There has been some major legal issues that Microsoft has been going through lately regarding their popular Xbox 360 console. So major that it may lose access to their largest audience in the world. If you haven’t been following the news, Motorola and Microsoft have been in a major legal battle over Microsoft infringing on some of Motorola’s patents in their gaming console. A US International Trade Commission judge has ruled that Microsoft has infringed upon four of the five patents that Motorola has accused Microsoft of infringing upon, which led to a ruling by the Mannheim Court in Germany that Microsoft is guilty and therefor can’t sell the console in Germany. This has been temporarily blocked due to the US court issuing a restraining order preventing Motorola from enforcing the injunction, but that may be gone soon along with the ban being applied to the states as well.

US judge David Shaw, the judge who ruled that Microsoft infringed on Motorola’s four patents, has advised the International Trade Commission to ban the imports of 4GB and 250 GB Xbox 360 consoles to the United States due to the infringing patents. If the ITC follows through with the recommendation by Shaw, then the only hope for Microsoft would be President Barack Obama reviewing the decision and overruling it within the 60 days it will take for the ruling to pass to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Court. Along with this, Shaw also suggested Microsoft post a bond equivalent to 7% of all 360 consoles currently unsold within the US. This may be steep, but compared to the 100% Motorola was asking for Microsoft should consider themselves lucky.

What made me laugh most out of this whole debacle is Microsoft’s reason for why this shouldn’t pass, stating that such a ban “would leave Sony and Nintendo the dominant force in the market”. Way to stay classy, Microsoft. Judge Shaw shared my line of logic, saying that intellectual property was far more important.

Microsoft fans may want to pay close attention to the news regarding this legal battle(and possibly be ready to write letters to either the ITC or to the Obama administration), and anyone who has been thinking about getting a 360 lately may wish to snatch one up before they may be off the shelves entirely. Movements across the world are already happening to boycott Motorola products as well. As for me, I’ll be sitting on the sideline with a bag of popcorn and using yet another dead 360 as a coaster for my cool beverage as I watch the chaos unfold.

Everyone's favorite Italian Plumber is back! Who saw this one coming!

Nintendo loves to make games with their beloved mascot Mario, with about half of them being new adventures and the other half about recapturing the magic of their older games with modern graphics and systems. The New Super Mario Bros series falls squarely into that second category. With a version on both the DS and the Wii now, it won’t shock people to learn that there is another New Super Mario Bros coming out for the 3DS now. What will surprise people though is the blatant 2 in the name.

Very little details have been released so far, but Nintendo has said that it will follow New Super Mario Bros Wii and that it will be easy to pick up and play on the 3DS. Aside from that everything else is speculation at this point. Are Mario, Luigi, and two Toads going to traverse through the worlds of Super Mario Bros 2 or 3 this time around? Will Bowser or Peach make their way into the game as playable characters? Will Wario and Waluigi crash the party each riding a Birdo and playing maracas while they eat sandwiches just for the sake of why not? Only time will tell.

Pokemon: now helping decide the fates of feudal Japan

Ah, Pokemon. A series that has been standing strong since the mid 90′s. However one thing has yet to happen with the series: other than a few choice Pokemon making it into the Smash Bros series, Pokemon have yet to make it into any crossover games. Well apparently the Pokemon Company agreed that they needed a crossover, and decided to combine Pokemon with a popular strategy game series called Nobunaga’s Ambition. This crossover was released in Japan as Pokemon + Nobunaga’s Ambition, in what I deem the most creative crossover title ever.

Now admittedly the Nobunaga’s Ambition series is much more popular in Japan than it will probably ever be here in the west, but that hasn’t stopped this game from deciding to make the voyage to foreign shores. Under the new name Pokemon Conquest, the game should pop up on the shelves of your game stores on June 18th in the United States. Sadly, no European or Australian release dates have been announced yet, but it will more than likely end up in those areas at a later date.

Pokemon Conquest takes place in the Ransei region and will have players taking the role of various warlords using Pokemon to decide the outcomes of their conquests. Each team gets up to six Pokemon to position on the battlefield and will take turns moving and attacking with their Pokemon until one side meets whatever the victory condition of the map happens to be. Warlords will also form a Link with their Pokemon, which will increase as they clear levels and lead to their Pokemon becoming stronger and even evolving. Each warlord also has a specific species of Pokemon they bond with most, being the only species that can reach 100% Link with that warlord.

The game will be rated E for Everyone when it arrives to the US, will be on the Nintendo DS handheld, and has already received a 34/40 rating from Famitsu praising how easy it is for children and adults to get into the game and for it’s high replay value.

I'm Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite post-ending news on the internet.

Unless you’ve been away from the internet for the last month, you’ve no doubt noticed the raging inferno known as the controversy and outcry over the ending to BioWare’s Mass Effect 3. People have been arguing all over about how the ending was bad, didn’t make sense, did make sense if you looked at it a certain way, and the awesomeness of Marauder Shields(seriously, look it up). Well looks like BioWare have come up with a strategy that should work for at least most of the arguers today: they announced an “Extended Cut” to their controversial ending.

Taken right from their blog, “An official press release went out today announcing how we are re-prioritizing the Mass Effect 3 post release content schedule to provide a more fleshed out experience for our fans. For many of you the “Extended Cut” will help answer some questions and give closure to this chapter of the Mass Effect story. Oh and it’s at no cost to you – the fan.” In short, they aren’t changing the ending but instead opting to not only try to explain it better within the context of the game but also to give fans a bit more closure. This will please both the people crying foul wanting explanations and also the people who were crying foul over artistic integrity, pretty much only ruling out the arguably smallest group who just wanted the ending trashed and completely rewritten.

The best part of all this? If you download the DLC before the end of 2014, you get it completely free. Yes EA is giving something away for free, and no the apocalypse isn’t happening right now. Here’s hoping this helps springboard the opinion of BioWare and Mass Effect back towards the “awesome” category instead of the “ruined forever” one.

Plays games, DVDs, and makes identity theft easy!

Many of you have probably traded or sold consoles before. Maybe the system wasn’t getting enough use, so off to eBay or Craigslist it went. Maybe you decided you like the games on the PS3 better than your 360, so you traded it in to Gamestop so you can pick up some new hardware. Maybe you sent it to an internet celebrity in hopes of them running over your old console with their car on YouTube. Whatever the reason, this news is going to scare some of you: it looks like it’s possible to grab your information such as address, name, and credit card info from your old 360′s hard drive.

Ashley Podhradsky from Drexel University in Philadelphia recently experimented with some common tools and applications on the Internet with a refurbished Xbox 360 console. After doing a little poking, she was able to easily grab the previous owner’s name, address, and credit card information. ”Microsoft does a great job of protecting their proprietary information,” Podhradsky said. “But they don’t do a great job of protecting the user’s data. Anyone can freely download a lot of this software, essentially pick up a discarded game console, and have someone’s identity.” She then goes on to recommend that you make sure to wipe your hard drive clean before you get rid of your system, saying that without wiping the hard drive the consoles are similar to Windows systems when reformatted: saying the data is erased, but with some poking and prodding is able to be resurfaced.

Or you could always go my route and smash the console with a life size version of Cloud’s Buster Sword. It’s fun AND protects your information!

If you’re reading this review, then there’s a VERY good chance you’ve heard of Nintendo’s super famous Italian plumber Mario. Not only is he considered the most famous video game character in history, but many people point to him as the face of the industry. It’s not surprising then to see new Mario games sell extremely well and will often sell many copies of the hardware the game is on. What also isn’t surprising is how good each new Mario title is, with 3D Land being no exception in the slightest. (more…)