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ELSPA wants pirates stranded without R4
Otherwise known as the Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Association (an organization working within the British games industry), the ELSPA isn't happy about the abundance of R4 flash carts in the hands of DS owners. Nor is it happy about the availability of these little devices, which -- homebrew applications aside -- people are using to play pirated DS ROMS. If you want an R4, it's easy to buy one from Amazon, eBay, or a wealth of independent online retailers.According to the ELSPA, "The supply of these items is an infringement and an offence under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and the Trade Marks Act 1994." So, how did they get onto shelves in the first place? Clearly the yawn-inducing law behind it all is more complex than simply "they are illegal," otherwise the shops wouldn't still be selling them. Which they are.Long story short, it's a mess of regulations and red tape, and we've heard it all before. It's hardly a crystal-clear situation where legal teams "will take action where and when appropriate." If a blanket ban of selling flash carts suddenly falls over England, and police start breaking down doors of R4 traders, we'll let you know. Until then, get out there and buy some good games, and use any external device responsibly.
UK raid uncovers DS carts loaded with $12K of pirated software
In a raid executed last Sunday, 85,000 "discs" of pirated software and other counterfeit goods were seized at an East Yorkshire market. One notable bit of contraband brought in by the haul was a pile of carts marked Volume 9 DS Games, each cart loaded with £6,000 ($11,859) of DS games according to the Entertainment Leisure And Software Publishers' Association's team of "forensics experts."The ELSPA reports that the Volume 9 DS Games carts have been circulating for the past month and contain approximately 200 commercial releases, which explains where the £6,000 estimate sprung from (£30 x 200). We did the math -- well, actually, our calculators did the math -- and you would have to mow about 593 lawns to raise enough money to purchase that many games. That is, of course, assuming you're not one of our smart (and handsome) readers who follow our regular posts on video game bargains.We know a few of you out there are pirates -- you make sure to rub it in our face whenever we lament about overpriced new releases and expensive imports. Have you bootlegged anything close to £6,000 of commercial DS games? Have you packed all those black-market ROMs into one cart to create your own Volume 9 DS Games collection? And how did you end up spending the money that should've gone to the people who worked hard to create the products you filched?
ELSPA comments on UK's Byron Review
After the Daily Mail's startlingly incompetent take on Dr. Tanya Byron's recently published review of games and internet media in the UK, we're more than happy to see less dubious discourse emanating from the Entertainment and Leisure Publishers Association. Speaking to MCV, ELSPA director general Paul Jackson cited several concerns with the report, chief among them being its recommendation of two, potentially confusing ratings systems."The way the proposals currently stand, there will be a BBFC standard on packaged goods – the number of which will presumably get smaller as gaming goes more online – and there will be the PEGI standard online when you're downloading," said Jackson. "We think it will be clearer if there was one standard." Jackson suggested that the report needed to be more "future-proof" and more considerate of the growing number of games being sold online. "It's incredibly important that we protect children and to do that we need to future-proof this process, but it's not quite there yet."Also not quite there yet is the director general's belief that the industry alone should foot the bill for a consumer ratings education campaign. "I want to make it completely clear that a public marketing programme has been key all along in the educational process," he said. "We'll be talking to the Government about who pays for what. We're very keen to play our part, but all of the stakeholders needs to step up to the plate."
ELSPA joins in fight against R4 copying device
We already know that Nintendo alone can't smash all the R4 devices that allow for easy downloading and piracy of DS games. But could the aid of Europe's ELSPA help Nintendo complete its total smashing plan? Probably not, but that hasn't stopped the European trade organization from lending its help to Nintendo in battling the widely available device. How exactly they'll help isn't yet clear, though. In a cryptically vague statement to MCV, ELSPA said they were "evaluating the R4 game copying device" and "working closely with [Nintendo] to consider the next step in the UK." While that statement doesn't reveal any concrete plans, it also doesn't rule out any potential "next step." S.W.A.T. team raids, tanks in the streets, nuclear strikes --they're all potential piracy-battling strategies that aren't eliminated by this statement. Pirates, start digging your fallout shelters ... NOW!
ELSPA: Not all of us are pirates after all
Apparently the outrageous claim from the ELSPA's Intellectual Property Crime Unit manager, John Hillier, that 90% of North American DS owners are pirates, was outrageous to him as well. A spokesperson for the organization told GamesIndustry.biz that the quote attributed to him in the incendiary Sunday Post article was inaccurate or even fabricated. According to the spokesperson, "[John] didn't quote The Sunday Post on any figures whatsoever." The spokesperson asserted that the Sunday Post conflated quotes from Hillier about R4 sales in the UK with an article from Singapore about DS piracy in that country (hence the 90% quote, which is still likely to be ridiculous). The specific article isn't named, but we believe it's this one. It's amazing that a quote about the UK plus an article about Singapore somehow generated a statistic about North America. But who cares about facts when you're busy alarming the public?
90% of DS owners are pirates? Not bloody likely!
In a recent chat with Scotland's The Sunday Post, John Hillier of the ELSPA (Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Association) warns retailers that the R4, a popular DS flashcart capable of running pirated and unauthorized software, could ruin businesses and the gaming industry. In the scaremongering piece, Mr. Hiller throws out an unsourced statistic: "In America it's thought 90 per cent of Nintendo DS users are playing pirated games because of R4s."90%? Considering the near-ubiquity of the handheld and its expanded casual audience, we highly doubt that even 9% of DS owners in the US have a flashcart of any sort, let alone know of their existence. Though we don't consider ourselves supporters of piracy, stating a false figure like that as fact just to rally people to his cause is unconscionable.In a way, we kind of wish the R4 was that popular, but not for any illegal reasons -- it would likely result in more homebrew projects and a much larger homebrew audience. Mr. Hillier will hear none of that, though: "The R4 has shifted balance of power in the piracy industry to the consumer -- and that is hugely worrying. That's why we intend to stop trade in these chips wherever we can."
UK Government targets gaming industry for anti-obesity program
No, ever-vigilant commenters, this is not a double post -- just further proof that the rest of the civilized world thinks that gamers are a bunch of Cheeto dust-coated fatties. As part of the UK Department of Health's £372 million action plan to reduce obesity, the UK government will work with the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association to make sure that game companies continue to create parental controls on how much time their offspring can spend playing video games, watching TV, or surfing The Innernette.We're sure this will be very effective in lowering your nation's total weight -- if not, you could always invent some sort of national monthly sandwich allotment to try to curb overeating; or maybe require all comfortable armchairs to deliver powerful electrical jolts into anyone who has been sitting for longer than twenty minutes. Yeah, that sounds great.
They are amused, UK breaks game sales records
The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (or ELSPA to us plebs) and Chart-Track announced today that the UK saw record-breaking "interactive entertainment software" sales in 2007 of £1.72 billion ($3.37 billion), a 26% increase over the record previously broken in 2006.The DS topped devices in number of software units sold and nearly one-third of software sales were on handhelds, a 45% increase showing how much the UK loves their DS and sees the value in the PSP. The top three games sold across the board were FIFA '08, Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training and Call of Duty 4. Director General of ELSPA, Paul Jackson, took the opportunity of the strong sales to remind anyone who would listen that despite the UK's obvious game-lust, there are still problems for UK developers in terms of tax incentives and the threat of international competition.
'Luddite' govt to put games and internet under microscope
UK psychologist Tanya Byron (pictured) has been tapped to head a new study on the risks children face when exposed to video game violence and internet porn -- or any relevant combination of either medium and a (un-)healthy dose of adult content. As promised by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the government has delivered initial details of the review, which will use an east London school as its testbed. Stopping short of subjecting the school's youngsters to painfully slow dial-up downloads or redirecting gym class to the computer lab for mandatory deathmatch, Dr. Byron's team will focus on what the industry is doing and what more can be done to protect children from the perverse, but damn-entertaining diversions of the grown-up world.Frontier games developer David Braben has blamed the government's "Luddite sentiment" for this new probe into the games industry. Thankfully, Dr. Byron does not seem to share this supposed paranoia of technology driven media, calling games and the internet "very positive and [an] important part of children's and young children's growing up and learning and development." Byron has even won the support of the ELSPA (UK games association), which is fed up with the industry's bad rep and has agreed to cooperate with the study -- you can too. The "Byron Review" is scheduled to conclude with a report next March. (Prediction: parents need to do better parenting.)
No political influence in Manhunt decision says BBFC
The BBFC claims there wasn't any political influence in today's decision banning Manhunt 2 from being sold in the UK. The board's Sue Clark tells GI.biz that past incidents involving Bully (oh, sorry, Canis Canem Edit) Dead Rising and the original Manhunt had nothing to do with the decision today. Clark says, "We are independent of government and independent of the industry and we reached this decision based on our guidelines and our concerns and not on any other basis at all." Clark even pointed out that negative press surrounding games actually encourages sales. But, she puts it quite simply, "We've rejected this game so you can't buy it legally in the UK."Whether you agree with the BBFC's decision or not, it's interesting to watch the saga of these ratings boards. We don't know if movies like Hostel or the other hardcore horror movies have been banned in the UK, but if they haven't, that feels like a double standard.
Rockstar: We 'emphatically disagree' with UK's Manhunt 2 ban
Rockstar has issued a statement in response to the BBFC's earlier decision to reject Manhunt 2 for classification and thus prohibit it from being sold in the UK. "We are disappointed with the recent decision by the British Board of Film Classification to refuse classification of Manhunt 2, said the Grand Theft Auto creator. "While we respect the authority of the classification board and will abide by the rules, we emphatically disagree with this particular decision."Rockstar goes on to defend Manhunt 2 by pointing out that its subject matter is no different than that of "other mainstream entertainment choices for adult consumers," noting that "adult consumers who would play this game fully understand that it is fictional interactive entertainment and nothing more." A rational defense, no doubt, but perhaps one better suited to a world where only "adult consumers" would be in a position to play the game. ELSPA earlier declared that the ban "demonstrates that we have a games ratings system in the UK that is effective," when it really seems to imply the opposite. Had game ratings been truly effective, the BBFC could have simply slapped the appropriate rating on the box and trusted adults and parents to judge the game's content accordingly. In the real world, however, the sloppy enforcement of ratings and general apathy towards content descriptors have prompted the certification body to add an extra barrier of entry, underlining a clear lack of faith in the effectiveness of its own warning labels. The ratings system should be powerful and heeded enough to handle any video game, no matter how violent it may be.
ELSPA: Manhunt ban is good. Us: WTF?
ELSPA Director General Paul Jackson has issued a statement praising the BBFC's recent decision to deny classification for Rockstar's Manhunt 2, effectively banning the game from sale in Great Britain. Jackson said the decision "demonstrates that we have a games ratings system in the UK that is effective" and emphasized that the arrangement "works and works well."Frankly, we're a bit shocked that an organization whose stated mission is to "protect, promote and provide for the interests of all its members" would support state-sponsored censorship of one of its member's products. The point of ratings, at least as we see it, is to inform the public about the content of a game before they buy it, so they're not surprised by any objectionable materials contained within. The whole idea is that informed consumers can make the best choices for themselves and their families. The BBFC's decision goes against this ideal by effectively telling British adults they're not mature enough to decide whether or not they can handle this game. How is that an "effective" system?Jackson's statement does not address BBFC Director David Cooke's unsupported assertion that the game's availability would "involve a range of unjustifiable harm risks, to both adults and minors ... [that] would be unacceptable to the public." Does ELSPA really agree that the mere availability of a game to adults can damage a society so badly that its distribution must be stopped? If so, is that a message ELSPA's member organizations are willing to get behind as well?In his statement, Jackson stresses that games "appeal to all kinds of people across the country, young and old, male and female." What about the people Manhunt 2 appeals to? Apparently, they're just out of luck, as far as ELSPA's concerned.[Via GameStooge]
The great divide: UK vs US censorship
When listing the differences between the UK and the USA one usually thinks of spelling, gastronomy and driving on the wrong side of the road, rather than film and game censorship. However, this fascinating post at Terra Nova (along with its thriving comments thread) delves into the differences between the BBFC and MPAA, as well as cultural factors, to try and establish why American consumers are less happy to have age restrictions on games.The whole thread gives an international perspective to current debates over the censorship of violent games. While sexual content in games can be treated as pornography, the lack of existing US legislation covering violence across other media means that singling games out is plain unfair. In the UK, however, ratings of violent and extremely realistic games fall under the Video Recordings Act, which covers any recorded video media.We have to wonder when games will get a category of their own and stand alongside more established media such as film and TV. In the meantime, to find out more about international game classification, Wikipedia's a great place to begin.
UK sales charts, April 9-15: Croft unchallenged
The UK sales charts for last week are in, with Tomb Raider: Legend remaining calmly at the top. Movie tie-in Ice Age 2 has been boosted up to number two, but anyone avidly following the chart battle between Guitar Hero and Crazy Frog Racer will be disappointed to know that Guitar Hero has fallen to 35th while the Crazy Frog is ding-ding-dinging along at number 28, thanks to its budget price and better placement on the shelves. The ten bestselling games in the UK for the week ending April 15: 1. Tomb Raider Legend 2. Ice Age 2: The Meltdown 3. Fifa Street 2 4. The Godfather 5. Football Manager 2006 6. Animal Crossing: Wild World 7. Buzz! The Big Quiz 8. King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie 9. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 10. Battlefield 2: Modern Combat
Innovation falls flat in UK charts
Despite a pleasant atmosphere of European expectation at the start of February, we're halfway through and the charts look as mundane as ever. The Guardian Gamesblog's Greg took a look at this week's UK charts--notable absentees include Psychonauts and We ♥ Katamari. Ouch.Greg, and blog commenters, ponder the cause of these games' failures--from crazy cartoony packaging to gamers' inability to actually find the titles in shops. It seems most likely that the European release delay is responsible, though; after receiving rave reviews and building up buzz months ago, these titles are all-but-forgotten now.
EA losing its hold but still UK number one
ELSPA, the UK's Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Association, has released an analysis of last year's game sales in the UK which focuses on market share. EA is well ahead of any competitors with an 18.5% market share--the nearest rival is THQ with 7.2%--and EA's dominance is reflected in the fact that four out of the year's ten top-selling titles are theirs. However, the figures are changing, and EA's grip is loosened slightly from 2004, with rivals inching towards the top and EA slowly slipping down, showing there is definitely scope for manoeuvre. It's a disappointing chart for the British games industry, though; UK companies are nowhere to be seen in the top ten. With Eidos (now part of SCi) and Codemasters set to deliver this year, things are looking up for 2006, but the amount of market share commanded by EA is formidable--smaller publishers just can't keep up with the number of titles released and overall sales. Fortunately, percentages aren't everything when it comes to making good games.
