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FBI being called upon to take on IP theft

June 24th, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

An idea drawn up by IP enforcement coordinator (yes, that is apparently a job) Victoria Espinel would see the FBI dedicate 50 full time agents to the job of investigating and taking on IP theft.

The group would look at both digital and physical piracy in the various sectors of the entertainment industry. At least one media group is happy with the proposal.

“We deeply appreciate the efforts of Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Espinel and her leadership and vision in this critical area,” ESA CEO Michael D. Gallagher stated.

“We are grateful for Ms. Espinel’s hard work to date, and appreciate the extent to which she has consulted with a wide range of stakeholders, including our industry.

“We look forward to reviewing this plan, and to doing our part to help the US government succeed in its vital mission of protecting intellectual property.”

While I’m not sure dedicating an entire branch of a Federal law enforcement body is really necessary here (especially considering how much IP theft occurs internationally, where the FBI has no jurisdiction), at least this puts actual law enforcement in to the equation. And that beats having big entertainment companies trying to threaten settlements worth thousands of dollars out of people and acting as their own judge, jury and executioner.

(Thanks to MCV)

Posted in Miscellaneous

Tags: 50 agents, FBI, IP enforcement, IP theft

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Microsoft indicates possible company push for PC gaming

June 23rd, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

Through the closing of Age of Empires developers Ensemble Studios to the focus on content for the Xbox 360, Microsoft has not exactly been at the forefront of pushing the PC forward as a gaming platform in recent years. That may be about to change.

Kotaku has obtained a copy of an internal Microsoft document that indicates a possible shift towards PC gaming. In a Q&A that’s part of this document, Microsoft addresses whether Fable III being brought to the PC platform is the beginning of a change in business philosophy.

Q: Does "Fable III" on Windows signal a larger reinvestment by Microsoft in PC gaming? How is this different from the previous times you’ve announced a reinvestment in PC gaming and not quite come through with a robust offering?

There definitely have been previous announcements of a new PC push by Microsoft that have turned out to be nothing but the sound of crickets.

A: In terms of revenue, Windows is far and away the largest gaming platform in the world, so it’s an incredibly important part of Microsoft’s business. From core games like "Fable III" to casual, social and Facebook titles, more gaming happens on Windows than anywhere else. Windows 7 is a world-class gaming platform, and you can bet Microsoft has a vested interest in using it as a platform for amazing first party content. "Fable III" on Windows as well as Xbox 360 this holiday is a great first step, and we’ll have more news for you later this summer.

So, Microsoft does acknowledge the profit potential of game releases on Windows PC’s. I wonder if maybe Fable III is being used as a bit of a test bed to see what the response is like to the PC version announcement?

Hopefully this isn’t just more empty words from Microsoft.

Posted in Games

Tags: Fable 3, Microsoft, new push to PC platform, PC gaming

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Kane & Lynch 2 Dog Days moves from Games for Windows Live to Steamworks

June 22nd, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

The first game was infamous for two reasons…the Jeff Gerstmann ratings scandal, and the fact that the Games for Windows Live implementation rendered the multiplayer an absolute mess.

The second game is already looking to perhaps avoid at least part of that, moving away from Games for Windows Live and towards implementation of Steamworks for multiplayer and DRM.

From PC Gamer :

The mode was the best part of K&L 1, but it was nearly impossible to play online due to GFWL’s crappiness. I asked IO Interactive game director Kim Krogh if I’d have the same experience this time around.

“No, for that reason. We’re using Steamworks,” he said.

Steamworks integration means that K&L 2 will gain access to that program’s multiplayer matchmaking and Steam Cloud features. It also means that the game will have to be run through the Steam client.

Posted in Games

Tags: Eidos, Games for Windows Live, Kane & Lynch 2, Steamworks

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FCC holding closed-door talks with corporations over possible net neutrality compromise

June 22nd, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the top officers at the FCC are holding closed door negotiations with lobbyists representing ISP’s, including AT&T and Verizon, as well as Google and Skype. The reason for those meetings is discussion of a compromise that would give the government agency authority over Internet rules, while also bending enough that the media companies are willing to accept an agreement.

The only way to get legislation this year is for Internet providers and tech companies like Google to reach a compromise, one person involved with the FCC meetings said, adding, "Even that is really, really hard."

This news has not exactly been met with much enthusiasm from public interest groups, none of whom were invited to any of these sessions.

"For a president who talks big about transparency and that ‘he’ll take a back seat to nobody on net neutrality,’ it’s inexcusable that his FCC is brokering backroom deals between industry lobbyists with nary a public interest representative in the room," said Josh Silver, executive director of Free Press, a public interest group.

"This secretive process is especially unseemly for what is supposed to have been the most transparent FCC in history," the Media Access Project’s Andrew Schwartzman chimed in just a few minutes ago.

The problem is that with everything being done in such a secretive manner, there is no way for anyone to know what exactly is on the table in terms of compromises made to the media corporations. That’s an especially big issue for an FCC that has made claims and promises of transparency and openness during any and all negotiations over net neutrality.

Beyond the FCC, it seems that similar secretive negotiations are happening between the same lobby groups and the Senate Commerce Committee. The talks will not be open to the press, and there is no indication that any consumer groups will be in attendance.

(The original WSJ article is behind a subscriber paywall, but can be found and read in full via Google. Thanks also to Ars Technica).

Posted in Miscellaneous

Tags: AT&T, closed door negotiations, FCC, Google, net neutrality, Skype, Verizon

2 Comments »

Verizon Wireless may be punishing reps who try to save you money

June 21st, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

Wireless contracts can already include…’interesting’ clauses that tilt the balance way over towards the provider. Now, according to the New York Times, it seems that Verizon is not only using such clauses, they’re also forbidding their employees from trying to help new customers avoid them.

When you buy a new phone from Verizon Wireless, the arrow keys on the phone come preprogrammed to hook up with the Internet…and charge you $2. After complaints about this (imagine that!) and an FCC investigation, Verizon installed a landing page that doesn’t charge money…yet customers still report seeing the $2 charges on their bill. This CAN be prevented by requesting a data block. This is where things get interesting.

"Effective this past month, all CSRs [customer-service reps} were versed on the usage of blocks. A new policy has gone into effect regarding how to handle Escalated Calls regarding data charges. Now, a representative can be reprimanded and even terminated for proactively offering to block any of the following:

Web Access Blocks

Data Blocks

Premium SMS blocking

Application download blocking

Vcast Music or Vcast Video download blocks

"Essentially, we are to upsell customers on the $9.99 25mb/month or $29.99 unlimited packages for customers. Customers are not to be credited for charges unless they ask for the credit. And in cases such as data or premium SMS, where the occurrences may have gone months without the consumer noticing, only an initial credit can be issued."

A Verizon spokeswoman later denied that service reps would be punished for suggesting something like data blocks up front. She does freely admit that they are encouraged to try to sell more expensive data plans, however. Not really surprising but a bit sad.

And really, couldn’t all of this just be avoided by not preprogramming the phones in such a stupid way, a way that is obviously put in place to try to land some extra dollars through data charges?

Posted in Miscellaneous

Tags: data block, data plans, Verizon Wireless, web charges

1 Comment »

Kotick wants subscription based Call of Duty

June 20th, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick was asked what immediate change he would make to the company. That led to the following exchange :

WSJ: If you could snap your fingers, and instantly make one change in your company, what would it be, and why?

Mr. Kotick: I would have Call of Duty be an online subscription service tomorrow. When you think about what the audience’s interests are and how you could really satisfy bigger audiences with more inspired, creative opportunities, I would love to see us have an online Call of Duty world. I think our players would just have so much of a more compelling experience.

WSJ: Is that coming?

Mr. Kotick: Hopefully.

WSJ: Are the customers ready for it?

Mr. Kotick: I think our audiences are clamoring for it. If you look at what they’re playing on Xbox Live today, we’ve had 1.7 billion hours of multiplayer play on Live. I think we could do a lot more to really satisfy the interests of the customers. I think we could create so many things, and make the game even more fun to play. We haven’t really had a chance to do that yet, so that would be my snap of the fingers.

Left unclear is whether such a setup would mean customers buying the full game and also paying a monthly fee, or if it would be an entirely fee-based system. The latter could actually make more sense than annual incarnations of the franchise being bought for full price, depending on price point. And since this is the company charging $15 for packs of 5 maps (2 of them recycled CoD 4 content), I wouldn’t be too optimistic of a decent rate.

However, I haven’t exactly seen reams of gamers clamouring for such a set up as Kotick claims, and I would have to be convinced of how it would provide a more compelling experience.

(The original WSJ article is behind a paywall and accessible to subscribers only. However, Google is your friend. Thanks also to VG247).

Posted in Games

Tags: Activision, Bobby Kotick, Call of Duty, subscription based, Wall Street Journal

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Paramount ending new release delays on RedBox

June 19th, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

As more and more movie studios set up deals with Netflix and Redbox that delay the appearance of new releases in their catalogues by up to a month, Paramount is going to the other way. Paramount is removing the 28 day delay of new releases on the Redbox DVD kiosk rental system.

Other studios maintain that keeping the delay in place helps spur DVD sales. After watching their numbers since signing a deal with RedBox last August that gave Paramount time to see what impact allowing new releases immediate availability with Redbox would have, Paramount doesn’t agree.

From the LA Times :

"There were two conclusions we came to," said Dennis Maguire, president of Paramount Home Entertainment. "There hasn’t been a cannibalization of DVD sales from Redbox, and Redbox was allowing us to expand our business and ultimately make more money" than if the studio held back its DVDs to Redbox for a period of time.

"Those people who want to rent are going to figure out ways to rent," he said, "and us restricting them from renting isn’t going to turn it into a purchase."

From this point forward, Paramount will release movies to Redbox the day they come out. In exchange they will receive a portion of all rental revenue, and a guarantee of availability for their movies in Redbox kiosks.

Paramount joins Sony Pictures in having a day of release deal with Redbox, and Disney also provides their new releases to the company. On the other side of the spectrum, Fox, Universal and Warner Bros. have contracts that delay the appearance of their new releases by a month.

Posted in Movies and TV

Tags: no release delays, Paramount, Redbox

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Valve bringing Portal 2 cross platform co-op for PS3, PC and Mac

June 18th, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

It’s something many companies have talked about doing. The original concept for Games for Windows Live was to allow play vs. Xbox gamers using Xbox Live. And the latest to step up to the plate and give console/PC/Mac cross-platform gaming a try are Valve.

With the announcement at E3 that Valve was bringing Portal 2 with Steamworks integration to the PS3, the rumours immediately started appearing on gaming sites that this meant cross-platform play would be part of the game as well. According to gaming site TheKartel, Valve has confirmed those rumours.

While co-op gameplay wasn’t shown, Valve developer Erik Johnson did reveal one new bit of info. Valve is planning to allow PS3 players play with PC/Mac players.

When questioned on the cross-compatibility between Steamworks and Steam, specifically playing co-op on a computer with someone on a PS3, he said it was "something the team is gunning for." We also confirmed with Valve developer Mike Dunkle who said "The plan is you will be able to play between console and PC."

If this first step ends with good results, it increases the chance that Valve (and perhaps other developers) will be more open to cross-platform options in the future.

For Xbox 360 owners, we did inquire whether this was a possibility as well. Johnson commented that there are no current plans to bring Steamworks over to the Xbox 360, as ultimately the ball is in Microsoft’s court.

Again, success here will probably increase Microsoft’s willingness to reconsider their position at a later date.

Posted in Games

Tags: cross platform play, Macintosh, PC, Portal 2, PS3, Steamworks, Valve

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