Download of Illegal Games up by 20%

According to BBC Newsbeat the download of illegal copies of video games has gone up by 20% in the last 5 years.

Envisional also said that the 2010 top five games were pirated online almost a million times, which can come to the conclusion that game creators might have to insert some additional game securities into the gaming industry such as a code for online play already seen in many games in the market. With these huge numbers of downloads most firms think there is going to be a generation where players think they can get their games for free.

“I buy games because I’ve pirated them, if I don’t get to try them I never would have bothered picking them up”. – Says Sam, a gamer, interviewed by Newsbeat.

This is what most online pirates like to say, because if we download it pirated we know we might get fined but there’s always the excuse of trying to “illegally” test the games first, which is not a pretty good excuse in my opinion.

“I’ve never been fined. I’ve been doing this since I was 14 and I’m now 23. Games that I enjoy I purchase, ones that I don’t enjoy I delete.”- Said Sam in the same interview.

This is what makes more and more gamers to download illegal copies of their favourite titles, if they are not caught once, twice and thrice they will keep doing this for years.

Andy Payne, chairman of the Association for UK Interactive Entertainment (UKIE), believes it’s something the industry is already doing. Earlier this year video game executives told Newsbeat online piracy cost the industry hundreds of jobs and millions of pounds.However, UKIE is reluctant to give a similar estimate for either, saying it is nearly impossible to get an accurate figure. It is keen though to emphasise that big blockbuster titles can cost millions of pounds to produce. – source: Newsbeat

This is one of the reasons why most recording companies want to block The Pirate Bay in the UK.

Motorola to launch 2 big boys on the tablet Market

Motorola has officially confirmed that the Motorola Xoom 2 and Motorola Xoom 2 Media Edition will be coming to the UK and we have got the official price tags thanks to T3.

The beautifully designed Xoom 2 features a 10.1” HD display, a pretty powerful 1.2GHz processor, 16GB of storage, back (5-mp) and front (1.3-mp) cameras and a 1GB of RAM to make this device smooth to the touch. The front display also comes with splash-guard nano technology protecting the device against spills and splashes. This device weighs only 599 grams and is 8.8 mm thick (thinner than the iPad2).

And the only difference with the Media Edition is the screen size, which Motorola decided to make a tablet with only 8.2” Gorilla glass HD display and of course the thickness and weight, which comes with only 8.99 mm of thickness and 386 grams.

Sadly both these devices will only come with Android Honeycomb (3.2) which is a shame as Android 4.0 will be release on the 17th of November with the new Nexus.

The price for both tablets raises above the £300 price tag, with the Xoom 2 at £379.99 and the Media Edition at only £329.99. Both these prices are under the iPad 2′s current price of £399, however Apple might have a trick on their sleeves for Christmas, we will have to wait and see!

There is no doubt that the Xoom 2 is a wonderful device and it might be just what we all been waiting for as an Android tablet. Don’t forget that Google bought Motorola Mobility earlier this year and this might be a device conceived for Android. Do you think Motorola will release an update to Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) any time soon? Do you think these new tablets are ready to take on the iPad 2 and Samsung Galaxy Tab’s and/or other tablets now in the market? Leave your comments below on who you think will be the tablet for this Christmas.

Google Maps to charge for their APIs

According to the news posted on newmediaage. The internet giant is planning on charging for the use of Google Maps API (application programming interface), which is vastly used on hotels, retailers and other websites where they like to show users where their offices are.

The cost will be of £2.50 per 1,000 hits, and this will roll out on 1st day of 2012. “However, a report by technology news site dailyconvo.com estimates this will only impact 0.35% of all users because the majority of sites use the API less than the set parameters.” – source: newmediaage.

“We understand that the introduction of these limits may be concerning,” – said Thor Mitchell when trying to tell everyone that this new charge is to help with the fund of the service. “However, with the continued growth in adoption of the Maps API, we need to secure its long-term future by ensuring that even when used by the highest volume for-profit sites, the service remains viable.”, “By introducing these limits, we are ensuring that Google can continue to offer the Maps API free of charge to the vast majority of developers for many years to come.” he added.

This is indeed quite concerning as most retailer and banking websites use this feature to help customers finding the closest store/branch, this may lead for them to either quit using this sort of services or use another Maps based system such as the one Bing offers.

Will this be a sign that Google may be charging for their services such as Google+ and Gmail? Leave your answers below.

Galaxy Nexus launching on the 17th November

One of the world’s most awaited phones, the Google Samsung Galaxy Nexus, is soon to come to stores near you. Well, if you are in Europe.

Amazon is going to retail the device at a price tag of £549 (£150 more than the Galaxy S II), and it’s not meant to come to the USA not even on next week! This means that our friends over in USA (and other countries outside of the European Union) will have to be jealous of our brand new phones that carry the latest of Android’s platform.

 

The Galaxy Nexus will be the first Android handset to run Ice Cream Sandwich, the codename for Google Android 4.0. It will feature a 4.6” screen, made possible in a smaller form factor partly by the removal of hardware buttons from the front.

This device was meant to be unveiled in San Diego at the beginning of October, but its launch was delayed by a week and instead took place in Hong Kong due to the death of Steve Jobs.

The phone comes equipped with a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and 16GB of storage, which is now quite the mobile standard.

The Pirate Bay to be banned in UK

Music industry body the BPI leads demand for illegal filesharing site to be blocked after high court blocks Newzbin2.

A coalition of Hollywood film studios, record companies and publishers has formally requested that British Telecom (BT) block The Pirate Bay, one of the largest illegal filesharing sites in the world, after winning a landmark high-court ruling designed to enforce UK copyright law.

BT, the UK’s largest internet service provider with six milllion customers, may be at risk to lose one quarter of that number when this is taken place.

There have always been a massive problem when ISPs try to block websites visit by thousands of people; this can lead to bigger problems to BT if TPB is restricted as many people use this website everyday for illegal file sharing of media such as music, videos and software.

The Pirate Bay has always shown signs of worry when a problem of copyright law attacks them, but this time they don’t seem to care much, however it could be a sign that BT may not be going towards this agreement. On the other hand a BT spokesman said: “We can confirm we are now in receipt of a letter from the BPI. BT is considering its response.”. This may contradict what most customers from BT are worrying.

Now the question is, will The Pirate Bay be blocked only on British Telecom?