Outsiders and even most within the gaming industry never hear the details of game development contracts between studios and publishers. Through a series of unfortunate events, perhaps even some misrepresentations and a lawsuit, everyone is given insight into these contracts and negotiations.

Spark Unlimited, the independent studio behind Call of Duty: Finest Hour, has filed a $10 million lawsuit against Activision accusing the publisher of breach of contract, fraud, theft of ideas and stealing of employees. Gamespot has obtained a copy of the lawsuit and is currently running a great article detailing the case.

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As this case proceeds, everyone should remember a few things:

Microsoft and Sony are clearly in a race to win the hardcore gamer. This has accelerated the console timeline and is pushing console prices up. In the end, the PS3 and 360 will likely match up very closely in overall functionality. One will have a slight edge in some areas, and the other will “best” remaining areas.

Should the PS3 and the Xbox 360 each include a hard drive and wireless bridge standard? How about other features? Not necessarily; it depends on who exactly is being targeted. By including these additional features, the price of each console will increase drastically.

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The important thing to remember is that the industry needs to pay attention to the casual gamer if it wants to substantially grow fixed game sales. By segmenting the consoles, Microsoft has begun to do this. The “full package” will still be available to for the typical gamer, but a cheaper version that meets the needs of the casual gamer will also be available.

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The market continues to say that Microsoft and Sony are both doing a great job of supporting their developers, but both companies still appear very hardware and technology focused. Nintendo on the other hand has always taken a more holistic approach to console design by looking at what makes games fun and improving on that.

Nintendo did lose significant ground in the current generation, but we are looking forward to seeing the continuation of features like the Bongo Drum Controller.

Will Sony miss the boat with casual gamers? Does Nintendo or Microsoft have the best approach for targeting both hardcore and casual gamers? Only time will tell, but we would love to hear your opinions…

Com2uS, a Korean based mobile games developer and publisher, has raised $8 million (US) in funding from US-based venture capital firms Storm Ventures and Walden International. This funding will be used to accelerate game development and aid marketing activities in Korea and abroad.

Com2uS currently has game offerings in 40 countries through multiple carriers such as NTT DoCoMo, China Mobile, T-Mobile and Vodafone Global.

EE Times is reporting that, Telabria, an early member of the WiMax Forum, has raised more than £1 million from private and institutional sources. The company plans to raise additional funds in the coming months and will use these funds to develop a WiMax wireless broadband network in South East England.

Nintendo announced that it would acquire 2.2 million shares of its own stock, representing 1.55 percent of the 130.08 million shares outstanding. Assuming the company acquires all 2.2. million shares at the propose $106 per share price, the purchase will cost 25.64 billion yen ($233.5 million).

Analysts believe this move is to limit any possibility of a hostile takeover. The resent “friendly” $600 million takeover bid for Taito by Square Enix is the latest combination in several years of game industry consolidation that has increased pressure on the only console manufacture to rely almost entirely on game related sales.

According to Gamesindustry.biz, Sony Europe’s Phil Harrison told audiences at GDCE that multiple versions of the Playstation 3 would be “unlikely” and would “confusing”. Harrison was quick to point out that these statement and others were his “personal view” and not an official Sony decision or release, but they do help set the differences [...]

As we reported, Microsoft announced last week that the company was planning to add tools to its Internet Explorer toolbar to help combat phishing and scam sites.

Microsoft has made good on its statements by releasing a beta of The Microsoft Phishing Filter Add-in. The add-in will “warn” users with a bright yellow bar is it suspects a website is setup for phishing and will “block” users on a site that is confirmed on the online list of reported phishing sites. The add-in also has buttons that allow users to report any websites they suspect of being used for phishing or to inform Microsoft that any website with a “warn” flag is legitimate.

We applaud Microsoft’s initiative to make the internet safer for users, but we reiterate our concern that sites or companies may not be able to appeal the warning directly.

A new study release by Gartner predicts that revenues from Indian cellular services will reach $24 billion by the end of 2009, with a penetration of 30 percent and more than 300 million connections. The Indian cellular market grew 67 percent in 2004 but will need only a 35.6 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) to meet this prediction. Given the country’s economic growth and lack of a core landline system, this seems quite reasonable.