This past weekend marks the start and end of yearly fighting game tournament known as SoCal Regional, an event that brings players from all around the world to take part in competitive gaming events. Today, the grand finals of Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition and Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 were dynamically played out by our U.S. players.

In the last match of Street Fighter, Justin Wong went up against Ricky Ortiz, a player that he sent to the loser's bracket and then only to face him again. They both played Rufus, a rare sight since the release of Arcade Edition due to balance changes, better, and newer characters; but character loyalty played a good part in this match-up, and their combos and zoning was solid throughout, but Justin Wong came out on top.

Shortly after the grand finals of Street Fighter, the Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 tournament started. The top 8 matches were well-played, but with pressure building up, we saw many players drop their combos which in turn caused lost games. We saw many people use Wesker as an anchor, with Doom as an aid, which was quite devastating to players due to both rush down and keep away abilities. The characters that stood out the most were Clockwork's Doom/Strider combo, Noel Brown's Frank West, Jago's Trish, and Justin Wong's Ironfist, who was actually a low tier character.

The last round had Justin Wong (Iron Fist, Wolverine, Akuma) and MINE (Wesker, Taskmaster, Magneto) as the players. Justin was just sent to loser's bracket by MINE the previous game, but won in that bracket, causing a rematch as the grand finals. Previously dropping combos in the last match, Justin finally got himself together and turned the tides against MINE, able to reset the set, and take victory against MINE's team, playing a solid Ironfist throughout. Although MINE put up a good fight, Justin Wong came out victorious yet again.

Today is the day that Sony has finally come to fully restore the PlayStation Network from the recent attack on the network a couple months ago. Sony welcomes all PS3 consumers back with a customer appreciation program, which has already been passed around long before the official availability of the program today.

The program allows all PSN members to select two free PS3 games, all yours to keep, from a specified selection of:

1. InFamous
2. Super Stardust HD
3. WipEout HD Bundle
4. LittleBigPlanet
5. Dead Nation

Moreover, Sony is allowing two free PSP game downloads from a selection of:

1. Killzone Liberation
2. LittleBigPlanet PSP
3. ModNation Racers PSP
4. Pursuit Force

In addition to those two offers, PlayStation Plus will be given for 30 days free for non-subscribers and an additional 60 days for current subscribers. PlayStation Home will be offering 100 free virtual items for download. Lastly, movie rentals on Ghostbusters, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, and Bad Boys will be offered for the first weekend of June for free.

Today, corporate gaming giant Sony announced that their "PlayStation network system is still vulnerable to attack." A large amount of concern has been rising over the company's credibility as one of the biggest data security breaches in internet history caused hundreds of PlayStation players to have their private details exposed on a wide-scale.

It is not known how Sony is going to improve its security as of yet, but this recent attack three weeks ago is sure to scare many of its online users off for good.

Finally, "Dead Money" is no longer a timed exclusive. "Dead Money" is the first add-on pack for Fallout: New Vegas and is set in the Sierra Madre, a place that froze in time and a resort that was supposed to be the greatest casino in the west. Initially, it was released for the Xbox 360 on December 21, 2010. The add-on pack has arrived for the PlayStation 3 and PC today and is available for download via PSN for PlayStation 3 gamers and Steam and Direct 2 Drive for PC gamers.

What's more, Bethesda Softworks has indicated that they will be releasing three further add-on packs in the approaching months. These three add-on packs will be released for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC all together rather than as a timed exclusive with the Xbox 360 console.

Significant "victory cannot be achieved without sacrifice," and before that happens, all the world can do is stand still and wait for someone to jump out from the shadows. In any case, what's more important: Getting revenge or following orders? Call of Duty: Black Ops is the seventh main installment of the Call of Duty series, developed by Treyarch and released on November 9, 2010 in the US. The game is rated "mature" by the ESRB and is a multi-platform game in regards to PC, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, and DS. I played this game on the PS3 but my review is meant to apply to the other platforms as well.

The Microsoft Xbox 360 wireless controller always appears to need an update here and there. It seems that Microsoft has done just that by revealing a new controller with monochrome buttons and a transforming d-pad. That's right, a transforming directional pad; what say you?

According to Major Nelson, the controller's d-pad can be raised by twisting the base of it, and as a result allowing it to go from a disc to a plus. Why would you need this? I'm not exactly sure, but some people are not happy playing with the current d-pad.

In addition, the new controller packs concave analog sticks and new monochrome buttons. No more colors, they're just black and white. I think that the new monochrome design looks pretty nice.

The new controller will be bundled only with the Play & Charge Kit, replacing the current wireless controller, and will appear in stores on November 9th in the United States retailing for $64.99.

Today, Activision has just announced the official release of the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 "Stimulus Package" for PS3. The Stimulus Package includes five maps, two of which were favorites from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

Activision welcomes players to this new Stimulus Package through the 1.10 update available though the PlayStation Network. There are quite a lot of changes in this update; starting with a fix for the Pavelow, alleged changes are listed below:

• The Pavelow now correctly counts towards future killstreaks.
• Matchmaking improvements such as the ability for hosts to kick players from private matches mid-game and improved party stability.
• Players are prevented from using experience point hacks, "elevator" glitches, and getting into objects.
• A new gameplay mode called Team Tactical.

In addition, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 players receive double experience points throughout the week.

The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Package is available on the PlayStation Store and Steam for PC gamers as well.

In conclusion, this is an overall good update for MW2 that allows the installation of the Stimulus Package that many PlayStation Network players have awaited for.