NEWS: Pre-release pirate to pay $1.5 million in damages

James Burt of Queensland, Australia has agreed to pay Nintendo $1.5 million in damages as compensation for lost revenue caused when Burt uploaded a game before its official release date.

Burt made New Super Mario Bros. for Wii available on-line in early November, one week before its official Australian street date. As is the case in most countries, distributing games without permission is illegal and carries a hefty fine.

Rather than head to court, Burt and Nintendo settled and came to the $1.5 million figure, which also includes $100,000 to pay for Nintendo's legal fees.

"Nintendo will pursue those who attempt to jeopardize our industry by using all means available to it under the law," says the company.

Adds Nintendo Australia managing director Rose Lappin: "It wasn't just an Australian issue, it was a global issue. There was thousands and thousands of downloads, at a major cost to us and the industry really. It's not just about us. It's about retailers and if they can't sell the games then they have to bear the costs associated with that. Once it's on the Internet it's anyone's really."
VIEW FULL

NEWS: Xbox 'Halo 2' fans to have one last battle on April 14

Last week Microsoft announced that it was shutting down the Xbox Live service for the original Xbox console starting in April, effectively killing all online play for the orphaned console, as well as for Xbox games that can be played on the Xbox 360.

Bungie, the developer behind the Halo series, says it is saddened that gamers will no longer be able to play Halo 2 online.

"We're all saddened at the realisation that an era is coming to an end but looking back, we're incredibly fortunate to have had such a great run and such strong support from our fans," says Bungie. "Halo 2 has been at or near the top of the Xbox Live charts for original games since it launched over five years ago. We're extremely thankful to everyone who has played, enjoyed and supported Halo 2 over Xbox Live. We've had some great fun together, including far too many humpday losses to even recount."

With that being said, Bungie is inviting all current and former Halo 2 players to have one last battle on April 14th, the last day before the servers go down.

"Mark your calendars now - on April 14th let's all rally to go online for one last hoorah. One final farewell and one final opportunity for all of you to kick our asses at Halo 2."

 VIEW FULL

NEWS: Original Xbox Live to close in April

Microsoft has announced today that they will be discontinuing Xbox Live service for the original Xbox console starting in April. The move will effectively kill all online play for the orphaned console, as well as for Xbox games that can be played on the Xbox 360.

"This isn’t a decision we made lightly, but after careful consideration, it is clear this will provide the greatest benefit to the Xbox Live community," says XBL general manager Marc Whitten.

Whitten does admit that some games still have significant amounts of players, such as Halo 2, but all things must come to an end. Says the GM: "There’s no greater example of the power of the Xbox Live community than the Halo franchise. Halo 2 has had an amazing run on Live, with a dedicated community more than five years after launch and well into the next generation of consoles. It has fundamentally changed the way we play videogames. And while it’s difficult to see that run come to an end, the Halo franchise continues to act as the benchmark for multiplayer gaming in this generation, with Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST and soon Halo: Reach on Xbox 360."

With the death of original Xbox Live, will come new services and features for the 360 version.

"As we look down the road, we’ll continue to evolve the service with features and experiences that harness the full power of Xbox 360. To reach our aspiration, we need to make changes to the service that are incompatible with our original Xbox games. We will contact the Xbox Live members directly impacted by this change and if this includes you, I encourage you to check your Live messages and associated email account over the coming weeks for more details and opportunities. We view you as a partner in this process," Whitten concludes.

VIEW FULL

NEWS: Geohot releases PS3 exploit

The hacker behind the first proper breach of the PlayStation 3 (PS3) console's security has released the exploit for others to tinker with. It won't let you launch a "hello world" program easily, but its definitely a start for others who are up to the challenge now. George Hotz (geohot), known for his work Apple's iPhone, ran a blog for a few weeks following his efforts to crack the console security, and then on Friday announced that he had "hacked the PS3".

Here's his latest blog post.

Here's your silver platter
In the interest of openness, I've decided to release the exploit. Hopefully, this will ignite the PS3 scene, and you will organize and figure out how to use this to do practical things, like the iPhone when jailbreaks were first released. I have a life to get back to and can't keep working on this all day and night.

Please document your findings on the psDevWiki. They have been a great resource so far, and with the power this exploit gives, opens tons of new stuff to document. I'd like to see the missing HV calls filled in, nice memory maps, the boot chain better documented, and progress on a 3D GPU driver. And of course, the search for a software exploit.

This is the coveted PS3 exploit, gives full memory space access and therefore ring 0 access from OtherOS. Enjoy your hypervisor dumps. This is known to work with version 2.4.2 only, but I imagine it works on all current versions. Maybe later I'll write up how it works

I've gotten confirmation the exploit works on 3.10. Also I've heard about compile issues on Fedora. I did this in Ubuntu. I would really like someone to write up a nice tutorial :)

VIEW FULL

News: Sony delays motion controller till Autumn

Sony Corp. has announced that it is delaying the release of its anticipated motion controller for the PlayStation 3 (PS3) console. The announcement of the delay comes just a week after it was revealed the launch of the new Gran Turismo title would be delayed.

Adding motion control helps Sony's PS3 compete with the popular Nintendo Wii console and with the upcoming Project Natal system due to launch by year's end for Microsoft's Xbox 360 console.

The launch of the motion control technology for the PlayStation 3 (PS3) has been delayed until there is adequate software titles available on the marker to utilize it, according to Sony.

While its projected release sometime in Autumn is less specific than would be desired, Sony did not set a date or timeframe for the release of Grand Turismo 5, which was due to be released in March.

VIEW FULL

EoV Game Review: Dead Space

 Slowly I make my way down the hallway; straining my neck with each step forward to make out what might be hiding in a nook or cranny. Frantically spinning around to make sure nothing is behind me every few seconds... I'm scared shitless. Every corridor would be the same cramped dark metal tunnel if not for the horrific carnage and strange symbols left behind by some diabolic interior decorator. As I round the corner, a figure stands there casually eyeballing me. Raising my plasma cutter, I for some reason, hesitate to shoot. No tentacles. No slashers. No erratic movement. No hostility. It appears to genuinely be human - at this point I'm not really sure.

The figure remains eerily still as I approach. Callously turning its heads back towards whatever it was working on before I "disturbed" him. Peering past him I can finally see he is not alone. Laying on a hospital gurney is another "survivor." The same blank look is on his face while his friend performs surgery on him. Surgery isn't the right word though. Butchery is more appropriate. The "patient" shows no desire to fight back or try and get away on his one remaining leg. He has no impulse to scream in agony as he is cut into. Perfectly content to be rent asunder.

VIEW FULL