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by Mike Masnick, Techdirt.com

Video Gamers Sue EA Over Exclusive Sports Games

from the yes…-but… dept

Sports video games are a huge business — and for many years, it was an extremely competitive space. I remember a few years back trying to wade through half a dozen different baseball video game titles to figure out which one was worth buying. However, a few years back, video game giant EA started signing “exclusive” deals with a variety of sporting leagues, including the NFL. These “exclusive” deals supposedly meant that only EA could produce games with the names and stats of real players — a huge selling point among most fans. And, of course, in gaining exclusivity, EA has completely cashed in. However, a bunch of angry video gamers are now suing the company for anticompetitive conduct, noting that these exclusive deals killed off all the competition, allowing EA to drastically raise its prices.

Of course, there’s a separate issue that might make these gamers (and other video game companies) happy: with the recent rulings concerning fantasy baseball, it appears that the court system recognizes that player names and stats are public domain data. Thus, even with the “exclusivity,” other video game companies should be able to include real player names and data. They probably still cannot use real league logos, and even player likenesses may be out (which, again, is often a big selling point) — but hopefully it at least brings some competition back to the market.

original article found at: http://techdirt.com/articles/20080613/0204591398.shtml

by Mike Masnick, Techdirt.com

Mod Chips Found Legal In The UK

from the mod-away dept

For many years, we’ve wondered why some folks considered the process of mod chipping to be illegal. After all, if you own a device, why shouldn’t you be able to modify it? It’s not illegal to modify your computer, so why would it be illegal to modify a game console? Well, thanks to the DMCA in the US, the question wasn’t entirely clear — because console makers use encryption, they consider any modification to be a circumvention of that encryption, and the DMCA has that pesky anti-circumvention clause. In the US, it’s become even more bizarre, with federal officials taking up the cause and fining mod chippers while claiming (seriously) that mod chipping was a national security issue.

Luckily, it looks like the courts in Europe are a lot more reasonable about all of this. A few years back, we noted that an Italian court ruled that mod chips were perfectly legal (Update: Well, darn. As a commenter notes, the Italian decision was later overturned). And, now, a tipster alerts us to the news that a UK appeals court has found the same thing, tossing out all of the charges against a mod chip seller, noting that mod chips do not circumvent copy protection systems. Not only that, but the defendant was awarded legal fees. This is a big deal, as the lower court had found the guy, Neil Higgs, guilty for selling mod chips he had imported from Hong Kong. So, now that’s Italy and the UK that recognizes modifying your gaming consoles shouldn’t be illegal. Anyone else?

originally found at: http://techdirt.com/articles/20080612/0055131385.shtml