General

Spore, the hotly-anticipated new game from Electronic Arts is facing fierce criticism from consumers over its apparent use of unusually restrictive digital rights management (DRM) technology.

“I basically put down my hard-earned money and get punished for buying the game legally. The gaming industry needs to be sent a message that this is no way to treat their customers”, said one buyer who posted a review at Amazon.com

Dramatic video of a notebook PC exploding in flames has shocked consumers and battered its manufacturer's share price. The explosion of the LG notebook's battery earlier this week was caught in video footage (seen here), which has now been broadcast on Korean television.

“People do need to be aware that there's a risk of very serious injury. If there's any sign that a laptop battery is overheating badly, stay well away from it”, said one doctor interviewed on Korean TV.

Updated: Sales of Sony's PS3 video games console surged 300 per cent after the company released a cheaper model in Japan last week, according to leaked survey data.

Sony Japan introduced the new PS3 model with a 40GB hard disk drive on November 11. One day later, local PS3 weekly sales figures had soared from an average of 16,000 to almost 66,000.

A massive denial of service attack has disabled some of the world's largest virtual goods trading sites. The Korea-based sites hit by the attack are responsible for a substantial portion of the country's estimated $1bn trade in virtual gold, weapons and other items for games like World of Warcraft.

A folding oven woven out of soft cloth could be on sale as early as next year predict scientists who demonstrated a prototype today. Despite weighing only a few hundred grams, the lightweight electrical oven can be made hot enough to roast chicken, according to the researchers who developed it.

Thin and flexible conductive elements are woven into the oven's highly heat-resistant fabric, said the researchers, who demonstrated the folding kitchen appliance to reporters at a restaurant in Taiwan today.