170°

Sony/Immersion: The Plot Thickens

Patent Arcade: "The dust has long settled on the Sony/Immersion haptic feedback suit, right?

Not quite. According to a complaint filed in Thorner v. Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc., Case No. 09-01894 (NJ filed April 21, 2009), and amended recently, a witness from that case claims he was tricked into cooperating and signing away his own patent rights for a fraction of their worth.

According to the complaint, Craig Thorner was an engineer who held several patents that were also directed to haptic feedback technology, similar to those asserted by Immersion against Sony, and his patents were part of Sony's after-trial attempt to invalidate Immersion's patents."

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patentarcade.com
6187d ago Replies(6)
joeyisback25856187d ago

bull chit they need to sue microsoft

Expy6187d ago

1. It is not illegal to bargain lower prices/outcomes.
2. Legal malpractice? No, stupidity on this party's account, BIG yes.
3. He accepted the agreement, thus, is legally bound by it and can, in no way, object to his legal obligations (signed by him).

Kurylo3d6187d ago

yes be he agreed under unfair legal advice. The lawyers had other interest other his own in mind since they worked for sony as well. Any judge will see that and agree, so now sony is going to have to try and bargain with him and settle if they could otherwise theres no way he could lose.

RememberThe3576187d ago

If the number to not seem unfair then nothing will be done no matter what the circumstances were.

All we have is his word against theirs. Any judge would know that that is not enough information to draw a solid conclusion from...

Christopher6186d ago

What Expy said. Essentially Thorner is suing because Sony was able to get him to agree to a contract that possibly wasn't as beneficial as if he had used someone else. This is the same thing as me going to dealership A, buying a car, then going to dealership B and noticing that they have my car for $3k less. Guess what, it's what businesses do, they try to give you less of what you while getting more of what they want.

While I think the lawyers in their testimony are kind of pricks, they did their job very well and within their rights. The gentleman wasn't coerced into signing the deal, he was only using the wrong tools to determine if the deal was in his best interest.

If the prosecution wins, this will open up so many cans of worms with this sort of stuff that it's not even funny.

Fatal Blow6187d ago

These day's people will do any thing for money even sell there self lol

the guy suing should be sued from sony just for making him self look like a d**k what people do for money these day's look's like there's no 2moro for them people lol

potenquatro6187d ago (Edited 6187d ago )

I got a launch with no rumble. I should sue theese bastards for MY pain and suffering.

@Expy. I got one,but still....If they can pull this stunt I should as well.

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40°

15 Years Ago, Mortal Kombat (2011) Saved Gaming’s Biggest Fighting Franchise

A brutal reset, a smarter story, and a return to what made it great—Mortal Kombat (2011) revived the series.

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fortressofsolitude.co.za
italiangamer6d ago

"Gaming’s Biggest Fighting Franchise"

Press X to (seriously) doubt.

DarXyde4d ago

Underrated comment. I used to hate that game so much that any time my siblings asked me to play it, I just picked Hom and shut myself down mid-match.

Soy5d ago

And then MK1 killed it again.

DivineHand1254d ago (Edited 4d ago )

15 years went by so fast. I remember playing through the story mode at launch.

90°

PlayStation legend Shuhei Yoshida says Jim Ryan fired him because he didn't listen to him

Why did Sony push Shuhei Yoshida out of his role leading PlayStation's first-party games? He'd overseen some huge successes. Well, apparently, he didn't listen.

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eurogamer.net
Relientk776d ago

Yeah I can see that for sure. Shuhei Yoshida should have been in charge not Jim Ryan.

Cacabunga6d ago

It should be free highway for him now.. but Sony are too stupid to see this, especially that moron Hulst

S2Killinit5d ago (Edited 5d ago )

Wtf why all that anger. PlayStation is dominating on every level. Besides I think there is a little more to hiring a CEO than just who is available. Its not like its a athlete your team wants to buy.

neutralgamer19925d ago

S2Killinit

live service failures, chasing trends, closing studios. yes dominating

Cacabunga5d ago

Sony is Dominating because competition is not existing. Compared to previous gens this is the poorest in terms of software offerings.

Last gen we got Uncharted 4 Lost Legacy and TLOU2 from ND alone.

This is so far a remasters gen, with no competition to lift up the quality

1nsomniac5d ago (Edited 5d ago )

..."PlayStation is dominating on every level"....

...Really???

PlayStation are soon heading into a new generation in the not to distant future. They currently have the worst customer satisfaction they've ever sustained as a company. The company is heading for a huge crash while at the same time they'll need to be planning how they are going to try and win back that favour and the build up to their new releases.

Yes financially they're winning but they're going to have to ride out this complete public corporate disaster. No one has faith in the company or the product anymore. They've damaged their public image so much this generation. Greed can kill anyone.

medman5d ago

Hulst is a disaster......

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 5d ago
blacktiger5d ago

He would've done the same thing and fire Jim Ryan and Shuhei would be the villain. Why?
Because Elite creates the narrative and distraction for gamers, users and citizens.

Outside_ofthe_Box6d ago

More confirmation that Jim Ryan is the culprit for what has happened to Sony. Hulst needs to go too. What sucks is that a lot of the good top heads at Sony are no longer there. I wish that guys that were forced out prematurely by Dumbo Jimbo like Shuhei and Layden came back.

robtion5d ago

Yep. Yoshida was responsible for bringing one of the best games of this generation to playstation (Stellar Blade). He is an actual gamer and is in touch with what gamers want (creative, fun games, not GaaS and agenda pushing). He also seems like a genuinely nice guy if you watch some interviews. Of course they got rid of him.

darthv726d ago

Makes you wonder if MS even thought about hiring him after Phil and Sarah were leaving. He certainly couldn't make their situation any worse.

Agent755d ago

Microflop. After Windows XP and Xbox 360, it all went floppy.

S2Killinit5d ago

Floppy 😆
No pun intended

badz1496d ago

Yoshida for President! Jim Ryan was and always be a hack! Sony should get Shu back

Lightning776d ago

All the gamer/consumer lead heads are gone across PS and Xbox. shuhei gone phil's gone (questionable) but gone. The future of gaming is somewhat uncertain across the board.

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50°

Ex-Naughty Dog Dev: Big Studios Are 'Forced' to Hire Like Factories

Former Naughty Dog artist Gabriel Betancourt explains why the "sweet spot" for game teams is under 200 people and how AAA "factories" kill creativity.

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powerupgaming.co.uk
6d ago
phongtro123_com5d ago

There’s definitely some truth to this. When teams get too large, coordination starts to outweigh creativity—layers of approval, risk aversion, and tight deadlines can turn bold ideas into “safe” ones. Keeping a team under ~200 people sounds ideal for maintaining clear communication and a shared vision. That said, massive AAA projects also come with huge technical demands and expectations, so scaling up isn’t always avoidable. The real challenge is figuring out how to keep that small-team creativity alive inside big studio structures.

DarXyde5d ago

More than that, it's logistically untenable. Inevitably, when teams get too large, how do you keep tabs on accountability? I suspect this massive team size is a consequence of the perfectionism streak Naughty Dog has.

I wish we could have so many people working on something and it turns out great because I'm all for collaboration in spirit - the problem is too many people as part of the larger team and smaller units. Suppose for example that you have too many people in the art department; you will very often come up against fiercely competing visions for how things should look. That competitive vision will cause friction between team members, team doesn't work as a unit, the back and forth can further delay parts that the other departments are waiting for, etc etc.

A 200-person team says, to me, that we need to scale back game development. Even if it means we go back to PS2 era costs and scale, why not? Those games are still great fun, the budgets were in check, and you could literally break the 200-man team into like 10 20-man teams working on different projects.