The recent Duke Nukem announcement tease is causing trouble, as Gearbox Software is suing 3D Realms and Interceptor Entertainment for IP infringement over unauthorized use of their Duke property. This will not be the first legal action following the sale of the Duke property to Gearbox, as 3D Realms previously sued Gearbox over unpaid royalties, though this lawsuit was later dropped. The new suit is over Duke Nukem: Mass Destruction, a new project which has yet to be officially announced on its teaser website, though a Facebook page outs this as "an isometric action role-playing game for PC and PlayStation 4, by Interceptor." This complaint outlines Gearbox's legal case here, which includes a passage saying "'No good deed goes unpunished.' 3DR’s actions illustrate the point, given the exceptional amount of support that Gearbox extended to 3DR, its ownership, and the Duke Nukem franchise that Gearbox must protect'." Here's more:

7. This case stems from efforts to illegally exploit Gearbox’s intellectual property rights in the Duke Nukem video game franchise. Specifically, Defendants Interceptor and 3DR have colluded to misappropriate and make infringing use of the Duke Nukem trademarks and copyrights owned by Gearbox. Gearbox secured its rights on February 2, 2010, upon the execution of an Asset Purchase Agreement (“APA”) in which 3DR transferred, with certain very limited exceptions, all Duke Nukem intellectual property (“Duke IP”) to Gearbox. The APA also specifically required 3DR or its licensees to seek the permission of Gearbox before making use of the Duke Nukem marks after February 2, 2010.

8. Recently—and without consulting the Duke IP’s actual owner, Gearbox— Interceptor announced its intent to develop a Duke Nukem game based upon the various characters, content and intellectual property owned by Gearbox; the proposed game is entitled “Duke Nukem: Mass Destruction.” Apparently, after selling its Duke Nukem IP rights to Gearbox in 2010, 3DR sought to privately convince others that the sale never happened. The result is the unauthorized development effort that reportedly exists between 3DR and Interceptor. 9.

9. By attempting to license the unlicensable, assign the unassignable, and effectively re-sell the exclusive rights that Gearbox already purchased in 2010, 3DR breached the terms of its APA with Gearbox, as well as Gearbox’s exclusive, federally-protected intellectual property rights. Unfortunately, the 3DR-Interceptor maneuver has left Gearbox with little choice but to bring these claims.

The Eidos Montreal blog offers system requirements for the THIEF reboot that's due for release next week (thanks DSOGaming). Though the post says "THIEF will also be one of the first games to ship that takes advantage of AMD’s Mantle graphics API," the paragraph that follows contradicts this, saying support for AMD's Mantle and TrueAudio technologies will come via a patch next month sometime, though "AMD CrossFire™ technology and AMD Eyefinity multi-display technology will be fully functional when THIEF launches on the 25th February in North America and 28th February in Europe and other associated territories." Here are the system requirements, which include a lengthy appendix of specific PC features the stealth/action game will support:

Minimum System Requirements
OS: Windows Vista with platform update
CPU: High-performance dual core CPU or quad core CPU
RAM: 4 GB
Graphics Card: AMD Radeon 4800 series / Nvidia GTS 250
DirectX: DirectX 10
HDD/SSD: 20 GB

Recommended Specs
OS: Windows 7 or 8
CPU: AMD FX 8000 series or better / Intel Quad i7 Core CPU
RAM: 4+ GB
Graphics Card: AMD Radeon R9 series or better / Nvidia GTX 660 series or better
DirectX: DirectX 11
HDD/SSD: 20 GB

Other PC Features

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Here's the list of the bestselling games on Steam last week:

1. Banished
2. DayZ
3. Rust
4. Call of Duty: Ghosts
5. Arma III
6. Garry's Mod
7. South Park: The Stick of Truth
8. Space Engineers
9. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition
10. Thief

• Far Cry Franchise on Steam. Save up to 75%.
• Go! Go! Nippon! ~My First Trip to Japan~ on Steam. Save 50%. Huh? Thanks JDreyer.
• Sleeping Dogs on Steam. Save 75%.

• 7 Days to Die on the official website. Alpha 7 status update and new screenshots.

• Xbox 360 Ultimate Games Sale Day 6.

• Microsoft's Mobile World Congress 2014 Event Live Blog.
• Windows Phone 8.1? With the size of these updates, it’s more like Windows Phone 9.
• First Ubuntu phones are coming soon thanks to deal with bq and Meizu. Thanks HARDOCP.

Thanks Ant.

• What’s Wrong with My Streaming Movie?
• Add-on Compatibility for Firefox 28 report.
• Freddie Wong's Video Game High School hits crowdfunding target.
• Man's $600,000 Facebook Ad Disaster.
• "House of Cards" Third Season Delayed?
• Winklevoss twins launch Winkdex, a bitcoin price tracker. Thanks HARDOCP.

Thanks Ant.

• 'Windows 8.1 update 1 with Bing' build leaks, raises questions. Thanks HARDOCP.
• Microsoft Said to Cut Windows Price 70% to Counter Rivals. Thanks HARDOCP.
• Armiga - A home made prototype of the next Amiga?
• Lacie begins shipping first external 5TB hard drive. Thanks HARDOCP.
• AMD Kabini HD 8210- RadeonSI Gallium3D Can Outperform Catalyst.
• What Makes a Classic Linux Desktop 'Classic'? Thanks Linux Today.
• All In All, Kids Just Another Brick In the Data Wall.
• FFmpeg's VP9 Decoder Faster Than Google's.
• Plane9 - scene based music visualizer and sound responsive screensaver version 2.0 is now available.

• Major Apple security flaw: Patch issued, users open to MITM attacks. Thanks Acleacius.
• Microsoft releases fix for Windows Update corruption errors. Thanks HARDOCP.

• USPTO issues patent for fraudulent stem cell procedure.

• SteamWorld Dig on slowdown.vg.

• Game Giveaway of the Day - Rescue Frenzy. Thanks Ant…

It was a little weird watching the men's slalom event at the Olympics yesterday, as the altacocker that placed the gates was apparently as sadistic as he was expert, leading to over a third of the field being unable to complete the course. On further reflection, I think this guy should be in charge of other events... for instance we could skip the Zamboni for skating events to make them more challenging. Chaos, ftw!

Swervy Links:	Thanks Ant and Acleacius.
Play:	Defend Your King. Gravity Racer.
Stories:	A "Farscape" Film Spin-Off In The Works? "Heroes" Returns As An Event Series.
Media:	Matt Smith Makes Video For Four Year Old DW Superfan. Best Fails of the Week 3 February 2014. Northern Lights Aurora Borealis, spectacular real time video. NASA - IRIS Spots Its Largest Solar Flare.
Follow-up:	"Veronica Mars" Opens Everywhere March 14th.
The Funnies:	Pixel Interpretation: Samus « EXTRALIFE.