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Square Enix reveals plans of taking over Tecmo

Mabie A. — 2008-08-28T18:56:22-07:00

The take-over business is sure the in thing nowadays, isn't it? Apart from the whole Electronic Arts-Take Two hullaballoo, there's another one in the works, this time concerning Square Enix and Tecmo.

At 1PM today in Japan, Square Enix unveiled its plans of taking over game developer company Tecmo. The developer, responsible for bringing us solid hits like Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive, has been in quite some trouble for a while now, having Tomonobu Itagaki filing a lawsuit against them, and with employees resigning and grumbling about unfair business practices. Just last week, president Yoshimi Yasuda resigned, who will then be replaced by the board of directors chair, Yasuharu Kakihara, starting September 1st.

The acquisition gameplan of Squeenix is in line with the publisher's strategy of get a stronger grasp in the U.S. market, as well as to improve and further strengthen Squeenix' portfolio.

More details are sure to roll out on this acquisition in the following days, so be sure to stay tuned for that. In the meantime, we're hoping that things really do pick up for Tecmo if the takeover does happen, and that it goes smoothly, unlike with the long-drawn EA-T2 issue.

Laptops aboard ISS infected with password-stealing virus

Charles D. — 2008-08-27T22:43:46-07:00

A worm was recently discovered inside laptops aboard NASA's International Space Station. The detected virus was designed to steal passwords and send them to a remote server. Fortunately, none of the Space Station's critical workstations were affected by virus. Only laptops used for emails and nutritional experiments were mostly affected.

NASA initially withheld any information regarding the virus, but SpaceRef.com later revealed that the worm was W32.Gammima.AG - a worm that gathers personal data for online games.

Investigations are currently underway regarding how the virus was able to sneak into the International Space Station. More than one laptop was affected, suggesting that it spread via the local intranet or via a thumb drive.

While it is possible for astronauts to access email via a KU band data link, also used for data and video transfer, the Space Station has no direct connection to the Internet. Regardless of any outside connection, everything is scanned before it goes up.

NASA spokesman Kelly Humphries was asked whether any mission critical systems were connected to any of the infected laptops. He simply replied, "I don't know and even if I did, I wouldn't be able to tell you for IT security reasons".

Austin GDC 08 to help charity

Mabie A. — 2008-08-27T17:15:59-07:00

This year's Austin Game Developers Conference is adding a nice twist to their event. It's not just gonna be about games, it's also gonna be about charity.

Yep, gamers who'd like to participate in the Austin GDC will not only be having fun by testing their skills as gamers, but will also contribute to a good cause by making a charitable donation. How? Simple. There's a US 20 entry fee for the Level Up Charity Games Competition, and everything will be donated to the ESA Foundation.

Marc Mencher, CEO of competition sponsor GameRecruiter, says this about their charitable deed:

We have a long-standing commitment to supporting the educational needs of minority and female students who are interested in being part of the video game industry. By providing this support to the ESA Foundation's Scholarship Program, we hope to allow deserving individuals to further their education and expand workplace diversity within our industry.

Scheduled for the September 17 competition feature titles such as:

Rock Band 2
Madden 08
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
I-Play Bowling

The Austin Game Developers Conference will be running from September 15 to 17 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin, Texas.

M2E developing phone charger powered by motion

Isaac C. — 2008-08-26T09:53:33-07:00

This is one gadget I'd definitely buy if it comes out, thinking on all those times my cellphone ran out of power when I'm nowhere near my charger.

The company M2E (short for Motion 2 Energy) has reported that it has developed a new device that charges electronic gadgets with motion.

The idea is to place the charger in your bag. The device will charge in the background as you move around with your bag. Once fully charged, the device can pack enough punch to recharge a phone, as fast as an AC outlet could.

The charger contains coils and magnets that stores energy in a lithium ion battery when experiencing motion. If you're not the type who likes to move around though, the charger can also store energy from your everyday wall socket.

The company is now looking into applications with hybrid and electric cars. As for the charger, we might not see it for a while yet, as it's still in the design and development stage. Hopefully, it will come out sometime next year.

Leipzig Bests named; Resistance: Retribution takes top wins

Mabie A. — 2008-08-25T18:42:33-07:00

The Beijing Olympics has already wrapped up and on the other side of the world, the Leipzig Games Convention is just about ready to take their banner down in the events venue. However, with all the goods that came out from the conference, there's still a lot of much ado about which presentation takes the cake.

Well the Leipzig Messe has decided, and on its sixth consecutive run in the show, this year's top accolades go to Sony's upcoming PSP title, Resistance: Retribution. What gave it the edge among other contenders were its technically impressive graphics and intuitive controls. Having that 8-player online multiplayer thrown in for good measure also made the icing a tad more sweeter for gamers all around.

As for the other winners at Leipzig 2008:

Best PS3 game - LittleBigPlanet (Sony)
Best Xbox 360 game - Mirror s Edge (EA)
Best Wii game - Skate It (EA)
Best PC game - Spore (EA)
Best PSP game - Resistance: Retribution (Sony)
Best DS game - Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (SEGA)
Best Mobile game - PES 2009 (Konami)
Best Online game - Warhammer Online: Day of Reckoning (Mythic)

Study: iPhone 3G network lag due to carriers, not hardware

Isaac C. — 2008-08-25T13:46:58-07:00

A lot of people have been complaining over the slow network connection that the iPhone 3G has been experiencing. I even heard of one woman who threatened to sue Apple over false advertising for the iPhone 3G's speed.

A new study made by an independent group, however, suggests that the slow connection has more to do with the network carriers than the iPhone itself.

The study analyzed data from 2,600 speed tests from all over the world, and it shows that 3G networks are performing faster than EDGE. Worst case scenarios showed some users were not able to connect to the network, while others reported 3G performance that's seven times faster than EDGE.

Users who experienced the most problems were from major metropolitan cities where the most iPhone users reside, such as San Francisco. This suggests that 3G towers are getting overloaded. Basically, too many swimmers in a very large pool. The system's swamped.

Apple won't be able to do much with a software update in this case - the likely approach would be to optimize the network towers themselves. Apple hopes to alleviate things by improving 3G signal management with the next software update. In the meantime, if you want a faster signal, go to Canada.

Leipzig: Games Convention 2009 dated, GC 2008 sets record

Gino D. — 2008-08-25T09:06:38-07:00

With the Leipzig Games Convention 2008 finally closing its curtains, we now get confirmation that next year's event has already been scheduled. The announcement was made via press release by Leipziger Messe GmbH CEO Wolfgang Marzin: GC 2009 will be held from August 19 to 23, also in Leipzig.

Along with the announcement, we hear of a survey conducted to this year's event's visitors, asking them if they'd want to see another GC next year.

Among all the visitors - whether trade exhibitor or part of the general public (some of which have travelled from half way across the world just to see the show) - a vast majority of about 90 agreed.

This makes me think of what the outcome would have been if a survey like this were conducted at the end of this year's E3, but moving on...

GC 2008's success is proven by the sheer number of visitors who dropped in: over the four-day period, some 203,000 people came in. Compared to last year, the number of software and hardware companies from around the world who participated in the Leipzig event have increased, from 189 to 234.

Peter Moore on fight against illegal file-sharers: I'm not a huge fan of trying to punish your consumer

Mabie A. — 2008-08-22T17:32:35-07:00

Peter Moore has spoken out about the ongoing battle of the British developers against illegal file-sharers, and unfortunately for the big five, it's not in their support as well.

Speaking to Eurogamer at the Leipzig Games Convention, the British head of EA Sports said,

I'm not a huge fan of trying to punish your consumer... Albeit these people have clearly stolen intellectual property, I think there are better ways of resolving this within our power as developers and publishers.

He does, however, agree that there should be a crackdown against piracy, but apparently, this is not his preferred method. While he did say there are other ways of dealing with the issue, he did not give a clear counter-proposal to what Atari, Topware Interactive, Reality Pump, Techland and Codemasters are doing, suing 25,000 people across UK for illegal file-sharing.

[Piracy] is absolutely wrong. It is stealing. But at the same time I think there are better solutions than chasing people for money. I'm not sure what they are, other than to build game experiences that make it more difficult for there to be any value in pirating games.

And commenting on the music industry's stand on the matter (which is to also disagree and distance themselves with what the publishers and developers are doing), Moore said that it's something that the gaming biz should have learned from them: you don't win any friends by suing your customers.

But these statements, of course, are his own, and does not in any way reflect the position of the EA as a company. He says he doesn't know how EA will react to these developments, although it is without a doubt that EA does not condone piracy and that they take the issue seriously. "... People deserve to get paid for the content they create, but as far as I'm aware, we have no plans, that I know of, to partner with Atari and Codemasters and chase down consumers."

And so the chasm deepens.

Music industry on game devs fighting illegal file-sharers: you're on your own

Leipzig: video game awardees for Best of Show in GC 2008

Gino D. — 2008-08-22T13:44:54-07:00

The Leipzig Games Convention 2008 will be seeing two more days before it finally draws to a close, but already the awards ceremony has taken place last night. We're still trying to catch up on all the news from Leipzig, but for now, report on the cream of the crop!

Spanning 29 exhibitors and a grand total of about 120 software and hardware titles, only nine awards were given out, with each category representing a gaming platform.

PSP: Resistance: Retribution (Sony)
PS3: LittleBigPlanet (Sony)
360: Mirror's Edge (Electronic Arts)
Wii: Skate It (Electronic Arts)
DS: Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (Sega)
PC: Spore (Electronic Arts)
MMO: Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (Electornic Arts)
Mobile: Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (Konami)
Hardware: PlayTV (Sony)

We also hear that the attendance at this year's GC is a record. The attendance for 2008 has increased from last year's 35,000 population, to this year's 38,000.

It's raining iPhones: Apple to ship 45 million iPhone 3Gs in 12 months?

Gino D. — 2008-08-22T11:20:57-07:00

BusinessWeek has gotten word that Apple is planning to move a big batch of iPhone 3G out into the market in the near future. So what's the damage? If BusinessWeek's source is proven true, Apple will be manufacturing 45 million iPhone units in the coming 12 months.

To say that's a lot of iPhones may be a gross understatement. I mean, 45 million?! It's such a huge number; even the ever-popular Nintendo Wii hasn't shipped that many yet, ever since it got released.

But maybe it really is attainable. If you'll remember, during the first three days of the iPhone 3G's release alone, it had already sold its first one million units.

Here's a quote from BusinessWeek:

Apple boosted its production plans when initial sales proved stronger than the company expected, says [BusinessWeek's source], who requested anonymity. On launch day, the company expected to build 30 million iPhone 3Gs in 12 months. Apple declined to comment beyond reiterating that it expects to reach a stated goal of selling 10 million iPhone 3Gs in 2008.

Until Apple releases an official statement, we'll be filing this under rumor.

FTC gives EA its blessing to go ahead with Take-Two takeover

Mabie A. — 2008-08-21T16:15:31-07:00

The wait is finally over for Electronic Arts -- at least as far as the Fedral Trade Commission is concerned. A couple of months ago, EA made an agreement with the FTC stating that they will hold out on buying Take-Two until one of these two things happen: a) FTC finishes its investigation on the takeover bid, or b) 45 days pass after EA complies with an information request from FTC.

Well it looks like it's scenario A that happened as the Federal Trade Commission has now given EA the green light on their proposal for the Take-Two acquisition. The conclusion of the non-public investigation, which was to determine whether EA's acquisition of T2 may violoate Section 7 of the Clayton Act or Section 5 of the FTC Act, was that the potential merger would not substantially lessen competition in the games market.

A letter sent by the FTC to both companies involved read, "Upon further review of this matter, it now appears that no additional action by the Commission is warranted at this time. Accordingly, the investigation has been closed."

Talks are still going on between the two companies, but it does look like it's about to come to a close. What's keeping the debate raging on is the issue on the appropriate per-share asking price. With this FTC development, it looks like Pachter sure is a step closer to proving his prediction true: EA will win out this round.

Related EA-Take-Two acquisition Articles:

Astro Ranch to lasso on iPhone, DS, N-Gage

Gino D. — 2008-08-21T09:41:51-07:00

Astro Ranch is set to be released some time next year for the iPhone, with accompanying versions for the Nintendo DS and Nokia N-Gage to follow. But what is it, really? Take equal parts Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon, and add a hefty dose of, say, The Day the Earth Stood Still.

Developed by Tag Games, Astro Ranch will have you playing a space explorer named Sindy Starlight who's starting up her intergalactic ranch. The concept is simple, but other mini-games and touches of fancy are thrown in. More so, there's going to be some interconnectivity going on that will allow you to interact with other friends playing the game, and even trade some in-game items with them.

Check out the screens below to see what it'll look like on the iPhone. If you want to hear more about Astro Ranch, you can read up on a full interview with one of the games designers through the Via link below.

Music industry on game devs fighting illegal file-sharers: you're on your own

Mabie A. — 2008-08-20T19:35:45-07:00

Earlier this morning, news came out that five British game companies are taking 25,000 pirates to court for illegally downloading their software from file-sharing services. The big five are Codemasters, Atari, Reality Pump, Topware and Techland.

The Times reports that they are seeking 3,000 (about US 5, 600) in payment, apart from demanding contact details from ISPs and preparing to take to court the first 500 of those who refuse to pay. That makes pirate # 501 very lucky, indeed.

Apparently, the legal action was incited by a landmark court-ruling that was held earlier this week, with a file-sharing gamer, Isabela Barwinska, being forced to pay 16,000 damages to Topware for downloading Dream Pinball from a file-sharing website.

Now, even before the day has finished, the music industry has given their own two cents on the issue - another victim of piracy - and surprise, surprise, they're not backing the gaming industry on this one.

Matt Phillips, director of communications of the BPI (formerly known as the British Phonographic Industry), says "that working with ISPs to educate consumers is a more effective way of combating illegal downloading" instead of punishing those who file-share.

This issue of file-sharing has been growing in significance especially with the boom of the Internet industry. Unfortunately, there is still no sufficient jurisprudence that will streamline the rules and policies defining when an act of file-sharing is held illegal. Piracy, though now a generic concept, remains vague and evasive, and so it is fairly easy for any one to fall in the pitfalls of this title.

But since both industries of music and gaming are the most hurt in all this, and also the movie industry, it would probably help a lot of they take on a united stance on the matter. Unfortunately, with this obvious distancing move of the BPI, it looks like even the industries themselves are not exactly certain yet as to how to deal with the issue of file-sharing. How can we expect to finally kill of the alternate-industry that's killing off the legit industries when they themselves are at a dissonance?

We'll be updating you more on this matter, but in the meantime, make sure you're not downloading any illegal files. You just might wake up one morning one of these days to find an invitation to court waiting for you in your mailbox.

Palm Inc unveils the Treo Pro

Isaac C. — 2008-08-20T13:35:49-07:00

Palm used to be at the top when it came to smartphones, but with the rise of the BlackBerry and the iPhone, it's mostly become second- or third-fiddle. Perhaps the release of its new Treo Pro will give it some momentum.

The Treo Pro runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro, with email, Wi-Fi and GPS capabilities. It has a touchscreen - of course, couldn't do without it - and a QWERTY keyboard. Here are the specs from Palm's press release:

One-touch Wi-Fi button Easy, fast Wi-Fi connection experience (802.11b/g).(1)
Today screen enhancements Web search directly from the Today screen.
Ringer switch Silences the device immediately.
Screen saver Lets users know at a glance without turning on the device, what time it is and whether they ve missed a call or have a new SMS/MMS message.
New voicemail indicator The center button flashes to let users know that a voicemail is waiting.(3)
Dedicated email and calendar buttons Fast one-button access.

The Treo Pro will be available in September in Europe through Vodafone and O2, with pricing dependent on the provider. In the US, it will cost US 549 and will be released this Fall.

Owning one of the Treo models myself, I just hope the battery life lasts longer than the previous models. I have to give it to them though, it's much sexier than the model I own. Wow.

The HTC Diamond's hidden multi-touch feature

Gino D. — 2008-08-20T08:43:33-07:00

The HTC Diamond is already making its rounds in the market, with some interested buyers jumping out of the iPhone bandwagon and heading for other choices. With the HTC Diamond in its infantile stages in the hands of the consumer, it's right about time that some hidden features are being discovered about the phone.

While it's not directly marketed and advertised on the box or in the manual, the HTC Diamond and Pro actually supports multi-touch capabilities. The feature isn't fully used right out of the box though, and you'll be requiring something called the Nav Debug Tool - a file called NavDbgTool.exe.

Using this program, the entire touchpad becomes multi-touch sensitive, meaning, it allows two-finger input at the same time. Check out the video below for a bit of demonstration:

It's strange why HTC hadn't blatantly advertised this capability right at the get-go, but probably it's because it's still in early development. This, of course, leads us to assume that future firmware updates and programs will probably exploit this hidden feature, thereby making it a worthier contender to the epic iPhone.

HTC Touch Diamond now at FCC

Forget-me-not: new Logitech Nano Laser Mouse docks to laptop lid

Isaac C. — 2008-08-19T13:56:17-07:00

I honestly just posted this because I want one of these little doohickeys for myself so I just want to share it with you guys. Maybe I'll get one later.

This is Logitech's new Nano Cordless Laser Mouse, the V550. Nothing incredibly awesome, save for the new dock feature. Essentially now you can stick your mouse to the surface of your laptop.

Now you don't have to keep wondering where you put the darned thing when you're not using it. And that's also one less thing to have to carry around. Battery life is estimated at 18 months. The mouse also shuts down when plugged into the holster, so don't worry for your battery life. The mouse runs in the 2.4 GHz frequency.

The V550 is priced at US 59.99. Grab yourself one by following the Amazon link below.

Harry Potter videogame being "evaluated" due to movie delay

Administrator — 2008-08-17T22:59:00-07:00

How much grief must a muggle bear? Just days after news hit that Warner Brothers was pushing the release of the sixth movie in the septology into 2009 comes this quote from an Electronic Arts spokesman regarding the fate of the videogame adaptation:

We are making a great game that Harry Potter fans will really enjoy we are evaluating the impact of the movie date change,

The game isn't officially delayed yet. It's not unheard of for a tie-in to be released some time after the movie itself hits, but before? Unlikely. It's probably a safe bet that Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (the game) will also be pushed back to launch alongside the movie.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing, more time in the oven is generally good for the development of a videogame. Hopefully Half Blood Prince will be the better for it, the Potter games have always played it safe design wise and as a result ended up kind of middling. Order of the Phoenix was a step in the right direction, with its immersive, fully rendered and explorable Hogwarts Castle, fingers crossed that the dev team sees this as an opportunity to get even more ambitious.

Yes, I totally made up the word "septology".

disapparates

Google Android phone: iPhone has nothing to worry about?

Isaac C. — 2008-08-15T10:10:45-07:00

It's been a long time coming, but Google may finally be unveiling their own Android mobile platform later this year. The hype surrounding this phone has even gone so far as to claim that it will be the iPhone's great rival. Aside from a full five-row keyboard, the Android phone - dubbed as the "Dream"" by Internet circles - will be featuring a touchscreen as well.

It seems the iPhone has nothing to worry about though. According to early comments on the phone, the Dream is described to be big and bulky, as compared to the iPhone. The Android software is also described to be less-elegant and less user-friendly than Apple's own software. At any rate, here's a vid of the phone in action, and you can judge for yourselves:

Captain Planet approves: Samsung's eco-friendly E200 Eco mobile phone

Charles D. — 2008-08-15T06:07:47-07:00

Samsung recently unveiled its latest eco-friendly mobile handset. Dubbed as the Samsung E200 Eco, the phone's case is made from bio-plastic, which contains natural plant-based materials and reduces carbon emissions during its manufacturing process.

Aside from protecting the environment, the production of the E200 Eco is a very cost effective thanks to the use of bio-plastic. Approximately one ton of bio-plastic is able to reduce 2.16 tons of carbon dioxide compared to Polycarbonate production produced from petroleum.

And if that's not enough, the E200 Eco comes packaged in a non-coated recycled paper box. Samsung President Geesung Choi explains that the company is committed in developing more environmentally-friendly and renewable materials with Cheil Industries.

The E200 Eco will be available on the European market by early September.

Tate Liverpool uses iPod Touch, iPhone for exhibition tour

Victor B. — 2008-08-13T14:12:36-07:00

Here's a nifty way to make use of podcast technology and Apple's latest gadgets. The Tate gallery in Liverpool has put up an experimental exhibition whereby users can pick up the entire tour of the exhibition on their iPhones or iPod Touches.

Until the end of August, visitors to the Gustav Klimt exhibition will be able to experience the tour by downloading the whole thing online and putting it on their iPhone or iPod Touch. They can also grab the tour via WiFi or rent a pre-loaded iPod Touch at the exhibition area itself.

Design Week Magazine (external link) reports that the exhibit has been very popular, increasing visit times from 45 minutes to three hours.

If you're interested in learning more about the exhibition, you'll want to check out the source link below, which explains the exhibit and has the guided tour available for download in chunks.