David_South#1
Banned
News from Gamepro about MS buying Epic Games, if true is very upsetting.
Microsoft helped Immersion sue Sony and blockade gamers from getting Dual Shock. Sony didn’t just happen to decide it was “last generations”. The Lawsuit placed a ban on future generations of use. That was what last generation really meant. Not the BS spin haters throw back at Sony.
Immersion is a poorly run company that was losing millions of dollars in double digits every year, long before suing and have continued to lose money every year. Not one single year of operating profit this Century. Microsoft and Sony knew they could beat the lawsuit. But Microsoft has lots of legal experience and got foxy. They settled for $26mil by buying a small stake in the company granting them the license, to re-license Haptic Feedback. What people don’t know is that they also loaned money beyond the $9million loan mentioned in the settlement to aid Immersion’s lawsuit against Sony. They also agreed to buy stock, not just the one time stake as people may have heard, but continuously in order to prevent the companies’ value from dropping until the case was settled.
Basically Microsoft used an unethical company as a puppet to sue Sony and gain control over a feature copied from Sony. Then had to Sue Immersion after the settlement to get back the money they had loaned. Microsoft is to blame for Playstation 3 not having Dual Shock. Immersion was already in Debt. They could not have beaten either Sony or Microsoft on their own, much less at the same time. Microsoft did not have to settle. They took advantage of the situation and made it so that they won whether or not Immersion beat Sony in court. But mostly they succeeded in crippling the sensation of gaming on the Playstation 3.
With the recent very positive turn around on the PS3 following the April 2007 Runtime 2.1, SDK 3.0 in October, and Yellow Dog Linux 6 this month, Microsoft is worried. Worried to the point of considering do they need to release a new Xbox in the fall of next year. Worried to the point that they are going to buy the most respected game engine to be properly ported and developed on the PS3. They are going to buy Epic Games. And stop the Unreal Engine 3 that was developed for the PS3 from being licensed to PS3 developers at a reasonable price or even at all. Just like with haptic feedback. Even though they have the right to license rumble/unreal there is no reason they have to.
Microsoft has failed to deliver at some point on almost every single promise they have made to gamers about the capabilities of Xbox360. The one resounding feature to developers has been that XNA developer tools have been easier to use than Sony’s Playstation 3 tools. But the fact is that the PS3 can and will mature for many years. By making the HDD a common denominator the PS3 has a better or longer future than the Xbox360.
Proof of that is that Sony is delivering on the Promises XNA has not delivered to the PC gaming world. Cross-platform online Gaming with PC Gamers! http://www.joystiq.com/2007/08/15/gamespy-tech-unreal-engine-3-crossplatform-ps3-and-pc-online/
Shortly after this news hit Microsoft began considering what they could do. It now looks like instead of delivering on their XNA Cross-Platform promises, they are going to spend $1,000,000,000 BILLION DOLLARS to stop other gamers from succeeding in that desire for the future. As well as reduce the game engine options availible to Playstation 3 developers. http://www.ps3center.net/story-1681-Microsoft-To-Buy-Unreal-Engine-Dev-Epic-Games.html
What the F*** is going on!? It may be perfectly legal for Microsoft to do the things it does. But is it ethical to seek ways of actively damage a gamers’ ability to enjoy the competition?
Sincerely from an outsider,
FutureCTO (aka Neil_Polymathes)
Microsoft helped Immersion sue Sony and blockade gamers from getting Dual Shock. Sony didn’t just happen to decide it was “last generations”. The Lawsuit placed a ban on future generations of use. That was what last generation really meant. Not the BS spin haters throw back at Sony.
Immersion is a poorly run company that was losing millions of dollars in double digits every year, long before suing and have continued to lose money every year. Not one single year of operating profit this Century. Microsoft and Sony knew they could beat the lawsuit. But Microsoft has lots of legal experience and got foxy. They settled for $26mil by buying a small stake in the company granting them the license, to re-license Haptic Feedback. What people don’t know is that they also loaned money beyond the $9million loan mentioned in the settlement to aid Immersion’s lawsuit against Sony. They also agreed to buy stock, not just the one time stake as people may have heard, but continuously in order to prevent the companies’ value from dropping until the case was settled.
Basically Microsoft used an unethical company as a puppet to sue Sony and gain control over a feature copied from Sony. Then had to Sue Immersion after the settlement to get back the money they had loaned. Microsoft is to blame for Playstation 3 not having Dual Shock. Immersion was already in Debt. They could not have beaten either Sony or Microsoft on their own, much less at the same time. Microsoft did not have to settle. They took advantage of the situation and made it so that they won whether or not Immersion beat Sony in court. But mostly they succeeded in crippling the sensation of gaming on the Playstation 3.
With the recent very positive turn around on the PS3 following the April 2007 Runtime 2.1, SDK 3.0 in October, and Yellow Dog Linux 6 this month, Microsoft is worried. Worried to the point of considering do they need to release a new Xbox in the fall of next year. Worried to the point that they are going to buy the most respected game engine to be properly ported and developed on the PS3. They are going to buy Epic Games. And stop the Unreal Engine 3 that was developed for the PS3 from being licensed to PS3 developers at a reasonable price or even at all. Just like with haptic feedback. Even though they have the right to license rumble/unreal there is no reason they have to.
Microsoft has failed to deliver at some point on almost every single promise they have made to gamers about the capabilities of Xbox360. The one resounding feature to developers has been that XNA developer tools have been easier to use than Sony’s Playstation 3 tools. But the fact is that the PS3 can and will mature for many years. By making the HDD a common denominator the PS3 has a better or longer future than the Xbox360.
Proof of that is that Sony is delivering on the Promises XNA has not delivered to the PC gaming world. Cross-platform online Gaming with PC Gamers! http://www.joystiq.com/2007/08/15/gamespy-tech-unreal-engine-3-crossplatform-ps3-and-pc-online/
Shortly after this news hit Microsoft began considering what they could do. It now looks like instead of delivering on their XNA Cross-Platform promises, they are going to spend $1,000,000,000 BILLION DOLLARS to stop other gamers from succeeding in that desire for the future. As well as reduce the game engine options availible to Playstation 3 developers. http://www.ps3center.net/story-1681-Microsoft-To-Buy-Unreal-Engine-Dev-Epic-Games.html
What the F*** is going on!? It may be perfectly legal for Microsoft to do the things it does. But is it ethical to seek ways of actively damage a gamers’ ability to enjoy the competition?
Sincerely from an outsider,
FutureCTO (aka Neil_Polymathes)
