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Notch Challenges Bethesda To Quake 3 Match Over Lawsuit

Dave Oshry — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 00:30:03 +0000

As you may or may not know, Minecraft creator Notch is being sued by Bethesda Softworks for use of the word “Scrolls” (The title of his upcoming game) Yeah, I know, it’s… yeah.

Anyway, Notch has come up with a rather interesting way to settle the suit. A Quake III match!!

Via his blog today, he stated:

I am back, and I am excited.

Marriage has been wonderful so far, and nobody sabotaged my computer while I was gone.

The only negative thing going on at this moment is the Scrolls trademark lawsuit nonsense, and I think I came up with the perfect solution:

Remember that scene in Game of Thrones where Tyrion chose a trial by battle in the Eyrie? Well, let’s do that instead!
I challenge Bethesda to a game of Quake 3. Three of our best warriors against three of your best warriors. We select one level, you select the other, we randomize the order. 20 minute matches, highest total frag count per team across both levels wins.

If we win, you drop the lawsuit.

If you win, we will change the name of Scrolls to something you’re fine with.

Regardless of the outcome, we could still have a small text somewhere saying our game is not related to your game series in any way, if you wish.

I am serious, by the way.

Bethesda‘s parent company ZeniMax being an uber srs bsns company with a large legal team, they will clearly never go for this. However, it’s rather awesome to note that we’re pretty sure Notch is super duper serial about the whole thing.

Stay tuned to RipTen as this story unfolds.

Alabama Man Suing Sony for PSN Breach – We Try To Act Surprised

Dave Oshry — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 18:32:37 +0000

Well, I’m sure everyone saw this coming. The first lawsuit has been filed against Sony in the wake of the PSN “intrusion”

A 36 year old Alabama Man by the name of Kristopher Johns is suing Sony for not taking “reasonable care to protect, encrypt, and secure the private and sensitive data of its users.” according to Cnet.

He also compounds upon the beliefs of Senator Richard Blumenthal that Sony took too long to notify him and other customers that their personal information had been compromised. He states that Sony did not allow users “to make an informed decision as to whether to change credit card numbers, close the exposed accounts, check their credit reports, or take other mitigating actions.”

He is also seeking class action status for this suit. So feel free to hop on board the bandwagon.

Stay tuned to RipTen for continued coverage of PSNightmare 2011.

‘GeoHot’ and Sony Finally Settle PS3 Hacking Case

Matthew Sims — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 19:32:52 +0000

Well, the saga is over, at least for now. Notorious hacker George Hotz better know by his handle “GeoHot” has reached a settlement with Sony Computer Entertainment America. The settlement was in relation to a January lawsuit in which he “allegedly” (which we know he definitely did) breached Sony’s security measures on the PS3 and then proceeded to publish it online for all the world to see.

The full details of the settlement aren’t known, but Mr. Hotz is under injunction that prevents him from disclosing sensitive information about Sony or their PS3 ever again. He agreed, no doubt facing the possibility of a massive fine from Sony. Sony also absolved Hotz of any involvement with the notorious hacker collective, Anonymous.

“It was never my intention to cause any users trouble or to make piracy easier,” said Hotz, I’m happy to have the litigation behind me.”

“Sony is glad to put this litigation behind us,” said Riley Russell, General Counsel for SCEA. “Our motivation for bringing this litigation was to protect our intellectual property and our consumers. We believe this settlement and the permanent injunction achieve this goal.”

Before the settlement, Hotz went in swinging, posting bold demands on his personal website.

“Let’s just say, I want the settlement terms to include OtherOS on all PS3s and an apology on the PlayStation blog for ever removing it…It’d be good PR for Sony too, lord knows they could use it,”

Now, he’s singing a very different tune. Hotz has agreed to cease distribution of jailbreak codes and will no longer be modifying Sony products. In return, Sony is allowing Hotz to keep his PS3 along with the computers he used to distribute the code. Sony had originally sought to seize his hardware, but was unable to do so due to the terms of the settlement. Whatever those may be. If Hotz violates these terms, he may be fined $10,000 per each individual count against him. For every new jailbroken PS3 found in his possession, that’s a whopping ten grand.

GeoHotz might be out of the frying pan, but into the fryer now that Anon is without his allegiance. Will the hackers continue to carry out their assault on Sony for their IP address farming (which they were given legal permission to do by a court judge)? Or will they turn their rage towards Hotz himself?

German PS3 Hacker Lashes Out at Sony Over €1 Million Lawsuit

Matthew Sims — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 17:52:45 +0000

Alexander Egorenkov, better known as by his Graf_chokolo handle, is under fire once again by Sony and its legal team. Egorenkov, whose home was raided under court order, is now being sued for what he did in retaliation to Sony’s seizure. He released all his tools for hacking the PS3 known collectively as the Hypervisor Bible, and the proverbial shitstorm commenced as Sony slapped him with a large lawsuit.

Here’s what he had to say on the matter unedited, verbatim, and without corrections:

“The SONY’s laywer asked me why I’m doing what I’m doing, because of my hatred for SONY? He cannot understand why I’m doing it, because he is paid for what he does. I’m not. I don’t hold a grudge against SONY even now Hatred clouds your mind, keeps you from more important things. I have a better use for my mind and knowledge.

“So, SONY you failed again, you took my equipment but my mind is still free and you canot (sic) control it. You failed again. They are just tools, I can get new ones and will continue my HV reversing and bringing back PS3 Linux which you took from us. If you want me to stop then you should just kill me because I cannot live without programming, HV and Linux kernel hacking You know who am I and where I live, so come and get me!!!”

and so the inaugural Balls of Steel award has to go to this guy. It seems unlikely that Sony will be able to get money out of Egorenkov, but more likely that Sony is trying to scare other hackers into submission.

Source [PS3Crunch]

Bethesda’s Motion to Dismiss Interplay Counter-Claims – DENIED

Dave Oshry — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 22:41:46 +0000

Like sands through the hourglass, so are the, “Days of Our Post-Apocalyptic Lives”. On today’s episode of the soap opera that is the Bethesda/Interplay legal battle – Bethesda’s motion to dismiss Interplay’s counter-claims have been – denied.

Be sure to check out the last episodes of, “Days of Our Post-Apocalyptic Lives” here and here

To recap: Play called Beth’s claims absurd – But Beth said she’d been consistent with her claims about Play and asked the court to have Play’s counter-claims against her dismissed. The court said that they would not dismiss these claims because Beth’s argument was not strong enough. The court then told Play that he had until February 7th to get his shit together and present the court with a litany of evidence. Beth was ready to storm out of the courtroom in a fit but just then Stefano walked in . . . !!

As usual, Ausir over at TheVault, who has been working overtime because of all this nonsense, compiled all the facts much more succinctly than I have. He states:

During a motion hearing held earlier today, Bethesda‘s partial motion to dismiss Counts I and II of Interplay‘s recent amended counterclaim was argued in court and denied by judge Deborah K. Chasanow. As a reminder, Bethesda wanted the court to dismiss Interplay’s counterclaim because the agreements that, according to Interplay, Bethesda has breached, are “clear and unambiguous” and that “no cause of action for breach has been stated” as, according to Bethesda, the agreement clearly does not require Bethesda to allow Interplay the use of any Fallout intellectual property assets other than the name Fallout itself. The court’s denial to dismiss the motion does not necessarily mean that the judge agrees with Interplay’s interpretation, simply that Bethesda’s interpretation is not as “clear and obvious” enough to dismiss it.

Additionally, however, the court stated that Interplay has until February 7 to comply with the court’s ruling on Bethesda’s “Motion to Compel”. Judge Chasanow dismisses some of Interplay’s objections, stating that:

“ Many of Interplay’s responses to Bethesda’s discovery requests – including many of its supplemental responses on the motion to compel – are boilerplate objections. These objections are not useful and the parties are urged not to use them. ”

The judge also states that Interplay is mistaken when suggesting that Bethesda’s requests improperly state the terms “Minimum Financing” and “Full-Scale Development” “as fact” and do not meet the specificity requirement of Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. According to the court statement:

“ The terms are found in an agreement that Interplay signed, and it is not unreasonable to expect that Interplay could form some good faith understanding of what Bethesda is asking for. ”

Interplay is also ordered to provide:

The monthly sales of pre-existing Fallout games worldwide, including Fallout Trilogy, in dollars and units in order to establish any damages from Bethesda’s trademark infringement claim

A response to “contention interrogatory” that seeks to glean the factual basis for Interplay’s claim that it complied with the Trademark License Agreement’s (“TLA”) financing provision

Facts concerning any financing it secured after April 4, 2009 and any development efforts after the same date

Documents documenting the company’s relationship with Interactive Game Group and Masthead Studios

The long-form agreement with Masthead Studios

Documents concerning packaging for the Fallout games

Documents concerning distribution for the Fallout games

Documents relating to Interplay’s affirmative defenses of estoppel, waiver, ratification, acquiescence, consent, laches, and unclean hands

Documents relating to Interplay’s counterclaim

Documents relating to Glutton Creeper, an Interplay licensee

Due to Interplay’s hesitancy to provide some trade secret design documents as court evidence, they are to be provided only to Bethesda’s outside counsel and not to any of Bethesda’s “business decisionmakers,” including its in-house attorneys, and are to be designated “Confidential – Outside Counsel’s Eyes Only”.

Interplay is not required to reveal privileged information, but “must expressly assert the claim and describe the withheld material”.

Both parties will jointly advise the Court of any discovery disputes by March 1, 2011.

So there you have it. Will Play be able to come up with all the evidence the court requires in time? Will Beth ever back down from it’s initial claims? And what about the fact that Play was sleeping with Beth’s sister Sidian!? Stay tuned for the next exciting episode of, “Days of our Post-Apocalyptic Lives”

Source: TheVault (Thanks to Ausir of course, as always)

Intel to Pay Nvidia $1.5 Billion To License Their Tech

Dave Oshry — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 01:30:24 +0000

You read that right – looks as if Intel is seriously interested in what Nvidia has got up their sleeves. Not only that, but this agreement means an end to any ongoing legal disputes between the two companies. Hooray for happy endings!!

This deal will last at least six years and will be made in five annual installments starting on January 18th.

Think this has anything to do with Nvidia’s new Project Denver CPU and Tegra 2 Processor tech? You can bank on that.

Here’s the full press release:

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Jan. 10, 2011— NVIDIA announced today that it has signed a new six-year cross-licensing agreement with Intel.

For the future use of NVIDIA’s technology, Intel will pay NVIDIA an aggregate of $1.5 billion in licensing fees payable in five annual installments, beginning Jan. 18, 2011.

NVIDIA and Intel have also agreed to drop all outstanding legal disputes between them.

“This agreement signals a new era for NVIDIA,” said Jen-Hsun Huang, NVIDIA’s president and chief executive officer. “Our cross license with Intel reflects the substantial value of our visual and parallel computing technologies. It also underscores the importance of our inventions to the future of personal computing, as well as the expanding markets for mobile and cloud computing.”

Under the new agreement, Intel will have continued access to NVIDIA’s full range of patents. In return, NVIDIA will receive an aggregate of $1.5 billion in licensing fees, to be paid in annual installments, and retain use of Intel’s patents, consistent with its existing six-year agreement with Intel. This excludes Intel’s proprietary processors, flash memory and certain chipsets for the Intel platform.

The existing agreement is to expire March 31, 2011.

Pursuant to U.S. GAAP, a portion of the proceeds will be accounted for and attributed to the settlement of prior legal claims. This amount, which NVIDIA anticipates to be less than $100 million, will be included in the company’s fourth-quarter results.

The balance of the licensing fees will be accounted for on a straight-line basis over the six-year term of the agreement. Accordingly it is anticipated that this would amount annually to approximately $233 million of operating income and an increase in net income of $0.29 per diluted share, on a full year basis.

Interplay Calls Bethesda’s Fallout Claims, “Absurd”

Dave Oshry — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 06:42:49 +0000

Can’t we all just get along? No? Ok, then how about we get this mess sorted out and get back to making games.

Not long ago, Bethesda Softworks stated that Interplay was only given rights to use the fallout name and not any other elements or assets from the franchise. Well, Interplay has responded calling that claim, in a word, absurd.

According to Interplay’s Lawyers:

“First, this is not only absurd, but is specifically prohibited [emphasis Interplay's] by the agreement because Interplay was only granted a ‘license and right to use the Licensed Marks on and in connection with its FALLOUT-branded MMOG … and for no other purpose,” the filing added.

“It was not the parties’ intent that Interplay create, for example, an online baseball game or poker game called ‘Fallout.’”

I don’t know . . . a Fallout poker game sounds pretty sweet to me. In all seriousness however, the fact that Interplay was given license to make a Fallout MMO and can’t use any elements of the Fallout universe is absurd.

Source: TheVault (Thanks as usual to Ausir)

Kotick Says Treyarch Don’t Get No Respect

Aaron Alexander — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 21:20:34 +0000

CEO of the gaming Death-Star (Activision), Bobby Kotick, has made a few statements regarding Treyarch’s credibility – or lack thereof.

“I don’t think Treyarch got their due for how much they contributed in the production and polish to the multiplayer . . . multiplayer has been largely developed by Treyarch,” Kotick told CNN — and said this applies even to Infinity Ward’s games.

The legal battle regarding Infinity Ward now has more fuel for it’s fire, as Activision adds EA to the list of it’s sue-able targets, stating that the company wooed Vincent Zampella and Jason West away from Infinity Ward. The lawsuit also contains allegations stating that that the pair needed to be the best Call of Duty developers, at the expense of fellow studio Treyarch.

There’s often been backhanded talk and passive aggressive notions from Infinity Ward about their fellow CoD developer Treyarch, but shit gets real when Infinity Ward’s Jason West had an apparent, “Intentional strategy to ‘crush and destroy’ his fellow developers at Treyarch” – quoting what the lawsuit claims are Ward’s text messages.

Kotick also told CNN that Activision got 5,000 resumes after West and Zampella were fired for actions, “So wrong that you were left with no choice.”

Does that mean it takes 5,000 people to replace them? Or just that another 5,000 people are willing to sign up for storm trooper duty under Lord Kotick?

Source: Gamasutra

British Tabloid to Pay ‘Substantial Damages’ for GTA: Rothbury Story

Garrett Hartman — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 19:22:31 +0000

British tabloid The Daily Star will pay “substantial damages” due to a reported hoax in which they claimed Rockstar was creating a Grand Theft Auto: Rothbury. Evidently, Rockstar didn’t take too kindly to being connected to the events of a manhunt that occured in Rothbury just recently during July 2010 and decided to sue.

Accompanying the article was an image purported to be the game’s cover which offended many people including relatives of the victims involved in the ordeal. The Daily Star also solicited and published reactions to this cover all without notifying Rockstar before publishing the “hoax”.

There’s an easy lesson learned here: be careful what you print and keep in mind that freedom of the press does not equal freedom from litigation. A simple joke is not worth “substancial damages” – use common sense.

Source

Kotick Says West & Zampella’s Actions Would Send Him Directly To Jail Without Passing Go

Chad Lakkis — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 16:35:26 +0000

Still looking for more Activision versus Jason West and Vince Zempella lawsuit morsels? Of course you are, and Activision CEO, Bobby Kotick is aiming low … to please.

It’s not often you hear a high level executive equipped with a golden parachute talk about heinous acts that would/could land said executive behind bars — mostly because those types usually get away with murder and end up sipping Mai Tais on the shores of Virgin Gorda — but that is exactly what our good friend Kotick is doing.

In commenting on the specifics of what Vince and Jason did during their time at Activision, Kotick stated:

“The frustrating thing about that is, the stuff that these guys did, I would have never expected them to do … We’re a public company, we’ve got ethic obligations, and the things they did were… I would go to jail if I did them.”

Yes. Obligations, such as releasing ten versions of CoD and Guitar Hero each year. Bobby continued adding:

“You can’t use the company and the company’s assets for your own personal benefit, and you can’t use the leverage that you might have for personal benefit – you’re not allowed to do that! And so we didn’t have any choice …”

Of course not Bobby. That sort of thing is reserved for the uber elites. How dare they!

According to Kotick, he considered the former Infinity Ward heads his “friends,” stating that the information revealed to him “shook [his] belief in [them].”

“It’s one of those things where you get personally disappointed in people you trust and call friends. When you’re betrayed by your friends.”

The saddest part of all of this is that Kotick, Zampella, and West would have made one kick ass Band Hero group. Here’s to what could have been.

Source: Edge Magazine via Develop

Gamer Sues MMO Publisher Over Addiction, Says He’s “Unable to Function”

David Oxford — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 00:41:58 +0000

America: Land of the free, home of the brave, and backdrop to numerous incredulous lawsuits. But at least this latest round of courtroom drama brings with it a rather scenic backdrop: Hawaii.

Not that the setting matters so much, but at least it provides a nice change of pace from the usual happenings in Florida, California, or some backwater berg where they dun’ know how all ‘dem pretty pictures make their way to th’ funny glass box.

Regardless, plaintiff Craig Smallwood has brought his case against NCsoft, the developer/publisher of the Korean massively-multiplayer online role playing game (MMO RPG) Lineage II. He is seeking unspecified monetary damages due to the addictive nature of the game, which he claims he would never have played had he been forewarned.

Lineage II is obviously the sequel to South Korean phenomenon Lineage, and has reportedly gained 600,000 users within the span of a few years of its 2003 release. Over six years hence, the immersion 3-D MMO RPG continues to receive expansions and updates.

Between 2004 and 2009, Smallwood claims to have sunk 20,000 hours into the game. Furthermore, he alleges that NCsoft “acted negligently in failing to warn or instruct or adequately warn or instruct plaintiff and other players of Lineage II of its dangerous and defective characteristics, and of the safe and proper method of using the game.”

Now, Smallwood claims that he is “unable to function independently in usual daily activities such as getting up, getting dressed, bathing or communicating with family and friends.” If that wasn’t bizarre enough, U.S. District Judge Alan Kay refused to dismiss parts of his complaint in a decision made on August 4th, which means the way may be paved for an actual trial.

”In light of plaintiff’s allegations, the court finds that plaintiff has stated a claim for both negligence and gross negligence,” ruled the judge.

NCsoft’s attorney was not immediately prepared to comment on Kay’s decision, though a recent court filing once more urged the judge to dismiss the case.

Source: Wired.com

Image: Something You Should Read

Richard Garriott Wins $28 Million in NCsoft Lawsuit

Stephanie Gutowski — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 06:35:35 +0000

According to the Statesman, Richard Garriott was granted $28 million after a three-day trial by a jury in his case against former employer NCsoft. The jury deliberated for three hours on Thursday before finally awarding “Lord British” a heaping pile of money. While Garriott claims that he was fired, NCsoft says that Garriott left of his own free will after he returned from his little International Space Station vacation, a multi-million dollar trip.

Garriott also claims that because of improper handling of the situation (the whole being fired part) he was forced to sell his stock options for 400,000 of the company’s shares. Garriott’s original agreement with NCsoft was that he would have ten years to decide what to do with those options. The circumstances of his termination, however, deprived him of his the rights outlined in that agreement.

Don’t you just love it when the arrogant douche wins the day?

[Source: Statesman]

Square Enix And Sony Face “Final Fantasy XIII Broke My PS3″ Lawsuit

Chad Lakkis — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 05:56:57 +0000

What’s the first thing that crosses your mind when a video game freezes while in mid play? Scream? Throw up your arms disgust before unloading on a pint of Ben & Jerry’s? How about filing a class action lawsuit seeking an excess of 5 million dollars in damages against the creators of the game and the makers of the console it froze on? Well, that’s exactly what one gamer did.

Daniel Wolf of San Diego, California, claims in his June 2nd lawsuit, filed against both Sony Computer Entertainment of America and Square Enix, that his Final Fantasy XIII game caused “severe and widespread damage” to his PlayStation 3 console — rendering it incapable of playing any other form of media — even after attempted restarts. He goes on to speak on behalf of other customers (who apparently share his grief), adding that for many of them, the PlayStation 3 console became “totally and permanently inoperable.” Making maters worse, his suit then claims that neither Sony nor Square stepped up to offer their assistance with the situation.

I’m no rocket scientist, but it would seem that this is far from a slam dunk case for Daniel. Systems freeze every day, for various reasons, and while playing various games. And though I don’t doubt the dismay of everyone involved in this case against Sony and Square, the burden of proof is on the prosecution. On one hand, Sony could hypothetically argue that Final Fantasy XIII has frozen on the Xbox 360 as well (which it has), and on the other, Square could counter by bringing forward evidence that documents similar issues caused by other games on the PlayStation 3 console.

Now, I know that I personally had some issues with Final Fantasy XIII. And it did at times feel as if the game was frozen. However, I eventually realized that I’d put the game on pause before slipping into an epileptic seizure after becoming totally fed up with the twenty plus hours of linear gameplay. Never thought to sue anyone though. Oh well.

[Source: IGN]

Show Me the Money: Former Executive Sues Take Two for $50 Million

Justin Arnold — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 18:15:45 +0000

In a Nevada lawsuit filed last week against publisher Take-Two interactive, former executive Robert Alexander is suing the gaming giant for $50 million.

The lawsuit is the result of what Alexander claims is a breach of an oral contract. Alexander’s time with the company is long-standing, having been with T2 in some shape and form since 2004. After leaving the company, he formed another distributing company which began to partner with T2.

Unfortunately, T2 founder Ryan Brant’s faux pas with the Securities Exchange Commission dealt him a blow that saw him leaving the company, and eventually the next T2 CEO, Paul Eibeler nullified the verbal contract Brant had made with Alexander.

Ergo: he’s fucked.

Alexander claims in his complaint that Brant had promised him a raft of annual raises, T2 shares and stock options, a $240,000 annual salary and a $25,000 per-month expense allowance.

$25,000 a month on martini lunches and playing real-time Mario Kart at Pebble Beach – right. But then again, what reason would he have to lie? He’s only asking for $50 million dollars.

Microsoft Sues DHL Over 360 Texas Train Dump

Chad Lakkis — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 03:30:45 +0000

In other “non BlizzCon related” news, Microsoft has filed a $2 million lawsuit against shipping company DHL over lost Xbox 360 units — 21,600 lost units to be exact. As the story goes, a DHL train carrying butt loads of Xbox 360 consoles derailed in Duke, Texas, causing “impact damage, wetting, pilfering and shortage.”

Microsoft says that DHL is refusing the pony up for damages despite their belief that the company “negligently breached” their duty. Attempts made to contact DHL have been unsuccessful thus far, though I am praying for some ungodly small fine print that reads something like this:

“DHL is not responsible for damages unless all 4 rings on the front of our train light up red upon impact.”

While I am pretty sure DHL and Microsoft are not finding this funny at all, I will glady take this opportunity to coin a new acronym — “Red Ring of Derailment” — RROD for short. You know what they say about karma right?

Sadly, if the train wreck had damaged …. oh I don’t know, 360,000 units, DHL might have been able to convince Microsoft to write it off as an advertising expense.

Source: GamePro

Nintendo’s Wiimote Hit with Patent Infringement Lawsuit by Hillcrest Labs

Rangebar Merani — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:27:45 +0000

Nintendo just keeps getting tapped with patent troubles, with its highly successful Wii now the target of a patent lawsuit from Hillcrest Labs.

Hillcrest claims that its patent for “a handheld three-dimensional pointing device” and a vague description of a “navigation interface display system that graphically organizes content for display on a television” apparently predates Nintendo’s Wiimote.

On Wednesday, Maryland-based Hillcrest Labs announced that it has filed a patent infringement with the U.S. International Trade Commission, as well as another patent infringement suit in a U.S. District Court in Maryland regarding Nintendo’s Wiimote.

Hillcrest Labs does have a product based on this technology, called The Loop remote (pictured above), based on what the company calls “Freespace” motion control technology. It seems clear that The Loop remote is much different from the Wiimote, and its hard to believe that something so vague as “a 3D pointing device” could actually best Nintendo in a court of law.

Hillcrest has requested Nintendo stop shipping Wiis to the U.S. and reward Hillcrest with unspecified monetary damages. Oh, that should be easy, right Nintendo?

This is just the latest patent infringement suit that Nintendo has been hit with. Just this past July, a federal court in Texas found three Nintendo controllers—the Wii Classic controller, the WaveBird controller and the Gamecube controller—in violation of patents held by Texas-based Anascape. Nintendo has appealed the decision.

Source: news.cnet.com

German Videogame Site Claims Atari Pulled Ads & Filed Wrongful Suit Against Them

Chad Lakkis — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 03:57:45 +0000

The past few weeks of videogame publisher drama have been for the most part dedicated to the dispute between Tecmo and their former Rockstar/Director Tomonobu Itagaki, however Tecmo will need to move over and make room for another old school publisher.

German videogame site 4players.de claims to be involved in apparent legal battle with Atari stemming from the sites review of “Alone in the Dark”, a multiplatform horror/action game published by Atari due to hit US store shelves on June 24th, 2008.

Keeping in mind that the original article is in German, and it is well beyond the “normal” business hours we would utilize to obtain a comment from Atari, we were able to loosely interpret the following information from the public complaint aired on the German gaming site:

Atari pulled advertising from site after receiving a less than satisfactory review.
Atari tried in some way to influence their reporting (review) of the game.
Atari is claiming that their review is not based on a final copy of the game.
Atari is claiming some sort of illegal download of the game took place.
Atari is seeking damages in the form of a monetary value (50,000 euros).
Site claims in P.S. format that Ubisoft did not pull advertising despite Haze receiving a 66% overall.

Not sure what that last point has to do with the current issue at hand — maybe the website is attempting to show their maturity by kicking a little dirt in the direction of Atari.

Hot Coffee is Now Worth 35 Bucks, but Only If You’re A Douchebag

Dan Landis — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 11:57:24 +0000

You may or may not recall a little debacle about the “Hot Coffee” mod for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. It was a cute little mini-game that allowed virtual you to have virtual sex with your virtual girlfriend. Even though the content was locked away because of the ESRB, it was still on the retail disc.

This was somehow offensive to people, and Rockstar was sued. Now that the lawsuit is settled, all the hypocritical pussies out there can get their slice of the censorship pie with a cash settlement of up to $35. Sweet justice!

I just recently found out about the settlement through a legal notice in the March issue of OXM. It basically states that if you purchased GTA: San Andreas before July 20, 2005, you most likely have a “first edition” disc that has the “Hot Coffee” content on it. If so, you can get in on the class action settlement, with differing amounts of cash depending on your “proof of offense”.

The basic rundown is like so:

I have some major issues with this. First of all, who has kept a receipt for a game they bought in 2005? Basically, nobody is “entitled” to the max amount of “up to $35″. Secondly, just claiming you bought the game is worth up to $5. This whole thing seems like a ploy to get people to jump on the “videogames are bad” bandwagon. Third, these numbers represent the maximum you could receive. The actual amount will be prorated based on the number of people who file a claim.

So the people that were actually “offended” can get a replacement disc, given they still have the game. This I can understand, but at the same time, anyone interested in GTA in the first place should be able to handle some virtual sex (especially when it’s not even in the game unless you want it to be) to offset all the killing. By contrast, the lawyers, who were personally not affected by the game, have claimed a million-dollar fee. Seems a little backwards, doesn’t it?

On top of all that, why would they advertise this in a gaming magazine? I mean, obviously there’s a good chance that the people who played San Andreas are, you know, gamers. They obviously would read about games — that makes sense. The type of people that are that into games that they actually get magazines about them, however, are also the type of people that would see this settlement notice and flip off that page of their magazine.

This brings me to the thing that really fills me with homicidal rage — “Hot Coffee” is a mod. It it completely inaccessible unless you purposely want to see it. On top of that, you can’t see it on the PS2 or Xbox unless you mod your console, WHICH IS ILLEGAL YOU FUCKING IDIOTS! People need to go out of their way to install a mod chip, breaking the law, in order to view this content. Even the PC version required you to violate the software agreement.

This is basically the equivalent of buying a Mustang, pulling out the speed limiter (which is illegal), and then suing Ford because driving really fast was so scary. They had the tools in place to block that, and you purposely circumvented that in order to do whatever you wanted. How exactly was this their fault? Next thing you know there will be a class action lawsuit against Hotmail for allowing porn in my mailbox. The horror!

The bottom line is that we live in a fucked-up country where it is okay to kill people, but not to have sex with them. Blame those Puritan assholes and their crazy feelings for turkey. The U.S. needs to take a cue from Europe and put some more boobies on television. Make love, not war, right?

Anyways, if you are interested in this waste of carbon or want something to shake your fist at, visit the settlement website at www.gtasettlement.com. Part of your legal rights is the ability to say you are not happy with the settlement, in which case you can write to the court with your complaints or comments. An address for said court is conveniently not given.

Guitar Hero Lawsuit: 80’s Rock Band “The Romantics” Sue Activision

Chad Lakkis — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 12:52:04 +0000

If you even think of wearing suits like this, WE will sue you

Activision’s release of “Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80’s” has spurred a lawsuit from American rock group, The Romantics. Lawsuits are common place these days, however the grounds for the suit against the publisher of the successful video game franchise seems like a stretch.

The Romantics claim that the band commissioned to perform their hit song “What I Like About You” sounded too much like them, resulting in a rendition that is “virtually indistinguishable from the authentic version”.

The lawsuit was filed on November 20th in federal District Court in Detroit. Look out Frank Caliendo, John Madden may be after you next.

[youtube width="425" height="335"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBW7ysPcbT0[/youtube]

Frank Caliendo impersonating John Madden on The Late Show

Via: billboard.com

Sony Being Sued Over Blu-ray Technology

Chad Lakkis — Fri, 25 May 2007 01:13:06 +0000

Sony, the electronics heavyweight, is back for another “rumble” in the Blu-ray jungle. After sustaining $97 million dollars worth of damage in their last bout with the Immersion Corporation Sony is becoming more and more familiar with the squared circle of patent law infringement.

Sony is being hit hardest where it hurts the most … the wallet.

Citing violations related to the Blu-ray technology, Irvine, California’s Target Technology Company has come out swinging and Sony is left once again trying to soften the blow. Seeking damages, a suit was filed earlier this month targeting Sony Computer Entertainment America, Sony Pictures, and Sony DADC and claims that products sold and marketed under the Blu-ray lable infringe on a reflective layer material patent the Target Technology Company owns. The patent was filed in April of 2004 and granted in March of 2006.

Target is seeking a permanent injunction which would ultimately prevent Sony from violating their patent rights moving forward, along with damages and multiplied interest due to what they claim to be “deliberate and willful infringement”. All of this leave s us wondering … how much longer can Sony continue to dodge the barrage of legal punches being thrown their way?

Calls to both Sony representatives and Target attorneys have yet to be returned.

Digg It

“	Many of Interplay’s responses to Bethesda’s discovery requests – including many of its supplemental responses on the motion to compel – are boilerplate objections. These objections are not useful and the parties are urged not to use them.	”

“	The terms are found in an agreement that Interplay signed, and it is not unreasonable to expect that Interplay could form some good faith understanding of what Bethesda is asking for.	”