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Sony Computer Entertainment America has revealed that the PS2's 40Gb hard disk add-on is set to be released in the US next March, priced $99 (£62 / €89) and shipping with Final Fantasy XI "pre-installed".

After Square Enix's ambitious MMORPG (which will support cross-platform PS2/PC play), SOCOM II and Syphon Filter will be the next games to take advantage of the HDD's storage capabilities, with downloadable content planned for both.

The long-awaited hard disk add-on, which will connect to the existing Network Adapter hardware and slot into the unoccupied bay running along one side of the console, will allow the PS2 to offer more of the options that Xbox owners already enjoy - namely faster loading times, custom game soundtracks and the ability to download supplementary game content.

The HDD will also ship with various demos installed, a "games manager" for browsing stored data, and a new custom PS2 media player, which will be able to handle MP3 and CD playback, and digital photo management.

Of course there's currently no word on a European release date, but given the difference between PS2 Online systems over there and over here, it might be a little while yet.

News source: Gamesindustry.biz

In an effort to stem the widespread copying of music over the Internet, the Recording Industry Association of America sued 261 computer users last week, and it plans to sue hundreds more. Several of those sued have expressed dismay that their Internet providers turned over information about them without their permission.

The association is the first to apply the subpoena provision in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 to identify people who make files available for others to copy from their personal computers using file-sharing software like KaZaA. Under the statute, copyright holders do not need a judge's signature to compel Internet service providers to turn over the names of subscribers.

The appeals court decision, expected later this fall, could have important consequences for the music industry's antipiracy campaign. Cary Sherman, president of the recording industry group, said today that using the subpoenas made it easier and less expensive for the organization to file so many lawsuits because it could consolidate the lawsuits in geographic regions under local lawyers hired for that purpose.

Verizon contends that the law was meant to apply only to material that subscribers post on Web sites that reside on computers controlled by Internet providers. The rise of peer-to-peer technology, which lets Internet users find and retrieve files on one another's computers, the company says, was not foreseen by Congress when it passed the law.

Verizon is also challenging the constitutionality of the law, arguing that if it does allow the subpoenas to be used in this way, it violates subscribers' rights to privacy and due process. Judge John D. Bates of Federal District Court in Washington ruled against the company earlier this year, forcing it to turn over the names and addresses of at least four Internet subscribers.

Sarah B. Deutsch, a vice president and lawyer for Verizon, said the company had received 200 subpoenas since then. It is complying with all of them, except for one in which a New York woman has challenged the recording industry's use of the subpoenas to identify her.

The hearing came as two Congressional committees prepare to examine the 1998 statute more closely. On Wednesday, the Senate Commerce Committee will hear testimony about copyright protection and consumer privacy from lawyers for Verizon and SBC, which has filed a separate challenge to the subpoenas in federal court in San Francisco. John Rose, executive vice president of EMI, and Mr. Sherman of the recording industry trade group will also testify.

Senator Norm Coleman, a Minnesota Republican, has scheduled a Sept. 30 hearing of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations that will address privacy issues as well as the broader effect of technology on copyright enforcement.

And Senator Sam Brownback, a Kansas Republican, introduced a bill today to protect Internet providers from the controversial subpoenas. His proposal would block subpoenas except in pending civil lawsuits or in cases where unauthorized copies were stored on Web sites.

News source: New York Times