Well it seems that all good things must come to an end and Stage6 the ever popular media site which allowed the upload of high definition content is to be shut down on the 28th of February.

We created Stage6 with the mission of empowering content creators and viewers to discover a new kind of video experience. Stage6 began as an experiment, and we always knew there was a chance that it might not succeed.

In many ways, though, the service did succeed, beyond even our own initial expectations. Stage6 became very popular very quickly. We helped gain exposure for some talented filmmakers who brought great videos to the attention of an engaged community. We helped prove that it’s possible to distribute true high definition video on the Internet. And we helped broaden the Internet video experience by offering content that is compatible with DVD players, mobile devices and other products beyond the PC.

So why are we shutting the service down? Well, the short answer is that the continued operation of Stage6 is a very expensive enterprise that requires an enormous amount of attention and resources that we are not in a position to continue to provide. There are a lot of other details involved, but at the end of the day it’s really as simple as that.

You can read the full bit about this on the frontage of their website here.

Today EA has officially announced that Red Alert 3 is in production. The only information that they have divulged is that Naval units will be making a comeback, the Allies will be fighting the Soviets and there will be a new third faction but they haven’t said if it will be playable yet. They also announced that it will be the first RTS to feature a fully co-op campaign and there will be the return of generals that you will be able to pick and choose to fight alongside if you want to go it alone or don’t have an Internet connection.

You can find more information about C&C:RA3 over on the command and conquer website

Stage6, a widely used media sharing Web site that allowed you to upload high definition content, was hacked on the 9 Feb., 2008. The Web site re-directed visitors to various shock Web sites. That was then stopped by the admins and a notice was put up on the front page saying that the Web site was unavailable.

But the most shocking discovery was posted up on the Stage6 wiki page, which stated that users’ e-mail addresses and passwords were released by the hackers.

A partial list of Email addresses and passwords for several thousand Stage6 users was released by the group shortly after the attack began in the form of a plain text file posted to 4chan’s Random board. The file has since been removed from the site. Users affected were mainly those who had registered a new Stage6 account between December 11, 2007 and February 9, 2008, though the hacker(s) may have accessed the entire Stage6 user database compromising all user logins.

Let’s just hope that they didn’t have access to the whole user database.

UPDATE:

The Web site is back up and they have updated their login screen to show this message.

Due to an unforeseen technical issue, some users may be required to change their password in order to gain access to the site. If you are unable to login at this time, please use the “Recover Password” option provided on the login page. Thank you for your dedication and understanding.

-Stage6 Web Team”

So it seems that they are trying to pass this off as a technical issue.