Tech News: PS4?, Duke Goes for The Gold, Speaking of Gold...Farming? And More!

It was confirmed today that Sony is working on what they call a "future platform".  This comes as no surprise since in all reality it is probably getting time for the "Big 3" to announce their "next next-gen" platforms and consoles.  Sony has already been dropping info on their NGP (next gen portable) system.  Nintendo has been teasing the successor to the Wii, and Microsoft is claiming their next console is slated for 2015.  So don't fret too much about not having the latest and greatest in console gaming, because the new stuff won't be coming for a while yet.

However, a note to Sony: how about you make sure your existing platforms are buttoned down before making to big of plans for the next big thing...Just something to think about.
Sources:
PS4 http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/712993/playstation-4-sony-confirms-it-is-working-on-future-platform/
NextBox http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-looking-at-releasing-next-xbox-in-2015-2011-3

For fans of Duke Nukem, go ahead and get excited.  Because this week the Duke went Gold!  That's right.  The date is locked down, gamer's all over have literally waited over a decade for this.  So for those of you lucky enough to have early beta access look for the demo on June 3rd.  For the rest of us, June 14th is our day!  And in the word's of Duke: "this game better be good."
Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/228552/duke_nukem_forever_goes_gold.html

While we are speaking about "gold", if you have ever played an MMO (massively multiplayer online game) you have probably seen and no doubt heard of gold farmers/sellers.  This has typically been a huge business behind the scenes.  The market for gold selling within MMO games has been the bane of the game developer's and players.  Due to in-game gold being ill gotten and trading hands by means of real world cash, the in-game economy can go crazy.  Which causes things to go nuts for those in game who are actually playing.  Players who are in the practice of buying this in-game currency will usually purchase the gold from the seller, who would transfer the currency to the buyer's character accounts.  The buy can then use this currency to progress through the game at an unfair advantage.  Developer's have been cracking down on these practices, but it is near impossible to actually halt this operation.  Other questionable methods of playing are "power leveling", where a player pays a service/website to level up their characters so the actual player doesn't have to.  Both gold farming and power leveling are unfair, and usually are huge account security risks for the owner of the character accounts in question.  Now that the principle behind gold farming/selling and why it is bad for games has been cleared up.

We go on to why we're talking about it.  It appears as though some Chinese prisoners are being forced to be gold farmers in some MMO games at a labor camp in China.  The former prisoner stated that among 300 other prisoners, they were forced to play online games in 12 hours shifts.  This would be after a days worth of physical labor in the camp.  Apparently the guards were using the in-game currency as a means to sell and make money off of the prisoner's online labor.  And if they didn't meet their "quota" they would be punished or beaten.   For more of this man's story, swing by The Guardian for the full article.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/25/china-prisoners-internet-gaming-scam

Sony has now made the free theft protection for PSN user's available.  If you are a PSN user, you should be getting an email soon about this service.

And on a final note, swing by The Deadbolt News for some quick previews an video footage of X-Men: First Class!  And yes, they are awesome!
Source: http://www.thedeadbolt.com/news/1000082/x_men_first_class_5_new_previews.php

Until next time.  Happy Surfing!