Minecraft-Bethesda fight going to court

In August, Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson suggested his legal tussle with The Elder Scrolls publisher Bethesda Softworks be settled with a few games of Quake III Arena. It turns out that not only did Bethesda balk at that idea, but the two sides apparently couldn’t come to a settlement on the issue at all.

Earlier today, Persson posted on his Twitter account, “The Scrolls case is going to court! Weee! ”

The dispute went public in early August, when Persson posted on his blog about a threat from Bethesda’s legal team regarding the title of his next project, Scrolls. Bethesda has a trademark on its Elder Scrolls series of games, the latest installment of which, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, is set to launch later this year.

“I agree that the word ‘Scrolls’ is part of that trademark, but as a gamer, I have never ever considered that series of (very good) role-playing games to be about scrolls in any way, nor was that ever the focal point of neither their marketing nor the public image,” Persson wrote at the time. “The implication that you could own the right to all individual words within a trademark is also a bit scary. We looked things up and realized they didn’t have much of a case, but we still took it seriously. Nothing about Scrolls is meant to in any way derive from or allude to their games.”

Persson went on to stress that he was still a fan of Bethesda’s work but called the situation nonsense. As for why it was happening, Persson said it was “partly just their lawyers being lawyers, and a result of trademark law being the way it is.”

Call of Duty Elite-like programs a ‘necessity’ – Activision

Activision’s first significant foray into the social network sphere–Call of Duty: Elite–deploys this November alongside Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. However, it is by no means planned to be the last such foray.

Activision’s services and ongoing content strategy is locked and loaded.

“We believe that a 24/7, year-round services strategy that broadens the game experience beyond just playing is going to be a necessity,” Activision’s digital vice president Jamie Berger said in a new interview with MCV.

“Right now, it’s an option, but in three to five years, it won’t be. To support a diverse player base, you will have to have a services and ongoing content strategy. I don’t see how games are going to manage without that…Elite is about Call of Duty being bigger than ever five years from now and laying the groundwork for that.”

Elite will officially launch alongside Modern Warfare 3 on November 8. The service will have free features and a premium component that is priced at $50 a year and comes included with the $100 Hardened edition of the game. Those who subscribe to Elite will gain access to all 20 pieces of downloadable content that will be released for the game–a $60 value.

The movement toward connected gaming is already apparent both with Activision and competing publishers. On top of Elite, it is likely Bungie’s first title with Activision will offer a social network, as the company did with the Halo series through Bungie.net.

Outside of Activision, Electronic Arts is cementing a foothold in social networks for its games as well. The publisher is rolling out EA Sports Football Club for FIFA 12 and Battlelog for this October’s Battlefield 3, which itself is based on Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit’s Autolog network.

L.A. Noire hits PC in November

Team Bondi may have hit the skids, but the Australian developer’s debut title has yet to finish up its patrol. Rockstar Games today announced that the PC debut of L.A. Noire: The Complete Edition has been set for November 8 in North America, with a European launch following on November 11.

A good cop in a bad town with worse spelling.

Justifying the package’s subtitle, the PC edition of L.A. Noire packs in a code to grab all previously released downloadable content from the console versions. The game is being ported over by Rockstar Leeds and supports both keyboard remapping and gamepads. The PC edition will also support Nvidia 3D Vision, something not found on the console editions of the game.

L.A. Noire follows Cole Phelps, a detective entangled in a violent web of vice, corruption, and crime in 1947 Los Angeles. Players jump into the seedy underworld of the metropolis and are tasked with solving a series of murders and other criminal offenses, ranging from arson and drug trafficking to racketeering.

Batman: Arkham City Xbox 360 bundle spotted

Microsoft has a history of giving gamers special-edition system bundles for major franchises. The Xbox 360 has at various times been packed in with Halo 3, Gears of War 3, Final Fantasy XIII, and soon Kinect Star Wars and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Now, it appears DC Comics’ caped crusader is bundling up as well.

Customers are a thrifty and judicious lot…

As spotted by Gamerant, Amazon’s German arm recently posted a listing for a Batman: Arkham City Xbox 360 bundle. The listing indicates that Microsoft is readying a bundle for Rocksteady’s October 18-dated action game that includes a 250GB system, a controller, and a copy of the game.

The listing states that European gamers will pay €279 (about $381) for the bundle, which will go on sale in that region on October 21. The bundle has yet to be confirmed by Microsoft or Rocksteady.

Batman: Arkham City is due out in North America on October 18. A sequel to 2009′s Batman: Arkham Asylum, the game again drops the dark knight in the confines of an unconventional prison. But where Arkham Asylum stuck players in the halls and courtyards of a mental hospital overrun with the Joker’s goons and allies, Arkham City deposits them in a sprawling neighborhood of Gotham City that has been walled off to contain the criminal element.

On top of the standard $60 iteration of Batman: Arkham City, the game will be available in a $100 collector’s edition. In addition, Rocksteady has teamed with numerous retailers to offer various preorder incentives. A PC version of the game is on the way but was recently delayed to November.