A reddit user has created a striking visual representation of what *could* happen if net neutrality laws are shot down.

The image is based tiered pricing plans that some cable and Internet companies currently offer (lending, perhaps, an increased measure of reality to the illustration) and imagines, for example, websites such as Hulu and YouTube as part of a "Hollywood Tier," available for $10 over the price paid for basic Internet service.

More relevant here is the rendering of a “Playground” tier that includes Valve’s Steam platform, World of Warcraft, Gametap, Electronic Arts and Real Arcade, offered for a $5 surcharge. Yikes!

The International Nanny Association (INA) isn’t feeling overly matronly about an achievement said to be in the upcoming Electronic Arts game Dante’s Inferno.

According to UGO, the “Bad Nanny” achievement is designed to reward players who slaughter “a yet undetermined number of unbaptized infants,” leading INA to say that the game component was “created out of poor taste and bad judgment.”

The group continued:

INA is opposed to video games that promote and encourage players to "kill" babies, even in fantasy play. It is our opinion that this type of play may promote violence towards children. The name of the trophy or achievement, "Bad Nanny," is offensive to our association in that we strive to promote and educate the public regarding the selfless work nannies do to support families by providing quality in-home child care."

INA urged its members to email the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) with concerns and complaints. The ESRB responded, noting that the game has not yet been rated, before adding:

…it should be understood that our job is not to censor potentially tasteless or objectionable content nor dictate to publishers what type of content they may include in their games. ESRB’s role is to objectively evaluate a game’s content and assign age and content ratings that will be helpful in allowing consumers to make informed choices.

Australian gamers will have to make do with a modified version of Valve’s Left 4 Dead 2 as the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) board again denied the title classification following a re-review of the game.

A three-member panel of the board declared that the game could not be accommodated within the MA 15+ classification, reaffirming an earlier decision. Valve and distributor Electronic Arts had appealed the earlier judgment, but as a backup they also submitted a toned down version of L4D2, which received an MA 15+ rating. The edited version removed depictions of decapitation and dismemberment.

Further commenting on the original, Refused Classification version, the board said:

…it was the Review Board’s opinion that there was insufficient delineation between the
depiction of general zombie figures and the human figures, as opposed to the clearly fictional
‘infected’ characters. This was a major consideration of the Review Board in determining the
impact of this game on minors.

A media release on the subject from the OFLC can be viewed here (PDF).

A handful of game companies and retailers are listed within Newsweek’s Green Rankings list, which rates the Top 500 environmental companies in America.

While the list, with 500 entries, is hardly exclusive, each entrant was awarded an overall hard numeric score. The company that fared the best overall? Hewlett-Packard with a Green Score of 100, followed by Dell in second with a 98.87.

In the gaming (and related) business sector, Microsoft came in at #31 with a score of 83.79, followed by retailers Wal-Mart (#59) with a score of 80.38 and Best Buy (#61) with a score of 80.33. GameStop clocked in at #228, with a score of 71.37, with Electronic Arts (#381) and Activision Blizzard (#416) following. EA and Activision Blizzard had scores of 65.58 and 63.80 respectively.

Image via otherpower.com

EA Sports President Peter Moore has labeled the videogame industry’s current reliance on disc-based media as a “burning platform.”

Speaking at the PLAY Digital Media Conference, Moore also thinks Microsoft will be the first console manufacturer to go all digital, reports IGN, even though such a move is years away. Speaking on digital distribution he stated:

As a concept, do you stay on the platform and face certain death, or do you jump into the water and face probable death? Most of you would choose probable death, so you start moving towards a hybrid model of digital distribution.

While Moore added that it could take up to a decade for physical media to disappear, he asked:

The important question is, what does the next console look like? Does it actually have a disc drive?

The developer of an iPhone game targeted for its use of the term “Edge” by extreme-litigant and Edge Games CEO Tim Langdell believes that Langdell’s lawyers “have fled.”

Mobigame head David Papazian told EuroGamer that Langdell “has absolutely no legal grounds” for his trademark infringement claim and that Langdell never actually sued Mobigames for past sales.

The Mobigame in question, Edge, has been republished on the Apple Store, under a slightly new name—Edge by Mobigame.

Electronic Arts filed suit against Langdell and Edge Games over the latter’s trademarks, an event Papazian termed “amazing.”

In a further twist, Papazian also accuses Langdell of infringing on a Graeme Devine (former id Software developer and ex-chairman of the IGDA, now an Apple employee) copyright, for an Edge Game iPhone title called Firebirds. Firebirds is a copyright owned by Devine claims Papazian, who also charges Langdell with stealing art for the game off of Deviant Art.

News.com.au reports that a resubmitted and modified version of Valve’s Left 4 Dead 2 has been granted a rating by Australia’s Office of Film and Literature Classification board.

The original version of the zombie-killing title was refused classification by the PFLC, rendering it unreleasable. The edited version has received an MA 15+ rating. Distributor Electronic Arts told the website that it still holds out hope that the resubmitted full version of the game would receive classification and that is the version it would still prefer to release.

The OFLC's full report (PDF) on the modified Left 4 Dead 2 title contains consumer advice of “strong bloody violence,” though the board noted that “the game no longer contains depictions of decapitation, dismemberment, wound detail or piles of dead bodies lying about the environment.”

In the Board’s view “the element of violence in the game has been sufficiently modified.”

Via: Edge-Online

Image Via: Cheezburger.com

A new Electronic Arts videogame testing facility located on the Louisiana State University campus has the state of Florida worried about a full-court press to lure developers to the Bayou State.

While EA was not looking to open a new testing center, reports the Orlando Sentinel, incentives signed into law earlier this year by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) were “too good to pass up.”  The facility at LSU should eventually grow to comprise 200 part-time student workers and 20 full-timers, some of who moved over from Maitland, Florida-based EA Tiburon.

Craig Hagen, EA's director of government affairs for North America, offered:

Florida is at risk of not being competitive with other states relative to these incentives programs. I understand the fiscal pressure that Florida faces, and it is a difficult thing, but they need to realize the economic incentives are what should grow the economy and turn the pressure down."

The article also notes that in order to prepare its students for jobs with developers, LSU is now offering a digital-media-based curriculum.

DRM issues shouldn’t affect the Will Wright-designed Spore videogame in its feature film incarnation.

Variety reports that 20th Century Fox has acquired film rights to the Electronic Arts title, with plans to make a computer-generated animated motion picture. Ice Age and Robots director Chris Wedge is aligned with the project, while EA Entertainment’s Patrick O’Brien and Maxis VP Lucy Bradshaw will serve as executive producers.

Other EA properties currently being adapted to film include The Sims, Army of Two, Dante’s Inferno, Dead Space and Mass Effect.

Electronic Arts continues to find itself a lighting rod for lawsuits, with at least three additional actions against the game maker documented by GameSpot.

Former University of North Carolina basketball player Byron Bishop has filed a suit, one seeking class-action status, against the NCAA, its licensing division and EA, charging that the defendants “conspired to violate the NCAA's own by-laws prohibiting the for-profit use of amateur athletes by including likenesses--but not names--of current athletes in its NCAA-branded games.” Similar lawsuits have been piling up against EA.

NFL superfan John Big Dawg Thompson, a member of the Cleveland Browns Dawg Pound, charges EA with the “unauthorized and unlicensed use of the images, likenesses, characters and persona of plaintiff’s Big Dawg character” in Madden NFL 2009. Thompson, who has appeared as Big Dawg “for nearly 25 years,” seeks a “reasonable sum” in excess of $25,000.

Fight Night Round 4 is at the center of the next lawsuit, with Fighters Incorporated, LLC suing EA for the “unlawful” use of three of Fighters Inc.’s boxers’ images in that title. Fighters Inc. further claims that EA induced several fighters to breach their contracts with Fighters Inc., then “dared Fighters Inc. to sue EA, suggesting EA was too big and powerful to challenge in court.” Fighters Inc. seeks damages of around $25.0 million, plus court costs.

Downloads:
Complaint for John Big Dawg Thompson vs Electronic Arts Inc. (PDF)
Complaint for Fighters Incorporated vs Electronic Arts Inc. (PDF)

Aggressive trademark defender Tim Langdell has found his company on the receiving end of an Electronic Arts trademark battle.

Langdell, the CEO of Edge Games Inc., has been notorious for his attempts to stop the use of the word “edge” by other game developers in their titles. As a result of what some might term his overzealousness, a petition was started earlier this year to have Langdell removed from his spot on the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) board, a post he eventually resigned from in August.

DowJones reports that Electronic Arts Inc., and its subsidiary EA Digital Illusions CE AB, have filed a Consolidated Petition for Cancellation against a series of trademarks registered to Edge Games, including: “The Edge,” Gamer’s Edge,” “Edge” and “Cutting Edge.”

At the center of the fight is the EA-published and EA DICE-developed Mirror’s Edge game. EA claims that Edge Games has continuously threatened to sue EA over the game’s title, even though EA DICE owns U.S. common law trademark rights to the term Mirror’s Edge.

One of EA’s arguments is that Edge Games did not utilize “The Edge” trademark in commerce, a statement it attempted to backup with a graphic showing a Snoopy computer game (pictured left), complete with “The Edge” labeling. EA noted that the game was for the Commodore Amiga platform, a system that “on information and belief, was discontinued years before the filing of the application.” The application was filed "on or about" March 22, 1996.

For those interested, TIGSource has been keeping a running tally of information related to Tim Langdell and Edge Games.

Ex-football stars Herb Adderley and Jim Brown seek to formally support Samuel Keller in his lawsuit against NCAA Football game maker Electronic Arts Inc.

Keller, a college quarterback at Arizona State and Nebraska, filed suit against EA earlier this year charging that the game maker and the NCAA unfairly used images of college players in the NCAA Football and NCAA Basketball series of games.

The Associated Press reports that Adderley and Brown wish to file a “friend of the court” brief in support of Keller. Brown, who had filed a similar lawsuit against EA in regards to his depiction in EA’s Madden titles, saw that lawsuit dismissed in Los Angeles last week, as U.S. District Court Judge Florence Marie-Cooper compared videogames to realistic paintings of athletes:

The Madden NFL video games are expressive works, akin to an expressive painting that depicts celebrity athletes of past and present in a realistic sporting environment

Adderley was lead-plaintiff in a class-action suit against the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) that resulted in a $28.0 million dollar verdict last November.

In light of the refusal of the Australian Classification Board to classify Left 4 Dead 2, some authorities are rethinking the country’s game ratings.

While R18+ ratings exist in Australia for films and other media, videogames still top out with a MA15+ rating, meaning that games that fall outside the spectrum can’t be approved for sale.

Adding an R18+ rating would require the agreement of all Australia’s attorney generals, but News.com.au reports that at least one member of that group is holding out, South Australian Attorney General Michael Atkinson. Atkinson’s take:

It certainly does restrict choice to a small degree, but that is the price of keeping this material from children and vulnerable adults. In my view, the small sacrifice is worth it.

Victorian Attorney General Rob Hulls disagrees, saying that Australia is “out of step with the world,” adding:

It seems inconsistent that in Australia adults are allowed to view adult-only films which have been classified R18+ by the Classification Board, but not computer games with equivalent high-level content.

Valve and Electronic Arts have appealed Left 4 Dead 2’s refusal of classification.
 

In response to last week’s refusal of the Australia Classification Board to rate Left 4 Dead 2, an Electronic Arts spokesperson had some choice words for the government entity.

Speaking to GameSpot Australia, EA’s Tiffany Steckler began defending the Valve Software title by suggesting that adults should have the right to choose what games they play. She continued:

It’s funny that a place like Australia, which has come up with some pretty violent material in the past with something like Mad Max, can effectively ban video games for the same reason.

There’s still no word on whether or not Valve will institute changes to the sequel in order to get it approved down under.

Update: According to Blue's News, Valve appealed the Classification's board ruling yesterday. Also listed on Blue's are ratings for Left 4 Dead 2 from a variety of territories around the world.

Via Gamasutra comes news that the Australian Government has refused to classify Valve Software’s multiplatform follow up Left 4 Dead 2.

Electronic Arts applied for the rating and was issued a classification of “RC,” for Refused Classification, meaning the game will have to be heavily modified to have any chance of being released in Australia. The ruling (PDF) stated:

These close in attacks cause copious amounts of blood spray and splatter, decapitations and limb dismemberment as well as locational damage where contact is made to the enemy which may reveal skeletal bits and gore.

Australia’s videogame ratings comprise four categories: G (General, very mild content), PG (Parental Guidance Recommended, mild content), M (Mature Audiences, moderate content) and MA15+ (not suitable for people under 15, strong content).

The original Left 4 Dead garnered a MA15+ rating in Australia.

Sega's marvelous Dreamcast system launched ten years ago today and EA Sports boss Peter Moore, who headed Sega of America at the time, has posted a nice retrospective on his blog.

Although EA's refusal to develop for the DC was likely a major factor in its abbreviated life, Moore is diplomatic on this issue:

Over the years, I have been asked many times whether EA's decision not to develop and publish games for the Dreamcast was a major contributing factor in its early demise. That we will never know. But it is hard to argue with EA's rationale at the time and the ultimate outcome - get in position for the impending arrival of the Playstation 2, deploying all resources against the newest version of Sony's already wildly successful video game platform...

Moore also points out that the DC, which shipped with a built-in modem, was the first console truly enabled for online gaming:

With the Dreamcast's online capabilities, we coined a phrase "We're taking gamers where gaming is going"...  As rudimentary as those first dial-up game play experiences were, we proved that it could be done, and that gamers were clamoring for competition that extended past whomever was sat next to you on the couch at the time...

 

Many saw the Dreamcast as a spectacular failure... If measured by longevity and the ultimate financial outcome, they were right. But the Dreamcast had a profound and lasting impact on the world of video games...

Notorious bank robber John Dillinger was gunned down by FBI agents in 1934, but his fame lives on. And that is causing some problems for game publisher Electronic Arts.

EA has filed suit in federal court in San Francisco, requesting that a U.S. District Court judge grant them the okay to use the name "Dillinger" in association with a pair of virtual machine guns depicted in its Godfather games. The "Dillinger Tommy Gun" appears in the original Godfather game, while the "Modern Dillinger" is featured in The Godfather II.

The publisher has taken the unusual step because the owner of Indiana-based Dillinger LLC, reportedly the grandson of the famous gangster's half-sister, lays claim to all things Dillinger, including his name and likeness.

The lawsuit, filed by attorneys for the publisher last week, claims that Dillinger LLC tried to commit a bit of strongarm robbery on EA recently:

On July 22, 2009 Dillinger LLC, through its litigation counsel, contacted EA to accuse it of violating Dillinger's right of publicity and infringing upon its trademarks. Dillinger threatened EA with litigation unless it agreed to pay Dillinger millions of dollars for the game elements...

 

Following Dillinger's recent conduct, EA is faced with the choice of either abandoning its rights to develop, publish and sell the works at issue or risk liability for damages.

The EA case is not the first time Dillinger LLC has gotten legalistic over the use of the Dillinger monicker. The Arizona Star reports that in 2007 Dillinger LLC claimed its permission was needed for local hotel to run a "Dillinger Days" event. As the newspaper explains, an Indiana law has apparently emboldened Dillinger LLC:

The hotel is being sued under an Indiana law that protects a person's personality for 100 years after his or her death. It works like a trademark, because a person who wants to profit from the use of the personality must obtain written permission. Arizona has no such law, and it's not clear whether the Indiana law applies here.

DOCUMENT DUMP: Grab a copy of EA's lawsuit here...

In recent times, Germany has become Ground Zero in the debate over video game violence.

Consider that the German Parliament is expected to consider a total ban on the production and distribution of violent games next month. Meanwhile, top-tier developer Crytek (Far Cry, Crysis) has threatened to relocate out of the country if the ban becomes law.

In the latest development, EA exec Gerhard Florin (left) has called for Germany to drop its USK content rating system in favor of the PEGI system, which is widely in use in other European nations. Said Florin:

What we're doing here [with USK rating] is censorship. And no one complains. When we talk about games here it's about violence or their alleged addictiveness, and not about their cultural status. The few good studios are asking themselves why they should stay here anyway.

USK boss Marek Brunner took issue with Florin's criticism:

It's hard when half-truths are being used. They say the USK does this wrong, the USK does that bad and why doesn't this get a rating?

Brunner noted that other government bodies influence the type of game content which can be sold, including the Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons and the criminal courts.

Via: gamesindustry.biz

Late last year, NFL retirees won a massive $28 million verdict against their former union, the NFLPA, when a federal court jury in San Francisco decided that the old time players' images had been used in EA's popular Madden series without their authorization.

Following an appeal, the retirees accepted a just slightly less massive $26.25 million settlement. Although EA was not a defendant in the case, there has been talk by at least one militant former NFL player that a similar suit against the publisher may be in the offing.

It's very clear that, despite the big settlement dollars, hard feelings linger among the retirees. One of the more outspoken ex-players, former Oakland Raider Dave Pear, bitterly notes that EA has licensed realistic weather for Madden, but won't pay to use former players, who no longer appear in the game. Pear writes:

Retired players are so sick and tired of getting ripped off every time they turn around. We recently came across an article that Electronic Arts was partnering with The Weather Channel to pay them for weather statistics to make Madden Football X more “realistic” – but they DON’T want to pay the retired football players themselves for their stats in order to make the game more “realistic”. I wonder when they’re planning on screwing around with the weather so they won’t have to pay for that either...

Gamers who purchased a copy of Madden from August, 2005 onward may be eligible to join a class action suit against publisher Electronic Arts.

Pecover vs. EA (all GP coverage here) is currently proceeding in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The suit alleges that EA's exclusive licensing deal with the NFL and NFL Players Association created a monopoly situation which EA exploited by substantially raising the retail price for a copy of Madden.

In a story broken recently by GamePolitics, an expert witness hired by the plaintiffs theorized that EA's exclusive NFL/NFLPA license may have cost consumers nearly a billion dollars. Lawyers for EA have disputed that claim in court documents.

In a press release issued on Friday, Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, the law firm representing consumers in the case, provides a link where Madden buyers can learn more about the suit and potentially join as additional plaintiffs.

Lead attorney Steve Berman, quoted in the press release, pulled no punches in his assessment of EA's position regarding Madden:

There is nothing wrong with good, strong competition in a free market, but we believe EA rigged the game to take advantage of consumers.

EA knows that the demand for these games is based on how realistically the players and teams are portrayed. When EA signed into exclusive agreements it knowingly killed the only competing game of comparable quality, [Take-Two's] NFL 2K5.