DCEmu Featured News Articles

Third party iOS developers caught up in a patent infringement case have won the backing of Apple, as the company demands that legal challenges to using in-app upgrades are dropped.

The legal case is being brought by company Lodsys, which has contacted a range of iOS developers with a demand of 0.575 per cent of their U.S. revenues. Lodsys claims that it has patents, filed 19 years ago, which cover in-app upgrades where users pay to access additional content or purchase a full game.

Although the four patents in question are valid, Apple argues that it licensed them from Lodsys and that all developers producing content for iOS are also covered as a result.

As a result Apple has weighed in on the side of the developers and asked Lodsys to withdraw the demands. However, the exact degree to which Apple would be willing to defend developers, if the cases go to court, is unclear.

The letter sent by Apple senior vice president and general counsel Bruce Sewell to Lodsys has been obtained in full by website Macworld, in which he suggests that Lodsys' demands are based on, "a fundamental misapprehension regarding Apple's license and the way Apple's products work".

"I expect that the additional information set out below will be sufficient for you to withdraw your outstanding threats to the App Makers and cease and desist from any further threats to Apple's customers and partners," states Sewell.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...ringement-case ...

Nintendo and Sony need to "reinvent" the concept of the portable console, according to new comments made by Remedy Entertainment executive vice president Aki "AJ" Järvilehto.

"Many smartphones and tablets offer mind blowing value to gamers. Right now you can buy tons and tons of fun on iOS with the price of a single handheld console game. Heck, you can get tons of fun for free with advertising based concepts," said Järvilehto in an interview with website IndustryGamers.

"So I do think the traditional handheld consoles will need to reinvent themselves if they want to compete." The Alan Wake developer's most recent title is mobile app Death Rally, which has already been received positively. Järvilehto confirms in the interview that the company has been evaluating the 3DS and NGP platforms, but no decision has been made to support them.

"I think the market is changing in a radical fashion," said Järvilehto. "Barriers of entry are literally being blown away. New business models are booming and this is not about devaluation. Facebook is doing tremendous things to gaming and attracting completely new people to enjoy different more casual and social games.

"I can't see how the fact that mainstream consumers are finally embracing our industry could be negative. After all isn't that what we've been hoping for since forever?"

Järvilehto did not confirm that the company was involved in Facebook development, but instead stated, "We absolutely still love the console business model though; that's where the big stuff gets done and shines."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-alan-wake-dev ...

Sony Corporation has warned that the PlayStation Network breach is to cost the company approximately ¥14 billion ($171.2m / £106.1m) by the end of the 2012 fiscal year.

The company was forced to close down its PSN online service last month after hackers compromised data of over 77 million user accounts. Later, Sony Online Entertainment's website was also hacked, bring the total number of breached gamer accounts to over 100 million.

"Based on information currently available to Sony, our current known costs associated with the unauthorised network access are estimated to be approximately 14 billion yen in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012," the company told investors today.

Furthermore, Sony predicted a net loss for the entire 2011 financial year of ¥260 billion ($3.1 bn / £1.9bn) - compared to expectations in February that the company was on track to record a profit of ¥70 billion, blaming a write-off due to deferred tax assets.

For the full 2011 financial year Sony expects the Japanese earthquake and tsunami to wipe ¥17 billion from operating profits, and a further ¥150 billion from the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012.

Despite that, Sony said it anticipates a return to profitability in the 2012 financial year.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...mately-USD170m ...

Rockstar Games' L.A. Noire has become the fastest-selling new intellectual property ever in the UK, as it debuts at number one in the weekly sales chart.

Although as usual no specific sales data has been released, chart creators Chart-Track indicate that L.A. Noire sold on par with Rockstar's previous hit Red Dead Redemption, released at the same time in 2010.

Sales of the game, which started life as a PlayStation 3 exclusive, were fairly evenly split at 58 per cent for the Xbox 360 version and 42 per cent for the PlayStation 3. As a result L.A. Noire becomes the 13th fastest-selling Xbox 360 of all time in the UK and the 11th fastest on the PlayStation 3.

The other major new entry of the week, released on Tuesday rather than the Friday of L.A. Noire and most other new games, is PC exclusive The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. The game debuted at number five in the all format charts and sold three times more than the original game in its launch week.

There was little other movement in the chart, with Lego Pirates of the Caribbean down only 6 per cent at number two, but Brink dropping by 48 per cent to number three.

Retail promotions saw an increase in sales of 71 per cent for Crysis 2 at number six. There was also a 266 per cent increase in sales for Mario Kart Wii thanks to the launch of the new lower priced Wii hardware bundle. The game remained just outside the top 20 though, at number 23.

This Week Last Week Title
1 New Entry L.A. Noire
2 2 Lego Pirates of the Caribbean
3 1 Brink
4 3 Zumba Fitness
5 New Entry The Witcher 2
6 9 Crysis 2
7 4 Portal 2
8 8 FIFA 11
9 6 Mortal Kombat
10 5 Call of Duty: Black Ops
11 11 Just Dance 2
12 7 Lego Star Wars III
13 Re-entry Wii Sports Resort
14 18 Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
15 15 Red Dead Redemption
16 12 Operation Flashpoint: Red River
17 10 MX vs. ATV Alive
18 13 Wii Fit Plus
19 Re-entry Homefront
20 16 Pokémon Black

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-ip-ever-in-uk ...

A new range of HD updates for key PSP titles on the PlayStation 3 has been announced in Japan, although the only game so far confirmed is Capcom's Monster Hunter Freedom 3.

The PSP Remaster series is conceptually similar to the existing HD Classics line on PlayStation 2, with PSP titles being upgraded to high definition and receiving improvements to the complexity of key character models and textures.

Monster Hunter Portable 3rd HD Ver. will be launched as a standard retail release in Japan, with Sony implying that it also has plans to release the PSP Remaster line in the West.

Capcom's game will also feature compatibility with PlayStation 3 controllers, include new "add-on content" and support for stereoscopic 3D. Saved data from the original PSP version will also be compatible with the new PlayStation 3 game.

Online play for the game will also be supported via the existing adhoc party for PlayStation Portable software on PlayStation 3. Sony has indicated that not all games in the line will necessary enjoy all these options as standard.

Although Sony has not confirmed any additional titles for the PSP Remaster line, games in the HD Classics range have included first party titles such as God of War and Sly Racoon, as well as third party franchises including Prince of Persia and Tomb Raider.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...r-line-for-ps3 ...

A Sony website in Thailand has been hacked and virtual points stolen in Japan, as the company suffers two new attacks - although the PlayStation Network itself has not been affected.

A link to a fake site purporting to be an Italian credit card company was added to the Sony website, with the hackers attempting to trick customers into revealing card and personal information.

The incident was proceeded by a separate attack on Thursday, with Sony's So-Net Internet service provider revealing that hackers had infiltrated their system and stolen ¥100,000 ($1,225/€875) worth of "virtual points" from account holders.

"What we've done is stopped the So-Net points exchanges and told customers to change their passwords," said So-Net in a statement.

"At this point in our investigations, we have not confirmed any data leakage. We have not found any sign of a possibility that a third party has obtained members' names, address, birth dates and phone numbers," added the company.

The incidents are the most serious since attacks last month that compromised up to 100 million PlayStation Network and Station.com accounts. Although some PlayStation Network services have now been restored the PlayStation Store is still out of service.

"Sony is going through a pretty rigorous process and finding the holes to fill," said Josh Shaul, CTO for computer security firm Application Security in a Reuters interview.

"The hackers are going through the same process and they're putting their fingers in the holes faster than Sony can fill them," he added. "I think it's now 'I'm a hacker and I'm bored, let's go after Sony.'"

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...hacker-attacks ...

SoyQueSoy pointed out an article that reveals it's not all fun, but forced games for some Chinese prisoners. It is alleged that after a day of hard labor some inmates are forced to work through the night as gold farmers. "Prison bosses made more money forcing inmates to play games than they do forcing people to do manual labor," [prisoner] Liu told the Guardian. "There were 300 prisoners forced to play games. We worked 12-hour shifts in the camp. I heard them say they could earn 5,000-6,000rmb [£470-570] a day. We didn't see any of the money. The computers were never turned off."

http://games.slashdot.org/story/11/0...nternet-Gaming ...

Looking for a logo designer. I'm currently working on a side project of my own on consolehomebrew.org. My computer art and design skills pretty much begin and end in MS paint so some help would be deeply appreciated. I'm looking for something with orange (#FFB600) and blue (#162EAE) as its primary colours. Nothing too fancy needed, just something clean and professional.

Please reply here if you are able to help or know of someone willing to lend me their design skills. ...

Hi all just testing if i can newspost into categories. Nothing more ...