Bridgestone Tires has responded to a Sony lawsuit claiming that a recent Bridgestone tire ad featuring actor Jerry Lambert infringed on its IP. Sony alleges that Lambert was playing fictional PlayStation executive Kevin Butler in its new ad which featured lab technicians playing Mario Kart on the Wii. According to a Bridgestone representative, the actor who plays Kevin Butler simply appeared in the commercial as one of the company's engineers.

According to this GamesIndustry International report, thousands of Foxconn employees continue to protest at various locations in China. The labor strike is the result of complaints about working conditions, which workers say have not been adequately addressed by the company. In case you have forgotten Foxconn helps build a variety of high end electronics for multiple companies including Apple, Samsung, Microsoft and many others.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) have decided to capitalize on the release of Pokémon Black and White 2 (it was released this Sunday) with the release of a game that depicts the abuse Pokémon might go through in their own special web game called Pokémon Black and Blue. Their catchphrase for the game is "gotta free 'em all."

In Episode 22 hosts Andrew Eisen and E. Zachary Knight laugh at the ridiculousness of fan requests to give the ladies of Dead or Alive 5 bigger breasts, discuss region locking consoles, and talk about cable providers who are considering more game-related services. This episode will chafe you more than an iron thong on a female fighter who can't stand up straight because some Japanese guy gave her an unneeded mega boob job... Someone call a chiropractor!

Nine of the developers who have games in Humble Indie Bundle 6 have gotten together to answer questions via an "Ask Me Anything" (AMA) thread on Reddit.

Mojang co-founder and Minecraft creator Markus Persson continues to voice disdain for Windows 8 because of its walled garden approach to gaming by instituting a closed marketplace for software. Persson took to Twitter today to complain about Microsoft after the platform holder asked his company to submit Minecraft for certification under Windows 8. Instead of cooperating with them, he took to Twitter with the following message:

NCsoft informed subscribers to its super hero themed MMO City of Heroes that it will begun issuing automatic refunds to paid subscribers and players with other outstanding account balances beginning on September 26. The company announced, much to the chagrin of current subscribers that it would be shutting down the game as part of a company-wide focus. Customers with recurring subscriptions plans as of September 1st or who purchased in-game currency after August 24th will also receive full refunds through their "original method of payment."

EVE Online's player-run government has honored US embassy official Sean "Vile Rat" Smith, who was killed during an attack on the US Embassy in Libya earlier this week (thanks to Eurogamer). Eve Online's Council of Stellar Management formally responded to Smith's untimely death at the hands of protestors angry about a film clip that depicted the Islamic prophet Mohammad as a child molester and cruel oppressor, among other things.

The Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) issued a brief statement expressing their sorrow for the loss of U.S. foreign service officer Sean Smith, who died when the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, Libya was attacked by an angry mob protesting a film that negatively portrayed the Prophet Mohammad.

The popular English video game site Andriasang will be closing down, according to owner Anoop Gantayat, who is moving on to new and exciting opportunities. While the site will no longer be updated with news, Gantayat says that that he may do a little bit of database work there and will leave its content up for people to continue to peruse.

The site is best known for delivering breaking news from the games industry. Andriasang launched in 2008 and currently contains 14,000 articles.

Nexon America has launched a Maple Story quest event that puts an emphasis on participating in the 2012 presidential election. The vent is comprised of a number of in-game activities including polling registered players about which candidate for president they plan on choosing, along with a brand new set of quests and other in-game events promoting the presidential election. Players who take the time to vote will be rewarded with an in game item.

Last week the creators of a Skyrim mod inspired by The Lord of the Rings called Middle-Earth Roleplaying Project (MERP) found itself staring down the barrel of a cease and desist letter from Warner Bros.

In an attempt to save the mod, the team behind MERP set up a petition urging fans and followers to convince Warner Bros. to rescind the order and make an exception for what they think could be a most exceptional mod... From the petition:

Episode 18 of the Super Podcast Action Committee sees host Andrew Eisen team up with GP Managing Editor James Fudge, who sat in for E.

Yesterday we reported that NCsoft was closing its Paragon Studio and shutting down its Super Hero MMO City of Heroes. Fans of the game, who are obviously not happy with the news, have decided to launch an online petition to protest the move. City of heroes Player Meggan Russell put together a petition. She says in the text of the petition that the community and the game's developers want the game to continue on as it has been:

Dark Souls director Hidetaka Miyazaki has hinted that the company might consider adding an easy mode - much to the chagrin of those who like the game the way it is: hard as hell.

The Cambodian government will cooperate in the deportation of Pirate Bay co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, who was arrested in the country last week for not showing up to serve his jail sentence for copyright infringement in Sweden.

A new video from members of Microsoft's Xbox Live team throws its support behind GaymerCon, the first GLBT friendly gaming event to take place in early 2013 in San Francisco, California. Obviously organizers of the event are glad to have the support of Xbox Live.

You can watch the video to your left. At the time of this writing the GaymerCon Kickstarter has managed to raise $75,000. The Kickstarter campaign ends Friday, August 31 at 11:43 pm EDT.

You may have heard the announcement that "Black Isle Studios is back," but is it really? The Interplay label responsible for such role-playing game hits as Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Planescape Torment, and many others may be back but it is in name only and the developers that once wandered its hallowed halls are somewhere else working on such games as the upcoming enhanced edition of Baldur's Gate and a South Park PRG.

On Monday we reported that the MPAA and the RIAA recommended to Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Victoria Espinel that the United States government do more to combat online piracy like they did with Megaupload. Today Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom offers his two cents on the MPAA's and RIAA's recommendations and goes so far as to say that these trade groups have "corrupted the government."

In episode 15 of the Super Podcast Action Committee, Andrew Eisen and E. Zachary Knight talk about Harry Potter games, OUYA's Kickstarter success and pre-order, a dehydrated teen, piracy, free-to-play spending, and Nintendo and Sony's trouble getting third-party developers to love their hand-helds. Download Episode 15 here: SuperPAC Episode 15 (1 Hour, 5 Minutes).

While details are still a bit sketchy, an Oakley, California teen has been arrested for attempted murder after an altercation while playing a video game online turned to real-world violence. The incident occurred on Monday afternoon after two friends - an unnamed twenty-year-old man and a seventeen-year-old boy got into an altercation. According to Jimmy Lee from the Costa County Sheriff's Department, the two men were playing an unnamed video game online, which led to an argument about something.

We ignore the taboo of the number 13 to present you with Episode 13 of the Super Podcast Action Committee. We have no fear in us. This week Andrew Eisen and E. Zachary Knight talk about Gamers Against Bigotry, GameStop's plans for selling used digital games in Europe, the Humble Music Bundle, and Gamasutra's article about developers working in war-torn countries.

Gamers Against Bigotry, a site that asked gamers to take a pledge promising not to use bigoted language while playing games online, announced that it has lost 1500 signatures due to repeated attacks from hackers. The site has faced some tough challenges from months of repeated attacks from hackers who have done everything from posting "grotesque images" on the website's signatures page, to making it impossible for new visitors to sign on to the pledge.

Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom has launched a song online attacking U.S. President Barack Obama and urging supporters not to vote for him in November. The song and video on YouTube is called "Mr President" and offers dire warnings to U.S. voters about the President such as "don't vote for those who would take us back in time."

In another line from the song he says"what about free speech Mr President, what happened to change Mr President." 

Blizzard President Mike Morhaime posted a rather lengthy open letter on Battle.net to talk about the launch of Diablo III, the problems associated with that launch, the need for the "always-on" requirement, and what the company has planned for the game in the future.

Morhaime starts by talking about how the launch was a smashing success, but noted that it is hard to predict how the number of players they would have to deal with at launch in advance.

According to this GameSpot report, the organizers of the Penny Arcade Expo may have their sights set on a third location for the popular fan-based gaming event: the great state of Texas. Speaking during the Penny Arcade Panel at Comic-Con this weekend, Penny Arcade co-founder Mike Krahulik responded to a fan question about the possibility of a PAX event in the Austin Texas area by saying that organizers are "aggressively exploring a third PAX very near you."

Update: We erroneously reported that the 1000th episode of Monday Night RAW would be airing live from Las Vegas next week (the show was in Las Vegas this week). The milestone episode of WWE's flagship program will actually be live from St. Lois, Missouri. We apologize for the error and have updated the story to reflect the corrections.

Nintendo is apparently tired of not having a uniform login solution across all of its handheld and home console devices and has decided to do something about it. According to this Polygon report (citing a report from Nintendo World Online), Nintendo customer service representative David Marshall has confirmed that the company will implement a unified eShop account system for Wii U and 3DS.

While Ouya, (the $99 Android-based games console that promises an open-source-style high-concept developer ecosystem) may be just a concept at this stage, it's hard not to take notice of it when so many major players are attached to it already.

Sony Online Entertainment has opened registration for its annual fan event, SOE Live. In its 12th year, SOE Live is a fan gathering for the entire SOE community to celebrate their favorite games and connect with other players and the games' developers. Taking place at Bally's in Las Vegas October 18-21, SOE Live will celebrate the communities of such games as DC Universe Online, EverQuest, EverQuest II, Free Realms, Magic: The Gathering - Tactics, PlanetSide 2, PoxNora, Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures, and Vanguard: Saga of Heroes.