Movie pirates are distributing fake Blu-ray movie titles in China, which are essentially ordinary DVDs passed off as Blu-rays.
According to a WSJ report, the counterfeit Blu-ray discs are ordinary DVDs that hold the same movie content as the original Blu-ray but it is encoded in the AVCHD format. AVCHD is based on the MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) video format, enabling recording of high-definition 1080i and 720p video onto cheap DVD discs.
"We are concerned and are assigning priority to this issue," said Mike Ellis, the Asia-Pacific managing director for the MPA.
The issue came into the surface last month when authorities raided a big stash of the new pirated discs in China, which is often at the leading edge of piracy trends.
The MPA estimates that within the next six months the high-definition discs could account for 10% of $224 million that its m... More »
Nintendo has done what we all expected and blocked the Nintendo DSi from running what seems to be nearly every single flash card on the market.
If you have a CycloDS, G6 DS Real, M3 DS Real, Supercard DS One, iTouch DS, FCard, NCard, M3 DS Simply, U2DS, R4 DS and EZ Flash V don’t expect any of them to work.
It seems the DSi blocks both auto boot cards and ones that boot from the menu. If it’s auto boot it crashes and while the others show up in the menu, but once selected come up with an error.
Bad news for pirates, good news for Nintendo and bad news for legitimate homebrew. But how long till they bypass it?
Just before the holiday season, Nintendo of Australia is cracking down on NDS gaming pirates.
The hand-held Nintendo DS is expected to be one of the biggest-selling toys this Christmas, with company officials predicting sales of 750,000 by the end of the year.
But with legitimate game cards costing up to $70, there are reports of a boom in parents buying pirated gaming software that allows users to play games that have been illegally downloaded from the Internet.
Greg Arthurton, director of marketing at Nintendo, said the company was taking steps to protect its intellectual property.
The company has sent cease and desist letters to backyard operators in Australia who are selling equipment that allows users to play pirated games.
Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) program aims to deter the use of illegally copied versions of Windows, but it may end up helping hackers in China.
Microsoft's WGA program tests Windows installations to determine whether they have been legally purchased. As implemented in some countries, like China, WGA turns the user's desktop background black when it detects an illegal copy of Windows. The goal is to encourage users to pay for legitimate software.
According to a BSA-IDC study, 82% of PC software in China is pirated.
The so-called "black screen of death" -- which doesn't impede computer function like Microsoft's "blue screen of death" -- has prompted an outcry against what Chinese users... More »
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Global services firm Ernst and Young believes the Indian gaming market is turning its back on grey and black market trading, and now has all the elements in place for huge future growth.
The expansion of the Indian economy, increasing disposable incomes and a greater acceptance of gaming as a legitimate form of entertainment are just some of the reasons why the country’s video gaming scene is ready to explode, said the international firm.
“Indian consumers are warming up to gaming as an entertainment alternative with proliferation of gaming devices moving northwards,” explained Farokh Balsara, industry leader M & E and TCE Advisory leader for Ernst and Young.
“Disposable incomes of the upper middle class are growing with the economy, favourably influencing gaming growth.
The action, though, is still restricted to the top eight cities but with the right investments the potential for box business in India is immense.... More »
Xbox Pure was meant to be the name of an upcoming Xbox 360, perhaps a slimline version or a new 360 successor, but has turned out to be a fake blog posting to see which games sites would run with it. With so many rumours online, was this a fair test of a gamer site’s fact-checking skills?
Games Web site “Cheap Ass Gamer” (CAG) had listed a blog posting by “desz”, claiming to potentially have the details of the Xbox’s “new name”.
The posting says: “I'm not completely positive how true this is, but most of the things GilZ sends my way are true. He was correct about the new price drops, new HDMI models, new Elites, and now a picture sent to us with clearly visible text, in what appears to be either the 360's new name or the next xbox's final name. "XBOXPure" is what looks to be the final choice in this document. Take a look!”
The picture in question i... More »
Update: According to Play3-Live, two of the main PS Home functions promised since launch may be withdrawn for security reasons... namely, sharing content from your hard drive and music between friends.
It appears the rumor is now confirmed as legitimate, so those who downloaded the PlayStation Home PS3 Theme may wish to check your e-mail inbox!
We’ve been informed that PlayStation Home invites are going out. Yes, invites to the extended private BETA that was promised back in early August. An excerpt from the invitation message:
"Thank you for downloading the PLAYSTATION®Home Theme! You have been selected to help beta test the next phase of PlayStation... More »
Independent developer Cliff Harris, of Positech Games, asked pirates why they choose to pirate his games, promising them immunity and anonymity in exchange for their honest rationales, which he would aggregate and post on his blog.
They reciprocated, and of about six reasons, a righteous indignation at DRM seemed to lead the list. Harris is actually responding to the gripes in both the pricing and de-DRMing of titles in the future, with his own reasoning why it's a good idea.
The reasons pirates traffic his games, Harris found, were roughly (list quoted from Ars Technica):
• The information wants to/free anarchists think copyright shouldn't exist.
• Games are too expensive.
• The quality of gaming is too uneven.
• DRM is hurting the legitimate customers.
• Going to the shops is annoying.
• Because piracy is easy to do with low risk for getting caught.
Harris' response:
•... More »
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