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.

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.

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.

  

Promo trailers galore. That's pretty much what you'll see on the PlayStation 3's video service, according to Engadget.

Known as P-TV, the Playstation 3's new download service currently has nothing for sale as mentioned previously. What it does have, it has for free, however. There are a lot of promotional clips for movies and anime shows. All you have to do is use the console's browser to get the free videos, and you can download them onto the PS3's internal drive or a USB drive of your own.

Some nice notes though. The video is in H.264 format and currently has no digital rights management in place. If there's a trailer for a new Japanese movie out, someone get it and put it on YouTube please. Engadget also notes that the PlayStation store offers account registration and payment method screens, and if you add the existing shopping cart interface there, you are pretty much assured that Sony will be having a full-fledged competitor to Microsoft's video download service soon.

At the very least, you'll probably be able to download all of "Underworld: Evolution". Enjoy the pics.

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