News of the Week; January 10, 2018

GAMES

1. Star Citizen devs file motion to dismiss Crytek lawsuit
2. Star Citizen maker says engine suit “never should have been filed”: CIG accuses Crytek of selective and misleading reading of license agreement.
3. Cloud Imperium Games responds to Crytek suit: Star Citizen studio calls CryEngine maker’s complaint misleading and scandalous, saying it “sacrifices legal sufficiency for loud publicity”
4. Crowdsourced Content in Video Games: How Ownership Issues Almost “Ganked” a Copyright Case
5. BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT, INC., AND VALVE CORPORATION, Plaintiffs,
   v.
   LILITH GAMES (SHANGHAI) CO. LTD., AND UCOOL, INC., Defendants.
6. Regulators eye game monetisation in 2018: Controversy over monetisation of games isn’t going away, and it’s likely to reach the corridors of government sooner rather than later
7. Eagle-eyed YouTuber discovers ongoing EA online-matchmaking shenanigans: 2017 papers confirm tests of existing games with “spending” as future objective.
8. Epic planning audit to combat copyright infringement on Unreal Marketplace
9. US government developing school shooting survival sim: Army and Department of Homeland Security working on first-person game that lets users play a teacher, cop, or shooter
10. Epic clampdown on real-world guns and copyright-infringing game assets: Engine provider conducting thorough audit of Unreal Marketplace for trademark abuse
11. NSPCC and Aardman create mobile game to help combat child abuse
12. The World Health Organization Identifies Gaming Disorder as a Mental Health Condition
13. WHO: “There is increasing and well-documented evidence of gaming disorder”: Recent listing is “only a clinical description” for diagnoses, not prevention or treatment
14. Funplus Interactive ad deemed misleading by Advertising Standards Agency: Mobile developer used image from different game to promote King of Avalon: Dragon Warfare
15. Civilization VI depiction upsets Poundmaker Cree Nation: Headman Milton Tootoosis says 2K never consulted First Nation for expansion, which “perpetuates this myth that First Nations had similar values” to colonial culture
16. Civilization V mod adds realistic superintelligent AI research
17. Smosh Games YouTuber departs following sexual assault allegations: Amra ‘Flitz’ Ricketts denies all “false claims” but “cannot risk negative impact” on YouTube group
18. Amra ‘Flitz’ Ricketts Departs Smosh Games Amid Sexual Assault Allegations
19. IGDA Survey: Game companies must do more to foster diversity
20. How the 2018 Tax Reform Will Change Things for Indie Developers
21. Glu Mobile sells Moscow dev studio and game rights for $4.5M
22. Could movie shorts provide a template for funding indie games?: The Chinese Room’s Andrew Crawshaw ponders the potential for experimental tie-ins around AAA blockbusters
23. Epic planning audit to combat copyright infringement on Unreal Marketplace
24. App Store generates almost $900 million in seven days: Pokémon GO amongst the big Christmas success stories
25. App Store sets new records as holiday spending tops $890M
26. Steam breaks 18m concurrent users with largest growth in platform’s history: PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds accounts for 16% of all concurrent users
27. 80 years for a sleeveless jacket: PUBG’s loot box rates disclosed – Meanwhile, rarest item in new premium crate could cost $1,562.50 to acquire
28. The rarest new PUBG items show up once every 80 years, on average: Artificial scarcity raises aftermarket values for ultra-rare cosmetics.
29. How do you do ‘loot boxes’ right? F2P MMO game devs weigh in
30. 7,672 games hit Steam in 2017 alone, says Steam Spy
31. Steam saw more than 7,600 games debut in 2017 – SteamSpy: Tracking site finds 53% year-over-year jump in release numbers, slowing rate of growth for online storefront
32. Confusion surrounds GOG’s rejection of Opus Magnum: Popular puzzle game from Zachtronics rejected by digital store but developer unable to share details
33. Star Citizen developers raised $34.9m in 2017: For the second year in a row, Star Citizen crowd-sourced more money than all games on Kickstarter combined
34. BroadbandTV Launches New Division To Develop Creator-Driven Mobile Games
35. Spanish government cuts €2m fund for indie developers: 20 developers lose up to €150,000 each
36. Ukie publishes funding and tax relief guide for UK game devs
37. Ukie launches Access to Finance guide with Harbottle and Lewis: “There is money available if you know where to look,” says Ukie CEO
38. Access to finance the leading obstacle to success for UK games industry in 2018: TIGA CEO: Looming clouds of Brexit beginning to “cast shadows on our games industry”
39. With ~3M units sold last month, PS4 surpasses 73M sales worldwide
40. 5.9 million PS4 consoles sold during 2017 Christmas period
41. Japanese console game market experiences growth for the first time in 11 years
42. Nintendo Switch surpasses Wii U lifetime sales in Japan
43. Japanese console market spikes for the first time in 11 years: Nintendo Switch and PS4 drive hardware sales up 73% year on year
44. Switch becomes fastest-selling home console of all time in the U.S.
45. Nintendo Switch becomes fastest-selling console in US history: Platform holder breaks own record set by the Wii over ten years ago
46. Nintendo Switch NBA game jumps through ridiculous hoops to issue a patch: With no answers from Playgrounds’ devs, we sleuth out the weirdest Switch patch yet.
47. Amid a rising tide of games, devs reflect on state of the Switch market
48. Nintendo Switch NBA game jumps through ridiculous hoops to issue a patch: With no answers from Playgrounds’ devs, we sleuth out the weirdest Switch patch yet.
49. Hyperkin plans to release a new (old) Game Boy in 2018: Ultra Game Boy brings slim aluminum case, backlight for under $100.
50. Miiverse archive recovers 17TB of social mirth after Nintendo’s shutdown: Archive Team saves hundreds of millions of posts from the vibrant social network.
51. Haptic Controllers Bring Real Pain To VR Games
52. Sony to Nearly Double the Total Number of PSVR Games by End of 2018
53. Sony expects 130 PlayStation VR games this year: 80% increase driven by 2 million install base, company says
54. Record over $3B AR/VR investment in 2017 ($1.5B + in Q4)
55. VR/AR startups drew record investment in 2017 – Report: Digi-Capital says $3 billion haul led by Magic Leap, Improbable, Unity, Niantic; VR investment cooling as mobile AR ramps up
56. Oculus sets sights on Chinese market with Xiaomi partnership
57. Pokémon Go dropping support for older iPhones next month: iPhone 5 and 5C will no longer be able to run Niantic’s location-based phenomenon
58. Asus sets up Chinese esports company with $16m investment: Well-established esports brand looks to spread into China with new League of Legends team
59. Google eyes up Chinese eSports market with Chushou investment
60. Video: The importance of storytellers in eSports
61. Google Looks To Get Into Chinese E-Sports Market With Investment In Live Streaming Platform Chushou
62. NRG CEO Andy Miller On Overwatch League’s Traditional Sports Influence
63. Twitch Will Stream Every Match In The Overwatch League, Which Begins Play On January 10
64. Twitch gets Overwatch League rights: Streaming platform signs deal for exclusive third-party rights for regular season and playoffs outside of China for next two years
65. Part 1 – Let the games begin: German IP law in the world of esports
66. Playable Ads: The Most Fun Ad Ever!
67. How Playmob is gaming for a better world: CEO and co-founder Jude Ower on the power of playable ads to affect real social change
68. Mad Catz returns under new management: Defunct peripherals brand rescued by Chinese holding company
69. 49% of European gamers like to revisit classic games: However, almost 40% say retro games are never as good as they remember
70. Even Realistic Videogames Like Call Of Duty Won’t Help Us Win Wars
71. UK Charts: FIFA ends Call of Duty’s nine-week stay at No.1: It means WWII equals but does not beat Modern Warfare 2’s consecutive No.1 record
72. Itch.io saw 100k projects created and 68k completed in 2017
73. Our Video Game Predictions For 2018
74. The Rise and Fall of EA Sports Big, as Told by the Creator of SSX: After the success of SSX, other likeminded extreme sports games like Cranked failed to come to fruition.
75. Discovering the first video game commercial
76. “The least-worst idea we had”—The creation of the Age of Empires empire: A brief oral history from the original game’s designers at Ensemble Studios.
77. The rise, fall, and rise of MDickie—or, how to be the best worst game developer: “Single-handedly responsible for the WORST games to ever be enjoyed by millions of people.”

DIGITAL

1. Pro-Kremlin Twitter Trolls Take Aim At Robert Mueller
2. Should Twitter’s Ban on Hateful Content Apply to President Trump?
3. Twitter Makes Clear it Won’t Block Trump—as Long as He’s President
4. Chuck Johnson Sues Twitter, Copying Dennis Prager’s Lawsuit Against YouTube
5. Potential Discrimination Through Social Media Ads 
6. Free speech vs. censorship in Germany: New rules on online hate speech cause problems for internet giants.
7. It Took Only Three Days For Germany’s New Hate Speech Law To Cause Collateral Damage
8. Intel CEO sold all the stock he could after Intel learned of security bug: Intel claims sale was unrelated, but he planned sale after researchers disclosed bugs.
9. Five California Communities Settle Auto-Renewal Claims with Online Dating Company eHarmony for More than $2 Million 
10. Senator questions Apple over intentional iPhone slowdowns: The government of France is looking for answers, too.
11. Apple planning new, “robust” parental controls to help protect children, teens: Investors are worried about youth becoming addicted to their smartphones.
12. James Damore’s Lawsuit Is Designed To Embarrass Google
13. Google fired James Damore for a controversial gender memo—now he’s suing: Damore argued few women program due to interest in “people rather than things.”
14. Engineer says he quit Google after order to stop pro-diversity posts: Diversity advocate says he was told to “avoid posting on controversial topics.”
15. Conservatives Are Now Getting Angry About Google’s Fact-Checking Module
16. Google Bans Rehab-Related Search Ads in Another Country After Embarrassing Report
17. Linus Torvalds Is Not Happy About Intel’s Meltdown and Spectre Mess
18. Triple Meltdown: How So Many Researchers Found A 20-Year-Old Chip Flaw At The Same Time
19. Meltdown and Spectre: Here’s what Intel, Apple, Microsoft, others are doing about it: Intel, Microsoft, ARM, and others have responded. We dig in.
20. Bad docs and blue screens make Microsoft suspend Spectre patch for AMD machines: Blue screen crashes on decade-old AMD chips seem to be widespread.
21. Intel faces class action lawsuits regarding Meltdown and Spectre: Class action lawsuits have been filed in California, Indiana, and Oregon.
22. EMC, VMware security bugs throw gasoline on cloud security fire: Backups of virtual machines on some hosts could be accessed or altered by an attacker.
23. Airbnb Gets Crucial Section 230 Win Over Unauthorized Subleases–La Park La Brea v. Airbnb (Eric Goldman)
24. GoPro Loses Two-Year Battle With the Sky
25. Man’s YouTube Video of White Noise Hit With Five Copyright Claims
26. White Noise On YouTube Gets FIVE Separate Copyright Claims From Other White Noise Providers
27. A Video Featuring Nothing But White Noise Has Received Five Content ID Claims Since 2015
28. Will Smith Has Launched His Own YouTube Channel
29. RTL Group Acquires United Screens for $14.9 Million
30. Europe’s RTL Group Increases Online Video Footprint With $14.9 Million Acquisition Of United Screens
31. Amazon’s Next Big Thing Could Be Serving You Ads on the Go
32. Hulu now has over 17 million subscribers
33. Amazon, Hulu, Netflix Achieve Near-Sweep Of Top TV Categories At 2018 Golden Globes
34. I Spent A Week Living With Chatbots—Did All That Self-Help Help?
35. A Former Facebook VP Says Social Media Is Destroying Society. And He’s Right.
36. Mark Zuckerberg Essentially Launched Facebook’s Reelection Campaign
37. How to Fix Facebook—Before It Fixes Us: An early investor explains why the social media platform’s business model is such a threat—and what to do about it.
38. Facebook’s Virtual Assistant M Is Dead. So Are Chatbots
39. NBC News got 4 million subscribers in 5 months to its Snapchat show
40. In Series Of Tweets, YouTube Hints At “Further Consequences” For Logan Paul
41. YouTube Star Logan Paul Puts His Vlog On Hiatus As He Takes Time “To Reflect”
42. YouTube Removes Logan Paul From Google Preferred, Puts His YouTube Red Originals On Hold In Wake Of Controversy
43. Content moderation is not a panacea: Logan Paul, YouTube, and what we should expect from platforms
44. Iced tea company scraps plans to raise millions for blockchain pivot: Company’s stock tripled last month after it changed its name to Long Blockchain.
45. We found a deleted page that reveals the paparazzi roots of Kodak Coin: Kodak’s stock has tripled since announcing the blockchain project on Tuesday.
46. GoPro will stop selling drones once remaining Karma inventory is gone: Citing “untenable” aerial market and “hostile regulatory environments.”
47. China Is Building a $2.1 Billion Industrial Park for AI Research
48. Robots Have Replaced Humans in 25% of China’s Ammunition Factories
49. China’s Crackdown on Crypto-Mining Threatens Bitcoin’s Future
50. Remember Dogecoin? The joke currency soared to $2 billion this weekend: “There’s no active development anymore,” Dogecoin’s co-founder said last year.
51. Hackers find new ways to print digital money for free: As valuations soar, attackers find ever more powerful CPUs to covertly conscript.
52. Oracle app server hack let one attacker mine $226,000 worth of cryptocoins: Exploit published in December makes cracking unpatched Oracle servers easy.
53. The Algorithms Aren’t Biased, We Are
54. The ethics of Artificial Intelligence – the next step?
55. The Strange Brands in Your Instagram Feed: A new breed of online retailer doesn’t make or even touch products, but they’ve got a few other tricks for turning nothing into money.
56. Brands and ecommerce platforms: a tainted relationship?
57. Why Europe Is Willing To Regulate Tech More Than The U.S.
58. Intellectual Property Rights post Brexit – a call to arms
59. Don’t Be Evil: Fred Turner on Utopias, Frontiers, and Brogrammers
60. Does This Black Mirror Fan Theory Mean We’re Finally Ready For The Singularity?
61. “Oh My God, This Is So F—-D Up”: Inside Silicon Valley’s Secretive, Orgiastic Dark Side – Some of the most powerful men in Silicon Valley are regulars at exclusive, drug-fueled, sex-laced parties—gatherings they describe not as scandalous, or even secret, but as a bold, unconventional lifestyle choice. Yet, while the guys get laid, the women get screwed. In an adaptation from her new book, Brotopia, Emily Chang exposes the tired and toxic dynamic at play.
62. How To Curb Silicon Valley Power—Even With Weak Antitrust Laws
63. Commentary: 3D printing
64. Consumer 3D Printing: Is the UK Copyright and Design Law Framework Fit for Purpose (Pedro Malaquias)
65. Cross-examining the network: The year in digital and social media research – Journalist’s Resource sifts through the academic journals so you don’t have to. Here are what they consider 10 of the most important pieces of new research into digital and social media published in 2017.

CREATIVITY

1. Disney’s 1998 copyright term extension expires this year and Big Content’s lobbyists say they’re not going to try for another one
2. Why Mickey Mouse’s 1998 copyright extension probably won’t happen again: Copyrights from the 1920s will start expiring next year if Congress doesn’t act.
3. Copyright Maximalists Throw In The Towel On Term Extension; Admit That Maybe Copyright Is Too Long
4. Donald Trump Hires Charles Harder To Threaten Steve Bannon With A Lawsuit, Block Publication Of New Book
5. Trump attorney sends Bannon cease and desist letter over ‘disparaging’ comments
6. Publisher Not At All Impressed By Trump’s Defamation Threat Letter; Promises To Defend The First Amendment
7. By Complaining About US’s ‘Very Weak’ Libel Laws, Trump Is Actually S——g On Our ‘Very Strong’ First Amendment
8. Really Bad Ideas: French President Macron Wants To Ban ‘Fake News’ During The Election
9. The Gorilla Channel Satire Demonstrates The Ridiculousness Of Banning Fake News
10. Appeals Court Drives Another Stake Into The Heart Of Idaho’s ‘Ag-Gag’ Law
11. The Other Side: Phoenix Comicon Proactively Changes Names To Avoid San Diego Comic-Con Bully
12. It Begins: Some Comic Conventions Refusing To Fold After San Diego Comic-Con Gets Its Trademark Win
13. Bad week gets worse for Fox Judge Jeanine Pirro  
14. Army Officially Opposes Vegas Golden Knights Trademark
15. Theatre roles need to change following Soulpepper harassment allegations, Winnipeg directors say: Myth of ‘all-powerful’ director, vulnerability of actors contribute to culture of abuse, say 2 local directors
16. Guardians of the Galaxy Is Leading The Unlikely Cassette Tape Revival
17. Music Modernization Act launched in the US
18. Shocked, Shocked To Learn The Patent Office Is Structurally Designed To Approve (Lousy) Patents
19. Is the First Amendment Obsolete? (Tim Wu)

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

1. FCC releases final net neutrality repeal order, three weeks after vote: With repeal officially published, FCC will soon face lawsuits.
2. Tech Giants To Join Legal Battle Over Net Neutrality
3. FCC Chair Ajit Pai cancels his CES appearance days before show: Pai likely would have had to answer questions about net neutrality repeal.
4. Maine Governor Tells 16-Year-Old Worried About Net Neutrality Repeal To ‘Pick Up A Book And Read’
5. “Vote out” congresspeople who won’t back net neutrality, advocates say: “If they don’t vote for net neutrality, let’s vote them out,” new campaign says.
6. Supporters Aim To Use Net Neutrality To Bludgeon Cash-Compromised Lawmakers In The Midterms
7. California The Latest State To Propose Its Own Net Neutrality Rules
8. Net neutrality gaining steam in state legislatures after FCC repeal: Nebraska and California may challenge FCC’s attempt to preempt state laws
9. GOP senator says she’ll vote to restore net neutrality rules: One more Republican vote needed to get net neutrality bill through Senate.
10. Uphill Effort To Reverse Net Neutrality Repeal Has The Early Votes
11. Restoration of net neutrality rules hits key milestone in Senate: 30 senators support net neutrality bill as Democrats try to force a vote.
12. Net Neutrality: From Rules to Enforcement
13. The History of Net Neutrality In 13 Years of Tales of the Sausage Factory (with a few additions).
14. FCC Prepares To Weaken Broadband’s Definition To Hide Competitive, Coverage Issues
15. FCC plan to lower broadband standards is met with “Mobile Only Challenge”: Many say that mobile can’t replace cable or fiber, but FCC may think otherwise.
16. AT&T and Comcast finalize court victory over Nashville and Google Fiber: Nashville won’t appeal as Google Fiber-backed utility pole rule is invalidated.
17. Comcast fired 500 despite claiming tax cut would create thousands of jobs: As Comcast pushed for tax cut, fired employees had to sign NDAs to get severance.
18. Those Annoying Cable Channel Blackouts Are Only Going To Get Worse In 2018
19. What is a Cable System – The Copyright Office Wants to Know  

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

1. We(Chat) The People: Technology and Social Control in China
2. China Plans To Turn Country’s Most Popular App, WeChat, Into An Official ID System
3. Want Anybody’s Personal Details From Aadhaar, India’s Billion-Person Identity Database? Yours For $8
4. “Political pressure” reportedly kills Huawei/AT&T smartphone deal: Spying concerns from members of congress means AT&T won’t be selling Huawei phones.
5. Prosecutors say Mac spyware stole millions of user images over 13 years: Fruitfly creepware turned on cameras and mics, automatically detected porn searches.
6. Internet of Toys Enforcement: VTech Agrees to COPPA Settlement 
7. FTC and VTech Settle Alleged COPPA Privacy and Security Violations
8. FTC lawsuit over 2015 VTech data breach ends in settlement
9. WhatsApp Security Flaws Could Allow Snoops To Slide Into Group Chats
10. How The Government Hides Secret Surveillance Programs
11. Google Puts Its SCA Warrant Appeal on Hold as High Court Prepares to Hear Microsoft Case 
12. New York State Appellate Court Says Cell Site Location Records Have No Expectation Of Privacy
13. The security of pretty much every computer on the planet has just gotten a lot worse
14. Collection, storage and transfer of data in Canada

Jon