Valve vs. Activision: Cyber Cafe Wars

In buying Vivendi Universal Games, Activision got Blizzard, Sierra, VU Games, a number of development studios, several prominent game franchises and an old lawsuit. That lawsuit was supposedly settled in arbitration between Sierra and Valve. Enter Activision. The world’s biggest game publishers has decided that it doesn’t want to pay the price tag of the lawsuit and has taken Valve back to court to fight it.

What lawsuit? You may remember that Valve and Sierra once had a cozy relationship; the company published many of its biggest and best titles and both companies made lots of cash. One thing Sierra did not have the rights to mess around with were Valve’s games licensing business with Cyber Cafe’s. This lead to a 2002 cybercafé licensing dispute between Valve and Sierra, which in turn lead to a lawsuit.

Valve prevailed and both companies agreed to abide by arbitration. The result being a judgment of $2,391,932. But Activision decided to pay the company only $1,967,796. Why? Because Activision alleges that Valve was over-paid $424,136 in the last few years. So the fight will continue for a little while longer while they hash this out.

You can understand why Valve uses Steam to do most of its business and handles all of its licensing deals in-house.

Thanks G4TV

Parabellum Closed Beta Sign-Up Opens

GamersFirst has begun the closed beta signups for Parabellum, its online, team-based action game. Those interested in signing up should visit GamesFirst.

Parabellum is a free-to-play massive multiplayer online First Person Shooter (MMO-FPS) powered by Unreal Engine 3. The game combines first-person shooter action with the persistent world features of an MMO - in addition to a micro-transaction system that allows players to buy improved gear, costumes and other goodies. The game also offers an advanced character & weapon development system.

But all of this is just window dressing for Counter-Strike style game play as either a terrorist or a counter-terrorist vying for important points on maps divided into pint sized battle fields, paths and bonus areas.

You can learn more at www.gamersfirst.com/parabellum.

German Retail Chain Pulls 18+ Rated Titles

Germany’s largest retailer, Galeria Kaufhof, reacting to a horrific school shooting last week, has decided to not to stock films or games that carry an 18+ rating. Beginning in April, these mature rated products will be pulled from shelves as the country comes to grips with one of the worst school shootings in recent memory.

The move was no doubt spurred on by media reports and local politicians looking for a reason for the shooting: One reason according to those cricles was the shooter’s fascination with Counter Strike.

Last week 17 year old Tim Kretschmer, gunned down opened fire in three classrooms at the school, killing eight girls and a boy, and three female teachers. Seven students were wounded by the shooter. The ordeal at the Albertville secondary school in Winnenden was only the beginning as Kretschmer went on a three hour shooting spree killing a total of 15 people.

Stephan Reichart, managing director at German video game developers association G.A.M.E. told Reuters that this move by the retailer is an overreaction and that it would do better to make sure that its cashiers don’t sell mature rated products to people under the age of 18.