Archived News:
GamePolitics reports on two different class-action lawsuits filed against
Electronic Arts last month in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District
of California over EA's use of SecuROM digital rights management.
One suit ( Adobe Acrobat-format) was filed by Richard Eldridge of Pennsylvania over
the inclusion of SecuROM in the Spore Creature Creator Free Trial Edition,
complaining SecuROM cannot be completely uninstalled, and that the EULA for the
product contained no warnings about DRM.
The other suit ( Adobe Acrobat-format) is from Dianna Cortez of Missouri, a player of
The Sims who claims SecuROM caused problems that could not be fixed without
reformatting her system, accusing EA of "unfair business practices." These are
the second and third such legal action of which we've heard, as a
federal lawsuit filed in September also complained of the stealthy manner in
which SecuROM is installed.
Atlanta
Supercon is scheduled for the weekend of November 21-23, 2008, "a festival
for fans of comic books, anime, animation, cosplay, video games and more,"
unsurprisingly in Atlanta, GA. Word is: "The show will include celebrity guests,
artists, writers, vendors, comic books, industry guests, Q&A's, parties, costume
contests, anime programming, manga, cosplay, workshops, panels, cosplay photo
shoots, raves and more!"
Thinking After Dark: Welcome to the
World of Horror Video Games is a conference specifically about horror-themed
video games planned for April 23-25, 2009 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Word is:
"Considering the relatively slow progress of generic studies among the recent
surge of academic interest towards video games, this event represents a major
first step. In order to map out the realm of horror video games, the conference
favors an intermedial study of manifestations of horror in other cultural
practices (literary and cinematographic)." A
Call for
Papers is online for those with expertise to share on the topic. Thanks
Kotaku via
GameSetWatch.
Combating video game addiction must be made priority, experts urge has some
of the inevitable fallout from the disappearance of Brandon Crisp,
described as a "game addicted teen" who subsequently turned up
dead after
falling from a tree. The article notes that Brandon's parents initially
feared foul play related to his gaming ways, but even after that turned out to
be incorrect, reports that Brandon initially ran away over a fight about how
much he should be allowed to play on his Xbox have prompted outcry to examine
the implications of gaming addiction in his untimely demise. The entire focus of
the article is on the potentially addictive qualities of gameplay, with no
attention paid to how adolescents (Brandon was 15) found reasons to fight with
their parents before the first game of Pong was played.
The Eve of Destruction
Website now offers two new versions of this Vietnam War modification, as
there is a new version 1.0 of the original EoD mod for Battlefield 1942,
as well as a new version 2.0 of the Battlefield 2 edition. Here's the
deal: "Eve of Destruction for BF2 v.2.0 brings to the gaming community a whole
new mod build featuring new armies, new equipment and many new maps. Be sure to
read the readme enclosed within the mod build for more details regarding
equipment, maps and teams found in EoD v.2.0 for BF2." And, "We are also proud
to announce the release of Eve of Destruction v.1.0 for Battlefield 1942. EoD
v.1.0 features over 130 maps, all with co-op and bot support. It features many
new updates and fixes. It takes Battlefield 1942 to a whole new level of game
play." Thanks Ant and
Planet
Battlefield.
A new version 1.5 of the Battlegroup42
teamplay modification for Battlefield 1942 is now available. The page offers
extensive information on the new version broken up into separate articles, which
is appropriate, since the new version of the mod is broken up into three
separate parts, each of which is required. The
change log has a complete outline of what's new and different, and also
describes plans for version 1.6, which will focus on incorporating additional
armies into DICE's World War II multiplayer shooter. Thanks Ant and
Planet
Battlefield.
The Stargate La Relève
Website (which turns out to have an English side) has a hotfix for
yesterday's release of this Stargate-themed Battlefield 2
modification. Turns out a large number of server administrators ignored their
warning against increasing the number of players allowed, resulting in
unintended consequences. The new version 1.01 patch should address these
problems, but they also repeat the admonition against server overpopulation:
"All the maps works perfectly in size "16 players", except Erebus and RDC which
also possess a size version 32. Do not put them in size 64!" Thanks Ant and
Planet
Battlefield.
It's been a while since the NFL attempted to make Sunday Night Football the
"big" game of the week, the way Monday Night Football used to be, but I don't
feel it's working. The trouble is how this effort ignores that MNF football does
not come after seven straight hours of other football games already. The best
proof for me that SNF is not the new MNF is that I do not get the same dread
when the Giants play on Sunday (like tonight) that I do for Monday games, where
they have historically performed pretty poorly. Anyway, this makes me just has
happy that the game is tonight, rather than tomorrow, and nothing extra is
required to enhance a Giants/Eagles game anyway, as the rivalry is more than
sufficiently spicy.
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