On the occasion of "Safer Internet Day" (what?) Xbox Live General Manager Alex Garden posted a letter in response to the ongoing Xbox Live security concerns, including the FIFA hack and Windows Live exploit.

Garden attributed the problems to social engineering, phishing, keylogging software, and other reasons not endemic to Xbox or Microsoft. "While we here at Xbox have no evidence of a security breach in the Xbox LIVE service," he said, "that is of little comfort to our members whose accounts have been compromised by malicious and illegal attacks."

He recommended personal security measures to guard against this, including adding additional verification methods to your account "and reducing the amount of personal information shared online or through social networks." Additional proof helps guard your info, he said, and also makes it easier for Microsoft to investigate cases and issue refunds. "We still have a few cases that are taking longer to fully recover and some refunds are still being processed," he said, "but we're making great strides. We hope our customers are experiencing the improvements firsthand."

LittleBigPlanet probably can't get cuter, but it can get cart-er -- LittleBigPlanet Cart Racing will be crashing into the PlayStation Move, complete with a Move-compatible racing wheel, Sony revealed at its Destination PlayStation event, as reported by Future Shop Gamer.

LittleBigPlanet Cart Racing will support full 3D, but Sony offered no further details.

At an EA event in New York, the publisher revealed another iOS Mass Effect 3 tie-in, joining Infiltrator. "Mass Effect Datapad" is an iPad app that works with the console/PC game somehow. Details are currently slim on this one; we'll get you more info as we learn it.

But if you like Mass Effect and you have an iPad, this likely won't turn out to be bad news for you.

After missing the exhaust port its planned holiday launch, Kinect Star Wars and the Star Wars Xbox 360 console bundle have settled on a new release date. The game and console bundle will now launch on April 3. The bundle features a console and Kinect unit in the style of everyone's favorite droid, R2-D2, a C-3PO styled controller and a copy of Kinect Star Wars. It will retail for $450.

Alongside the news, Microsoft has also released some new screens of Kinect Star Wars. Said shots include images of the dance mode revealed by the ESRB, entitled "Galactic Dance Off." We considered writing something funny about it, but then we saw the above screen shot and the words just left.

Finally, a handful of AMC theaters in the US and Canada will host special screenings of the "new" 3D version of Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, during which moviegoers can try out Kinect Star Wars. Visit the official site for more details.

Kinect: Star Wars (2/7/12)

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The Mass Effect series is hitting iOS devices with Mass Effect Infiltrator, coming to iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch soon, EA announced. Infiltrator is a third-person shooter featuring weapons and powers from the Mass Effect franchise, where players attempt to free prisoners from a hostile cerberus base.

Players will receive awards for collecting evidence of cerberus crimes in their mission, with each discovery and rescue increasing their Mass Effect 3 Galaxy at War Galactic Readiness rating. Actions in Infiltrator can affect the larger Mass Effect 3 storyline, and weapons unlocked in the mobile version can be used in Mass Effect 3.

It will not be possible to get discounted Vita downloads of the disc-based UMD games you bought for PSP in the US. A Sony representative told Kotaku that the "UMD Passport" service will not be available to American Vita owners.

Of course, you'll still be able to buy any digitally-distributed PSP games through the Vita's PlayStation Store and play them on the new hardware -- and you'll be able to play the PSN games you already bought on your PSP. But those UMD games will be of no use unless you keep your PSP.

"Giants is the idea for the future," Toys for Bob CEO and development lead Paul Reiche III told me during an interview this morning, just ahead of this weekend's Toy Fair 2012. His company's latest project, Skylanders, is up for an award at the big show, not to mention an award or two at DICE 2012 (also this week), but he's already looking into the future. To an extent, at least.

"In terms of the Wii U, we're looking at it," he said in response to a question regarding the Wii U's recently announced NFC functionality -- functionality that's very similar to that found in the RFID-enabled Skylanders. "All of the details about the NFC technology haven't been released to the public yet, and it's really interesting," Reiche added, but he wouldn't budge on how much experience his company had with the Wii U's tech just yet ("I can't talk about that, I'm afraid.").

As for that other Skylanders game that was announced today -- the mobile one -- Reiche was able to be a bit more verbose, though not much. "We will be having new mobile associated with Giants, but we are also still working on a very fun experience using your toys in the Skylanders world that's for mobile," he told me. So, two games then! "I played it, I like it, I don't know what its release schedule is. This one isn't being implemented within Toys for Bob," Reiche added.

So, how does it work? Reiche couldn't get too specific, but he did say it'll use the web-based Skylanders experience to draw information to the mobile game. "No NFC phone necessary. We want anyone to be able to enjoy it. We want someone who just buys a toy to have a meaningful experience on someone else's mobile device."

Tamriel's PC adventurers have finally been granted access to the long-awaited Creation Kit for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. A special surprise was promised with today's release, coming in the form of a High-Resolution Texture Pack for the game. "Experience The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim as you've never seen it before with the Skyrim High-Resolution Texture Pack," a press release noted.

Skyrim also becomes the second title to be featured on the Steam Workshop, which acts as a "central hub of player-created content and tools to publish, organize, and download that content into your games."

Valve and Bethesda have teamed up to bring users the Space Sphere mod, which adds the space-loving robot from Portal 2 to the game, following players around the world (pictured above). While the special mod appeared on Steam earlier today, it has since vanished. Joystiq has contacted Valve and Bethesda to find out when the new companion will land back on the dragon-infested planet. [Update: Steam Workshop is back online! Enjoy your new talkative friend!]

Steam is also featuring the Elder Scrolls series in a mid-week sale, offering a discount on each game in the series or a bundle (Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim) for $49.99.

Sega Studios Australia, developer of the upcoming London 2012 Olympics game, is laying off 37 of its 80 staffers as part of a restructuring effort. The studio, which features advanced motion-capture facilities, was originally part of The Creative Assembly, and was renamed last year when development of this game was announced.

According to a statement sent to Joystiq, Sega Studios Australia will now focus on digitally distributed titles. "We can confirm that SSA has signed a multi-product deal focussing across the digital marketplace," SSA said. The downsizing effort will "ensure we have a more effective and agile team that will enable us to quickly adapt to consumer needs and deliver strong content across multiple digital platforms," according to the studio.

Find the full statement after the break.

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Call of Duty Elite premium members playing Modern Warfare 3 on Xbox Live will receive the next batch of DLC, Overwatch, on February 21. Overwatch puts players in a construction site at the top of a New York City skyscraper, with a very real chance of dropping 70 feet to the sidewalk as an added risk. If you have trouble visualizing that, check out the gallery below.

The previous batch of downloadable content, Liberation and Piazza, is set to launch on PSN on February 28, having come out on Xbox Live in January, all in accordance with MW3's exclusivity deal with Microsoft. The next three batches of MW3 DLC will drop in March for Xbox premium members and will include the multiplayer map Black Box and two new Special Ops missions, Black Ice and Negotiator.

Metal Gear Solid HD Collection for Vita won't just be a straight port of the PS3/Xbox collection (of upscaled ports). Hideo Kojima revealed that the portable release will have at least some Vita-exclusive features, including Vita-specific control tweaks.

"You can slice enemy's throat with knife if you flick the touch pad behind," he said, referring to the throat-slitting maneuver in Metal Gear Solid 3. The "touch pad behind" is of course the Vita's rear touch pad. You can also move left and right on the rear touch pad to stretch in first-person view. Of course, these aren't just a neat bonus -- as MGS2 and 3 used all of the PS2's control options, including analog buttons and the L3/R3 buttons, some changes had to be made in the transition.

Kojima shared a couple of photos of MGS3's title screen and HD Collection menu screen on Vita, taken while sitting in a recording studio. Why was Hideo Kojima in a recording studio? Because actor Ginga Banjou was recording new lines for the game -- as Major Zero explaining the Vita controls.

Presumably, the universe will be saved at the end of Mass Effect 3, but it won't be the last we hear of the franchise, according to executive producer Casey Hudson. The staff at BioWare is "probably too busy to feel sad" about the end of its space-faring trilogy, Hudson recently told the UK's PlayStation 3 Magazine (via CVG). Not that there's anything to be sad about, as Hudson noted "there will be more Mass Effect for Mass Effect fans, I'm sure."

We know that a Mass Effect anime is in the works, though more games are certainly a possibility, as are more comics and (hopefully error-free) books.

More details about Skylanders Giants are coming in from the event currently taking place in New York. First and foremost, the new game will require a new Portal (i.e. "the thing you put Skylanders toys on") in order to recognize the new giant characters. Said Portal will accommodate up to two giant figures at a time. In addition to the giant figures, 12 more normal Skylanders figures are in the works, though it's unclear if they will work exclusively with Giants or if they will be compatible with Spyro's Adventure.

Furthermore, dedicated Skylanders mobile apps are planned for the future, though no further details have were given. The press release announcing the title did, however, promise "advanced integration across console, handheld, mobile and online."

Finally, Toys R Us CEO Jerry Storch revealed an exclusive partnership with Activision going forward. The retailer will sell exclusive figures this year, including "Legendary Trigger Happy" and "Iridescent Blue Bash," both of which are stronger than their normal versions and feature new abilities. In March, Toys R Us will also have a 30-day exclusive on the "Dragon's Peak" adventure pack. See pictures of the new figures in the gallery below.

More details as we get them.

Update: Skylanders Giants will not require a new portal, as it turns out. The new technology referred to at the event will be contained in the figures themselves. Specifically, new figures will light up when placed on the portal, as mentioned in our previous post. We apologize for the confusion.

Last month, domains for "Skylanders Giants" appeared, followed by a lot of cryptic teases from a "SkylandersGiant" Twitter account. Today, Activision and developer Toys for Bob have revealed that Skylanders: Giants is actually a full sequel to the game released last year. Alongside the new game come brand new figures to collect and, as the name implies, they are much larger than the toys released so far.

Specifically, eight new characters will be released, all of them "more than twice the size" of normal Skylanders both out of the box and inside the game world itself. New figures will also feature integrated lights that illuminate when a character is placed on or near the Portal of Power. Finally, Skylanders Giants will be compatible with previous Skylanders figures and, what's more, figures will retain all the stats earned in Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure.

Skylanders Giants will officially debut at the American International Toy Fair later this month. Presumably, we'll have more details, including a price and release date, by then. A Skylanders event is about to take place in New York, we should have more details and media shortly.

Update: We've added a new trailer and galleries of screenshots and the new figures. Also, according to the trailer, Skylanders Giants is coming this fall.

Skylanders: Giants

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Skylanders: Giants (Toys)

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A Touch Arcade forum user is making allegations that a company is offering to boost the ranking of free App Store apps using bots. According to "walterkaman," the unnamed company will set up automated, repeated downloads of a client's app in order to push it into Apple's Top Free charts. A representative from the shady ad company pointed out eight games on the Top 25 Free chart that were promoted in this manner, walterkaman said.

The company was not named, and the forum user's story remains unverified. However, Apple is definitely upset about some kind of chart manipulation on the App Store. In a brief update on the Apple Developer site, the company warned developers against using ad services that guarantee placement. "Even if you are not personally engaged in manipulating App Store chart rankings or user reviews, employing services that do so on your behalf may result in the loss of your Apple Developer Program membership."

Until now, it's been difficult for Elite users to level up their clans in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. That appears to be changing in the near future, with the arrival of the long-awaited Clan Operations feature, which allows clans to take part in competitions for fun, experience, and even prizes.

Beachhead posted a preview of the Clan Operations interface on the Elite forums, detailing how users will choose Operations, and what kind of information they'll see (how much Clan XP an Op is worth, their current enlistment status, and start and end dates). Users can also browse each Op's prizes ... like the Call of Duty Elite skateboard shown in the example.

While this progress is promising, Beachhead still hasn't put a firm date on this feature's launch. "We're currently putting all Clan Operations through extensive testing," the company noted, "and while we can't give you a date on when it will be ready, it is getting closer every day."

Nimblebit's Tiny Tower keeps building up, up, up! Developer Ian Marsh tweeted last night that the addictive tower management title had reached 10 million iOS downloads. The company previously mentioned it has a million daily active users. It can't hurt that the game doesn't cost anything, but that's still quite a few folks building up tiny office structures!

Tiny Tower, named Apple's 2011 iPhone Game of the Year, recently brought the fight to Zynga for its liberally inspired game Dream Heights. Whatever the legality is of such games, Apple is starting to take notice.

Retailer Game's problematic financial condition has caused the troubled retailed to cut 46 jobs from its UK headquarters.

"Our proposed new structure will change the way that we operate and will enable us to be significantly more efficient in our relationships with suppliers and customers," the company told MCV in a statement. "We are giving our full help and support to the colleagues who are affected by these proposed changes."

As of last November, Game had 1,275 stores in Europe and Australia, but the company is seeking to sell off its international business (you can probably guess who the rumored buyer is). The collapse of Game would impact the overall games industry, as both EA and Take-Two saw fit to mention its problems would impact their sales during both publisher's third quarter financial calls.