UK games chart: Midnight Club 3 races up the charts

The FIFA Street football game (pictured) holds its place at the top of this week's ELSPA UK games chart. And while id Software's Doom 3 sticks at number three, there is a new entry between the two. Its title may suggest some sort of DJ toasting competition, but Rockstar'sMidnight Club 3: Dub edition is an urban racing game, with the latest edition taking its name from the US car-modding Dub magazine. ...more

Games copying software launched in face of copyright threats

321 Studios - a company that has already met with short shrift from Hollywood for its DVD X copy software, which allows a user to make an exact image of a DVD film - can expect a similarly cool reception from the games industry with its Game X Copy 'We designed Games X Copy with the parent in mind,' said Robert Moore, President and Founder of 321 Studios. 'This software is easy to use, so making backups of PC games literally takes one click of a button,' Moore continued. 'We designed it for parents, but it is easy enough to use that even the kids could make the backup, and take it on vacation or to a friend's house - and parents no longer have to worry about the original being damaged or lost. ...more

Openreach hits the road

Today, BT is officially spinning off its local engineering business as a separate entity. The new company Openreach, will employ the company's 25,000 field engineers. BT says that the new company's 22,000 resprayed vans will become a familiar sight on Britain's roads. ...more

Organic Flat Panels

Dai Nippon Printing has announced it has developed a process to manufacture flat-panel displays that uses plastics and will result in cheaper and faster production. Current processes for manufacturing organic electroluminescent displays (OELs) use glass. The plastic process would mean lighter and more durable screens, perfect for mobile devices such as mobile phones, which are also the products that low-power OEL screens are targeted at. ...more

Support for software patents faltering in Europe

The Netherlands has withdrawn support for a controversial draft that would legalise software patents in Europe. The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) reports that the Dutch Parliament has ordered Minister Brinkhorst and Secretary of State van Gennip (Economic Affairs) to withdraw the Dutch vote in support of the Council of Ministers' controversial text for the Directive on Software Patents. The FFII says this is the first time in the history of the EU that this has happened. ...more