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Week 8

Jon’s Talk Feb. 27, 2013: “From Wheelbarrows to Holodecks” Download the PowerPoint Slides Roxanne Christ’s Talk: “Online Gaming Meets Online Gambling” Download the PowerPoint Slides

News of the Week; Feb. 27,2013

   1. Make A Counterstrike Map Of A Montreal Metro Station, Get Threatened With $50,000 Fine: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130219/17273422032/make-counterstrike-map-montreal-metro-station-get-threatened-with-50000-fine.shtml 2. Former FBI Profiler: Video Games Do Not Cause Violence: http://gamepolitics.com/2013/02/25/former-fbi-profiler-video-games-do-not-cause-violence#.USwJD6XR0m0 3. Majority of Americans Believe Games Contribute to Violence: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/122351-Majority-of-Americans-Believe-Games-Contribute-to-Violence 4. Fear of a Woman Warrior: http://www.gamespot.com/features/fear-of-a-woman-warrior-6404142/?part=rss&subj=6404142 5. Sony patent application measures load times to detect pirated games: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/02/sony-patent-application-measures-load-times-to-detect-pirated-games/ 6. BFI to […]

Gambling in Games

Gambling in Games

I think back to my childhood of some of my favorite games and realize the concept of “chance” played an important role. In many games, the system is made to utilize random chance to extend playability. A game like World of Warcraft utilizes this in item/loot drops. Each enemy has a specified probability of dropping […]

The Use and Legal Status of Virtual Goods and Currency

The Use and Legal Status of Virtual Goods and Currency

Background points regarding virtual goods and currency: http://www.slideshare.net/jaspurewal/the-use-and-legal-status-of-virtual-goods-and-currencies

Virtual property protection in China

Virtual property protection in China

Virtual property has been protected in China: http://www.guangzhou.gov.cn/node_420/node_428/2006-04/1144636826100185.shtml China Government Bans Online Virtual-Currency Dealing Platforms for Minors: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06-22/tencent-shares-fall-after-china-announces-virtual-currency-ban-for-minors.html Virtual Currency In China Is A $2 Billion Economy: http://www.businessinsider.com/virtual-currency-in-china-is-a-2-billion-economy-2009-7

News of the Week; Feb. 20, 2013 (Reading Week Edition)

1. Real Crime in Virtual Worlds: http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/JohnKrajewski/20130214/186639/Real_Crime_in_Virtual_Worlds.php 2. EA and Zynga Settle The Ville -The Sims: Social Lawsuits: http://www.gamepolitics.com/2013/02/15/ea-and-zynga-settle-ville-sims-social-lawsuits#.UR8TLRG9KSM 3. Snap happy! Freedom of speech is a human right – and it trumps copyright, Strasbourg judges rule: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2275796/Snap-happy-Freedom-spe @GamePolitics: Fourteen Video Games on View at Museum of Modern Art http://t.co/Upox6sR6 #eca 4. @GamePolitics: Fourteen Video Games on View […]

X-Plane & Uniloc

X-Plane & Uniloc

A few weeks ago I alluded in class to the lawsuit facing my favourite (ok, pretty well the only) commercial flight sim X-Plane which appears to be in quite a fight against a “patent assertion entity”. Here is a link as promised to the relevant page from the X-Plane website: http://www.x-plane.com/x-world/lawsuit/ Also via Claudio Satorelli a […]

Playstation 4 just unveiled!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21526450 Some really cool cloud features, including gamers remotely being able to take over their friends’ controllers if they get stuck. I’m very curious about the new Xbox and hope that this new piece of news today will provide the impetus for Microsoft to leak some details soon!

Paper inspirations

As we’ve talked about, now is the time to focus on papers topics & getting started (or better) on them. Attached is a link to a very useful paper by Stephen M. McJohn, which for your purposes is a nice overview of interesting 2012 U.S. IP cases. By going through the paper you might well […]

HLS Copyright Course: Special Event 1, The Interests of Authors – YouTube

Prof. William Fisher is making his Harvard Law School on Copyright available gratis through edX. Below you will find an excellant two hour discussion of copyright from the perspective of creators. Among the four speakers is John Drake of Harmonix, the company that created the “Guitar Hero”, “Rockband” and “Dance Central” series. Those games are […]