Wii GHIII sound triggers lawsuit

Last week, Activision copped to widespread reports that its popular rhythm-based music game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock was not outputting stereo audio, despite Dolby Pro Logic II surround-sound support clearly being displayed on the game`s box, reports Game Spot.

In an effort to rectify the problem, the publisher revealed plans to re-master and re-issue the Wii version of the game at no charge to purchasers, in early 2008.

However, the mega publisher will have at least one more obstacle to clear before the issue can be considered settled. Activision is now facing a class-action lawsuit stemming from the game, as revealed by a court filing obtained by Wired.

Microsoft gave a self-styled "holiday surprise" that came in the form of an announcement that it has begun public trials of new virtualisation software called Hyper-V, to be featured on some versions of Windows Server 2008, says Forbes.com.

Microsoft previously said the first public release of the test version of Hyper-V would come out in the first quarter of next year.

The company`s announcement gave its shares a 2.2%, or 75c, lift to close at $35.22.

A political controversy over deleted documents and conflicts of interest could, opponents of the deal hope, imperil Google`s planned $3.1 billion acquisition of the DoubleClick advertising firm, reports News.com.

The most recent round started with Elinor Mills` article on Wednesday afternoon, which noted that two liberal groups opposed to the merger asked Federal Trade Commission chairman Deborah Platt Majoras to recuse herself from a vote, because her husband is a partner at the Jones Day law firm, which is representing DoubleClick. Majoras recused herself from a previous matter involving Procter & Gamble because Jones Day was involved.

That article quoted the FTC as saying Jones Day was only involved in the European aspects of the Google-DoubleClick merger and had not appeared before the FTC.

The US Army has created a new project office for the development of gaming technologies, says Daily Tech.

While the US Army may have started with id Software`s DOOM II as a training tool, it will not rely on modern commercial shooters as the basis for its training. "I haven`t seen a game built for the entertainment industry that fills a training gap," said colonel Jack Millar, director of the service`s Training and Doctrine Command`s (TRADOC) Project Office for Gaming, or TPO Gaming.

The America`s Army games were primarily recruitment tools, but TPO Gaming`s main focus is on training tools.