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On November 10th, Bareis Technologies, LLC filed a lawsuit against Ubisoft, Sony Computer Entertainment, Electronic Arts and Disney Interactive Studios, claiming that various games, including Tom Clancy, SOCOM and NASCAR titles, infringe upon a patent filed in 1996. "Optical disk having speech recognition templates for information access" describes a process "integrating automatic speech recognition technologies into optical disk players for command and control purposes."

As is typical with lawsuits of this nature, the plaintiff is seeking "no less than a reasonable royalty" for the supposed use of this "stolen" technology. Should the case make it to court, the plaintiff will have a few hurdles to overcome. Primarily, lawyers will have to prove how a patent largely targeted towards accessing specific music tracks on audio CDs is applicable to the video games in question.

Considering it's been over seven years since the debut of the first SOCOM game, it's surprising that the plaintiff has waited so long to file this suit. Perhaps it's telling that the company going forward with the lawsuit has done so little in the thirteen years since filing the trademark that it has no web presence whatsoever.

[Via GamePolitics]

The voice-controlled RTS EndWar didn't garner the most media attention. But, with 1.5 million units sold, it certainly warrants a sequel. Ubisoft Shanghai is creating a follow-up using a "smaller team,"creative director Michael De Plater told VideoGamer.com. With EndWar's successful implementation of voice controls, the development team can focus on one of the most lacking aspects of the original: the presentation of the single-player campaign. "After the first one, now we have a really good understanding of what to do ... Giving more attention to the single-player is straightforward to address and will make the game a lot of fun."

While De Plater is quick to highlight faults being addressed for the sequel, he remains proud of his team's accomplishment with the first game. While still under the "Tom Clancy" moniker, he considers EndWar an original IP. Considering the challenges that surround launching a new IP, De Plater is more than happy with sales numbers. "We still sold more than Red Alert 3, sold more than Company of Heroes, sold more than World in Conflict. It's still, along with Halo Wars, the biggest new RTS in the last four or five years. Even with those faults it's still up there."

If there's one definitive way to push publishers, developers and public relations personnel off balance, it's broaching the subject of console exclusivity. Begin the line of inquiry and you're sure to get darting eyes, an elongated "Wellllll ..." and an answer that crumples in on itself as soon as it's spoken. Perhaps it's appropriate that the topic of Splinter Cell: Conviction's exclusivity is steeped in a cloak-and-dagger mystery.

When asked if the ambitious Xbox 360 and PC stealth title was exclusive in the really real sense, producer Alex Parizeau simply stated, "It's exclusive," and admitted that it was a business arrangement with Microsoft. Prodding about timed exclusivity (a la BioShock and Fallout 3 DLC) didn't yield anything less enigmatic, so we turned to lead game designer Steve Masters. "As far as I know," he said, "this is completely exclusive."

Aha! Complete exclusive confirmed!

"But that may change in the future."

Oh. We suspect the game may make its way to PS3 eventually, but for now ... Wellllll ...

The fine purveyors of DRM-free classics at GoG.com have announced an agreement with Ubisoft, which sees good old(ish) games like Beyond Good & Evil and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time added to the downloadable lineup. Joining action journalist Jade and the time-swindling prince are ... the aeroplanes of IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946! We guess they weren't really going for much of a theme outside of all three costing $9.99 each.

Other Ubisoft titles slated to hit the PC service "in the coming weeks" include Heroes of Might and Magic, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six and Not Tom Clancy's Far Cry.

Sony is bulking up its Greatest Hits collection for the PSP, dropping the price on 10 select titles starting April 5. Available for the lowered price of $19.99, the majority of the new batch of Greatest Hits games are third party, though there are still some delicious first-party nuggets included, such as Chains of Olympus. Here's your next wave of Greatest Hits:

• Fight Night Round 3
• God of War: Chains of Olympus
• Medal of Honor Heroes 2
• Mortal Kombat: Unchained
• Patapon
• SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs: Tactical Strike
• Sonic Rivals 2
• SpongeBob SquarePants: The Yellow Avenger
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter® 2
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six® Vegas

Though it may lack the mind-melting insanity of their first H.A.W.X. effort and definitely lacks the paper-thinly-veiled homoeroticism, there's still a simple pleasure in watching the Mega64 team recreate every toddler's favorite pastime: Pretending to be an airplane.

Of course, few toddlers are grown men, let alone grown men doing it while wearing military uniforms in public. But when you see the joy they bring ... well, it's hard to judge them too harshly.

[Thanks, Willzay]

Even if you have no idea what H.A.W.X is (it's about Tom Clancy flying airplanes, right?), Mega64's promotional video for the game is a delight. As is often the case for most Mega64 videos, we don't want to say too much about the content and risk ruining your special memory of seeing it for the first time. We will say that the group has managed to make a video that is manlier than even the Tom Clanciest game.

Chances are, one question will be dominating your thoughts after you watch this: where can I get that song? Good news! Anticipating the riotous clamor for the background music, the Mega64 boys have made an MP3 available at their site.

It's been rumored for a while now, but Tom Clancy's HAWX still appears to be circling the Wii. See, there's this listing for the game over at Ubisoft's official site, complete with a March 2009 release date. But, before you start jumping up and down with joy and spill coffee all over your computer, know that there are a couple things making us uneasy about all of this.

First of all, there isn't much on the listing -- box art, a release window, some key features, and a link to the game's official site. Secondly, those features listed look identical to the PS3/360 versions of the game. Drop-in and drop-out gameplay doesn't really sound like a Wii game, seeing as how we've not really heard of any game incorporating that feature (unless you want to count Animal Crossing: City Folk ). Finally, there's no mention of the Wiimote. Usually, when a publisher is putting a game on the Wii (especially in the case of multiplatform games), it tends to boast about the Wiimote's power and how it affects the game. Nothing like that here.

But, you know, if it turns out to be true, then consider us pumped.

Ubisoft has given first-person disaster-survival title I Am Alive an enigmatic March release window. That puts the launch anywhere from six to ten weeks from now, a very short amount of time considering we've seen approximately zilch in terms of gameplay footage. After being hyped up so much at E3, there's been little to no promotion for the game. We're a bit perplexed by this one, and hope it's not a foreboding sign.

Other games slated to come out in March include Tom Clancy's HAWX, a PC version of EndWar and Broken Sword Wii. Tenchu: Shadow Assassin, a Wii exclusive, has been given a more exact March 6 date.

IGN has the scoop on fresh EndWar downloadable content and a title update that'll be releasing ... this Thursday, December 11th! Yikes, talk about short notice.

The EndWar Escalation Pack content will release for 800 Microsoft points and include a few new maps, three new unit upgrades and ten additional achievements worth 220 Gamerscore. The title update will focus on eliminating a few exploits, improving stability, making the leaderboards more reliable and (the biggest change) will up maximum players from four to eight. That's, like, doubling the amount of action and potentially doubling the fun!

[Thanks, Lightsout565]

Ubisoft is deploying new downloadable content tomorrow for Tom Clancy's EndWar (via IGN). The Escalation Pack includes four new maps, three new unit upgrades, and 10 new Achievements and Trophies for Xbox Live and PS3, respectively. The pack will be 800 ($9.99) and will be released simultaneously for both consoles.

Additionally, a free title update is also due out tomorrow (only for Xbox 360; the PS3 patch is expected sometime in 2009). Beyond the usual connectivity, leaderboard and bug fixes, the update will raise the maximum player cap from 4 to 8, making possible 4-on-4 games in both Skirmish and Theater of War modes.

If you need a game, this week's for you. While we can't vouch for the quality of all the releases (or even, uh, half), but we can say one thing: there's a lot of 'em. And by a lot, we mean dozens. Well, if you add up all the regions, anyway. Look, don't get technical. It's a lot. See for yourself.

As an aside, after seeing this week's releases, we should stop crying about not having any more Professor Layton -- the first title is only just now being released in Europe! And what's up with Korg DS-10? It's been turning up on releases for a while. Maybe we'll actually see it this week.

• Army Men: Soldiers of Misfortune
• Dora the Explorer: Dora Saves the Snow Princess
• Dragonball: Origins
• Exit DS
• futureU: The Prep Game for SAT
• Goosebumps HorrorLand
• Guitar Rock Tour
• Hello Kitty Daily
• Imagine: Interior Designer
• Imagine: Wedding Designer
• James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace
• Korg DS-10
• Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ
• Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
• Monster Lab
• My Baby Boy
• My Baby Girl
• Petz Dogz Pack
• Pony Friends: Mini Breeds Edition
• Princess on Ice
• Real Soccer 2009
• Theresia
• Tom Clancy's EndWar
• Winx Club: Mission Enchantix
• Zoo Vet: Endangered Animals

We knew things had to slow down at some point, and it looks like that "some point" would be now. This week's PSP releases offer a bit of Tom Clancy's patented war thrills, while Europe gets a slightly early taste of WWE's latest.

NA Games:

• Tom Clancy's EndWar

EU Games:

• Pro Evolution Soccer 2009
• Tom Clancy's EndWar
• WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009

Asian Games:

• No new releases

Surprisingly, we're writing the "no new releases" line for Asia. Who would have thought that was actually ever going to happen?

So, if we have this right, the point of the EndWar launch trailer is that World War 3 is basically inevitable. In addition to this, it's apparently going to be awesome, what with giant firefights breaking out right in front of the US Capital Building, France's Eiffel Tower, and even the Kremlin. Seriously though, why not? If the world just has to be embroiled in a massive war, said war might as well take place in some dramatic places, right? Just because we're doomed doesn't mean we can't end it all with a little flair.

The game, incidentally, drops next week.

Ubisoft is bringing yet another Tom Clancy game to the handhelds. This time, EndWar is getting the PSP treatment. The upcoming game takes place during World War III. Players take control of the U.S. Joint Strike Force, European Enforcers Corps or Russian Spetsnaz Guards Brigade in three separate (but intertwined) campaigns. Each campaign includes over 30 battle scenarios taking place on real-world battlefields including Paris and London.

EndWar also features two-player versus multiplayer mode, including additional missions specifically designed for multiplayer battles. There's also a mission editor, which allows players to share and create custom battlefields and scenarios. Expect EndWar on November 4th.