142w ago - While everyone awaits a verdict on the injunction in the recent PS JailBreak lawsuit hearing, another Australian PS3 gamer has lost his OtherOS lawsuit to Sony recently.

According to GamePron.com (linked above) Michael Trebilcock had asked for AU $800 in compensation (the cost to rent a laptop for each day he was unable to use Linux on his PS3, plus fees), with a claim that the updated console could no longer be used as a computer.

To quote: "Unfortunately for Trebilcock, the Magistrates court heard that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission cleared Sony of any wrongdoing regarding the upgrade, and the claim was dismissed.

Mr. Trebilcock was not made to pay Sony's legal costs."

149w ago - Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) President Hal Halpin has extended an invitation to video gamers to sign the Gamer Petition to preserve video gaming in America.

To quote: This winter, the game industry -- developers, publishers, retailers, et al -- will face the single biggest legal challenge that such entertainment, broadly, has ever been up against and in the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS).

The State of California had appealed the U.S. Ninth Circuit decision to strike down the so-called CA "video game violence" law in Schwarzenegger v EMA, which every court had done in every such "violent video game" case. But this time was different; For the first time, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review the case (via "accepting certiorari" aka "cert").

To be blunt, none of us expected it and we were all taken back by the decision. Just 1% of cases filed are granted cert -- one percent!

At stake: gaming in America. Yes, you read that correctly.

California State Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo) is the former child psychologist who championed the "violent video game" bill from inception and is coordinating with California Attorney General,...

200w ago - Today (via IGN, linked above) Microsoft offers its top seven reasons for a PC gamer to get the new operating system this October:

1) Performance

To quote a coworker: 'Across same hardware, Crysis runs awesome on Win7! Even better than XP!'. Code for the OS has been optimized for better all around performance for games. Whatever you're playing now should be a better experience in Windows 7.

2) Compatibility

The top third-party games, services, and international versions of games have been tested in Windows 7, so you should not worry about Windows 7 breaking your games. Feel free to move to Windows 7 because whatever you're playing now should work fabulously in Windows 7.

3) Discoverability

You can use Start -> Search to find any game you just downloaded or installed. No need to launch a separate application. Likewise, you won't need to launch a game to get more info about it: The Windows 7 Games Explorer can show you in-game statistics within a preview pane plus delivers up-to-date info about your favorite game publishers and gives you the opportunity to try new games.

4) Easy updates

The new Games Explorer will notify you whenever updates are available for your games so you don't have to go searching...

200w ago - A PlayStation 3 gamer has filed suit (PDF) in U.S. District Court in California, alleging that SCEA suppressed his free speech rights and caused him pain and suffering by banning his account on the PlayStation Network.

In a complaint filed on July 6th, Erik Estavillo of San Jose writes that he is disabled by a variety of disorders; among these are agoraphobia, a fear of crowds, to quote:

The pain and suffering was caused by the defendant, Sony, banning the plaintiff's account on the PlayStation 3 Network, in which the plaintiff relies on to socialize with other people, since it's the only way the plaintiff can truly socialize since he also suffers from Agoraphobia...

Estavillo's issues with SCEA apparently stem from his play of the PS3 hit Resistance: Fall of Man:

The ban is supposedly due to the behavior of the plaintiff when he plays the video game "Resistance: Fall of Man," which Sony owns and employs moderators for its online play. These moderators kick and ban players that they feel are deserving; though their biases to a player seem to be what determines the kick or ban...

The plaintiff was exercising his First Amendment Rights to Freedom of Speech in the game's public forum when he...

209w ago - GameFriends is a new social network for gamers and the virtual worlds. It offers free MMO MMORPG guild clan Web site hosting for the online gaming community.

GameFriends' mission is to become the biggest Gamer Social Network, bringing together new and old friends through video games.

Working with video game related Web sites, GameFriends provides its members with the best content from around the Web.

Driven by its dedicated memberbase, GameFriends shares 100% of all its user generated revenue with its members.