(via Video Game Blog). The Board of Appeals of the European Patent Office has allowed a number of claims in a European patent application by games firm Konami (EP20060013875). The application is for a “Video game system and storage medium for storing program for use in the video game system”. Read more…
The BBC reports on a serious security breach at Second Life, the popular virtual environment game thingy. According to a bulletin by Linden Labs, the makers of the game, they have expressed that: “Linden Lab reported today that it is notifying its community of a database breach, which potentially exposed Read more…
We have received this email from Hugh Hancock, forwarded by Prof. Hector MacQueen: Just thought you might be interested to hear about what I suspect is the largest Creative Commons project in Scotland, if not the UK as a whole. BloodSpell is an independent animated series, made using Machinima technology, Read more…
Complicated publicity stunt or new economic model? As previously reported, there is growing economic importance in virtual worlds and MMORPGs. Players make virtual money from selling loot and goods within game. The in-game economics can be complex and involve all sorts of new assumptions about value, and warrant studies on Read more…
I was not present in the virtual presentation in Second Life by Mia Garlick (sorry, Mia Wombat). It was too early on Saturday morning my time, but it seems like it was a fun event. There is a report at the Creative Commons blog and another one here (including pictures Read more…
Online gaming is still making headway into the mainstream by the release of Dungeons & Dragons Online, the new version of the popular pen and paper game. It seems like the online gaming market is heating up, with other large role-playing games set for release soon in order to compete Read more…
One of Britain’s most iconic copyright exports is back. The new Lara Croft game will be released soon by British gaming giant EIDOS. How much of Britain’s economy relies on Lara? Perhaps not much on Lara specifically, but the UK is increasingly relying on copyright exports. 5% of all of Read more…
Someone once defined the Internet as a place where people complain about movies and exchange porn. They should have added that it is also used to play computer games. The definition should include that its other two main uses is the playing of games and dating. It seems like the Read more…
Some days ago the Terra Nova blog reported on the curious case of a plague that is killing thousands of players in the popular MMORPG World of Warcraft. Apparently, players that killed a new super-boss enemy were infected with a strange disease that started killing characters in the near vicinity. Read more…
There is a new ruling in the impressive saga of NCSoft (City of Heroes fame) v Marvel (of Spider-man fame). For those unfamiliar with the case, Marvel Comics sued NCSoft, the makers of the popular City of Heroes MMORPG game because the game character-design engine allows users to create their Read more…