Beatles Xbox 360 Charity Auction
To help promote the launch of MTV Games and Harmonix's The Beatles: Rock Band last week, Microsoft listed a specially designed Xbox 360 console featuring detailed artwork from the opening sequence of the game. Within two days, the eBay charity auction had secured some 80 bids and a commitment for $7,000, proceeds from which will be donated to the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders.
Doctors Without Borders, getting a little help from their friends.
Today, the auction timer on the Beatles-themed Xbox 360 officially expired, and after 111 bids, the final selling price reached $17,300. Microsoft has not indicated how may Beatles consoles would be made available, saying only that a "small number" will be auctioned off for charity in the lead-up to the holiday season.
Sony, Blizzard, Activision, NCS,Turbine named in a patent suite
In March, Paltalk Holdings leveled a hefty $90 million lawsuit against software giant Microsoft. Paltalk's claim centered on two of its patents, which create a solution for computers to effectively communicate with one another in online-gaming situations. As it turns out, Paltalk's claim stood on strong enough legs for Microsoft to settle the case for an undisclosed sum, midway through the trial, in June.
Paltalk certainly has an opportunity to cash in.
Now, Paltalk has its sights set on a number of other game-industry heavyweights, including Sony Computer Entertainment and several of its divisions, Activision Blizzard, NCsoft, Turbine, and Jagex. At issue, again, is Paltalk's computer-to-computer synchronization patents, which, as noted by Paltalk's lawyer Max Tribble as part of its Microsoft suit, involve "technology for ways to control interactive applications over multiple computers."