Square Enix is squaring (horrible pun intended) off against California and four retailers that have been selling replica swords based on the Final Fantasy series. Square has been working with Homeland Security and Customs who have recently seized a crate of swords. The retailers of the swords refused to cooperate with Square Enix which caused them to go file the lawsuit.

In regards to this situation, Square Enix general counsel Yasuhiko Hasegawa stated:

“We are actively pursuing those who commit intellectual property infringement against our company … While Square Enix appreciates the enthusiasm of its fans, and values its relationship with them, it is also obligated to protect its intellectual property rights or risk weakening or losing the very rights that enable the company to continue to provide its fans with an exciting entertainment experience.”

I totally understandable where Square is coming from. Last thing anyone would want is for someone to make money off of their property. Of course, this will hurt all future wanna be cosplayers … which may or may not be a good thing.

Whatever. I used to be a sword guy, but now I’m all about the KNIFE EYE ATTACK!!!  

[Via Wired — Image via Dr. McNinja] 

Never fear, loners of the world. If your heart’s gentle song goes unheard on Valentine’s Day, you can always turn your affections towards free electronic entertainment. Like the Patapon demo, which will be out tomorrow. And not just out on the slightly-annoying PC-PSP store, but the PS3 one as well (just for downloading purposes, you can’t play it on your PS3), which should make things a little easier for you.
Valentine’s Day Demo Download [PlayStation.Blog]

From gamespot.com:
[QUOTE]
Pacific Crest’s Wilson, who late last year made projections about a Nintendo DS redesign already being complete, also gave investors today a heads-up on when he believes Microsoft and Nintendo will unveil their next systems. “We believe that peak industry sales will occur in 2010, given that Microsoft will likely introduce its next console that year and Nintendo will likely launch before then. Further, 2010 is also likely to coincide with the end of the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP cycles.”
[/QUOTE]

Full Story: gamespot.com

The boys over at Koei Warriors announced that Famitsu would be providing another announcement concerning Warriors Orochi: Rebirth of the Demon Lord, and it’s an utter doozy. Two brand new, never-before-seen characters are being introduced in the sequel, and they … have very interesting weapons, to say the least.

First up is Taigong Wang, a quasi-mythical Chinese figure known for his unorthodox fishing skills. Quite fitting then, that he attacks with a fishing rod. Yes, you read that correctly — but then again, this is a game where people fight with feather fans, so I guess we can let it slide. Perhaps even stranger is Taira no Kiyomori, a Japanese general of the Heian period. He fights with an oversized rosary. I don’t know why anybody would do that. Here’s what KW’s translation of the magazine has dug up:

“It seems that Taira no Kiyomori’s mission is to bring back Orochi whilst Taigong Wang is there to prevent it from happening. There we have 1 good guy and 1 bad guy who will be most likely portrayed as rivals in the game.”

Warriors Orochi: Rebirth of the Demon Lord is shaping up to be something much more than I expected. With four new characters already included (the game is boasting over 90 playable generals), this could be just as good as the first one was.  As well as fresh stages, there are also reports that new enemy types, such as bipedal boars (possibly minotaurs), will be making an appearance. Some would say that this is jumping the shark — I say shut up, they’re bipedal boars!

EA is showing off a bit of the recently dated Spore today, with the PC and Mac versions getting special treatment in the creature creation preview department. In the clip above, you’ll learn more about the process of building your own species from all manner of body parts—arms, legs, tails, custom torsos, even parts that are “social,” including plumage that draws attention and mouths that are better at singing than others.

The preview also shows off Spore’s content browser, a web app that lays out user and Maxis generated content. Highlighted here are a few interesting, holiday themed items like a building shaped like a Christmas tree and a UFO built in the shape of… well, I won’t spoil it. Just watch.

From seattlepi.nwsource.com:
[QUOTE]
I’ve always been a fan of buying used video games and used video game systems. Since most games are only published and printed for a limited amount of time and each video game hardware system is only made in a limited amount for a limited period of time getting buying used stuff is often the only way to find anything older than a few years. However there is no way that I would ever buy a used Xbox 360.

Customers simply have no way of knowing what that system has been through and the state of the internal hardware. Since the Xbox 360 has design issues, parts supply, manufacturing and hardware repair problems there is no way that you can rely on getting a reliable system. Unless you know how an Xbox 360 system has been treated, used of if it’s had any previous hardware problems. There is no way of knowing if it’s been repaired once or a dozen times. Buying it from GameStop,Game Crazy, Ebay, Craig’s List it is all the same. Places like GameStop will only test to see if an Xbox will boot up once or twice while they are deciding to accept it but they have no idea how reliable it is going to be in the long term. Getting a “repaired” system back from Microsoft is almost just as bad from getting one from a used lot. I would never ever buy a used Xbox 360 system and I think that places that sell used Xbox 360s are not being responsible to their customers.
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Full Story: seattlepi.nwsource.com

That sounds infinitely more perverse than I intended it, but it’s too late now. Thanks to the talents of graphic illustrator Alexandra Neonaki, showing the geek guy or gal in your life that you heart them is as easy as hitting the gallery and printing out your favorite. I wish I had found these last week, because I would have reenacted kindergarten and given them to all my friends. Well…I didn’t have friends then, but if I did I would have.

Of course, I too noticed the formidable absence of one much-loved companion cube from the Valentines, but god knows there are enough cube-obsessed out there that someone else has already thought of that. Oh wait, here you go.

[Via Artist’s page, thanks Adam!]

This week Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw of X-Play fame takes a look at SimCity Societies and doesn’t quite like it, coming to the conclusion that drawing your own city in MS Paint would be a more fulfilling experience - but that’s not important. What is important is the touching story of love and loss that follows the review, featuring characters from Valve’s Team Fortress 2 and a musak version of “Up Where We Belong” from 1983’s An Officer and a Gentlemen. It’ll bring a tear to your eye. Share it with someone you love this Valentine’s Day.

Zero Punctuation [the escapist]

I’ve played my fair share of Donkey Kong over the years, both in the arcade and at home on my dads Atari 2600.

I often thought of what it would be like to get to the final stage of the game, the elusive kill screen. But alas, I’ll never know what it’s like.

But there are two guys in the movie The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters that make reaching the final level look like so simple.

I first heard about this movie around this time last year, thinking it should be a fun watch.

It’s a “David vs. Goliath” story. A recently laid off Boeing worker, Steve Wiebe, takes it upon himself to beat the Donkey Kong high score set by Billy Mitchell (the very greasy looking champion). The film follows Steve training in his garage all the way through him competing to get into the Guinness Book of World Records.

After watching the movie last night, I can honestly say it was one of the more enjoyable movies I’ve seen lately… and not once did it bore me. It’s a great movie to watch, and you don’t even have to be a “gamer” to enjoy it.

If your not familiar with the movie check out the trailer below.

From gamesindustry.biz:
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The former EA man, who joined Microsoft six months ago, promised that the company was working to address the Xbox 360 hardware shortage issues in North America.

“That’s a great problem to have, we’re addressing that in the coming year - it’s going to take us a little bit of time to amp up our manufacturing, but we’re really encouraged that people purchased as many games and as many boxes as they did on our platform - we think that bodes well for the future.”
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Full Story: gamesindustry.biz