An investigation examining 400 apps conducted by Develop shows that there is a lack of consistency in the way in-game purchases are presented on digital stores. The investigation follows the UK government agency the Office of Fair Trading’s recent announcement that it would investigate in-app purchases in children’s games.

According to a report in the UK newspaper The Guardian - citing data from a recent Microsoft survey - as much as £30.9 million in purchases a month are made by children without their parents' consent. That is according to 28 percent of 2,000 parents surveyed in the region.

Apple has won another battle this month at the U.S. International Trade Commission. The ruling dismissed patent claims by Google's Motorola Mobility against Apple's iPhone. If Motorola had prevailed, the ITC could have instituted a ban on imports of the iPhone into the United States from Apple's manufacturers in China.

Earlier in the week we learned that UK regulatory agency the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) had begun investigating free-to-play models in mobile and online games that used questionable practices to highlight (to children) buying upgrades in-games. Today we have learned the contents of the public survey that the agency is using to get information from UK consumers.

Responding to news that the UK regulatory agency the Office of Fair Trading is investigating free-to-play game practices, the UK video games trade body UKIE issued a statement saying that it would assist the OFT in find the truth.

The OFT announced that it would investigate how companies offer in-app purchases in games and if they use strong marketing techniques against children.

Kaspersky Lab has uncovered a Chinese hacking ring that has been breaching the security of and stealing source code and other material from various online games in East Asia, South Korea, Germany, the US, Japan, China, Russia, Brazil, Peru, and Belarus. The security researchers at the company say that this Chinese hacking ring broke into the servers of dozens of online video gaming companies and stole from them over a four year period.

Lieutenant J. Paul Vance of the Connecticut State Police issued a brief statement yesterday in response to a New York Daily News report detailing particulars of the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting that occurred last December. An anonymous source attending a law enforcement seminar in New York leaked supposed information from the investigation about the shooter, Adam Lanza, claiming that he had a spread sheet filled will data from other mass shootings.

Ars Technica points out a new scam trolling internet users with legal threats demanding cash settlements for alleged incidents of infringement. An organization calling itself the Internet Copyright Law Enforcement Agency (ICLEA) recently sent out copyright infringement notices to victims warning them that "if this matter is not settled by Friday, March 1, 2013 then you may face serious potential criminal and/or civil charges filed against you.

An investigation conducted by UK gaming publication Computer & Video Games shows that some online retailers are not doing their best to keep under-age children from buying mature-rated video games online. The investigative report (which includes some video) shows a person purchasing three games online without any age verification checks blocking his purchase. The UK-based retailers found to be lacking in this area include Amazon UK, HMV and Zavvi.

Teasing an upcoming interview with Hotline Miami co-creator Jonatan Söderström, VG247 offers tidbits on the developer's positions on piracy and making games "just for money." Recently made headlines when he offered support to players who had pirated his game over on Pirate's Bay.

First he talks about why he makes games:

It looks like Foxconn is going to "take one for the team" in the controversy over under-age interns working at its factory in Yantai, China. This is the plant where Nintendo's Wii U is reportedly being put together, so Nintendo is very concerned about any public perceptions that it finds breaking China's labor laws concerning under-age workers acceptable.

Earlier this week we reported that Foxconn - the company that helps build many of the products that are popular in the West from companies like Apple, Sony, Samsung, Microsoft and Nintendo - reported that it found underage interns working in one of its plants in Yantai, China. Today we have learned that that plant is responsible for assembling Nintendo products.

Over the weekend pictures and forum threads started to illustrate that players had somehow gotten their hands on early copies of Halo 4 - which isn't set for release until November 6th. Microsoft was obviously not very pleased with this news and promised that it would conduct an investigation into the early leaks of the game and would do so in conjunction with law enforcement.

Attorney Jack C. Schecter, Partner at law firm Sunstein Kann Murphy & Timbers LLP, passed along word that 6Waves has decided to settle its lawsuit with Spry Fox. You may remember that earlier in the year Spry Fox filed a lawsuit against the iOS developer claiming that Lolapps (a development studio the company acquired) had violated its copyright when it created a clone of its popular iOS title Triple Town.

Riot Games has issued a final determination on those teams they alleged cheated this past weekend in the third day of the Season 2 League of Legends World Playoff Matches. Riot has concluded that Korean team Azubu Frost is guilty of unsportsmanlike conduct and will be fined 20 percent of its winnings. The fine will be donated to a Riot Games charity in Korea.

The US International Trade Commission has launched an investigation into patent infringement claims made by Motorola against Apple. The ITC announced that it had launched a formal investigation into the claims that Apple's iPhones, iPods, iPads, and Mac computers infringed on patents held by Motorola. Motorola filed the complaint last month claiming that Apple violated patents it holds related to wireless communication devices, portable music players, and more.

An update on the official Bohemia Interactive forums reveals that the two Czechoslovakian men who were arrested last week in Greece are doing well and that Bohemia stands by its statement that the whole ordeal was a big misunderstanding.

A former OnLive employee (who spoke on the condition of anonymity) described to GamePolitics the last meeting the cloud-based subscription gaming service will ever hold. Earlier in the day this source confirmed a rumor that the company had laid off its entire staff and ceased to exist as a company.

First, our source describes the meeting where employees learned that they had all been let go:

According to the BBC, one of the world's largest BitTorrent sites in the world has been shut down. Ukraine-based BitTorrent site Demonoid has been shut down by Ukrainian authorities. Officials from the Ukraine's Ministry of Internal Affairs raided the data center that was hosting website's servers.

It hasn't been the greatest week for social games giant Zynga, and the aftermath of dismal earnings for the quarter (the stock has fallen to its lowest levels since going public) and a report that executives in the company dumped a large amount of stocks a few months ago aren't helping matters any.

Wired's Game | Life is reporting that the South Korean Customs Service has taken down a criminal piracy ring comprised of 25 suspects. They are accused of allegedly selling over 90,000 illegally copied games and copying devices for the Nintendo DS worth over 100 billion won ($87 million). The South Korean agency turned over information on the suspects to prosecutors on Monday, according to the Korea Herald.

Yesterday we reported on Chinese mobile developer Entertainment Game Labs being accused by Runic Games president Travis Baldree of stealing art and sound assets from his company's popular action-RPG Torchlight. After getting some unwanted attention from the press and from fans, the company said today that it will modify "some parts" of its iOS MMO Armed Heroes Online.

Two British men admitted to being part of the hacktivist group LulzSec and to committing various acts of hacking against high profile targets in a British court today.

Ryan Cleary pled guilty to hacking charges to being a member of LulzSec. Jake Davis also admitted to attacking the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) in the UK. The two men entered a plea of guilty earlier today while two others, Ryan Ackroyd and an unnamed 17-year-old, denied the charges.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the Justice Department has launched an investigation into the practice of cable broadband providers using data caps. The investigation, according to a source "close to the situation," will focus on whether cable providers are using broadband data caps to promote their own video services while discouraging customers from using services such a Netflix which count against their data caps.

Rhode Island state and Federal officials have begun to dig into the affairs of Curt Schilling's 38 Studios, who filed for bankruptcy earlier this month. According to Gamasutra, information related to the loans given by the state to 38 Studios is about to be picked apart. Earlier this month the Rhode Island State Police, the Rhode Island Attorney General's office, the FBI, and the U.S.

Is Habbo (formerly Habbo Hotel) a despicable hang-out for pedophiles that are continually preying on its underage users? A report that will air tonight on a Channel 4 news claims that they have strong evidence that it is. The report claims that pedophiles are chatting it up in the graphical social game-like teen destination, asking them if they have a "web cam," if they will get naked on camera, and trying their best to engage under age children in sexually charged conversations.

The U.S Justice Department has backed off proposed changes to the Freedom of Information Act after strong public criticism to the changes, and a collective verbal lashing from lawmakers on both sides of the political spectrum. Lawmakers felt that proposed changes gave the DOJ a license to lie to citizens who were looking for information from the government.

At issue was a proposal that gave the agency the ability to say that information "did not exist" if an agency determined that said information was classified in nature.

A Texas Family Court judge is now under investigation by the state's top law enforcement agency - the Texas Rangers - after a video surfaced of him beating his 16-year-old daughter Hillary Adams for downloading music and games from the Internet. The video was shot in 2004, but someone claiming to be his daughter posted the video on YouTube on October 27. The Aransas County Court-at-Law Judge William Adams was running for re-election.

The National Retail Federation has released its annual Organized Retail Crime report for the previous year. The National Retail Federation’s Organized Retail Crime survey, now in its seventh year, is conducted every spring to gauge the impact and severity of organized retail crime. The survey focuses on large scale theft of goods such as jeans, videogames, and house wares - anything that is popular and easy to sell.

On June 14 BioWare informed forum users that its Neverwinter Nights forums had been hacked and forum accounts were likely compromised. That happened on June 14. On June 23 the company offered an update on the situation and an apology to users for the inconvenience. The update was posted on the Bioware Social Network and penned by Aaryn Flynn - Studio GM, BioWare Edmonton VP, Electronic Arts: