Grand Theft Auto IV will be arriving in only a few short days so you better get yourselves prepared. Are you sure you can keep up with Niko Bellic? Here's some brain food from us to you: Everything you need to know about Rockstar's upcoming GTA game. Head over to the full article for the second of our two-part feature on Grand Theft Auto IV, where we talk about the game's combat system, missions, multiplayer modes, and more!

 With Grand Theft Auto 4 (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360) speeding full throttle into our consoles, the details on it just keep pouring in. This time, we're informed that the game will feature a music download system to enhance the in-game radio experience that the series popularized. Amazon is behind Rockstar on this one, and the alliance seems to herald a lot of good stuff. Know more by reading the full article up next.

Since Sony's demonstration in Las Vegas, you may have wondered how the process of transferring Blu-ray movies from your PlayStation 3 to your handy PlayStation Portable actually ran. Details at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show were flat-out dry, but thanks to new info running around, you'll be able to see a bigger picture. More on the popular BD Live feature at the full story.

With the PlayStation Network version of Warhawk, Sony has added a few amendments to its PSN download policies. While PlayStation 3 owners used to be able to purchase a PSN title and download it to four other PS3 units - essentially sharing the game with other PS3 owners - Warhawk's DRM will make the game tied to the original purchaser's PSN account.

GameSpot recently spoke to a Sony representative to get more info on the new DRM policy. According to the Sony rep, the game can still be downloaded to other PS3 units, but it will only be playable under the original purchaser's account. The rep also noted that those who use the original account on a different machine "could not play on a different machine for 24 hours."

Future PSN titles will also be evaluated in terms of development costs, maintenance costs, server costs and other factors. These will be used to determine which DRM policy will be implemented for a particular game. The development costs for Warhawk, for example, is "no different than any other boxed game you might find from SCEA at retail". That along with its free online gameplay environment were the major causes for the implementation of the new DRM.

While other PSN titles have always allowed users to share the download among five other PS3 units, SCEA has confirmed that the PSN version of Warhawk does not allow users to pass around the game too freely. Its sharing capabilities have been curbed to be more limited.

It's going to be tied to the PSN account that bought the download. Now while the download would be available for the five other PS3 units, it would still have to be played under the purchaser's account. The amount of time that the five other units can play the game under the original account is further limited to 24 hours only.

SCEA confirmed this to Next-Gen, saying that they're using an "alternative Digital Rights Management (DRM) policy" for Warhawk to "protect [their] investment." This, fortunately, doesn't necessarily mean that it will be implemented for all PSN titles in the future. Every time they roll out a game on PSN, DRM policies would always have to be assessed based on costs in development, servers, and maintenance.

For those wondering, the alternative DRM policy will not be affecting the Blu-ray version of Warhawk.

According to Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) President Dan Glickman, the Advanced Access Content System (AACS) support for "managed copy" of HD DVD and Blu-ray movies will be available before the end of the year.

This will finally let users create their own official backup copies. Whenever we talked about backup copies, we all know that there's potential for exploitation. This is the very reason why studios are going to implement some other security measures.

Accordingly, once the "managed copy" specification is already in place, studios will be able to specify what options they would like to offer and for how much. An example of which is users having an option to create just one free backup copy.

Other options include creating a version suitable for mobile usage for a nominal fee and multiple copies at discounted pricing. The HD DVD Promotional Group added that the new feature is going to be retroactive meaning discs sold prior to the "managed copy" support still have to deal with DRM.

On the other hand, the same is not true for the Blu-ray format. One major Blu-ray partner maintains that there is a fear that managed copy could be exploited and provide a backdoor to AACS security. Speaking of which, certain reports are saying that the recently compromised AACS security is delaying the release of the new feature.

The whole Internet community is reeling with the issue concerning Digital Rights Management (DRM) and user-generated online sites. As you all know, a software key that could break the encryption of HD-DVD format has been unleashed online and thousands of websites published the key.

DRM groups say the bloggers just crossed the line this time. The said key was published on Digg and needless to say, it was picked up by God knows how many websites. An executive from Advanced Access Content System (AACS) said that they are considering to confront those who published the exploit with "legal and technical tools."

The bloggers, on the other hand, commented that they are protected by the First Amendment. Digg management, for a time, removed the entries containing the key. However, the users posted an even more number of websites containing the exploit and Digg eventually acquiesce with its users. A part of Founder Kevin Rose's statement reads,

After seeing hundreds of stories and reading thousands of comments, you've made it clear. You'd rather see Digg go down fighting than bow down to a bigger company. We hear you, and effective immediately we won't delete stories or comments containing the code and will deal with whatever the consequences might be.

AACS Chairman Michael Ayers seemed amused by this as he referred to Digg's decision as an "interesting twist." Ayers added that people can talk about the pros and the cons of the matter but publishing the software key itself is a different matter. When you do that, he explained, you leave the "realm of protected speech." He also released a statement telling the users that the key is already invalid,

We will take whatever action is appropriate. We hope the public respects our position and complies with applicable laws. There has been a lot of misunderstanding. The key that has been leaked has now been revoked. This is the first round and will not be the last.

AACS, reportedly, is now employing stronger tools and copy protection system that have been designed to counter these breaches.

A user of the Doom9 forums has reported that he has found the processing keys, media keys, and Volume IDs of HD-media (HD-DVD and Blu-Ray), on February 11, 2007, each a part of the encryption system HD-media players use. Subsequent posts to the thread to date have helped confirm his findings.

The thread itself contains his step-by-step method of finding the HD-DVD processing keys, building on past efforts and experiences - not to mention revealing the keys themselves for a given HD-DVD title. There are arguments that he has done no wrong under the law, since he's just revealing the code that is already on the disk and is not trying to circumvent copy protection.

However, the next steps might lead to piracy (and legal trouble). For that reason this article will NOT feature a link-to.

Posts later on indicate that the same technique might work on Blu-Ray titles as well. Reactions in that forum indicate that they've laid bare the current HD-DVD and Blu-Ray movie lineup on the market. There is mention that the keys could be changed by Advanced Access Content System (AACS) for future releases, though. Additionally, one forum poster argued that finding the keys on the disc doesn't necessarily break the DRM Vinci's Code because AACS could always change the locks.

Still, the discovery is spurring talk of fair use and media backups. Speaking of which, and to clarify any debate about piracy that may follow: the arguments in favor of the discovery of the processing keys do not speak of piracy, but of fair use - the freedom of the buyer of HD-DVD or Blu-Ray titles to play their titles on any player they own, in the format they specify or have (remember, for want of a cable...).

Arguably, that same freedom can be abused, which has led to piracy. It's the old debate between freedom and responsibility.

Your ethics, your call.

There have been too many reports lately about Blu-Ray getting hacked. But since its a new format and is poised to dominate, we figured we all can't have too many of these. Like this one for starters: another hacker is claiming to have finally cracked the disc format and its AACS.

Now, for those people who are not so much into techie stuff, AACS stands for Advanced Access Content System. It is actually a standard for content distribution and Digital Rights Management (DRM). Accordingly, this very system restricts access and copying of disc formats. So basically, our hacker is saying he had figured it all already with few minor setbacks.

Before we continue, the Read link below takes you to a place you've never been before. Nah, just kidding. It links back to the guy's original post which details the directory structure of one Blu-Ray disc. Anyway, the guy, which goes by the avatar Janvitos, mentions that Blu-Ray is tougher to crack as compared to rival format HD DVD.

According to Janvitos, this format which is being supported by the PS3 has the tendency to use just one key instead of many. This is a problem especially when trying to search the memory dumps since we are looking for a single 128 bit key rather than 8, 11, or even 60. His exact words:

One of the other major drawback would be the lack of clues residing inside the CPS Unit Key File (Title Key File). The Title Key File for the HD DVD format has plain text strings (such as VPLST000.XPL) but the CPS Unit Key File has none. The file is mostly comprised of zeros and the encrypted key.

He promised that he will continue to work on this on until he fully cracks the system. Janvitos for his exploit, used a US$ 800 CAD Blu-Ray burner and tinkered with movie "Lord of War". He used WinDVD to play it as PowerDVD BD doesn't work for him. Finally, he employed WinHEX to go through the disc's memory.

Someone must have rolled over in his grave when MacUser.com's Aaron Freedman wrote the following words: "I never thought I’d say this, but it seems that Microsoft has a product that works better with the Mac than the Sony equivalent." He was talking about his observation that the Xbox 360 system meshes with Apple systems, but that the Sony PS3 didn't.

However, just looking back at our coverage of both consoles, and the comments to Aaron's article, sounds like he needs to make a revision of observation.

There's the observation that "the PS3 can't play music directly off the iPod." Uh, Victor B., can you help me out here? "... the 20 GB video iPod was recognized by the PS3, but you'll need to use the above-mentioned Display All feature to view everything on your iPod." (The "Display All" feature is simply pressing Triangle to browse through - and play - the content of connected media storage devices like the iPod).

And besides, as a MacUser commenter pointed out, both the PS3 and Xbox 360 won't play iTunes-signed music content. But then again, that's Apple's DRM, not MS or Sony.

Now there are things that the Xbox can do with Apple that the PS3 can't, but that's because of the one-year lead time of the Microsoft console, which gives hackers time to play with both devices. The 360 controller could be used with a Mac through a hacked driver and the USB cable, which we won't visit for all the potential EULA repercussions. Even Aaron admits that the SIXAXIS communicates through Bluetooth, which can, in due time, talk to a Mac as well (again, with all potential EULA repercussions). And the SIXAXIS has a USB connection too, by the way.

That's Aaron's admission: in due time, hackers will probably develop more drivers and code that will enable the PS3 to communicate with the Mac and iPod and God-knows-what-else, creating a very weird menage-a-troi lovefest electronica that neither MS, nor Sony, nor Apple would have envisioned (toss in the Wii and now we have a party!). Enough said.