Another short episode, because really, summer game news is typically slow. A lot of interesting stuff this week, however.
All this and Listener Feedback.
The guys talk about a whole lot of news, aside from Endless Legend 2 demo being out now on Steam, and Take-Two boss reckoning Civilization 7 will still hit its lifetime target despite “slow start”. Don’t trust the show notes on this one!
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This weeks gaming podcast, we’re going through a bit of Sega content, Sonic The Hedgehog CD and the second tier of Sega history. We’ll hit some listener feedback about Steam and Blizzards RealID as well as some meaty news topics including:
This weeks question of the week, what video game genre’s could really benefit from 3D gaming that may not have been considered yet?
Apparently Konami just realized Harmonix, MTV Networks and Viacom have made some game called Rock Band and want to take legal action. Konami has created some Japanese games involving karaoke called Karaoke Revolution. Why take legal action now?
Probably because Konami is working towards Rock Revolution, a title which puts together drums, vocals and guitar. How odd, don’t we have a game called Rock Band which has done that for awhile now? It’s much easier to be competitive in the market if you can squeeze your opponent out of the market by telling them you hold a patent on the entire concept…which you let slide for a year.
It seems a bit convenient to force a lawsuit, now, after Rock Band is proven successful and before you launch your own “clone.”
Its suit claims that Rock Band violates a series of US Patents registered in 2002 and 2003 relating to “simulated musical instruments” and “musical rhythm-matching game.” (gamespot)
Although the developers of Rock Band should have gone through some patents on the topic prior to make it (or maybe they did?), it seems a bit out of place to patent such a generic concept. As far as I know, Musical Chairs is also a musical rhythm-matching game but nobody put up any stink when Konami filed a patent for the same concept…
