HMV starts GTA IV pre-order promotion
The retailer HMV has begun a promotion for gamers eagerly awaiting the upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV that will include 1000 free Xbox Live points “and vouchers worth over GBP 130.”
The free XBL points are exactly double what rival retailer GAME is offering. “We’ve come up with what we believe to be a market-leading offer for Grand Theft Auto IV,” added Duncan La Barre, online games specialist at hmv.com.
“Grand Theft Auto IV is the biggest game release of 2008, and we’re pleased to offer our online customers a great deal. If there’s a better deal out there, we haven’t seen it,” he finished.
Obviously, the deal is only for pre-orders of the 360 version of the game and will not be included on the Grand Theft Auto IV: Special Edition. The game is set for release in Europe on April 29.
PSP firmware gets updated
According to Sony’s PlayStation blog, the PSP has seen its firmware updated to version 3.93 today, which comes with 20 new Internet radio players.
The new players are “organized into more specific styles of music so that PSP users can easily find what they are looking for and listen to their favorite genres.” Sony has said that more than 50 percent of PSP owners use the music-playback feature of their gaming handhelds.
Internet Radio functionality was originally introduced with firmware version 3.80 and gamers can can enable the Internet Radio player by going to the Network section of the Xross Media Bar. After you install the Internet Radio feature, a new icon will appear enabling music Streaming.
Also coming with the new firmware update is Skype calling, but you will need to purchase the PSP Headset Kit to use it. The set is not available yet.
Dell getting back into handheld market?
Dell is reportedly making a comeback to the handheld device market and could be teaming up with large manufacturer Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) to develop Windows Mobile-based handheld devices.
The company, which ended it Axim handheld line 2 years ago, has been reorganizing for a comeback since early 2007 with the hiring of Ron Garriques, a former executive vice president at Motorola in charge of its Cell phone division.
Apparently, Dell has accelerated its reorganization since “Acer’s recent announcement of acquiring Taiwan-based smartphone maker E-Ten Information Systems.”
The sources have also added that Foxconn is “recruiting talent from other Taiwan-based handset makers in preparation for accepting orders from Dell.”
We will keep you updated.
IMAX to now use DLP projectors
Texas Instruments DLP Cinema has announced that IMAX will now be using DLP Cinema projectors.
Under the new agreement, beginning in Q2 2008, any IMAX Digital projection system deployed to commercial theaters will be powered by DLP Cinema projectors.
“We are proud to work with IMAX in its development and rollout of the best digital cinema experience in the market,” said Nancy Fares, business manager for DLP Cinema Products Group. “DLP Cinema projectors are the heart of every digital 2D and 3D movie experience for traditional and now large format venues. We look forward to participating in their move to digital in the months ahead.”
Since the great box office success of The Polar Express on IMAX 3D, the format in itself has made a comeback and is resurgent revenue for the movie industry.
Heres hoping everyone moves to digital soon.
IFPI takes down music release group
The IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) has announced that they have successfully raided two servers in Hungary that were home to the very popular music release group RAGEMP3.
The announcement also said that the raid disrupted another music release group, XXL. The raid was a joint action by the IFPI, Hungarian police, and ProArt (the local copyright traffic police).
No arrests have been made and the announcement said nothing about any long term consequences for the release groups. Most likely the organizations are nowhere near decimated and its possible that the servers were not the only ones used by the groups.
The release groups, otherwise known as top sites, are “the top tier hierarchy of the online distribution world.” It is where releases begin and the point from which information “trickles” down to torrent sites, newsgroups, Warez forums and finally P2P.
Update: Unlimited iTunes subscription is all rumor
Yesterday we reported that the Financial Times was claiming that there was talk of an unlimited subscription to the iTunes Store in the works and that the only catch would be a premium on the price of iPods and other mobile Apple products.
According to Business Week however, the claims are largely unfounded although there have been talks for an iTunes subscription model being floated around for months. The FT report claimed that for a $20-$100 USD premium on the price of iPods and iPhones users would have unlimited access, DRM-free, to iTunes music. The added revenue from the sales of the devices would then be “distributed appropriately amongst record labels.”
The latest Business Week report however completely contradicts the last report. “Insiders at major music labels” have supposedly dismissed the rumors completely although Apple has yet to make an official comment.
We will keep you updated on any developments.
Profile 2.0 support coming to PlayStation 3
The upcoming PlayStation 3 Firmware update will make the console the first Blu-Ray Profile 2.0 capable player, among other updates.
The new version 2.2 firmware update will add Internet features that are expected with upcoming Blu-ray movies. Future BD-Live titles will allow customers to download new content as well as play games online, added Sony. More Profile 2.0 dedicated players have been introduced but will only be shipping later this year.
Among other new updates coming with the firmware upgrade is the ability for users to “sync specific music and photo playlists to a PSP.” An improved web browser is also coming “with direct Streaming of non-Flash video” included. Users will also be able to use the PSP as a remote control for music on the PS3 and new interesting playback memory feature will let users resume Blu-ray and DVD titles from a paused point even if the movie has been ejected since the last time it was viewed.
There was no word on when the update will hit the console, but the announcement made it seem that it would come in early April, alongside the launch of two of the first Blu-ray Profile 2.0 movies, Walk Hard and The 6th Day.
Mininova set to launch torrent video streaming
Mininova, the very popular torrent site has begun testing a torrent pwered video Streaming feature that would give users the chance to videos streamed from .torrent files.
When it becomes completely publicly available, it will be integrated into the “featured torrents section” where Mininova “lists all the distributors taking part in its content distribution platform.”
The “Swarmplayer”, as the streaming service is being dubbed, was created in collaboration with the “Tribler” team from the Technical University Delft and Free University Amsterdam.
The site is looking for people to beta test the service, say Erik, one of the admins: “We are looking for people who would like to be in the first testing group who test the software, report suggestions and bugs you find. Please reply in this topic if you want to participate in this closed beta.”
Make sure to check it out.
German court rules in favor of file sharers
The Federal Constitutional Court in Germany has ruled that the identities of file sharers must remain private and can no longer be revealed to media companies that are suing them over alleged copyright infringement. For now one, only people accused of “hard” crimes such as murder and kidnapping will have their identities revealed.
Germany is known to have some of the toughest copyright laws on the planet and some reports have indicated that over 200,000 German citizens have had their identities shared with entertainment and media companies, simply so they can be threatened with future legal action for unauthorized downloads.
Christian Solmecke, a defense lawyer, gave a more in depth look into the system before this latest ruling. “Based on the data provided by Logistep and other P2P tracking enterprises, an offense is reported. The public prosecution service is obliged to investigate because a copyright infringement is a criminal offense in Germany.” The ISP would then be forced to reveal the identity of the alleged file sharer.
The new ruling means the media companies can no longer force ISPs to reveal alleged file sharer’s identities. As was noted before, the only way to get an identity for now on will be if the file sharer is also involved in terrorism, murder, child pornography or kidnapping. I’m sure many file sharers in Germany feel a lot more safe now that this ruling has passed.
Iceland’s largest torrent tracker facing permanent shutdown
Torrent.is, the largest torrent Tracker in Iceland, is facing a permanent shutdown and the probability that it will have to pay restitution to copyright owners.
In November of 2007 Torrent.is received a preliminary injunction which eventually led to a shutdown of the site and a massive 50 percent drop in overall internet traffic in Iceland. Earlier this week, at the public hearing of the case, the plaintiffs asked for the monetary damages as well as a permanent shutdown of the site.
Snæbjörn Steingrímsson, an executive with SMAIS (the Icelandic MPAA) led the investigation and said his clients had lost “a few hundred million ISK” because of the site. At its peak, the site had 26,500 active users, all in Iceland to ensure fast connectivity between peers and seeds.
Svavar Kjarrval, the head administrator of Torrent.is feels he has a strong case though. “The plaintiffs are making an outrageous claim. They argue that website and domain owners should always be responsible for copyright violations of third parties. The case could set a dangerous precedent if the court agrees with their claims.”
We will keep you updated.
