P-G: Mt. Lebanon man must pay $300,000 to gaming company

A Mt. Lebanon man whose hobby-turned-business crossed swords with a fantasy gaming company faces a $300,000 legal judgment and other penalties, U.S. District Judge Terrence F. McVerry ruled Thursday.

Philip James Holland, 23, copied the online game Evony: Age II, and circumvented its owners' controls over their intellectual property, Judge McVerry found.

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• www.post-gazette.com/pg/11091/1136138-55.stm (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

P-G: No fantasy: Game maker wants $825,000 from Mt. Lebanon man

The creators of an online fantasy world went to federal court today to demand $825,000, plus fees, from a Mt. Lebanon man who has eked out a living selling game-playing aids.

Philip James Holland, 23, was late for court, dressed in sweats, and legally outgunned today by Boston attorneys sent by New York-based Evony LLC and Regan Mercantile LLC. Those two firms created Evony, an online empire-building game that's free to play but that makes revenue selling short-cuts toward developing towns and armies.

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• www.post-gazette.com/pg/11074/1132159-100.stm (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

P-G: Game's creators say hackers aid online cheating

Two Mt. Lebanon computer experts who have altered the balance of power in an imaginary world called Evony are now the subject of a lawsuit that could bring online empire-building to a federal courtroom.

New York City-based Evony LLC and Regan Mercantile, which created and ran the copyrighted game Evony, said in a complaint filed Tuesday that Philip and Jimmy Holland, of Xandium Studios, have corrupted their world using tip maps, programs called bots, and even an alternative universe that snatches players.

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• www.post-gazette.com/pg/11020/1119276-55.stm (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)