Update: This Kotaku story citing an unnamed Microsoft rep. notes that the Kinect does not have to be on all the time:

"Yes, you can turn the system completely off," the Microsoft rep said. "This would use no power and turn everything off. We’ll share more details about how it all works later."  Article author Stephen Totilo speculates that this involves pressing the console's power button.

German online game developer InnoGames will host a Game Jam in its Hamburg office on June 21. Participants will be charged with developing computer games with a team in a 48-hour period. Teams will have to create graphics, game design and programming from scratch. This is the sixth game jam held by the company. A team from InnoGames will also be participating in the event.

German game developer and publisher InnoGames announced that its online browser-based strategy game, Forge of Empires, has been named the "Best Browsergame" by the "Deutscher Computerspielepreis" (or German Computer Game Award) and has won a 50,000 Euros prize. While that is exciting news for the developer, the company also revealed that it will divide the prize money up amongst its employees. Forge of Empires beat out Skylancer: Battle for Horizon (Chimera Entertainment) and The Great Jitters - Haunted Hunt (kunst-stoff) to win.

German browser games operator Travian has laid off up to 60 employees due to "internal restructuring," according to a GamesIndustry International report - as reported by its German sister site. Multiple sources have confirmed the move with GII's German reporter during the Quo Vadis event, which is taking place this week in Berlin.

TopWare Interactive is working with Groupees to offer the Groupees / TopWare Interactive Bundle to help raise money for the World Wide Fund for Nature in Germany. For every bundle sold, 10 percent of the profits will go to the organization's ongoing efforts to protect endangered species in the region.

Remember those ridiculous age restrictions on Wii U eShop content in Europe because Nintendo of Europe is based out of Germany and subject to German laws about content? Yeah, well those silly restrictions have been removed much to the delight of our Wii U owning brothers and sisters in various regions throughout Europe including the UK, according to Daily Joypad.

The German consumer advocacy group The Federation of German Consumer Association has filed an official complaint against Valve Software for its Steam's end-user license agreement because it does not allow consumers to resell digital content. The European High Court ruled last year that digital content games can be sold. The complaint against Valve filed with the German courts is directly related to that ruling.

Germany's highest court has ruled that Internet is such an important part of modern everyday life that when someone gets cut off from it they deserve some sort of compensation. The German high court made this determination based on a case involving a German citizen who was disconnected from his DSL line in 2008 because of some unspecified technical error. The citizen was offline for two months and he was angry enough about it to sue the ISP for his expenses (he used his mobile phone instead of his wireline VoIP service) as well as €50 ($67) per day because he had no connection.

The brutal murder of a 31-year-old woman is being attributed to the tenuous association of the killer's time playing Final Fantasy XIV. These conclusions are being drawn by two German tabloids, according to this Kotaku report. The 31-year-old woman, Katrin M. (the last names of both the victim and the killer are being withheld) was reportedly murdered by 18- or 19-year old Marco F, who stabbed the victim 18 times using a katana.

While adult Australian gamers get to enjoy the latest Ninja Gaiden game thanks to the country's new R18+ rating, their German peers appear to be SOL.

Nintendo of Europe has finally explained the odd restrictions on 18+ content (which includes reading information, looking at screenshots, and watching video) in place on the European Wii U eShop. It turns out that German law is affecting when everyone (adults and children) can look at mature content. Last week Eurogamer found that it could not look at information on the eShop during certain times (11pm to 3am). This included info on the 18+ rated games ZombieU and Assassin's Creed 3.

Google-owned Motorola has failed to ban sales of the Xbox 360 in both Germany and the United States related to patents the system uses. Motorola and Microsoft have been in a very public court battle over royalty payments related to patents owned by Motorola that Microsoft is using for the Xbox 360 system. Motorola claims that the patents being used by Microsoft are worth $4 billion a year in royalty payments, while Microsoft says that those patents are worth only $1 million a year. U.S.

It looks like the follow-up to the Zombie-themed action-RPG Dead Island won't be coming to Germany. In a recent interview with PCGamesN, Dead Island: Riptide creative producer Sebastian Reichert said this was due to the country's strict guidelines on the sale of violent media.

Samarion S.E., an investor in online games, has taken over one of Europe's biggest online game companies Gamigo from newspaper publisher Axelrod Springer AG. Gamigo publishes and operates free-to-play MMORPGs and browser-based games. Axelrod Springer AG purchased a majority stake in the German company four years ago. Now it wants to focus on the "non-gaming aspects of its digital business" so it has decided to unload its holdings in Gamigo.

Earlier this week Germany's Federation of German Consumer Organizations (or vzbv) called on Valve to explain the changes it made to the Steam end-user license agreement back in August. The vzbv found that the changes Valve made to its EULA were unfair to consumers and that Steam had no mechanism for allowing its users to trade games per a recent European High Court ruling. It required Valve to respond by September 26 to their insistence the company change its policy "restricting access to content based on the forfeiture of signing the new EULA."

It isn't particularly sophisticated, but klutzGames' Windows Phone 7 release of LeaderFlip does let players (particularly those in Germany) have a bit of fun with Chancellor of Germany and Chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union Angela Merkel -- I mean Angie Makel. The game lets you play as a caricature of the German Chancellor who you must send to the moon by flipping her upwards on platforms using a simple game mechanic and a variety of power-ups that include beer, sausage, and beans.

Litigation continues in the never-ending fight between Apple and Samsung over patents. Apple has managed to secure a ban on Samsung's popular tablet in all of Europe. Apple has won a preliminary injunction against the Samsung's Galaxy Tab 7.7 in all European Union member countries. While the tablet was already banned in Germany, the new ruling means that Apple can return to the German court if Samsung sells the tablet in Europe and ask the court for remedies.

Gaming Blend is reporting that the German consumer advocacy group the Federation of Consumer Organizations is giving Blizzard until July 27 to fix problems with its "always on" DRM system for Diablo III or it will seek a remedy in court. The group warned Blizzard in June that it wanted the company to change its retail packaging to reflect that the game required an Internet connection to play and that the connection must be persistent.

Gothic 4 developer Spellbound Entertainment has risen from the ashes of bankruptcy to become a brand new company called Black Forest Games. The development studio is being staffed by 40 of its 65 former employees and is still based in Germany. With its financial troubles in the rear-view mirror, the company hopes to get back to making the best strategy and role-playing games that it can make.

Sony is on the fence about having a major presence at the popular European gaming event Gamescom later this year. Sony Computer Entertainment's German communications director Guido Alt told the German arm of GamesIndustry International that a decision has yet to be made on Gamescom and that they are still negotiating terms with the event's organizers.

Google suffered what some are calling a "major legal defeat" in a German court today in a patent fight with Microsoft. The court ruled in favor of Microsoft, who argued that Motorola has violated a patent related to text messaging. The ruling would allow Microsoft to pursue a ban on Android products in Germany. Motorola won a similar decision earlier in the month in a German court that would allow them to pursue a ban of Xbox 360 and Windows products, but a Washington Federal Court has forbid the company for doing so until it makes a ruling in a U.S.

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) continues to run into hurdles in various parts of the world. Today those hurdles include a sharp rebuke from Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and Australia's Green party.

Motorola Mobility has won an injunction against Microsoft in Germany prohibiting the sale of products in the country including Windows 7 and the Xbox 360. The injunction is the latest punch thrown in a bitter patent lawsuit between Motorola and Microsoft

Hamburg, Germany-based publisher Dtp Entertainment AG has filed for bankruptcy according to GamesIndustry International. The news comes from GamesIndustry International's German sister site and its editor, Christoph Holowaty.

German developer Spellbound Entertainment has filed for insolvency after failing to secure an investment to keep it fully operational. The good news, if there is any to be had in a story like this, is that the salaries of the company's 65 employees have been secured while the preliminary insolvency proceedings take place, and Spellbound will proceed as normal. A new round of investment is set to begin immediately, and preliminary insolvency trustee Ulrich Nehrig claims that there is "a very good chance of success" because Spellbound has a number of projects underway.

The Washington Times has an opinion piece that takes a shot at German Chancellor Angela Merkel's administration over what they are calling a proposed "Drudge Tax." The reference is to conservative Matt Drudge's popular web site The Drudge Report, which aggregates news from all over the web. While the flavor of The Drudge Report may not sit well with many, the concern with a new proposal being pushed by Merkel's administration is that it will levy taxes on web sites that aggregate content.

German MMO developer Reakktor Media has begun the insolvency process, according to GameIndustry.biz. Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz Germany, Reakktor Media managing director Kirk Lenke said that, even as the company marches towards a bleak future, the 50+ MMO team is actively looking for and ready to commission any work it can find. The company also has its own Diablo-style science fiction game at the prototype stage.

Martin Schulz, the president of the European Parliament, has criticized the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) on German television, saying of the treaty that he does not "find it good in its current form." Schulz's comments came on the heels of protests throughout various countries in Europe - including Germany, Poland and the UK. Schulz went on to say that there is no balance between copyright protection and the individual rights of internet users, noting that it "is only very inadequately anchored in this agreement".

Germany has announced that it will not ratify the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) after its justice ministry voiced concerns about the international agreement. This does not mean that Germany won't eventually sign it - it simply means it has no plans to sign it "right now." A foreign ministry spokesperson told the AFP that the delay was to "give us time to carry out further discussions." Further details on what those discussions would be about were not disclosed at the time of this writing.

Munich, Germany-based browser games publisher Travian Games was honored with the "Best German Publisher Award" at the eighth annual German Developer Awards yesterday in Dusseldorf, Germany. The annual awards event saw nearly 600 attendees comprised of professionals from the German publishing and game development community, along with politicians, media representatives and celebrities. A total of 14 awards were given out in various categories.