James Burt of Queensland, Australia has agreed to pay Nintendo $1.5 million in damages as compensation for lost revenue caused when Burt uploaded a game before its official release date.

Burt made New Super Mario Bros. for Wii available online in early November, one week before its official Australian street date. As is the case in most countries, distributing games without permission is illegal and carries a hefty fine.

Rather than head to court, Burt and Nintendo settled and came to the $1.5 million figure, which also includes $100,000 to pay for Nintendo's legal fees.

"Nintendo will pursue those who attempt to jeopardise our industry by using all means available to it under the law," says the company.

Adds Nintendo Australia managing director Rose Lappin: "It wasn't just an Australian issue, it was a global issue. There was thousands and thousands of downloads, at a major cost to us and the industry really. It's not just about us. It's about retailers and if they can't sell the games then they have to bear the costs associated with that. Once it's on the internet it's anyone's really."

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Google has introduced their own social networking service, dubbed Google Buzz, which will allow Gmail users to share status updates, photos, videos and more. Buzz will be a direct competition to Facebook and Twitter.

In response, Facebook announced today that FB Chat will be integrated into the AIM instant messaging service, which currently has 17 million users. There are 400 million Facebook accounts, as of this week.

There are currently 176 million Gmail users, and Buzz will create a "circle of friends" right from launch that is a group of people in which you communicate the most with through Gtalk or Gmail.

Buzz allows for status updates like Facebook, photo sharing from Picasa and Flickr, video sharing from YouTube, and Twitter messages.

The service is available for mobile phones as well at buzz.google.com.

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According to the latest figures from research firm comScore, the Android mobile OS continued to take market share at a fast pace, jumping from 2.5 percent in September to 5.2 percent in December.

On the other hand, RIM, Microsoft and Palm all lost share.

The Apple iPhone gained share as well, jumping from 24.1 percent in September to 25.3 percent in December.

Despite losing share, RIM remained atop the smartphone market share with 41 percent.

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Last week Microsoft announced that it was shutting down the Xbox Live service for the original Xbox console starting in April, effectively killing all online play for the orphaned console, as well as for Xbox games that can be played on the Xbox 360.

Bungie, the developer behind the Halo series, says it is saddened that gamers will no longer be able to play Halo 2 online.

"We're all saddened at the realisation that an era is coming to an end but looking back, we're incredibly fortunate to have had such a great run and such strong support from our fans," says Bungie. "Halo 2 has been at or near the top of the Xbox Live charts for original games since it launched over five years ago. We're extremely thankful to everyone who has played, enjoyed and supported Halo 2 over Xbox Live. We've had some great fun together, including far too many humpday losses to even recount."

With that being said, Bungie is inviting all current and former Halo 2 players to have one last battle on April 14th, the last day before the servers go down.

"Mark your calendars now - on April 14th let's all rally to go online for one last hoorah. One final farewell and one final opportunity for all of you to kick our asses at Halo 2."

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Motorola has announced via Facebook that DROID users will soon be receiving on over-the-air update for Android 2.1, making the phone the second to have the latest firmware, after the Google Nexus One.

It is unclear what will come with the update, but many are speculating that increased multi-touch support is coming along with API changes.

Says the post: "Motorola: Hi all-- we know you are frustrated with the lack of details regarding Android software upgrades and we sincerely apologize for not being able to share info sooner. We're happy to relay the 2.1 upgrade to DROID will start to roll out this week, and we will have more information to share on other device upgrades later ...this week as well. Thanks for your patience and continued support."

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According to Cnet, Netflix will add 5.1 surround sound and closed captioning to their Watch Instantly streaming service soon, with 1080p playback coming later in 2011.

Current requirements for streaming include a 5Mbps connection, and it appears that that requirement should not change until 1080p streaming becomes available, even given the extra bandwidth necessary for a 5.1 audio stream.

Microsoft Silverlight, the technology used for the streaming, has supported 1080p streaming since March.

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Google has started live phone support for the Nexus One this week, finally giving users a way to directly talk with representatives from the company. Until this week, live, phone support had been redirected to carrier T-Mobile, or hardware manufacturer HTC.

If you had wanted to contact Google, it had to be done through email with 24-hour turnaround.

Because the phone is only available online, many buyers have been reluctant to purchase the "superphone," especially without having support from a representative. Reports have shown that most new purchases of the Nexus One have come from users that have already tried Android in the past and are more familiar with the interface.

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Adobe has announced today that Flash 10.1 will only work on Android smartphones running firmware 2.1 or later, a move that disappoints most Android phone owners out there, being that only one phone currently has 2.1, the Google Nexus One. Most Android phones still run firmware 1.5 or 1.6.

Additionally, the company has said browser plugins for Android, webOS and Windows Mobile will be available before June.

Adobe says that over 50 percent of all smartphones will have Flash support by 2012 and that most tablets will support it as well.

Of course, Apple users will probably never see Flash support, given the ongoing battle of words between the two companies.

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