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Let’s Talk About Machinima is a 3 part series. The first was Machinima from the perspective of the Machinimist. The second tackles Machinima from the point of view of the game developer. Finally, the third will be a bit of a forward thinking proposal on Machinima.

Part 2

“So What Should I Do About Machinima?”

If I could boil down this article into one statement, it would simply be:

Machinima can be a developer/publisher’s best friend or worst enemy.

Simple and peculiar as that statement may be, it addresses the entire issue. Machinima can bring more fans and players to a particular game or even create an entire community around a game. On the other hand, allowing people to freely generate derivative works from your intellectual property can hinder your ability to enforce your rights in the future. It is the essence of the double edged sword analogy.

Machinima as a Friend: Publicity

I think it has become readily apparent that machinima can do a lot for game publicity. Take F.E.A.R. and the machinima P.A.N.I.C.S., for example. I know I downloaded the F.E.A.R. demo because of P.A.N.I.C.S., and ultimately bought the game. Another example, the ever growing cult of Halo has definitely had some boost in membership from Red vs. Blue (and vice versa). And those are just two examples. Simply put: A well-crafted machinima can draw people to any game. (The caveat being well-crafted.)

Machinima as an Enemy: Intellectual Property Rights

On the other hand, letting the general public do what they will with your game engine can be seen as an unwillingness to enforce your rights to your intellectual property. If you are seen in this light, then you may be unable to enforce rights in the future. What does this mean specifically? Well, let me use an example. Let’s say I write a story that becomes very popular. All of a sudden, hundreds of people start writing side stories about my characters. I choose not to enforce my rights. Later, yet another one of those side stories becomes hugely popular and starts making a lot of money. If I were to sue to enforce my rights, the court would likely ask why I hadn’t bothered to enforce these rights on anyone else. Profit alone is not enough of a reason to pursue or ignore derivative works. A game is no different than a story, and the level of derivativeness is largely based on how much of the game is incorporated into the machinima. For example, Red vs. Blue would be less derivative than a machinima about the Master Chief.

So what is a Developer to do?

Is there a way to have both the publicity and the rights? Of course, and the answer is licensing. So long as you enforce the use of licenses for your work, and pursue those who won’t make the effort to secure a license, then you should be seen as enforcing your rights. Of course, you should have your attorney draft the license.

This just leaves the issue of royalties. For a contract like a license to be valid, both sides have to tender “consideration” for the deal. You are tendering the license to use the game for machinima. The recipient of the license needs to tender something of value. In the case of a machinima license, asking for something as simple as $5 or $10 dollars for non-commercial use should be thoroughly sufficient. Of course, if there is a commercial use involved, a developer or publisher is likely going to want more than token consideration. On the other hand, a developer who wishes to have no machinima made can simply refuse all license requests.

The secondary part, though, it to actively protect your rights by monitoring sites like YouTube for unlicensed video works. As part of this, the license will likely need to detail the name of the person who receives the license as well as a screen name they plan to post it under. The developer needs to send removal requests to the site for all unlicensed works. Even if they are not removed, keeping a record of actions to get them removed may satisfy some courts in terms of the base level of action required to maintain protective rights to the work. As a general rule, requests that result in no action are worth more than not sending requests at all.

Check back soon for Part 3: “So, Where is Machinima Going?” Part 3 will detail my thoughts on making this process easier for both the Machinimist and the Developer while keeping everyone’s rights intact.

Microsoft released 512 MB Memory Unit

With the new memory unit you will be able to take your games everywhere you go with eight times the space of the original Xbox 360 (64 MB) Memory Unit.

With the new 512 MB memory unit you'd be able to :

- Save your game progress and transport your Xbox Live account.
- Download content from Xbox Live.
- Download kiosk content at all participating retailers.

Also you will get a carrying case that fits on a keychain.

Expect these new Transformers skins to hit retailers towards the end of may. These have been put together by Gamer Graffix. If you have any experience with their past products, please let us know what you think of their skins. If I make a post about skins I want to verify that they are easily removable.

Source: EBgames

Sometimes your nasty old 1987 Ford Escort smells like ass. Right? Would you like to make it smell like Forza 2? Seriously just preorder the game at select retailers and soon your car will have the fresh smell of a new video game. Yes, that crisp hint of freshly sealed plastic.

Source: eBay

Check out BM2LoveAngels recently autographed Splinter Cell faceplate.
She is a really cool women who lives in Belgium. I have had the chance to talk to her and we have been exchanging comments on each others personal blogs for a long time.

Source:LoveAngels Blog

I find it interesting that someone actually created a video on how to remove your faceplate. I wouldn't be suprised if some users don't know that it comes off in the first place.

Video created by Repoman

Like most of the other legal gaming blogs, I occasionally find it necessary to comment on the activities of attorney Jack Thompson (as of this posting, he is still licensed in Florida). As a courtesy to another member of my profession, I will not delve into his long history with the gaming industry or the gaming community, or the series of statutes he has sponsored which have been struck down. On a basic level, I agree with him that titles with adult content should not be placed in the hands of children (I, however, disagree on the implementation and place a greater responsibility on the parents, but that is a separate matter for discussion at a later date).

However, today Jack issues this complaint, which was reposted by Kotaku. I have now forced myself to read it in its entirety, and it falls well beyond the norm of complaint drafting and more into the realm of a self-promoting tirade (not to mention the occasional typographical error, the first of which I found on page 5). While I could probably write an entire post critiquing his form and use of language, or all of the complaints he lists, I will rather focus on the specific complaint against Kotaku.

A short comment before I begin: I am not licensed in Florida, but as this is a federal claim, I feel competent to comment on it. Moreover, this is merely commentary, nothing more, and I do not claim it to be definitive, exhaustive, nor to have any actual legal effect. These are simply my observations on the matter.

Why this claim? Well, first, it's not a claim at all. Let's look at the specific statutes he references.

18 USC 241 and 242

This statute, most notably, is a criminal statute. The basic premise of criminal law is that it is not a private action. When someone violates a criminal statute, it is the job of the government to bring charges and try the suit. If you were to assault me, I could only bring a civil suit. The District Attorney (or a similar official) would have to bring criminal charges. His reference to the statute is misguided at best.

42 U.S.C. § 1983

This is a civil claim, but once again, Mr. Thompson has missed an important element of the statute: The entity must be operating under color of law or authority. Here is a lengthy article on the statute. I can see no stretch of the imagination under which Kotaku or Gawker could be viewed as operating under the color of state authority or law.

42 USC § 1985 (3)

Under Griffin v. Breckenridge, 403 U.S. 88, the bias of the conspirators must be "some racial, or perhaps otherwise class-based, invidiously discriminatory animus." Jack does not have any of these, unless he wants to claim that somehow Kotaku is discriminating against the class of people he claims to represent. Rather, I believe most reasonable jurists would see their actions as non-conspiratory (as conspiracy is an essential element) and non-discriminatory on a class level.

Section 1988 is not worth discussing, as it only allows for attorney's fees in the event of a victory. There is no substantive issue to discuss.

Conclusion

While I can't say how this case will turn out, I am at least glad that Mr. Thompson had the common sense to avoid a libel/slander claim against Kotaku, which would have likely failed as Mr. Thompson is undoubtedly a public figure. While many of these claims are relatively novel, they also seem to be relatively poorly constructed as a way to include a blog he particularly dislikes.

As a side note to anyone who wishes to pick up a cause as Mr. Thompson has:

Sensationalism will typically not yield the best results. Being reasonable and agreeable to compromise generally works much better.

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Anyone who has explored much of Second Life has noted that there are many “professionals” offering services in the world. From psychiatrists to lawyers, they are all present in Second Life. However, with the proliferation of Second Life residents and resident professionals, an interesting issue arises: Does real life accreditation, training and experience matter in Second Life? More importantly, should it?

Anyone can go into the virtual realm and claim to be just about anything. If someone is using their real name, it’s generally easy enough to see if they’re really a member of a state bar or graduate of the university they claim. With a pseudonym, it becomes much less likely to track them down. So, if I or anyone else decides to begin their Second Life as a professional, should their credentials be subject to some sort of actual verification?

Much of the outcome will depend on any future outcry from the residents. If there is some scandal, that outcry is likely to follow. However, in the meantime, I think it is important to examine the issue and perhaps get residents to voice their opinion on the matter to avoid an actual scandal. Just as an example, I am going to explore two very different professions, psychologists and attorneys, and how their lack of education may impact Second Life and its residents.

Psychologists

A psychologist’s key role in Second Life would be someone to talk to, much like a real life psychologist. From this basic level, there seems to be little harm in allowing anyone to open up a psychologist’s office in Second Life. However, if the psychologist goes beyond mere talking, to actually claiming to diagnose disorders, the ramifications could be much greater, especially if the diagnosis is incorrect, given by an unlicensed pseudo-professional, and taken at face value. While it may seem far fetched that anyone would take a diagnosis given in Second Life seriously, if someone has a serious mental issue, it could easily happen.

Attorneys

Attorneys in Second Life could serve two functions: dealing with in-game issues and dealing with real life issues. Both of these could be a potential nightmare if an unlicensed pseudo-professional is involved. As with all professions, there are a large number of untrained, armchair lawyers, many of whom spend hours a day attempting to argue legal points on message boards across the internet. Some are better at these arguments than others, and like so many topics, many are completely out of touch with the reality of the legal situation.

Dealing with in-game issues is one real where an unlicensed person may have enough knowledge to operate without detriment, for example in resolving in-game disputes. After all, real life mediators and arbiters do not need to be attorneys in many states. However, in the in-game realm, there are issues that could spill over into the real world realm that do need competent legal advice, for example license or customer agreements. Since Second Life residents retain the rights to the things they create, many of them have license agreements, and firms in Second Life do offer agreement reviews (see here). Reviews of or drafts of binding legal documents done by armchair lawyers could have detrimental effects should there ever be a client.

More problematic would be the offering of legal advice applicable to the real world entirely. Every state has some sort of criminal penalty for the unauthorized practice of law, and for good reason. The practice of law is a difficult profession that requires training to properly research and analyze legal issues thoroughly. Finding a quick answer on Google or Wikipedia is generally not sufficient, and legal advice at that level, when represented as complete and accurate, can lead people to make the wrong decision. Moreover, as laws vary by jurisdiction, advice from a lawyer in Texas about Texas law likely won’t apply to someone in Iowa under Iowa law, for example. Thus, even a credentialed person could communicate incorrect advice if there is an ambiguity as to something like jurisdiction.

Conclusion

Psychologists and Attorneys are just two groups of professionals who could and do appear in Second Life. Accountants, Doctors, and countless other groups could appear, each with their own respective dilemmas involving the practice of their profession in their Second Life. Moreover, for each group, the potential for fraud varies and the risk of the results of the fraud varies. I would hope that anyone seeking professional services in Second Life takes anything they receive with a grain of salt. However, should there be an increase in the number of actual and supposed professionals offering services in Second Life, some sort of credential verification should likely be implemented.

The new black 360 Wireless Controller is finally out along with a seperate black play and charge and black battery pack. I recently got over this weekend and I have to say I'm glad to have a Xbox Controller in black again! The thumbsticks also seem like they've been raised slightly, but I could just be nuts.



Either way, if your looking for the black controller, they are out!

The auction for this paintball gun states that this was created for an employee. I dont know if they mean that it was for a Gears of War developer or paintball distributer.
Either way its the first time I have seen this unique item so I figured I would post it. Starting price $300.

Source: eBay

I know badges are fairly boring, but they do have significant to Xbox Collectors. This here was guest past for X06 in Singapore, I like the chrome lanyard.

Source: eBay

The guys at Lowdown411 happen to spot this set of Xbox 360 transformers faceplates. There are actually 6 of them in this one package. You can pick it up at a variety of game stores or just ebay it.

Check out how easy Pavel makes faceplate painting look !
This has to be one of the coolest Dead Rising faceplates I have seen.

1UP recently posted this article, which originally ran in Games for Windows magazine this month. Taxing virtual economies has been something I've looked into since 2005, and based on the current state of the World (of Warcraft), residents of Azeroth do not need to worry about the IRS auditing them because of the two Darkstone Claymores you found, or the Plated Abomination Ribcage you're wearing.

The article's basic premise is largely correct: Taxable income, as defined by the IRS, includes pretty much everything. This can include income from the sale of intangible property. However, even ignoring the ownership issues presented in the article, the present reality poses a more significant sticking point for the IRS. Specifically, the goods in Azeroth have no actual value. As most players remember, the eBay market for World of Warcraft goods ground to an absolute halt in the wake of a major crackdown. As a result, there is no longer an approximate exchange rate of World of Warcraft gold to US dollars, which further means that items have no value in US dollars, at least not one that is easily determined. Moreover, the market is essentially gone. The occasional friend gives friend $20 for a Spiteblade is not a frequent enough occurrence for the IRS to take notice or care about what is, all in all, now a negligible amount of income.

The closest allegory is a company dealing in its own intellectual property. For this example, let us say a company owns a trademark. Ordinarily, income from the sale of that trademark would be taxable, and changes in the value are reported in taxes (not as income, but the finer points of intellectual property valuation and taxation are a lengthy discussion). However, the company has a freely alienable piece of intellectual property. A player does not. The player is limited to trade their item in the constraints of the game for other property in the game.

This stands in stark contrast to the state of affairs in Second Life, which I will be addressing in an upcoming article. This also stands in contrast to the former state of affairs in the World, when eBay fueled a real world economy for virtual goods. There was a significant argument for taxing virtual goods when they were transferable for real money, and undoubtedly the volume of those transactions raised the eyebrows of at least a few agents of the IRS.

In any event, the likelihood of the IRS opening an Azeroth office seems remote at best, as there is no real world value for them to be taxing because of the basic lack of transferability for actual, taxable income. This will likely remain the case so long as Azeroth remains an economy independent of the US dollar. Should the situation begin to return to the eBay marketplace that dominated until just recently, or should a Second Life approach be taken in, say, World of Warcraft II or World of Starcraft, then the IRS may begin to pay new attention to the resale value of your Nerubian Slavemaker.

Can an independent developer create an MMORPG? That question has been poised, and was addressed at least in part by the recently held Indie MMO Game Developer Conference. One key issue, however, with rolling out any MMO game is server usage. MMOs are highly demanding, obviously, and typically require multiple servers as the user base expands. Depending on the connections available, these servers may need to be strategically distributed ad various points across the US and in other nations worldwide to avoid issues with lag that take away from the gaming experience. To date, this has either required a significant investment by the developer/publisher or volunteers with varied servers. A concept that has not yet been rolled out, accordingly, would be a franchise-type system for servers.

Franchising is what has brought a McDonalds to every nation of the world, among other things. The basic concept is this: A franchisor develops a business model, a “system,” which they license to franchisees. In return, the franchisee runs the business according to the model and pays a license fee back to the franchisor. Through this system, the franchisee bears an individual risk of loss smaller than the company would bear for rolling out the system to so many locations at once. Conversely, the individual franchisee stands to make substantial profit but does not have to generate an original business model or develop the brand.

This concept could be applied to MMORPG servers. Before I begin the outline of the system, I must emphasize that before anyone considers actually proceeding with a model such as this that they absolutely must consult an attorney because the Federal Trade Commission regulations on franchises are very specific, and no one wants to be caught in violation of those regulations or the corresponding state level regulations.

To simply state the model, an indie developer created an MMORPG. They then license the server end to various server providers at strategic locations in the US and/or other countries to minimize player lag. The server would collect the billing for its players, and in turn pay a percentage back to the developer. The developer has then earned the license fee and the royalty (the percentage of the sales) while the server owner is earning the remainder of the monthly fee.

Under this model, the developer could be free of the burden of maintaining servers on a day to day basis and could focus on additional development of the game. Conversely, someone with available server space could get an income stream for the future without having to develop the software. Moreover, a well crafted agreement could include options on future software, allowing those who enter in early the potential to secure a spot on sequels and new series by this developer.

There are many finer points to the exact agreement that would have to be worked out, but this structure, properly created, could be hugely beneficial. Rolled out on a larger scale, a publisher of indie MMORPGs could use a server franchise network to roll out multiple games at once. In any case, it is a possible way to rapidly deploy an MMORPG that is not backed by a mega-corporation with an existing server network.

Everytime i feel like getting a little bit of attention, i pretend as if i were to write; and then pull out my x360 Sharpie. Then, my whole offices ignores the fact its a 360 sharpie and like that its green. Cant win them all i guess. You know, seeing how i have x360 pens, notepads, sharpies.. it seems as though i could start my own officemax 360. I would be a hit!

If you haven't noticed already, I started an Xbox 360 Community Podcast (free online radio show). If you want to learn a bunch about TheXboxCollector.com and 360style.net as well as get a load of information about the Xbox 360 and its games. Stream, download or subscribe to 360 Stylecast !

Simon Belmont finally gets his own action figure along with Alucard and a few others from the Castlevania universe. Here's hoping Richter is made in series 2.

Check out updates on these toys are more here.

It makes me so happy that I can post Castlevania stuff on the Xbox Collector now that Castlevania:SOTN is an XBLA game. Check out the huge soundtrack lot that is being sold on Ebay for the entire Castlevania series!

Ever since I've been a little kid, I've always enjoyed the music of Castlevania. I can easily admit that I have maybe 4 of these soundtracks; the best by far being the Symphony of Night sountrack..

Want to pick these up? Get them here.

Faceplates are pretty. But, some people see more in them that just an item to enhance their 360's appeal. Some, are just plain obsessed. Its like collecting rare cards; or pokemon. Not that there is anything wrong with that ;). Rapid heart beats when in presence of rare faceplates and heavy heavy Ebay searching are just some of the symptoms.

Does this sound like you? Low 411 is here to help. Oh, no; not to help you get rid of it. But to fed it. They have a large list of Faceplates which are also categorized in availability, name, make, you name it, they have it. Check it out :)

I've noticed the comments about the upcoming MMORPG content. While I don't have any of the new content ready yet, other than my second post, I thought I would take the time to re-link an old paper I wrote about MMORPG gambling. You can read the paper here.

I re-posted the paper on GoogleDocs since my TTU posting will expire in the not too distant future. That paper has been referenced many times, according to my most recent searches, including Wikipedia, Kotaku, Answers.com, and other scholarly papers posted online. A quick google search will generate quite a few results.

One note on the content of the paper: it is officially out of date. Because of changes to eBay policy on the sale of virtual goods and the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, a some of the current analysis no longer applies, other than in the theoretical sense. I've written an update, but due to some potential publication restrictions, I cannot post the update at this time. Perhaps it will make an appearance here in the future.

Let’s Talk About Machinima will be a 3 part series. The first will be Machinima from the perspective of the Machinimist. The second will tackle Machinima from the point of view of the game developer. Finally, the third will be a bit of a forward thinking proposal on Machinima.

Before I begin part one, I do feel it would be useful to give a few Machinima links for the uninformed.

Wikipedia article on Machinima – A good quick reference for those not familiar with the art form.

Machinima.com – A huge library of Machinima and related articles

Machinima.org – The Academy of Machinima Arts and Sciences (the Machinima awards)

Rooster Teeth Productions – Probably the most successful and well known group of Machinimists to date, as well as makers of what is probably the most popular Machinima series, Red vs. Blue.

Part 1

“So You Want to Make Machinima”

Ever since Red vs. Blue stormed across the internet in 2003, people worldwide have been interested in machinima. While others may quibble on the exact catalyst for the machinima explosion, I firmly believe Burnie Burns and company are at least mostly responsible for it. However, machinima is one of the more complex mediums from a legal standpoint. Not only are there the traditional film maker’s intellectual property concerns, there are also a whole host of concerns from the game engine used for the machinima. Hopefully this article will help explain some of these issues. However, I must caution anyone who wants to create a business in machinima: SEEK COMPETENT LEGAL ADVICE FROM AN ATTORNEY. This article alone is not sufficient to guide anyone, and as every situation varies based on the facts, competent counsel is an absolute must.

Script

A script is like any other text, be it a book or a paper or an essay. To protect the content of the document, it needs to be copyrighted. Copyrights are relatively inexpensive (the filing fee is currently $45 for most items), and the process is pretty simple. Copies of the work are submitted with the form and fee, and a copyright certificate is mailed back in a few weeks.

The biggest misunderstanding with the copyright system is that a copyright only protects the expression itself, NOT the idea. The term originates from having the right to produce copies of text. With a copyright, the dialog is protected, not the plot (more or less).

There is one potential pitfall with the script. If a large portion of the script employs elements from the game (characters, dialog, etc.), then it might be considered a derivative work rather than an original work. If that is the case, then you will need to have the original author’s permission to copyright the work. A good example of a script that would not be a derivative work is the script to The Strangerhood. While Sims 2 elements are clear in the video, the script itself could be applied to anything and does not take anything from the game.

Voice Talent

Voice Talent is something that needs to be carefully contracted. I know that many machinimists start out using their buddies and that most people feel awkward about presenting a friend with a contract. If you want to be forward thinking, abandon this mindset. It is far better to set down the ground rules in a contract up front than have the whole thing blow up down the road. The contract does not have to be overly formal, but should outline things such as who owns the rights to the actual vocal performance, what (if any) compensation there will be, and under what conditions the agreement can be modified or terminated, and if terminated what happens to the rights set forth in the contract.

Obviously, if your machinima takes off and reaches the Rooster Teeth level of accomplishment, hiring an attorney to revisit and draft more thorough contracts would be a smart move, but for the aspiring machinimist, a simple agreement signed by both parties should be more than enough to get you started.

Music

Music is the first item in this discussion that you have to get licensed, unless it’s your original work or it exists in the public domain. Before getting into licensing commercial songs, let’s address these two issues. First, if you write your own music, you have full rights to it. Once again, however, it would be worthwhile to copyright your music. Songs in the public domain, on the other hand, are ones that not subject to copyright. They are free to use, and sites like PDInfo.com can help you locate such songs.

If you want to use commercial music, you will need a license, and licenses are not cheap. Short of getting permission from the individual artist, groups like ASCAP provide licenses to a large list of songs, provided you continue to pay the bill. They even have a “new media” license (see here).

Game Engine

The game engine is the copyright issue that is the trickiest part to deal with, but also the most integral part of the machinima. There are a whole host of issues, more than I can fully discuss, but I will try to focus on some of the main points. In Part 3, I will discuss some changes that could be made in the future to simplify this process. Before I begin, there are engines that exist in the public domain or with a public license of some sort (such as the GPL). These are free to use, and the issues discussed here should not apply.

First, there is the issue of derivative works. When you use a game engine, especially the character models and maps, you are in essence creating a derivative work based on the game, almost like a fan fiction is a story based on an existing copyrighted work. While it is copyright infringement on its face, uploading a short video on YouTube or Machinima.com may never attract enough attention to actually commence a copyright action against you. In fact, Machinima.com has agreements with some developers to use their engines in conjunction with their website (please see Machinima.com for details). However, if your project becomes widely popular, expands into a series, or becomes a full time business venture, then the developer will likely notice. This is especially true if profit enters the picture.

Similarly, the End User License Agreement on most engines forbids their use for profit or for commercial use. This is another potential lawsuit if your machinima takes off. Again, this is something that you, as a machinimist, want to avoid.

The easiest route is to simply ask the publisher or developer for permission. Depending on whom that is, permission may be free, inexpensive, very expensive, or just not available at all. To find out, you will simply have to ask, but keep in mind that smaller developers or publishers are often much more understanding on issues such as these than the bigger or more popular studios. If you reach an agreement for the use of an engine, the first rule is to get it in writing, and make sure it’s an official writing (signed by someone in the company with authority to do so, preferably on company letterhead). Second, if you are paying for the license, pay by personal check and put some information on the memo line, such as “License to Use XXXXX Engine in Machinima.” While it may sound like overkill or Judge Judy advice, little elements like that can be useful should a dispute ever arise. The final rule is: Don’t push your luck. If you get a license for one project, don’t start five more and expect the company to go along with it. If you have a license, don’t give it to your friend. Ultimately, if a large number of machinimists garner ill will with the developers, then no machinimists will get licenses. Put simple, if you want to be respected, treat others with respect.

Final Video Product

Assuming you have the rights to all elements of the video (the engine, the music, the voices, the script), then you can copyright your entire video, individually or in batches (such as a season of videos). This protects you from others distributing your video without your permission. After all, if you are finally making money selling your machinima DVDs, you don’t want little Timmy down the block burning copies and selling them for half price on eBay. While getting more people to see your work is always great, the artist should be the only one profiting from the work.

Check back in the near future for Part 2: “So What Should I Do About Machinima?” (Machinima for Game Developers)

I am honestly quite impressed with the number of responses on the previous post. It's amazing what a link from Joystiq can do.

As I stated in the first post, I promise there should be one substantive legal post per week at a minimum, depending upon what my work schedule allows and what issues may also arise in the gaming media.

I don't have this week's main post quite ready yet, but I thought I would put up a list of the few of the topics I plan to cover in the not too distant future. If you have a request for a topic, please leave a comment or send me an e-mail at mmethenitis@vernongoodrich.com.

Upcoming Topics:
-Machinima
-MMORPG Intellectual Property
-Professional Gaming Leagues
-New Server Business Models
-MMORPG Income and Taxation
-Mergers and Acquisitions for Game Developers

This is just a sampling of the topics I have in mind, and some may span multiple articles. I look forward to your continuing commentary and discussion as the articles are posted.

Xbox Live has really become the largest social network on television

Your Xbox Live friends list is about to get a whole lot bigger!! Today announced the launch of Windows Live Messenger on Xbox 360, connecting friends across Xbox 360 consoles, Microsoft Windows-based PCs and Windows Mobile-powered devices, and the instant message will appear directly on your dashboard as you can see here..

With this update to Xbox 360, friends and families can easily connect and chat directly from their television using Windows Live Messenger, a network of more than 20 billion relationships and more than 260 million active accounts, what a number!!

The Spring Update is free beginning May 07 and will be easily accessible to every Xbox 360 owner through Xbox Live or on Xbox.com.

Also check for the new Accessory, QWERTY text device and the addition of Windows Live messenger on the Dashboard of the Xbox 360 console

You may not even notice all the new features, but they are all designed to enhance your Xbox Live experience. Some of the other features in this upgrade include:

1. A richer Achievement notification pop-up will showcase the name of the unlocked Achievement and the gamerscore value without needing to leave the game to check the Achievements list. 2. Enhanced family settings features for Xbox Live communications enable different defaults for video chat and voice chat.

3. A new Xbox Live Marketplace blade lets Xbox Live members access the content they seek—whether it is game content or TV shows and movies (available in the United States)—from one place on Xbox Live.

4. Updates to Xbox Live Arcade allow owners to quickly see which Xbox Live Arcade games their friends are playing and join in the fun. Xbox Live members can also compare progress of leaderboard scores and Achievements directly with all friends on their friends list. Expanded "Tell a Friend" capabilities make it easier than ever to boast about Achievements and high scores.

5. Expanded "Tell a Friend" capabilities make it easier than ever to boast about Achievements and high scores.

6. A new option in Auto Downloads provides faster access to the entire collection of free, trial-version Xbox Live Arcade games.

7. New progressive download controls provide easy access to optimal viewing options by letting people fast-forward, rewind, pause and resume as their video is downloaded from Xbox Live Marketplace.

8. Extension of the background download functionality will allow owners to set their Xbox 360 console to turn off automatically after downloads are complete.

9. The name of game in tray is now displayed in the dashboard.

10. When the user is in the dashboard and an Xbox 360 game is in the console then the name of the game is displayed in the tray icon of the dashboard. If the user highlights the tray icon then achievements and gamer score are displayed for that game based on the signed in user. Xbox1 games show the name and image of the game.

11. Integrated support for the new Xbox 360 text input device. Note that this device includes a new wired headset.

12. Playback progress bar indicates download completion.

13. Switchable aspect ratio now available during video playback (Auto to Letterbox, Zoom, Stretch, Native).

14. Player and friends lists now quickly show session presence information for quick identification of users that are joinable.

15. H.264 video support: Up to 15 Mbps, Baseline, Main, and High (up to level 4.1) Profiles with 2 channel AAC LC and Main Profiles.

16. Added MPEG-4 Part 2 video support: Up to 8 Mbps, Simple Profile with 2 channel AAC LC and Main Profiles.

17. Show folder hierarchy for video content played from all devices.

18. Bookmarks are stored for each video that the user plays remembering the users last location in the file as well as the aspect ratio that the user choose for that file.

19. Video trick modes (fast forward, rewind, chapter skip) can now be used while downloading Video Marketplace content.

20. Skip forward and backward functionality has been improved to skip to the next or previous chapter. Each video is divided into 10 “chapters” allowing you to quickly skip around video content.

21. The information bar that is turned on via the On Screen Display (OSD) now shows you exactly where you are in the playback of the video file. In addition it will also show for Video Marketplace content how much of the file has been downloaded and where the “chapters” exist in the file.

22. Windows Media protected content (WM-DRM) can now be streamed from the PC to the console. If the WM-DRM license is missing or corrupted then a specific error message is displayed to the user. Bookmarking is also stored for protected content.

23. When a user selects an item for download from Marketplace then the system will determine if there is sufficient disk space for the item and, if not, will ask the user to delete content on the HDD. The system provides a sorted by size list of videos, game trailers, demos and arcade content to aid the user in the deletion process. The same list of items are also available from within memory so that users can quickly see which items are consuming the most disk space.

24. The console will block the user who attempts to download content onto a storage device that will never have the capacity to store the item without deducting any points associated with the content item.

25. The screensaver is disabled when playing photos from any source.

Cheats List for PGR3:

Geometry Wars:
Geometry Wars games exist in the first garage (just like in PGR2). At the garage menu, select "more", then "walk around this garage". This should bring you to the two arcade machines - one with the original Geometry Wars from PGR2, the other with an older version. Note there is a 3 minute time limit on both machines.

Easy achievement points:
Set your car to a manual transmission then select the first speed challenge in hardcore mode. Stay in second gear until around the corner, then move through your gears. You will easily complete this course and gain 60 achievement points in the process.


Easy Pro Racer Badge:
First complete any event with the Hardcore difficulty setting, using the transmission of your choice, (speed events with the Ferrari F50 GT seem to be the easiest). Then change the transmission to manual, and the do the same event with the Novice difficulty setting. When you finish it, the game will think you used a manual transmission in the Hardcore difficulty setting and award you the Pro Racer badge.

Leave boundaries in Photo mode:
Complete a race and save the replay. Load the replay, then select the "Restart" option at the far right side of the toolbar. Move the pointer over the "Pause" icon on the tool bar. Press LB to cycle through the different camera views and choose the "drive past cam". This options is the next one past the "TV cam", and functions similarly except you can use your controller to turn the camera in that view. The "drive past cam" is often positioned outside of a track's boundary, depending on location. Wait until the replay moves the "drive past cam" view out of the track boundary. Quickly select the "Pause" icon on the toolbar.
If necessary, you can select the "Rewind" button for another attempt. While the replay is paused, select the "Photo mode" option on the toolbar. You should now be able to move your camera freely, outside of the track boundary. If you return within the boundaries, you will be stuck in them again. If this happens, you can return to the replay and try again.
You can move through solid objects, see unfinished areas, and car locations; and take pictures of anything visible.

Lots of Kudos:
you have to use the Pontiac GTO ( available through marketplace) for this technique. the first championship in career is in London . do the second race on that championship. when approaching a turn don't let of the gas and right when you get to the inside of the turn hit LT and turn when fully around a turn let up and straighten out you can get about 3k kudos in one race great for tacking on the last few kudos to get a new car.

Rainbow Six Vegas cheats List:

Axe Easter Egg
On the Fremont Street level there is a bottle of Axe on a ledge. Shoot the bottle and the roof on Fremont Street changes to an animation of a girl in a bikini with some Axe materials in neon. A movie opens showing some outtakes and pretty funny Rainbow situations/early animations.

Secret Labs Mission
On the secret labs mission get past the first light machine gun nest and then breach the men in the next room. When you reach the next light machine gun you will find no enemies until you get to the hostage.

Copy Someone Elses Rank
Get a friend who has ranked up to Colonel and recover their Xbox Live account on your 360 (all you need is their gamertag, their email address and their password). Once you have recovered their account on your 360 sign in on their account and load Vegas. Using their account create a match (ie Team Survival room).
Once the match has loaded and you're in the lobby quit the room. As soon as the room starts shutting down as fast as you can sign out of their Xbox Live account and as fast as you can sign in to your account. Do this whilst the room is shutting down. You will sign in on your account before the room has closed, and when the room has closed and you're signed in on your account you will have your friends rank.
Now you need to put some points on your account otherwise it won't save - so join a room, or do some terrorist hunt. Once you have put some points on you can delete your friends account from your 360 hard drive. This process is really easy and works every time!

LVU Roof
Tetup a game of team sharpshooter with your friend and meet on the roof. There is goin to be a box to your left, go to it, lean up aginst it, and look over the box. Then you get up on it and have your friend couch down on the other side. Walk over their head and then have your friend pop up. You will be on the side of the roof.

Countdown Level Tip
When you first get in the elevater go to the door to the left. Look down and keep tapping LT until you go through the door. None of the enemies will have spawned yet, so you can quickly do the mission.

Fall and Don't Die!
In the middle of the steps to the helipad there are two elctical boxes. Go to the end with the outlet on it. Hold LT (left trigger) then look to the right. Then let go of all the buttons, you should be on the box then. Follow the fence to the first big vent and try to walk on it, you will just fall. Then go to where the left repels are and there will be an opening, walk out onto it. You will start to fall but you will never die.

Get Onto Calypso Casino Roof
When you start the level, go back up by the helicopter, and by the stairs there is 2 electrical boxes, go to the left one and press LT (left trigger) to get up against the electical box. Then once you are up against it press to the left with the left analog stick while holding LT then your guy should be floating in the air [dont let go of LT].
Then once you are floating press up on the left analog to look up over the boxes (although you are already over it) then quickly press down on the left analog stick and you should be up on top of the boxes. Once on top of the boxes just folow slowly on top of the railings until you have walked up on top of the roof.

Calypso Casino Glitch
Go to the helipad and there is a fence with 2 boxes on the first set of steps. Go there and hold left trigger and you should lean up again the box, then push up.
Your friend then needs to get underneath you and push you up so you should then be on the box. Walk across and onto the fence, walk all the way across it and there is some blue boxes. Drop down and you will be floating in mid air. You can shoot enemies, but they can't shoot you.

Oblivion cheats List:

Acrobatics Skill Tip:
First go find a set of stairs, the bigger the better. On the stairs simply jump constantly going up. Then just jump back down and repeat as much as needed.

Also a better Acrobatics Skill Tip:
Go to Kvatch and to the little camp site south of it on the map. When entering from the north look to the left, there is a tent with a bench and a chest on it, stand on the corner of the bench and repeatedly jump. Your acrobatics level will increase fast.
Note: you must make sure you can hear the sound of your feet landing on the bench. It is best done with no armor on.

Free Dremora Maces Tip:
Travel to the city of Kvatch, and follow the barricaded road up to the Oblivion Gate. Follow the Kvatch Guards attacking the Stunted Scamps. Enter the Oblivion Gate, and look for a man in Guard armor. He's scripted to attack the nearby Scamps, so don't let him die (unless your evil). Make your way to the Daedric Tower on the Oblivion plane. Work your way up (it's confusing at first, but you'll get used to it).
There are two seperate Daedra that have the maces. Kill them and they're yours, Sometimes you will get Mithril maces.

Infinite Money Glitch:
In the Talos district of the Imperial City is the house of a man named Dorian. Enter the house and kill Dorian. When looting his body, highlight his gold and press A...and keep on pressing. His gold will never run out, giving you access to infinite funds.
You can return to Dorian's house to loot money later, but his corpse will disappear after a few days.

Jewelry Dealer:
The jewelry that you sell to the jeweler in the Imperial City market district will transfer to his personal inventory and can be pickpocketed. You can then sell it to a fence (if you are involved in the theives guild) or keep it for personal use.

Full Dremora Armor:
When you become allowed into the Arcane University (if you choose to), buy the bound cuirass, greaves, helmet, gauntlets and boots (considering you have the specified levels in conjuration) and maybe a weapon too from the Chorrol Mages guild. Use each spell once and then travel to the spellmaking altar in the Arcane University.
Make a new single spell with all the bound armor and set the same time on all of them (mine was ten seconds) and then maybe the weapon aswell, and then name it (mine was called full bound). Walla you have your new spell to use whenever you like. The armor is first class.

Note: This has only been tested with jewelery NOT other items!

Unlimited Gold #1:
After completion of the vampire mission you can go get your reward and it will total 2800 coin. But if you leave and then come back and accept the reward from the Count of Skingrad again, it will be 5000 coin. You can get it as many times as you want for unlimited money.
Note: First you have to loot everything, but leave the gold. Then you exit and loot his body again and keep taking the gold (16 gold peices).

Get Out of Jail Free:
If you are at the level in Conjugation were you can summon a Deadra Warrior (the one that has deadric armour and looks sort of like a human), then while you are in jail summon that deadra and attack it 3 times with somthing weak so you dont kill it.
It will start to attack you and the guard will run in and kill it, leaving the door open. Once you're out of the door the guard will not attack you, only tell you not to escape!

Armorer Skill Up:
You must be an expert armorer for this to work. First, buy (or make) a cheap bind spell - it can be anything and last for as long as you like. Second, hotkey your repair hammers. Then summon your chosen item and quickly press the chosen hotkey to get your repair menu up.
Repair the bound item to 125 health. You can repeat this for as long as you like (as long as you have enough hammers).

Retrieve Your Stolen Goods:
Have you ever wanted a way to get your stolen goods that were taken from you? If you don't already know about the "evidence chests", here is a good way to get stuff back without getting arrested by the gaurds again.
All you need to do is talk to the jailor and tell them you want to visit a prisoner After you do wait until their back is turned and pick the lock to the chest and get back your stolen goods.

Good Shielding or Invincibility:
You Must Reach level 15 or 20 and go into an Oblivion Gate and Reach the Sigil Stone, it should be medium powered stones. To get the right enchanted Sigil stone, save it before you grab it.
So your aim is to get (shield 25%, reverse attack 25%, fire, water, elemental spell reverse or whatever, aim for reversal stones.
Then do the duplicate cheat on the Sigil stone (this will slow the game down for about a minute if you do not collect all the stones rolling away. They will go invisible after a while, so probably do it in a room (less furniture the better).
Then enchant 4 items you can equip with clothing, e.g. rings armour etc. 4 x 25% voila! 100% or more shielding, do this with any of the elementals

If you have any more cheats that you know and I didn't include here I'll be really grateful if you add it in a comment.

Unlockables and cheats List:

Insane Difficulty:
You must finish the game on Casual or Hardcore difficulty.
Secret Gamer Pic:
You must finish the game on Insane difficulty.

Avoiding the Kryll:
In the second chapter of the game, you'll be swarmed by enemy kryll if you so much as set foot in the dark. To avoid being attacked, stay in the light at all times. When there's no light in sight, look for propane canisters you can blow up to create some flames that'll scare off the kryll.

Fighting the Wretches:
When fighting wretches--the small, shrieking enemies that don't use weapons--attack with melee strikes. The best melee strikes come from weapons other than your grenades and Lancer chainsaw rifle. The chainsaw attack is too slow to combat the swarming wretches, so stick to quick-hit melee punches for instant kills.

Quick Reload:
When reloading your weapon, watch the upper-right corner of the screen for a meter that counts down. Press the reload button a second time when the meter's moving bar matches up with the stationary bar. This will give you a super fast reload and put you back in the fight quicker than normal. However, if you mis-time the second button press your reload will take longer than normal.

Finding Cog Tags:
There are thirty hidden Cog Tags scattered throughout the game. They're small and sometimes hard to find, but there's a a mark you can look out for that'll make finding the Cog Tags easier. Look for large, red Gear logos pasted on the walls--if you find a room with this large Gear logo, examine the room and you're for suregonna find a Cog Tag somewhere.

Wretched Fun:
Wretches are most annoying since they swarm your soldier and kill him almost instantly on medium and hard. The best method to deal with them is with a shotgun or the alien repeater, since those weapons let you slug them without the dangerous downtime of the chainsaw. The shotgun is the best for the in-close situation, since you can forego the left trigger and hip fire the shotgun quickly to catch the wretches as they hop around. Smacking them if they get close is the only way to counter, short of using A to dodge.

Berserker Beat Down:
To defeat the Beserker at the end of act one, simply dive to the side when she charges at you. Run through the doorway to your right and continue to the door at the end of the room and face your back to it. Get the Berserkers attention by shooting at her or revving the chainsaw then, dive away at the last moment when she charges causing her to break the door down for you. Continue this to get through the next two doors. When you finally lure her into the courtyard simply use the Hammer of Dawn twice to take her down. If Dom is killed the mission is over, so revive him if he's knocked down. The second one in Act 4 is defeated similarly. Defeating the second berserker. There are six stone supports for the second part of the greenhouse. Lead the berserker through the six supports, you will see glass dropping from the ceiling. Once all six supports have been taken out, two shots with the Hammer of Dawn will crisp her.

How To Defeat General Raam:
In order to defeat Raam, you need to have grenades and a sniper rifle which is supplied in the center of the room before entering the boss arena. After entering the arena, stay behind the wall you ended the cut scene with. This is important because you need to maintain your distance from Raam. Also, it helps to command Don to "cease fire." This will make him run back towards you keeping him alive longer to distract Raam. The trick is to get Raam's swarm away from his body. In order to do this, you need to throw a grenade at Raam. If successful, the swarm will disperse giving you clear head shots using the sniper rifle. Repeat until he’s defeated. If you run out of grenades or simply cannot aim them, just stay in the lighted areas of floor to avoid the Kryll swarm. If you don't defeat Raam by the time he reaches your wall cover, move in the opposite direction he does and shoot when the swarm disperses. You will take damage from Raam’s machine gun, but you stay in the light which prevents the swarm from killing you.

Corpser Corpse:
When you are pitted against the Corpser in the Act 3 mines, there's a quick way to win. The Lancer's (chainsaw rifle) constant stream of fire makes it the weapon of choice here. Shoot at the belly of the Corpser, working any angle you can between its legs. If you hit the belly a few times, it will lift it's front legs and expose it's face. Immediately fire up at it's face and chin. It will shriek and move back. Hurry, move up grab ammo and repeat. If you don't move fast enough wretches will arrive in waves and make things ten times harder. You must hit the Corpser's face three times. You'll back it up onto a platform with two destructable joints. They're lit up and on the ground. Shoot them both and the Corpser will plunge into the Imulsion liquid. If you're quick enough you can kill the corpser before any wretches arrive.

Regain Health:
Unlike most games, you can regain all of your health in Gears of War without the need for health packs. Simple stay in cover for a few seconds and watch as the bright-red gear in the center of the screen fades away. When the gear has comlpetely disappears, your health will be completely full.

Advantage Co-Op:
The best way to defeat General Raam on Insane is to go with co-op. You have twice the smart firepower allowing one person get the Torque Bow and the other the sniper rifle. The bow carrying player should have at least ten arrows. The Torque Bow is the only weapon other than the grenades that will hurt the boss seriously when he has his Kryll shield. The explosion of the tips will also send the Kryll flying, allowing your partner to get in a nice head shot with the sniper rifle for a good one-two combo.

Animation Exploitation:
When playing multiplayer on Xbox Live, you may notice when you are using the chainsaw or curb stomping that you cannot be hurt. In fact, during a curb stomp you can reload your gun. since you cannot take damage while you are stomping someones face this is a very good time to reload, come out of your animation and continue battle.

Cluster Kill Achievement:
To get the achievement killing three enemies at once ten times, go to the stage Act 3 - Evolution and locate the area of the Imulsion plant where the guy gets killed when he falls through the rotten wood floor. Take along at least one grenade and simply follow the dead guy down a hole (or any hole, if you step in the wrong spot). Run around the cellar until you think you have enough enemies following (meaning at least three running after you), tag one with a grenade melee attack. If you die, that's perfect, since you restart right at the checkpoint of that room and do it again. Achievement progress are independent of game progress. If not, reload the checkpoint and do it again.

New Gamertag Icons:
You get unlock three more gamertag icons for your profile by meeting three achievements: (1) Beat the game on the Insane difficulty level. (2) Accrue 10,000 kills in ranked multiplayer matches. (3) Finish any ranked versus match so don't drop out even if you're losing.

Weapon Sliding:
Go to a weapon with any gun and quickly tap A+B and any direction you want to slide. Keep holding the left stick so you will slide when you get the weapon.
Do this so no one snipes your head off.

If you have any more cheats that you know and I didn't include here I'll be really grateful if you add it in a comment.

Cheats List:

Unlock infinite SpeedBreaker: At the title screen, press Down, Right, Right, Left, Right, Up, Down, X. If you entered the code correctly, a message will appear.

Unlock infinite crew charge: At the title screen, press Down, Up, Up, Right, Left, Left, Right, X. If you entered the code correctly, a message will appear.

Unlock infinite nitrous: At the title screen, press Left, Up, Left, Down, Left, Down, Right, X. If you entered the code correctly, a message will appear.

Extra Money: At the title screen, press Down, Up, Left, Down, Right, Up, X, B to get an extra $10,000 in Career mode. If you entered the code correctly, a message will appear.

Unlock Need For Speed Carbon Logo Vinyls: At the title screen, press Right, Up, Down, Up, Down, Left, Right, X to unlock the Need For Speed Carbon Logo Vinyls. If you entered the code correctly, a message will appear.

Unlock Need For Speed Carbon Special Logo Vinyls: At the title screen, press Up, Up, Down, Down, Down, Down, Up, X to unlock the Need For Speed Carbon Special Logo Vinyls. If you entered the code correctly, a message will appear.

For $10,000.00 added to money balance: Have a saved game file from Need For Speed Most Wanted on your hard drive or memory card to get an extra $10,000 in Career mode.

If you have any more cheats that you know and I didn't include here I'll be really grateful if you add it in a comment.

Achievements List:

For Need for Speed (20):
You must hit 230 Mph in a Speedtrap.
For Gold Challenge Series Champ (30):
You must beat all Gold Challenge Series Events.
For Fast Wheels (20):
You must cause 200,000 Cost to State in a single pursuit while in Career Freeroam.
For Public Enemy No. 1 (10):
You must disable 50 police vehicles while in Career Freeroam.
For Silver Challenge Series Champ (20):
You must beat all Silver Challenge Series Events.
For Bronze Challenge Series Champ (10):
You must beat all Bronze Challenge Series Events.
For Career Mogul (10):
You must earn 1,000,000 cash in Career Mode.
For Drift King (10):
You must score 500,000 points in a Drift event.
For Perfect Canyon Duel (5):
You have to win a Canyon Duel with no collisions.
For 12 Minute Exit (5):
You must escape after a 12 minute police pursuit in Career Freeroam.
For Crusher (25):
You must ram 100 police vehicles in a single pursuit while in Career Freeroam.
For Complete Career (50):
You have to complete Career Mode.
For Conqueror (75):
You have to complete Career Mode and own every race.
For Wheels of Steel (5):
You must avoid 5 spike strips in a police pursuit while in Career Freeroam.
For Big Game Hunter (5):
You have to immobilize a police Rhino while in Career Freeroam.
For Urban Freeroam (10):
You have to win 50 Free Roam Challenges in Career Mode.
For Car Collector (15):
You must unlock 36 Cars.
For Muscle Head (25):
You must fill your Career Garage with only Muscle Cars.
For Tuner Addict (25):
You must fill your Career Garage with only Tuner Cars.
For Exotic Aficionado (25):
You must fill your Career Garage with only Exotic Cars.
For Reward Card Hustler (100):
You must have completed every Offline and Online Reward Cards.
For Race Week (25):
You have to finish an Online race during a Race Week.
For Online Lieutenant (15):
You have to play 50 games Online.
For Online General (25):
You have to play 100 games Online.
For Lucky Break (10):
You must get a 3 game winning streak in Ranked Online games.
For Rock Solid (20):
You must get a 5 game winning streak in Ranked Online games.
For Online Challenge Contender (5):
You must beat 5 Challenge Series Events Online.
For Online Challenge Champ (10):
You must beat 15 Challenge Series Events Online.
For Showboat (25):
You must cross the finish line in reverse to win a ranked Sprint race.
For Hot Streak (10):
You must get a 4 game winning streak in Ranked Online games.
For Iron Man (30):
You must get a 6 game winning streak in Ranked Online games.
For First Steps (5):
You have to finish an Online Ranked race or Online Challenge Series race.
For Moderator Challenge (30):
You must beat an EA Moderator in an Online game.
For Knockout Fever (10):
You must catch Knockout Fever by playing an Online Pursuit Knockout race with an infected player.
For Canyon Craze (10):
You must catch Canyon Craze by playing an Online Canyon Duel with an infected player.
For Pursuit Pandemic (10):
You must catch the Pursuit Pandemic by playing an Online Pursuit Tag game with an infected player.
For The Carbon Plague (20):
You must catch the Carbon Plague by catching all 3 other viruses.