Top five things that come to mind every time I watch Aliens:
5. Never trust a Company Man. Even if it is Paul Reiser.
4. That Jewish chick plays a pretty convincing Latina!
3. Apone is the best movie Sgt. because he's playing himself.
2. I want Liam Neeson to show up & punch Bill Paxton IN THE FACE !!!!
1. My dog is named after the best Sci-Fi movie heroine EVER.

And always remember ... They mostly come at night, mostly.

Why I really went to law school and what bugs the hell out of me in tech law ...

Just had the 11pm epiphany of what REALLY bugs me so much about all the Record, Movie and Software Dev execs targeting the so called "pirates" of movies, music and games ... The Copyright Law was created to "promote the progress of science and useful arts." It's in the damn Constitution. The companies such as Napster, Grokster and Pirate Bay along with various other peer to peer sites and software IS THE FREAKING PROGRESS. Think of how technology has developed over the years, if Sony was ruled against in the anti-VHS machine case imagine where we'd be!  

These idiot industries need to wake up and find ways to work with the new tech instead of trying to stop it. By bringing all these suits up against them they're essentially bringing suit against the very essence of what the Constitution gave Congress the power to protect in the first place!  

rant over ... 

Too darn funny not to put up. College Humor strikes again ...

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

The Throwdown Begins ...

In the wake of the 9th Circuit announcement that it will hear arguments on consolidated cases on first-purchaser copyright issues, the video game industry has responded with comments and new policies condemning the sale of used games. GamePolitics.com has featured two great articles on anti-used sales comments by Developer Blitz Games and EA's new policy of charging an extra $10 for purchasers of used games to access online content that will be available in the new versions of the same games. 

EA claims in its article that it is not targeting companies that sell used games such as Gamestop, but rather targeting the consumers of used games. This is just another example of the industry using the consumer as a pawn. The end result of EA and other developers is to reduce the overall sale of used games. That inevitably hurts business models such as Gamestop no matter how much they sugar coat the language. 

Not to mention the fact that the consumer of used games really gets screwed in EA's new $10 fee scheme. The difference in price for a new game such as Madden '11 (one of the games mentioned in the article) and a used version is $5: $59.99 for new and $54.99 for used. The article claims the difference is $10 and used games are $49.99 on average for a new title but I have no idea which fictional Gamestop they found that price in. 

So in essence, if you buy Madden '11 used at $54.99 and want to access the online content you could have gotten with a new version, EA is charging you $9.99 more bringing your total to $64.99, $5 more than you would have spent buying used. If that's not a deterrent to buying used and an incentive to buying new then I don't know what is. 

Here are the articles, again, linked from GamePolitics.com and thanks to them and the ECA for keeping an eye on this. 

May 11, 2010

The co-founder of Blitz Games Studios believes that pre-owned games are a bigger threat to developers than piracy.

Andrew Oliver told Develop that the “damage done” by used games sales would push publishers even more towards digital downloads. Oliver cited a figure that original copies of games are traded in up to four times to claim that such a practice effectively cuts publisher and developer royalties to such an extent that “the money going back up the chain is a fraction of what it was only a few years ago.”

Oliver added, “I understand why players do this, games are expensive and after a few weeks of playing you’ve either beaten it, or got bored of it so trading it back in to help pay for the next seems sensible when people are short of cash.”

Obviously Oliver is not alone in his thinking, especially following in the wake of EA’s plan to effectively charge $10 for online play with its used games. EA’s plan follows a similar initiative introduced by Sony earlier this year, in which online play in its latest SOCOM release for the PSP was tied to a redeemable code included with the game.

May 11, 2010

EA Sports may have to change its "It's In the Game" slogan to the more appropriate "It's in the Game (if you bought it new)." While some publishers and game developers continue to talk about how to deal with the used games market popularized by retailers like GameStop, publisher Electronic Arts is firing the first shot with EA Sports Online Pass. The company announced this week a new system that - it hopes - will compel consumers to buy its sports games new.  But this new scheme doesn't target retailers like GameStop - it puts a bull's-eye on consumers.  

EA Sports Online Pass will be a part of all future EA SPORTS simulation games on the PS3 and Xbox 360 beginning in June with Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 11. Each new game will come with an additional code for online play that will give you access to various online modes, content and more - but here's the catch for consumers who buy the game used: you will have to pay $10 to access all the online games modes and additional content by buying a new code in-game, through Xbox Live or PlayStation Network.

Microsoft and Sony are playing a part in facilitating this additional cost to consumers who don't buy EA Sports titles "new" by allowing EA to sell the Online Pass on its services. This is on a per-title basis, so don't think you'll be buying a subscription to defer any of the costs.

Using the upcoming Madden NFL 11 as an example, a new copy of the game should costs $59.99; the average discounted price of a pre-owned game is $49.99. If you buy the game used you will have to pay an additional $10 for online play. That gives EA an additional $10 in revenue (before any costs it might have in running the program) on a game it already sold once and it puts the price of the game back up to what a brand new copy of the game retails for.

This is just an opening salvo in a war against the used games market; but the reality is that it is a win-win for retailers who don't incur any additional costs from EA's newest scheme (and are perfectly comfortable with selling new games), while consumers are caught in the middle. Expect other publishers to adopt this new pay to play scheme and prepare for other EA titles to include the same kind of restriction to access (edit - I forgot to mention similar efforts in other EA Games like Mass Effect 2, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and The Saboteur)

EA's Online Pass site offers an answer for those consumers willing to listen:

Is this intended to combat second sale?
We actually view the second sale market as an opportunity to develop a direct relationship with our consumers, and with Online Pass everyone has access to the same premium online services and content regardless of how and where you buy the game. In order to continue to enhance the online experiences that are attracting nearly five million connected game sessions a day, again, we think it’s fair to get paid for the services we provide and to reserve these online services for people who pay EA to access them. In return, we’ll continue to invest in creating great games and offer industry-leading online services to extend the game experience to everyone. I don’t think even the harshest cynic can argue with that and instead I think fans will see the value we’re committing to deliver when they see all the services, features and bonus content that is extending the life of their products.

Update on my world right now ...

Finals finals finals finals finals ... You get the point. Lots of exciting things planned for the summer break though and several important cases that could drastically affect the gaming culture coming up that I'm keeping an eye on. Stay tuned!