ELSPA unveiled their anti-piracy plans for 2007 and they're taking off the kid gloves and taking on online and digital thieves. According to ELSPA Director">Paul Jackson, ELSPA director general, the organization is not only ready to tackle both political and public opinion battles but is "perfectly prepared to deal with the new forms of theft that are coming forward."

This year ELSPA aims to forge a closer tie with the UK Government in five major areas:

• Promoting education for new industry entrants
• Highlighting the economic importance of the UK games industry
  
• Taking a stronger stance on piracy.
• Promoting the public's understanding of the educational and social benefits of gaming
• Demonstrating the importance of games as a part of digital and creative culture

But it is the organization's anti-piracy unit that gets the most "weapons upgrade" this year. ELSPA is funneling more resources for combating online and digital theft and plans to lobby for stronger laws. In addition, ELSPA is seeking additional powers for Trading Standards, the police and Customs on the issue.

"Our aim is to a lot more in-depth investigative anti-piracy work, as opposed to the anti-piracy work... in the past. And that needs a different type of anti-piracy unit, which is what we've been constructing," said Jackson.

According to Transgaming Technologies, more than US$ 3 billion are lost worldwide to video game piracy every year.

From NPD's report "Kids & Digital Content" comes these very interesting information: even two-year old toddlers are now into videogames. The study looks closely at how kids between two and fourteen years of age acquire and use digital content for their computers, portable digital music and/or video players, cell phones, and video game systems.

NPD reported downloading and playing games is the most popular activity followed by watching downloaded movies, television, music videos or online streaming video content. The study says kids play games at an average of 44 minutes in one sitting.

By the time kids are 7 years old, more than one in 10 are downloading content in some form. In the 10-year-old age bracket, 22% of all kids included in the online survey are downloading. Half of all 14 year-olds included in the study were into downloading digital content.

How many kids with access to the Internet are actually surfing the net? The figure is a big 75%. Almost half of them are online and surfing the Internet without any assistance. Only 25% are surfing the Internet with their parents or someone else. The top sites visited by kids include Nickelodeon, Disney and Cartoon Network. MySpace and Yahoo! are also fave surfstops.

"Without a doubt, kids are digital content natives, seamlessly navigating between traditional and digital sources of media without missing a step," said The NPD Group. "To kids, there is nothing new or novel about digital sources of entertainment. The real challenge for marketers is to be one step ahead of their competition, providing the content and technology kids crave."

If you're in search of bargains, you best head for Circuit City before January 20. The store is currently offering a number of games with price tags that carry US$ 20 discounts. Among the titles listed on the bargain blocks are:

Xbox 360

• Eragon: $39.99 (reg. $59.99)
• NBA 2K7: $39.99 (reg. $59.99)

Nintendo Wii

• Rayman Raving Rabbids: $29.99 (reg. $49.99)
• Red Steel: $29.99 (reg. $49.99)

PSP

• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories: $29.99 (reg. $49.99)

Once again the special prices apply only until January 20. Nice treat really, if you ask us. Off you go so you can use the extra $20 clock on the "Read" link below to shop and save.

The Chinese believe that danger and opportunity go hand in hand. Obviously, orange Alexander, an artsy fartsy fashion designer, share the same belief. From the trail of accidents left behind by the Wiimote came a blood-red hot fashion idea known as the Wii Death tees (US$ 26.00).

orange Alexander says:

Playing games can be deadly, particularly when you take a wiimote in the chest. Warn others about this impending danger with this sporty shirt. Rich, hand-printed two color on a pure white t-shirt, makes it clear that video games are fun and quite dangerous. Available from small to double x for men, and small to x large for women. Wii Death is hand printed when ordered.

Sold out.

...But this one's not a game.

"The Sword of Oz", the first of a planned trilogy of "The Dark Witches of Oz," has been transformed into an epic fantasy adventure interactive ebook for the PC, DS, PSP, PS3, Wii, and the iPod. Yes, the iPod. The story is based on the classic "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum.

"The Sword of Oz" is set before before the wicked witches overthrew the old king of Oz and prior to the arrival of Dorothy and Toto. Instead, it's Dorothy's future grandfather Arthur Gale who is wearing the ruby slippers, so to speak.

Gale is the character through which this new chapter in Oz’s history is experienced. "The Sword of Oz" is a multi-branching adventure and readers can pick which adventures Arthur will take on. The different paths through the narrative vary widely but also closely connected so events not directly experienced by a reader in one sitting still affect those in the adventure they choose to experience.

"The Sword of Oz", written by best selling fantasy novel author Darren Reid ,will be available exclusively at NextGenBooks. NextGenBooks is a new website where PC and console (Wii, DS, PS3, and PSP) users can access Darren Reid’s free ebook library. The Sword of Oz interactive ebook will be released on January 19. Hopefully, it will create a generation of interactive e-bookworms.

For more info on "The Sword of Oz", Darren Reid, and NextGenBooks, please click on the "Read" link below.

There are optimists who see half-empty glasses as half-full. Then there's the super-optimists who see an Olympic size swimming pool where the rest of us see a puddle. THQ is definitely a super-optimist. The company predicted its total sales for this financial year will hit US$ 1 billion dollars.

However, THQ didn't just pull that massive figure out of hat. The company raised its total sales outlook this fiscal year following the outstanding performance of its franchises such as Cars, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007, and Avatar: The Last Airbender that surpassed even THQ's expectations.

At the end December 31, the company earned US$ 475 million (above the projected US$ 400 to US$ 425 million). For the fourth quarter, the company expects about $146 million in sales.

"THQ's platform strategy served us very well this holiday with stronger than expected sales of mass-market franchises... across key current and next-generation hardware systems," said a very happy Brian Farrell, the very happy president and CEO of THQ. "This performance combined with our successful original property launches exclusively for next-generation systems have positioned THQ to achieve the significant milestone of $1 billion in sales for fiscal 2007."

Warhound, the shooter first announced for the PC, is now on its way to Xbox 360. In Warhound, gamers take on the role of a gun for hire - an elite mercenary whose office is anywhere in the world where conflicts need to be settled when everything else has failed. You serve everyone from presidents to businessmen and ordinary folks asking for speedy resolutions for festering conditions. Players get to choose a mission, get the job done, clean up the mess, and disappear into thin air.

Warhound from Techland features the following:

• SOS messages coming all over the world
• Gain the license of an Alpinist to climb harder, learn to operate new land and sea vehicles,  practice shooting and test weapons
• Each mission has a number of ways to reach the goal depending on player abilities
• Enemies are revived while missions can be repeated many times
• Buy better weapons and trade the equipment found on the battleground
• Buy information about the target
• Complete tasks to earn specialist level, build reputation to attract new orders and climb to the  top of the rank

 

By now the WiiCr Team must have set some kind of record for releasing updates for its media player application for the Wii. Right now the team has unveiled WiiCr v0.3.1 and v0.3.1.1. But let's drop the chitchat and get to the changelogs.

Version 0.3.1.1

• Shoutcast station browsing improved further

Version v0.3.1

• Added browsing of the shoutcast directory and selecting stream in icons1
• Some progress with playing longer segments but haven't included changes yet
• Fixed link in icons1 pointing to old vidplay.html
• mp3 playlists are now built from .tpl'

You can refer to the WiiCR team wiki for how-tos, installation guides, FAQs, etc. by clicking the "Read" link below.

Download: [WiiCR v0.3.1.1]

Famitsu magazine recently revealed that Konami has decided to kill four PS3 and a couple of Wii games. The list of casualties include:

PS3

• Gradius Series
• Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball
• An untitled Action Game
• An untitled Role Playing Game

Wii

• An untitled Action Adventure Game 2
  
• An untitled Role Playing Game
  

Konami gave no explanations for cancelling the said projects. So will there be any Konami games coming to the two consoles at all? Yes! According to Famitsu, Konami will still release the following games:

PS3

• Pro Baseball Spirits Series
• Metal Gear Solid 4
  
• World Soccer Winning Eleven Series
  

Wii

• An untitled Music Simulation Game
• An untitled Action Adventure Game
• An untitled Soccer Game
  
• An untitled Baseball Game
  

Now that you've got your Wii consoles, your next step is to start souping it up. This is where Nyko Technologies usually come in. The company is famous for its gaming peripherals and is set to introduce its line up of accessories for the Wii at the upcoming E3:

Charge Station for Wii. Allows simultaneous charging of two Wii remotes, maintaining a steady supply of power with two additional rechargeable NiMH (nickel metal hydride) batteries. The Charge Station for Wii also includes two rubberized battery covers which provides grip on the Wii-Remote. Suggested retail price: US$29.99.

Wireless Sensor Bar. Provides a neat, obstacle-free gaming environment up to 25 feet away from the TV set. The wireless wonder bar has up to 30 hours of battery life on four AA batteries (included). An optional built-in battery saving function which emits an alarm when the Wireless Sensor Bar has been left idle for a user-determined amount of time is also available. Suggested retail price: US$ 19.99.

HD Link. For crystal clear images at a resolution of up to 480p, the 8-feet cable also includes high-quality audio cables for immersive sound. The HD-Link is shielded to provide interference-free performance. Suggested retail price: US$ 19.99.