The UpStream

PSP and PSP Go sales have seen a decline in the past year, so Sony has decided to up the ante to boost hardware sales. The company will now be offering cheap or even free games along with the sale of the device.

Sony Computer Entertainment America is releasing a new line called PSP Favorites, which will contain several popular games for only $9.99. They will include:

• Ape Escape: On the Loose
• Buzz! Master Quiz
• Hot Shots Golf Open Tee
• LocoRoco 2
• Patapon 2
• PixelJunk Monster Deluxe
• SOCOM: Fireteam Bravo
• Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow
• Twisted Metal: Head On
• Justice League Heroes
• Manhunt 2
• Midway Arcade Treasures: Extended Play
• Pinball Hall of Fame: Williams Collection
• Silent Hill: Origins
• Sims 2
• The Warriors

Hit the break for more great deals!

With all of the changes Facebook has been making recently and the Buzz about Google Maps, Internet privacy has been a big topic on everyone's mind. The widely held belief was that young people would be uninterested or unmotivated to change their privacy settings to prevent the world from knowing things about them. Well, those people were all wrong, according to a new study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

According to Mary Madden, a researcher for Pew,

Search engines and social media sites now play a central role in building one's identity online. Many users are learning and refining their approach as they go, changing privacy settings on profiles, customizing who can see certain updates and deleting unwanted information about them that appears online. Contrary to the popular perception that younger users embrace a laissez-faire attitude about their online reputations, young adults are often more vigilant than older adults when it comes to managing their online identities.

Google has come on hard times recently, at least as far as the world is concerned. Basically the entire globe has banded together to try and take out our future Internet overlords over at Google. Here's the short list:

• United States
• Britain
• Germany
• Czech Republic
• Italy
• France
• Hong Kong

Here's what's going on. Everyone knows about Google's Street View cars that drive around the world taking pictures of your house and your work and your gang violence. What you might not have known about was the fact that Google has also been keeping track of your WiFi. That's right, they have been sniffing the air looking for any unsecured WiFi networks and logging their location. They have become the corporate equivalent of a stray dog.

Needless to say most of the world's governments are concerned about Google's air humping and the breach of privacy it entails. Imagine, if you will, being the guy with an unsecured network at home and now Google has told the world that it's there. How easy would it then be for hackers to sit outside your house and steal your data. Or, even worse, commit cyber crime logged to your house. This is just asking for trouble.

There was never much thought about whether there were more Call of Duty games in Treyarch's future after Black Ops, but we were suprised to learn that that's the only thing Treyarch will be working on in the future. Treyarch studio head Mark Lamia said they've become solely dedicated to Activision's blockbuster FPS franchise.

"Treyarch is a 100 percent Call of Duty studio -- and it has been for a long time now, long before any of the Infinity Ward events occurred," Lamia said, immediately dispelling speculation this newly revealed exclusive focus may be a result of CoD creator Infinity Ward's gutting that we've mentioned many times on the show. "We focused all of our efforts on creating the best Call of Duty game we possibly can and what that meant is not working on anything else."

"We are a multiple team studio and focusing on Call of Duty and Call of Duty gameplay meant focusing all of our teams on that," Lamia continued. "Due to all this there has actually been a formation of an entire team dedicated to Multiplayer within Treyarch, which is something the studio didn't have for their past Call of Duty games, Call of Duty 3 and Call of Duty: World at War."

In an interview with IGN UK, voice actor and all-around beast Mark Hamill - also involved with a small role in something called Star Wars, apparently - revealed that he will no longer be playing the role of Joker after the release of Batman: Arkham Asylum 2. According to Hamill, he was reticent to take up the mantle for the sequel, saying, "My answer to Rocksteady for the sequel was, 'Guys, we're never going to be able to top the original.'" He added that he had intended to leave the role on "a high note" with his work on the original Arkham Asylum. So in some ways he wanted to be like Jerry Sienfeld or Ray Romano with the ending of their shows.

The 11 attempted suicides at a Foxconn plant in China that manufactures Apple products like the iPhone and iPad has been getting a lot press lately. Foxconn has pledged to take action in order to prevent further deaths and now are having their employees make pledges to them. These aren't the usual pledges you would expect employees to make to their employers. Actually, they seem to be more along the lines of, "I promise to not kill myself." They are requiring employees to sign a pledge stating that they "will not hurt themselves or others in an extreme manner." Signing the pledge also gives the company the right to commit employees to a mental institution if they show an "abnormal mental or physical state." This of course would only be done for, "the protection of themselves and others." A top official in the province has also taken notice of the situation and is saying that the government and employers need to work together to alleviate this problem.

Hit the break to see an interview with the CEO.