What we are looking at for the week of August 30, 2010
Wow doesn’t this sound familiar?
Most anyone who has ever put up a website on the internet will eventually experience the virtual visits from one of the various companies who buy up potentially popular domain names, including iterations of websites that are popular. The No Prisoners, No Mercy Team (NPNM) actually has several websites – and so we receive occasional emails from virtual squatters hoping to hold a domain name hostage. Our response, as always, is to suggest they spend their time on more useful pursuits such as experimenting with just how high it is they can go fly a kite. It’s not so bad when the domain ransom only has three digits in it, but sometimes the ransom has a lot higher price tag…
Take-Two Interactive fought the good fight but failed to prevail in a lawsuit against a company that specializes in domain squatting – the practice of buying up and sitting on domains for potentially popular products. A company called NA Media grabbed the domain name in early 2004 after word slipped out that BioShock was in the works at Irrational Games. Unfortunately for Take-Two, the company hadn’t trademarked “BioShock” before NA Media registered “www.bioshock.com”…
Take-Two tried to argue that NA Media had a history of squatting on its domains, having once registered taketwointeractive.com (later handed over to Take-Two). NA Media countered that at the time of the
unofficial announcement and the subsequent grab of the domain, Take-Two was not openly associated with BioShock. Bioshock2.com is currently in a similar situation, but Irrational Games has secured
Bioshockinfinite.com for its next game in the series.
A rose by any other name
Zynga, our favorite game developer that we love to hate, is finding out that a rose by any other name doesn’t smell as sweet and is definately not better than chocolate…
Zynga is now the target of a trademark suit from mobile game developer Digital Chocolate. The Trip Hawkins-helmed company claims that it owns the exclusive rights to the name Mafia Wars and that it notified Zynga of the infringement last year, after which it was informed by Zynga that it would stop using the name. Zynga, responding to the lawsuit, stated, “We are surprised and disappointed by Digital Chocolate’s lawsuit. The timing of the action appears to be opportunistic, and we plan to defend ourselves vigorously.”
We are the Champions (and now you can be too)
Starting tomorrow, September 1 through September 7 you can experience what it is like to climb into a cape and save the world. If you need some incentive you can give No Prisoners, No Mercy Episode 59 a listen where we interview Mr. Shannon Posniewski, Cryptic’s executive producer for Champions Online.
Your fantasy may not be final yet
If your fantasy is to play the Final Fantasy XIV open beta you will have to wait just a bit more as it has been delayed with an announcement of a schedule made at a later date. While I have played some of the early Final Fantasy console games I hadn’t planned on taking part in the open beta. However, this all reminded me of some of the articles I have seen around the internet talking about the FFXIV fatigue system, with the most interesting article on the subject over being Déjà vu? I think I have that in the kitchen [] over at Biobreak (one of our favorite sites) – here’s an excerpt:
“The proposed “fatigue” system in FF14 has stirred up a lot of controversy this past week. Basically, if you play a character for more than eight hours a week (not a day, a week), then you start to get less and less experience as you go along until you’re finally getting nothing at all. This system resets after the full week’s gone by.” – Syp from Biobreak
Syp points out, it sounds a bit like hoopla raised ever WoW’s “rested experience” system – which is true until you get to the worlds “Until you are finally getting nothing at all.” It’s at that point where FFXIV can reach the point where you are paying not to play (well sort of). The Pink Pigtail Inn took a look at the issue from the standpoint of parental controls:
“It will even out the conditions that different players have, making it easier for players with a casual schedule to keep up with players who have a lot of time at hands. And it might also, according to some, help to prevent unhealthy addiction, which ever so often is brought up as an argument against gaming… I will take sides though. I just don’t like it when you build in parental controls to a game that is intended for an adult audience. We should be able to decide for ourselves how much time we want to dedicate to a game and where in the week we want to put it.” – Larisa at the Pink Pigtail Inn
Banned in Boston
On past shows we briefly mentioned the current reaction to Medal of Honor and the fact that players can play members of the Taliban. Britain’s defense secretary, Liam Fox has called for a ban of the game in the United Kingdom:
“At the hands of the Taliban, children have lost fathers and wives have lost husbands. I am disgusted and angry. It’s hard to believe any citizen of our country would wish to buy such a thoroughly un-British game. I would urge retailers to show their support for our armed forces and ban this tasteless product.” – Liam Fox, Defense Secretary for the United Kingon
Now Wayne Mapp, the Minister of Research for New Zeeland has followed suit:
“Terrorist acts have caused the deaths of several New Zealanders.” He continued, “This game undermines the values of our nation, and the dedicated service of our men and women in uniform.” – Wayne Mapp, via Gamepolitics.com
EA having previously defended Medal of Honor saying “If someone’s the cop someones gotta be the robber” has taken a different stance on the issue:
“We respect the media’s views, but at the same time [these reports] don’t compromise our creative vision and what we want to do. The development teams care very much about what they’re building, and of course a bit of criticism from the media causes some to get demoralized, but at the end of the day we’re proud of what we’re doing. Bringing Medal of Honor back was no small feat.” – EA Games President Frank Gibeau
Ironically the best way to assure the success of a book, movie or game is get it banned somewhere. If you remember back when Martin Scorsese released a film entitled “The Last Temptation of Christ” in 1998. It was a mediocre film at best and would have faded into the obscurity it so richly deserved it if weren’t for the fact that it was banned, condemned and protested. The fact that Roger Ebert gave the film with some of the worst acting I have seen outside a high school auditorium four out of four stars only goes to prove my old prof’s point that art was done for the consumer and not for the critic.
Don’t play our games
Playdom, the company for which Disney recently agreed to shell out over three quarters of of a billion dollars has recently shut down all Acclaim Games. “We regret to inform you that all Acclaim games will no longer be in service effective August 26, 2010” with a note at the bottom to check out Playdom’s Facebook games.
What’s in a name?
So goes the question asked by the immortal bard. However, the answer is different if you are a game publisher attempting to use the word “Edge”…
“The flurry of actions between Edge Games, its CEO Tim Langdell and Electronic Arts continues with a new entry in the pair’s battle—EA has filed a countersuit against an action brought by Edge earlier this year, which involved the game Mirror’s Edge. In June, Edge filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against EA, alleging “willful infringement and unfair competition” over the use of the Mirror’s Edge name…Now, according to Industry Gamers, EA’s countersuit claims that the company is “the latest target of Tim Langdell’s decades-long campaign to block anyone from using the word ‘edge,’ or any variation thereof, in connection with the marketing and sales of video games and related products or services.”
“The counter claim calls Langdell a “a one-time designer of video games for such long-since obsolete video game systems as the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Oric, and Sinclair ZX Spectrum,” and alleged that the company obtained trademarks through “fraudulent misrepresentations to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (‘USPTO’).”
Why does this sound familiar? Oh yes, just before the release of the Marx Brothers Movie “A Night in Casablanca” it was rumored (a rumor reportedly started by Groucho Marx himself) that Warner Brothers was trying to get Grouch to not use “Casablana” in the title of his movie. In “response” he penned the following open letter to warner Brothers. On a related subject, since our two co-hosts are sisters we are claiming exclusive rights to the words “sister” as well as “if”, “and”,” but”, as well as “or”
Dear Warner Brothers,
Apparently there is more than one way of conquering a city and holding it as your own. For example, up to the time that we contemplated making this picture, I had no idea that the city of Casablanca belonged exclusively to Warner Brothers. However, it was only a few days after our announcement appeared that we received your long, ominous legal document warning us not to use the name Casablanca.
It seems that in 1471, Ferdinand Balboa Warner, your great-great-grandfather, while looking for a shortcut to the city of Burbank, had stumbled on the shores of Africa and, raising his alpenstock (which he later turned in for a hundred shares of common), named it Casablanca.
I just don’t understand your attitude. Even if you plan on releasing your picture, I am sure that the average movie fan could learn in time to distinguish between Ingrid Bergman and Harpo. I don’t know whether I could, but I certainly would like to try.
You claim that you own Casablanca and that no one else can use that name without permission. What about “Warner Brothers”? Do you own that too? You probably have the right to use the name Warner, but what about the name Brothers? Professionally, we were brothers long before you were. We were touring the sticks as the Marx Brothers when Vitaphone was still a gleam in the inventor’s eye, and even before there had been other brothers—the Smith Brothers; the Brothers Karamazov; Dan Brothers, an outfielder with Detroit; and “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” (This was originally “Brothers, Can You Spare a Dime?” but this was spreading a dime pretty thin, so they threw out one brother, gave all the money to the other one, and whittled it down to “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?”)
Now Jack, how about you? Do you maintain that yours is an original name? Well it’s not. It was used long before you were born. Offhand, I can think of two Jacks—Jack of “Jack and the Beanstalk,” and Jack the Ripper, who cut quite a figure in his day.
As for you, Harry, you probably sign your checks sure in the belief that you are the first Harry of all time and that all other Harrys are impostors. I can think of two Harrys that preceded you. There was Lighthouse Harry of Revolutionary fame and a Harry Appelbaum who lived on the corner of 93rd Street and Lexington Avenue. Unfortunately, Appelbaum wasn’t too well-known. The last I heard of him, he was selling neckties at Weber and Heilbroner.
Now about the Burbank studio. I believe this is what you brothers call your place. Old man Burbank is gone. Perhaps you remember him. He was a great man in a garden. His wife often said Luther had ten green thumbs. What a witty woman she must have been! Burbank was the wizard who crossed all those fruits and vegetables until he had the poor plants in such confused and jittery condition that they could never decide whether to enter the dining room on the meat platter or the dessert dish.
This is pure conjecture, of course, but who knows—perhaps Burbank’s survivors aren’t too happy with the fact that a plant that grinds out pictures on a quota settled in their town, appropriated Burbank’s name and uses it as a front for their films. It is even possible that the Burbank family is prouder of the potato produced by the old man than they are of the fact that your studio emerged “Casablanca” or even “Gold Diggers of 1931.”
This all seems to add up to a pretty bitter tirade, but I assure you it’s not meant to. I love Warners. Some of my best friends are Warner Brothers. It is even possible that I am doing you an injustice and that you, yourselves, know nothing about this dog-in-the-Wanger attitude. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to discover that the heads of your legal department are unaware of this absurd dispute, for I am acquainted with many of them and they are fine fellows with curly black hair, double-breasted suits and a love of their fellow man that out-Saroyans Saroyan.
I have a hunch that his attempt to prevent us from using the title is the brainchild of some ferret-faced shyster, serving a brief apprenticeship in your legal department. I know the type well—hot out of law school, hungry for success, and too ambitious to follow the natural laws of promotion. This bar sinister probably needled your attorneys, most of whom are fine fellows with curly black hair, double-breasted suits, etc., into attempting to enjoin us. Well, he won’t get away with it! We’ll fight him to the highest court! No pasty-faced legal adventurer is going to cause bad blood between the Warners and the Marxes. We are all brothers under the skin, and we’ll remain friends till the last reel of “A Night in Casablanca” goes tumbling over the spool.
Sincerely,
Groucho Marx
The Devil didn’t make him do it
Craig Smallwood, of Hawaii isn’t claiming the devil made him do it; he is saying NCSoft made him do it. Do you take the case seriously? Apparently a Federal judge takes it seriously enough to refuse to dismiss the case.
“Craig Smallwood of Hawaii has a lawsuit in the works against the creator of Lineage II, claiming that he became so addicted to the game he became “unable to function independently in usual daily activities such as getting up, getting dressed, bathing or communicating with family and friends… in his proceedings, [he] claims to have spent 20,000 hours playing the game between 2004 and 2009. He claimed that developer NCsoft is negligent because it failed “to warn or instruct or adequately warn or instruct plaintiff and other players of Lineage II of its dangerous and defective characteristics.”
Turning right instead of left
The blogosphere is busily announcing where Realtime Worlds zigged when it should have zagged with the release of their game All Points Bulletin. Interestingly enough, most of the people who have analyzed the game weren’t the people playing or developing the game. But if you really want to know where it turned right instead of left check this out…
“Those who have been paying attention to the trials and travails of Realtime Worlds and All Points Bulletin may be interested in attending GDC Online (Oct. 5-8, 2010 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas.) to take in the talk “Self-Inflicted Wounds: When We Are Our Own Worst Enemy.”
Former Realtime Worlds executive producer Joshua Howard (APB) will talk about “common management and organizational failures that leaders talk themselves into accepting, which almost always end up impacting a game’s success.” Howard, who is also a former Carbonated Games executive, will offer techniques everyone can use if they find themselves on a project making similar mistakes.
If, however, you can’t afford the Game Developers Conference Online here is another source of inside information – APB Insider Details Realtime Worlds Woes The main problem being, of course, that this source is simply dubbed “Anonymous” in the original story.
A rather salacious “inside the sausage factory” news article at NowGamer, citing a source close to Real Time Worlds, paints a picture of the company now in bankruptcy in an extremely bad light. We contacted Real Time Worlds to get its side of the story, but they did not respond at the time of this writing. The NowGamer news story taps an anonymous contractor who claims to have worked on “various aspects of APB’s launch” with Real Time Worlds. The anonymous source claims that Real Time Worlds was losing millions of dollars a month, and that the amount of lies it told publishing partner EA was “unbelievable.”
“Coupled with a nasty double cross of EA – waiting until last minute to take back online publishing rights – right before launch and a confused marketing campaign meant no one other than hardcore gamers knew the game had launched. Include some internal politics – mainly from the senior producers and art department – leading to stale advertising material and negative beta campaign the game never really had a chance.”
Via gamepolitics.com
A nightmare in Chile
I have nightmares about this sort of thing. I can’t imagine what the miners are going through (O.K. I can but my mind reels just thinking about it) This first came to our attention in the Sunday paper:
To give them hope, or to at least keep them occupied as they wait to be dug out, trapped miners in Chile have been given PlayStation Portables, according to MSN International. Copiapó, Chile – a provincial capital situated on the west coast of South America’s Andes Mountain range – has been the focus of the international media as the story of miners wait for a rescue which some say could be two to three months away.
The trapped miners include 1 Bolivian and 32 Chileans, who are getting along well despite their current situation, are doing their best to keep hope alive as rescue crews lower food and supplies via bore holes that are described as “roughly the width of a grapefruit.”
The PSPs were given to “help preserve their mental health” during the long wait for a rescue tunnel to be drilled and to give them a means to escape their current plight. The PSPs were delivered via the small cups that are used to shuttle supplies to the men down the mine shaft. A power supply was also lowered down to the men because the average battery life of a PSP is a mere 6 hours.
Via Gamepolitics.com
Stranger than Fiction
It was not that long ago we read about the following “game” and one young man who wanted to marry his virtual sweetie. Not it appears there is a place to take your virtual sweety on a honeymoon.
“Fans of LovePlus, the Konami-developed dating simulator that was released only in Japan, now have a vacation destination where they can integrate virtual girlfriends into their daily activities.
Using augmented reality (AR), Konami and the resort town of Atami, Japan have teamed up to offer 13 “romantic locations” throughout the town, where love struck gamers can pose, thanks to augmented reality, with images of their favorite LovePlus characters…
A local hotel offers additional entertainment for LovePlus fans:
The local Ohnoya hotel even offers traditional rooms to the unusual couples, which feature two sets of futon beds and another barcode panel that allows the men to visualise their girlfriends in a flattering summer kimono.
It was claimed that 200 LovePlus fans have already stayed at the hotel, while “well over 2,000” have visited Atami for the promotion, which ends when this month does.
Schwartzenegger vs. The World (O.K. the videogame world)
We aren’t baffled by the support of the videogame industry by the Utah Attorney General’s Office. What has us baffled is why Governor Schwartzenegger is against violence in videogames but is, apparently o.k. with violence in movies, as evidenced in his appearance in the recently released movie The Expendables where the governator has a walk on roll.
But how does it play AOC?
The following website comes to us via Slashdot. It seems that Chris Fenton built his own 1/10 scale Cray – 1A super computer. While we were all pondering why it suddenly dawned on us to wonder how well it would play Age of Conan…that “high end” game that none of our computers have ever been able to run without looking like it was sputtering to a stop.
What kind of leaks?
NPNM Comment: O.K. we aren’t geeks (at least we don’t think we are but after watching the first two seasons of Big Bang Theory we aren’t too sure any more). If you have been lending even a modicum of interest to the web site called WikiLeaks that has incurred the wrath of the United States Military you may have caught site of the latest news on where their servers will be located – 98 feet underground. All we can say at this point is that it looks like something right out of a Science Fiction movie.
Photo Credit: Gizmodo.com
“This is Pionen White Mountains, the nuclear bunker in which Wikileaks will locate some of its servers. It was excavated 98 feet underground, in a rock hill in the center of Stockholm, Sweden, during the Cold War. Originally, it was just a bomb shelter built in 1943. In the 70s, the Swedes turned the shelter into a full bunker, a civil defense center that was going to hold an emergency unit of the Swedish government in the case of a nuclear war.” – Gizmodo.com