News of the Week; December 24, 2014

GAMES

1. The FBI Is Investigating #GamerGate

+ The battle of Gamergate and the future of video games

2. Dark Souls Modder Gets Copyright Threat From Game Developer For Some Reason

3. Report: Dennis Rodman Threatens to Sue ‘Glorious Leader’ Makers

4. Nintendo Wins Over UltimatePointer in Patent Case

5. Halo anthology makers apologize, will give distressed fans free ODST

+ Microsoft Can’t Fix Its Halo: Master Chief Collection Fail

6. Sell it somewhere else: How retailer restrictions affect the game market 

7. Are comics a cautionary tale for game makers?

8. Buggy games deserve much harsher treatment

9. Former 38 Studios Board Member Gets Fined for Unregistered Lobbying Activity in Rhode Island

+ RI Secretary of State Loses in Court Over 38 Studios Lobbying Investigation

10. Confronting Videogame Torture, After The Cia’s Report

11. How Do You Teach Empathy? Harvard Pilots Game Simulation

12. Ubisoft Hides Waiver in Free Games Offer

13. Valve Is Now Preventing Users From Gifting Steam Games Across Countries: Steam region locks game gifting.

14. Don’t call it DRM: what’s Denuvo Anti-Tamper?

15. A practical guide to the EU’s new VAT rules, video games and digital content sales

+ VAT, Digital Content and Video Games

16. Knee-Jerk Rejection Of Pop Culture Like Video Games Isolates Conservatives

17. Beyond Tetris: a brief history of patriotic video gaming in Russia

18. Winning Isn’t Everything: I used to think that games would be the dominant medium of the 21st century. The reality? They’re too big, too complex, and too smart for that to be true.

DIGITAL

19. U.S. Officials Determine North Korea Is Behind Sony Hack: Reports

+ Sony Hackers Threaten “9/11-Style” Attack On Movie Theaters

+ Film of graphic novel Pyongyang killed in wake of Sony hacks

+ Sony Officially Cancels ‘The Interview’ Release Following Hacker Threats

+ Sony Goes One Ridiculous Step Further: Threatens To Sue Twitter Over Leaked Email Screenshots

+ Seth Rogen And The Ridiculous War Of 2014: In the gutless cancelation of The Interview release, Seth Rogen and James Franco emerge the lone heroes.

+ Obama thinks Sony “made a mistake” pulling The Interview after hack: The president also promised a “proportional response” to North Korea.

+ North Korea loses Internet days after Barack Obama vows revenge over Sony hacks

+ Cyberwar on North Korea Could Be Illegal: Someone knocked the Hermit Kingdom offline. If it was the United States, the operation will test the bounds of international law.

+ Sony To Allow Screenings Of ‘The Interview’ On Christmas After All

+ The Interview to be streamed online through YouTube, Xbox Video, Google Play

+ How Tim League, George R. R. Martin & Indie Cinemas Helped Uncancel ‘The Interview’

+ Let the games begin: first Sony class action lawsuit filed over data breach

20. Facebook Page Goes Dark, Angering Russia Dissidents

21. Garcia v. Google 9th Circuit en banc video

22. Hollywood v. Goliath: Inside the aggressive studio effort to bring Google to heel – Leaked Sony e-mails show states’ top lawyers and studios are closer than ever.

+ Google GC Calls Out MPAA ‘Secret’ SOPA Campaign

+ Google SUES Jim Hood — Mississippi Attorney General Claiming Ties To MPAA – Frontline Desk

+ Mississippi AG backs off Google investigation pushed by MPAA

23. Canada Preps Launch Of An Actually Mostly Sensible ISP Copyright Warning System

+ Notice the Difference? New Canadian Internet Copyright Rules for ISPs Set to Launch

24. Judge: It’s OK for cops to create fake Instagram accounts

25. Jury finds for Apple in iTunes case, throws out billion-dollar lawsuit: After just a few hours of deliberation, jury nukes a 10-year antitrust case.

26. “Shadowy” anti-net neutrality group flooded FCC with comments 

CONSTRAINTS

27. First Amendment Bars School Discipline For Student’s Rap Video About School Coaches

28. Flickr removes CC-licensed photos from Wall Art program

29. Judge Floats ‘Right to Be Forgotten’ as Libel Remedy

30. Inside the turnaround of Machinima

31.Cyberwar and Cyberterror — New and Unwelcome Companions in Publishing and Culture

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