MarketWatch reports that the video game industry grew 6% in 2005, weighing in at $10.5 billion. That's quite a sum of money, given that as reported by Fox, box office receipts for the movie industry were below $9 billion in 2005. Ironically, the market for flagship game consoles and related software shrank, allegedly due in part to the supply shortages of the new Xbox 360.

Other random industry samples for 2005:

• Father's day gifts - $8.23 billion
• Used books - $2 billion
• Aerospace industry - $170 billion
• U.S. beef industry - $78 billion
• Live Auctions - $217.2 billion
• Halloween - $3.3 billion
• Residential water treatment - $2.6 billion
• U.S. sales of generic drugs - $28 billion
• Search engine marketing - $5.75 billion
• Hot tea - $6.8 billion
• Hot Coffee - Well, that's another IP issue entirely.
  

I can't wait for next year...

Following up on a previous post, two Hollywood video game store owners and a third man who were charged in December for allegedly pirating video games and installing them on modified Microsoft Corp. Xbox consoles were indicted on Thursday, according to the United States Attorney's Office in Los Angeles.

Read more here.

Well I have been a little slack about posting over the holidays. Hasn't been much news or developments to keep up with in the past month, anyway. To start off the new year we are beginning development of a new Patent Arcade logo. Look for it soon, errr, eventually. If you have any ideas to suggest, let me know.

-Ross

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors have charged three men with copyright infringement for selling modified Xbox consoles that enabled the original video game machine from Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) to play pirated games.

...

Jones and Bryant demonstrated the modified Xbox game consoles in their Melrose Avenue store. They charged from $225 to more than $500 for the modifications, depending on the extent of the modifications and the number of games preloaded onto the hard drive, according to a statement from prosecutors and the complaint affidavit obtained by Reuters.

Read article here.

Ever want to own a video game? Now's your chance. The bankruptcy trustee for Acclaim is auctioning off their portfolio, around 200 games! Some have bids, but some are just waiting for a bidder. Who knows what the IP includes, so do your due diligence, or else you'll get what you pay for. There are a number of interesting titles in there, and more that its share of duds.

The auction list can be viewed here.

News story here.

Electronic Arts faces a lawsuit in the California Superior Court, San Mateo County, based on the claim that the publisher stole an idea for a game feature that was later incorporated into Madden NFL 06.

Read TeamXbox story here.

There not only is money in making video games, but as is quickly becoming more evident, there is also money in PLAYING video games. The two most popular methods are item farming in MMOGs, and professional video game tournaments.

For those who thought anyone who just played video games would never amount to anythiny, talk to Jonathan Wendel, aka Fatal1ty. On November 23, 2005, Jon won the Cyberathlete Professional League World Tour Grand Finals and the $150,000 payday that goes with it. Being that the Xbox 360 just launched a few days ago, I will keep this short, as I have practicing to do...

Read CNN news story.

Today marks the launch of Microsoft's new Xbox360 game console and upgraded Xbox Live online gaming service. Interesting is the inclusion of Gotham TV on Project Gotham Racing 3, where anyone can spectate live races. Unlike previous games that allow spectating, you don't have to be in the game session to watch it. That means anyone can watch it, not just the 8 or 16 people in the game. I would hesitate to call these "public" broadcasts, since you have to pay to play, but there is undoubtably IP in these broadcasts. What steps are being taken to protect it? It raises some interesting new questions on which I suspect people will start commentary very shortly.

Is the price of virtual property getting out of hand? Jon Jacobs, a Miami resident, has bought a virtual space station in the game Project Entropia for $100,000 and wants to turn it into a cross between Jurassic Park and a disco. Mr. Jacobs plans to hire famous DJs to entertain visitors one a week or so at the "resort" space station (which he calls Club Neverdie), and thinks he can net $20,000/month (real money) from the "hunting tax and other income."

Read CNN article here.

In an interesting twist, Mr. Jacobs bought the space station from the game developer itself, MindArk PE AB. This raises some interesting legal implications regarding the developer's ability to shut the game down. If the game goes under tomorrow, does Mr. Jacobs get his money back. I sure hope he didn't mortgage his house for that purchase... oh wait, he did! The deal was brokered by IGE, a broker of game property.

In a major video game IP licensing deal, Atari has licensed the Unreal 3 game engine and related development tools from Epic Games to develop games for next-generation platforms. With the Unreal and Doom engines being the only two FPS engine families out there, licensing of source code and development tools can be a tidy little income stream for Epic Games and id Software.

Read more here.