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Brilliant. As if frivolous lawsuits and willful misinterpretation of the idea of free speech wasn’t getting bad enough,here comesErik Estavillo of San Jose, a man who is taking Sony to court because he got banned fromResistance‘s online multiplayer. He claims that SCEA has suppressed his free speech, and that the ban has caused “pain and suffering” in the young man’s life. He alleges that, since he suffers from agoraphobia, the PlayStation Network is one of his few ways of socializing....

Those of us living in America, Europe, and pretty much anywhere else in the world have been enjoying the return of the PlayStation Store for the past month, hopefullyrememberingto snag a few free games in the process. But in Japan, thebirthplaceof the PS3, the PSN revival hasn’t gone beyond offering online gaming due to the government’s concern about Sony’s weak security. Thankfully, the PlayStation Store isfinally backon in Ol’ Nippon. Assuming there are no fresh hacks before July 6, Japanese gamers can start catching up on all the digital releases and DLC they’ve been missing....

Sony wants you to think that thePlayStation Vitais the electronic equivalent of Jesus Christ, but others aren’t quite so convinced. Lyle Hall and Matthew Seymour of Heavy Iron Studios, for example, believe the system is too expensive and its launch will be a fiasco. “If people aren’t willing to pay $249 for a Nintendo 3DS why would they pay $299 for Vita? People don’t want to carry more than one thing in their pocket, that’s why Android and iPhone have done so well, they are the devices of choice, they offers multiple functions outside of gaming,” said Hall....

I know we’ve been away for awhile, but thePodtoidcrew finally is ready to get back intoracist action. We think we’ve got the recording issues squared away and ourrehab stintis finally complete. Know what that means? That means we’re recording Podtoid 20 tonight (don’t ask about 19). So, because we love you, we want your questions for our user question segment. So, bombard us with your deepest desires in the comments so that we may make you Internet famous....

There’s no denying that electronics giant Sony has the art of branding down pat. They’re still using the nameWalkmanfor various products afteralmost 30 years, and we still know what it means (for the most part). Now it looks like they may be using one of their most popular brand names for cellular phones in the future. So far, everything with the PlayStation name has represented a gaming device, butShack Newssays to expect a PlayStation Phone from Sony Ericsson....

Leading into E3, Sony is finally ready to reveal details on Nathan Drake’s first handheld adventure. It’s calledUncharted: Golden Abyss, and it’s headed to Sony’s tentatively-titled Next Generation Portable and being developed by Sony’s Bend Studio. Set before the events of the PlayStation 3’sUncharted: Drake’s Fortune,Golden Abyssis a wholly new adventure, not a port. This is something that Sony Bend emphasized multiple times throughout the demo, stressing that the game also can’t be considered a prequel… despite taking place prior to the first title in the series....

2K Games has announcedthat it will be offering up a demo of the PlayStation 3 port ofBioShockin the next few weeks. The demo will be available on the PlayStation Network on October 2. The PlayStation 3 version ofBioShockis being developed by Digital Extremes, the same folks behind hack-thing’s-heads-off third-person title,Dark Sector. The PS3 port was rumored and then repeatedly denied by 2K Games for over a year after its Xbox 360 and PC “exclusive” release....

Remember when the PlayStation 3 dropped in Europe? You might recall that once everyone stopped whining about the price, they found something else to complain about — PlayStation 2 backwards compatibility. It seems the problem was the lack of the Emotion Engine chip (found in the PS2), a hardware solution found in North American models of the PS3. Europe had to fend for themselves, instead having to deal with a software solution that left them not being able to play some of their favorite titles without noticeable issues....

Happy Friday, listeners! This week we talked aboutMetal Slug, which you should go play right now. Er … well, right after you listen to this: Get it early by subscribing to us on iTunes, or check it outright here. We’ll catch you again next week.

Halfbrick has been slowly making a name for itself on iTunes.Fruit Ninjahas been a stellar success, and its latest game,Monster Dash, looks set to be pretty big too. Barry Steakfries has returned from his time traveling adventures inAge of Zombiesto tackle an even wider variety of beasties as he runs and jumps through a series of world locations. I like “runner” games, although finding good ones can be difficult. IsMonster Dashamong the rare gems, or the common trash?...

The rumor is that Brad Pitt is the front runner for playing John Marston in a movie adaptation of Rockstar’sRed Dead Redemption. This comes to us by way of ShowbizSpy. They say that Pitt is being given a first refusal for the lead role. It is also rumored that he’ll require 100 Nazi scalps before he considers the role. “This is an exciting project with a great character at the center of it,” a source said....

It’s no secret that the once brilliantSilent Hillseries could do with a change, but if a recent rumor turns out to be true, a refresh on a most dramatic scale is coming. The latest chapter in the survival horror series could be going all FPS on our asses. The rumor comes courtesy of newSilent Hilldeveloper Vatra Games. The studio has revealed that it is working on a first-person-shooter for Q1 2011....

First rumortoid of the week consists ofa pair of imagesthat supposedly represent the creation system of Microsoft’s innovative new Mii idea. The pictures, if real, show off the level of customization that will go into Avatar creation, including skin color, clothing, hairstyle, height and weight. There is, of course, no way of telling how legitimate these images are, hence the protective “Rumortoid” label which covers us in the event of truth....