World Of Warcraft Takes The Battle To The Courtroom

The creator of the MMO Glider program which performs key "in World" tasks automatically, such as fighting, is being sued by World of Warcraft maker Blizzard. The company is demanding that Michael Donnelly stop selling Glider and return all profits that he made from Glider sales. Their argument is that the program infringes upon their copyright because it copies the game into RAM to avoid detection by anti-cheat software. The claim is also that the End User License Agreement is infringed upon by anyone who uses the tool. I like his entrepreneurial spirit but I can't stand game players who use these kind of cheats... go get him Blizzard! BBC has more here.

First America's Army, Now The Right Stuff?

NASA has reportedly put out a Request for Information (RFI) for organizations interested in developing a platform for a Massively Multi player Online Game (MMO) aimed at students and would "simulate real Nasa engineering and science missions". According to the document "The MMO will foster career exploration opportunities in a much deeper way than reading alone would permit and at a fraction of the time and cost of an internship program." This is not the first time that a US agency has turned to such tactics, the US armed forces has produced and has maintained a first person shooter "America's Army" for a number of years as a recruiting tool and it is said to be "the most popular computer games in the world", of course it is a free download and of exceptional quality for a freebie. For NASA the MMO would not be it's first foray into virtual worlds as they maintain an Island in Second Life "where individuals and groups with an interest in the space programme can meet, share ideas and conduct experiments." The BBC has More here.

Gaming giants merge

Vivendi and Activision are joining forces to create what they call "the world's most profitable games business". Vivendi owns Blizzard who produces the immensely popular World of Warcraft online game while Activision is behind the Call of Duty and Guitar Hero franchises. Blizzard will invest $2 billion in the new company, while Activision is putting up $1 billion. The BBC has more details.

The MMO Report

G4 TV has produced a very entertaining weekly news segment called the MMO Report. Hosted by Casey Schreiner, the show recaps the news of the week in Massively Multiplayer Online gaming. Check out this weeks offering...

btw Casey, I've got a green iPod shuffle I've giving away! But you'll have to do a little work to be considered. Check out my post here.

Free online game, unless you put a price on your time

In the world of Massively Multiplayer Online games (MMO), World of Warcraft (WOW) reigns supreme and everyone else is chasing them. In an attempt to attract players, one game company has decided to make their offering free! Free to download, free of subscriptions, free!! ArchLord by Codemasters is your typical hack - slash fantasy role playing game, where you create a character and take on a world of nasty beasts in your quest for gold and weapons, all while teaming up with other players from around the globe. It's pretty, and responsive on my cable connection, and while I've only put a couple of hours into it, I'm hooked!