Well, Sony is at it again, apparently. Earlier today Kotaku had a report about Sony's upcoming PlayStation 3 announcement for the Game Developer Conference next week in San Francisco. Phil Harrison (pictured left), president of Sony Computer Entertainment's Worldwide Studios, is schedule to give one of the major keynote addresses again this year. Kotaku received a tip form an anonymous source about the big PlayStation Home announcement, which apparently will be a combination of Nintendo's Mii and Xbox Live Achievements.

Kotaku followed up on this tip with a couple of other media reports that lent some credibility to the rumor, which the site repeatedly called an unconfirmed rumor. Kotaku also went to Sony and asked the company to confirm or deny the scoop; instead, Sony PR declined to comment. Not only that, Sony informed the popular gaming blog that if it went ahead and published the rumor, Kotaku would essentially be blackballed by the company.

And that's exactly what happened. Kotaku decided not to bow down to corporate pressure and published the information. Sony responded by:

• canceling all of Kotaku's GDC meetings

• un-inviting Kotaku from Sony's media event at GDC

• demanding that Kotaku return its PlayStation debug review unit

• canceling all future interviews with Kotaku

Despite Sony's recent run of bad PR and PS3-related missteps, I was shocked that the company took this action. In the good ole days, blackballing a media outlet was reserved for truly offensive actions such as publishing unsubstantiated rumors, false reports and misleading information. If the report was false, Sony had every opportunity to say so and ask Kotaku not to print it. Instead, the company tried to bully the blog. Sony is apparently smarting from some of the bad press it has received in last year, and as a result the company dropped the hammer on one of the best gaming blogs on the Web. All because Kotaku scooped Phil Harrison's big announcement?

I'm shaking my head. I know that some folks tend to think I'm anti-Sony because I've written some op-ed columns over the last year that have been critical of the company. In truth, I have a vast amount of respect for Sony and its distinguished track record. I think that the PlayStation 2 might just be the greatest console ever made, and I give the company a heap load of credit for advancing the technology of gaming with the original PlayStation. That's why this latest flap with Sony is so maddening: it's beneath them. Blackballing a gaming blog like this is conduct unbecoming of a renowned, respected multi-billion dollar technology company.

Does Kotaku deserve to be shunned by Sony for printing information that looks to be true? Let me know.