Chris and Tim Stamper, the two founders of Rare Ltd (of Goldeneye 007 and Banjo-Kazooie fame) have left the company as it enters its 25th year, Microsoft has confirmed.
Reported on 1UP, the news comes just four years after Microsoft acquired the UK dev studio for $375m, and released five games for Microsoft Game Studios - Viva Pinata, Perfect Dark Zero, Kameo, Conker: Live & Reloaded and Grabbed by the Ghoulies.
"Chris and Tim have helped shape Rare into the world-renowned development studio that is it today and their impact on the videogame industry as a whole is well known," Microsoft said in a statement. "[The Stampers] are simply leaving to pursue other opportunities and we wish them luck in their future endeavours."
The departure will undoubtedly come as a blow to Microsoft, as the brothers' 'hands-on' experience and influence over studio workings have been significant.
Despite speculation to contrary, Microsoft says that disappointing sales for the studio's latest Xbox 360 title Viva Pinata have "absolutely" nothing to do with the departure.
Following the shake up, 19-year company veteran Mark Betteridge and Gregg Mayles will succeed the Stampers as studio director and creative director respectively.
Eidos boss and industry veteran Ian Livingstone believes new technology is key to creating innovation in the videogame sector, as all current game genres are too crowded for new ideas to flourish.
Speaking in the latest edition of the Games Central podcast, Livingstone points out that publishers are focused on building a balanced portfolio of titles, rather than risking creating new projects and IP.
"The problem is that on consoles the major genres are jam-packed full, and you have a few genre-owning games. First-person shooters, war games, they're all dominated by big franchises, so it's hard to be original in those genres," said Livingstone.
"Publisher's don't want to take extraordinary risks, they want a balanced portfolio of products. They may take a risk on a few things, but they still want to bank the big titles in the big genres that do well."
According to Livingstone, companies that focus on creating new technology have been leading the way in innovation, and at the same time opening up the gaming market to a wider audience.
"Where innovation can come from is in new technology. Nintendo has demonstrated that you can carve out a new market through innovation. The DS and the Wii will demonstrate that gameplay, gameplay and gameplay are the three most important aspects of a game, and that technology and graphics support that experience," commented Livingstone.
He added: "Plus, there's innovation as the market permeates through society on different platforms and therefore attracts a new audience - PC downloads, online games, mobile and other wireless devices that broaden the market, such as the PSP and DS."
"We've chased the same market for far too long and now the economics are not working out. Games are costing too much in the frontline market for hardcore gamers," he said.
The latest edition of the Games Central podcast, hosted by Tim Wapshott, also features contributions from Jason Kingsley, MD of UK developer Rebellion.
As you can imagine, we are always happy to welcome anyone who has posed for Playboy into the loving arms of IGN Babes… so when we met Mandy Lynn, we just had to chat (and hit her up for some pictures)! Hear what she has to say below:
IGN Babes: So where do you call home?
Mandy Lynn: Long Island, New York.
IGN: Where would you like to call home?
Mandy Lynn: Right where I am! Love it here, just wish it was warmer. But I would also love to live in LA; there's just so much opportunity out there!
IGN: What made you want to be a model, and how did you get into it?
Mandy Lynn: I always loved to have my pic taken so it was only a matter of time till I pursued modeling. My first big break was when Playboy came to town and I was chosen!
IGN: What do you like most about modeling?
Mandy Lynn: The fans are really a great part of modeling. I love when they get just as excited as I do when I accomplish something. I am always interacting with them in my forums—they are the best!
IGN: What do you dislike most about modeling?
Mandy Lynn: Just because I am a model people assume I am also an escort, stripper, porn star… and it is annoying, especially when they say it is all the same thing and it is not!
IGN: Where else might we have seen you in the past?
Mandy Lynn: Playboy is what I am most know for; that and MySpace.
IGN: What job would interest you besides modeling?
Mandy Lynn: Web design and photography; I'd love to get on the other side of the camera.
IGN: What are some of your hobbies?
Mandy Lynn: Web design. I love designing websites for myself as well as others.
I spent the last few days reading a lot of articles on BackupHDDVD, reading a lot of people's post/comments on various websites.
This is the time to set the record straight about this new tool and what the impacts are.
First I need to clarify some points.
Revocation:
In the AACS system, there is 4 types of revocation:
Drive revocation
Host revocation
Device revocation (with MKB)
Content revocation
There is no such thing as "title key revocation" and "volume key revocation"
-------------
Now, here is a list of affirmations I have seen lately.
Affirmation 1: You did not break AACS, just the player
My comment: I did not break AACS, but I find a way to decrypt movies and I have bypassed all the revocation system.
Not that bad...
Affirmation 2: The BackupHDDVD circumvention tool won't last long
My comment: As long as insecure players will exist, it will last...
And insecure players will always exist, in fact you can extract keys from any player! Some players are just easier to extract the key from. Being lazy, I prefer to extract keys from an insecure player than a secure one.
And the AACS spec says "Device keys must be protected!" but they did not said that about volume key, fatal mistake!
Affirmation 3: The keys can easily be revoked.
My comment: What keys are you talking about? As I stated before, there is no such thing as "title key revocation" and "volume key revocation". If someone publishes only volume keys, there is no way to know from which player these keys where extracted from, making the revocation system useless. They can do content revocation, but to revoke what? All movies before 2007? They can do player revocation, so I will just change the player I'm using, big deal...
So what is the AACS revocation system good at? It is good for that scenario:
Someone post on the net, a tool that do the complete decryption automatically. Off course the program use stolen device keys from an Official player. They (AACS and friends) will eventually get their hands on this program, look at the device keys and revoke them. Making that player unable to play new titles. But the author of this program can pre-extract a bunch of devices keys from different players and release them, one at the time, when the previous one have been blacklisted. The AACS spec says "Device keys must be protected!" so I suppose they put more effort in protecting these keys then the volume key in memory.
Affirmation 4: BackupHDDVD is nothing, only one person out of a million have the technical skills to extract keys.
My comment: BackupHDDVD is a proof of concept.
Picture this:
Few skilled persons can do massive volume key extraction, and send the keys to a central server on the internet. Then, they create an easy to use decryption program, with a nice GUI that do online key recovery. That way, my father and your father can backup movies.
Or they can send the keydb.cfg file on P2P networks (BitTorrent, E-Mule, etc..)
See the problem now?
Affirmation 5: You can extract keys from software player on personal computer but not on hardware player.
My comment: It's easier to extract keys from software player, but it also possible to extract keys from hardware player (the set-top box in your living room!)
Conclusion:
The attack I describe in "Affirmation 4", is not here yet, but it's coming. So I give MPAA and AACSLA a head start. Start to think what you can do about that.
To totally block this attack, they need to put different keys on every disk! Now, they only have different keys for different movies. I don't know about the manufacturing process of the disk. This solution may not be possible.
The best they can do, is doing shorter manufacturing run of a particular movie, so it would be difficult to get your hand on every "pressing" of a movie.
When they design AACS, they assume people will look for the device keys. I don't care about device keys. I do care about volume key. Having the device keys mean that you have to re-implements all the complex crypto and do the full AACS process.
I leave all this dirty job to the player and recover only the volume key.
Cristophe Gans has told French Magazine DVDrama that work on a second Silent Hill film is well under way, and he promises that it will remedy all of the problems of the first picture.
That said, while he's keen to revisit his role as director of the film, alongside writer Roger Avary, he can't make any promises due to his current involvement in another big-screen videogame adaptation - Onimusha.
"There will indeed be a Silent Hill 2 and it is officially ordered and is already well under way. Once he has finished his adaptation of Driver, Roger Avary will be [working on the script], helped by his friend Neil Gaiman."
British author Gaiman's actual contribution to the project is still rather doubtful, stating on his blog that fans' emails asking about his involvement were the first he'd heard of it.
"I'm afraid that I don't think I am - I mean, it's the first thing I've ever heard of it, and I'm sure that if they make a sequel Roger would want to write it himself."
The first film, released earlier this year, tells the story of Rose DaSilva, a mother who sets out to investigate the mysterious Silent Hill, a town her daughter calls to in her sleep. It received mixed reviews, but certainly shows more potential than other recent videogame to big-screen adaptations.
Since the US military sucks up nearly a trillion dollars of our income taxes every year, they have plenty of money to blow, and here's one of the cool toys such prodigious amounts of cash will buy: it's a giant magnetic slingshot. But the spending has hardly even started on this one yet—the Air Force so far has contributed a paltry half million dollars to LaunchPoint Technologies to develop its idea of a satellite launch system that accelerates its payload around a giant ring using magnetic levitation (MagLev) technology.
Car manufacturer Toyota is developing a drunk-busting car system which will, in the event of excess consumption on the part of the driver, shut down the vehicle.
According to Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun, cars kitted out with the system won't start if sweat sensors incorporated into the steering wheel detect an over-the-limit level of blood alcohol. It may also slow the car to a halt if sensors pick up erratic steering, or even if a camera spies unfocused pupils.
The plan is to fit Toyota cars with the device by 2009.
The idea is not, of course, new. Back in 2005, we reported on the US man who'd developed a similar system relying on "sensors either in gloves or on the steering wheel". This avoids the pitfall of the immobilising breathalyser, which relies on the willing participation of the half-cut driver.
The games industry should sponsor an academy to teach gamers skills they need to become successful game developers, Shaun Woodward, the creative industries minister, has suggested.
The "best way for the videogames industry to have the talent and the skills it wants is to move into the hot seat itself; to come to the government and say 'we want to put some money into an academy'", Woodward told the Financial Times.
He countinued, "you might have kids who traditionally have quite a difficult time coping with traditional academic subjects but happen to be the most amazing gamers... you have to look very creatively at the kind of educational background you want."
The game industry is moving beyond looking enviously at tax breaks and other state incentives offered to film companies, the minister said, to an acceptance that it's now a multibillion pound industry in its own right.
"They're now recognising that 'actually we're huge, maybe we need to build our own institutional bricks'," the minister said. "You see television and films schools but we don't have a video-games school. Why not? Because [the sector] is so new. And yet we're the third largest manufacturer in the world. And that's the sense of catch up here."
Woodward went on to say that he is confident that private sector support will make the 'game academy' a reality, so there could be a lot more game developers flying the British flag in the future.
So the processor might not be up to snuff for Doom, Linux, a NES emulator, or whatever other hacker software flavor of the month there might be, but a couple of University of Cambridge security nuts pulled apart a credit card reading "Chip & PIN" terminal and managed to get Tetris up and running on its teensy screen, which sounds good by us. The hack, while being a handy way to pass the time while manning a boring cash register, is actual a proof of concept for what could potentially be much more malicious hacks: if you can fool users into swiping their cards and entering in their PIN numbers into a modded terminal, there's all sorts of opportunity for theft. But we suppose as long as these guys are just in it for the classic gaming action -- and to expose potential security flaws in UK payment systems, of course -- there's not much harm in this hack.
CBS-owned cable TV channel Showtime is launching a new company titled On Broadband to offer games-on-demand that can be downloaded or played online.
The new service is being launched in co-operation with Broadband Libraries, an edutainment publisher, and will target cable TV networks and DSL providers. It's due to launch in the second quarter of 2007.
Some of the games on offer will be free, while others will be obtainable through one-time payments or a subscription fee. The service will also generate revenues through advertising and broadband companies.
"While it might not seem like a natural, when you think about it, it makes a lot of sense for Showtime," said Showtime Networks boss Matthew Blank.
"We are used to dealing with a premium customer. We have the marketing and promotional expertise to be in those businesses."
In an age when international-ticket receipts, DVD sales, video games, merchandising and other ancillary markets can transform a box-office dud into a worldwide behemoth, Hollywood has had to rewrite the rules on blockbusters. For one, they had to change their name.
The term for such films is "tent poles" now, and just as well — it describes them better. With their sequels, prequels, spin-offs and adaptations, these films hold up a studio's schedule and protect the rest of its library from disaster.
1. "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix"
"It is time for me to tell you what I should have told you five years ago," Dumbledore tells Harry Potter in "Order of the Phoenix" (see " 'Phoenix' Trailer Reveals A Harry Potter Who's Ready To Fight — And Kiss"). "I am going to tell you everything." And so he does. The real question is whether or not he'll tell us — the explanatory resolutions at the end of Rowling's books have been among the most glaring and obvious omissions from the series' films. And with big characters and plot points that fans reference with capital letters — the Prophesy, the Giant, the Senior Undersecretary, the Death, the Loon, the Order — there's enough here for two movies. After the series' climax in "Goblet of Fire," Harry tries to warn the world of the return of Lord Voldemort to no avail. Fans with a keen eye will be attempting to divine possible plot points for the seventh and final book: "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." No time-turners allowed — the film opens July 13.
CES in Vegas is underway, and Sony are working their "magic" right now.
Here is how the event has gone for Sony so far :
4:40PM PST - Looks like we're all still waiting until they get the show on the road -- it's slightly behind schedule, but should start shortly. At least we've got lots of Sony recording artists to listen to over the PA in the mean time.
4:45 - Sony is bringing out Joshua Bell with his violin. Look like he's going to play some top 40 fiddle. More in a few when he's done with this thang. He's hitting rather high notes -- very Shine -- while his keeper sits off stiffly to the side next to the pianist. For a second we thought he was a plasticy Sony robot.
4:50 - Rick Clancey is now out, he's introducing what's what. They plan to focus on the "theme of transformations." Apparently they want to transform CES from an electronics show into an entertainment show. Huh? Sony's "Backstage theater" will be having plenty of presentations throughout CES of Sony artists. "... not one of our competitors can even come close to matching" Sony's position in the market. They're greeting Howard Stringer, but the Sir isn't here to speak on stage. What a bummer, where you at Howie?
4:54 - "So let's kick things off with the PS3." They're bringing up Peter Dille to give a PS3 update -- you may recall Peter? He's going over the usual PS3 pimping. Their goal: to ship 1m PS3s in 2006. Their accomplishment: reaching that goal. "One of the most important consumer electronics products of the decade." Apparently the PS3 has sold 1m units faster than PS and PS2, so he sounds pretty optimistic amidst the criticism surrounding Sony of late. Their next goal: 6m by March 2007.
4:56 - Going over the big talking points: "High def. Portable entertainment. Online / community content." Yes, pimping 1080p and Blu-ray, "crystal clear visuals," "vastly bigger canvas," "they look tremendous." Alright, let's get some content now, we've all heard the PS3 spiel.
5:00 - Digital living - those who want more than a portable gaming machine, it's a portable entertainment system. Going over PSP and PS3 integration, LocationFree, and accessing media content. Now we're onto more PS3 stuff: PS3 store, online network (which, they'd like to remind us, is totally free, "compared to our competitors."), text messaging, and "new online worlds" for users to integrate user-created content.
5:03 - Finally, upcoming games! Well, not really. Right now they're just showing clips of what appears to be current titles. Wait, WHAT? It was a 30-second clip and didn't show a single title. Sony, why do you tease us so? Now Randy Waynick is up on screen. "Full HD" is not only a Sony "creation," but it was a phrase they "popularized" too. You heard it here first, Sony is behind 1080p!
5:05 - According to NPD Sony was #1 in 2006 in HDTV. Not bad, Sony! Sony's introducing a 10-inch thick micro-display based HDTV -- but now on to LCD HDTVs. They announced their first 70-inch LCD HDTV with the "fastest refresh rate of any Sony LCD TV to date." They've also got an 82-inch Bravia on display here, and are claiming commitment to future production of OLED displays.
5:08 - Now the XL3 from yesterday -- their media PC with Blu-ray. They're previewing two new Blu-ray prototypes tonight, arriving in the market this year. And... ? Ah, he's moved on already, didn't even announce. Guess we'll find out in a few, but for now they're heading over to Steve Haber to discuss digital photography. "Behind the lens."
5:11 - "Sony has been digital since day one." 16 new camcorders in hard drive, DVD, and mini-DV, damn! Four new HD editions to the Handycam fam -- AVC-HD. 3 megapixel sensors, and x.v.Color, their new term coined from xvycc, "a new international standard that enables the color range to be expanded on y." Apparently Sony's captured 60% market share of the hard drive camcorder market; their new units will feature up to 60GB drives and up to 40x zoom. Going over some consumer cams; he's rocking the A100, which we all know well.
5:15 - IT product division chief: Hideyuki Furumi -- going to introduce the "hottest products" at CES. He wants us to watch out for "sound-alike / look-alike products from an ever-increasing list of manufacturers." Vaio laptops are expanding again with further die sub patterns and options. Now the UX... more stuff we know well. New products any time now guys, we're with ya.
5:19 - Here we go! W1 wireless system (we think)... stream music or internet radio for in-home use, a sexy little boombox. And now he's introducing their new media PC we covered earlier today, talking about rethinking where PCs can go and what they look like. Good, living room, respectively, thankyoumuch.
5:23 - Now the Mylo -- more review. Not quite the pow-pow-pow product introduction we were hoping for, but ah well. So, now we back to our main stage. "It's about companies and products with... a powerful entertainment vision for the future. That future starts RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW."
5:25 - "Sony is committed to creating an environment [of] convergence." Announcing an "Internet Video system," capable of streaming HD content. Oh yes, this is what we're talking about. It's an apparently modular device that interfaces with your TV, and HD IPTV on even current future models. Bravia Internet Video Link is the name, learn it well. Now Kevin Conroy, EVP of AOL is out to discuss AOL Video content on "platforms besides the traditional PC." And now he's off. Oh nice, the interface of the BIVL is like the XMB. And now we've got Marco Boerries from Yahoo on stage. Whoops, dude almost accidentally walked right off the stage after some PR biz.
5:29 - "If you need proof of Sony expanding its entertainment horizons, here is an example." Ahh, Grouper's here -- hence user-generated content. Looks like that seemingly-random acquisition a while back is starting to add up. They're demoing user-gen content over IPTV (something tells us this is going to be "curated," like YouTube / Verizon). Plays a short art film. "The world is changing everybody!" Chuckles.
5:35 - XMB is the primary interface -- for the first time on TVs in NA. It doesn't quite look as refined as that of the PS3, but it does look good. Weather, traffic, news delivered through RSS in widget-like channels. Looks like they're wrapping up in a short few, lots more droning on about how powerful the brand is and how they're a legendary electronics company cum entertainment giant. "It's that simple." Hey, we know -- you're Sony. And here's Spiderman 3 up on screen to take us home.
With the first three Harry Potter DVDs now on moratorium, and Goblet of Fire being removed from store shelves on January 22nd, Warner Home Video has announced that the DVDs will be re-released later this year in high-definition format. WHV HD DVDs offer resolution six times higher than regular DVDs, as well as vibrant color, contrast, and sound.
Just eight hours after the title of Book 7 was announced, the novel hit the #1 spot on Amazon.co.uk's book chart. The staggering success of the book is further illustrated by the fact that it is now outselling all other books in the top 10 list combined. On top of that, the adult edition of DH is sitting at #2 on the chart.
Christopher North, Amazon.co.uk's Head of Books, said: "Thousands of people in homes and offices across the UK have been going online to reserve their copy. If the initial response is anything to go by, this could be the biggest selling Harry Potter [book] of all time. The fact that this is the final installment seems to have heightened the excitement and buzz around this Harry Potter title. Demand for 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' could well surpass that of previous releases and we expect more people to pre-order this time round."
Trade body TIGA has welcomed recent statements made by MP Shaun Woodward, on the need for a dedicated 'games academy' to benefit the UK industry.
The idea of a games academy, or Centre of Excellence, was first put to the MP last July, and is part of the three-pronged initiative by TIGA to address skills shortages in the videogame sector - along with encouraging the development of new IP, and a scheme to assist research, debate and innovation in industry technology.
TIGA has been in discussions with independent and developer-owned studios across the country in order to understand industry requirements, as well as researching initiatives in other European countries to see what can be learned, and to look at possible collaborations.
"There are a number of factors we need to take into account," said Fred Hasson, CEO of TIGA.
"Firstly, the industry is crying out for more suitably skilled people to enter the sector. Secondly, skills needed to cope with the next-gen transition to larger studios and changing patterns of production are needed now."
"There are potential gains to be made by looking at how techniques and know-how from other closely related industries can inform the way we develop product. These are the issues we are exploring with companies and partners," he said.
Hasson, who has been responsible for training initiatives in the film and TV sectors, added: "Most training is done in-house or on the job, which is a large investment for companies and partly explains why there is general anxiety at the poaching and tempting of staff away from studios."
"There are also variations on the way things are done locally which differ from cluster to cluster dotted around the UK. All this needs to be taken into account if we are going to get this right."
TIGA's long-term goal is to to develop strategies for the continued success and competitiveness of the UK games industry in an ever-changing global market.
With the Sony-Immersion force feedback lawsuit fresh in memory, another firm, Texas-based Fenner Investments, has stepped up to sue the 'big three' over another joypad patent.
The firm is suing Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony for violating its patent for a "low-voltage joystick port interface," though the lawsuit doesn't mention which specific consoles supposedly violate the patent.
The lawsuit alleges that the three console manufactures are "now engaging, and will in the future continue to engage, in unauthorized conduct and activities that violate" the patent, and demands compensation for claimed damages, as well as "enhanced" damages, attorney's fees and court costs.
As with the Immersion lawsuit, this one's likely to stretch for many a month.
Disney has announced plans to launch more movie-based Massively Multiplayer Online Games. With plans already on the table for a "Pirates of the Caribbean" title, additional properties are apparently now under consideration for a similar treatment. They are aiming at teens more than the older crowd, and don't seem to be interested in fighting for players from World of Warcraft or Second Life."
From the article:
'We plan to build more virtual worlds like "Pirates" based on a broad range of our properties,' Iger told attendees of the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas ... 'You can imagine living in Buzz and Woody's toy universe,' he added, recalling Disney Pixar's computer animated hit feature film 'Toy Story'."
Jason Isaacs, Mr. Malfoy in Harry Potter, recently spoke about the closing scenes of the Order of the Phoenix movie, particularly the battle he shot alongside Gary Oldman (Sirius Black). Furthermore, the actor caught up with Jo lately and appealed for her to include his character in Deathly Hallows:
"I fell to my knees and begged. It didn't do any good. I'm sure she doesn't need plot ideas from me. But I made my point. We'll see. Like everybody else, I'm holding my breath to July to see what's in there. I just want to bust out of prison, that's all. I don't want to stay in Azkaban most of my life."
For clarification - although he says July as the release of Book 7, no date has been announced yet.
Wedbush Morgan Securities has told GamesIndustry.biz that there are discrepancies between NPD's latest US sales data and the figures released by some retailers and publishers - including Nintendo.
"The numbers were surprising to me. I truly expected higher sell-through, and there are a few things about the figures that raise questions," said analyst Michael Pachter.
"There was a discrepancy between the number of Wii units claimed to have been shipped by Nintendo to North America - approximately 2 million - and the cumulative sell-through measured by NPD - approximately 1.1 million.
"This difference alone is almost impossible to reconcile," he added.
Pachter said he was also surprised by the 19 per cent year-on-year drop in PlayStation 2 software sales, observing, "PS2 software has been running flat year-over-year since June, and this kind of decline was not expected.
"Again, it's not easy to reconcile NPD's figures with other company claims. For example, GameStop claimed its software sales were up 18 per cent in November-December. However, NPD figures show that November-December software sales growth was only 6 per cent."
Pachter conceded that it was possible GameStop had increased its market share considerably over the two month period. However, he continued, "Given comments from Best Buy and Circuit City about their sales, I find that possibility to be extremely remote."
According to Pachter, Sony had "a great month" and was the market leader, while Nintendo also enjoyed bumper sales was "clearly number two". It was also a good period for Microsoft, he went on, which secured "the largest share of next-gen console hardware and software sales".
In short, Pachter concluded, "Everyone's a winner."
The official story: "Microsoft does not comment on rumors or speculation." -- Microsoft rep. As for Capcom...see below.
What we heard: It's no secret that Microsoft wants to break into the Japanese game market--badly. When the Xbox 360 launched in late 2005, it allocated a third of its launch stock to the island nation--where half of it gathered dust on store shelves while bored shopkeepers stood by picking their noses.
Microsoft has also tried the software approach, hiring Japanese game-design legends such as Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi and Space Channel mastermind Tetsuya Mizuguchi to make Xbox 360 exclusives. Unfortunately, the latter's first effort, Ninety-Nine Nights, fizzled on both sides of the Pacific. However, the former's debut, Blue Dragon, fared as well as an Xbox 360 game can in Japan, given the platform's limited base. It sold more than 80,000 units in its first four days on the Japanese market last fall.
Still, Microsoft hasn't spent tens of millions in Japan to eke out modest hits. So the fact that it might opt to acquire a major Japanese publisher seems perfectly plausible, given its near-bottomless bank account. Thus was spawned this week's top rumor, which had Microsoft buying Capcom, the developer-publisher behind the Resident Evil series, outright.
Sure, it makes sense. Capcom has made two critically acclaimed Xbox 360 games, Dead Rising and Lost Planet: Extreme Condition. (Look for the latter's review on GameSpot later today.) And Microsoft is flush with cash--$35 billion in reserves as of last summer, according to Reuters. So why not drop a relatively small chunk of change to take on Sony and Nintendo on their home turf?
However, plausibility does not equal reality. And in this case, the reality is that, for the time being, Microsoft is not buying Capcom. Apparently this latest orgy of speculation is an ancient rumor, resurrected by a Japanese blog promising a "On January 11th in game industry large announcement," according to a clunky Babel Fish translation. That, in turn, prompted a huge forum thread on the new Gaming Age forums, the Star Wars cantina of game gossip, which led to another post on the EvilAvatar forums, a top virtual water cooler for the overexcited gamer. Then came RSS feeds, rampant content poaching and...well, you do the math.
While Microsoft quickly raised its boilerplate defense shields (Q: "Is the world flat?" A: "Microsoft does not comment on rumors or speculation."), Capcom was more forthcoming. "It's a 3-year-old rumor, most likely refueled by our recent spate of 360 titles," a rep told GameSpot.
Bogus or not bogus?: BOGUS. "No soup for you! You come back, one year!"
You know how we were all waiting on someone to figure out where AACS was hiding those dagnab private keys? BackupHDDVD seemed to work as advertised, but it needed access to the hard-coded "Volume Unique Keys" that unlock the encryption of each HD DVD disc. Well, the friendly folks at Doom9's Forum finally tracked down that elusive key in memory, and have already started leaking keys for a few HD titles, including nerd-fave Serenity (which has quickly made its way to the torrents), Peter Jackson's King Kong, and the ever-popular 12 Monkeys. It's still unclear at this point how HD DVD's key-revocation technology will affect HD DVD players and their users, and currently there a few playback issues with the ripped HD movies, even on fast machines. Still, it sounds like the hackers won't have too much trouble replicating their success, even if they lose a few ripped keys or even HD DVD players in the process to big bad MPAA, and we're guessing playback issues will be eventually sorted.
In a new interview, Movie 5 director David Yates spoke about how, having produced politically charged films like The Girl In the Cafe, he was surprised when approached to direct OOTP.
Yates, who had never read the Harry Potter books, said: "It was interesting to get the call. I wouldn't have put myself forward as an obvious candidate." However, after reading Order of the Phoenix, he realized the novel had strong political overtones. "And it's probably the most emotional of all the books. As I read the book, suddenly, I tuned into the kind of thing I have always been drawn to."
Yates also spoke a little about Umbridge, saying she is "quite damaged as a person. She basically abuses Harry and puts him through this horrific detention. It is horrific abuse."
A recent report by the UK Film Council stated that over 840m pounds sterling was spent on film production last year, an increase of 48% from 2005's total expenditure. As a result, 2006 was the UK's best recorded year for film.
Film minister Shaun Woodward commented, "These figures show that the UK is a great place to make a film. Two Potters - Harry and Beatrix - a Golden Compass and a bit of Stardust have helped the UK's film industry have one of its best years ever."
Currently Making backup of your games and making MP3 of the songs you own, is illegal in the UK. The law is very out dated. A petition was made asking:
"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to create a new exception to copyright law that gives individuals the right to create a private copy of copyrighted materials for their own personal use, including back-ups, archiving and shifting format."
this is the response
As you may be aware, in December 2005 the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, announced that there would be a review of the intellectual property framework in the UK, led by Andrew Gowers.
The findings of this review have now been published and recommend the introduction of a private copying exception for the purposes of format shifting. This would allow individuals to copy music which they have legally bought on compact disc onto an MP3 player without infringing copyright.
The Government welcomes this recommendation and is currently considering how such an exception should be created in UK law.
While folks have been receiving various forms of punishment after jacking somebody's lingering WiFi signal without consent, it looks like the poor internet-addicted teenager from Singapore just barely missed out on the maximum fine. Proclaimed as the first victim of Singapore's newly-enforced Computer Misuse Act, the 17-year old Garyl Tan Jia Luo picked up 18 months of probation (some of which will be at home) instead of jail time, but what's potentially worse is the fact that he is not allowed to access the internet during his stint. Apparently, the judge felt this was the best way to break him of his internet addiction, and also recommended that the kiddo receive treatment for his online gaming obsession. Of course, we're sure his school grades will plummet and he'll miss out on a critical amount of technological development during the next 1.5 years, but hey, serving up justice is what it's all about, right? So if you're stuck in Singapore without a connection to the digital world, hold out just a bit longer for that free nationwide variety before hopping onto whatever jail-bait WiFi signal you find floating around.
A new OOTP photo showing Daniel Radcliffe at King's Cross station was released today. Also, David Yates was quoted in USA Today recently as saying Order of the Phoenix is "the most emotionally complex one so far."
Yeah, we've seen quite a bit of mishaps happen in conjunction with operating a GPS device, and the list of brainless criminals is (fortunately) seeming to get longer each day, but this heist made the cops' jobs so easy it's almost implausible. A few crooks with a potentially bright idea set out to swipe a dozen or so cellphones from the Town of Babylon Public Works garage in Lindenhurst, NY, but unfortunately for them, the 14 units they swiped turned out to be GPS devices. As expected, Suffolk County police didn't have any qualms tracking the bandits down, and actually found the head criminal holding one of their prizes when they entered his home, as he was presumably trying to call his mother (or partners in crime) and explain all he'd accomplished. Nevertheless, the father and his 13-year old son, along with another 20-year old culprit, were all taken in on charges of grand larceny and stupidity, but at least justice prevailed, eh?
Although it's not exactly shocking to hear of yet another homeland security application that seems to border on Big Brother, Lockheed Martin's High Altitude Airship could keep an elevated eye on 600 miles of US countryside at any given time, and if all goes as planned, we'll have 11 of these things floating over our everyday activities by the end of the decade. The HAA prototype is a ginormous airship that measures 17-times larger than the Goodyear rendition we're all used to seeing above sporting events, and is designed to hover 12 miles above the earth in order to keep tabs on what's happening below. The airship is slated to be solar-powered and should stay in a geocentric orbit for "up to a year," and if equipped with high-resolution cameras, a single one could cover everything "between Toledo, Ohio and New York City." While Lockheed Martin is thrilled with the $40 million project they've been awarded, it's certainly understandable to get a little worried about how these blimps will actually be used, but a company spokesperson suggested then an entire fleet could actually be used for "border surveillance" -- and hey, we need a little help down there anyway, right?
Readers of UK tabloid The Sun have voted French newsreader Melissa Theuriau "YouTube's hottest babe EVER" after excerpts of the foxy Gallic minx's news broadcasts proved a huge online hit.
Theuriau, 28, picked up 72 per cent of the 3,000 votes, adding the tabloid "Phwooarr!" honour to her heaving trophy cabinet which already houses Empire Magazine's "World's Sexiest News Anchor".
Theuriau's popularity skyrocketed last year after topless beach snaps of her appeared in a French magazine, and subsequently across cyberspace. The Sun notes she is currently presenter of a "news magazine show called Forbidden Zone" and, crucially, single
More than a fifth (22 per cent) of Windows installations failed tests on their authenticity, according to figures from tests conducted using Microsoft's controversial Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) tool.
More than 512 million tests against WGA have been conducted since July 2005 resulting in a failure rate of 22.3 per cent, according to figures from Microsoft released on Monday.
Users need to validate their operating system using WGA before downloading certain updates from the software giant.
Figures from the WGA audit are lower than those from the Business Software Alliance, which reckons 35 per cent of business software is counterfeit.
The WGA figures might be expected to come in lower as users knowingly running counterfeit copies of Windows are unlikely to voluntarily submit their systems to validation checks
The Advanced Access Content System (AACS) Licensing Authority (the dudes in charge of HD DVD copy protection measures) has confirmed that the security measures of certain HD DVDs has been cracked. The hack, which is the work of a person posing as muslix64, doesn't actually apply to all HD DVDs, though. In other words, muslix64's hack only works on a few HD DVD titles and isn't as widespread as some people were hoping for. Listen closely: you can hear the movie industry breathing again (if only for a short while).
If the actual AACS copy protection hasn't truly been cracked, then Hollywood & Co. don't have too much to worry about just yet. But with an entire community now working toward truly cracking the copy protection scheme, how long will this honeymoon last?
This past weekend, a bunch of Boston-area game developers got together and did a 36-hour Boston Game Jam, inspired by the Indie Game Jam. We made eight games in 36 hours based on the theme of 'shift' for platforms as diverse as PC, GBA, and cell phones. The games range from a surprisingly complex behavioral sim to a game where you have to squish your opponent in a 2D physics deathmatch. Most of the games are available for download right now, and some of them even include the source code. In days to come, we'll be adding developer diaries and other goodies
Twentieth Century Fox has determined that up to 50 percent of pirated movies that hit the intertubes come from Canada—particularly Montreal. If those dirty Canucks don't clean up their act, well, they'll just have to wait longer to see movies. Ha! While we're at it, let's pin cracking Blu-Ray and HD-DVD DRM on Canada too.
Apparently they need laws more like ours, where recording a movie in a theater nets you eight years of jail time on top of a $250k fine, making movie tickets in New York actually seem cheap.
It's the end of the summer, and Harry can't wait to get away from his unbearable cousin Dirk and the rest of the nasty Duffelings. Fortunately he'll soon be back at school with his friends Ron and Hermelien and the benign Professor Anderling, preparing for the annual Zwerkbal cup. So long as he's able to keep away from the sinister Professor Sneep.
Familiar? If you're a Flemish-speaking Belgian, that's what the Harry Potter stories look like to you. Of the 325 million Harry Potter books sold around the world, some 100 million copies don't contain a single line of JK Rowling's prose. They're mediated by the work of other writers who set the tone, create suspense and humour, and give the characters their distinctive voices and accents. The only thing these translators have no impact on whatsoever is the plot, which of course is Rowling's alone.
The moment Bloomsbury put out their next press release announcing that Rowling has delivered book seven and the publication date has been set, more than 60 translators across the world - from Europe to South America, Africa to Asia - will start sharpening their pencils. When that first published copy appears, their race will begin.
It's a race against publishers' deadlines, of course; in certain countries, where the quality of second-language English is very high, it's a race to get the book published in (say) Norwegian, or Danish, before your entire market decides not to bother waiting for the translation, and you find that you're trying to sell it to people who've already read the book in the original.
In some cases it's a race against unofficial translators, too; in China, where enforcement of international copyright law leaves something to be desired, IPR parasites churn out their quick and shoddy renegade versions more or less with impunity. These range from fan-produced translations published online, to brand-new books in the HP series sold on street corners, like the rather peculiar attempt at a book five that appeared while Rowling was in fact still hard at work in Edinburgh writing it (Rowling shares this distinction with Cervantes, who was understandably taken aback to find the second part of Don Quixote published unofficially before he'd had the chance to get round to writing it).
So - you're an official HP translator, and you've managed somehow to grapple with the odd title of book seven (a good version of Deathly Hallows, anyone?). And now Amazon has delivered your copy of the Most Anticipated Book Ever, and it's your job to render it into some other language to appease a hungry local audience somewhere. How do you start?
You start, probably, with the eternal problem faced by every translator - finding the balance between literal fidelity and the equivalence that makes for fidelity of reading experience. When Uncle Vernon hums "Tiptoe Through the Tulips", do you let him keep his Anglophone song and just translate the title? Harry's Spanish uncle hums "De puntillas entre los tulipanes". Or do you find a local equivalent, like Germany's Onkel Vernon, who goes for the rather more German folk hum, "Bi-Ba-Butzemann"?
Spanish readers will find most names and invented words unchanged ("¿Hagrid, qué es el quidditch?"), or translated literally. So the Spanish is faithful in one obvious sense - but while the names may be unchanged, does the name Quirrell really sound as nervous, stammery, querulous in Spanish? Does Hufflepuff sound as ineffectual, dumb and huggable as it does to English ears?
In Brazil, in contrast, translator Lia Wyler chose to maintain the spirit rather than the letter, softening many names into more Portuguese-sounding ones, thereby loading herself with the noble challenge of coining some 400 words of her own. Harry plays quadribol, and when he isn't at Hogwarts is in the world of trouxas (Muggles) with his trouxa cousin Duda. Minerva McGonagall keeps her name, but in keeping with Brazilian school habits is addressed familiarly by the pupils as Profa Minerva. The sorting hat spares Harry from "Sonserina", assigning him to "Grifinória" instead. (Though is translating the English Platform Nine and Three Quarters to the Portuguese for Platform Nine and a Half perhaps just a bit wilful?)
Harry Potter throws at his translators (or in some cases, teams of translators) a number of challenges that most books don't present. There are countless made-up words, for a start. What's the Turkish for "golden snitch", or the Hungarian for "Bludger", or the Welsh for "Quaffle", the Catalan for "Sickles and Knuts", or the Hindi for "Floo Powder"? And then there's the wordplay, the prophecies and rhymes (like those of the sorting hat - the sombrero seleccionador). There are also the spells and the anagrams. (Tom Marvolo Riddle may be an anagram of "I am Lord Voldemort"; but it's not an anagram of "Je suis Voldemort", so in France he's Tom Elvis Jedusor.)
Several translators have been taken to task by die-hard Potter fans who've disapproved of their choices. Other fans have found that when they scour their translations they turn up valuable plot clues. Book six has a note mysteriously signed with the initials "RAB", which many readers have speculated may refer to someone in the Black family, a relative of Sirius Black (most likely his younger brother Regulus); the Dutch translation gives the initials on the note as RAZ - and if you know that in Dutch Harry's godfather is called Sirius Zwarts, this change suggests some interesting intelligence.
Another reason the Potters are a more complicated translation prospect than most books is the contractual requirements imposed by the film company, Warner (for whom questions like the stability of the characters' names have some impact on their merchandising plans); there have been cases of translators objecting to Warner's terms, and finding themselves replaced between one book in the series and the next.
The job of any translator requires that they be simultaneously present and absent; altogether sympathetically embedded in the work and yet totally invisible. And for the most part that invisibility is well maintained. The reluctance of some translators to talk to me for this article may have had something to do with that ideal of invisibility. But maybe it's something to do, too, with the unusually heavy publicity demands that this job makes on them - unusual in their field, certainly. The fact is, in this invisible profession they are the anomalies, self-effacing yet also touched by celebrity. Whatever some may say, this is no ordinary translation job; and sometime very soon the whole circus will start all over again. Daniel Hahn's translations include The Book of Chameleons, by José Eduardo Agualusa (Arcadia), recently longlisted for the 2007 Independent foreign fiction prize.
ELSPA director general Paul Jackson has said that the organisation must work harder at building relationships with the UK Government in order to boost the industry's standing.
In an interview published today, Jackson said, "We need to understand where the political consensus is going and be able to affect the political consensus going forward.
"What's been said to me is that so far we haven't really been punching our weight. Everybody is keen that we really step up to the plate, and we're equally keen to do so."
According to Jackson, ELSPA has already started the process of engaging more fully in the political arena. "But we need to develop it more agressively," he continued, "Not just with Government ministers but with shadow spokespeople and Lib Dem spokespeople."
However, Jackson said that there have already been important steps made towards improving the industry's status in parliament. "When I first joined the ELSPA board in '92 or '93 there was almost no interaction between us and the political world. There's been a huge growth in the interest in and appreciation of our industry in the last five or six years particularly," He observed.
"But I would say that we're facing enormous challenges, and that we as an industry need to step up and take them on."
OFFICIALS are bracing themselves for a storm of public outrage over their controversial X-ray cameras scheme.
As part of the most shocking extension of Big Brother powers ever planned here, lenses in lampposts would snap “naked” pictures of passers-by to trap terror suspects.
The proposal is contained in leaked documents drawn up by the Home Office and presented to PM Tony Blair’s working group on Security, Crime and Justice.
But the prospect of the State snooping on individuals’ most private parts is certain to spark national fury.
And officials are battling to find a way of dealing with that reaction.
Blair ... working group
A January 17 memo seen by The Sun discusses the cameras, which can see through clothes.
It says “detection of weapons and explosives will become easier” and says cameras could be deployed in street furniture.
It adds: “Some technologies used in airports have already been used as part of police operations looking for drugs and weapons in nightclubs. These and others could be developed for a much more widespread use in public spaces.
“Street furniture could routinely house detection systems that would indicate the likely presence of a gun, for example.”
But the document goes on to reveal fears at the public reaction.
Officials have agreed one solution would be to allow only women to monitor female subjects — although they admit this would be “very problematic” in crowds.
The memo says: “The social acceptability of routine intrusive detection measures and the operational response required in the event of an alarm are likely to be limiting factors.
“Privacy is an issue because the machines see through clothing.”
Beside cameras, officials are also considering systems known as millimetre wave imaging and THz imaging and spectroscopy.
All are routinely used in airports and other secure places to detect explosives and weapons in luggage and on people.
Air passengers are now chosen at random for full X-ray examinations — and must agree to it.
Technology could also be used to halt theft, with fingerprint scanners fitted to many items.
Elsewhere, tagged offenders could be sent electronic pulses to remind them not to re-offend.
Cops would also get the power to build a database of everyone in the land. Three-dimensional CCTV pictures would be coupled with records of people’s mobile phones and even their travel cards to get details of their movements and habits.
Facial recognition systems to help track individuals’ movements are also being considered.
