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Posts Tagged ‘Australia’

Xbox Live/Games for Windows Live expanding

June 15th, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

One of the current limitations on the Xbox Live/Games for Windows Live system is that it only officially supports 26 countries worldwide. Well, that number is growing a little bigger.

According to Edge, the service will add nine more nations to the roster by the holiday season. Those nine countries are : Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Russia and South Africa.

As well, live TV streaming and video on demand will be available to Australian users via Xbox Live from Aussie provider FOXTEL with no need for a set-top box.

Posted in Miscellaneous

Tags: Australia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, expansion, Games for Windows Live, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Xbox Live

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Australian Internet filter going ahead

May 31st, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

Stephen Conroy, Minister for Communications in Australia, is pushing ahead with his internet filtering system.

Not only is he pushing ahead, but he also insists that advocacy groups are deliberately misleading the public about what the system will entail. One such group named GetUp! has received support from 120,000 people, and raised $100,000 to stop the legislation. As well, an opinion poll by the research firm Galaxy showed 86 percent of respondents felt that it was the job of parents to protect their children in the online sphere, not the Government.

The system, known as the ‘Cyber Security policy’, will force all ISP’s to block access to a blacklist of web pages that will be kept secret. Despite the fact that the list will be secret, Australian internet users will be able to nominate any page that they consider ‘unacceptable’. From theage :

”This is a policy that will be going ahead,” Senator Conroy said. ”We are still consulting on the final details of the scheme. But this policy has been approved by 85 per cent of Australian internet service providers, who have said they would welcome the filter, including Telstra, Optus, iPrimus and iinet.”

The problems inherent in this scheme are many. Who gets to decide what ‘unacceptable’ sites go far enough to deserve blacklisting? How much does this entire operation cost? And how exactly is this magically going to keep children from seeing anything icky (which is essentially what the stated purpose of it all is)?

Who exactly is running this country?

Posted in Miscellaneous

Tags: Australia, Internet filter, Stephen Conroy

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Music industry charging Australian gyms $15 per class for their tunes

May 17th, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

In yet another move to show how increasingly out of touch with the real world they truly are (I believe this is indication # 1,054), the Phonographic Performance Company of Australia (PPCA) took legal action to receive a greater fee from gyms across the country to play their music.

They won.

According to news.com.au :

Gyms will have to pay fifteen times more to play music for punters to work out to after a federal magistrate ruled musicians are not being paid enough for the use of their songs.

The decision will increase music copyright fees per class from a modest 96.8 cents to a whopping $15 a class – which could add an extra $1 to the cost of the class for each attendee.

The PPCA represents Sony Music, EMI, Universal and Warner in Australia.

Yet again, we’re shown where the legal entities of these labels are focusing their attention. Yes indeed, charging what is essentially a performance fee to have 80’s hair metal and classic rock blaring in the background while people try to work off a few pounds for summer…THAT’S the ticket to resurrecting the label business method!

Then again, what else can be expected for an organization still using the word Phonograph in their title, as though it’s 1962. I believe that’s the same business plan playbook the entire industry has been running with in the near half century since.

Posted in Music

Tags: Australia, gyms charged more to play music, PPCA

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Michael Atkinson’s replacement open to 18+ game ratings

March 26th, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

For some time now, Michael Atkinson has served as a one man roadblock against admitting the simple truth that the average gamer is a 35 year old adult. After all, why admit such things when you can pull out the ‘Think of the children!” bogeyman for cheap camera time whenever you need it.

Anyway, thanks to Atkinson’s consistent denial to the idea of adding an 18+ bracket for game ratings, the entire process has been held up for over a year. Well, the long national nightmare (Engage in hyperbole? Me? Never!) of scapegoating and ridiculousness has stepped aside now, and his replacement seems to be much more in tune with reality. He’s also probably more in tune with the fact that the lack of an 18+ rating has meant many games have been squeezed in to MA15+ ratings despite featuring adult levels of violence, and total inconsistency with what was allowed and what wasn’t from game to game.

John Rau reportedly wants to see an 18+ rating introduced, at least according to Gamers4Croydon party president Chris Prior :

Gamers4Croydon party president Chris Prior told news.com.au he had met with Mr Rau and the MP was open to the introduction of an adult rating.

"Just over a week ago, I had the pleasure of meeting him personally when I attended an election forum in his electorate," he said.

"He indicated to me that the lack of an R18+ for games seemed absurd, and that it was really just common sense to introduce it, considering the vast majority of adult content is already available under the MA15+ classification."

All of Australia’s attorneys-general will be meeting in about a month, and the addition of an R18+ rating is on the agenda. It requires a unanimous vote to be passed, but considering that the only nay vote had previously been from Atkinson, that seems likely.

Posted in Games

Tags: 18+ rating, Australia, John Rau, Michael Atkinson

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This article brought to you by the letter i, which Apple does not own

March 15th, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

Ahhh, Sesame Street. The place where children learn about things like numbers, and the alphabet, and how to deal with the mentally addled (cough ELMO cough). One of the things NOT taught by Sesame Street would be litigation…though that would make for a good spelling segment.

Apple recently tried to go after an Australian wholesaler for daring to use the name ‘DOPi’ for its line of laptop bags and cases. They wanted to force the company to rename the product, because DOPi is iPOD backwards, and clearly people would become confused and forget which was which, because apparently in Apple’s world we are all idiots barely clawing our way through life.

Boy…now THAT truly is a pickle! I can’t tell them apart!

The funny part of this whole thing is that Apple argued that the name similarities might cause people to think the DOPi products are official Apple products. Why is that funny? That was the point of the name…the DOPi bags and cases are designed to be used…on Apple laptops.

This is far from the first time that Apple started slinging legal bucks around to try to slam down on any company including an i before their product name. This time, they failed. However, this does not look like a man who will be easily dissuaded from holding dominion over the galaxy…

Posted in Miscellaneous

Tags: Apple, Australia, lawsuits

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Nintendo settles with Aussie Mario pirate; may delay future Australian releases.

February 10th, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

Everyone has heard the countless stories of PC game piracy. However, you don’t tend to hear as frequently of pirated console titles. And while it’s probably not as common simply because it requires more work, it is out there.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii, while a smash hit for Nintendo, was also available on torrent sites as early as Nov. 6th of last year, according to Nintendo claims. One of the uploaders, who has reached a settlement with the game company, was James Burt of Queensland. As reported by Gamespot, Mr. Burt now owes The Big N a cool $1.5 million Australian in damages.

Unfortunately for Australian Wii gamers, the damages to their hobby could be quite severe as well.

"Nintendo Australia is always pushing for games to be released here at the same time as the rest of the world, so we were pleased to get New Super Mario Bros. Wii before anyone else," the spokesperson said. "Unfortunately, due to the actions of this individual, future release dates may be affected for Australia, which is disappointing for us."

New Super Mario Bros. Wii releasing locally around the same time as everywhere else was a somewhat rare treat for Australian gamers. Sadly, the actions of one man may put a severe dent in the chances of something similar happening in the near future, at least where Nintendo is concerned.

Posted in Games

Tags: Australia, game release delays, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Nintendo

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Australia’s courts rule that ISPs aren’t copyright cops

February 4th, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

As reported on Ars Technica, Australia’s Federal Court has made a ruling that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are under no obligation to act on copyright infringement notices passed on to users by media companies. The ruling was handed down today.

The case stems from movie studios being angered when iiNet refused to act upon warning letters sent by the studios to various iiNet customers alleging illegal downloading as a basis for cutting off Internet service to those customers. Instead, iiNet sent the notices on to the police, saying that it was not a legal body capable of determining guilt. The movie studios responded by suing iiNet in 2008 under claims that the ISPs inaction counted as ‘authorizing’ piracy.

iiNet CEO Michael Malone explained that while his company does have a policy of Internet termination for those proven to be infringing upon copyright, the notices he was receiving from the studios were simply alleging infringement. He made similar comments in a 2008 article in ComputerWorld Australia concerning the case :

We have been passing on all those complaints directly on to the state police—who are in our building. They send us a list of IP addresses and say ‘this IP address was involved in a breach on this date.’ We look at that say, ‘Well, what do you want us to do with this? We can’t release the person’s details to you on the basis of an allegation and we can’t go and kick the customer off on the basis of an allegation from someone else.’ So we say, ‘You are alleging the person has broken the law; we’re passing it to the police. Let them deal with it.’

(more…)

Posted in Miscellaneous

Tags: . ISPs, Australia, copyright, copyright infringement, enforcement, film studios, movie studios

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