[acemanwise]

Xbox 360 memory card antitrust suit gets settled out of court
source:gamasutra.com

Quote

Microsoft and accessory maker Datel have settled their respective Xbox 360-related lawsuits against each other, which included allegations of patent infringement and antitrust law violations.

Quote

The two companies have been at odds since 2009, when Datel accused Microsoft of "predatory conduct" after the platform holder released an Xbox 360 update that locked out unauthorized storage devices and third-party memory cards, such as Datel's Max Memory line.

The UK-based firm filed an antitrust lawsuit in a San Francisco court that year, claiming Microsoft had "deliberately harmed competition" with the change. It said Microsoft implemented the update with "no visible purpose other than to have that market entirely to themselves."

Microsoft filed its own suit against Datel in 2010 with a Seattle court over alleged infringement of its Xbox 360 controller patents. The publisher said Datel's Turbofire and WildFire controllers violated a patent for a protocol used by wireless accessories and consoles.

After Datel redesigned the controllers and ceased imports of its TurboFire2 Xbox 360 Wireless pad to the U.S., Microsoft withdrew the case -- though it continued to seek an unspecified amount of compensatory damages for past infringement.

Neither company has revealed details from their confidential settlements, but Microsoft spokesperson Kevin Kutz has said the terms were "to the satisfaction of both parties," according to a report from financial news site Bloomberg.

http://www.gamasutra...ut_of_court.php

[acemanwise]

Opinion: Bugs And Glitches – How Much Is Too Much?
source:fmvmagazine.com

Quote

Post-release patches have produced mixed results, and such tactics are themselves a bone of contention for many gamers. For starters, they are only accessible if a player is signed up and connected to an online network to begin with, but the issue as a whole is one that stirs up anger among many consumers. For years PC gamers have complained that titles are often released chock-full of glitches and problems – with post-release patches used to belatedly correct these issues. In other words, you pay full price for a game that may be technically shocking or even unplayable, and then have to wait for the company to put things right, which could take days, weeks or even months. Now, with consoles also hooked up to online networks, it feels as though console gamers are also being subjected to the same treatment.

http://www.fmvmagazine.com/?p=4229

[acemanwise]

LiveBrianD, on 04 January 2012 - 05:33 PM, said:

Well said - SOPA is terrible. If only our lawmakers knew what the hell they were doing...

These copyright holders are going to cause more damage to themselves than they realize. If S.O.P.A. is passed then the internet would be the last place for them to get exposure for their product. No site is going to take the risk to promote anything and no one will be able to share their experiences through "word of mouth". There is no way a copyright holder can, in their control, widely distribute their content ads fast enough to reach the number of people they want....which is everyone. I also think the internet will be set back to the early 90's in terms of functionality. It will be mostly chat rooms as the internet economy will crash if not downsize substantially.

[LiveBrianD]

acemanwise, on 04 January 2012 - 06:09 PM, said:

LiveBrianD, on 04 January 2012 - 05:33 PM, said:

Well said - SOPA is terrible. If only our lawmakers knew what the hell they were doing...

These copyright holders are going to cause more damage to themselves than they realize. If S.O.P.A. is passed then the internet would be the last place for them to get exposure for their product. No site is going to take the risk to promote anything and no one will be able to share their experiences through "word of mouth". There is no way a copyright holder can, in their control, widely distribute their content ads fast enough to reach the number of people they want....which is everyone. I also think the internet will be set back to the early 90's in terms of functionality. It will be mostly chat rooms as the internet economy will crash if not downsize substantially.

Good point, I didn't think of that. Man, those corporations will do everything they can to shoot themselves in the foot sometimes it seems...

[acemanwise]

LiveBrianD, on 04 January 2012 - 08:02 PM, said:

acemanwise, on 04 January 2012 - 06:09 PM, said:

LiveBrianD, on 04 January 2012 - 05:33 PM, said:

Well said - SOPA is terrible. If only our lawmakers knew what the hell they were doing...

These copyright holders are going to cause more damage to themselves than they realize. If S.O.P.A. is passed then the internet would be the last place for them to get exposure for their product. No site is going to take the risk to promote anything and no one will be able to share their experiences through "word of mouth". There is no way a copyright holder can, in their control, widely distribute their content ads fast enough to reach the number of people they want....which is everyone. I also think the internet will be set back to the early 90's in terms of functionality. It will be mostly chat rooms as the internet economy will crash if not downsize substantially.

Good point, I didn't think of that. Man, those corporations will do everything they can to shoot themselves in the foot sometimes it seems...

They are the ones who created the pirates in the first place...at least most of them. Just look at what they do to the honest consumer.

[LiveBrianD]

acemanwise, on 04 January 2012 - 08:07 PM, said:

They are the ones who created the pirates in the first place...at least most of them. Just look at what they do to the honest consumer.

Yep. I wonder how many people pirate photoshop, thus creating potential for them to get malware that they can then spread (though I think the problem isn't as bad as corporations claim it is), because greedy Adobe wants several hundred bucks for it. Even the student version is pretty damn expensive. Gee, could that have something doing with the piracy of it? It doesn't take a genius to figure that out. Oh wait, big corporations are full of idiots, duh! Man, my pet rat has a lot more logic than some of these big corporations do.

This post has been edited by LiveBrianD: 04 January 2012 - 09:08 PM

[acemanwise]

Are those in favor of antipiracy the same ones that encouraged it?

Be a HERO and Help STOP SOPA Now!! I'll tell you How! This Video that Must Be SHARED!

[acemanwise]

Embers: Is The Industry To Blame For Pirating?
source:gotgame.com

Quote

Pirating has become a big issue as of late due to the proposed SOPA bill. Sure pirating things that other people make is a bad thing but who is really to blame in this debacle? The pirates or the industry?

Let’s take a look at music for a second. My take is that you should purchase music and not pirate it. Why? It’s fairly priced, plain and simple (when you buy within your own country that is). In that regards pirating serves no purpose. It’s not as if the music industry is charging an exorbitant amount for music. With iTunes you can even download the songs that you want, without having to purchase the whole album.

Now let’s talk about video games. Video games are $60 dollars a pop generally and a lot of them don’t seem to be worth that amount (to me at least anyways). There are a few that a more than worth their sixty dollars, like Skyrim for instance, but in all seriousness $60 seems a lot for most games. Especially when some of them are mostly cutscenes instead of game play.

http://gotgame.com/2...e-for-pirating/

[LiveBrianD]

lol... Under SOPA, that image would get gotgame.com AND pcworld.com AND search engines (if they linked to that page) banned, all because it contains a scene from a copyrighted movie, and you sued. Damn...

I agree though - I don't play games a ton (I haven't lately because I haven't had time, and one I play a lot, NFS World, is free to a point), but $60 for a game is absurd. For a lot of teens, that's probably a huge incentive to pirate the game. I'm sure I wouldn't pay $60 for a game, $15 maybe, but $60 is crazy! One model I like, which NFS World uses, is that the game is free, but if you want to get some extra things (ex. better car, more "powerups" which give you some advantages, etc), you have to pay. That's fine with me - I'll stick with the free version, and others can pay if they like. It's a online multiplayer game btw. I would like it if everyone got the same features though, but if paying, for instance, let you style your car nicely or something (but didn't speed it up or anything like that).

[acemanwise]

Soapbox: Online Passes, Have They Taken A Step Too Far?
source:opinionatedvideogamer.com

SSX’s precedent scares me. I’m not sure what the credits you earn will unlock in EA’s snowboarding title, and the fact that credits can be earned in Explore mode and used in exactly the same way means that redeeming your code will only allow you purchase your unlocks faster, meaning it’s long term effect should be negligible. Now, apply that same logic to your favourite online shooter. Imagine playing Call of Duty, or Killzone, or Battlefield online, and only earning one third the XP because you didn’t input your online pass code. Players who did would have a distinct advantage, unlocking more powerful weapons and equipment faster. It would be a move that could segregate the community. Worst case scenario for sure, but it’s sure as hell an incentive for players to buy new, which is exactly what the developers want.

http://opinionatedvi...a-step-too-far/

[acemanwise]

Xbox games may have spurred synagogue attacks, lawyer says
source:usnews.msnbc.com

Quote

"This is someone who may (have been), with their own problems they have within their own head, taken over by these games that young people play now — lots of violence, lots of meanness," Kalisch said, NBC station WNBC of New York reported.

(The Xbox system is made by Microsoft Corp., which is co-owner of msnbc.com in a joint partnership with NBCUniversal.)

http://usnews.msnbc....cks-lawyer-says

[acemanwise]

EA Online Passes May Surprise
source:gaming.do.co.za

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For some reason, gamers are quite upset with EA over the Kingdom’s of Amalur: Reckoning's online pass. The game itself is a completely single-player game and has no multiplayer in it whatsoever. Instead, the online pass for the game is there to unlock a number of quests.

http://gaming.do.co....ay_surprise.htm

[acemanwise]

PSN Maintenance Has Broken Some User Download Lists
source:psnstores.com

Quote

Update: It seems that this isn’t affecting just PlayStation Plus members. The problem seems to be far more widespread.

It seems that the most recent maintenance has caused a problem for some users of the PlayStation Network in Europe. Both the user’s download list and transaction lists are empty, making it impossible for them to redownload purchased content.

It seems to only be affecting PlayStation Plus members at this time. The users who are affected also cannot download anything from the store and are given Error #80023102 when trying to do so.

Sony is aware of the problem and are working to fix it. “This is an issue we are aware of following the PSN maintenance last night. We are currently working on a fix, there should be nothing you have to do your end so please bear with us and I will update this thread as soon as its sorted,” said a community manager on the EU PlayStation Forums. “For those of you worried about losing content I can assure you that this is not the case. Your download lists and purchase history have not been affected, the problem is the ability to access them from your console,” he later added.

As of now there is no fix in place. I wil update the story once everything is back to normal.

http://www.psnstores...download-lists/

[SuperSamuraiBlades]

Wow, I hope they fix that problem. There have been some connection issues over at XboxLive within the past few weeks, I was in a cod black ops match with some people and I got disconnected. I managed to shoot down one of my own friends before I got booted out. My friend then got mad and called me a two-timing little bastard.

[coastie65]

SuperSamuraiBlades, on 05 February 2012 - 03:54 PM, said:

Wow, I hope they fix that problem. There have been some connection issues over at XboxLive within the past few weeks, I was in a cod black ops match with some people and I got disconnected. I managed to shoot down one of my own friends before I got booted out. My friend then got mad and called me a two-timing little bastard.

And my Nephew says I don't play well with others.

[SuperSamuraiBlades]

coastie65, on 05 February 2012 - 05:57 PM, said:

SuperSamuraiBlades, on 05 February 2012 - 03:54 PM, said:

Wow, I hope they fix that problem. There have been some connection issues over at XboxLive within the past few weeks, I was in a cod black ops match with some people and I got disconnected. I managed to shoot down one of my own friends before I got booted out. My friend then got mad and called me a two-timing little bastard.

And my Nephew says I don't play well with others.

Well, my friend was a terrible player and is always making us lose so somebody had to put him out of his misery

In cases like these, I was always taught that making sacrifices is necessary to deal with the situation. In this world, it's every man for himself. You have to look out for yourself and try to do what you think is right. If anyone gives you any problems, then you sue them for all they've got! This world was not built for the meager so you do what you can to survive for your life. You also really have to start supporting yourself while not worrying about someone else. People are more than capable of looking out for themselves. I know that most people might disagree with my point. I know that I kind of sound like I'm spoiled, there is nothing wrong with being spoiled. I was raised very spoiled and I turned out quite fine.

This post has been edited by SuperSamuraiBlades: 07 February 2012 - 06:55 PM

[acemanwise]

Announcement of METAL GEAR ONLINE service termination
source:konami.jp

Quote

"METAL GEAR ONLINE" was included with "METAL GEAR SOLID 4" and launched on June 12th 2008.
However, we regret to announce that online service will draw to a close on June 12th 2012 after four years of service.

Thank you to everyone for your loyal support of METAL GEAR ONLINE.

Please refer to the schedule below for a list of key events leading up to final service termination on June 12th 2012:

■ March 21st 2012 16:00 (JST)
- Closure of MGO Online Shop.

■April 24th 2012 18:00 (JST)
- Expansion packs and Preset Codec Message Appeal Packs will be available for free download.
*Note: Registration for new player characters will not be available during this time.
- Reward shop equipment will be available for free.
* With the exception of "non-sale" items.

■June 12th 2012 23:59 (JST)
- End of online service.

Thank you once again for your support.
All of the staff involved offer you our sincerest thanks.

http://www.konami.jp...nformation.html

[SuperSamuraiBlades]

I'm a good sport, I gave my friend a good reputation in his XboxLIVE profile. I really dislike people who do whatever they can do to doublecross their own friends just for their own personal amusement. I never do things like that and would I lie?

This post has been edited by SuperSamuraiBlades: 22 February 2012 - 11:42 PM

[acemanwise]

WTHR_The Risk inside your credit card

[NEOGAMES]

"By purchasing games through these digital dealers, there’s never a concern about losing what’s rightfully yours"...that's the biggest crock of ____ I've ever heard.....I should've seen this topic sooner.