Miscellany
Good morning all! Woke up this morning in lovely Seattle, and despite what I have heard before about the weather here, it is surprisingly sunny today in the normally rainy city. As many of you may already have read, quite a number of the GayGamer writers are in Seattle this weekend for PAX and all the gaming goodness that it brings. Fruit Brute already mentioned yesterday the panels he'll be speaking in throughout the weekend. Apparently our own weekend writer Dawdle is here, so expect to see some posts from him at PAX over the weekend, and we also have a mysterious new writer here who will be revealing himself sometime in the next few days. As for myself, I'm here for a little R&R and also to try and be a social liason to the many GayGamers that are here for PAX. In fact I'm even meeting up with some of them for coffee today (this is Seattle, gotta have coffee) before the event opens, anyone is welcome to come. There's also a meetup happen at Six Arms on Saturday at 6:30, for anyone in the area.
Speaking of social, I've already had a little bit of a PAX experience just flying to Seattle last night. I was on the last Virgin Atlantic flight leaving from SFO heading to SEA, and I'm pretty sure that 25-50% of the flight were people flying to Seattle for PAX. I saw a number of DSes in the waiting area, and numerous gaming shirts. The best part is when some guys from Monterrey on the flight decided to use the 'in-flight chat' system on the Virgin planes to invite pretty much everyone on the plane to a big chat room. I joined the room to find that, lo and behold, they were going to PAX. It was fun to be chatting with people all heading to a common destination, even if the handset keyboards they have for chatting on the plane were impossible to type on easily. Even more PAX people in the baggage claim area after we got to Seattle. Looks like there will be a lot of people downtown today.
We'll try to keep you up to date with all the PAX goodies and I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures of all the GayGamers present (and anything else that may catch my eye). I'll be the tall, blond, white guy in a black GayGamer tee-shirt today so if you see me feel free to flag me down. Looking forward to meeting everyone and getting some hands-on time with some choice games.
The ESA has applauded the sentencing to prison of two convicted software pirates, Kevin Fuchs on New York and Kifah Maswadi of Florida. For his roles of supplying, cracking, and testing pirated software in the "warez" scene, Fuchs will spend eight months in prison and then eight months of home confinement. For selling $390,000 worth of "Power Players," or machines loaded with pirated software, Maswadi faced a three year sentence which has been reduced because of his cooperation with authorities.
The ESA was pleased:
"We commend the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division's Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, the U.S. Attorney's Offices for the Western District of North Carolina and the Eastern District of Virginia and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for their work in bringing these criminals to justice," said Michael D. Gallagher, CEO of the ESA, the trade group representing U.S. computer and video game publishers. "These decisions illustrate, once again, that game piracy will not be tolerated and the extent at which these criminals will be prosecuted. The ESA and its members will continue to support law enforcement's efforts to protect the intellectual property of our industry."
It's great to see action taken against piracy, and both sentencings came as a result of the FBI's two largest anti-piracy investigations, Operation Fastlink and Operation Site Down. A larger hope would be to have the ESA's support and complicity with the government recognized as a more general indicator of the ESA's health and importance in all matters of the industry, from piracy to age ratings.
Read the whole shebang after the jump.
Patrick Klepek at MTV has filed a story reporting a very disturbing security compromise concerning Microsoft and the Xbox 360. It's got nothing to do with keystroke loggers or malware:
Halo 3 multiplayer producer Joe Tung has had his Xbox Live account compromised by someone using "social engineering," - in other words, by someone who called up Microsoft customer service and managed to coerce a customer support agent into releasing what would normally be private information.
Nor is this by any means the first occurrence of such hijackery - Microsoft has retrained its customer service people before:
The danger stems from the apparent failure of Microsoft customer service to keep track of repeated account access, our expert said. This allows hackers employing social-engineering tactics to call support lines without being tracked. A hacker can then use this information to gain access to a user's Xbox Live gamertag, which typically has a credit card attached.
Actions you can take to protect yourself include, obviously, not giving out your password (especially to a site that asks for it in return for free Microsoft Points), but also not passing gamertags back and forth between friends and, by far the most helpful tip, making sure that the answer to your "secret question" is unrelated to the question: eg, making the answer to a question like "First Pet" something entirely unrelated to your first pet. That way anyone who's been able to find out your personal information won't necessarily have the correct puzzle pieces to steal your account info, credit card, and so forth.
Reports Of Hacked Xbox Live Accounts Stir Concerns Over Gamers' Security [MTVNews]
While Take-Two and EA have entered secret talks about a possible merger, the rest of us are left to debate whether or not such a joining of forces is actually a good idea. If you happen to be Don Reisinger over at CNET, then you are strictly against this sort of marriage. In his latest post, Resinger points out:
Consolidation in the video game industry could ruin its ability to offer innovation and compelling titles. Of course, the developers claim that consolidation will give companies the ability to offer more compelling titles, but I just don't see it.
I think what Resinger fails to point out is that mergers and acquisitions have two different connotations. If EA aquires Take-Two in hopes of milking the Grand Theft Auto franchise until there is nothing left of it then we've got problems. If however both companies come to acceptable terms with a merger, Take-Two could still retain control over their properties while gaining the backing of EA who let's face it, has a massive stake in the industry. Resinger also sees a sequel heavy future for the companies:
A quick glance at EA's upcoming lineup of games tells you everything you need to know about consolidation. Aside from Spore, it's dominated by sequels and titles that will do little but provide the same basic experience we've come to expect from today's games.
The issue of sequels and franchises has more to do with the cost of game development versus the return on the investment through sales. EA tends to release new iterations of classic franchises every year, but even smaller developers are guilty of the same crime. If anything, more money being thrown around can lead to a greater ability to develop new IP's using money from their existing properties.
How do you guys feel about developers joining together? Will this push the industry forward or keep it from evolving beyond this point?
Developer consolidation is bad for the video game industry [CNET]
With Joe Biden tapped to be Barack Obama's vice presidential candidate, the Delaware senator's voting record is being re-examined with a whole new slew of priorities. Among them is Biden's record with respects to technology and consumer advocacy, which some say sports a conspicuous tilt toward big business and big government.
When it comes to copyright issues, net neutrality, P2P networks, wiretapping, and digital privacy, Biden has historically stood with the establishment - backing the RIAA, the FBI, and looking skeptically on many issues dealing with internet rights.
Biden's 2002 bill that would have made felons out of those who executed certain unapproved computer programs or played unauthorized music was backed by content companies but killed by Verizon, Microsoft, Apple, eBay and Yahoo. Biden didn't stop there:
A few months later, Biden signed a letter that urged the Justice Department "to prosecute individuals who intentionally allow mass copying from their computer over peer-to-peer networks." Critics of this approach said that the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America, and not taxpayers, should pay for their own lawsuits.
Last year, Biden sponsored an RIAA-backed bill called the Perform Act aimed at restricting Americans' ability to record and play back individual songs from satellite and Internet radio services. (The RIAA sued XM Satellite Radio over precisely this point.)
All of which meant that nobody in Washington was surprised when Biden was one of only four U.S. senators invited to a champagne reception in celebration of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act hosted by the MPAA's Jack Valenti, the RIAA, and the Business Software Alliance.
Further complicating matters for the VP hopeful is his "steadfast" refusal to discuss his technological viewpoints, including his occasional support for internet taxation. There's a lot more going on here than one post can summarize, but CNet's Declan McCullagh has excellent in-depth analysis of the voting record of the man who might very well be our next Vice President.
Joe Biden's pro-RIAA, pro-FBI tech voting record [CNet]
The halls of two of gaming's greatest publishers are shrouded in silence and secrecy today as EA and Take-Two begin secret negotiations. Respective CEOs John Riccitiello and Strauss Zelnick seem to have put down their dueling lightsabers for the moment to ponder the essential question: to merge or not to merge?
Like a patriarch approving of an unusual marriage, the FTC decided not to stand in the way of the two coin-cross'd lovers, and EA will now begin to examine Take-Two's pantry in greater detail. T2's game schedule over the next few years must contain the requisite Bioshock and GTA sequels, but who knows what else one of T2's tentacular arms might be cooking up?
Yesterday EA made a filing with the SEC:
On August 25, 2008, [EA] and [T2] entered into the confidentiality agreement contemplated by the letter of August 17, 2008 from Strauss Zelnick, Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Take-Two to John Riccitiello, Chief Executive Officer of EA, and the letter of August 18 from Mr. Riccitiello to Mr. Zelnick.
The terms of the confidentiality agreement prohibit each of EA and Take-Two from, among other things, publicly disclosing the status or terms of any discussions or negotiations between EA and Take-Two unless EA or Take-Two notifies the other that it is terminating discussions. As a result, EA does not intend to make any further announcements regarding the status of any discussions or negotiations with Take-Two unless and until discussions between EA and Take-Two have been terminated or such parties have entered into a transaction. As previously disclosed, EA now requires due diligence to support any proposal to acquire Take-Two and there can be no assurance that any proposal, negotiations or transaction will result.
For those vocal gamers who don't want to see any such thing as a merger or acquisition take place between EA and T2, at least EA has stopped making public offers and begun what sounds like a more egalitarian dialog. Right?
EA & Take-Two Begin Secret Negotiations [GamePolitics]
The GayGamer Castle is all aflutter in anticipation of its newest, dashing resident, TheDoctor! He will be writing in the morning and evening, bookending the day's news the way only he can. His room is being prepared to his specifications including a London call box, a fish and chips stand, a tube entrance and a silver tea service for entertaining foreign dignitaries. Even now, Tiny is hanging a portrait of the Queen over the fireplace, Asterick is polishing the Dalek and I am desperatley trying to hunt down something called P.G. Tipps. So, please help us bring him into the GayGamer family by welcoming him in the comments!
There comes a time in every man's life when pink and blue plastic just don't cut it any more. Something more sophisticated is required: something adult, something manly, something... woodgrain.
Enter Joe D! and his woodgrain veneer concept mod. I'm not normally a mod guy - I don't need purple neon underlighting on my Xbox 360, or a faceplate with all my favorite Lolcat pictures... but I might very well need a cherry-wood, Biedermeier-esque Wiimote. Even if it's only a pretty decal, hell, I'm not the Queen of England - just fancy!
Concept Wii Controllers [UberGizmo]
- Alan Wake is still coming. Hold your horses.
- We finally got a taste of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed via the Xbox Live and PSN demos, and Wootini brought us his impressions.
- If you've always wanted to be a part of GayGamer.net, particularly those of you across the pond, I hope you remembered to apply for one of our open writing positions.
- We wished a happy birthday to our leader Fruit Brute, and reader Mr. Locke provided him with his own Soul Calibur IV doppelganger.
- Microsoft announced a special offer for those who preorder Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, already at the value price of $39.99.
- Team Fortress 2's Heavy gets a snack.
- We got details about the PSP-3000, and then we got more, slightly different details.
- Bethesda announced an official release date for Fallout 3, slightly disappointing those of us who thought Amazon.com knew what they were talking about when we preordered.
- You can register to vote over Xbox Live, although hopefully the homophobes and racists won't bother figuring out how.
- The Leipzig Games Conference provided us with a wealth of news this week, but it also gave Tiny a bit of eye candy.
Yay: thanks to the enterprising spirit of our GGP colleagues, we've got some Leipzig eye candy for you today, such as the hottie pictured here. The word on the street - excuse me - the spiegel sprach on the strasse says that the men of Rockstar were "by far the hottest guys at the show," and I can easily believe it.
I mean, I'd hit that. I'd hit it like a freight train.
Take a gander at the gallery to see the kind of man candy that Fruit Brute and I have to suffer through at nearly every single convention. Oh, the burden of beauty!
[Thanks to David for the pictures and to Gordon, as always, for connecting the dots!]
Triangulated somewhere between the Mii Channel, traditional avatars, and those odd cartoon helpers that used to infest Microsoft Office lies the EyePet, a PS3 virtual pet announced at Leipzig yesterday.
Developed by SCEE (where most of the Eye games seem to originate; cf. cultural commentary), this little monkey will interact with people and things picked up by the PlayStation Eye, displaying traditional monkey curiosity towards objects that move.
For my money, I won't accept any primate Eye "game" that doesn't throw poop at me.
Hear that, Sony? Poop + Eye = Gold. And maybe a little conjunctivitis.
DualShock, The Watchmen, Nyko's wireless nunchuck - does the legal machine hold nothing sacred?
The lawyers have come a-calling again, this time clamoring that Nintendo's Wii remote has infringed upon the patents of US-based Hillcrest Laboratories.
Hillcrest alleges that no fewer than four patents "dealing with technology for a handheld three-dimensional pointing device" as well as a display system have been infringed upon:
"While Hillcrest Labs has a great deal of respect for Nintendo and the Wii, Hillcrest Labs believes that Nintendo is in clear violation of its patents and has taken this action to protect its intellectual property rights,"
Nintendo and its 29.6 million Wii console sales had yet to receive the lawsuit and, of course, had no comment - but given that Nintendo's been on the receiving end of Wiimote lawsuits since 2006, one imagines they are prepared.
Nintendo faces legal action over Wii console [CNN]
And girls who like girls who like rumble packs!
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