Ken Kutaragi, the man known as the Father of PlayStation, also has creds under his belt apart from his phenomenal consoles. Back in 2007, he pushed for the Sony and Namco Bandai joint venture, Cellius. At the end of October this year, Kutaragi will spearhead yet another company, adding a shiny new badge to his gaming résume.

When license agreements turn sour, you know what's coming next. For World Wrestling Entertainment, THQ, and Jakks Pacific, the result is a Triple Threat matchup between the three companies, jockeying for position over the WWE Smackdown vs. Raw franchise.

A group of developers from IO Interactive have vacated their positions to reform and kickstart Reto-Moto, the development studio that gave rise to IO Interactive in the first place. Could this lead to a Freedom Fighters sequel? More in the full article.

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe or SCEE, together with UK's multichannel multiplatform television service operator Sky, announced today the creation of a new company named Joint Venture. So what now?

Well, the new company will be providing PSP owners in UK and Ireland on-demand entertainment content. That means that Sony is now officially providing its user base with a video on demand (VOD) download service for the PlayStation Portable.
Anyway, SCEE and Sky mentioned that they both have equal board level representation in Joint Venture. Furthermore, it was also said that the service will be exclusive to Sony's handheld console.

More interestingly, Joint Venture announced as well that it is considering to provide a similar service across Europe in the future, but as of now, it would like to focus on UK's and Ireland's consumer base which amounts to 2.3 million users when combined.

SCEE, finally, added that more will be revealed during this year's Game Convention in Germany.

Are you folks familiar with Gary Friedrich? If you are, then that's good. If you are not, you better read up on him now because he is in a foul mood. Friedrich is the creator of character "Johnny Blaze" and alter-ego Ghost Rider back in 1968. Quite recently, he filed a lawsuit against those responsible for the movie and the video game for copyright infringement.

The said complaint was filed last April 4 in the federal court of Illinois claiming 21 violations. The defendants include Sony's Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, producers Relativity Media, Crystal Sky Pictures, and Michael De Luca Prods, as well as Hasbro Inc. and Take-Two Interactive.

According to Friedrich, Marvel wasn't able to properly utilize and capitalize on the Ghost Rider character, not to mention the fact that the copyrights used in the film and in related products were reverted to him from Marvel in 2001. He added that Marvel failed to secure enough royalties, and companies Take-Two Interactive and Hasbro Inc. improperly created merchandise based on his creation.

A part of the lawsuit states,

In late 2006 or early 2007, the defendants herein wrongfully embarked upon a high-profile campaign, arrangement, joint venture and conspiracy to exploit, profit from and utilize plaintiff's copyrights, the Johnny Blaze character and persona, the origin story and the related characters and personas created by plaintiff, in various endeavors, including, but not limited to, the use of the same in movie theater presentations and promotions, commercials, action-figure toys, video games, clothing and novels.

It wasn't specified how much Friedrich is seeking for damages. Aside from copyright infringement, the mentioned companies are also accused of the following: violations of federal and Illinois state unfair competition laws, negligence, waste, tortuous interference with prospective business expectancy, misappropriation of characters, unauthorized use of the characters, and false advertising and endorsement.

A brief report over at GamesIndustry.biz says that according to the Wall Street Journal, games retailer and rental specialist Blockbuster is in advanced talks to buy online movie rental site Movielink.

The online company is owned by a joint venture of MGM Studios, Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios and Warner Bros. It could be picked up for under US $50 million in cash and stock.

Movielink, along with Amazon and CinemaNow, was reported to be in talks with Sony late last year regarding movie downloads for PSP users. The service was due to launch early this year, and will surely be affected if Blockbuster acquires Movielink.