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A German court in Mannheim ruled earlier this morning that Microsoft has actually infringed upon Motorola Mobility’s patents, and hence have requested Microsoft to stp selling their hugely popular Xbox 360 gaming consoles as well as Windows 7 operating system from the German market. Considering how Germany has one of the strongest economies in the whole of Europe, this sales ban will definitely cast a heavy pall upon Microsoft executives. The Redmond company claims that this particular ruling means otherwise – its products will remain on retailers’ shelves as a US district court in Seattle did grant Microsoft a preliminary injunction against Motorola so that the phone manufacturer cannot enforce any German court order. (more…) By Ubergizmo . Related articles : Motorola wins injunction against Windows 7 and Xbox 360 in Germany , Motorola Wins Initial Ruling on Microsoft’s Xbox Patent Lawsuit ,

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The Hitman folks probably should’ve stuck the word “assassin” somewhere in their game title, that way they could avoid embarrassing marketing moments. Take, for instance, the trailer above’s insistence that Agent 47 is the “original” assassin. Doesn’t his blood-soaked legacy speak for itself? Apparently not!

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Japanese gaming giant GREE just acquired mid-core, mobile game developer Funzio for $210 million in what should boost its ability to build games for Western audiences. Funzio is behind Crime City, Modern War and Kingdom Age, which are graphical RPGs that have had good runs on Apple’s iOS, Android or Facebook platforms. I had heard a few weeks back that Funzio was in a fundraising process at a $350 million post-money valuation and had also been loosely talking to various buyers in an auction-style process. Apparently, the fundraising efforts helped tip Funzio into a sale, but maybe not at the valuation I had originally heard about. Still, $210 million is not bad at all, considering that the company had raised about $20 million to date from IDG Ventures and Playdom co-founder Rick Thompson. For comparison, Draw Something-maker OMGPOP went to Zynga for $180 million in cash plus an undisclosed earnout. Why did GREE buy Funzio? GREE is a multi-billion dollar mobile gaming company from Japan that is trying to break into Western markets. Its profit margins put Zynga to shame , but the company is running out …

If the Queen’s Jubilee and 2012 Olympics pride have overcome your sense of subtlety, Microsoft has a special game console for you. The Celebration Pack Xbox 360 is a plain-jane 4GB Kinect bundle underneath, but it slathers the console, the wireless gamepad and the Kinect sensor in a tattered Union Jack to remind everyone you’re not from Canada. Gamers also get copies of Kinect Adventures and Kinect Sports to help them train for the 500-meter relay. Showing your patriotism with an Xbox will cost you

The HTC Titan II is a symbol for an excellent partnership. I love HTC hardware and I love Windows Phone. It should be a match made in heaven, but unfortunately it’s not. John and I sat down in the studio yesterday with the giant 4.7-inch hunk of glass and plastic, and we came away with pretty negative sentiments toward the device. John thinks it’s too big, which seems to be his usual complaint these days. My argument is a bit more geeky. To start, the Titan II is made of soft-touch plastic, rather than the aluminum unibody frame we saw on the original Titan. This is actually not that big of a deal. Sure, I’d prefer aluminum, but HTC always finds a way to make sure its hardware feels premium, so that’s no biggie. What I’m really perturbed by is the way that Windows Phone and HTC came together. First of all, Windows Phone requires its partners to build hardware with a 480

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