Hacking the PSP Blog

WWE's latest THQ suit detailed

Last week, publisher THQ announced that it was being sued again by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). This is the second time the WWE has sued the publisher, with the first case still working its way through the courts.

THQ said the latest dispute was over alleged improper sales of WWE games in Japan and other Asian countries, quickly adding its contention that the suit is without merit and the publisher will fight it. However, other details were sparse. GameSpot obtained a copy of the suit today to find out exactly what the wrestling federation's beef with its game-publishing tag-team partner entails.

WWE is claiming that THQ sublicensed out the rights to games based on the wrestling organization for at least the last five years when it didn't have the rights to do so. For one thing, WWE says that THQ never had any kind of a license agreement with the wrestling company in the first place; its deals were made with THQ-Jakks Pacific, a separate joint venture half owned by the publisher and half owned by WWE's toy license-holder Jakks Pacific.

Furthermore, WWE says that the licensing agreement it does have with THQ-Jakks Pacific specifically forbids sublicensing to any company that is not wholly owned by the joint venture without prior written consent from WWE. WWE said that it never received a request for nor granted any such written consent.

As for whom THQ was licensing the rights to, WWE claims it was SmackDown! franchise developer Yuke's (of which THQ is only a part owner), which handles the distribution of WWE games in Japan and other Asian countries. The wrestling organization also claims that THQ was collecting royalties from Yuke's that should have gone straight to the WWE instead.

As for why the WWE hasn't brought the issue to court before now, the company claims that THQ concealed the sublicensing agreements from it. It says that when THQ submitted package approval request forms in 2004 for a game to be sold in Japan, the publisher listed Yuke's as "THQ's regional distributor," and not a sublicensee.

THQ-Jakks Pacific has held the WWE game license since June of 1998, according to the suit, and the agreement currently extends throughout 2009. THQ-Jakks also holds the option to extend that by another five years "provided that certain conditions are met." Those conditions are not specified in the lawsuit.

The WWE is asking for a declaration that it is entitled to terminate its licensing agreement with THQ-Jakks Pacific, for THQ to give up whatever money it made from the sublicensing agreement, and for monetary damages with interest.

When WWE first brought the charges to THQ's attention earlier this year, the publisher denied them. "The WWE had been aware and had consented to the manner of distribution in Japan and the payment of royalties with respect to such sales and, in addition, had separately released the joint venture from any claims with respect to such matter as a result of a settlement of a royalty audit of the THQ/JAKKS joint venture," THQ said, later adding, "We believe we have several bases for defending any claim of breach of the video game license agreement resulting from the manner of distribution of WWE-licensed products in Japan and other Asian territories."

Brendan Sinclair
October 23, 2006

Source: Gamespot

JAPAN: The Psychology of a Hardware Launch

PlayStation 3’s Japanese launch looms ever closer, and yet, Sony has once again eschewed advertising. Next-Gen looks into the thinking behind launching, and the mind of the man waiting in line. Also, Square Enix’s weird hiring strategy.

I was browsing the Xbox 360 fan community for the Xbox 360 console this morning, in which a Japanese gamer living in America posted a picture of himself flashing the middle finger at a PlayStation 3 poster display in a Best Buy store. I saw this photo, and figured: this is as good a place as any to find violently interesting Japanese opinion on the PlayStation 3 launch.

After the first three dozen comments of "GJ" (Japanese Internet shorthand for "Good Job") were out of the way, the community surprised me by asking a thoroughly interesting question: "You know, come to think of it, I haven't seen a single PlayStation 3 advertisement yet in Japan."

The next poster commented on the PlayStation 3's small launch quantities, and concluded that, "Even more than when they launched the PSP, the PlayStation 3's launch is basically just a beta test."

This is a good point. If you'll recall your videogame news of 2004, you may remember a few photos of hundreds of people lined up to buy PSPs at large electronic stores in Tokyo. They had lined up because they were convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt that they wanted a PSP more than anything else in the world. The absence of an advertising campaign was a shrewd move on Sony's part. It's not an exaggeration in any regard to say that 99% of those lined up all night to purchase the PSP had already obtained preorders -- in fact, you couldn't GET a PSP back then without a preorder. Why were they lined up? Without delving into the prevotee (that is, "preemptive devotee") mentality too deeply (there's probably a Wikipedia entry on that), we can understand that it's because they just wanted their new game console as quickly as possible.

Read the full text here...

Tim Rogers
October 20, 2006

Source: Next-Gen

Lik-Sang hits back at Sony following court judgement

Lik-Sang has hit back at Sony after a judge ruled that the online retailer had breached copyright laws by importing Japanese PSP units into Europe.

Marketing manager Pascal Clarysse commented, "Fighting multiple lawsuits in different countries at the same time and paying high premiums to expensive lawyers is an overwhelming situation for a small company like Lik-Sang.

"Launching separate court actions with separate claims and different judges is completely unnecessary, except for the fact that it helps reaching one single target: outspend Lik-Sang to death."

Clarysse went on to refute Sony's assertions that the sale of import PSPs is having an impact on its business, stating, "Contrary to their claim, I don't believe they are suffering 'losses and damages' through Lik-Sang's activity".

Earlier this week, Judge Michael Fysh ruled against Hong Kong-based Lik-Sang in a case brought by Sony to the High Court.

In his ruling Judge Fysh said, "The acts of which the complaint is made have, in my view, been perpetrated not in Hong Kong but here in the EEA, and without Sony's consent."

But according to an official statement issued by Lik-Sang, "Hong Kong's laws are clear when it comes to parallel trade, and the company has no ties whatsoever with the UK."

The statement also claims that Sony intends to obtain a UK injunction against Lik-Sang to prevent the company selling products to consumers in the EEA, and that the platform holder has "threatened to initiate yet another lawsuit to prevent the sales of PlayStation 3 consoles to Europe".

"How this decision will affect Lik-Sang's business is not entirely known at this time," the statement concludes.

"The retailer is currently exploring its legal options and analysing the consequences of this ruling."

Ellie Gibson
October 20, 2006

Source: GamesIndustry.biz

Sony ships Pretty-in-Pink PSP packs to Europe in November

It seems that SCEE wants Europeans to see only pink in November. Pink PSPs, that is. The new Pink PSP may have made quite a few PSP fanboys blush. But Europeans don't seem to mind the console's coming out (so to speak) with a color associated with poodles. After all, you know how more relaxed Europeans are about gender-bending than, say, the good people of Peoria. Can you imagine David Bowie in Peoria?

To make the Pink edition of the PSP even more eye-catching, Sony is offering three special pink pack-ins. Color-blind PSP fans can choose Loco Roco, Daxter or P!ink to go with their handheld. The Pink PSP will be available in Europe before the end of November. If you want to see more pics of the the feminine side of your macho in black PSP, you can view them here.



Source: PSPUpdates

UMD's starting to require firmware 2.81

As you may already know know (just by reading the title), UMD's are now starting to require firmware 2.81, and many titles in the future will likely be the same. Over at PSPupdates , they have said that Cabela's African Safari is one of the first to require this firmware. It has been reported that the game will not run on anything lower than 2.81, and it's not DevHook friendly either. Another game, Star Trek: Tactical Assault, also requires 2.81, and won't work with DevHook. A lot of you may be wondering why DevHook would help run the UMD anyways. Apparently DevHook v0.46 has had no problem running many 2.80+ UMDs, but there's been a recent change to the PRX modules, which now seem to be more 2.81-specific. Hopefully DevHook will be updated soon, so all the 1.50 users can play future releases.

Source: PSP-Vault