Pirate Bay Versus Hollywood

About one week ago P2P monster lost a court case in the Swedish court system. The four key players for the company were all sentenced to jail for 1 year, and fined 3.5 million dollars. The case against them was brought on by Warner Brothers, Sony Music, and EMI. But incredibly, Pirate Bay is still up and running as usual. Seemingly a victory for the media giants, it now appears that the Pirates Bay is actually benefitting from some sort of backlash affect from the conviction. Now many IPS providers will not block the Pirate Bay and now that are not going to keep records on any websites activities on their network to avoid future lawsuits that could develop.

The Pirate Bay has taken an openly aggressive stance in regards to the legality of what they do. Furthermore, they seemed to get no resistance from the powers to be. Eventually, under pressure from media giants from Hollywood, and overall over the globe for that matter, the Swedish government took action.

The case started back in 2006 when the Pirate Bay offices were entered by authorities and arrests were made. The backlash was increased awareness of the Pirate Bay, resulting in growth in the company. The company actually doubled its membership during this troubles time.

So the ultimate battle of content rights versus copyright laws begins. By trying to aggressively shut the Pirates Bay down, Hollywood has unwittingly made the Pirate Bay a poster site for battling the copywriter’s position. After the original raid back in 2006, membership in the Pirate Bay soared. This seemed like open support was being given to the site.

In the trial the defense team stood firm on the ground that there is nothing illegal about what Pirate Bay was doing. If someone using the site was breaking copyright laws themselves then they should be held accountable, not Pirate Bay. They took the example of a Pirate Bay user named King Kong. One EU directive already states that an information service provider is not responsible for the information that is transferred through the service. In order for the service itself to be responsible, they must initiate the transfer. In the case of Pirate Bay, the website does no transferring.

All transfers are done by the users on the site, like our “King Kong” character. In order for Pirate Bay to be even an accessory to any crime that a user might commit using their service, they would have to have a close tie to the user being accused. No such connections were ever proven. Accusing the Pirate Bay collectively for a crime possibly committed by King Kong, that the Pirate Bay has no close connection to would violate the concept of normal legal grounds.
Never the less, the owners were convicted of accessory to the crime against copyright law. All other charges were dropped in the case. The fact Is that this ruling has angered the public, and even some musicians and other people seemingly on the other side of the fence. We will be waiting to see where this leads.

The Wii

The Wii is Nintendo’s latest gaming console. This 5th generation platform for Nintendo has a unique game controller that sets it apart from the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 (PS3). The game controller can be used in “live motion gaming” like pitching and swinging the controller at the virtual ball in the screen. Hitting a tennis ball back and forth would be another good example of how the Wii controller can operate. This revolutionary addition to interactive gaming has helped the Wii outsell both Xbox 360and PS3 as of the end of 2008.

The Wii hit the market in late 2006. The Wii also has the capability of playing all of the Nintendo Cube games so that people will still have all their old games available for play when they move up to the Wii.
The Wii console is also has online capacities. It is so evolved that people can play from the same console on different TVs and be interactive in online play, thus avoiding the need for the frustrations of split screen play. Like the Xbox 360 and PS3 you can take your gaming to the online world with Wii.

The will even offer a parental control to keep kids from playing games that are unfit for their age. As for Wii exclusive games, they are too numerous to mention. Because of the uniqueness of the motion sensing hand help controllers, Wii games that use this feature of the controller are all exclusive games.

This for of video gaming has made gaming a more physically active event with some f the games you can play. An entire list of dance and exercise “games” are available. The Wii is perfect for this kind of interactive action. Here is an interesting exclusive that we thought that we probably should mention: The Conduit is a first person shooter game wrapped into a science fiction world. You have the campaign to do, and when you finish you can go online and battle with or against your friends in online battles.

Although all of the current gaming consoles are truly incredible (Xbox 360,PlayStation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii), what the Wii has done with the motion sensitive game controller, and the way they have learned to use it in various game situations, makes it stand out, at least in the innovation phase of the evolution of gaming. Perhaps this is what has make the Wii the number one sold gaming console in this generation of consoles.
To think of people playing games on their Wii gaming console to get their workout in is truly a different outlook on gaming that we would expect from the past. It is no longer just sitting on the couch and pushing buttons. The addition of the motion detection systems that Wii bought into gaming has allowed Nintendo to expand its demographic impact on the gamer world. In the past they had more of the young children’s market cornered. The Wii allows Nintendo to keep this audience but to bring in young adults, older kids, and even some adults into the Wii world.

Xbox 360

The Xbox 360 is Microsoft’s latest edition of gaming console. The Xbox 360, along with the PlayStation 3 and the Wii make up the latest generation of gaming consoles. This cutting edge system has a powerful online interaction potential for those willing to tap into it with an Xbox live subscription. Now you can play games at home on your own, and when you get good at them, you can go online and battle with your friends (and enemies) online. War games like Call of Duty are heavily played in various online battles.
Like the other gaming giants, Microsoft has some exclusive titles that are designed to get you to “need” the Xbox 360 console so you can enjoy these great games.

For the Xbox, and now the Xbox 360, the mother ship game for this platform is Halo, Halo 3 when thinking about the Xbox 360. Halo is considered by many gaming experts to be the best online game series ever. Halo is a first person shooter game of epic proportions. Now a full trilogy of evolving yet connected action, the game has many standout qualities.

First off, the visuals are simply top of the line. The entire world that is created to play in has immense depth, clarity and detail. Zooming into objects with the sniper rifle gives great examples of this. The story line of the Halo games is a full and complete sci-fi story. The weapons and vehicles involved in the game are all brilliantly conceived, with each serving its own purpose, and having certain drawbacks. There is an array of both marine and alien weaponry that you use.

Then you have all the vehicles to learn to operate, both marine and alien. You will drive basic jeeps, ride on or drive tanks, fly in hovering type crafts and full fledged flyers (called banshees). Again, there is almost always an equivalent alien craft for any marine craft.

As you battle through the campaign (which you can choose the level of difficulty you can handle), you work your way from one incredible place to the next, even within the level itself. The story line and plot you are within just increases the entertainment value of the games. In Halo 3 the lead in that sets up each level forms almost an entire movie on their own.

Having said all of that, one of the best features of the Halo games is the incredible smooth flow to the player controls. There is no jerkiness or over complexity to operating your player. Once you have become accustomed to your chosen set up you will feel very intuitive operating your player. He performs the actions you desire in a way that becomes quickly natural. Definitely as good a feel as it seems possible. Along with that, the movements of the other characters and vehicles, weapons and bullets are superb.
Add to all this some incredible online fun, with a number of cool maps to battle in, and this game has it all.

One of the coolest features of the game is the replay mode where you can watch an entire game you have just competed in. You can view the game from the eyes of any player in the game, or, take the camera and fly it independently any where you want to view the action, including following actions as they progress. This is mindboggling technology, and very cool to use.

Zune Players

Zune is a Microsoft product line that includes Zune portable media players, Zune software, and the Zune marketplace services. Zune provides online video, music and downloads. In essence, this is Microsoft’s answer to the iPod, iTunes and Apples entire line which dominates the market.

The Zune media players can perform many tasks but the main focal points of these devices are music, video and podcasting. You can use Zune software to help you do tons of things with you portable device. You can do things like burn a disc from music you have on the Zune. You can use Zune software to add new media, remove items and adjust sync options. The software helps you rip CDs as well. You can even change you album cover with the Zune software. Basically the Zune software will help you do anything you need to do with your Zune media.

The Zune market place is where you can access content for your Zune player. You will find music videos, podcasts and concerts. You can do searches through the marketplace to find mixed tapes, artist breakdowns and playlists from other Zune users.

Microsoft launched Zune in 2006. The Zune player has evolved quickly n this fast changing industry. The original Zune media player had a 30GB capacity with FM radio, Wifi, a 3 inch screen. In late 2008 updates included the capability of the Zune player to tag and identify music heard on the radio. You can take this feature all the way to a purchase of the tagged song. You can now play games like Hexic, Space Battle and Texas Hold’em. You can also access audio books from online book stores and public libraries.

There are various models which primarily have different levels of storage capacity. This just means that you can store more pictures, music games, or whatever content on your Zune. The software that Zune interacts with is the only software that you can interface with. This gives Microsoft total control over the world of Zune. Zune also features network sharing, so that interactions can be made from other compatible devices, such as Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and P2P file sharing on your PC. The media player software supports all kinds of file formats. The list includes, MP3, AAC, VMA, MPEG4 H 264, WMV, ASF and JPEG for still photos. You can read e-books through the Zune media player with the use of the Zune eBook Creator.
The Zune Marketplace has music content provided by EMI, Warner Music Group, Song BMG and the Universal Music Group. Television content is provided by NBC.

The Zune media player will only play content downloaded from the marketplace. To purchase good from the Zune marketplace (like a song for example) you need to buy Microsoft Points. You buy the points in $5 increments that equal 300 Microsoft points. Once loaded into you’re a count you can spend the points any way that you wish as long as you have enough points to make a purchase. As an alternative you can get unlimited music and some TV content from NBC and FOX with the Zune Pass for $14.99 an month.

Burning Discs from iTunes and Wii Games

If you want to burn a disc from iTunes you need to take the following steps. First you need to make a play-list of the files you want to burn. Then line the files up in the precise order that you want them to play on your finished CD or DVD. A CD will hold about 70 minutes or so of music. You might find some discs that hold 80 minutes of songs.

Go to the iTune window and click on the list of songs that you have prepared for the CD. After that you simply click on the Burn Disc option in the corner of the window. If the playlist is too long for the CD, it will only burn the amount of songs that will fit onto the disc. The next step is to insert a blank CD into your computer and click on the burn disc button again. If you plan on playing this CD on a regular CD player you need to use CD-R discs. Now, we wait. It may take a while for the transfer of data. You can’t cancel a CD-R disc once it starts since it is not rewritable.

Then go to the iTunes menu. Once there you need to select “preferences”. A window will appear, click on “advanced” and then select “burning”. You then need to select a speed, normally select “maximum possible”. Then set the disc format to audio CD. You now will choose the amount of time to have in between songs. iTunes has a nice feature that adjusts the volume so that all the songs have volume balance. You do this by clicking on “use sound check”.

Extract the un-scrambler into the directory the images are located. Open command prompt Start>Run<cmd. And then type”cd../../” and then the full path of your images. Then type “unscramble.exe raw-image.wii’image iso’ “ replacing raw-image wii with the file name of the raw image. Burn the ISO into the empty DVD with the burning software. Insert the DVD into the Wii and it should now play. In some countries it is illegal to burn ISOs, so you need to know the law as it relates to you. In some countries even burning a DVD disc as a back up might not be allowed. Another factor to keep in mind is that when you attach a mod-chip to the Wii you might corrupt future updates to the Wii.

Netflix

For the last 25 years the main way people got their movie fix was by going to the video store and renting a video (now a DVD, or even HD or Blue Ray Disc). There are video stores on everywhere it seems. If you wanted to watch a movie, you jumped it the car and went down to the corner video shop and got a movie.

The video store was born through the development of a new technology, the video recorder. This new device opened new business doors. Some shrewd business people understood that people would love to pop a tape into their VCR and watch a movie tight at home. Obviously they were right and the video store business took off.

This has been the main mode of home movie watching, along with cable TV, for a long time. Now as people all have personal computers, and high speed internet connections, we see a new solution emerge in the movie industry. A company called Netflix saw the potential of a combination of new technologies in 1997. The company leaders saw that the new DVD technology, combined with strong internet activity created new possibilities.

Their vision was to take the video store and put it online. Instead of driving to the video store to get you movies you go online, order what you want, and the movie is mailed to you. This concept takes good advantage to the new technologies that are coming into play. Netflix had the vision to see that the internet was only going to grow in use and application, and that more and more people would get comfortable with the technologies.

It has taken a few years but now Netflix has a huge presence in the DVD rental world. When they adopted a monthly subscription strategy things really got going. Now Netflix rivals Blockbuster, and has had such a strong impact on the industry that now Blockbuster offers an online service similar to Netflix.

Like Blockbuster did before Netflix had the vision of how to use the next wave of technology in the movie rental industry. Their early recognition of what would work made Netflix a winner.

Some of the things that evolve from the early Netflix concept that changed the industry are: They started having renters put on a subscription basis instead of renting movie to movie. They also abolished the late fees; you keep any movie you rent as long as you want. You won’t be able to get another movie until you return it, but no late fees! Late fees had become a big bone of contention from regular video store renters. This different approach has forced Blockbuster, and other video rental stores to remove late fess.

The latest evolution that Netflix has taken in is streaming video. Netflix now offers over 12,000 movies that you can watch for free (if you have a subscription) on your computer. As an added bonus, if you have an Xbox 360 live membership, you can watch the streaming movies on your TV through the Xbox. Innovation moving forward.

Blockbuster Video

Blockbuster was founded by David Cook in 1985, with the first store opening in Dallas in Oct. of 1985. He sold the company in 1987 to Wayne Huizenga and two other partners. In 1989 Mr. Huizenga took Blockbuster public and it grew from 19 stores doing $7 million in sales, to over 3,700 stores worldwide and $4 billion in sales. Blockbuster was sold to Viacom in 1994 for $8.4 billion.

Blockbuster developed to fill a simple need originally. People want to watch movies in the comfort of their own homes. When the video player was finding its way into people’s home, a new industry started to emerge. Many mom and pop video shops were popping up on neighborhood street corners to fill the void. With a well stocked video store people had less reason to go to the movies, and with home entertainment centers becoming affordable, the TV screen was large enough to negate that advantage that the theaters had in the past. What Blockbuster could do that the mom and pop shops couldn’t, was provide massive amount of available movies. This allowed them to become a virtual giant in this industry.

When the DVD player hit the scene it only enhanced the value of video stores, and Blockbuster in particular. Now movies were made in a cheap format, yet with much higher viewing quality. Now renting movies became even more popular. Blockbuster enjoyed massive prosperity until the next generation of renting came along.

Along with movies, Blockbuster offers gaming rentals. This is a great way to test out a game you might want to purchase and is very popular. Of course along with renting these games and movies, you can buy the movies or games as well.

The new age in renting became an online venture. Upstart Netflix offered movies for rent online. They would mail you the movie (very quickly); you would watch it and mail it back. This new mode has two distinct positives over going to the video store. First is the fact that you don’t have to leave your house to get a movie. Second is the fact that there are no late fees. Netflix operates on a monthly subscription basis. So, if you have a membership for one movie you can keep that movie as long as you want (provided your membership is in good standing), with no late fees. This was always a battle ground at the video stores where the customers would feel “raped’ by the exuberant late fees they could incur. With the Netflix model this wasn’t an issue.

Blockbuster has eventually followed suit, and has adopted much of the Netflix model. They offer movies online, much like Netflix, with the bonus that you can go to any store and get movies immediately as well. They also have adopted the monthly subscription and dropped the late fees.

Even with these adjustments, Blockbuster has fallen on hard times. Netflix has take n the wind out of Blockbusters sails and slowed its dominance of the movie and gaming industry. Blockbuster still is a giant in the industry but Netflix has brought them back to a bit of reality as the company must now regain its balance.

Playstation 3

PlayStation 3 (PS3) is Sony’s most current, state of the art gaming console. It also serves as a high quality multi media center with internet connectivity and Blu-ray technology for high definition gaming and DVD viewing. The PS3 is Sony’s answer to Microsoft’s Xbox 360, also a state of the art gaming console. They both compete in this market with Nintendo, and their latest gaming console the Wi. These three consoles represent the latest advances in gaming consoles. They also represent the seventh generation of these products.

PS3 brings online interactive gaming to the gamer. You are now able to compete against other gamers from over the world in real time competition, or co-op play. All you need is to join the PlayStation Network, pop in your favorite online ready game, find your friends on the network, and battle away! PlayStation 3 also carries so exclusive games that you can only play on PS3. These games include, Metal Gear Solid 4, Little Big Planet, Resistance 2, Wipeout HD, Uncharted-Drake’s Fortune and Gran Turismo.

These games are not available to play on any other console. If you like these games then you will need to buy a PS3 gaming platform. We will give you a brief description of each of the games listed above so you will have an idea of what they are about.

Metal Gear Solid 4 is (as the name suggests) the 4^th installment of the MGS series. The game is an ingenious mix of story telling and stealth game play. MSG$ is state of the art in every sense. Little Big Planet is designed for interactive multi player action with your friends. You operate in 8 levels and the key feature in this game is player creativity in the control you have in the visuals of your characters. And finding all the hidden items on the levels keeps you coming back.

Resistance 2is a 1^st player shooter game that carries both a single player campaign as well as a co-op playing set up with as many as 8 players. In the co-op you will need to team well with the other players to successfully work through the missions.

Wipeout HD is a racing game with stunning visual images. You have three playing modes: the single player campaign, an online platform for races, and a two player spit screen mode.

Uncharted-Drake’s Fortune is an action adventure game. This game involves the classic search for buried treasure on a deserted island with modern day pirates and other troubles to deal with. The game has great characters and stunning visuals.

Gran Turismo is a top of the line racing game that can be played online or in campaign modes. You use real car renditions and race through the streets of famous cities all over the world. Spectacularly accurate mapping and car set ups.

These games will pull players into the PS3 world since you need a PS3 to play these incredible, and certain other games that are also exclusive to PS3.