[H]ardNews - In The News

Sierra Goes Tubing:

And not in a good way. Sierra, well known for publishing such games as Half Life 2 and Leisure Suit Larry, is cutting down its staff by a sizeable amount. Don't worry though, this will seem to have no impact on those of you looking forward to fighting with a crowbar or a condom.

It's not yet clear which products will be affected by the layoffs; although CNN/Money this morning reports that the Hoyle range of card and board game adaptations will be cancelled as a result of the Sierra closure. Titles such as Ground Control 2, Half-Life 2 and Tribes: Vengeance, which are being published on the Sierra label, will not be hit as they are being worked on by external developers and handled by the VU Games parent.

Your Copy Rights:

Dan Brusven points out that PCWorld has a story about what is going on in the world of law and your rights to copy content that you legally own.

The Personal Technology Freedom Coalition has kicked an effort to push the Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act through Congress. The legislation was introduced in January 2003 by Representative Rick Boucher, a Virginia Democrat. It would allow consumers to break copy controls to do such things as make personal copies of compact discs or movies. Supporters say the bill is necessary to protect consumers' so-called fair-use rights to make personal copies, which the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) curtails.

Ahoy Matey:

Ye old download pirates are one step closer to walking a governmental plank straight into the sharks. Thanks Bumzy.

WASHINGTON - The Senate agreed to legislation Friday that would allow the Justice Department (news - web sites) to use civil penalties to go after people who illegally share and download computer files over the Internet (news - web sites).