There has been a lot of fuss going on recently regarding all of the hacking that’s been done to Sony’s PlayStation 3. While this originally started out as an effort to bring Linux back to the console, it’s spawned a myriad of malicious activity including video game piracy and cheating online. To combat this, Sony has been dishing out lawsuits left in right especially a hefty one to Germany hacker Graf_chokolo.
Apparently, after Graf’s home was raided due to the hacking he then released the tools he used to actually do the hacking to the public domain. Sony’s repsonse? A €1 million law suit. But, Graf won’t be going down so easy releasing the below comment:
“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!!!”
While it’s definitely not right that folks are using the efforts of these hackers for things such as piracy, I don’t know if it’s the right move on Sony’s part to actually sue these hackers. I mean, you don’t see Apple sending out a lawsuit every time someone jailbreaks the iPhone, do you?
via ps3crunch
It seems that today is a good day to announce lawsuits as another has just surfaced, this time focusing on Rock Star. This game studio is no stranger to law suits as their Grand Theft Auto franchise has pulled more scrutiny than pretty much any other series on the market. This time however, it isn’t mothers getting upset about their children beating down hookers but instead something much different.
Apparently a dude by the name of Michael Washington is suing Rock Star for $250 million for using his likeliness within the game. According to Mr. Washington, he sat down with Rock Star to answer some questions regarding his street life. He then says he was told that he would be notified if Rock Star decided to use his likeliness within the game which he never was.
While we aren’t legal experts, we’re going to go ahead and say this sounds like an outlandish law suit. Then again, Michael Washington is credited under the Talents section so it will be interesting to see how this one pans out.
via slashgear
Microsoft is looking to get into the motion control gaming market hard with their Kinect for Xbox 360. While we’ve seen some Kinect hacks that make the hardware highly sought after, the library of launch games for the motion controlling system is quite slim. Before the hardware was actually released one of the games we were looking forward to the most was Fighter Uncaged from Ubisoft. From the looks of the trailers, this game allowed players to utilize their entire body to fend of baddies and participate in all sorts of illegal street fighting.
Unfortunately, bad reviews surfaced not long after the game’s release that has sent Ubisoft back to the drawing board. However, while they might not be making a fortune off Fighters Uncaged, it seems that they may be losing a fortune. Recent reports have surfaced that say the UFC will be suing Ubisoft for using the word’s “ULTIMATE FIGHTING” on the back of the box, as you can see above.
Apparently, UFC says the use of their trademark in association with this game is hurting their brand by . While it seems a bit outlandish, it does make sense considering it’s hard not to associate the words “Ultimate Fighting” with the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
We’ll keep you posted as this one pans out.
via kotaku
There have been countless third party manufactered Xbox 360 controllers on the market but it seems that Microsoft is unhappy with Datel’s Turbofire controller, in partiular. This unlicensed turbo controller apparantly came a bit too close to Microsoft’s Xbox 360 controller which has cuased the company to sue Datel.
Microsoft is seeking both monetary compensation and an injuction to prevent Datel from producing anymore controllers.
What do you guys this? If you were Microsoft, would you sue them over this controller?
via joystiq
To combat used game sales, video game studios introduced bundled DLC. This was in an effort to entice people to buy brand new games as opposed to used games. Well, one customer who picked up Dragon Age: Origins at a GameStop wasn’t too pleased when he went home to find out that the DLC advertised on the front of the box was not included.
He then proceeded to sue GameStop for presumably false advertising. We’ll have to wait and see how this one unfolds.
via ign
You had to have seen this one coming — It was just announced that the Infinity Ward head honcos that recently got laid off are bringing Activision to court to the tune of $36 million. However, that’s not all they are suing for, they are suing for something worth much more than $36 million; control over the Modern Warfare franchise.
The reason for the law suit is as follows:
Activision terminated their employment weeks before they were to be paid substantial royalty payments as part of their existing contracts for Modern Warfare 2.
Regardless of what Jason West and Vince Zampella did, I can only imagine how pissed they must be that Activision isn’t paying them for the game they worked so hard on.
via cvg
If you’ve been following the happenings at Midway you’ll know the company is in dire straits, facing bankruptcy following the failure of Wheelman to pull in the money they needed to keep things going. Recently Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment swooped in with a $33 million dollar offer to acquire most of the company, including of course the Mortal Kombat franchise, undoubtedly the only reason to really put up the cash to acquire the company.
Larry Kasanoff has filed a lawsuit on behalf of himself and his company, Threshold Entertainment claiming that in 1993 Midway granted him the rights in perpituity to the film and TV license for the series. Unfortunately for Kasanoff the clauses in his contract don’t actually grant that; his argument says that they ‘amount to the same thing’. He goes on to claim that Mortal Kombat is much more a product of Threshold than Midway since they claim that the characters in the video games were simply flat, stock archetypes who were developed into actual characters by the production company in the various films and tv series. That of course ignores all the inconsistencies between the depictions of the characters in their films and television series, not to mention that the film takes a certain degree of story-related artistic license. In the film both Kano and Shang Tsung are killed, while as established in game canon by Mortal Kombat II (released two years before the film) Kano was a captive of Shao Kahn and Shang Tsung was still living.
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It seems that the closure of 3D Realms ticked someone off over at Take-Two because they have recently announced they will be sueing the now debunk company over the unfinished Duke Nukem Forever.
Since 3D Realms is no longer around to take the wrath, Take-Two will turn to the brand’s creator, Apogee:
“Apogee continually delayed the completion date for the Duke Nukem Forever,” Take-Two said in the complaint. “Apogee repeatedly assured Take-Two and the video-gaming community that it was diligently working toward competing development of the PC Version of the Duke Nukem Forever.”
It doesn’t seem like Apogee has much of a counterarguement in this lawsuit but maybe Take-Two will put DNF in the hands of another developer and actually get the game out the door.
Read (Destructoid)
Fans awaited the arrival of the long-over due Fallout 3 with excitement, only to weep when it was announced that Interplay was ceasing work on the game. A tech demo hit the internet which only rubbed salt in the wounds of many but Bethesda swooped in and picked up the rights. While fans are still hotly debating whether or not their take on the universe was well executed or not, others are waiting with the same contained anxiety for the planned Fallout MMO.
When Bethesda purchased the Fallout IP from Interplay they left behind the MMO rights as part of an agreement that hinged upon Interplay beginning ‘full scale’ work on the game by April fourth as well as having secured funding for the development of the title. Bethesda is considering legal action as they claim that Interplay has fulfilled neither of these conditions.
Interplay is denying all of these claims and their work on a game called ‘Project V13′ hints that there might be more going on than Bethesda is aware of. Unfortunately for Interplay if Bethesda goes ahead with legal action and wins, they’ll have lost all rights to the license and that could lead to problems with the financing as MMOs based on a brand new IP have a low rate of success due to the colossal grip WoW has on the market.
Music games are big money, and it appears Activision is in it for life, as they are pushing out tons of Guitar Hero titles. The publisher is also expanding into other types of music – DJ Hero is an upcoming game that has players scratching for glory. However, it appears they have hit a snag: publisher of Scratch: The Ultimate DJ is suing Activision and Scratch developer 7 Studios over “intentional interference with contract, breach of contract, conversion and misappropriation of trade secrets.”
Genius Products, the publisher, is claiming that Activision recently purchased 7 Studios in order to benefit its own upcoming DJ title. Their suit alleges that the duo “conspired to withhold the current version of Scratch in an effort to delay the development and release of Scratch and to gain access to proprietary technology.”
Here’s what they had to say:
Prior to undertaking these wrongful actions, Activision approached Genius with an offer to acquire Scratch. The offer was rejected. It is alleged that Activision then commenced the process of acquiring Genius’ contract developer, 7 Studios, while under a non-disclosure and confidentiality agreement with Genius. It is also alleged that after Activision acquired 7 Studios, the two companies began conspiring to prevent Scratch from getting to market on a timely basis by withholding work product, code and the proprietary game controller.
Activision is yet to comment on the matter.
