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Canada

Submission + - Coalition targets CBC's free music site (theglobeandmail.com) 1

Submitted by silentbrad
silentbrad writes: From the GLobe and Mail: A number of Canadian media companies have joined forces to try to shut down a free music website recently launched by the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., claiming it threatens to ruin the music business for all of them. The group, which includes Quebecor Inc., Stingray Digital, Cogeco Cable Inc., the Jim Pattison Group and Golden West Radio, believes that CBCmusic.ca will siphon away listeners from their own services, including private radio stations and competing websites that sell streaming music for a fee. The coalition is expected to expand soon to include Rogers Communications Inc. and Corus Entertainment Inc., two of the largest owners of radio stations in Canada. It intends to file a formal complaint with the CRTC, arguing that the broadcaster has no right under its mandate to compete with the private broadcasters in the online music space. ... 'The only music that you can hear for free is when the birds sing,' said Stingray CEO Eric Boyko, whose company runs the Galaxie music app that charges users $4.99 a month for unlimited listening. 'There is a cost to everything, yet CBC does not seem to think that is true.' ... The companies argue they must charge customers to offset royalty costs which are triggered every time a song is played, while the CBC gets around the pay-per-click problem because it is considered a non-profit corporation. ... Media executives aren’t the only ones who have expressed concern. When the CBC service was launched in February, the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers said that when it set a flat fees for the more than 100,000 music publishers it represents, it never envisioned a constant stream of free music flooding the Internet.
Games

Submission + - New Social Network for Trading Games (ign.com)

Submitted by silentbrad
silentbrad writes: From IGN: "A social network has been launched entirely dedicated to swapping games with people in your local area. The guys behind newly minted Waygoz.com say they have created a better way for gamers to trade old games — with each other and in common meeting places like donut shops. Waygoz.com is a Facebook-style website where you can sign up and start trading games with people in your local neighborhood. There's no charge, and users are encouraged to trade in-person, rather than via mail. ... It's a system that doesn't involve the traditional middle-man in used games — games retail chains. ... By taking the retailer out of the equation, gamers can squeeze more value for their old games. Instead of retailers profiting from the trade, it's all about gamers doing business with one another, giving them much more power over the goods they own. ... Co-founder Jean-Paul Rehr told IGN, 'The used games business is a bit broken. People like the idea of not having to go to a store to lose money on game trade-ins.' ... The site launches officially this week. Clearly, its success depends on achieving enough people to make it work. Rehr says the overall number of users is less important than achieving clusters of participants in populated areas, 'For us it's about local footholds in cities and towns around the U.S, to see this thing take off.'
Games

Submission + - Link Between Violent Computer Games and Aggressiveness Questioned (sciencedaily.com)

Submitted by silentbrad
silentbrad writes: An article on Science Daily — and another on IGN — brings us back to the debate violent games and aggressiveness. From the article: "There is a long-lasting and at times intense debate about the possible link between violent computer games and aggressiveness. A group of researchers from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, are now questioning the entire basis of the discussion. In a recently published article, they present a new study showing that, more than anything, a good ability to cooperate is a prerequisite for success in the violent gaming environment. ... The Gothenburg-based research group spent hundreds of hours playing online games and observing other gamers, including on video recordings. They focused on complex games with portrayals of violence and aggressive action where the participants have to fight with and against each other. ... Inconsiderate gamers, as well as those who act aggressively or emotionally, generally do not do well. 'The suggested link between games and aggression is based on the notion of transfer, which means that knowledge gained in a certain situation can be used in an entirely different context. The whole idea of transfer has been central in education research for a very long time. The question of how a learning situation should be designed in order for learners to be able to use the learned material in real life is very difficult, and has no clear answers,' says Ivarsson. ... 'In a nutshell, we're questioning the whole gaming and violence debate, since it's not based on a real problem but rather on some hypothetical reasoning,' he says.
Canada

Submission + - Private broadcasters cry foul over CBC advertising plan (theglobeandmail.com)

Submitted by silentbrad
silentbrad writes: From the Globe and Mail: "Canada’s largest private radio broadcaster has come out swinging against the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s move to start selling advertising on its CBC Radio 2 and Espace Musique stations. Astral Media, which is in the process of being sold to telecom giant BCE Inc., said it will oppose the CBC’s application to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to change its licensing conditions to allow the two secondary CBC stations to begin airing commercials. ... 'Astral is fiercely opposed to seeing the public broadcaster start selling advertising,' the company said in an e-mailed statement late Wednesday, hours after CBC president Hubert Lacroix told staff in a memo of the CBC’s proposed move to sell advertising, part of an effort to find $50-million in new revenues to offset the impact of federal budget cuts. ... But industry representatives warned the move could distort Canada’s thriving commercial radio business, which has enjoyed years of steady profitability and is soon to be dominated by three of Canada’s largest telecommunications and cable firms. 'They can’t have it both ways,' said Carmela Laurignano, vice-president of Toronto-based Evanov Communications, which owns 14 radio stations, including Toronto’s Z103.5 FM. 'They’re either a private or a public broadcaster. If they can get advertising revenues and receive taxpayer funds to do their programming, the competitive balance is not the same.'
Canada

Submission + - Canadian Telcos Lobby Against Pick-and-Pay TV (financialpost.com)

Submitted by silentbrad
silentbrad writes: From the Financial Post: "BCE Inc., Rogers Communications Inc., and Shaw Communications Inc. which together control two-thirds of the $8.3-billion broadcast distribution market, are lobbying against the so-called 'a la carte' model that would allow customers to pick and pay for individual networks, arguing the change would have disastrous consequences for programmers, such as Bell Media and Shaw Media. 'A regulation requiring that all programming services must be made available to consumers on a stand-alone basis would have far-reaching ramifications,' BCE, whose Bell owns 30 specialty networks, said in a submission to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. 'Undoubtedly, a market shake-out, causing many specialty services to exit, would ensue.' The three big players, led by BCE, have told the CRTC they support the status quo of 'tied selling,' or the practice of grouping weaker-performing networks in with a popular channels, versus a new approach to sell channels individually. ... In the race for subscription dollars, rates for TV services across providers have risen sharply over the last decade as the number of specialty channels, each commanding its own fee, has soared. Net costs to subscribers climbed another 2.6% in 2011, while average bills now hover around $60 a month. ... Nonetheless, with the old TV model likely at its peak, analysts are near unanimous that change must be met with innovation. 'We believe those distributors that offer the greatest value and choice will be best positioned to defend their subscribers and [revenue],' Credit Suisse analyst Colin Moore said in a note last month."
Canada

Submission + - As sales dip, a ray of hope for print magazines (theglobeandmail.com)

Submitted by silentbrad
silentbrad writes: The Globe and Mail reports on the print and digital markets for magazines and newspapers: "... a poll commissioned by the industry association shows those who do read magazines overwhelmingly prefer to read on paper, despite the ever-widening list of digital alternatives made available by publishers anxious to keep them reading. Those who do buy digital editions are nearly twice as likely as the average reader to buy additional printed magazines in any given month. 'The so-called doomsday scenario that has print magazines doomed to obscurity is just a myth,' said Ray Argyle, executive director of the Periodical Marketers of Canada. 'The trend seems to point toward the purchase of single copies and away from mail subscriptions.' ... The publishers will soon have an unexpected ally to help them address the problem, at least in the short term. Canada Post will announce an initiative that would see the postal service handle digital distribution of magazines so the publishers could focus on content, rather than logistics. The initiative was led by Canada Post chief executive officer Deepak Chopra, who believes Canadians aren’t ready to give up on traditional printed products just because digital alternatives are available. Under his plan, publishers would pay the post office to not only deliver printed copies but also ensure a digital copy was available on a secured site for any reader who was interested."
Games

Submission + - Minecraft Creator's New Game Called 0x10c (0x10c.com)

Submitted by silentbrad
silentbrad writes: As announced last month, Notch — creator of Minecraft — is working on a sandbox space game (no, not the Mars Effect April Fools joke, though it's similar). "The game [0x10c] is still extremely early in development, but like we did with Minecraft, we expect to release it early and let the players help me shape the game as it grows. The cost of the game is still undecided, but it's likely there will be a monthly fee for joining the Multiverse as we are going to emulate all computers and physics even when players aren't logged in. Single player won't have any recurring fees. ... The computer in the game is a fully functioning emulated 16 bit CPU that can be used to control your entire ship, or just to play games on while waiting for a large mining operation to finish. Full specifications of the CPU will be released shortly, so the more programatically advanced of you can get a head start."

Submission + - Children becoming addicted to video game fantasy worlds, teachers warn (guardian.co.uk) 2

Submitted by silentbrad
silentbrad writes: From The Guardian: "A growing number of young children are acting out violent scenes from adult computer games in the playground, teachers have warned. Pupils as young as four and five are simulating car crashes and graphic injuries as a result of playing games unsupervised in their bedrooms, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) annual conference was told. Primary school teachers said the games were making their pupils far more aggressive and addicted to "fantasy worlds that separate them from reality". Doctors found children who continually play computer games may be more likely to develop tendinitis – an inflammation between the muscles and bones – and suffer from seizures, teachers said. Psychologists have expressed concerns that playing some games make children more aggressive. Alison Sherratt, a teacher at Riddlesden St Mary's Church of England primary school in Keighley, West Yorkshire, said her four- and five-year-old pupils spend their breaks pretending to "throw themselves out of the window of the play car in slow motion" and act out blood "spurting from their bodies". "We all expect to see rough and tumble, but I have seen little ones acting out quite graphic scenes in the playground and there is a lot more hitting, hurting and thumping in the classroom for no particular reason." She said her pupils believed the violence depicted in computer games was real and tried to recreate it in play. "Obesity, social exclusion, loneliness, physical fitness, sedentary solitary lives – these are all descriptions of children who are already hooked to games Sadly there is a notable correlation between the children who admit to playing games and those who come to school really tired," she said.
Technology

Submission + - See-through 3D computer with gesture controls gives us a glimpse of the future (bgr.com)

Submitted by silentbrad
silentbrad writes: "Some believe a future full of massive, gesture-controlled computer displays like the ones seen in Twentieth Century Fox’s Minority Report are an inevitability, and a prototype PC designed by an intern with the Microsoft Applied Sciences Group may be among the first steps in making that future a reality. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Ph.D student and MIT Media Lab research assistant Jinha Lee recently set out to change the way we interact with desktop computers. While progress has been made with 3D display technology, 3D has not yet proliferated in the personal computing space and Lee wants to change that. The end result of his work is a fascinating desktop computer with a transparent 3D display and a unique gesture-based interface that could change the way we use computers."
DRM

Submission + - Playstation 4 codenamed Orbis? (kotaku.com)

Submitted by silentbrad
silentbrad writes: Kotaku reports some "details" about Sony's next console given to them by a "reliable source". They say that the console's codename—or, following Kotaku's odd-but-possible logic, the actual name—will be Orbis, and it has a planned release in time for the 2013 holiday season. They've been told that developers are being told to plan for an AMD x64 CPU and AMD Southern Islands GPU. Further on, they mention that there will be no PS3 backwards compatibility and, like rumours about the next Xbox, will have anti-used game DRM. Specifically, "new games for the system will be available one of two ways, either on a Blu-Ray disc or as a PSN download (yes, even full retail titles). If you buy the disc, it must be locked to a single PSN account ... If you then decide to trade that disc in, the pre-owned customer picking it up will be limited in what they can do. ... it's believed used games will be limited to a trial mode or some other form of content restriction, with consumers having to pay a fee to unlock/register the full game."
Games

Submission + - Notch wants to make a Firefly-inspired sandbox space game (pcgamer.com)

Submitted by silentbrad
silentbrad writes: From PC Gamer: After stepping back as lead designer of Minecraft earlier this year, Notch has been considering what to do next. While he’s still deciding exactly what he wants to work on, he told us that he’d quite like to do a sandbox space trading game like Elite, “except done right.” Notch is aiming for something with a bit more character than the classic trading sim. Instead of being the spaceship, you’d be a character inside the spaceship. “I want the space game that’s more like Firefly,” he said. “I want to run around on my ship and have to put out a fire. Like, oh crap, the cooling system failed, I have to put out the fire here.” He hasn’t decided to make the game yet, and doesn’t mind if someone else takes up the reins. “if someone steals the idea before me, that’s totally fine. I just want to play that game,” he said.

Comment Updates on IGN (Score 1) 481

by silentbrad (#39444017) Attached to: Michael Bay To Remake TMNT As Aliens
Not that anyone's going to see this, bottom of the pile on a two day old story, but IGN has a pair of updates:

UPDATED, MARCH 21: Now two of the actors who voiced the Turtles in the three 1990s live-action movies have gotten drawn into the fray of what we've dubbed "Turtlegate." TMZ says Robbie Rist, who voiced Michaelangelo, posted a letter to Bay that said the filmmakers was "sodomizing" the beloved franchise with his alien approach. Said Rist, "I know believing in mutated talking turtles is kinda silly to begin with but am I supposed to be led to believe there are ninjas from another planet? The rape of our childhood memories continues ... "

However, Bay has a supporter in Rist's co-star Brian Tochi, who voiced Leonardo in the '90s movies. "If Michael Bay wants to do a different take on the turtles origin story ... mazel tov!," Tochi told TMZ. Another Bay supporter is Judith Hoag, who played April O'Neil in 1990's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Hoag, however, is a veteran of Bay films. She admitted to the site, "I was in Armageddon ... which Michael directed ... as well as Nightmare On Elm Street and I Am Number Four which he produced."

UPDATED, MARCH 22: TMNT co-creator Peter Laird has now addressed the "alien" controversy over at his blog: " I would actually encourage TMNT fans to swallow the 'chill pill' Mr. Bay recently suggested they take, and wait and see what might come out of this seemingly ill-conceived plan. It's possible that with enough truly creative brainpower applied to this idea, it might actually work. I'm not saying it's probable, or even somewhat likely ... but it IS possible."

Laird, who reminds fans he no longer has any control over the TMNT property, added sarcastically, "the reason I say it could be a 'genius' idea is that -- for the first time -- someone has come up with a way to have as many freakin' Turtles as they want. I mean, if the TMNT are actually members of an alien race, there could be a whole PLANET of them!"

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