News of Week; August 19, 2015

GAMES

1. Scholars are (still) calling on APA to stop linking violent games to aggression

+ ESRB has no plans to change ratings system after APA report

+ Researcher Chris Ferguson takes aim at APA study in Sky News interview

2. Duke Nukem Lawsuit Ends, Gearbox Emerges as “Full and Rightful” Owner: The Borderlands developer settles its lawsuit with 3D Realms and Interceptor Entertainment.

3. Is it just a game mod, or is it “facilitating piracy”?: The legal, technical, and ethical issues behind GTA V’s FiveM mod.

4. Fan-created ‘Resident Evil 2’ remake project shut down

5. Microsoft EULA lets it disable pirated games

6. SPJ AirPlay event evacuated after multiple bomb threats

7. Nintendo allegedly fires employee for revealing game localisation secrets

+ Nintendo fires employee over podcast appearance

8. King revenues, profits shrinking

9.Hearthstone on Phones is Costing Blizzard Millions of Dollars

10. Amazon halts game trade-ins in UK, Germany

11. German stock exchange operator digs into virtual item trading: Swapster is a new 100% legal trading platform powered by Deutsche Börse

12. EA exec says complaints about “on-disc DLC” are “nonsense”

13. Microsoft EULA lets it disable pirated games

14. Dead Realm Publisher Flouts FTC Disclosure Guidelines

+ Dead Realm publisher disregards FTC disclosure guidelines for YouTubers

15. New crowdfunding site lets backers share in eventual game profits: Fig wants backers to truly invest in its small, curated set of projects.

+ Former Double Fine COO launches new funding platform

16. Del Toro: “If I join another video game, World War III will start”

17. ‘Hitman: Agent 47’ Producer Predicts New Era In Video Game Film Adaptations

18. Survey says video games and technology are an integral part of teen friendships

19. Students dig deep into soil science with mobile game

DIGITAL

1. Second Circuit Enforces Terms Hyperlinked In Confirmation Email–Starkey v. G Adventures

2. Yes, The Appeals Court Got Basically Everything Wrong In Deciding API’s Are Covered By Copyright

3. Lawsuit over two-word tweet—“actually yes”—can move ahead, judge finds

4. Even FDA is keeping up with the Kardashians

5. Why patent trolls go to East Texas, explained

6. Manufacturer warned by FDA for Kardashian Instagram post about morning sickness drug 

7. Twitter, the DMCA and Copyright in the Age of Sharing

8. Ashley Madison Sent Me a DMCA Request for Tweeting 2 Cells of a Spreadsheet

+ Ashley Madison Still Trying To Abuse The DMCA To Hide Leak

9. Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace

+ CEO Bezos says harsh NYT piece “doesn’t describe the Amazon I know”: Urges Amazon employees to report “soulless, dystopian” conditions directly to him.

10. What I Learned When I Lost My Internship at Facebook: I published code that showed the company had a privacy problem. Then my summer got turned upside down

11. The New Cold War Is Going Digital

12. We need to engineer the racism out of apps

13. The Creative Apocalypse That Wasn’t: In the digital economy, it was supposed to be impossible to make money by making art. Instead, creative careers are thriving — but in complicated and unexpected ways. 

CREATIVITY

1. LMFAO, The Band, Sends Cease And Desist Over LMFAO, The Beer

2. Paramount Pictures Goes After The Codfather Fish Shop Over A Fish That Looks Like Marlon Brando

3. Cancellation proceedings against a registered Canadian trademark: when can “special circumstances” justify non-use?

4. Creators, Innovators, and Appropriation Mechanisms

5. The Emotions That Make Us More Creative

jon