Will Stardock’s security solution kill the DRM?
He is a long-time supporter of the utter uselessness of intrusive protection technologies against videogaming piracy, and now Brad Wardell, Stardock’s CEO, takes up the challenge turned to him by the industry by working on a minimal security system that could be good for the labels and at the same time would satisfy the users’ need to not to be pointed out as pirates dangerous for society and business.
Videogames highlights - October 2008 (part 2)
With the complicity of the software houses parade during the Japanese expo Tokyo Game Show, October has been a particularly prolific month for the release of fresh videogaming stuff. After the first round of monthly highlights, hence, this new series is even richer and visually luxuriant covering consoles exclusives, multi-platform games, certainly interesting sequels and so on.
Good Old Games betatesting goes public
A few weeks after the announcement of the private beta program broadening, the Good Old Games folks are officially stating the public opening of the site in these hours. The retrogaming digital store is now ready to receive the orphans of the good ol’ games and who struggles in the abandonware and the incompatibilities between old software and new OSes, hoping that the economic results will be enough to attract new publishers willing to a embrace the peculiar business model chosen by the CD Projekt guys.
The Italian Pirate Party to magistrates: we want the truth on The Pirate Bay block
The Italian Pirate Party, a non-profit association born in the wake of the broader European initiative to reform the intellectual property, wants to look very closely at the investigations occurred during the Pirate Bay block, turning away the many, still lasting doubts on the behaviour of the tax police agents thereupon the connections redirection toward an Internet address owned by the recording labels.
RIAA appeals against Jammie Thomas
The USA recording companies organization is upset that Michael Davis, District Judge involved in the only case from the legal crusade against file sharing ever gone to court, have reconsidered his decisions ruling for a retrial. RIAA now asks that the Capitol v. Thomas case, being defendant the single mother of three Jammie Thomas, isn’t reopened before the judge have taken into consideration the majors’ appeal request.
Mikko Hypponen calls upon the foundation of the Internetpol
It’s a picture full of shadows and few lights the one outlined in the quarterly security report by F-Secure, a well-known Finnish company that produces antivirus software and integrated protection solutions. By analyzing the striking cyber-crime cases reported during the third quarter of 2008, the wrap-up highlights the difficulty to effectively fight an international phenomenon with the only aid from the local laws and the current cooperation treaties between the police authorities.
The minister-downloader repudiates the anti-piracy committee
Roberto Maroni’s occupation is Minister of the Interior for the Italian government, but in his spare time he enjoys to listen to music and, above all, to download it on the P2P. He has never hided it, and he has confirmed this attitude in the last days too, during a meeting with the press at Varese, where he has attended before his participation to Il Festival del Racconto. Accidentally but not too much, the Minister statements come after the establishment of the well known committee against digital piracy under the Prime Minister’s Office, which would like just to fight the file sharing that Maroni periodically advocates.
Diablo III at BlizzCon 2008
This year edition of BlizzCon, the convention organized by Blizzard Entertainment to properly celebrate its own videogame brands, has had its main focus on Diablo III, the very much awaited third incarnation of the hack’n slash saga par excellence. The software house has shown further details on the gemeplay, the new skill trees, the renewed rune system and much more. Above all, at BlizzCon Blizzard has unveiled the third of the five character classes available to the player, that is the Wizard.
Link & Suggestions # 5: slotMusic, videogame class actions, mafioso states and P2P
Can a multimillionaire industry rely on stupid asses insomuch that there isn’t the awareness of being on the edge of extinction? Of course. Can a sovereign state blur with the organized crime to such a degree that you can’t possibly understand anything of that nation without knowing in details the history of crime through time too? Absolutely. Can George Lucas reduce himself to endlessly recycle an old character because he’s painfully short of ideas? Hum…
The Pirate Bay vs. Italy, the worse is yet to come
As widely reported in the news, the preventive seizure (call it “censorship”, “block”, or whatever) of the access to The Pirate Bay from the Italian territory has finally been revoked by a decree of Bergamo Court. Called upon by the Bay admins’ lawyers, the Reexamination Judges have reconsidered the legitimacy of the previous ruling of the Court, deciding that the seizure was essentially illegal. Many, almost anyone have rushed to crow for TPB and the P2P in general, clearly having no clues on the fact that a new storm is about to appear on the horizon, a storm even more dangerous of the simple block of a single website, potentially capable of making, if possible, more tightening and unfair the yet absurd law against file sharing effective in Italy.
Videogames highlights - October 2008 (part 1)
The Christmas holiday season, surely the most important occasion for consumer electronics and particularly videogames, is near. The industry enjoys a very good health, and while waiting for the marketing of some among the most promising titles of the year it’s worth looking at the substantial amount of multimedia, video clips and images, released by the software houses during the last days.
National Videogame Archive, the historical consciousness of digital culture
It is in Bradford, Middle England, held by the National Media Museum, that one of the first preservation institutions for videogaming culture in the world will sprout. An offspring of the collaboration between the Nottingham Trent University and the Media Museum, the archive will keep everything is related to electronic games from Pong to nowadays, offering a view of how much videogames have contributed and contribute to the pop culture as much and even more of other entertainment media.
700 billions of dollars on Thursday night
The title is somewhat weirdo, I know, but at this time by night I can’t possibly regain that much among the neurons I’ve got still active and so here it is. At bottom the strips are two but the story is always the same, that is the Great Lie of appearance that makes some poor devils to invent any kind of pretext to cover the misery of a poor existence to the others’ eyes, and make others to rag entire nations pulling off money from the taxpayers, with the excuse of having to save the ass of licensed thieves working in the Stock Market.
EFF Report: RIAA legal crusade losing credibility
After five years of legal threats against tens of thousands of American music consumers, the hands of RIAA, the USA recording labels organization, remain empty or barely over: from any standpoint you look at the matter, states the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the majors have lost the bet to reestablish the control on digital contents delivery while succeeding in antagonizing a huge amount of potential customers, pretty happy to not to give a single cent to those viewing them as “pirates” dangerous for business, artists, music and the entire damn world.
The uncertain fate of Blu-ray between hope and pessimism
Blu-ray, the optical format for high definition that won the commercial and technology war against Toshiba HD DVD, continues to be the great question mark of the multimedia market. If the inquiries highlight how consumers aren’t presently interested to the new technology, the disk “in blue” brings controversy also and foremost among the giants of consumer electronics, alternatingly foreseeing for Blu-ray the perspective of a bright future or a short run which soon will take it into oblivion, replaced by more advanced contents delivery channels.
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