Digital Kriegspiel Creator Under Fire From Dead Marxist

Alex Galloway has put together a lovely digital adaptation of a chess-like game created by French Marxist Guy Debord dubbed Kriegspiel; now the estate of Debord is sending cease and desist letters to Galloway, claiming the digital version is infringing on the intellectual property rights of Debord. Reminiscent of the problem faced by the Scrabulous creators, Galloway is insisting that the idea of a game and rules are not subject to copyright. Ian Bogost weighs in:

Galloway has been served a cease and desist by the attorney representing Guy Debord's widow. It's too early to tell what will happen next ... Galloway's situation bears some similarity to that of popular Facebook app Scrabulous. The irony, of course, is the estate of a dead Marxist pursuing litigation over the exchange value of the name and image of its intellectual property.

The Revolution will be Litigated [Water Cooler Games]

U.B. Funkeys, Figurines that Game

U.B. Funkeys are collectible figures that hold games. You plug one of the 42 Funkeys into a base station, and they'll load custom minigames in which you can earn money to buy decor for the Funkeys' collective home (thing Sims with less tasks and more radioactivity). The starter pack with four Funkeys and a base unit runs about $40-$50, so we're guessing individuals will be in the sub $10 range.

Who knows if the games are any good, but the whole concept looks addictive as hell. Seriously, if they made kiddie crack it would be smoked from an anime-inspired midget animal pipe.

U.B. Funkeys [product page]

Clips: Intellivision Lock n' Chase Commercial

A Console for Pre-Pubescent Players