Former State Senator Leland Yee is getting a bit of unwanted attention this week as news reports surface that he is using the money he raised for his run at California Secretary of State last year (he ultimately dropped out of that race) as a legal defense fund. According to a report in the LA Times, Yee has spent $128,000 on attorney's fees from his campaign war chest to defend himself on federal corruption charges. Read more
The Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Organization for Transformative Works have jointly filed an amicus brief in Davis v. Electronic Arts currently before the Ninth Circuit court. In its brief the EFF says that "bad facts are making bad law," referring to several court rulings related to celebrities using lawsuits about "rights to publicity" against creative works to trump free speech.
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The latest Humble Bundle is all about Star Wars games! The folks at Humble Bundle have announced the Star Wars Humble Bundle, offering a total of nine games for as little over $12 (as of this writing). Pay $1 or more to get Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy and Star Wars: Dark Forces.
Pay more than the average price (currently at a little over $10) to get Star Wars Battlefront II, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, and Star Wars Republic Commando.
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The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) today announced the continuation of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) College Game Competition, which provides colleges and universities with video game development programs an opportunity to showcase their game at E3 on an annual basis. Each institution can submit one game, with selected finalists receiving a display space at this year's E3 event in Los Angeles this summer.
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After a long delay, Gearbox Software has finally finished restoring multiplayer functionality to Borderlands on the PlayStation 3. Multiplayer went dark for the game on that particular platform when GameSpy - the multiplayer technology that powered the game - shut down and left many games and players in the lurch. Here's the announcement from Gearbox:
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The Australian Classification Board has rated Mortal Kombat X the highest rating it can give under its present system: R18+. The game, set for launch in late April worldwide, was given the rating due to "high impact violence, blood and gore, online interactivity."
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One year after release, Octodad: Dadliest Catch developer Young Horses reveals that its strange game about an octopus posing as a human being has managed to make $4.9 million dollars. That number covers up until January 30, the developer revealed in an extensive infographic it shared via Twitter. That infographic shows that it took the nine-person development team around 31 months to develop at 21 hours of work per week. Read more
Sony's PlayStation Now subscription game streaming service will be getting five additional games today, the company announced via the PlayStation Blog. All of the new games will be PlayStation 3-era.
They include Naughty Dog's Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Volition's third-person shooter Red Faction: Armageddon, Bandai Namco's arcade shooter Galaga Legions DX, Examu's 2D fighting game Arcana Heart 3, and Sony Santa Monica Studio's God of War 2 HD. All of these games will be available beginning today.
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After deactivating codes for some of its games on Origin last month sold by code resellers, Ubisoft has begun reinstating many of them - much to the delight of those who bought the codes. The codes were sold by third-party resellers such as Kinguin, who Ubisoft claimed bought them in bulk with stolen credit cards. Read more
Update: The ESA has apologized for the DMCA takedown notices, saying that there was some amount of confusion involved. Below is a statement it issued to Ars Technica:
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Jennifer Ann's Group will be hosting a session at the Game Developers Conference next month about how video games are one of the most effective ways about raising awareness about teen dating violence and teaching prevention skills to teens and adults. The session will be led by Jennifer Ann's Group executive director Drew Crecente, whose daughter Jennifer Ann Crecente was murdered by her ex-boyfriend on February 15, 2006. Since then Crecente has been using his group - named after his daughter - to raise awareness about the deadly consequences of teen dating violence.
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Unity Technologies has joined the Non-profit games industry group The Open Gaming Alliance (OGA) today. Unity Technologies is the creator of the Unity multi-platform game development tools suite. Unity joins other industry leaders such as Intel, Dell/Alienware, Logitech, Plantronics and Razer in supporting the OGA’s efforts to "provide leadership and opportunities; and encourage growth and diversity within the games business ecosystem."
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The Club Nintendo consumer loyalty program is going out with a bang as Nintendo revealed a gigantic list of rewards this morning that gamers can get before it shuts down for good in March.
Users can spend their hard earned coins on digital goodies and lots and lots of games.
From greetings cards, cases, posters, and bags to Wii, Wii U, and 3DS titles.
The full list of games and goodies you can spend your coins on can be found below:
Goodies:
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In a surprising an unexpected move, New York-based investment firm Columbus Nova announced that it has acquired MMO maker and operator Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) for an undisclosed amount of money. Sony Online Entertainment is best known for creating EverQuest, PlanetSide 2, DC Universe Online, H1Z1, Landmark, and the upcoming EverQuest Next.
The company has been renamed Daybreak Game Company and - for the time being at least - John Smedley remains its president.
Read moreGoth_Skunk: Preach it, Andrew. Give me co-op any day.02/03/2015 - 6:43pm
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ZippyDSMlee: I like good SP games and FP ones I love, a shame the 'souls games do not have a FP mode...02/03/2015 - 6:43pm
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Andrew Eisen: I like first person shooters but unfortunately (for me) most of them focus on the multiplayer, something I have no interest in.02/03/2015 - 6:35pm
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Goth_Skunk: Battlefield: Hardline Beta opens up today. I could not be less interested. I suck at FPS PvP. The market cannot possibly saturate itself with these games fast enough.02/03/2015 - 6:27pm
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Monte: Tourists shouldn't drive aorund there anyway. Italians are crazy drivers... and i'm from New York.02/03/2015 - 6:25pm
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Conster: Plus Italy is notorious for screwing over tourists with obscure traffic laws and bureaucratic nonsense.02/03/2015 - 6:01pm
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Andrew Eisen: Fine advice for traffic laws and the like but not so much for things like discrimination.02/03/2015 - 5:51pm
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james_fudge: I should say *I* live in America02/03/2015 - 5:50pm
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james_fudge: We live in America, we an complain all we want :)02/03/2015 - 5:49pm
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Goth_Skunk: When in Rome, do as the Roman's do. Do not complain that the Romans aren't Greeks until you're back in Greece.02/03/2015 - 5:46pm
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james_fudge: When this league reads all the comments they will likely change these rules for the better02/03/2015 - 3:46pm
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james_fudge: EZK: yes :)02/03/2015 - 3:46pm
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james_fudge: Fun fact - the Philippines was nearly turned into a U.S. Territory http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/macarthur/peopleevents/pandeAMEX87.html02/03/2015 - 3:45pm
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E. Zachary Knight: That is a great response from Riot.02/03/2015 - 3:42pm
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james_fudge: Also see, https://twitter.com/riotgames/status/56271126589918822902/03/2015 - 3:40pm
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james_fudge: Papa, some of it is a lack of awareness too.02/03/2015 - 3:40pm
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E. Zachary Knight: Yeah, that is why I tend not to use it. But grey just makes not sense. (yes I know you said it jest Conster.)02/03/2015 - 3:36pm
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Papa Midnight: "Oreo" is indeed certainly offensive, and extremely derisive.02/03/2015 - 3:33pm
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E. Zachary Knight: Conster, I find the term "oreo" to be more fun but likely offensive to some.02/03/2015 - 3:33pm
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Papa Midnight: Well, it could be argued that no small amount of intolerance is generated from ignorance, in addition to a myopic unwilligness to see a perspective beyond ones own.02/03/2015 - 3:33pm
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