A new Sony patent will allow the company to pause your gameplay while it serves up advertising. Delightful. In the illustration submitted with the patent, cars are racing against other cars and some louder speakers or warning lights are show. The gameplay pauses and then a soda ad appears. After the ad is served the game resumes.

In a recent episode of GameTrailer's Bonus Round, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter said that Sony's Jack Tretton is strongly opposed to the idea of a console blocking used games. During the show, Pachter recalled a conversation he supposedly had with the SCEA president at an E3 meeting. He claims that he asked Tretton directly about the rumor that Sony's newest console ("Orbis") would not support used games.

This week on the podcast we talk with Ben Sawyer, Project Director for Games for Health. Ben gives us a preview of what the event will offer next month and even talks a little bit about the impact of gamification on our privacy.

Andrew Eisen and E. Zachary Knight delve into the fine print of Microsoft's recently announced $99 Xbox 360 and detail why it's not really a good deal for anyone. They also discuss the sorry state of the big three console makers.

Sony reported less than stellar results for Fiscal Year 2011 today. Sony posted revenues of 6.5 trillion yen ($81.5 billion), down 9.6 percent from 7.2 trillion yen ($90.1 billion) from the same period a year ago. The company also posted losses of 456.7 billion yen ($5.7 billion), compared to losses of 259.6 billion yen ($3.3 billion) from the same period a year ago.

Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto, the legendary developer who created Donkey Kong and Mario, doesn't seem to be too impressed with Sony's PS Vita hand-held. Miyamoto said that he doesn't think the hardware or the software for Sony's newest hand-held is very strong.

Sony said earlier this week that it is holding off on launching a video service online because of Comcast's data capping policies and its preferential treatment to its own video services. Sony executive Michael Aragon told Variety on Monday that Comcast's discriminatory data caps are giving the company concerns about launching an Internet video service that would compete with cable and satellite TV services.

EA, BioWare, and Sony have finally worked out whatever differences they had to allow owners of the PS3 version of Mass Effect 3 to take part in multiplayer online events via PlayStation Network. The first one of these events that includes PS3 owners is Operation EXORCIST, which begins later tonight.

BioWare said in a blog post today: "Good news Spectres! Starting with Operation EXORCIST, N7 Weekend Challenges will extend to the PlayStation 3 platform."

As they did with the PSP, Sony and Skype have teamed up to bring the popular VOIP communication service to the PlayStation Vita. Both Skype video and voice calling will be accessible to PS Vita 3G/Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi model owners. The Skype app includes free Skype-to-Skype voice calling, as well as video calling that utilizes PS Vita’s front and rear cameras. The Skype app will also have the ability to run in background mode, allowing players to leave it running while they are gaming or using other applications.

Sony recently yanked two games from the PlayStation Store because they found a vulnerability to hacker Wololo's Vita exploit - commonly known as the "Vita Half-Byte Loader" (VHBL). VHBL allows unsigned code - homebrew or code that has not been approved by the platform holder - to run in the PSP emulator.

Earlier this week Japanese newspaper Nikkei reported that Sony planned to announce a jaw-dropping work force reduction of 10,000 jobs worldwide. Today the company confirmed that number, along with other steps it plans to take to return to profitability.

According to this C&VG report, the reason that owners of Mass Effect 3 on the PlayStation 3 do not have access to the multiplayer challenges that other platforms enjoy is because "Sony won't approve them."

According to a Nikkei newspaper report (by way of Reuters / Yahoo! News), Sony will cut six percent of its global workforce, or 10,000 jobs worldwide. The report says that the company's new CEO, Kazuo Hirai, is doing everything he can to put the company back in the black after four years of being in the red.

A Federal Court has ruled that Sony has the right to change the terms of service on its PlayStation Network service because it is a "choice" for its users. Sony changed its TOS for the PlayStation Network last year by adding a clause that anyone wanting to sue the company would instead have to go to what some like to call "mandatory arbitration." 

Yesterday Sony released firmware update 1.65 for the PS Vita... and then quickly yanked it offline. Apparently the 1.65 has some serious issues - namely problems with adhoc multiplayer. To deal with the issues caused by 1.65 and to add some new tweaks to the handheld, Sony has released firmware update 1.66. The 97MB update fixes the issue with adhoc wireless multiplayer on PSP games and adds an assortment of usability tweaks.

According to a CNET UK report, Sony's Xperia S phone has a serious issue with heat that can turn the handset's screen yellow if it gets too hot. In a statement issued to CNET UK, Sony confirmed that it knows about the issue, but also said that the problem only affects a small number of Xperia S handsets.

Sony Computer Entertainment has confirmed to Game Informer that it has closed SOCOM, Unit 13, and MAG makers Zipper Interactive. The studio was launched in Seattle, Washington in 1995 and at the time of its closure it employed around 80 people. The fate of those people still remains unknown as of this writing, but we assume Sony did not let everyone go considering the importance of the SOCOM series.

"The closure is a result of a normal cycle of resource re-alignment within Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios," the statement reads.

Here we go again. Another "reliable source" - this time with inside knowledge on Sony's next console, offers some rumors that should upset a majority of the gaming public.

Sony has taken two PSP games off the PlayStation Store, after it was revealed that the games might contain an exploit that allowed hackers access to the handheld's core functionality. In other words, it gave them the ability to run any kind of software they wanted to on the Vita. The two PSP games taken offline are Everybody's Tennis and MotorStorm Arctic Edge. The latter may have been taken off the store for other reasons and the timing of its removal could simply be coincidental.

Sony Online Entertainment has changed the name of its annual fan event to SOE LIVE. The freshly rebranded fan event is scheduled to take place at Bally's in Las Vegas, October 18-21, 2012. The annual SOE-sponsored event will allow the company to offer broader support for all of its various titles including DC Universe Online, EverQuest, EverQuest II, Free Realms, Magic: The Gathering - Tactics, PlanetSide 2, Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures and Vanguard: Saga of Heroes.

Microsoft has hired former Sony Computer Entertainment executive Phil Harrison to lead Microsoft Studios Europe. Specifically, Harrison joins the Interactive Entertainment Business (IEB) leadership team as corporate vice president with an emphasis on growing the division’s European business. Microsoft emphasized that he will not be filling the Creative Director vacancy left by Peter Molyneux, who revealed last week that he was leaving Lionhead and Microsoft. Molyneux's role as Lionhead Studio Manager is being filled by Lionhead COO Mark Webley.

Sony says that, to-date, it has managed to "move" 10.5 million units of its Move peripheral for the PlayStation 3. The figure was revealed by Sony developer support engineer Gabe Ahn after a Game Developers Conference panel on developing games for the company's motion sensing controller. That figure represent "units shipped to retailers" and not "units sold." Further, Ahn says that the Move attach rate is one for every six PlayStation consoles sold as of December 31, 2011. Further muddling those numbers, it also includes Move and Navigation controllers.

Video game console makers Microsoft and Sony are squaring off against enthusiast hackers, academics, and organizations such as the EFF who would like to make the act of jailbreaking legal. There is already an exception in place that allows the iPhone to be jailbroken, so supporters of gaining similar allowances for the Xbox 360 and PS3 are urging the U.S. Copyright Office to make these exceptions. The copyright office is currently accepting public input comments on the subject until Friday, and will likely make a decision soon shortly thereafter.

Sony announced that the PlayStation Vita has managed to sell 1.2 million units globally. The company also revealed that two million software units have been sold globally. The software sales numbers are a combination of both digital and retail sales.

One of our readers (who wishes to remain anonymous) passed along an email from Sony Entertainment Network customer service on Friday saying that the company had accidently overcharged them sales tax related to the period between November 18, 2010 and April 11, 2011. While his email noted that they overcharged him by 0.06 cents, we have seen at least one other email saying that the company overcharged a customer by $9.24.

Sony announced plans to release the multiplayer component of Guerrilla Games' Killzone 3 as a standalone download on the PlayStation Network, but the best part of this news is that it will be free to play. Sony made the announcement during the most recent episode of the Sony Blogcast. The one caveat is that level progression will be capped, though to what extent or exact point we do now know.

Sony says that it won't make the same mistakes again with the PS Vita, but in the same breath it says that it won't support legacy software from the PSP on its new platform. With the launch of the PSP Go, the company simply decided that its UMD format was no longer going to be supported on new hardware and so the PS Vita continues that tired old trend. The sad part is it is doing this in the U.S. and European markets - the markets where the new system will ultimately shine brighter than in Japan.

Sony announced that it will have apps for several popular social networks ready to be used on its newest hand-held, the PlayStation Vita. The Vita is set for a North American launch this week. All of the apps will be free to download and use. Sony will deploy a custom Twitter app called LiveTweet, an app for location-based service Foursquare, and an app for the popular phone and chat communications tool Skype will be released at some later date to be announced.

According to a report in the New York Times, Sony plans a $50 million marketing blitz to ensure that the PlayStation Vita sells well in regions outside of Japan. Sony's latest portable in a long line of hits and misses in the space hopes to capture some market share back from Nintendo and Apple. It started out well enough when it launched in Japan, but then sales of the PS Vita died down.

Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has lowered Sony long-term credit and debt ratings from "A-" to "BBB+," according to an IndustryGamers report. That report also notes that the firm also removed the ratings from CreditWatch, where it dropped them in November of 2011.

It looks like those UMDs you bought for your PlayStation Portable will be completely useless if you decide to upgrade to a PS Vita.