Kaz Hirai used to be Mr. PlayStation, but now that he runs everything at Sony (which has its own motion picture studio), dude gets an invite to the Oscars.

Don't let the graphic fool you. We're not here for the back of Placido Domingo's head. We're here for the gentleman on the right. That's Sony boss Kaz Hirai, just chillin' on the starting grid at the Japanese Formula 1 Grand Prix. Lookin' sharp, Kaz. Also lookin' like a kid in a candy store.

From five-hundred ninety-nine U.S. dollars and Riiiiiiidge Racer seven years ago to more flattering presentations today, Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai has been one of the gaming industry's most .gif-able and meme-able public figures. Hirai wants you to know he's cool with that.

Last week, the internet went mental. Sony announced it would be holding an event later this month in New York City—an event to unveil the PlayStation 4, apparently.

Sony president Kaz Hirai got his own specialized PlayStation 3 today, according to a tweet by fellow Sony exec (and SCE head) Shuhei Yoshida. It's custom made. And not for sale.

Once upon a time, Sony ruled Japan. Those days are over. Don't believe me? Just look at how the Japanese media keeps turning the Tokyo-based electronics maker into a punching bag.

Today, Japan's Nikkei newspaper reported that Sony is axing 6 percent of its global workforce—approximately 10,000 individuals—by the end of the year.

It was wildly thought that Howard Stringer, a foreigner, was brought in to fire a bunch of people at Sony. Japanese companies traditionally bring in outsiders to fire folks, and Stringer, a foreigner, was even that further removed from the old boys' network.

Today, Sony announced its recent financials, and the Tokyo-based electronics giant is hemorrhaging money.

As has been expected for a while now, Sir Howard Stringer's replacement as President and CEO of Sony Corporation when he steps down in June will be Kaz Hirai, a long-time champion of the company's PlayStation brand.

Sony's looking to expand its PlayStation game offerings to other mobile devices, Sony Computer Entertainment chief Kaz Hirai told a conference in Hong Kong on Friday.

While Sony hasn't yet officially announced the PS4, no doubt it's coming. The PlayStation 3 will get a successor. According to a "trusted source", work has started on PlayStation 4 games.

Tokyo Game Show 2011 is... GO!!! Sony Computer Entertainment Japan is kicking it off with its pre-TGS keynote, talking about all things PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita and PlayStation Network. Kotaku is in the house, keeping an eye on what Sony execs have to say about the future of PlayStation.

The Sony PlayStation Network is back online, but it was hacked back in April. Sony's servers were breached and over seventy million accounts were compromised. Sony still doesn't seem to be any closer to nabbing the individuals who carried out the attack.