Anyway, Gore said during a speech at a CareerBuilder event that he’s against anything that would threaten “the vibrancy of the Internet.” There was a YouTube video, but it has since been removed. Tech Dirt was kind enough to write out a transcript before the video disappeared, however. Read it below.
… are now able to be shared digitally. There is a growing concern on the part of the companies and individuals who create that content, that they’re not getting compensated in a fair way, and so they want to impose a new set of requirements on those companies who provide access to the Internet, like the browsers, the search engines, etc. And some of these new requirements, according to the experts on the Internet, would very probably have the effect of really shutting down the vibrancy of the Internet. As in all things, some compromise must be possible. The content creators and owners have a point and a legitimate complaint… But, in our country, in our world today, there is hardly anything more important — whether you want to solve global warming, as I do, whether you want to reinvigorate democracy as many of us do, whatever problem you want to fix — there is hardly anything more important to getting the right things done than to save and protect the vibrancy and freedom of the Internet. The Internet is bringing life back to democracy. We saw it in Egypt. We’re seeing it in Russia now. We’ve seen it in so many places…. If you look at the reform movements around the world, and in the US, more than likely they’re based on internet forms of organization. And anything that would threaten the vibrancy and freedom of the Internet, I’m against!
Now that we know what games are held within the EVO 2012 cornucopia of contusions, it’s time for the fighters of the world to start training. The last qualifying tournament is in June, so we should have plenty of time to dust off ol’ Nasty-Asty when SoulCalibur 5 launches at the end of the month. Truth be told, we’re still a little perplexed by the omission of any BlazBlue games from the line-up. Granted, Blazblue has a much smaller following than Ultimate Marvel or Street Fighter, but it’s far more popular than Mortal Kombatin the competitive fighting game community.
While we’re doing hadoukens and shinkuu tatsumaki senpukyakus until our eyes and fingernails bleed, take a look at our favorite webcomics from last week. If you’re wondering whether you can vote for your favorite after the break, the answer is “Shoryuken!”
Coming January 17 is the Gran Turismo 5 XL Edition, which will arrive with the game and all its updates on the disc (which you know is a big deal if you’ve ever sat through major first-party PS3 game updates, which are horrible) along with a voucher good for like $ 20 worth of DLC stuff. It also comes with a new reversible cover that you can see here.
This new package will cost you $ 40. Yeah, that’s not a good price cut considering the game came out in 2010, but that’s just what we have to live with. Sorry.
The guys return with another episode of the Skyrim Show, and because James intentionally deleted his backup saves and accidentally deleted all his regular saves, they decided to start the game over at the beginning.
Hilarity ensues, because this game is totally glitchy and nothing goes right at all. Eventually the show ends with an epic whimper. Watch.
Microsoft has restored the Xbox Live account and refunded all unauthorized charges accrued due to a “phishing scam” XBL user SusanT suffered when her account was sold to the highest bidder on a Chinese website.
“While we do not ordinarily comment on specific cases, Microsoft can confirm that the account in question has been reinstated to its rightful owner and all unauthorized charges are being refunded in full,” a Microsoft spokesperson told Kotaku.
The customer, whose account was not locked by Microsoft has promised after contacting customer service several times on the matter, is just one of many reports which have surfaced over the last few months regarding unauthorized Xbox Live account access.
The spokesperson said that in light of the various issues with XBL accounts, the firm is currently reviewing its procedures, as the online safety of Xbox Live members “remains of the utmost importance, which is why we consistently take measures to protect Xbox Live against ever-changing threats.”
“However, we are aware that a handful of customers have experienced problems getting their accounts restored once they’ve reported an issue,” the spokesperson continued. “We are working directly with those customers to restore their accounts as soon as possible and are reviewing our processes to ensure a positive customer support experience.”
The MS representative went on to repeat previous statements made by Microsoft officials, reiterating that “there has been no breach to the security of our Xbox Live service.”
You can read Susan’s account of her latest interaction with Microsoft through here.
In the meantime, change your passwords, don’t use the same log-in anywhere else, and use point cards to buy products from the service instead of your credit card or PayPal for the time being.
Amazon tells us today that if you pre-order the new PS3-exclusive Twisted Metal, you get the limited edition version of the game, which includes a voucher for a downloadable copy of Twisted Metal Black.
Uh, what? Twisted Metal Black is not available in the PlayStation Store, and that’s because no PS2 games that haven’t been given the HD treatment are on there. And that’s because most PS3s don’t have backward compatibility with PS2 games.
So does this mean an HD version of Twisted Metal Black is coming? We’ve asked Sony for comment, but haven’t heard from them today. We’ll let you know if they say anything.
Diablo 3 is stuck in production hell in South Korea, where the Korean Ratings Board is “conflicted about what to do” with the game’s auction house, which they feel is too close to gambling to be entirely legal, The Korea Times reports. Blizzard’s Mike Morhaime visited Korea in September to resolve concerns and Blizzard has currently submitted three versions of Diablo 3 to the Ratings Board, including one without the auction house feature, but “committee members are still reluctant,” The Korea Times writes.
Blizzard is intent on a global release of Diablo 3, and this snag could affect the launch date for everyone. There is no official release date for Diablo 3 yet.
[In this weekly column, Gamasutra rounds up the most popular paid and free iPad gaming applications on the App Store as of today, with Machinarium, Monopoly and Where's My Water? currently ranking among the platform's top downloads.] This week’s top paid titles are: 1. Monopoly for iPad ($ 0.99) 2. Where’s My Water? ($ 0.99) 3. Machinarium ($ 1.99) 4. Words With Friends HD ($ 2.99) 5. Scrabble for iPad ($ 0.99) 6. Tetris for iPad ($ 0.99) 7. Angry Birds …
[In this weekly column, Gamasutra rounds up the most popular paid and free iPad gaming applications on the App Store as of today, with Machinarium, Monopoly and Where's My Water? currently ranking among the platform's top downloads.] This week’s top paid titles are: 1. Monopoly for iPad ($ 0.99) 2. Where’s My Water? ($ 0.99) 3. Machinarium ($ 1.99) 4. Words With Friends HD ($ 2.99) 5. Scrabble for iPad ($ 0.99) 6. Tetris for iPad ($ 0.99) 7. Angry Birds …
