Round Up: SOE/Planetwide Partnership, GameTap's New Face, Lucent vs. Microsoft

Today's round up includes new of Sony Online Entertainment and Planetwide Games joining forces, a new Head of Marketing for Gametap, and the ongoing legal bettle between Lucent and Microsoft, as well as the latest posts from GameSetWatch, product news and Gamasutra job postings. - Sony Online Entertainment and Planetwide Games announced today that the companies have begun working together to release a web-based version of Planetwide's Comic Book Creator for subscribers of SOE's Station Players service. "SOE continues to offer industry-leading innovations in the realm of ancillary service offerings for online game subscribers," said John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment. "We're always looking for unique ways to both enrich the online gaming experience as well as offer our subscribers services that extend beyond our game worlds. Comic Book Creator provides additional value for our online communities with its unique features, allowing players to strengthen their connection to their avatars and social groups in a whole new way." The web version is expected to be added to Station Players this fall, while the digital version, along with special SOE game-themed art packs, is expected to be available for purchase through SOE's Station.com store this summer. - GameTap, Turner Broadcasting's PC games-on-demand service, has announced that David Reid has joined the company as its vice president of marketing. In his new role, Reid will be responsible for all aspects of GameTap’s marketing strategy and communications, including brand identity, advertising development, awareness and subscriber-acquisition campaigns, the gametap.com website, subscriber retention, and relationships with existing and new GameTap partners. “David brings to GameTap a deep understanding of the core and casual video game consumer, as well as experience building online businesses,” said Snyder. “His entrepreneurial experience in the video game and software industries will be of great value to the company.” - In what seems to be an ongoing drama, consumer website 1UP is reporting that technology company Lucent is once again suing Microsoft, claiming that the Xbox 360 infringes upon Lucent's July 13, 1993 patent #5,227,878 titled “Adaptive Coding and Decoding of Frames and Fields of Video.” The last time these two met in court, the judge ruled that the claim was invalid due to a typo in the patent. The judged also indicted that the ruling was “without prejudice to Lucent starting separate action”, and now that Lucent has fixed the error, they are requesting a jury trial to settle the matter. - The latest updates on Gamasutra sister weblog GameSetWatch include a look back at Wolfteam's Sega Genesis 'classic', El Viento, a quick glance at GameTap's offerings following their recent price drop, cult classic Shaun of the Dead for your phone, a new weblog dedicated to virtual worlds, the winners of the Shmup-Dev Competition, and indie game Darwinia heading to retail. - Also updated today: product news, featuring PathEngine SDK 5.02, and SpirOps AI Starter Pack, as well as the latest Gamasutra job postings, featuring openings from Backbone Entertainment, Double Fusion, Fasa Studio, Forterra Systems, Harmonix Music Systems, LucasArts, Midway Games, Pixar Animation Studios, Radical Entertainment, Visual Concepts Entertainment, and White Rabbit Game Studio.