Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Activision has been dealing with the anger of Guitar Hero III owners, which culminated four months ago in a class action lawsuit. The plaintiff, Sam Livingston, filed the suit against Activision because of the company's "deceptive" conduct regarding the lack of Dolby Pro Logic II.

Instead of letting the case get to court, though, Activision decided to offer a settlement. The amount of cash that exchanged hands in the deal was not made public, but we bet a check will be more satisfying than a complimentary faceplate. Oh, and speaking of those? They were actually less of an act of kindness on Activision's part, and more of a required legal stipulation from the settlement.

Even though Activision probably lost a whole lot of pennies in order to settle, we're sure the company is happy that there's now one less lawsuit to worry about this year.

[Via Game|Life]

Patrick Goschy is a creative guy. If you haven't seen his video for a prototype motion-based controller, which he made years before the Wii was even a console without a controller, then you should catch up. After that, be sure to see Engadget's pictures of the device. Now, Joystiq talks with the man about this twisted tale.

When working for Midway back in 1999 as a Development Systems Technician, Goschy came up with the idea for his first motion-based device. His next invention, the one we've all seen, came later in June of 2000 (although the patent was dated for 1999). In 2000, Midway comes up with some sort of compensation plan which would supplement him for a third patent so the company "can pay anything and fire anytime."

The Joystiq article also takes a look at the legal side of the dispute. Which, based on the words of some of those more educated in patent law than we are, looks to favor anyone not named Patrick Goschy. Since he worked at Midway, the company could very well own it all.

We recently reported that Activision would be issuing re-mastered Guitar Hero III discs to fix the lack of stereo and surround sound in the game. For some people, however, this fix is seen as too little, too late, and now the company faces a class-action lawsuit.

The complaint, brought about by plaintiff Sam Livingston, states that Activision's conduct has been "deceptive" and "unlawful" because the game is not compatible with Dolby Pro Logic II, thereby counteracting the label on the game's box. Those behind the complaint feel that Activision needs to pay up for misrepresenting their product, and for continuing to sell the Wii version of the game without warning consumers about the sound issues. The aggregate claims of the plaintiff and the members of the class-action suit amount to $5,000,000, to which we can only say, ouch.

Activision refused to comment on the lawsuit, but did state that they were actively working to have the re-mastered discs ready by early 2008, which will be available to owners of the game at no cost.

[Via Game|Life]

We must be getting closer to elections if presidential hopefuls are beating the drum about game retailers and stricter laws again. This time it's Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney who's struggling to take the family-friendly line. While his rhetoric on games is empty and uninformed, it will probably strike a chord with parents, as it makes for a tasty soundbite: "It's time to clean up the water in which our kids are swimming," he said. "I've proposed that we enforce our obscenity laws again and that we get serious against those retailers that sell adult video games that are filled with violence, that we go after those retailers," he said.

It's unfortunate that the truth doesn't get more votes, because we'd love to see another candidate (any one will do) fire back with some of the statistics on exactly who's buying all these video games. Here's a hint: it's usually not the kids who are wielding the credit cards during game purchases. There are protections in place for children -- parental controls on consoles, rating systems, current laws -- and considering that only 17% of game purchases are performed by children, it seems that more laws, stricter punishments, and whatever else Romney could come up with would be a waste of resources. Until we can convince parents to take a more active role in monitoring the activities of their children, the current system is just fine.

That doesn't make much of a clip for the news networks, however.

[Via Game|Life]

And not the cool kind, folks. The Wii has not been on the market for over half a year, and like any other shining beacon of all that is right in this world, it has been corrupted by peg-legged drunkards. Or software pirates in the Philippines, or something, whatever.

Some of you have already chimed in on your thoughts regarding game piracy, but how do you feel toward the practice in general? TV shows, movies, games, music, and outrageously expensive software have all become essentially free, thanks to various file sharing methods across the web. Do you do it? Do you look down on others who do? How can you justify such things? We'll be honest, we pirate occasionally ... usually stuff we'd be unable to obtain via normal means, like anime (Death Note!). But never games. Pinky swear.

And don't worry ... we won't give the MPAA your IP addresses.

O', Jack Thompson, thou art gold for gaming journalists such as ourselves. Your wacky hijinks and unceasing, irrational behavior fill our lives with joy. But amidst his juvenile catcalling, logical fallacies, and overall rejection of sanity, we look at the upcoming Manhunt 2 and begin to wonder. This game might be, with the inclusion of the Wii controller, the most realistically violent game in the history of mankind. Though we still firmly believe that a game will never be the true cause of mental imbalances and disorders, we still have absolutely no system in place to prevent the sales of these games to minors; whatever you may think about Jack Thompson, this goal is an admirable one.

The industry is going to take heavy fire for this game regardless, but we feel as though his arguments hold a bit of water in this particular case. Do you feel strongly about the issue, and do you think we should have measures in place to prevent the acquisition of these games by kids who aren't equipped to properly process the violence in a nondestructive manner?