VOTW: Supreme Court Rules Video Games are Protected Free Speech
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, June 27, 2011 · 
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And last but not least, our video of the week (VOTW). The Supreme Court today struck down a 2005 California law which would have banned selling violent video games to children. It’s the latest and most high-profile defeat for policymakers who are attempting to restrict the sale of violent video games, and the ruling sets an important precedent that places video games alongside books and movies as a form of protected free speech. For more, see this ZDNet post.
VOTW: PlayStation Network Attack, Outage
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, May 2, 2011 · ·
And last but not least, our video of the week (VOTW).
Several weeks ago Sony was hit with a massive network attack on it’s PlayStation Network, which boasts 77 million international users and connects gamers to play against one another as well as chat with each other. The Sony Qriocity service, Sony’s new cloud-based digital entertainment venture which is used to stream audio and video to Sony devices, was also compromised in the attack.
Sony responded to the security breach by turning off its network services until it can further investigate and strengthen the service.
In the meantime, questions remain about data the hackers were able to obtain. Security researchers have seen discussions on online forums indicating that the hackers may have accessed a database that includes customer names, addresses, usernames, passwords and as many as 2.2 million credit card numbers.
Congress sent a letter to Sony last Friday asking for detailed information on the gaming system’s security and privacy, and what it knows about credit card data that might have been stolen.
On the heels of Amazon’s EC2 cloud outage, this high-profile attack further supports the public perception that cloud services are insecure.
VOTW: Sony Ericsson Demos Mobile Gaming Smartphone
Posted by Jesse Ward on Tuesday, February 22, 2011 · ·
And last but not least, our video of the week (VOTW). At Mobile World Congress 2011 in Barcelona last week, Sony Ericsson officially debuted the Xperia Play smartphone. It combines a traditional mobile phone with a portable gaming console.
VOTW: Games Theory
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, November 15, 2010 · ·
And last but not least, our video of the week (VOTW). A public middle school in New York City is using video games to help teach its students.
Have you recently seen a funny, entertaining or informational video? The New Edge would love to hear from you. Please send your suggestions for the next video of the week (VOTW) to jward@ntca.org and your video might be featured in an upcoming issue.
Disney Pays $763 Million for Social Games
Posted by Steve Fravel on Wednesday, July 28, 2010 · ·
According to observers, the social gaming business is booming. Disney’s initial payment of $563.2 million places the Walt Disney Co. squarely into social gaming as the largest Hollywood operator. The deal is reportedly structured to include additional payments of nearly $200 million should Playdom achieve significant undisclosed growth benchmarks.
The concept uses simple games that include ”virtual retail” opportunities for players to purchase everything from clothing and spa visits to refreshments for their game characters. Playdom is one of a group of game developers that are part of the rapid expansion of social game growth in network environments like Facebook.
MTV Networks Acquires Social Express
Posted by Steve Fravel on Monday, July 12, 2010 · ·
Social Express Inc., a social gaming development company has been acquired by Viacom‘s MTV Networks. The move is the first by MTV into social gaming.
In addition to publishing a platform for independent game developers, MTV will develop social games based on characters from existing Nickelodeon, MTV and other MTV-owned networks. MTV has also indicated that it will release social games developed from original intellectual properties.
VOTW: Accedo Broadband Offers IPTV Gaming
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, October 5, 2009 · ·
And, last but not least, our tech VOTW, sponsored by Viodi TV.
Have you recently seen a funny, entertaining or informational video? “The New Edge” would love to hear from you. Please send your suggestions for the next video of the week (VOTW) to jward@ntca.org and your video might be featured in an upcoming issue.