Gaming and Culture

In recent days, a few blogs have picked up on the fact that the battery on Sony's upcoming PSP Go will be sealed into the unit and not be user-replaceable, just as it is on all of Apple's latest portable devices and plenty of other new gadgets. The integrated battery isn't new news. But what caught people's attention was an old quote from John Koller, Sony's director of hardware marketing, which PlayStation Insider recently ripped off from a June Ars Technica article that had Koller explaining that the move to a built-in battery was a least partially designed to thwart pirates.

In case you don't know the history behind PSP piracy, it goes something like this: For the original PSP-1000 and second-generation PSP-2000, Sony had a secret "backdoor" system for resuscitating frozen or "bricked" PSPs. The process involved replacing the common PSP battery with a special one that unlocked the system.

Alas, the secret didn't last long, and hackers developed their own custom battery (the appropriately named Pandora's Battery) and firmware that allowed anyone to run illicit "ripped" versions of UMD games along with home-brew applications and PSOne titles that had been converted to run on the PSP. Those in the home-brew community maintain that they're just interested in fully accessing the products they've purchased and that pirating games isn't what their creative efforts are about. But the offshoot of the whole movement has been a flourishing trade in pirated games.

Nintendo faces similar problems with hacked DS systems, but a quick check of The Pirate Bay Top 100 handheld games reveals that the majority of the illegal downloads on the list are for the PSP. As I write this, more than 2,000 people are illegally downloading Dissidia: Final Fantasy, the top game on the list.

It's also worth noting that a counter on another site says that 81,000 people have already downloaded a recent custom firmware upgrade that will potentially allow modders to play that pirated version of Dissidia. A couple of competing custom firmware upgrades are out there, both of which appear to have been created by European hackers, including the infamous Dark Alex, a Spanish programmer who hasn't been heard from for a while. Some speculate that Sony has somehow neutralized Dark Alex either through legal threats or compensation, but Sony reps tell me that while they're aware of him, they [Sony], "Really have no relationship with him."

Although Sony hasn't said that much publicly about the piracy issue, it's acutely aware that tens of thousands of people--and quite possibly hundreds of thousands--never pay for games. Over the years, it's been trying to stay ahead of hackers with a steady stream of new firmware upgrades and additional security features incorporated into the PSP-3000 and the game discs.

In a response to some questions I submitted to Sony for this article, Koller says that, "Piracy is an industry-wide issue that ultimately is bad for consumers. We're continuing to take proactive steps to address the issue of piracy and to minimize its impact on the PSP, from both a legal and technical perspective. For example, firmware updates enable us to apply security patches and enhance or add new features."

Many, if not most, new PSP releases going forward will require you to install Sony's latest firmware to run the title (the firmware comes on the game's UMD disc). At this juncture, hackers appear to be a step behind Sony, though message-board posters on sites like psp-hacks.com remain confident Sony's security measures will be breached and that the real game begins when Sony releases its 6.0 firmware (Sony hasn't announced a launch date yet).

If there's an irony in all this it's that that the UMD format was supposed to prevent piracy and now Sony is seeing the move toward digital downloads as an opportunity to keep pirates at bay. Although a bit late (many argue that the PSP should have skipped physical media from the get-go), it's the right thing to do. That said, Sony does face some serious challenges in making the transition to a UMD-less platform.

• The $250 price tag on the PSP Go is too high (this is fairly self-explanatory, but it's unclear why Sony would bring out a more expensive device unless it was actually being cautious and didn't want to sell as many PSP Gos as it could if it were priced at $179, like the current PSP-3000 is).
• It's unclear just how much people are willing to pay for downloadable games. For a UMD PSP title, you're looking at $30-$40, but the top end for a downloadable game is $29.99 max for a AAA title and $19.99 for AA stuff.
• Currently, there's no way to trade in digitally downloaded games. As it is, popular PSP titles don't fetch all that much money at Gamestop or Amazon. But they fetch something, and trade-ins are how a lot of people help finance the purchase of new games.

From this perspective, you can see why Sony is racing toward an Apple App store model in which the PlayStation Store is stocked with $2-$10 PSP micro games (PSP Minis) and hopefully some interesting home-brew-style applications that don't cost much either. In the download world, small and cheap is where the money's at and Sony needs to get lots of developers on board to make the PSP an attractive platform.

Koller says that based on Sony's consumer research, there's strong demand among PSP owners for digital content. "That's why we're launching the PSPgo, which specifically invites consumers who prefer digital content to download games legally," he says. "We're offering a full spectrum of games for PSP owners to download, from bite-sized games in the new 'Minis' section on PlayStation Store to full, large-scale experiences like Gran Turismo."

As far as the pirates go, if history is any indicator, Sony probably won't be able to stop hackers from cracking the Go. (Koller was smart enough not to declare it unhackable; he merely said, "The PSP Go is going to make things tougher on the pirates.")

Ultimately, the company's best defense against piracy may be to offer good, affordable sub-$20 games and applications or perhaps even move to a monthly rental/subscription model that allows you to check out titles for 30 days, with an option to buy at the end. To get to where it wants to go, Sony not only needs to stay one step ahead of the hackers, but it needs to stay one step ahead of the competition. Occasionally, that requires thinking differently.

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After the 2006 suicide of 13-year-old Megan Meier, the victim of an Internet hoax, Missouri is taking cyberbullying very seriously.

Elizabeth Thrasher now has the dubious honor of being the first person charged with the felony of cyberbullying under a new Missouri state law.

According to a story in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Tuesday, Thrasher is accused of posting a photo of a teenage girl, along with personal information about her, in the "Casual Encounters" section of Craigslist.

Prosecutors in the case said that the 40-year-old Thrasher posted the girl's picture, e-mail address, and cell phone number on the site, which is geared toward people interested in quick sexual encounters, reported the Post-Dispatch. The 17-year-old girl, who has not been named, reportedly received e-mails, text messages, and cell phone calls from strange men, forcing her to call the police.

The incident isn't random--the alleged victim is the daughter of Thrasher's ex-husband's girlfriend, noted the Post-Dispatch. And according to St. Charles County Prosecutor Jack Banas, Thrasher and the teen's mother had been arguing, prompting the girl to send a MySpace message to Thrasher telling her to grow up. The situation then escalated when Thrasher created a listing for the teen on the Craigslist adult site.

The Post-Dispatch quoted authorities who said the case is the first felony charge filed in St. Charles County under the new state law. Misdemeanor charges have been filed in other local cases.

But Thrasher's attorney, Michael Kielty, said he's not sure prosecutors can meet the elements of the charge, claiming that the statue is poorly written, according to the Post-Dispatch. "To charge a woman, a mother, with a felony for what is tantamount to a practical joke, that's awfully rash," he said. "That's taking it to the extreme."

The St. Charles County sheriff's office and attorney Kielty were not available for comment to CNET News.

The new cyberbullying law was passed as a response to Meier's suicide. Lori Drew, a neighbor of Meier, had been charged with using her MySpace account to bully the 13-year-old. Drew went so far as to manufacture a fake online boyfriend who eventually broke up with Meier, telling her in the final message that "the world would be a better place without you."

In July, a judge dismissed misdemeanor charges against Drew, with her lawyers arguing that the law at that time was vague.

In the legal dispute over heavy metal action game Brutal Legend, Activision and Double Fine Productions have reportedly buried the hatchet. Or more appropriately, the ax.

A scheduled Los Angeles Superior Court hearing in which Activision was to argue for a judge to block the release of Brutal Legend was canceled Thursday, the Associated Press is reporting. The publisher's attorneys said a settlement was reached, negating the need for the hearing, a representative of the court told the AP.

No notice of settlement has been filed in the case, and there are no details as to the terms of the settlement. Representatives with Double Fine, Activision, and Electronic Arts (which is currently set to release the game through its EA Partners program) did not immediately return GameSpot's requests for comment.

Brutal Legend stars Jack Black as rock 'n' roll roadie Eddie Riggs, who must battle demons in hell.

The legal tiff over the game began at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in June, when Activision filed a lawsuit to prevent the release of Brutal Legend. Activision claims that even though it declined to release Brutal Legend after merging with original publisher Vivendi Games, it never lost the rights to put the game out.

As a result, Double Fine wouldn't have been free to shop the game around and secure the help of EA Partners in preparing Brutal Legend for its currently scheduled October 13 launch.

Earlier this month, Double Fine countersued, accusing Activision of unlawful business practices and trying to prevent the game's release to thin out potential competition to the publisher's own Guitar Hero franchise. The countersuit mentioned an aborted attempt to make Brutal Legend an extension of the Guitar Hero franchise and said Double Fine's continued existence hinged on the game's successful release.

Brendan Sinclair reported for GameSpot.

Parents have yet another reason for a long, hard talk with their kids. More than half of teens admit to using the Internet to cheat, a new poll shows, while 35 percent say they've used their cell phones.

The results were released Thursday by Common Sense Media, which commissioned research firm Benenson Strategy Group to conduct the poll.

The report (PDF) uncovered several alarming trends. More than 38 percent of teens say they've copied content from the Internet and presented it as their own work, while 21 percent have downloaded an actual paper to turn in as their own. Around 65 percent say they've seen other students cheat on tests using their cell phones.

Many teens don't even see this behavior as wrong, according to the poll. Among those asked, 36 percent say that downloading a paper from the Internet was not a serious offense; 42 percent believe that copying text from Web sites was either a minor offense or not cheating at all. And 22 percent of those asked didn't feel that reading from notes on a cell phone during a test is cheating.

"Cell phones and the Internet have been a real game-changer for education and have opened up many avenues for collaboration, creation, and communication," said James Steyer, CEO and founder of Common Sense Media. "But as this poll shows, the unintended consequence of these versatile technologies is that they've made cheating easier."

Parents may also be naive in thinking that while other kids cheat, their own don't. The poll found that 92 percent of parents believe cell phone cheating happens at their kids' schools, but only 3 percent believe their own teen has ever used a cell phone to cheat. And 79 percent of parents say that kids download papers from the Internet as their own work, but only 7 percent believe their own teen has ever done this.

Common Sense Media offers the following tips for parents:

• Do your homework. Be aware of the technology that kids use every day.

• Don't assume that kids automatically know what's right or wrong. They need you to set the rules.

• Review school policies with them.

• Address the issue with your kids so the consequences of cheating are fully understood.

Common Sense Media's site offers additional advice to help parents deal with this issue.

To conduct the poll, Benenson interviewed 2,015 students and parents across the U.S. in May and early June. The margin of error is about 3 percent.

Since the launch of the Wii, Nintendo has been the subject of no fewer than 15 patent-related lawsuits. While many of those suits are still winding their way through the courts, Nintendo on Thursday issued a statement touting victory over Guardian Media Technologies in one of the more recent patent suits.

U.S. District Court Judge Manuel Real in Los Angeles struck down allegations that the Wii could play DVD movies.

"We are very pleased with the court's decision," Rick Flamm, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of legal, said in a statement. "Nintendo vigorously defends patent lawsuits. At the earliest stages of this case, Nintendo convinced the court to dismiss this case as Guardian's patent had nothing to do with Nintendo's products."

Flamm is correct about the suit having nothing to do with Nintendo's products. The Wii maker was one of dozens of defendants in the suit, which alleged violations of Guardian's patent for parental-control technology in TV programs and DVD video playback. While the Wii does include parental control functions, it does not feature DVD video playback. Nintendo's early dismissal from the case comes a scant six months after the suit was first filed.

Earlier this year, a federal judge in Texas dismissed a patent suit against Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft. That suit was brought by Fenner Investments and centered on a patent the firm holds for a "low-voltage joystick port interface." It was originally filed in January 2007.

In still another patent case, a judge in 2008 failed to overturn a verdict ordering Nintendo to pay $21 million to Anascape, a Texas company that holds a patent on motion-sensitive controllers.

Brendan Sinclair reported for GameSpot.

Most iPhone games are clearly appropriate for all audiences: puzzles, brain-teasers, mazes, and the like. But others, including some of the most fierce shooter games, may not be kid-friendly, at least from parents' perspectives.

But at least right now, there are no ratings for iPhone games, unlike for console or PC titles, and the president of the Electronic Software Ratings Board thinks that needs to change.

The ESRB--which is controlled by the video game industry's leading companies--rates games according to their content. The ratings include "C," for young children; "E," for everyone; "E 10+," for ages 10 and up; "T," for those 13 and up; "M," for ages 17 and older; and "AO," for adults only.

According to Kotaku, ESRB President Patricia Vance thinks it's a no-brainer that iPhone games should be rated, so that parents can have a sense of whether games on the hit mobile device are right for their kids.

"ESRB ratings empower parents to do their job," Vance told Kotaku. "Considering the fact that the vast majority of parents are already aware of and regularly using ESRB ratings, Apple's adoption of them for iPhone games seems like a no-brainer."

That's particularly true, Vance added, because Apple, in its announcements on Monday about the newest iPhone firmware upgrade, said it would offer the ability to block movies and TV shows on the iPhone based on content. But the company said nothing about games.

"Adding ESRB ratings to the controls (Apple) already plans to offer," Vance told Kotaku, "would give parents the ability to exert control over the games their children play as well."

And Vance has a point. Games are clearly one of the killer apps for the iPhone, what with thousands of them already available on Apple's App Store, and many of them among the most popular apps. And while Apple attempts to filter submitted apps for some level of appropriateness, there have been many documented cases of apps of questionable taste making it through.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request by CNET News for comment.

One has to wonder if this is something Apple has thought about, or how much extra work it would take them to add ESRB-style ratings. On the other hand, adding the ratings would also create a situation where Apple might find itself embroiled in controversy if a game ended up having hidden--or difficult to find--content outside the applied rating. That, of course, is what happened with Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in 2005, a scandal that reverberated across the games industry and into politics.

Perhaps Apple has decided it wants none of that.

Take-Two Interactive Software reached a $3 million settlement agreement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, relating to charges that the game publisher engaged in falsifying financial records as part of a scheme, the SEC announced Wednesday.

A settlement agreement had largely been expected, after Take-Two announced two years ago that it had received a notice from the SEC's staff that it would recommend that charges be filed against the company. Take-Two, at the time, said the company expected to pursue a settlement agreement, rather than fight regulators in court.

Take-Two agreed to the settlement without admitting to or denying the SEC's allegations, the SEC said. The agreement is also subject to approval by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The case centered on allegations that Take-Two backdated stock options for its officers, directors, and key employees that could be exercised at a strike price lower than where the stock was trading on the date the options were granted. The SEC alleged that Take-Two defrauded investors by failing to properly record the stock option compensation grant date and strike price.

Take-Two is just one of a number of companies over the past several years to pay multimillion-dollar settlements to the SEC in connection with stock option-backdating cases. , which also later affected , Apple Computer, and CNET News' former publisher, CNET Networks.

A Kentucky man has been charged after allegedly persuading an 11-year-old girl to send nude pictures of herself while they played video games online via their PlayStation 3 consoles, according to reports.

Police have charged Anthony Scott O'Shea, 24, of Somerset, Ky., with promoting child pornography, online solicitation of a minor, and sexual performance of a child, the Houston Chronicle reported Saturday. Because the girl lives in the Houston area, O'Shea faces extradition to Texas.

The Chronicle cited court documents stating that O'Shea met the girl while they were playing Warhawk via the PS3's online network late last year. Over several weeks, he persuaded her to send him photos and to perform for him via a Webcam.

According to police, he shared the photos with others online. The girl told police the man "kept pressuring her for more pictures and wanted to set up a meeting with her in order to engage in sexual activity," the Chronicle said.

The girl eventually told her parents, who contacted police.

Update 4:19 pm: This story has been modified to include reaction from the creator of the card-counting iPhone app.

Since the July 2008 launch of the App Store, Apple has maintained a sort of moral code--a PG-13-type standard, if you will--surrounding the thousands of iPhone and iPod Touch applications available via the service.

That's why, for example, there are no iPhone porn apps, though it is certainly possible to access adult content optimized for the device.

Given that, one would think that Apple wouldn't have given the thumbs-up to an app that, if used in the most logical manner, could get someone arrested, or worse. But with an app called "A Blackjack Card Counter," that's not, in fact, the case.

We've all seen the movies where the hot-shot gambler slips up and finds himself hustled off to a back room where a genial but brutal casino manager calmly breaks a few fingers while issuing a stern warning never to come back. Films like The Cooler, 21, Rounders, Casino and many others have made this kind of scene, even if it's not always about card counting, a staple of our imagination.

Yet card counting--a complex practice that gives practitioners a way to determine the optimal times to bet in blackjack--prevails to this day. And it's not even illegal, though being caught at it is sure to lead to a hasty expulsion from a casino, at best, or even the kind of back-room visit discussed above. What is definitely illegal, however, is the employment of any kind of electronic device that aids players in counting cards.

And that's where "A Blackjack Card Counter," and perhaps a few other iPhone apps come into play.

Earlier this month, the Nevada Gaming Control Board, itself tipped off by the California Bureau of Gambling Control, issued an alert to "all non-restricted licensees and interested parties"--the state's casinos--warning of the emergence of iPhone card counting apps.

"This blackjack card-counting program can be utilized on either the Apple iPhone or the Apple iPod Touch...Once this program is installed on the phone through the iTunes Web site it can make counting cards easy," Nevada Gaming Control Board member Randall Sayre wrote in the alert. "This program can be used in the 'stealth mode.' When the program is used in the 'stealth mode' the screen of the phone will remain shut off, and as long as the user knows where the keys are located, the program can be run effortlessly without detection."

And, as Sayre pointed out, "use of this type of program or possession of a device with this type of program on it--with the intent to use it--in a licensed gaming establishment, is a violation" of the law.

For its part, the makers of "A Blackjack Card Counter," an Australian outfit called Webtopia, couldn't be happier about the attention being paid to its app as a result of its potentially illegal nature.

"Since the Nevada Gaming Control Board warned casinos about 'A Blackjack Card Counter' there's been an unprecedented demand for this app," Webtopia wrote in the tool's official App Store description. "Now you can see what all the fuss (is) about at a very reasonable price."

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