EA CEO Talks Acquisitions

   In an interview with Bloomberg yesterday, EA CEO John Riccitiello described potential acquisitions as "too expensive" thus far and went on to say, "There are probably 25 companies on our radar that would make sense for us at somewhere between 5 and 10 percent of the asking price.” When asked about the possibility of acquiring Harmonix which produces the Rock Band rhythm games, Riccitello stated, "While buying the Rock Band music video game franchise could make “theoretical” sense, it’s not the strategic direction the company is moving in." In 2006, Harmonix was acquired by MTV Networks which is owned by Viacom. Earlier this month, Viacom expressed their interest in selling Harmonix which is unprofitable.

Playstation Move Reaches 4.1 million Units Sold

   In a press release this morning, Sony marked a milestone in sales of the Playstation Move which has reached 4.1 million units sold globally since its release on September 17, 2010. With an installed base of 41.6 million Playstation 3 consoles in the world, the Move has reached nearly 10% of the userbase. It's still too early to determine if that sales figure is good enough for publishers to continue developing Move-compatible software.

   Microsoft also released sales figures for their Kinect motion-sensing device today at 2.5 million units sold since its launch on November 4, 2010. Microsoft expects to sell another 2.5 million Kinects during the 2010 holiday season.

Sony Patent Application #20100299595

   Akihabara News has been sleuthing around recent patents filed at the United States Patent and Trademark Office website and they’ve found seven patents filed by Sony Computer Entertainment of America. The diagrams included with the patents appear to indicate a touch-sensitive screen of some sort, a thin clamshell design, text entry capabilities, a mini keyboard, and a mass storage port or built-in device.

   Akihabara News and other sources that have picked up on the news appear to speculate that this might be a future PSP model but the device looks more like a PDA of some sort that might be capable of playing multimedia applications such as games, music, and video. The patent application #20100299595 may be viewed at http://appft.uspto.gov.

The abstract for the patent reads as follows:

    A hand-held electronic device, method of operation and computer readable medium are disclosed. The device may include a case having one or more major surfaces. A visual display and a touch interface are disposed on at least one of the major surfaces. A processor is operably coupled to the visual display and touch screen. Instructions executable by the processor may be configured to a) present an image on the visual display containing one or more active elements; b) correlate one or more active portions of the touch interface to one or more corresponding active elements in the image on the visual display; c) operate the one or more active elements according to a first mode of operation in response to a first mode of touch on one or more of the active portions; and d) operate the one or more active elements according to a second mode of operation in response to a second mode of touch on one or more of the active portions, wherein in the second mode of operation, the second mode of touch activates an enhancement of one or more of the active elements.

Kinect doesn't connect in Japan

   Following the stunning sales of the Kinect in the United States, the Xbox 360 hardware accessory has met a more muted response in Japan. According to new data from Media Create, the Kinect sold 26,000 units in its first two days of sales on November 20-21. Earlier this month, Microsoft sold a million Kinects in the first 10 days of availability in the United States. The Kinect currently retails for JPY14,800 which converts to roughly US$175.

Pirate Bay Loses Appeal

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20023915-93.html?tag=mncol;posts

   In another blow to online file-sharing, a Swedish appeals court upheld on Friday the copyright convictions of three of the four founders of The Pirate Bay--perhaps the world's most well-known and notorious file-sharing Web site.

    The court agreed with last year's ruling, which found Fredrik Neij, Peter Sunde, and Carl Lundstrom guilty of helping Pirate Bay users break Sweden's copyright law. However, it revised the ruling to decrease the defendants' jail sentences and increase the amount they must pay in damages.

   Despite the convictions and affirmation of the convictions, the Pirate Bay continues to operate and is still in business. It's unlikely that the defendants will appeal the decision but who knows, anything's possible in the war between the copyright holders and the pirates.

   In other recent news, the U.S. government has begun seizing domains that are providing file-sharing services or selling counterfeit goods. Dvdcollections.com, Torrent-finder.com, and 2009jerseys.were all taken down yesterday and their index pages were replaced by a notice which read, "This domain name has been seized by ICE--Homeland Security Investigations, pursuant to a seizure warrant issued by a United States District Court."

   I thought the following statement related to the Pirate Bay case was absurd: "In two years, this type of piracy will be over. After a ruling like this and all the pioneers start to get older and have children and families, piracy won't occur to this extent," Monique Wadsted, an attorney representing American record companies, told the Swedish news agency TT.

   What Monique doesn't take into account is that every generation of pirates is replaced by a newer generation. She's dumb (for a lawyer) if her mind can't comprehend the fact that the pool of pirates is constantly replenished just like the pool of software designers is constantly replenished. So many people in this world can't think beyond their own little boxes that they've build around themselves. Feh. I'm done.

Imageepoch sticking with J-RPGs

   Japanese developer Imageepoch announced eight upcoming games yesterday to some fanfare. Four of the games are expected to be released next year and they're all J-RPGs with the remaining four planned for future delivery beyond 2011. What is a J-RPG you ask? Well, it's a Japanese-style RPG in all of its linear, formulaic, and highly conventional splendor. You can expect the graphics to be formulaic and conventional as well. The four games that were announced yesterday are:

PSP Black Rock Shooter (http://fps.jrpg.jp/)
PSP Tale of the Last Promise (http://brs.jrpg.jp/)
PS3 Chevalier Saga Tactics
NET Chibito Rock Shooter

Japanese-style RPGs may have gone out of style stateside sometime in the past 5 years but Imageepoch doesn't appear to care. They are targeting the Japanese and Asian market with their upcoming games and there are currently no plans to release them outside of Japan.