The PlayStation Network looks set to expand across non-gaming devices in the near future, and it seems that Sony are looking for the PSN to play a part in helping provide a viable alternative to illegal downloads.

In a recent article by Fortune, extensively detailing the current executive strategies Sony are undertaking, you can clearly understand the importance of the PlayStation Network to the Japanese consumer electronics giant.

Let’s take a closer look at some of their recent statements.

The latest firmware to hit the PlayStation 3, v2.80, seems to have created somewhat of a stir on the Internet.

Not because it included any groundbreaking changes. No. In fact all the talk has been about what wasn’t included, and why Sony felt the need to make this a ‘point release’ (a 0.1 increase in the version number) instead of a minor update (to 2.71, for example).

The firmware update has also created a flow of anti-SCE commentary as people wonder why Sony don’t just come clean with every update and publish the full changelog.

But after much searching and a handy news tip from one of our readers, we can reveal the extent of the actual changes to your XMB.

Sky Broadband, in a statement to Eurogamer, have confirmed they are aware of the problem that some PS3 owners in the UK have been experiencing and they are working to fix the problem.

If you are on their Sky Broadband Connect service, you may have been signed out from the PSN or had access issues during peak hours – between 17:00 and 0:00 UK time – thanks to an error in ‘traffic classification’.

“What’s that”, we hear you ask?

With the recent news that Final Fantasy VII has reached 100,000 downloads from the US PlayStation Store within a fortnight, there was only one question that sprung to our collective mind.

Could a PSOne title from 1997 actually beat the likes of current-gen darlings such as Warhawk, GT5 Prologue and Ratchet & Clank?

There’s only one way to find out…

The Edinburgh Interactive Festival today announced that Kristian Segerstrale, CEO and Co-founder of Playfish, and respected industry consultant, Margaret Robertson, are both confirmed to speak at this year’s event. Segerstrale and Robertson join an impressive list of guest speakers including, among others, Peter Moore, President of EA Sports and Peter Cowley, Managing Director of Digital Media for Endemol UK.

It is Tuesday, and you know what that means, don’t you?

Yes, today and repeating every Tuesday, PS3 Attitude is becoming PSFree Attitude

Yesterday we were at the global launch of the new Sony Ericsson AINO, the first mobile phone to include PS3 Remote Play technology.

We got a chance to get our hands on the device itself whilst at the event, and managed to capture some (shaky) video of the phone accessing the PS3. But what else does the AINO offer?

Speaking at a press event in London tonight, Sony Ericsson have revealed the AINO, a multimedia phone that has the PS3 Remote Play feature built-in.

Sporting a touch screen, a slide-out keypad and a stereo Bluetooth headset, the AINO is one of three new phones that fit into Sony Ericsson’s new ‘Communication Entertainment’ strategy.

We have had a long distance relationship with Rhino Studios’ shoot-em-up-with-a-camera title Afrika since it came to our attention back in 2006.

The original trailer for Afrika didn’t reveal anything of the gameplay, a topic that became quite the ‘Internet wildfire’ as speculation mounted about what you might actually do in the game. Much later, a second trailer showed us a human character taking photographs, and there was even talk of the game shipping with a ‘pressure mat’ that could sense your movements as you got closer to the wildlife.

We waited with baited breath for news of Afrika’s release into the West. So what happened?

It is 8 a.m. on the set of Stan Lee’s ‘Who Wants To Be A Superhero?’, and auditions are in full swing. One by one, regular members of the public appear with their superhero persona, backed up by a costumes made of plastic bags and a notion of the one thing that makes them better than you.

A super-power.

It is Tuesday, and you know what that means, don’t you?

Yes, today and repeating every Tuesday, PS3 Attitude is becoming PSFree Attitude.

So as usual we’ll be giving away all sorts of freebies to our loyal Twitter followers every week with prizes ranging from PSN codes for new games and DLC to physical swag that we have here at Attitude Towers.

We told you it was a good time to be following us on Twitter, didn’t we?

Welcome back to our weekly Twitter Digest, where we recap everything we mumbled, moaned, blabbered or chatted about via our Twitter feed.

So what can you expect this week? As well as the usual list of great people to follow, our tweets were dominated by our Charity Auction, our Charity Event at E3 in Los Angeles and the gold iPod Touch competition from Ubisoft.

Here’s a question for you.

What is bigger than Hong Kong, Singapore, St Lucia and the Isle of Man put together.

Before you start thinking this is the latest punchline from MTV’s Yo Momma, we’ll put you straight

Edinburgh Interactive Festival today announced that Peter Cowley, Director of Digital Media for Endemol UK, will present a session at this year’s conference.

Cowley is delivering a session entitled ‘Evolution of TV Branded Games’, a subject he’s well versed on.

Killzone 2 fans rejoice! A new map pack has been announced today, and something tells us this one is a little bit special.

Hinted at back when the Steel & Titanium pack was launched (when Herman Hulst, Guerilla Games’ Marketing Manager, told us the next DLC would be ‘retro’), the Flash & Thunder pack contains two maps taken from the original Killzone game on the PS2.

But what’s this we see in the launch video? Is that a nuke?

Ubisoft today announced they are giving away a phenomenal prize to celebrate the forthcoming FPS title, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood.

The prize? An incredible 16Gb iPod Touch, coated with luxurious 24-carat gold and worth a small fortune.

So how do you get your hands on this beauty?

It is Tuesday, and you know what that means, don’t you?

Yes, today and repeating every Tuesday, PS3 Attitude is becoming PSFree Attitude.

So as usual we’ll be giving away all sorts of freebies to our loyal Twitter followers every week with prizes ranging from PSN codes for new games and DLC to physical swag that we have here at Attitude Towers.

Edinburgh Interactive Festival today announced that Peter Moore, President of EA Sports, will deliver the keynote address for this year’s Conference.

It is expected that Moore will focus his session on the challenge of reinventing the iconic sports game brand.

Today PS3 Attitude is pleased to announce that not only will we actually be at E3 2009, but we’re also hosting our own charity shindig.

Yes, this is your chance to meet us in person in Los Angeles and have a drink with us and our friends and contacts from the video game industry.

And if that wasn’t enough, as well as helping us raise some serious cash for our Charity Fund, you’ll get the chance to win some cool prizes too.