That's straight-up speculation. Siliconera hazarded the guess when it found the registration, and it sounds good to me, if only because it sounds better than the same old run-around (a maze).

Ready for a Pac-Man: Battle Royale? [Siliconera]

From the company that brought you "Qore" and "Xross Media Bar," that one is pronounced "curiosity." It's important to note this was registered by Sony, not Sony Computer Entertainment. But the trademark covers "portable video game machines," and "game services provided on-line from a computer network," as well as "operating an on-line shopping mall." This is especially interesting in light of the recent survey Sony sent out, indicating it's considering pricing some subscription levels to the PlayStation Network. Might this "Qriocity" be one of them? Accessed by the PSP?

Siliconera, which found the trademark, also notes that Sony registered the domain name "qriocity" a few months before this filing (dated Dec. 15.)

Since a lot of what's written up here ends up turning the comments into Question Time in parliament, only more brutal, I now put this to you, my fellow MPs. Should you wish to huzzah, please spell that correctly. If you find this to be ridiqulis or a bunch of xrap, please misspell creatively.

Qriocity, The Name Of A New Sony Handheld Or Online Service? [Siliconera via Destructoid]

Although a Ghost Recon lunchbox would be kind of badass, now that I think about it. And Ghost Recon cereal? Tasty.

Via Superannuation [and Blue's News]

The trademark filing Siliconera found is good in PAL territories. Naturally, one immediately thinks of the pulse-detecting Wii Vitality Sensor that debuted to thunderous lolwuts at E3. I don't know of any other device, existing or planned, that could measure one's relaxation. And while I'm seriously interested in what kind of chill-out game Nintendo thinks it might make with this, that does not mean I want to play it.

Wii Relax - note the space between the words - had been a project of Italian developer Pub Company and was thought to be an April Fool's joke at one point. The site for this thing is blank, indicating Nintendo may have bought or C&D'd it to oblivion. Curious.

BTW, WiiSittingOnOne'sAss is in development with a listed delivery date of "whenever" and comes with a La-Z-Boy attachment for the Wiimote. The Nunchuk is a plate of nachos. I've also registered WiiSittingOnOne'sArse in PAL territories.

Will WiiRelax Be Nintendo's First Vitality Sensor Game? [Siliconera via Destructoid]

You can see the filing here, but my bet is that this is for some mobile game. I can't imagine the song's appeal is strong enough in consoles' core demographic to justify a title there. But stranger things have been published.

Margaritaville Trademarked for Games [Superannuation via Joystiq]

Superannuation has dug up two trademark applications filed by EA on the 30th of August for "The Ripper," both indicating the trademark is in regards to "Computer game software; Computer game software downloadable from a global computer network; Video game software." The trademarks seem to lend credence to comments made by the LA Times' Ben Fritz in a blog posting back in July.

...two sources close to EA told The Times that Visceral's next game would be Jack the Ripper, based on the 19th century British serial killer. It's not clear what the game would involve, but it's a natural follow-up of sorts to Dante's Inferno, which is also based on copyright-free historical material.

I'd have to agree with Ben here. It does seem like a natural next step for the team at Visceral, and a current-generation title based on one of the most notorious killers in history would certainly turn a few heads. I'm just trying to figure out how they'd turn the tale of Jack the Ripper into a big-budget, action-adventure title. I suppose shortening the name to The Ripper would be a start.

We've contacted EA for comment on this story, and are waiting to hear back.

Nothing to do with that (ace) Portishead song [superannuation]

Langdell, at the center of many controversies over the years regarding trademark rights to the word "Edge", has been involved in a similar dispute with Electronic Arts since 2007 concerning its title "Mirror's Edge." On Sept. 11, EA filed a petition with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to wipe out five trademarks involved in the case, saying they have been threatened by Langdell for a year over the distribution of Mirror's Edge.

"EA has filed a complaint to put an end to legal threats over a trademark issue related to our game, Mirror's Edge," company spokesman Jeff Brown said Tuesday. "While this seems like a small issue for EA, we think that filing the complaint is the right thing to do for the developer community."

Langdell, in a statement to Kotaku, called Electronic Arts' petition "a desperate attempt by EA to see if they can win the right to use Mirror's Edge by forcibly removing Edge's legitimate rights to Edge." Langdell pointed to a USPTO ruling in his favor, from August 2008, which found EA's registration of the trademark "Mirror's Edge" had been granted in error, and the company's subsequent abandonment of the mark - made official Sept. 8 - "stands as an acceptance of Edge's rights."

The USPTO database does list the trademark "Mirror's Edge" as "abandoned" as of Sept. 8, 2009. When asked about the timing of EA's filing, Brown, the spokesman, said only that the company had been unsuccessful in its yearlong attempt to resolve the dispute, and "we feel it is important to establish the rights of developers in this situation. So we filed the petition to cancel those marks."

Brown also declined to comment when asked if the petition was at all related to any upcoming product announcements using the word "Edge." Nor would he specify how negotiations with Langdell broke down.

Over the years, Langdell has been accused of heavy-handed behavior against developers who wittingly or unwittingly use the word "Edge", which he trademarked years ago for use in video games, and a slew of other associated products since then. In addition to the disagreement with EA, Langdell has been involved in a bitter dispute with Mobigame, whose iPhone game EDGE has appeared on the iTunes App Store and was later removed when he challenged Mobigame's usage of the title.

The notoriety surrounding this action in large part led to a campaign to have Langdell removed from the board of directors of the International Game Developers Association. Langdell voluntarily quit the board last month rather than face a removal vote.

"A lot of small developers who are faced with this situation settle claims because they don't know how, or can't afford to fight for their rights," said Brown, the EA spokesman. "We hope that as a result of this action, other developers will be less intimidated by unwarranted legal threats."

But Langdell counters that EA is trying to poison sentiment against his company, and that its accusations "sound like comments intended to sway indie game news reporters' opinion and deflect you away from the obvious fact that it is EA [that] indie developers need to be protected from."

In the filing, Electronic Arts alleges that Langdell has effectively abandoned these trademarks through disuse. While Langdell vigorously states his company is actively involved in the development of games, both Mobygames and this analysis say the last game published by Edge Games was in 1990.

Edge Games' Web site says it is developing four multiplatform titles, one of which "Racers," was released on Sept. 9. "Clearly, Edge has not abandoned its trademark and that allegation is obviously destined to fail," Langdell told Kotaku. Langdell's statement says Edge's games "are on general sale at this time as they have been at all times over the past many years."

Significantly, EA also alleges that Langdell fraudulently obtained the trademark registrations, filing out-of-date and even falsified specimens to obtain them. EA alleges two registrations, dated 1996 and 2006, used box covers from games published in 1989 and 1990 and were not examples of a mark used in commerce, especially as the 1990 game was developed for the since-discontinued Commodore Amiga. Another 2009 registration submitted an Edge mark used on the 1986 game Bobby Bearing, saying that game had been in use "continuously over the past five years," on mobile phones. EA claims that is false.

EA says two other registrations, in 2004 and 2005, were obtained by submitting a nonexistent magazine cover in one case, and a Hulk comic book published in the 1990s in another. (Langdell claims to have licensed trademarks to the two publications.)

Langdell flatly denied that Edge ever committed fraud in applying for its U.S. trademarks.

Langdell has also said that Mobigame told him, in an email published here, that it and Electronic Arts had formed some sort of partnership, to what end he did not say. In a lengthy public statement published last August, Langdeel seems to imply that EA and Mobigame might be working together "to seek to undermine our rights in EDGE," to get out of an agreement Langdell says Edge and EA had reached earlier.

Brown, the EA spokesman, said that to his knowledge EA has no formal relationship with Mobigame. A request for comment left with Mobigame was not answered as of publication time. Mobigame replied to Kotaku that, in May, it had been working on a video game project unrelated to EDGE, or any game involved in this dispute, licensed by a British company that was in negotiations with Electronic Arts to publish it. Those negotiations have since ended, Mobigame's David Papazian said.

According to a notice sent by the USPTO, Langdell has until Oct. 27 to respond to EA's petition. Should the matter proceed to trial, that will begin in the summer of 2010.

Electronic Arts' filing may be downloaded here, in .pdf form.

Langdell, for his part, accuses EA of playing the bully in this matter.

"The key dispute for the past two to three years ... has always been between the multinational conglomerate EA and Edge fighting for its rights as a relatively small indie developer up against the giant corporate bully, EA," Langdell wrote. "It is a great pity that another fellow indie developer, Mobigame, got caught in the crossfire, but at least EA are now out in the open with their fight, now openly trying to stifle the legitimate rights of indie developers."

The IGDA announced Langdell's resignation in a brief statement this morning. In an email to Kotaku, IGDA Executive Director Joshua Caulfield said Langdell resigned voluntarily and was not asked to. Langdell provided a lengthy statement explaining his decision, the entirety of which is at the end of this story.

In his statement, Langdell says he left the board because opposition to his board membership comes from "a contingent ... who in their fanaticism will cause substantial negative press for the IGDA over the next month and place intolerable demands on the board and IGDA staff."

Late last week, the IGDA announced that a special meeting of the membership - essentially an online vote - would be held Oct. 3, the sole purpose of which was to vote on whether Langdell should be removed. Langdell had served on the board since March 1.

In his statement Langdell expressed confidence that he would survive such a vote but "my fear is that a quorum will not be attained and that consequently this vocal minority will not accept the outcome of the October 3rd meeting as bringing closure to this issue."

Langdell, who founded EDGE Games in 1979, is widely known for the aggressive defense of his long held trademark to the word "Edge" in video gaming. His latest dispute is with Mobigame, which released the iPhone/iPod Touch game EDGE in April. Their public fight has provoked heated commentary and accusations of bad faith dealings on both sides. Langdell himself has become more vocal of late, publishing a lengthy defense of his company and engaging in debates with members on the IGDA forums. The effort to remove him from the IGDA's board was begun back in July.

At the heart of Langdell's controversial public persona is the perception that his and EDGE's primary activity is litigation rather than actual development. Langdell claims EDGE has published more than 700 games, but an analysis, quoted by Eurogamer pegged the figure at 70, the most recent in 1990. EDGE's site does say it is working on four multiplatform titles at the moment.

Langdell said he would remain a full regular member of the IGDA. Caulfield, the executive director, told Kotaku that "it is my sincere hope that this issue is resolved. There are a lot of great people in the IGDA, and I hope we can get on with providing them with value for their membership."

Statement of Tim Langdell, CEO of EDGE Games, Aug. 31 2009

With the process barely started leading up to the Special Meeting announced last Friday and set to take place on October 3, it is already clear to me that despite my being confident that thinking members of the IGDA will vote for me to remain on the board for the balance of my term, there is a contingent who were involved in sending the defamatory email to all members by exploiting the IGDA email system a few weeks ago who in their fanaticism will cause substantial negative press for the IGDA over the next month and place intolerable demands on the board and IGDA staff. And while I am confident that were the needed quorum of at least 50% of the voting membership to be achieved at the Special Meeting that the vote would go in favor of my remaining on the board, my fear is that a quorum will not be attained and that consequently this vocal minority will not accept the outcome of the October 3rd meeting as bringing closure to this issue.

My great fear, then, is that this vocal minority — most of whom are not IGDA members — will continue their negative attacks on the IGDA beyond October 3, refusing to accept the outcome of my remaining on the board. It seems nearly certain they will continue to generate even more negative press for the IGDA for weeks or even months to come and persist in causing substantial drain on IGDA board volunteer and staff resources and time, which is not in the interests of either the IGDA or its membership. Especially not at this time when all key IGDA resources should be focused on the Leadership Forum, not on dealing with this issue.

Thus with the best interests of the IGDA at heart, and mindful of the unfair demand on the time of my fellow board members and our truly excellent IGDA staff, including the remarkable Joda Sapp and our incomparable new ED Joshua Caulfield, I therefore announce my decision to resign as a member of the board of the IGDA, effective immediately. I make this decision not because I have done anything wrong — on the contrary I am confident that all accusations against me were unfounded and purely intended to defame, and am confident that I have at all times acted in the best interest of the IGDA and its membership — but because I must make this decision between concluding a process that will show I did no wrong, and having that process irreparably damage the IGDA. I cannot permit the latter to happen, and this has to drive my decision today, taking priority over defending myself against these accusations to a conclusion. There are some who will take my stepping down as an admission of wrongdoing, but they are the same people who if the October 3 Special Meeting had gone ahead resulting in my remaining on the board would have refused to accept that outcome.

Last, I wish to say that the board is full of some incredible people, and you, the membership of the IGDA, are in excellent hands. For my part, I believe I made a solid contribution to the Association in my time on the board, taking on a somewhat disastrous web project which, as head of web tech these past months, I was able to bring round so that the new website should now be able to go live very shortly. I am sorry that I will not personally be overseeing the launch of the new website, but I know that this process is in the excellent hands of a colleague on the board.

I will remain an active member of the IGDA, still supporting it in any way I can as a regular member, and still serving on some fifteen SIGs; indeed my departure from the board will give me more time to devote to supporting the SIGs.

Dr. Tim Langdell, Pasadena, CA.

It's a small, inflatable cushion with a dock for the Wii Remote. So that when you rock/bounce the horse, the controller is able to register the movement. You are then supposed to hold the nunchuk as you would a horse's reins. If it were a horse. We'd imagine it could just a easily simulate the riding of a donkey, camel, llama, alpaca or Asian elephant.

Or if those animals aren't your style, maybe you'd be more interested in riding some of the examples Nintendo themselves provide in the actual patent, like bulls, burros, dolphins, whales, dragons, griffons, unicorns and giant eagles.

Griffons? Awesome.

Nintendo's Patented Horseback Riding Wii Controller [Siliconera]

Life in Hell is a weekly comic strip by Groening created in 1977 and renamed Life in Swell in 2007. The strip stars anthropomorphic rabbit Binky and also includes Bink's ex and his illegitimate son. Akbar and Jeff also appear in a number of strips.

Since the strip's topics deal with love, angst, alienation and self-loathing, I can't imagine how or why anyone would turn it into a video game. Add to that the fact that Groening seems to have a habit of trademarking the strip for things he doesn't plan to do with it and I think that this may be a red herring.

But what if? Can you imagine a Life in Hell video game? The inevitable follow-up would have to be a Zippy The Pinhead game. The mind boggles.

Life in Hell Trademark [USPTO]

Whatever it is, it's almost certainly PlayStation related—and one could speculate that a more polished digital delivery of approved info via the PlayStation Network might be a compelling service, from a marketing perspective. We'll be digging around for more info, but your best guesses in the comments are welcome.

Qore [USPTO]

Cosmic Smash was developed by the team formerly known as Sega Rosso, probably better known for their Sega Rally and Star Wars arcade game releases. It's almost begging for a WiiWare re-release, as its rather simple in the mechanics and graphics department—perfect for a Wii-remote waggling short session game.

Cosmic Smash [USPTO]

Square Enix has made no such announcements about such a game, but its recently filed trademark for Party Castle certainly makes us think it may have sights set on an English port. Everyone knows "party" translates to "dice-rolling board game" in Nintendo-speak. Plus, Itadaki Street DS has no shortage of castles. Conjecture? Totally. That's why we're getting in touch with Square Enix to learn more about what this new trademark means. (Pray it's not a mobile game!)

Party Castle Trademark [USPTO]

"... computer game software; computer game programs; computer game discs; interactive multimedia computer game program; downloadable ring tones, ... multimedia software recorded on CD-ROM featuring fictional characters and computer games; pre-recorded DVD's, video tapes, laser discs featuring movies about fictional characters, and pre-recorded compact discs featuring music; motion picture films on fictional characters...".

Wow... at least they aren't attempting to apply it to every piece of media published or anything like that.

I am not a lawyer, but will be interested to see how Futuremark will protect its mark if they are successful in their efforts. I envision nightly round ups of thirteen year olds around the world for their blatant misappropriation of the term. This follows previously-cool Fark's attempts to trademark "NSFW."

Next to be trademarked will be "n00bs," "1337," "hax04," "ROTFL," "LOL" and "pr0n."

I'm going to get ahead of the curve on this one and trademark "d0uchage."

[United States Patent and Trademark Office via Trademork]

Sounds suspiciously like Konami's Beatmania but it will be interesting to see how Activision would make the game their own. It also leaves me curious as to what the song list would be like.

DJ Hero [Trademork via Opposable Thumbs]

With the enormous popularity of the iPhone and the phenomenal success of the iPod, anything handheld from Apple seems like a sure fire hit. But on the other hand you have Apple's inability to bring a lot of quality games to their platforms. If this gaming device does come to fruition, will it end up being the next DS or just another Gizmondo?

Apple Trademark Application [TARR via Trademork]

So what the hell is Dress? Is Sony readying their own version of Sega's dress up and shopping game Love & Berry? Are budding Home citizens about to enjoy the labors of digital seamstresses? Is this Sony's answer to Project Runway? Whatever Sony's recently registered trademark for Dress will be, we're pretty sure it's going to be... interesting.

Most of the trademark's goods and services registrations seem totally inappropriate for Sony's gaming division. For example, Dress is registered against things like "X-RAY TUBES", "GYMNASTIC INSTRUCTION", and "ELECTRIC HAIR-CURLERS FOR HOUSEHOLD USE" which I doubt we'll see. But some of the registrations seem much more likely to apply to a PlayStation game or application.

Some of the more interesting, more telling services that Dress is registered against include:

PROVIDING EXHIBIT SPACE OF VIRTUAL REALITY ENVIRONMENTS IN THE INTERNET FOR COMPUTER GENERATED 3-DIMENSIONAL DESIGN OF CLOTHING

ON-LINE RETAIL STORE SERVICES FEATURING DOWNLOADABLE VIDEO GAME SOFTWARE, SOFTWARE FOR CREATING DRESS AND WEARS FOR VIRTUAL REALITY AVATARS, SOFTWARE USED FOR CREATING VIRTUAL REALITY AVATARS, AND SOFTWARE FOR COMPUTER GENERATED 3-DIMENSIONAL CLOTHING FOR AVATARS

ENTERTAINMENT IN THE NATURE OF FASHION SHOWS

A lot of this sounds very much in tune with Phil Harrison's Game 3.0 mantra, providing gamers with a suite of tools that would aid them in the design of online avatar threads. With that adorable heart-shaped button graphic, it would seem that Dress will come with a slightly more feminine bent.

Of course, Sony, like many companies, registers plenty of trademarks that never see the light of day. Beats. for instance was trademarked by the company in the first quarter of 2007, then rated by the ESRB, but not a peep has been heard about the game.

We'll be tapping the shoulders of our favorite Sony execs in Tokyo next week to bug them about it, hoping to learn more.

Is it simply a sequel to the Nintendo DS sidescrolling game Sega released in the fall of 2005? It could very well be. It was one of the best rated Sonic games of the past five years, performing just as well critically as Sonic's first forays into 3D gaming, Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2. Sonic Rush did pretty well in the sales department, too.

Maybe Sonic Rush Adventure is a totally new title, distinct enough from its DS ancestor to warrant new branding.

Given Sega's recent comments that a "reinvention" of the series is overdue, comments made after the release of Sonic the Hedgehog for PS3 and Xbox 360 and Sonic and the Secret Rings for the Wii, I wouldn't be surprised to see a new take on the Adventure series.

Will Sega keep the Sonic Rush 2D gameplay, adding more story driven elements and exploration? Could they take a Super Paper Mario approach, merging the series' 2D and 3D strengths, eliminating one of its biggest weaknesses, shoddy 3D camera control? Why wouldn't they simply name a standard Sonic Rush sequel Sonic Rush 2?

I'm just riffing here and fully aware that all this conjecture based on a simple trademark registration is mostly wishful thinking, but I'm hoping that Sonic Rush Adventure isn't just Sonic Rush 2 and will give Sonic an opportunity to shine. Michael McWhertor

New Sonic Rush game in the works? [Sonic Stadium via NeoGAF Forums]

While this doesn't necessarily mean that the company is actively working on these two titles (they have plenty of Guitar Hero games to milk for the next few years), the filings from late last year may provide insight into where the new publisher of the series plans to move the game's direction. Or maybe they just get off on filing trademarks.

Also noted by Gamespot for indication that Activision may be looking to expand the franchise are related trademarks filed by previous publisher Red Octane last summer. These include Drum Hero and Keyboard Hero.

No word on when Konami will think about registering "Remember Guitar Freaks? That Was Pretty Good" but we're sure it's coming. Michael McWhertor

Activision calls dibs on Guitar Villain, Drum Villain [Gamespot]