Pirate Bay Seized by Police

So apparently Pirate Bay (http://thepiratebay.org - currently down) , one of the most well known torrent sites, was raided this morning by a fleet of Swedish Police.

This comes as a possible huge blow to the torrent community, as Pirate Bay has been a last bastion of hope in the glimmering darkness of the ever-encroaching rightwing anti-piracy campaigns.

As reported by Slyck News, police went and raided the primary server farm of Pirate Bay this morning at their home in Sweden.

What this basically means for those in the Torrent community is that we will be waiting with baited breath to see if the rather ingenious guys in Sweden manage to finagle their way out of this one. We're all with you PB, don't let the man get you down.

Pirate Bay, established in early 2004 in Sweden has stood out amongst the other current generation of Torrent sites within the community, mostly thanks to their large size and a somewhat strange political backing in Sweden. The Pirate Party, a newly established political party in Sweden was formed under the ideology of weakened intellectual rights which umbrellas such notions as copyrights and patents.

So here's my two cents on the topic. Pirate Bay has a huge backing, both independent and political supporters. The simple idea that they have 2000 hits per second means that they are filthy rich, and have large sums of liquid capital. My idea, they should start buying old oil barges and live the life of true pirates. Laws by countries only extend so far when heading out into the ocean, so they could set up their server farms on multiple oil rigs, which are technically "lawless". Now this would of course require them being able to protect themselves and all, but hey, if they're really pirates that shouldn't be an issue. Perhaps it's just my sci-fi loving childish self that likes the idea of a rogue organization sending out pirated signals across the globe, free of governmental persecution. It's a novel idea, and perhaps one day it will exist. Don't police the internet, it's everyone's not yours.

Full Article Here

\\drew

No More Wii Jokes?

According to David Yarnton, Nintendo's UK Chief, the buzz (see: Childish School-Ground Insults) over the name of their new system the Wii (pronounced Wee) has died down and people are beginning to talk more about the inventive system that it is as opposed to focusing on how it's named after what we do in the bathroom every day.

Sure, I'm no longer a child, and I understand that I should be able to diregard such a blatant joke, I mean, it's not even challenging. But you have to assume that the marketting department at Nintendo would have gotten a slight giggle out of this one, and despite that said, "no, no, this is definitely the name, THE name, it pops, it has pizzaz, I need to go use the little boy's room."

So all of you can laugh at the name, but I'll be in my living room this fall with one hand on my nunchaku playing tennis on my Wii.

Full Article Here

\\drew

What's the world coming to?

Remember the good ol' days when police would slap you with citations and speeding tickets with a better than thou ass hole tone, only to go home, beat their wives, and cry in their beds while holding guns to their children's heads? Me too, ah fuzzy memories of my childhood.

Now apparently some police are branching out of the tried and true method of dealing with the mental anguish of their jobs. Hideo Wada, a police Sergeant in the Nara Prefecture of Japan, has been caught using his digital camera (issued for use in police work) to take naughty images of women he "fancied" at crime scenes.

Now, imagine getting into a car accident, and here is this cop who's taking pictures of the scene, next thing you know the camera is peaking up your skirt and he's got a shit eating grin on his face, what would you do? I'd toss his punk ass in the fire.

Why can't police officers be more like Bruce Willis in Die Hard. I want a cop who will walk barefoot through glass to protect me. That guy was bad ass. If Bruce Willis lived in Japan he would have beat that cop to death with his bottle of Advil while smoking a whole pack of cigarettes.

Full Article Here

\\drew

Wii price officially released

Nintendo officially announced today that the price tag on their next-gen bundle of love, the Wii (ii pronounced Revolution in English, the W being silent) will sit at a nice and comfortable $250, undercutting the price points of both Microsoft ($399) and Sony ($599).

This is a great move by Nintendo. They will be providing the every-day-man's next-gen console thanks to not eating an entire pay check. Despite the fact that the system itself isn't as powerful as the other 2, it is providing a varied level of gameplay (thanks to the new controller) which makes it feel different and new which should also help bolster sales, whereas the PS3 and XBOX360 are simply pushing better graphics (normal mapping oo ah's) and the like.

Full article here

\\drew

Nintendo's new take on Mario

Here's a rough English Translation thanks to the guys over at Kotaku.com

"Ah, something came, something came, something came. Ahh. Jump! Jump! Jump! A big one appeared. Huge. Waaaaah. Yippie! What's this? What's this? I'm, so happy! Wow, sooo strong. Oh it's over."

Ok, so maybe my mind is just permanently in the gutter, but I'm pretty sure that Nanako Matsushima (actress from Ringu) is reading some fairly saucy lines here. Likewise I know that Japan is much less conservative than the US when it comes to references to sex, and the Mario franchise is nothing if not an acid-induced trek through a mystical world of penis shaped objects. But come on! With that said I think I'm going to go buy another copy of it, I'm apparently weak willed and marketing's bitch.

\\drew

Thanks Sony

With the conclusion of E3 a few weeks back we in the gaming community are left with an aftermath of spicy morsels of facts, rumors and myths which only serve to further our salivary glands in their uncanny hunger for the new tech due out at the end of the year.

There are big talks going on today concerning a proposed (or rather, a rumor-milled proposal) governmental push by Sony Entertainment to make the selling of PS3 games illegal on the personal level. Article Here

This is a heated debate and has been toyed with before. The main issue here is that the industry as a whole claims a downwards spiral in their profits due to companies such as EB Games and Gamestop (which are now one and the same) reorienting their marketting plan to sell as many used games as possible to maximize their yearly gross. The issue with this is that developers and publishers make their money based on the number of "New" games sold, not used. (Hypothetical Warning) So when a company like Gamestop sells 500,000 copies of GTA:SA, 200,000 copies may be used, which means that the developers lose out of the sale of almost half the titles sold. This of course hits the industry hard, while the retailers are making out like bandits.

I personally don't know where I land in this argument, having worked in the gaming industry for years, it angers me to think that we're losing money because of the middle man, but on the same token as a consumer I'm always inclined to want the best deal. When I go to a store to buy a new game I'd like to entertain the notion that I now own a full version of the game, this is mine, and I'm free to do with it as I please. But now it seems that Sony is pushing to say that I'm spending $60 (proposed pricing on PS3 Game SKU's) to play the game, not to own the game. This of course chaps my keister, because if I'm dropping that kind of money I would like to think I have something to show for it, not just a permanent rental.

I would hate to think that at some point down the line I will no longer be able to pick up boxes of old video games at a garage sale because it's illegal. Last weekend I picked up a box (roughly 3x3x3) full of NES/SNES game, extra controllers, and a power glove, and there's some level of joy in that. Well I don't see myself picking up the new Sony system at it's current price point any time soon, so I was eagerly waiting for the garage sale mark down, but apparently that may not be in the cards anymore.

\\drew


UPDATE: Sony is attempting to alleviate fears of the consumer by denying their involvement in this rumor, which I think sends a wave of sighs across the gaming community.

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