The IGDA announced Langdell’s resignation in a brief statement this morning. No reason was given. An IGDA spokesman declined to make any further comment. A call and email have been sent to IGDA Executive Director Joshua Caulfield, and an email has been sent to Langdell. Comments from either will be updated here.

Late last week, the IGDA announced that a special meeting of the membership – essentially an online vote – would be held Oct. 3, the sole purpose of which was to vote on whether Langdell should be removed. Langdell had served on the board since March 1. His resignation effectively cancels that meeting.

Langdell, who founded EDGE Games in 1979, is widely known for the aggressive defence of his long held trademark to the word “Edge” in video gaming. His latest dispute is with Mobigame, which released the iPhone/iPod Touch game EDGE in April. Their public fight has provoked heated commentary and accusations of bad faith dealings on both sides. Langdell himself has become more vocal of late, publishing a lengthy defence of his company and engaging in debates with members on the IGDA forums. The effort to remove him from the IGDA’s board was begun back in July.

At the heart of Langdell’s controversial public persona is the perception that his and EDGE’s primary activity is litigation rather than actual development. Langdell claims EDGE has published more than 700 games, but an analysis, quoted by Eurogamer pegged the figure at 70, the most recent in 1990. EDGE’s site does say it is working on four multiplatform titles at the moment.

Reader, Martin, sent us the link and says the gym has been wallpapering local TV with ads. Good for them. Now, who’s to say if Nintendo feels like going after a fitness club. But yeah, the name does sound a smidge like the brand on the no. 5 selling game of all time—and one strongly associated with exercise at that.

But my name’s Paul, and this is between y’all.

We-Fit Tucson – Personal Training and Post-Rehab fitness [thanks Martin]

While the gameplay looks a little “been there, done that”, it’s not the only overly-familiar thing about the trailer. That music sounds awfully familiar…

[Sudden Attack]

Despite the fact the WiiWare game has been reviewed by several outlets, and despite the fact it’s already out in Europe, OTT have only now changed its name to “NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits”. Which doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue.

Asked why the move was made after the game was already out, OTT CEO Rob Alvarez says:

There will be a new version of the game with the new name in the next days. That’s the only change. It has to do with a trademark claim by another videogame company. We are a small indie developer and could not fight for our rights.

It’s OK. We know it’s Nintendo.

Shame. The game had been getting some good reviews as Icarian. But now, I’d knock a point or two off just for “NyxQuest”. Ungh.

Over The Top Games Forced To Rename Icarian: Kindred Spirits [Edge]

“No dice”.

Why? Because the word “remote” is too common to be trademarked. Can’t own a word that the world already uses, guys. Seems somebody at Nintendo ticked the wrong box, and they’ll now have to go back and try again, this time with the realisation they can only trademark the the name “Wii Remote”, not both words individually.

U.S. Patent Office Balks at Nintendo’s Wii Remote Trademark Attempt [Game Politics]

After reviewing MKR’s claims, the judge found that the game contained “profound differences” and dismissed the case.

Things nearly did not go quite as smoothly, though. Capcom presented “dozens” of zombie movies and games that it claimed showed the generic nature of the subject matter. The court rejected all them, however, because Capcom had just submitted synopses they had found on Wikipedia.

Dead Rising wins copyright case [Gamespot]

They clearly needed to give themselves some leeway to redistribute content created by users, and for most players the prestige of a highly rated LBP creation will be enough. But what about if that made it onto an expansion disc at retail with no kickback for the creator?

Clearly many will be annoyed that there isn’t much to suggest they are recognising user copyright at this stage. As news spreads I’m sure a clarification will have to come from up on high, as previous suggestions have pointed to LBP players being able to set prices for their creations. Nice pick up by Dean at IHTP.

LittleBigRipoff? Sony can sell your user content [I Have The Princess]

Noah Witherspoon, who developed the game, received notice from Apple that they had been contacted by The Tetris Company, threatening legal action. Although Noah feels that he could probably win any legal case by changing the name of the app, he does not have the resources to see such a case through.

The trouble is, I’m a college student, and not an affluent one, and I simply do not have the time, energy, or resources to fight this battle right now. There’s a point at which I am willing to give up and be practical, to let the world have its way with that ever-mistreated little ideal of “principle”.

The game will remain on the App Store servers — it will just not be listed — and Noah says he will be working to see if he can resolve the dispute and re-release the game under a different title.

Over, for now [Two Finger Play viaTouch Arcade]