Love it or hate it, the Call of Duty series still pulls massive numbers. According to a recently issued release, the latest game in this long-standing series has been named the top-selling console game of the year in America.

Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing announced that "to date, 2014 has been a series of number ones for Activision Publishing: Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is the #1 top-selling game of the year, Skylanders is the #1 kids video game franchise of the year, and Destiny is the #1 top-selling new video game franchise of the year", with Hirshberg further commenting that "we are excited about how fans have responded to Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Destiny and Skylanders Trap Team, and have even more great new content in store in 2015."

According to NPD, Activision has won big throughout the 2014 calendar year - pulling numerous title wins and achievements including:

According to the latest rumors from various sources, Rockstar is working on Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas 2. The sequel to the popular GTA: San Andreas will be dropping on the PS4 and Xbox One sometime in 2015.

Rockstar reportedly "confirmed" that it was working on Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas 2 at the PlayStation Experience event recently. According to the rumors, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas 2 will take place in 1999, some seven years after the events in the original game. CJ will return as the protagonist, which will be voiced by Young Maylay once again.

Many have claimed the news is fake, which is why we're putting a very big 'rumor' stamp on this one. With the news of Online Heists coming to GTA V next year, and GTA V reaching the #pcmasterrace on January 27, 2015, the world of Grand Theft Auto seems to be truly opening up for 2015.

The Sony hacking scandal continues, with most US theaters pulling the Seth Rogen and James Franco comedy from screening when it launches next week. Now, US officials are reportedly set to blame North Korea for the Sony Pictures Entertainment hack, after identifying the rogue country as the point of origin.

The US government has said that North Korea was "centrally involved" even though the attack may have been launched from another origin. There's no exact word on what we should expect the US government to add here, but it's going to get very interesting. One thought: if North Korea is a backwards as the world thinks it is, this is a damn huge job for them to pull off on their own. Hacking one of the biggest companies in the world, leaving various three-letter authorities completely baffled on who did it for a while there.

All of this just makes me want to see the movie more, what about you?

NVIDIA has released a new beta driver in the form of the GeForce 347.09, with the company releasing it as a "Game Ready" driver for two big releases this week: Elite: Dangerous and Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes.

The former, Elite: Dangerous, is worth noting as it's the first time the company has released a new driver the concentrates on a crowdfunded game like this. Elite: Dangerous isn't some massive AAA title like Call of Duty or Battlefield, but to the fans, it is. It's great to see NVIDIA releasing a driver ready for Elite: Dangerous. MGS V: Ground Zeroes on the other hand, we have full support for it with NVIDIA explaining "ensures you'll have the best possible gaming experience for Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and Elite: Dangerous."

NVIDIA has also provided an application profile for Project CARS, as well as some new 3D Vision and 3D Compatibility Modes for various games, including Alien: Isolation, Far Cry 4 and Elite: Dangerous. If you want to download the new NVIDIA GeForce 347.09 Beta drivers, grab them right here.

Sony Pictures has blinked in the battle waged against the release of 'The Interview' and the company itself, announcing that the planned Christmas release of the film has been cancelled. In an official statement released just moments ago, Sony Pictures said:

In light of the decision by the majority of our exhibitors not to show the film The Interview, we have decided not to move forward with the planned December 25 theatrical release. We respect and understand our partners' decision and, of course, completely share their paramount interest in the safety of employees and theater-goers.

Sony Pictures has been the victim of an unprecedented criminal assault against our employees, our customers, and our business. Those who attacked us stole our intellectual property, private emails, and sensitive and proprietary material, and sought to destroy our spirit and our morale - all apparently to thwart the release of a movie they did not like. We are deeply saddened at this brazen effort to suppress the distribution of a movie, and in the process do damage to our company, our employees, and the American public. We stand by our filmmakers and their right to free expression and are extremely disappointed by this outcome.

Time has partnered with Coinbase to begin accepting bitcoin payments for digital and print subscriptions of Fortune, Health, Travel + Leisure and This Old House. This is a major victory for Coinbase and the bitcoin community, as Time's online and print media reaches 130 million consumers every month - and surely some of them own bitcoins.

"We are always looking for ways to make it easier for consumers to engage with our brands and this pilot program will give bitcoin users a seamless and simple way to purchase subscriptions," said Lynne Biggar, executive vice president of consumer marketing and revenue at Time, in a press statement. "We hope to expand our partnership with Coinbase in the coming months to create more opportunities to provide greater value to our customers."

Bitcoins continue to be extremely volatile, with value fluctuating as many investors question its long-term financial stability. However, that doesn't mean retailers and other businesses have shied away, as they want to accept whatever payment methods its shoppers use.

Apple's draconian move to disable TRIM software support in the latest versions of OS X has left only one third-party SSD manufacturer that supports TRIM. Angelbird natively supports TRIM in OS X, a feat others haven't been able to accomplish without TRIM Enabler software. Apple removing TRIM Enabler compatibility has forced users to expose their system to malware by disabling key security features, or to simply not use TRIM with their third-party SSDs. Other third-party SSD manufacturers rely upon garbage collection in lieu of TRIM, but as any enthusiast with rudimentary knowledge can explain, garbage collection doesn't keep performance as snappy as a TRIM-enabled system.

Angelbird's wrk SSD now comes in capacities up to 1TB. The wrk utilizes an SMI 2246EN controller, and the case is made of a matte-black anodized aluminum. Sequential read/write speeds weigh in at 564/456 MB/s, respectively. The SSD also tops out at 72,000 random read IOPS. The 1TB wrk retails for $599.99, which is comparable to other Apple-specific SSDs, especially considering it is the only line of SSDs that natively supports an integral feature required for sustained performance.

Our resident SSD guru Chris Ramseyer recently took a look at the wrk in his Angelbird SSD wrk 512GB SSD Review.

The hacker group reportedly behind a major cyberattack against Sony Pictures Entertainment is getting what they want - as Sony tells theaters they don't need to show "The Interview" due to terror threats. The movie is scheduled for release on Christmas, Dec. 25, and it would appear some theaters have already said they won't show the controversial film.

Movie theaters that decide to still show the film plan to use additional security - even if there has been no credible evidence a plot is in place - with AMC, Cinemark, Regal and Carmike all suffering a drop in stock values because of the threat.

"Somebody is playing mind games with [Sony]," said Richard Clarke, cybersecurity expert and former White House counter-terrorism lead, in a statement published by Good Morning America. "I think North Korea has little or no capability to do any physical attacks, commando activity, or terrorism in the U.S. By saying it's coming, however, they hope to keep people from the theaters and, thereby, hurt Sony's revenue."

The Delhi High Court has given Xiaomi a bit of a reprieve, allowing the Chinese mobile manufacturer the chance to sell its Qualcomm-based devices until Jan. 8. Xiaomi will have to turn over $1.60 for all devices sold, but will be able to allow consumers to purchase products until the deadline in three weeks. Qualcomm received patent licenses from Ericsson to use its patented technologies, an argument Xiaomi plans for 2015.

Earlier, a single judge passed an order that stopped Xiaomi from importing and selling its smartphones to India - its biggest target market outside of China - and a legal fight seemed imminent.

Ericsson wants Xiaomi to hold a license to have their smartphones imported to India, and the issues will be put on the table during the next legal hearing on Feb. 5. However, Xiaomi says it has a licensing agreement with Qualcomm to utilize its chipsets for the Xiaomi Mi3, Xiaomi Redmi1S and Redmi Note 4G for sale in India.

The Australian government have proposed curriculum changes to the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority - making computer coding and computational thinking a mandatory part of the countries Year 10 curriculum.

This news is well received by the Australian Computer Society as this positive information comes to light after the ACS and StartupAus joined forces with either other industry bodies fighting against a the proposed recommendation to only allow a dedicated technology subject in Year 9 Australian Schools - now it looks like the children may be learning more and over a longer period of time.

As we've recently reported on President Obama writing his own little bit of code, it helps signify the global 'new-age' of technology that we're currently experiencing. This is where basic and intermediate computer skills are becoming a necessity in this day and age with many professional and unskilled 'real-world' jobs and workplaces requiring you to have some form of computer knowledge - this bill helps solidify the improvement in education working toward preparing the children for the workforce.