Category: Technology

B.B. King Signs on with XM Radio to Host Weekly Music Show

Blues music icon B.B. King will begin hosting his own weekly music show for XM Radio beginning in September 2008, it was announced today by the company. The program will feature a broad range of blues and gospel music hand-selected by King, along with stories about the artists and other personal anecdotes from the bluesman’s epic career. In anticipation of King’s hosting debut, today XM relaunched its dedicated blues channel “Bluesville” as “BB King’s Bluesville” (XM 74).

“I love the blues and am looking forward to sharing my passion, stories and my favorite music with all the folks who listen to XM, one of the few places where the vibrant sounds of the blues still thrives,” said B.B. King.

For more than 60 years, Riley B. King — better known as B.B. King — has defined the blues for a worldwide audience. Since he started recording in the 1940s, he has released over 50 albums, many of them classics, won 14 Grammy Awards, been inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the National Medal of the Arts, the Kennedy Center Honors, the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and the NARM (National Association of Recording Merchandisers) Chairman’s Award, among many other awards. In a special ceremony at the Library of Congress, Librarian of Congress, James H. Billington presented B.B. with a “Living Legend” medal in honor of his achievements as a musician and ambassador for the blues. After 10,000 concerts, B.B. King continues to bring his music to audiences around the globe spending the better part of each year on the road with his beloved guitar, “Lucille.”

On August 26, Geffen Records will release B.B.’s newest T Bone Burnett-produced album, “One Kind Favor,” and, on September 13, King — one of few living musicians in the world to be so honored — will preside at the opening of the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in his hometown of Indianola, MS.

B.B. King was born September 16, 1925, on a plantation in Itta Bene, Mississippi, near Indianola. In his youth, he played on street corners for dimes, and would sometimes play in as many as four towns a night. In 1947, he hitchhiked to Memphis, TN, to pursue his music career. Memphis was where every important musician of the South gravitated, and which supported a large musical community where every style of African American music could be found. B.B. stayed with his cousin Bukka White, one of the most celebrated blues performers of his time, who schooled B.B. further in the art of the blues.

Infinity Ward working on new IP

Call of Duty 4 screenshot

Infinity Ward is about as synonymous with Call of Duty as Valve is with Half-Life or Bungie with Halo. Okay, Treyarch did make Call of Duty 3 and will be alternating with Infinity Ward in making CoD titles now, but nobody seriously cares about them. Sorry, Treyarch. 🙁

Now, while Call of Duty is all fun and all, we’d like to see a little something different from Infinity Ward, and things seem to be on the right track. Talking from his blag, Robert Bowling, the Director of Communications at Infinity Ward announced that they have decided to reup their publishing contract with Activision, which kickstarts their future project, “a unique new IP” that they will have “complete control over”.

Since Bowling isn’t very willing to divulge any details on this “unique” new project, we’re guessing it’s going to be a long while before we actually find out what happens of this. I would be surprised if we get an announcement by February next year! Still, it’s great to know that Infinity Ward is up to something creative and not abother war shooter (which they are pretty good at anyways).

On a pretty loose guess, I’m thinking it will be a typical dystopian/space sci-fi shooter that will probably involve either zombies or aliens or alien zombies. What do you think of this? What is Infinity Ward up to?

Copyright Office Examines the Cable and Satellite Statutory Licenses in the Copyright Act

After more than a year of intensive study, the U.S. Copyright Office issued its report on whether to maintain, modify or eliminate Sections 111, 119 and 122 of the Copyright Act. It will serve as the basis for discussion for possible changes to the statutory licenses.

Section 109 of the Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act (SHVERA) of 2004 requires the Copyright Office to examine and compare the statutory licensing systems for the cable and satellite television industries under Sections 111, 119 and 122 of the Copyright Act and recommend any necessary legislative changes no later than June 30, 2008.

The Section 111 license, first enacted in 1976, permits a cable operator to retransmit both local and distant television and radio signals to its subscribers, provided that the cable operators pay royalties according to the formula set forth in the law. The other two licenses govern the retransmission of broadcast signals by satellite carriers. The Section 119 license, first enacted in 1988, permits a satellite carrier to retransmit distant superstation and network television station signals (but not radio signals) to its subscribers for private home viewing and to commercial establishments on a flat fee basis. The Section 122 statutory license, on the other hand, was first enacted in 1999 and permits satellite carriers to retransmit local television station signals into the stations’ local market on a royalty-free basis. These statutory licenses are linked, in many respects, to the broadcast signal carriage rules administered by the Federal Communications Commission.

In preparing its report, the Copyright Office sought comment from the affected industries, copyright owners and other interested parties and held three days of hearings in July 2007 to further supplement the record. The report was delivered to Congress on June 30 by the Copyright Office.

The principal recommendation in the report is that Congress move toward abolishing Section 111 and Section 119 of the Act. According to the Copyright Office, the cable and satellite industries are no longer nascent entities in need of a statutory licensing system. They have substantial market power and are able to negotiate private agreements with copyright owners for programming carried on distant broadcast signals. Moreover, the Copyright Office finds that the Internet video marketplace is robust and is functioning well without a statutory license. The Copyright Office also concludes that the distant-signal programming marketplace is less important in an age when consumers have many more choices for programming from a variety of distribution outlets. The office nevertheless recommends the retention of a royalty-free local-into-local license, because such a license is still necessary and it promotes the general welfare of users, broadcasters and the public.

Despite the Copyright Office’s determination that the ultimate solution should be the elimination of the existing distant signal licenses, it recognizes that the digital television transition in 2009 is likely to generate unanticipated signal reception problems for millions of American households. The office also finds that it is important for Congress to provide a lifeline distant signal service for subscribers during the post-transition period. The Copyright Office therefore recommends the establishment of a new statutory licensing system that would cover the retransmission of distant broadcast signals beginning on Jan. 1, 2010, and ending on Dec. 31, 2014. This will permit users of the license to serve the needs of their subscribers who may experience viewing disruptions. According to the Copyright Office, an equally important rationale for a transitional license is that it will take time for voluntary licensing arrangements to take shape and become widely available. The marketplace will work but it needs to be given time to adapt to changes in the regulatory regime.

Congress may decide that there should still be separate statutory licenses for cable operators and satellite carriers. The Copyright Office, then, makes several recommendations for adjusting Sections 111, 119 and 122. The recommendations in this regard are intended to further parity between cable operators and satellite carriers.

An electronic version of the report will be available under the “Hot Topics” section on the Copyright Office Web site at www.copyright.gov.

BioWare interested in the iPhone

BioWare on the iPhone!

Now there’s something you don’t hear everyday. Veteran RPG developer BioWare mentioned in an interview by MTV that they are interested in the cultural phenomenon that is the Apple iPhone. Of course, there’s no hard words here and it’s all just speculation for now, but BioWare definitely have their eyes on the Jesus phone.

BioWare is currently working on Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood for the DS, which surprised fans since BioWare isn’t exactly known for developing much outside the PC frame. Of course, they did make the Xbox 360 hit Mass Effect, but it was ported over to the PC anyways, so BioWare wasn’t completely out of their element. When asked on the handheld experience, Greg Zeschuk says:

“It’s actually been great fun. That was almost one of the sort of hidden reasons to do a handheld game. One thing was to try something different and explore a different platform, and as you know, kind of sort of work in a lighter flavor of environment in terms of the game we’re working on. We’re nearing the end and it’s turning out really great.

In terms of handhelds, it’s been great because it’s also so fast. The cycle to make changes and improvements is very short compared to the hundreds of thousands of text in a full next-gen console or PC product. The iteration cycle is really short, and that makes it ideal for a short-attention span where you want to do something different every day. [laughs] It’s pretty exciting, actually. It’s been a really unique experience and one we’re definitely interested in pursuing.”

And when asked on whether they are interested in the iPhone,

“We look at every platform that comes along. Obviously, something that’s as big a cultural and technical success as the iPhone is something you really got to take a close look at. Certainly, there’s nothing written in stone yet but we’ve got a lot of folks looking at it. It’s intriguing. I think one of the things that we’ll have to see how it shakes out is what type of consumer buys games on it and what type of experience they’re looking for. You want to always mash the consumer experience with what you’re building. We want to understand what people are going to do with it. Who knows. We’re definitely looking at every platform.”

Still, BioWare is committed to the PC, for which they will be releasing their original IP, Dragon Age, a fantasy RPG that doesn’t really rock our socks yet. They are, of course, working on Mass Effect 2 and some more mysterious products.

Variety offended by Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: Colonization

Screenshot of Civilization IV: Colonization

You’d think the mainstream media might one day appreciate video games, but that is seemingly never the case. Over at Variety’s blog, we read hate all over their post, whose author has been offended by a game as meek as Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: Colonization.

The Sid Meier game merges the Civilization IV franchise with the relic Colonization, a Sid Meier classic that we all knew he would remake some day. As you can guess, the game is about leading one of four European powers into the New World and starting a colony, eventually working your way to declaring Independence and all.

The author of the post, Ben Fritz goes on about how offensive colonization is, and how it has always been about racism. He disagrees with Colonization‘s viewpoint of being a European who goes on to colonize, as it has usually brought about disastrous consequences upon the natives. He finds it apalling that you get to play as this oppressive power. I wonder if the fun-loving crowd at Firaxis ever thought of something like this.

I disagree with Ben completely. To start with, I am a Civilization IV addict, and I wonder if Ben has even played the original game. That being said, it should be noted that Civilization IV is a world-building strategy game first, where you take control of a civilization and lead it through the millennia of human history into glory.

Colonization is a stand-alone expansion to Civilization IV, that appears to focus on the Colonization aspect of the game. In the game, players get to trade, fight, negotiate, explore and do pretty much all that. Ben appears to be concerned by the “fight with natives” part. Now I’m not a member of the dev team, but if I know anything about Civilization IV, I know that fighting is almost always optional. I say ‘almost’ because there is always the possibility that these natives end up attacking you first and you have no choice in the matter.

Regardless, the game also does not seem to imply that it has a penchant for showing native tribes and peoples being exploited, nor do I see any themes of racism (although according to Ben’s equations, Colonization=Racism). Examine:

And “conquer[ing] and rul[ing] the New World” is inherently about engaging in the racist practice of exploiting and abusing native people.

That is strange. What form of “conquering and ruling” does not involve expoiting and abusing native people, racist or not? It pretty much happens all around the world, regardless of what race you or your conquerors are. Using a more poetical meaning of the word “conquering”, the game might also be implying that you “conquer” the world by diplomacy and economy rather than racially exploiting and abusing native people.

A game about colonization that’s entirely about controlling the settlers can either force the player to do horrific things or let him avoid doing it and whitewash some of the worst events of human history.

Come to think of it, wouldn’t that be the case with all historically set games? Are we trying to whitewash human history when you build the Eiffel Tower in Beijing after a war with the Malinese Empire in Civilization IV? Are you in the mindframe of a tyrannical feudal lord when you command unfailingly obedient villagers in Age of Empires?

(And I’m not even getting into the offensiveness of using uncritically using the phrase “New World” in the marketing material.)

And say what? America? That’s what America was called before it was named, The New World. Wouldn’t changing that make the game both historically inaccurate and whitewashed to remove offensiveness?

I hardly think that a game about colonization, especially one as darned gamey as Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: Colonization is worth getting worked up about. Fritz says “If there was a major movie coming out that uncritically told the story of Europeans colonizing America, there would be a major furor, and rightfully so.” I don’t think so. Neither would a movie with sex, violence, prostitution et al: because movies have the “art” and “conceptual approach” defences.

When will the world learn?