MICROSOFT HIRES 14-YEAR OLD MODERN WARFARE HACKER

A 14-year-old Irish school boy known only as Jake managed to hack into the Xbox 360 servers for Modern Warfare 2 and cause a phishing scam alert .

It wasn’t big news as Microsoft handled it, but they wanted to know what had caused it and if it was related to the PSN hacking incident. They managed to trace it back to this Irish schoolkid, which must have come as a bit of surprise. It’s not every day someone so young can learnt he skills to find an exploit and then do the work to gain access to such a system.

To give Microsoft credit where it’s due, they didn’t turn on the boy. Instead, they have decided to make him their youngest employee. The thinking being, he is obviously adept and Microsoft want to nurture that talent. Who knows, he could be the next Bill Gates.

Working with Microsoft in Ireland, managing director of the division Paul Rellis said they aim to, “develop his talent for legitimate purposes.”

ACTIVISION LAUNCHING SOCIAL NETWORK GAMING EXPERIENCE - CALL OF DUTY ELITE

Activision on Tuesday announced Call of Duty Elite, a new social network-style experience that will allow Call of Duty players to interact with one another in an entirely different way. The social network has three pillars: connect, compete, and improve.

“Connect” will allow users to compete against friends, join groups, find players with similar interests, and enter tournaments. Activision will provide both web and mobile interfaces for managing your Call of Duty information from multiple devices.

“Compete” will allow players to enter events and competitions with other players that have similar abilities, and Activision promises real world and in-game prizes.

“Improve,” will provide users with a strategy guide to help them bump their gaming skills by following their performance and ongoing statistics.

“The average Call of Duty player spends 58 minutes per day playing multiplayer,” Activision Publishing CEO, Eric Hirshberg, said. “That is more than the average Facebook user spends per day on Facebook. And yet, right now, there are very few tools to unite and super charge that social community. Whether it’s allowing you to connect with your friends, or people of a similar skill level, people who live in your city, people who share your favorite passions, join competitive clans or social groups, or upload, view and comment on the incredible mass of player-generated content, or watch and comment on exclusive created content, Call of Duty Elite will give people more ways to connect with fellow players than ever before.”

Most features will be free, although a premium package will also be available. The service will enter public beta with Call of Duty: Black Ops this summer and will launch on November 8th with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.