Archive for the ‘Legal Matters’ Category

Michael Atkinson, South Australian attorney general, resigned from his position on Sunday. Atkinson has long been considered the roadblock to Mature-rated videogames being sold in the country.

Australia is the only Western democracy without a rating similar to our Mature classification. Atkinson came under fire from gamers for refusing to help create an R18+ rating for videogames; such a move would require a unanimous vote from all classification ministers, and Atkinson has long given the rating a thumbs-down.

That has left gamemakers with two options — bowdlerize games until they are suitable for 15-year-olds, or not release their games in Australia.

In a lengthy response to a letter written in November 2009, Atkinson laid out his case for censorship, saying that the issue “has little traction with my constituents who are more concerned with real-life issues than with home entertainment in imaginary worlds.”

Continue Reading “Australian Game Censor Resigns” »

Halo 3 players are suing the game’s publisher Microsoft and the developer Bungie, claiming that Halo 3 doesn’t work properly with the Xbox 360 console.

“Halo 3 does not function with the Xbox 360, and to the contrary, attempted use of Halo 3 consistently causes the Xbox 360 to ‘crash,’ ‘freeze’ or ‘lock up’ while the game is being played,” reads the filing, as reported by technology site TG Daily.

Though Halo 3 has earned a MetaCritic score of 94 and sold over 8.1 million copies to-date since its release in 2007, the gamers maintain that the first-person shooter still suffers from many problems during gameplay. The suit also alleges that despite ‘repeated and mounting consumer complaints and inquiries,” Microsoft has failed to fix or recall the game.

Though much more troublesome, a lawsuit is certainly more attention-getting than a polite petition.

Image courtesy Bungie

[via Joystiq]

See Also:

• Xbox Live Woes Prompt Class Action Suit Against Microsoft
  
• Nintendo Faces New Wrist Strap Lawsuit
• Stupid Lawsuit of the Day: Cheats!
• Fans Demand LAN Support in Starcraft II

Guitar Hero 5’s inclusion of Kurt Cobain as a playable character is “vile,” said Courtney Love, widow of the late Nirvana front man, in a rambling Twitter rant early Thursday.

“FOR THE RECORD I DID NOT APPROVE KURTS AVATAR FOR GUYITARHERO5,” tweeted the musician/actress. “I think Kurt would despise this game alone let alone this avatar.”

Love also threatened to sue Activision for its inclusion of her late husband in the latest version of the popular music videogame.

Cobain appears as a playable character in Guitar Hero 5, meaning that his digital avatar can be used to play any instrument in any of the game’s 85 songs.

This has led to many out-of-character moments featuring the influential grunge rocker. Cobain’s avatar can be seen rapping and singing hair-metal songs in a YouTube highlight reel (embedded right) that has been viewed more than 200,000 times so far. The clip’s title blames Love for what some fans see as a tarnishing of the musician’s memory.

“This is NECROPHILIC this is VILE,” Love said in her Twitter offensive, asking Cobain’s fans to address complaints about the game to her lawyer and publicist.

Continue Reading “Courtney Love Calls Guitar Hero 5’s Creepy Cobain ‘Vile’” »

Gamasutra has a massive story on Ultracade Technologies, maker of those ubiquitous multi-game arcade machines, and the legal issues that are currently surrounding the company and one of its founders. The new wrinkle in the story: Various game publishers whose games appear in Ultracade machines and game packages say that their games were never officially licensed to begin with.

Best part:

Namco America discovered Foley was taking individual copies of Microsoft Return of the Arcade Anniversary Edition, pre-installing it on Ultracade, and then selling it to arcades.

Exploring Ultracade’s Alleged Counterfeit Video Game Racket [Gamasutra]

Image courtesy 3D Realms

Duke Nukem Forever creator 3D Realms — what’s left of it, anyway — has finally spoken out about the ongoing saga of the company.

While 3D Realms acknowledged that it had dismissed the entire game development studio that was creating Duke, it said that it will continue to operate as a “much smaller studio” and called publisher Take-Two Interactive’s recent legal motions against the company a “bully tactic,” in a statement released to Shacknews.

Take-Two claims that 3D Realms reneged on an agreement in which the publisher says the long-delayed Duke Nukem Forever would meet certain developmental goals in a timely manner.

3D Realms says Take-Two offered to purchase the rights to the Duke Nukem franchise shortly before the development staff was let go earlier this month.

3D Realms Labels Take-Two Lawsuit ‘Bully Tactic,’ Reveals ‘Unacceptable’ Last-minute DNF Proposal [Shacknews]

See Also:

• Report: Duke Nukem Developer Shuts Down (Update)
• Artist Unveils Images from Duke Nukem Forever
• Goodbye, Good Riddance to Antiquated Action Hero Duke Nukem …

Image: 3D Realms

Citing breach of contract, publisher Take-Two Interactive is suing Duke Nukem Forever creator Apogee Software Ltd. over the game’s failed development, reports Bloomberg.

“Apogee continually delayed the completion date for the Duke Nukem Forever,” reads Take-Two’s complaint. “Apogee repeatedly assured Take-Two and the video-gaming community that it was diligently working toward competing development of the PC Version of the Duke Nukem Forever [sic].”

Take-Two said that 3D Realms has officially “terminated development of the game,” according to the report.

While the full extent of Take-Two’s damages claim is undisclosed, the company claims to have paid $12 million as part of an agreement made in 2000. The suit is scheduled to go in front of the New York State Supreme Court later this year.

Update: Shacknews has the court filing, which shows that Take-Two wants the Duke Nukem Forever source code to be preserved for the duration of the case.

Why would they want that? This is just our speculation, but when someone wins damages in a civil lawsuit that aren’t paid, they can be awarded assets instead. So if Take-Two wins its case and 3D Realms cannot pay the damages, it is possible that Take-Two could find itself owning Duke Nukem Forever.

Bank of America, JPMorgan, Kmart, Refco in Court News (Update1) [Bloomberg]

See Also:

• Goodbye, Good Riddance to Antiquated Action Hero Duke Nukem …
• Report: Duke Nukem Developer Shuts Down (Update)
• Video: Duke Nukem Forever Gameplay Footage
• Duke Nukem Forever, 3D Realms, Gaming, PC Gamin

Former Nebraska quarterback Samuel Keller is the lead plaintiff in a class action lawsuit alleging that Electronic Arts’ NCAA Football series unlawfully uses the likenesses of not only Keller, but the hundreds of college athletes the games feature.

Most damning however, is Keller’s assertion that EA is in collusion with the NCAA. SF Weekly explains:

The suit opens up strong, claiming in its first sentence that it “arises out of the blatant and unlawful use of National Collegiate Athletic Association (’NCAA’) student likenesses in videogames produced by Electronic Arts … to increase sales and profits.” This, the complaint continues, is abetted with a wink-and-nod assist from the NCAA, which “intentionally circumvents the prohibitions on utilizing student athletes’ names in commercial ventures by allowing gamers to upload entire rosters, which include players’ names and other information, directly into the game in a matter of seconds.”

This, the suit alleges, is a symbiotic relationship between the NCAA and EA that leaves the student athletes — who make this whole venture possible — empty-handed.

Keller’s suit (.pdf) follows almost immediately on the heels of a somewhat similar suit leveled against EA by former NFL players, alleging that the firm’s John Madden Football games also use their likenesses illegally.

Image courtesy Electronic Arts

Jocks Vs. Nerds: Former College QB Sues NCAA, Videogame Company Over Use of Athletes’ Names and Likenesses [SF Weekly, via GamePolitics]

A seventeen-year-old Russian boy lies dead after an argument over a game of Counter-Strike went terribly wrong, reports Planet Half-Life.

According to the fan site, Alexei had repeatedly defeated fourteen-year-old Alexander, who apparently took offense. After a night of drinking, arguing with his elder, and being repeatedly defeated, Alexander decided to wait outside the Internet cafe in the hopes of ambushing his foe once he left.

The official police report claims that once seventeen-year-old Alexei left the cafe, the younger boy hit him multiple times in the head, then stomped repeatedly on his chest. Alexei died of his wounds, and the younger boy attempted to bury his corpse, though passers by discovered the body early the next morning.

Despite the severity of the attack, Russian authorities ruled that the actual murder was accidental and have sentenced the boy to four years in a juvenile detention facility.

Image courtesy Valve

Counter-Strike Opponent Brutally Murdered [Planet Half-Life]

Claiming breach of contract, Tabula Rasa and Ultima Online creator Richard Garriott is suing MMO publisher NCsoft for “more than $27,000,000 in actual damages,” GamePolitics reports.

The official complaint crafted by Garriot’s legal team (.pdf) alleges that NCsoft fired him during the “quarantine from his space flight” and then publicly characterized his departure as voluntary. Aside from being rude, this act proved financially detrimental. Per court documents:

As Mr. Garriott prepared to leave NCSoft, however, Mr. Garriott learned that NCsoft had internally re-characterized his termination by Mr. Chung as a “voluntary” resignation… This mischaracterization had profound and detrimental effects on Mr. Garriott’s stock options: if NCsoft terminated Mr. Garriott’s employment (which it did) then the options - worth tens of millions of dollars - would remain in effect until 2011; but if Mr. Garriott resigned voluntarily (which he did not), then NCsoft might have terminated those options… within ninety days of his departure…

NCsoft forced Mr. Garriott into a Hobson’s choice of exercising his options… and forced him to sell into one of the worst equity markets in modern history…

Since we first reported on Garriott’s departure from NCsoft, I’ve spoken to friends at the company who all seem to genuinely believe he left amiably and of his own free will. Garriott however, alleges that he repeatedly asked the firm to “retract its misstatements … and the cancellation of his stock options,” all to no avail.

Image courtesy NCsoft

Richard Garriott Sues NC Soft Over Millions in Stock Options [GamePolitics]

Should parents who buy M-rated games for their underage children be prosecuted?

Speaking to The Dominion Post, New Zealand’s Chief Censor Bill Hastings explained that rating laws should be enforced, and parents who provide their children with violent video games could be punished as a warning to others.

"It would send out a message that the enforcement agency means business," Hastings said. And parents faced with a fine of up to $10,000, or three months’ in prison, are likely to reconsider picking up Grand Theft Auto for their underaged teen.

Continue Reading “New Zealand’s Censor Wants To Prosecute Parents Who Ignore Ratings” »