EA Asks Gov't To Dump Ridiculous Langdell 'Edge' Trademarks

from the about-time dept

Earlier this year, we wrote about Tim Langdell and his claim of owning a trademark on the word "edge" when used in any kind of video game. Of course, Langdell last came out with a game himself in 1994, which makes the whole trademark claim pretty iffy. You need to be using your mark in commerce for it to be valid. Instead, Langdell just seems to be trying to stop anyone else from using the word "edge." Thankfully (as a bunch of you sent in), EA has finally decided to stand up and ask the USPTO to dump Langdell's trademarks. Beyond claiming that the marks are abandoned, EA is also claiming that they were obtained through fraudulent means. Either way, it seems that the basic "moron in a hurry" test should knock out most of Langdell's claims. It's too bad how rarely that test is used...

Filed Under: edge, tim langdell, trademark, video games
Companies: ea

Judge Says Video Games Can Use Sports Stars Likenesses

from the protected-by-the-first-amendment dept

Earlier court rulings have found that sports leagues cannot stop videos games from using player stats, since that's factual information. But, what about player likenesses? Many had assumed that was still forbidden without a license, but a new court ruling has found otherwise. Former football player Jim Brown had sued EA, claiming the use of his likeness violated his rights, but a district court judge has dismissed the case, saying that video games are "expressive works, akin to an expressive painting that depicts celebrity athletes of past and present in a realistic sporting environment," and thus are protected by the First Amendment. The case will almost certainly be appealed, but for now, it's a big win for video game makers and their ability to use player likenesses in their games without licensing them first.

Filed Under: copyright, first amendment, likeness, publicity rights, sports stars, video games
Companies: ea

When Connecting With Fans, Be Careful What You Promise

from the high-class-problem dept

The submissions for Connecting-with-Fans (CwF) stories are ramping up these days, and here's a cautionary tale from thublihnk who writes "... one of the guys behind Borderlands (an upcoming online multiplayer FPS/RPG) promised to play with/give loot to anyone who preordered his game, and due to a game journalist alerting people to this deal, is now swamped with requests. Good try, better luck next time?"

So this doesn't actually sound too bad for Mike Neumann, the Creative Director of Gearbox, who promoted his game by tweeting a promise to play with anyone who pre-ordered it, even if the number of folks who viewed his offer is in the thousands (so far, though, it sounds like the number is more like hundreds). Neumann says he'll hold up his end of the bargain, but he's also asked fans if they'd accept playing with the CEO of Gearbox instead of just him, which seems perfectly reasonable. It's not like Neumann promised he'd show up in everyone's living room. He also didn't specify how long he'd play with these fans, so there are a few loopholes that will allow him to live a normal life -- assuming his normal life didn't already include hours and hours of gaming. And presumably, superfans are not out to destroy him, though, it might be a bit embarrassing if Neumann turns out to be a total N00b at playing his own game. But, yes, the lesson here for creative CwF promotions is to make sure to think through the consequences. Fortunately for Gearbox, the virtual loot in Borderlands has zero marginal costs.

Filed Under: borderlands, connect with fans, cwf, overpromise, video games
Companies: gearbox

Win Or Lose, This Video Game Deletes Files On Your Computer

from the fun-for-the-whole-family... dept

Well, here's a fun one. Apparently someone has created a space invaders type video game... where every "alien" is randomly associated with a file (any file) on your hard drive. If you kill the alien... or the alien kills you, the game will delete that particular file. It's like playing Russian Roulette with a fully loaded gun. I imagine no one is stupid enough to actually play... though I'm a bit disappointed that they didn't make a version where killing the aliens at least saves some files. That way, at least, you'd have more incentive to play well...

Filed Under: video games

Can Trent Reznor Reinvent The Video Game Business, Too?

from the expand-your-horizons dept

By now, plenty of people have understood the details of how Trent Reznor embraced new business models and has thrived online by doing so. But could he do the same thing in an entirely different industry as well? A few folks have sent in an interview with Reznor and long-time collaborator Rob Sheridan on Joystiq, discussing how they wanted to create a video game. While Reznor admits that he hasn't done enough research to fully understand the video game ecosystem, something did strike him in his first few meetings:

And as first time people in a pitch meeting, it was kind of depressing. Depressing to see that the people in control of those studios and publishers are much the same as the people sitting at record companies.

In a record company, they aren't musicians or people who love music, they're people who want to sell plastic discs. They think they have a formula where if they can eliminate the artist from that equation, even better. You see that in the case of the Pussycat Dolls and some of the other fabricated crap that's out there. What we tended to notice in the video game meetings was that it didn't seem that there were gamers there. It's business guys who want to turn the company into a profit making machine. They look at it in terms of numbers, like a Hollywood studio. If it costs "X" amount to make a game, to compete, then it has to be a proven franchise or it has to be similar enough to something they know is going to sell. They don't want to take the risk.

It certainly sounds like they're still just tossing around ideas -- not heavily committed to making a video game (so don't start rumors!) -- but they do appear interested in experimenting with a variety of different concepts once Reznor is finally done touring. It would be neat to see if Reznor can take his success and experiences with the music industry, and translate it to video games. There have been some companies that have started to figure this out, such as Stardock, who takes a very pro-gamer stance that focuses on providing more value, rather than trying to stop people from doing bad stuff. And not surprisingly, Stardock has seen quite a lot of success in doing so. In the meantime, for you Reznor fans, apparently the trick to getting him to hang out with you is to have an old time arcade set up with Robotron.

Filed Under: business models, trent reznor, video games

Buddhist Leader Says Playing Video Games Lets Out Aggression; Better Method Than Meditation

from the no-moral-panic-here dept

While other religious and political leaders around the world are busy creating moral panics around violent video games, it appears that one Buddhist leader feels quite differently about them. The third ranking Buddhist, Ogyen Trinley Dorje (and, according to the article, the only Buddhist leader recognized by China, Tibet and India), apparently sees video games as therapeutic and a way to let out aggression:

Well, I view video games as something of an emotional therapy, a mundane level of emotional therapy for me. We all have emotions whether we're Buddhist practitioners or not, all of us have emotions, happy emotions, sad emotions, displeased emotions and we need to figure out a way to deal with them when they arise.

So, for me sometimes it can be a relief, a kind of decompression to just play some video games. If I'm having some negative thoughts or negative feelings, video games are one way in which I can release that energy in the context of the illusion of the game. I feel better afterwards.

The aggression that comes out in the video game satiates whatever desire I might have to express that feeling. For me, that's very skillful because when I do that I don't have to go and hit anyone over the head.

In response, the interviewer asks "shouldn't meditation take care of that?" to which he replies: "No, video games are just a skillful method." So, kids, next time some politician says that violent video games are bad, why not point out that one of the most peaceful men in the world uses them to let out some aggression in ways that meditation cannot provide.

Filed Under: aggression, buddhism, ogyen trinley dorje, video games, violent video games

Video Games And Influence

from the depends-on-who-you-talk-to dept

In our recent post about some old rockers complaining about music video games being no substitute for actually playing instruments (not that anyone claimed it was), one of our commenters, Comboman, made a rather amusing point concerning complaints against video games:

Video game critics claim violent games will make kids want to imitate the game and do real violent acts. Now they're complaining that music games will make kids NOT want to imitate the game and do real music?

To be fair, it's a different group of people complaining this time, but it is rather amusing.

Filed Under: influence, video games

More Evidence: Used Sales Benefit The Primary Market

from the basic-economics dept

We've pointed to research in the past that shows how a robust used goods market boosts the primary market, because the buyers know they'll be able to resell the goods at a later date, if they choose to do so. In other words, it makes the purchase less risky and lowers the bar for making that purchase. Yet, for some reason, many content execs -- especially those in the video game space -- continue to insist that not only are used markets bad for the content creators, but that they're bad for consumers as well. Yet, now there's yet another study showing how a robust used market can be quite helpful to a primary market -- specifically in the video game space. In this case, the research done by Game Crazy found that nearly 20% of sales on primary goods were purchased with dollars from trade-ins:

We did a study not too long ago for a very large vendor who we managed to figure out for them 20 percent of their sales inside the first 28 days were paid for with trade dollars. So you got 20 points of their sales that wouldn't happen unless we had a trade business going. And that's specialty retail. Game specialty retail is maybe a third of the channel, 35 percent of the channel. So you got 10 percent of your sales that wouldn't happen unless somebody was out there trading games with your customers.

Now, you could argue that the source is biased, but at least this is one more suggestion of how a used market can help improve the primary market.

Filed Under: primary market, used goods, video games

Elderly Classic Rock Musicians Don't Like Music Video Games

from the hey-kids,-get-off-my-lawn! dept

I guess once you get old, all that "new stuff" is suddenly "bad" -- even if you used to be a rebellious rocker. With the recent launch of "The Beatles" version of Rockband, it seems that all sorts of other classic rock musicians have had to step up and talk about how awful such video games are. Bill Wyman from the Rolling Stones, Nick Mason from Pink Floyd, and Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin have all come out as being against these games for one reason or another:

"It encourages kids not to learn, that's the trouble.... It makes less and less people dedicated to really get down and learn an instrument. I think is a pity so I'm not really keen on that kind of stuff." -- Bill Wyman, The Rolling Stones

"It irritates me having watched my kids do it - if they spent as much time practising the guitar as learning how to press the buttons they'd be damn good by now." -- Nick Mason, Pink Floyd

After first saying there was no way that Led Zeppelin would ever put out a similar version of Rock Band: "Obviously, there have been overtures made to Led Zeppelin, but if you start with the first track on the first album, 'Good Times Bad Times,' and you think of the drum part that John Bonham did there, how many drummers in the world can actually play that, let alone dabble on a Christmas morning?" -- Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin

This sort of strikes me as the old rockers' equivalent of "hey you kids, get off my lawn." I'm sure when these guys were first growing up, learning their instruments and playing with their guitars and drums, that elderly musicians from a bygone era were complaining that what they were doing wasn't music and wasn't the sort of things kids should be mixed up in, because it didn't encourage them to play a symphony or something. Time to get with the times.

Filed Under: bill wyman, jimmy page, musicians, nick mason, rock band, video games

FCC To Study Single Rating System For Movies, Video Games, TV & Music

from the under-what-mandate? dept

GamePolitics reports that the FCC is planning to study the idea of a "universal rating system" for all kinds of media, including movies, music, video games and television. According to the Bloomberg article on this, the FCC actually has a mandate to do this under a 2007 law that gave it authority to explore blocking technologies, though that seems to go well beyond the official mandate of the FCC to only monitor communications using public infrastructure. Furthermore, every single attempt to put in place a gov't mandated solution for a ratings system has been struck down as unconstitutional (and a bunch have been tried). Every rating system you see now are voluntary agreements from the industry. Having the FCC even explore such an issue raises some serious constitutional questions.

Filed Under: fcc, first amendment, movies, music, ratings, television, video games