Bethesda tells Mojang to lay down its virtual guns, lawyer up for a trademark battle
Time was, men could settle their disputes with glinting swords at the ready and their honor on the line. Nowadays, only the cosplaying and Comic Con attending folk alike are likely to burnish (elvish) blades, although they’re rather inapt to sully them with enemy blood. Well, unsurprisingly, Mojang head Markus “Notch” Persson’s modern day offer of a Quake 3 Arena simulated duel — his proposed method of extralegal recourse — was shot down by Bethesda, the company suing the Minecraft creator for use of the word “Scrolls” in its unreleased card game. As these are apparently sue-happy times, both parties are headed to court to battle it out, with Mojang facing the terrible repercussion of a forced product name change. From the looks of the defendant’s Twitter feed, however, it doesn’t appear the impending litigation’s breaking this Swede’s stride.
Bethesda tells Mojang to lay down its virtual guns, lawyer up for a trademark battle originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Sep 2011 18:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink 
Joystiq | 
@Notch (Twitter), Gamasutra | Email this | Comments
Minecraft creator challenges Bethesda to deathmatch for the word ‘scrolls’
While Samsung, Apple, HTC and others battle it out in court with lawyers and expansive patent portfolios, one man seems to know how real geeks settle disputes — with a deathmatch. Markus “Notch” Persson, the man behind Minecraft and head of Mojang, has decided the best way to put the trademark squabble with Bethesda to rest is two rounds of three-on-three Quake 3 Arena action. The Elder Scrolls developer is sticking with the same tactics that have made smartphone companies our new least-favorite corporate citizens, but Notch thinks ownership of the word “scrolls” can best be determined with BFGs and railguns. With any luck this will catch on and, when Steve Jobs and Larry Page lead their forces into battle in Team Fortress, we’re gonna have to put on our money on the Mountain View crew.
Minecraft creator challenges Bethesda to deathmatch for the word ‘scrolls’ originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Aug 2011 16:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink Joystiq | The word of Notch | Email this | Comments
Quake turns 15, ready to be ported to a learner’s permit
In the ever-changing world of gaming, a 15-year-old title is downright ancient, so there’s a lot to be said for the fact that we’re still talking about Quake a decade and a half after its release — and what a packed decade and a half it’s been. The game has spawned a still thriving convention and has made an appearance on pretty much every platform, ever, including, recently, Android, webOS, Chumby, BUG, and, of course, a maze for lab mice. So, happy birthday, old man. Now how about playing on something more your age? Like, say, the Jitterbug? Got a favorite Quake moment? Be sure to share it with us in the comments below.
Quake turns 15, ready to be ported to a learner’s permit originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Jun 2011 01:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
BlackBerry 7 gets an SDK, NFC, AR, other acronyms
BlackBerry 7 OS is coming soon but, to take advantage of all those fancy features like NFC and the digital compass (ok, some of them aren’t that fancy), devs are going to need some new APIs — enter the BlackBerry 7 Java SDK. Creators of BlackBerry apps can go download the beta of the new software development kit at the source link and start whipping up augmented reality browsers and 3D games, thanks to support for OpenGL ES 2.0. There’s nothing mind-blowing about RIM’s latest update, but we’re glad to see the corporate stalwart start to catch up to other smartphone OSes, and it’s only a matter of time before Layar and Quake hit the BlackBerry Bold 9900.
BlackBerry 7 gets an SDK, NFC, AR, other acronyms originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Jun 2011 10:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Toshiba and Hitachi LCD plants damaged, will shut down for a month
You can’t have a 9.0 magnitude earthquake without breaking a few factories, particularly ones that produce fragile liquid crystal screens, and this week Toshiba, Hitachi and Panasonic are each reporting damages that have forced them to close LCD production facilities affected by the tsunami and quake. Panasonic isn’t sure when its plant in Chiba prefecture might resume carving up the glass sandwiches, telling Bloomberg that “there has been some damage, though not a fire or a collapse,” but both Hitachi and Toshiba will reportedly halt some assembly lines for around a month to deal with damages. It’s probably still too soon to talk about panel shortages — though they seem likely soon — but we’ll let you know how things progress.
Toshiba and Hitachi LCD plants damaged, will shut down for a month originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Mar 2011 16:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Nikkei, Reuters, Bloomberg | Email this | Comments
Samsung Galaxy S vs HTC Desire running Quake 2 [video]
We’ve already seen the Galaxy S can run 3D games rather well, but how about a side by side comparing the Galaxy S Hummingbird/Power VR combo against the Snapdragon and Adreno chip in the latest HTC handsets? Android Central forum member ConceptVBS found a YouTube video of just that — a Galaxy S and an HTC Desire both running Quake 2 side by side.
The Galaxy’s beastly processor and GPU combo perform just as expected, and seeing it beside a known performer like the Snapdragon shows just how much better it will handle 3D gaming. But enough spoilers — check out the video after the break. [YouTube via Android Central Forums]
Posted originally at Android Central
Sponsored by Android Cases and Accessories
How to: Play Quake III Arena on the Motorola Droid
Forget Flash. Who needs Farmville? Here’s the only gaming anybody really cares about: Quake III on the Motorola Droid. And after the break, we show you how to do it and have video of the game in action.