Rock band The Romantics have filed a lawsuit against Activision, Harmonix and RedOctane over a cover version of one of the band's songs featured in Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80's.
According to the band, the re-recording of the 1980’s hit What I Like About You is "virtually indistinguishable from the authentic version" and confuses consumers into believing that the band actually recorded the music and endorsed the product, reports Billboard.
The suit, filed November 20 in a federal District Court in Detroit, lists California-based Activision, Harmonix Music Systems and RedOctane as defendants. It also names Wavegroup Sound as performers of the music. Plaintiffs The Romantics are seeking compensatory and punitive damages, and are asking that the court enjoin further distribution of the game.
The right of publicity gives an individual protection against others from using his or her identity for commercial purposes without permission, but in most cases this right is only brought into play when well-known voices have been imitated.
A study conducted by the National Institute on Media and Family found that minors were able to to purchase M-rated titles from almost 50 percent of US retailers surveyed.
The two-month undercover survey, which covered 60 US retailers, found that underage teens were able to buy games rated M for Mature (17+) at 46 percent of stores, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
The NIMF and East County Youth Coalition, which aided the NIMF in conducting the survey, are now calling for stricter adherence to retailer rating guidelines, the implementation of formal training for retailers, and the physical separation of M-rated titles from other games.
However, the findings of the survey still put the game industry ahead of many other entertainment sectors, including the movie and music industries.
The news comes after four US senators, including Hilary Clinton, called for a review of the Entertainment Software Rating Board Tuesday.
In the wake of Manhunt 2's release, four US senators, including Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), are calling for a review of the Entertainment Software Rating Board.
The honeymoon between Lieberman, Clinton and the ESRB appears to be over as the two senators along with Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) have signed a letter proposing a "thorough review" of the game industry's rating system.
In December 2006, Clinton and Lieberman both praised the ESRB, with Lieberman saying at the time, "I have long said that the ESRB ratings are the most comprehensive in the media industry."
The four politicians now question the ESRB's process, proposing a review stemming from the ESRB's re-rating of Manhunt 2 from "adults only" to "mature," after developer Rockstar toned down the violence in the game.
The senators implied that the game is still too violent for even an "M" rating, citing how the British Board of Film Classification took stricter measures than the ESRB, refusing to rate the videogame in June even after the revisions, barring its release in the UK.
“In sum, we ask your consideration of whether it is time to review the robustness, reliability and repeatability of your ratings process, particularly for this genre of ‘ultra-violent’ videogames and advances in game controllers,” stated the letter, according to Video Business.
Manhunt 2 released in October for PS2, PSP and Wii. The senators took particular issue with the Wii version, which has players performing moves with the motion controls that represent violent acts on screen.
We expect the ESRB to send along a statement soon.
Tournament.com co-founder Marcus Pearcey has told Next-Gen that the competitive gaming site has been “postponed” but not officially shut down. He admitted to misjudging the market but hopes to revive the service as soon as possible.
‘The Tournament.com servers are temporarily offline’, reads the homepage of competitive gaming website Tournamnet.com. Having spoken to co-founder Marcus Pearcey Wednesday, Next-Gen can reveal that those running the privately funded venture are currently in discussions to revive the online service, albeit in an adapted format.
“Tournament.com has not officially shut down but it has been postponed. We’re looking at our options and once we’ve made a decision we can tell the player base what we’re doing.”
The site, which launched in May following 18 months of development, secured the exclusive rights to host competitive matches using Valve’s Counter-Strike: Source and Half-Life 2, and aimed to get gamers playing “for relatively small amounts of money on a regular basis, win some, lose some and have fun doing so,” says Pearcey.
During Tournament.com’s beta phase Pearcey told Next-Gen that he believed there were a number of factors that suggested the business would be a success, from the proliferation of high-speed broadband connections to an increased focus on multiplayer gaming, although he acknowledged that predictions of success were effectively based on a hunch as there wasn’t really a case study or any hard data to back them up.
Six months later, Pearcey says that a costly infrastructure which drained resources, coupled with players' resistance to deposit their own funds once they had used up free credits, has ultimately led the company to rethink its business model.
“Our aim was always to create a first class infrastructure so that players could play games at a fast pace without issues such as bandwidth problems. If you could take away the infrastructure costs that made that possible then the business was very vibrant, but we were basically locked into very expensive infrastructure costs and we needed to take stock of what we could do about those.
“You’ve got to say that [we misjudged the market] because our conception was that there were enough players that wanted to play for money in this environment. The reality is, once they’d played with the bonus money that we provided, not enough people were prepared to deposit more money.
“Given seriously deep pockets we probably could have turned it around, but it was a case of whether we wanted to sink £X million more into the business, or whether we wanted to re-jig it and change the format in order to reduce some of our fixed costs.”
Pearcey says Tournament.com’s current troubles won’t affect its licensing deal with Valve.
“Valve are on board with us and we’re discussing with them how we want to take the business forward. They know it’s in our interest to make money for ourselves and in turn get a revenue stream going for them.
“Our key aims have been to make sure that players and deposits are safe, which they are, and that the key team is ok, which it is. That gives us some breathing space to look at our options, which we’re keeping under wraps for the moment.”
Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two has expanded its credit facility from USD 100 million to USD 140 million, with USD 25 million available for the UK business.
The credit will be used to get the publisher through the coming Christmas season and into the new year, and lenders once again include Wells Fargo Foothill and Citigroup.
"Our credit facility will support our periodic working capital needs during the busy holiday season and beyond," commented Ben Feder, CEO of Take-Two.
"We look forward to further strengthening our financial position with the release of our solid 2008 product slate, including Grand Theft Auto IV in our fiscal 2008 second quarter," he added.
Take-Two's UK outfits include Grand Theft Auto IV developer Rockstar North, Rockstar Leeds, the studio responsible for GTA games on the PSP, and the European headquarters at Rockstar London.
The internet is a buzz with rumours of what will be included in the next Xbox 360 Dashboard Update. Below we will list what features are rumoured to be coming to the Xbox 360 very soon.
A topic found on the official Xbox forums mentioned what he/she claimed to be a leaked list for the Fall Update features. Even though the post was deleted we ended up grabbing a copy of the post from the guys from xbox360rally.
Once again, to clarify, this list has not been confirmed. Check it out:
Xbox 360 Fall Dashboard Update
Compatibility with 3rd party wireless controllers
Compatibility with messenger pad
Xbox Live Vision firmware upgrade, sharper image filtering
Many more Vision Cam settings
Screensaver settings - when away from Xbox 360, screensaver will play for optional time, before screen goes dark
Xbox Live Arcade blade - where you can download, play and learn about Xbox Live Arcade
Brand “web based adver-games” flash games which aren’t downloaded, but are playable bite sized games, accessed via Xbox Live Arcade Blade
Screensaver option in Themes and Gamer Pics option in Marketplace blade
Functionality with Messenger, works with chatpad
XNA Game Launcher for those that have the program, options
Language, time and date settings
“Advertising opportunities” in gameplay
Xvid support
“Favourites” option via Xbox Live Arcade, can rate according to preference
IPTV Functionality - support for TiVo like PVR options. Will be able to record TV direct. Options include source by channel, director, actor and distributor
Filter friends list, will be able to filter friends via games
Clan support - will be able to launch clan games direct from dashboard, can “fold” friends into clan category in friends list
Better translations in settings and other options for Japanese, German and Spanish languages
Quick option to delete via X Button in memory viewer.
Option for having downloadable In-game content not inform when completed download
Option for having video content not inform when completed download
Faster settings for viewing unfinished video content downloads
Option in Games tab - beta and others, will be launcher for MMO and multiplayer betas
Option in Marketplace Games tab, search by letter, can be inputted via text pad or console
Smarter game settings - you can be messaged via publishers about in-game content for your games
Picture in picture functionality for DVD Drive and some other updated settings
Improved USB Keyboard settings
Improved voice chat settings in game and from dashboard
Faster response times to Redeem Code settings
Option to play a Redeemed Code game straight after redeeming code
Console will now recognise low Hard Drive space, will inform you immediately if can’t download current item, will automatically download next available that is able.
Increased space size for gamerpics and dashboard themes
Themes can now be animated
Themes may now have sound effects
Better slideshow capabilities, options added. sound effects and integration with Hard Drive/ PC music capable.
Estimated timer for downloads, informing how long download will expect to take
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The suit, filed November 20 in a federal District Court in Detroit, lists California-based Activision, Harmonix Music Systems and RedOctane as defendants. It also names Wavegroup Sound as performers of the music. Plaintiffs The Romantics are seeking compensatory and punitive damages, and are asking that the court enjoin further distribution of the game.
In December 2006, Clinton and Lieberman both praised the ESRB, with Lieberman saying at the time, "I have long said that the ESRB ratings are the most comprehensive in the media industry."
“Tournament.com has not officially shut down but it has been postponed. We’re looking at our options and once we’ve made a decision we can tell the player base what we’re doing.”
The credit will be used to get the publisher through the coming Christmas season and into the new year, and lenders once again include Wells Fargo Foothill and Citigroup.
