initially won in 2012, but with a much lower judgement. The new fine is five times higher than the previous.

In its ruling, the court found that the video sharing site did not take any action against users that TF1 identified as unauthorized posters of their content.

Square Enix has managed to piss off an entire fan base this weekend, announcing that a port of 'Final Fantasy VII' is headed exclusively to the PlayStation 4 next year.

Gamers had been eagerly awaiting the announcement of an HD-remastered version, but it looks like the game will be exactly like the PC version, just released to have gamers pay again for the same thing on a different console.

Enix says the game will be available starting in March, but did not reveal pricing. The PC version costs $11.99.

See the gameplay "experience" video here:

'God of War' fans (myself included) were delighted to learn this weekend that Sony is actively working on the next title in the series.

Sony's Santa Monica Studio has confirmed the game is under development but also noted it is in early stages.

Creative Director Cory Barlog says the company will introduce more of the game in "the next year or two," suggesting PS4 owners will have to wait up to three years before they can get to killing mythical beasts and gods of legend.

Barlog also would not answer if Kratos would remain the protagonist of the new game, having starred in all the others to date.

The crowdfunded Jolla Tablet has reached its latest milestone, their $1.5 million stretch goal.

Based on the Sailfish OS, the Jolla Tablet has a 7.85-inch display with 2048x1536 resolution, a 64-bit quad-core processor clocked at 1.8GHz, 2GB RAM, dual 5MP/2MP cameras, 32GB internal storage (expandable via microSD) and a small-ish 4300mAh battery.

By reaching the stretch goal, Jolla will add 128GB mciroSDHC support. As the page reads: "Once we reach the first goal, every Jolla Tablet will be upgraded to support microSDHC cards up to 128GB! You'll never have to worry about running out of space again. Currently Jolla Tablet supports cards up to 32GB, besides having 32GB internal storage."

The next stretch goal is set at $1.75 million, which will add Split Screen capabilities to Sailfish. Says Jolla: "Split screen allows you to view and use two apps simultaneously, enhancing Sailfish OS' multitasking capabilities even further. Split screen is the most wanted Jolla Tablet software feature by our community at together.jolla.com, and we're thrilled to offer it to you as one of the goals! Split screen will be available to you as a software update during Q3/2015."

It is good to see the success of the tablet, as the open-source device has some interesting features.

An Egyptian security researcher has scooped the top payout for security bugs from PayPal for discovering a massive security flaw that exposed the accounts of over 150 million users.

Yasser Ali was able to get around PayPal's CSRF Prevention System and capture an authentication token that could be used to effect a customer's PayPal account. You could add, remove or confirm e-mail addresses, add fully privileged users to a business account, change security questions, billing info, shipping info, payment methods and so on.

He disclosed the bug to PayPal and received the firms top award incentive for bug hunters, pocketing $10,000 for his work.

He also detailed how he beat PayPal's security systems on his blog, and provided this proof of concept video.