$33 million penalty for OnlineNIC

OnlineNIC has to pay a  penalty of $33.15 million for having 663 domain names which looked like Verizon too much. 3 of them were: verizon-cellular.com, varizon.com and Verizoncellphonecompany.com. 

OnlineNIC made profit of people's typing error to get them on these parked domains, so that they click on advertisements and make them money. According to Verizon this is the highest ever money penalty given to someone/a company because of taking advantage of people with typing error.

OnlineNIC has got to pay Verizon $50,000 for each of the domains and has to assign them all to Verizon. OnlineNIC were not available at the court to defend themselves.

Microsoft and Yahoo! are also planning to sue OnlineNIC, Microsoft has a list of 97 domain names which look too much like theirs and Yahoo! has a list of about 500 domain names with the same complaint.

Zune and Xbox 360 will be unified!

Xbox boss, James Allard, said in a interview that Xbox 360 and Zune will get connected to the same network. This way Zune will act as a complete entertainment solution.

Allard said in a interview with The New York Times that the user will have to buy separate cards, $50 for Xbox live for a year and $15 a month for Zune Pass.


Read the whole story here!

Assasin's Creed will contain less gore in Germany

The yet to come game Assasin's Creed will contain less blood and gore if published in Germany. This follows after the previous announcement that Unreal Tournament 3 would be stripped from blood and gore, according to Ubisoft because it didn't appeal the German media autorities. The influence of violence in games has been, just like in the USA (with our all known hero Jack Thompson), the constant subject of debate lately. Incidents like the murder by two German teenagers who said to be inspired by a Final Fantasy game fed the opinion that there should be a control on the amount of violence in games. Now Assasin's Creed will be more friendly to all parents who seek to protect their child against images of things widely spread over television and goth band lyrics.

Playstation 3 not harder to code for

The team that was responsible for Ubisoft's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, said it is not harder to code for the PS3 in comparison with the Xbox 360. Even though analysts keep saying this, it is up to the experience you have with the console your coding for.

The Playstation has been in the market for a shorter time than the Xbox 360, that's why developers need more time to understand the PS3's hardware. The PS3 is not necessarily harder to code for than the Xbox 360. They are two different consoles with different competences.

"It's wrong to say it's harder to code on the PlayStation 3, it's just something that needs to be learnt. It's not harder to develop on the PS3 than it is on the 360, it's just a different console. Developers might says it's harder because it just takes time to understand the technology, we're still early in the lifecycle."

Yann Le Tensorer from the GRAW team compared the PS3 with the PS2 which also took some time to develop for: "We need all developers to learn from the console, it was the same with the PlayStation 2. Our team are more than happy with the PlayStation 3".

Source: GameIndustry

Metal Gear Online Beta --> Soon!

Konami will begin soon with the Beta tests. The (first) Beta test will begin from 20 August till 3 September. Unfortunately it's a closed Beta test and only people who are invited, can participate in the test.

The Japanese Beta testers have already received an E-mail with instructions. We don't know whether there will be a open Beta test after this or not, we can only hope!

Sony unveils European release dates!

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has unveiled a new release date list for PAL regions:

August 2007
29.08 - SingStar Standalone - PS2 - € 30,95
29.08 - SingStar inclusief microfoon - PS2 - € 61,95

September 2007
05.09 - Rouge Galaxy - PS2 - € 61,95
12.09 - Warhawk inclusief headset - PS3 - € 61,95
12.09 - SingStar Standalone - PS3 - € 30,95
12.09 - SingStar inclusief microfoon - PS3 - € 61,95
19.09 - EyeToy: Play Sports Standalone - PS2 Platinum - € 20,95
19.09 - Tourist Trophy - PS2 Platinum - € 20,95
TBA - WipEout Pulse - PSP - TBA

October 2007
10.10 - ATV Offroad Fury Pro - PSP - € 40,95
10.10 - ATV Offroad Fury 4 - PS2 - € 61,95
17.10 - Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice - PSP - € 40,95
17.10 - Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice - PS2 - € 61,95

I don't know what happened with Heavenly Sword and Lair??? You guys have any idea?

Source: Ourworld

American Playstation Store update

The American Playstation Store has been updated with some new content:

Piyotama (Game, $2,99) Heavenly Sword Anime Part I (Trailer) Heavenly Sword Making Of (Trailer) Heavenly Sword Anime (Wallpaper) Turok E3 Gameplay (Trailer) 10.000 B.C (Trailer) Super Bad Red Band (Trailer) Fred Claus (Trailer)

Again a Heavenly Sword wallpaper! Nariko is gorgeous :p I'm going to download this for sure! Games on the PSN don't make happy, because here we don't have prepaid cards!!! Sony must hurry man! I have no credit card.