Gizmodo Australia » monopoly

Google Maps’ Giant Game Of Monopoly Begins Tomorrow

Mark Wilson — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:30:00 +0000

No, that’s not a snarky business headline. Google and Hasbro are launching a worldwide game of Monopoly using Google Maps as the board. It’s called Monopoly City Streets.

Each player starts with $US3 million. They can buy any street in the world to erect houses, stadiums and even skyscapers allowing them to collect more and more daily rent (ranging from $US50,000 to $US100 million per property). The goal? “Play to beat your friends and the world to become the richest property magnate in existence”.

Streets will vary in cost, of course, with the White House’s Pennsylvania Ave. listed at $US2 million, while Downing Street (London’s home to the senior British cabinet) goes for just $US231,000. (America, f–k yeah.)

If anyone sees a spot to register, please say so in the comments. So far we’ve only tracked down the game’s official site and blog. And if we don’t start playing right when this game starts, we’ll lose out on another rare opportunity to be financially humbled by the real estate market. [Monopoly City Streets via Daily Mail via DVICE]

Obama’s Pick For Anti-Trust Chief Sees Google As a Monopolist Threat

Jack Loftus — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 14:00:00 +0000

This week, we learned President Obama’s anti-trust chief pick said Google, and not usual suspect Microsoft, may be sent directly to jail for monopolistic behaviour. My oh my, how the tables have turned, eh?

Apple Fires Back At Psystar: ‘We’re Sooo Not A Monopoly’

John Herrman — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 10:10:00 +0000

Remember when Psystar turned their little hardware dalliance with Mac OS X into an ideological crusade against monopolies? Apple isn’t having any of it. The company has just filed to dismiss Psystar’s antitrust lawsuit, and, as if channeling John McCain from the last debate, seems pretty angry that Psystar just doesn’t understand:

“Ignoring fundamental principles of antitrust law, and the realities of the marketplace, Psystar contends that Apple has unlawfully monopolised an alleged market that consists of only one product, the Macintosh® computer.”

It’s doubtful that Psystar has the grounds to win or even the money to fight this case, but the stated principle here is kind of weird. The whole line of Macintosh computers is one product? Hardware that could run Mac OS comprises an “alleged market?” It’s hard to quite make sense of what they mean other than “PLEASE DIE.” We’ll see what happens in court on November 3rd, when Apple passes that sentiment on to Psystar’s face(s). [The Register, with full filing at ZDNet]

EA Announces SimCity and the Sims 3 for the iPhone: Spore Coming on September 7th

Sean Fallon — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 22:16:00 +0000

EA has announced that nine new titles are currently in development for the iPhone: Yahtzee Adventures, EA Mini Golf, Lemonade Tycoon, Mahjong, Monopoly: Here & Now The World Edition, SimCity, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 09, Need for Speed Undercover, and The Sims 3. Many of these titles have been mentioned before, but I was pretty pumped to hear about SImCity and the Sims 3 being added to the list. EA has also revealed that they are shooting to release Spore Origins on September 7th—the same day it is released on the Mac and PC. Hit the jump for some new Spore screenshots and the official press release.

EA’S SPORE ORIGINS OOZES ONTO THE IPHONE

EA Mobile Announces More iPhone Games in Development: MONOPOLY, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR

and Need for Speed Undercover

LOS ANGELES, Calif., – September 5, 2008 – EA Mobile™, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS), today announced that Spore™ Origins, an original game for the iPhone™ and iPod™ touch, will be available later this month. The game takes full advantage of the devices’ built-in accelerometer as players tilt, turn and twist their way through a world made of primordial ooze. In conjunction with the launch of Spore Origins, EA Mobile also announces a list of nine games in development for both the iPhone and iPod Touch platforms.

Eat-or-be-eaten in Spore Origins! Designed exclusively for the iPhone and iPod touch, Spore Origins uses the platforms’ motion-sensing technology to let gamers navigate a primordial tidepool on a quest to evolve. Feast on the weak and flee from the strong through two exciting modes and 35 challenging levels. Pinch, pull, and poke your creation in the Creature Editor, customising the texture, shape and body parts to improve your offence, defence, perception and movement as you evolve over millions of years.

“The iPhone and iPod touch are the perfect platforms for a game like Spore Origins,” said Travis Boatman, Vice President Worldwide Studios at EA Mobile. “Fans of the game can customise their own creatures, and then dive into exploring the ooze-filled environments by rotating the device for an experience that is truly unique to these devices. EA is excited about extending the Spore franchise across several mobile platforms including the iPhone, iPod touch, iPod as well as regular mobile phones.”

EA Mobile today also announced nine titles in development for the iPhone and iPod touch, pending regional availability. This list includes YAHTZEE Adventures, EA Mini Golf, Lemonade Tycoon™, Mahjong, MONOPOLY: Here & Now The World Edition, SimCity, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 09, Need for Speed™ Undercover, and The Sims™ 3.

EU Antitrust Lands Intel with Three New Charges

Kit Eaton — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:56:00 +0000

The EU antitrust investigation into Intel’s business practices has just got a little nastier for Intel. Three new charges are being levelled against the chip manufacturer, including charges that Intel paid a leading European retailer to sell only PCs powered by Intel, and also paid a “leading” OEM to delay the launch of an AMD-powered product line. Taken together, the charges indicate a “single overall anticompetitive strategy aimed at excluding AMD” according to the European Commission document. This may come as interesting news to AMD’s recently departed CEO. Intel has two weeks to respond. [EU Statement via Ars Technica]

Intel Antitrust Investigation Officially Underway

Brian Lam — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 02:18:13 +0000

In my mind, AMD and VIA comments can be summed up as, “No shit.” [NYTimes]

Mac Clone Maker Psystar Says Apple’s EULA Violates Monopoly Laws, Wants to Challenge it in Court

Jason Chen — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:41:25 +0000

Psystar, who’s just announced that they’re going to sell a US$399.99 Mac clone called Open Mac, doesn’t care that Apple’s EULA prohibits using OS X on any machine not made by Apple. In fact, they say that Apple’s terms “violate U.S. monopoly laws“, posing the example of Microsoft theoretically saying you could only install Windows on Dell machines.

They also told Information Week that they weren’t breaking any laws, and that they were going to continue to sell this system no matter what Apple says. Another example the employee gave was this: “What if Honda said that, after you buy their car, you could only drive it on the roads they said you could?” Even if Psystar’s machines aren’t anything spectacular, if they can set a legal precedent for third-party manufacturers selling OS X-bundled machines, that would be a win for everybody. [InformationWeek - Thanks Achal!]

AMD: Intel Made $60 Billion in “Monopoly Profits”

Seamus Byrne — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 22:00:56 +0000

AMD has a new presser out declaring that between 1996 and 2006, Intel socked away over $60 billion of “monopoly profits” into its “monopoly coffers.” It also claims that if there was “full competition” in the processor market, we would save over $81 billion, which sounds awesome. Now, I’m not an economist, so I can’t really judge the conclusions, but if you skip down to the fine print, you’ll see that the study’s conductor, ERS Group is an “an economic and financial consulting firm retained by AMD’s outside counsel, O’Melveny & Myers LLP.” But like I said, I’m not an economist, so I’m not making any judgments. [AMD Press Release, Image via Flickr]