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Aside from the usual sniping at SONY and Blu-Ray, the boys from Redmond
have been fairly quiet again
this week. It would appear however, that Microsoft want to make it
very clear that they do not have any plans to launch an Xbox360 with
an integrated HD-DVD drive, presumably so as not to hinder sales of
the current model. Although, if things go a little pear-shaped for
SONY’s proprietary format, logic would state this might change.
It seems that the videogames industry will forever be dogged by misuse of
patents. SONY and their DualShock Controller found this to their
disadvantage when Immersion successfully sued the Japanese
conglomerate for over ninety-million dollars for infringing on their
patents on Vibrating Game Controllers. Microsoft on the other hand
resolved the case out of court, and, in typical Microsoft fashion,
bought ten percent of the company. This time around Microsoft is in
trouble over the Chat Systems in-place on XboxLIVE!.
PalTalk, a Cyberchat company based in New York, alleges that Microsoft has
“wilfully” infringed on their “Group Messaging” patents and
is demanding that the goliath software company pay dearly for the
damages. However, unlike the Immersion case, this particular lawsuit
seems somewhat suspect. Firstly the trial is stated to occur in the
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, an office of
law noted for giving rights to patent holders, even if the patents
in question are not as clear cut as they could be. Secondly, XboxLIVE!
launched back in 2002, a full four years ago, without so much as
a peep from  PalTalk, which has lead some to believe that perhaps the
company is seeking to take on Microsoft simply for the publicity.
However, should PalTalk successfully manage to prove their case, the
inevitable cost of the case may drive-up the price of XboxLIVE! Subscriptions, which, while it may let more people know of the
company, is unlikely to increase their popularity with the Halo:
Combat Evolved
faithful.
Fans of the violent and oft weird Prey have something to celebrate
this week as 3D Realms have announced that Downloadable Content for
the First-Person Shooter will be free. New Multi-Player Maps and
characters will be available, but as yet there is no release date,
with 3D realms taking a “it’ll be ready when it’s ready”
approach.
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