The SOPA blackout has started today. Basically, for the duration of today, a lot of websites you frequent may greet you with messages saying how they are taking a stance against a proposed bill from Congress that will essentially halt progression of the internet and most likely put us into a technological (and informational) Dark Ages.

We at PopCultureShock oppose the Stop Online Piracy Act. In its present form, it gives control of the whole Internet to the same entertainment companies who frequently send erroneous DMCA complaints and takedown notices. The implications are unimaginable as the bill itself is dangerous and overreaching. Piracy is a problem (of course), but so is censorship — and that’s precisely what SOPA is. From where we’re looking at this current moment, there’s no safe bet that SOPA itself would have any effect on piracy. Have you paid attention to piracy? Pirates are resourceful enough to get around it. Censorship has nothing to do with that and censorship would be what we’re stuck with in the aftermath thanks to some political yahoo shooting their wad in a half-assed attempt to keep money in a few pockets.

In the last few days the SOPA bill has been weakened largely due to courageous and vocal efforts by countless voices on the Internet, but its supporters are still fighting for it and PIPA (The Senate’s version) still poses a threat to the web as we know it. The fight is far from over, and we will lose no passion or resolve until it is dead and buried. The reality is that SOPA supporters far are better funded than we are, so the onus is on us, the people, to be louder and more passionate than these clowns can ever hope to be.

As journalists, we can’t stop bringing news to you and we feel that we owe you the service of keeping on top of all things entertainment and newsworthy. The internet helps us do that so don’t let them take it away from you.

PopCultureShock will continue to keep you informed. We may be a music, movies, comics and video game blog, but we are plugged into life (and lifestyles) so political issues like these do impact our way of life.

As internet users, if you’re as concerned about this as we are, we urge you to contact Congress. If you’re outside of the US, this affects you too, as the bill is targeted in part at “foreign sites.” You can get in contact with the US State Department. For more information on how SOPA is, our friends at CNET have provided an FAQ and we urge you to give it a read and get educated on this. The Stop American Censorship website will get you started.

When your kids say, “Where were you when the government made the internet lame?” you’ll hopefully respond with unflinching certainty: “Raising hell!”

Capcom is showing fighting fans some true love today with a brand new cinematic trailer for Street Fighter X Tekken which finally delivers the one and only M. Bison. In this newest anime style we see Jin Kazama and Ling Xiaoyu squaring off against Juri and the big boss of Shadaloo and there’s a heavy serving of fan service this time around.

Street Fighter X Tekken is scheduled to hit PS3 and 360 March 6, 2012 and TBA later for Vita and PC.

Rockstar Games put out the official press release today that the next game in the Max Payne series has an official release date.

The highly-anticipated dark and gritty action experience known as Max Payne 3 continues the tale of former New York City detective Max Payne. For Max, the tragedies that took his loved ones years ago are wounds that refuse to heal. No longer a cop, close to washed up and addicted to pain killers, he takes a job in São Paulo, Brazil, protecting the family of wealthy real estate mogul Rodrigo Branco, in an effort to finally escape his troubled past. But as events spiral out of his control, Max Payne finds himself alone on the streets of an unfamiliar city, desperately searching for the truth and fighting for a way out.

Max Payne 3 is scheduled for release for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on May 15, 2012 in North America and May 18, 2012 in Europe, with the PC version launching on May 29th, 2012 in North America and June 1st, 2012 in Europe.

To get more information on Max Payne 3 head over to the Rockstar Games website.

EA’s gearing up for the relaunch of SSX and they’re taking us along for the ride with a new segment of videos titled Uber Mondays. The first SSX video short showed off the main man Mac and this week the team brings longtime alum Zoe Payne front and center showing off her extensive bag of tricks.

EA Sports SSX reboots the series February 28 for PS3 and 360.

We know how it is… You’ve got your hands full with so many sci-fi MMO’s that your wallet is screaming bloody murder. You can rejoice now as starting today Cryptic and Perfect World have a solution just for you if you’re short on cash.

Cryptic has completed the transition of Star Trek Online from subscription to the free to play model and now you can jump straight into the game without having to worry about those pesky subscription fees (if you so choose). Premium subscriptions are still there (for if you want to play multiple alternates or start a guild) and go at the game’s traditional $14.99 per month. Going free gets you the whole game (including all add-on content) so there’s nothing you’re missing if you choose not to have a regular subscription. If you’ve already had an existing account, but had it deactivated before now, don’t worry, your account is still there if you choose to pick it back up and go F2P.

Zero dollars. All the time. From now on. Live long, and (let your wallet) prosper. Make it so. Okay, no more Star Trek puns…

Capcom delivered up a brand new trailer for Street Fighter X Tekken today that showed off Balrog, Juri, Vega, Paul, Law, and Xiaoyu getting down and dirty. Seeing the new additions were all good and dandy, but the real treat comes at the end of the trailer when it’s showcased coming soon for the PS Vita. As the product info streams along, suddenly we are teased with a silhouette of what can only be Pac-Man beside another familiarly shaped character (we’re not saying who we think that is yet).

Street Fighter X Tekken is scheduled to hit PS3 and 360 March 6, 2012 and TBA later for Vita.

The pirate-themed, real-time strategy/board game from Certain Affinity and Capcom Age of Booty is heading to iOS and Android devices soon.

The company announced that an “all-new version” of the game is in the works, being developed with Chaotic Moon.

Announced for the new Age of Booty will be a single-player campaign, along with real-time multiplayer and cross-platform support. Currently, there’s no announced release date for it.

If you’re a fan of Konami’s Silent Hill you need to prepare yourself (and your wallet) for March 2012 when the publisher will see 3 new releases on PS3, 360 and Vita.

We’re quite sure Konami didn’t plan for it to be this way. Several delays hurt production of Silent Hill: Downpour (the eight scheduled release in the franchise) while delays derailed the launch for Silent Hill HD Collection. Silent Hill: Book of Memories for PlayStation Vita has also been reported to have suffered a slight delay which now aligns that release in the same time frame as the 2 console releases.

For a timeline on when to expect your next fix(es) for Silent Hill, it goes as follows:

1. March 6, 2012 – Silent Hill HD Collection
2. March 13, 2012 – Silent Hill: Downpour
3. March 27, 2012 – Silent Hill: Book of Memories

Konami can hopefully stick to these dates, but it’s a very risky gamble for so many titles in a franchise to release when big name titles are gonna hit shelves (Mass Effect 3, anyone?) in March as well. Let’s hope this works out for Konami or Silent Hill may go the fate of other games that get left behind during major gaming release cycles — cancelled.

Steam is having a power sale this weekend for EA’s Dead Space series with both games selling for $5 each.

If there was ever a good time for you to try out one of the scariest new franchises this side of Resident Evil, now is the perfect time. Don’t forget: play in the dark, sound turned all the way up. And have an extra pair of underwear on standby.

Okay, before we take this too literal, Monster Hunter 3G was not the highest selling game for the 3DS. It was the third highest seller.

In the craziest turnaround for a system that had been deemed a ‘failed launch’, the 3DS continued to dominate Media Create’s weekly sales chart since holiday. Last week Nintendo’s handheld was clocked moving 240,819 units, a 20% increase over the week prior.

Monster Hunter 3G, which was released on December 10, 2011, has officially crossed the 1 million units sold mark during that week, making it the third 3DS title to do so. To date, Monster Hunter 3G has sold a total of 1,083,853 units, trailing behind the 1,199,285 of Super Mario 3D Land and the 1,317,357 of Mario Kart 7.

Numbers of Nintendo’s latest iteration of the DS have been on a dramatic upsurge starting at last year’s holiday season when various bundles released worldwide for the 3DS including the Mario Kart and Zelda: Ocarina of Time bundles hit shelves and propelled the 3DS into a favorable position among buyers. The 3DS hadn’t started recovering from low performance numbers following the price drops and Nintendo posted a dire profit and loss report for the first half of 2011. Not making the most stellar of sales numbers since it’s launch led to some major decisions being made within the company (including Nintendo head Satoru Iwata taking a voluntary salary pay cut) and Nintendo scrambling to make the 3DS a viable entry in the market.

Following the release of Monster Hunter 3G in Japan (which also received its own 3DS bundle after launch), things really started to move for the 3DS. As a testament to how successful Capcom’s action-RPG truly is, the Monster Hunter series has always been a force to be reckoned with as 3 previous versions of the game on Sony’s PSP sold over 3.5M units combined in Japan and kept the PSP the #1 selling handheld worldwide for nearly 3 years. A fourth title in the series (Monster Hunter 4) has been announced for 3DS and looks to take the game in a new direction with new play mechanics debuting but now, in an interesting turn of events, Sony’s Vita is setting up to get it’s very own Monster Hunter title by the end of the year.

Not to sound bad about this, but it seems that Capcom can ride in to a very sugary romantic rescue with Monster Hunter at the damnedest of times but you won’t catch any of the fans out there complaining about it. It’s going to be very interesting to see whether the Vita, which is seeing the same bit of mediocre sales numbers following launch as the 3DS had, will see a dramatic turn in sales as well. If history is an indicator, I’d say ‘hell yeah!’