GAMES
- Tencent awarded $2.9M in case against dev of allegedLeague of Legends clone
- Tencent awarded $2.89 million in lawsuit against Mobile Legends CEO: Riot Games parent company wins non-compete suit in China
- Capcom Wins Judgement to Uphold Patent in Lawsuit to Rescind Decision for its Patent #3295771
- Star Citizen backer loses court case for $4,500 refund: Arbitration clause in end-user license agreement protects developer RSI from refund claims in court
- Court denies Star Citizen backer’s $4,500 refund lawsuit
- EPIC Bravely Defeats 14 Year Old’s Mom In Court To Continue Lawsuit Against Her Son For Cheating In Fortnite
- Saudi Arabia appears to ban 47 video games after deaths of children
- Credit card thieves reportedly using Clash of Clans to launder money
- Coming soon? German courts ban vague release dates on pre-orders
- Germany bans vague pre-order release dates: Retailers no longer to pre-sell games that are “coming soon”, courts have ruled
- NetEase moves to dismiss PUBG Corp lawsuit: Knives Out developer calls complaint a “shameless attempt” to monopolize a genre
- As PUBG-like contenders emerge, Islands of Nyne might already have them beat: While we wait for Battlefield, Call of Duty, awesome sci-fi twist is already here.
- Nintendo lawsuit against Colopl won’t block developer’s Switch release: Platform holder says ongoing patent dispute and defendant’s games business are “completely separate matters”
- Tempest 4000 finally lives after delays, legal threats—but what’s up on PC?
- Social features have cut down on toxic behavior inOverwatch
- Toxicity in Overwatch down by over a quarter following new measures from Blizzard: Game director promises further improvement along with exploration and implementation of new systems
- Ubisoft is now insta-banning toxic Rainbow Six Siegeplayers
- Rainbow Six Siege instantly bans players for using slurs: Bans last nearly half an hour for the first offense, with possible permanent bans after the third
- Amazon may have allowed sales of pirated games: Retailer says “We strictly prohibit the sale of counterfeit products, and these games have been removed”
- Amazon claims to be spiking listings for pirated games
- The ArenaNet Catastrophe Has The Whole Game Industry Rethinking Harassment Policies
- Opinion: It’s past time to get serious about social media policies
- Over half of UK parents let kids play 18+ rated games
- How Bossa relied on players to help build its skyfaring MMO Worlds Adrift
- Jade Raymond on applying lessons from Assassin’s Creed to her new project at EA: The original game was designed as a “sandbox for creatives” with the intention to “hand off the keys to other professionals”
- Madden lead Carlos Guerrero dismissed from EA: Senior producer departs after only two months due to company policy violation
- Valve brings trading back to CS:GO in the Netherlands, though loot boxes remain blocked
- Valve locks Counter-Strike loot boxes for Dutch and Belgian players: Steam item trading returns, but CS:GO’s containers are now locked
- Valve is temporarily withholding adult games from Steam
- Valve temporarily halting new adult game releases on Steam: Company isn’t approving updates or new games until planned filter is in place
- Valve updates “Upcoming” tab on Steam to focus on user interests: Suggestions based on past purchases and pre-release interest will replace chronological listing
- Blog: The three ages of Steam distribution
- Actor Nathan Fillion Just Created A YouTube Fan Film Of Video Game ‘Uncharted’
- Uncharted fan film, starring Nathan Fillion, beats Sony to live-action punch
- Nathan Fillion Is Finally Playing Nathan Drake in This Uncharted Fan Film
- Nathan Fillion Made An Uncharted Fan-Film, And It’s Excellent
- Fallout 76 and the thrill of ‘stranger danger’: Bethesda’s Pete Hines discusses how the publisher’s previous RPGs have been cheating players – and how its next title resolves this
- Blizzard does away with World of Warcraft Battle Chest pricing
- Blizzard makes WoW base game and expansions free to subscribers: New subs now only have to pay an extra fee for the latest expansion, Battle For Azeroth
- Colonial Marines modder finds big AI fix by changing one letter of code
- A years-old, one-letter typo led to Aliens: Colonial Marines’ weird AI
- A One-Letter Typo is (in Part) the Reason Aliens: Colonial Marines Sucked
- Nintendo showcases DIY games made with Labo’s Toy-Con Garage
- Hands-on with Nintendo’s weirdest, and maybe rarest, classic console yet
- The Makers Of Nintendo’s Latest Hidden Gem Worry People Missed It
- Nintendo hid a load-your-own NES emulator inside a GameCube classic
- What’s behind Nintendo’s falling stock price?: Nintendo has lost almost a quarter of its valuation in recent months – but its strategy and line-up remains sound despite investor jitters
- Milan court applies Nintendo v Big Ben in fast fashion lawsuit against ZARA
- Modders revamp Super Mario Odyssey on hacked Switch hardware
- Japan is taking steps to legalize paid esports tournaments
- The Most Important Video Game on the Planet: How Fortnite became the Instagram of gaming.
- Fortnite has collected $1 billion from in-game purchases
- Fortnite has earned $1 billion from in-game purchases alone: Revenue has only continued to rise month by month since game’s battle royale debut
- ‘Fortnite’ Streamer Ninja Helped Florida’s GuardianCon Raise $2.7 Million For St. Jude
- Dan Bull’s Epic Collaboration Brings Together 100 Creators For ‘Fortnite’ Rap Battle
- Encouraging collaboration among players in Sea of Thieves
- Despite Its Best Efforts, NBA 2K League Can’t Beat The Real Thing
- App Store and Google Play spending hits $34.4B during first half of 2018
- Mobile game spending up 19 per cent in H1 2018 – Sensor Tower: Tencent’s Honor of Kings led mobile spending on Google Play and the App Store, PUBG Mobile led downloads
- Marvel Strike Force brings in over $25 million since launch: Turn-based mobile RPG accumulates 10 million installs over four months
- NetEase’s Identity V downloaded over 100 million times: Asymmetrical multiplayer horror game’s downloads doubled upon global release
- The Crew 2 activity “in line” with The Crew 1: Ubisoft sees open-world racing sequel following in the tracks of its predecessor, hoping continued support leads to continuous sales over coming years
- Back catalog games continue to drive growth for Ubisoft as Q1 sales hit $466M
- Ubisoft net bookings ahead of projections in Q1: Company reports $466 million in sales for the quarter, remains on track for full-year estimates
- Ubisoft Berlin granted $1.84M in subsidies from city senate for expansion
- Ubisoft Berlin approved for $1.85m subsidy from city government: Studio plans to use money to expand, creating around 150 new jobs
- Epic increases revenue split for Unreal Engine Marketplace sellers
- Epic Games adjusts Unreal Engine Marketplace share in favor of creators: Developer/store split changed to 88/12% from 70%/30%, applied retroactively
- Epic ups Unreal Marketplace creators’ pay well above industry standard
- Vampyr sells 450,000 copies in first month
- Hangar 13: Diversifying your team protects you from blind spots – The Mafia III developer on “walking a tightrope” with the game’s narrative and how the risks it took shaped the new Brighton studio
- Tropico publisher Kalypso acquires rights to Commandos series
- Tropico publisher acquires Commandos franchise among others – Kalypso Media: “We see it as our responsibility to want to revive and further develop these beloved games for the fans around the world”
- Pokemon Go developer Niantic acquires Seismic Games
- Niantic acquires VR and mobile developer Seismic Games
- VR rivals come together to develop a single-cable spec for VR headsets
- Facebook spends $88M on Oculus permits in Seattle to expand VR headquarters
- Facebook invested $88.3 million to expand its Redmond Oculus HQ this year: Company spent $106 million on construction and permits over the last three years
- Octi raises $7.5 million in seed funding: AR startup’s app can discern human movement in videos, outline people and add effects
- AppLovin’ takes $400 million investment: KKR & Co investment is based on a $2 billion valuation of the mobile marketing firm
- Video game Kickstarters have raised almost $10m so far in 2018: Total money pledged reaches three-year high, but number of campaigns drops to six-year low and success rate remains steady
- Blog: Crowdfunding and video games in 2018 – A mid-year update
- Earn while you play start-up Blast secures $12m seed funding: “If you can attach a positive outcome to something that people already do and love, like gaming, you can change lives”
- Klang Games raises $8.75m for AI-driven space colonization MMO: Spotify-backer firm Northzone leads Series A funding round
- “There will be more IPOs”: Rebuilding trust in the UK games industry
- “Real innovation is coming from emerging markets in many spaces – game development is one of them”
- Ovosonico: Games will be “like the Netflix button on your remote – that easy” – CEO Massimo Guarini on preparing for the horizontal expansion of the industry, and the Italian studio’s pivot into indie AAA
- Taking stock after five years of ID@Xbox: Chris Charla talks about the program’s biggest successes, pain points, and the conventional wisdom on when to announce and release independent games
- The Washington Post Is Now Streaming The News On Twitch
- The Twitch Streamers Who Spend Years Broadcasting To No One
- Top YouTube Gamer Jacksepticeye, Citing Mental Health, Is On A Break
- Don’t Miss: Fight or flight – Exploring the neuroscience of survival horror
- Video: How devs can apply the 5 domains of play to develop empathy
- Ninja Theory dominates the Develop Awards
- French game designer Muriel Tramis awarded Legion of Honor
- Challenging videogame music tropes: “Music doesn’t exist for a passive viewer… it’s the player’s emotional reality,” says composer James Hannigan
- The 20 JRPGs You Must Play
- Video Game Deep Cuts: Octopath’s DOS Demake
- Watch a Guy Build a Brand New, Completely Obsolete Gaming PC With 20-Year-Old Parts
DIGITAL
- 3D-printed gun lawsuit ends after 3+ years—in gun publisher’s favor
- “Content is fire, Social Media is gasoline” – Court of Appeal considers the challenges for interim injunctions in the digital age
- EU: Google illegally used Android to dominate search, must pay $5B fine
- EU Fines Google $5 Billion for Stifling Android’s Competition
- Here’s Why Google Just Got Hit With a Record $5 Billion Fine
- How Google’s Safe Browsing Helped Build A More Secure Web
- Some Thoughts On The EU’s Latest $5 Billion Google Antitrust Fine
- Businesses Cannot Contractually Ban “Abusive” Consumer Reviews
- Trolling the Internet for Photos Creates Copyright Headaches for Ad Agency (and the Advertiser)–Laspata v. Rimowa
- Executives From YouTube, Facebook, Twitter To Testify Before Congress Regarding Political Bias
- Shadow Politics: Meet The Digital Sleuth Exposing Fake News – Buried in media scholar Jonathan Albright’s research was proof of a massive political misinformation campaign. Now he’s taking on the the world’s biggest platforms before it’s too late.
- 12 Russian intel officers indicted for hacking the DNC and Clinton campaign
- Russia Indictment 2.0: What to Make of Mueller’s Hacking Indictment
- Indicting 12 Russian Hackers Could Be Mueller’s Biggest Move Yet
- Bitcoin, malware and ‘spearphishing’ helped Russian agents hack Democratic Party computers in 2016 election
- Cryptocurrency’s Criminal Revolution: The Unsavory Cast Of Bitcoin’s Biggest Beneficiaries
- Suspect behind bitcoin exchange that “catered to criminals” ordered to France
- The SIM Hijackers: Meet the hackers who flip seized Instagram handles and cryptocurrency in a shady, buzzing underground market for stolen accounts and usernames. Their victims’ weakness? Phone numbers.
- Apple Updates Crypto Currency Aspects of App Store Review Guidelines
- AI & Blockchain: An Introduction
- Coty gets green light for online platform ban
- Instagram Model Attacked By Shark While Attempting To Snap The Perfect Shot
- Study: Instagram leads as influencer marketing platform
- California Supreme Court Ruling Immunizes Yelp from Defamatory Content Removal
- ‘Smart’ TVs Remain The Poster Child For Dismal Privacy, Transparency & Security Standards
- States prevail over e-commerce companies in Battle for sales taxes
- Magic Leap Finally Demoed Its Headset And It Is… Disappointing
- Magic Leap’s Disappointing Demo Could Be A Death Knell For AR
- Much of the excitement and cool factor around Magic Leap is now gone
- The best augmented reality I saw this year was live theater funded by a liquor company: Whiskey-sponsored immersive theater. Snickers escape rooms. Immersive branding is just getting started.
- ‘Rick & Morty VR’, ‘Coco VR’, ‘Blade Runner 2049 VR’ & More Nominated for Emmys
- DOJ Tells Ron Wyden About The Times It Has Collected Journalists’ Communications; Leaves Some Facts Out
- Why the Craig behind Craigslist gave big bucks to a journalism program: His philanthropy funds veterans, women, voter protection and trustworthy journalism.
- Copyright As Censorship: FIFA’s Overaggressive Copyright Takedowns Target Fans Celebrating And Pussy Riot Protesting
- Trump revealed as Facebook’s biggest political advertiser
- Media – both on the left and right – are pressing Facebook to define what journalism is
- Notification: Facebook – you have a £500,000 fine from the Information Commissioner’s Office
- Why is InfoWars allowed on Facebook? Zuckerberg: Because it doesn’t cause “harm”
- Here’s What It Takes to Get Kicked off Facebook (Hint: It’s A Lot)
- Facebook says it will begin removing misinformation that leads to violence
- How We Can ‘Free’ Our Facebook Friends
- Inside Facebook, Twitter and Google’s AI battle over your social lives: From stamping out trolls to removing fake bot accounts, here’s how social networks are waging war using AI weapons.
- UK: ICO announces intention to fine Facebook £500,000 and publishes data analytics investigation update
- A FOSTA Of One’s Own: UK Parliament Members Looking To Punish Websites, Push Traffickers Underground
- Digital Ads Are Starting To Feel Psychic: Targeted advertising has become so uncanny, it feels like we’re being surveilled. Two artists want to hear these stories.
- How publishers and advertisers can balance privacy and monetization
- DeepMind Created a Test to Measure an AI’s Ability to Reason
- New Quantum Computer Milestone Would Make Richard Feynman Very Happy
- D-Wave’s quantum computer successfully models a quantum system
- The quantified heart: Artificial intelligence promises ever more control over the highs and lows of our emotions. Uneasy? Perhaps you should be
- A new hope: AI for news media
- Artificial Intelligence Is Automating Hollywood. Now, Art Can Thrive.
- Top AI Experts Vow They Won’t Help Create Lethal Autonomous Weapons
- Netflix Scores 112 Emmy Nominations, Beating Out HBO’s 108
- Netflix to Launch Comedy Radio Channel on SiriusXM
- For First Time In Two Years, Netflix Falls Short Of Quarterly Growth Expectations
- Investors are worried that Netflix is getting as big as it can get
- Netflix Can Either Become the Dominant Media Monopoly of the 21st Century or Go Bust
- Netflix Is King No More as Disney Retakes Media-Company Crown
- Netflix CEO Proclaims The Death Of Net Neutrality Is No Big Deal
- Will Smith Collects $20,000 In Two Days By Selling Merch On YouTube’s New Teespring Shelf
- Shawn Mendes To Kick Off Year-Long Partnership Between YouTube Music, Rolling Stone
- Guns N’ Roses’ “November Rain” Becomes Oldest Music Video To Reach One Billion YouTube Views
- Female Science-Focused YouTubers Face Inordinate Amount Of Criticism, Study Finds
- YouTube TV Gifts Subscribers Week Of Free Service To Apologize For World Cup Outage
- Progress Isn’t Linear: YouTube TV’s World Cup Flub Threatens Public’s Trust For Sports Streaming
- Tickets For The First-Ever VidCon London Are On Sale Now
- Talent Firm ‘Addition’ Signs Lifestyle Creators Aaryn Williams, Ally Chen, And Jennifer Zhang
- Racial Discrimination Complaint Against The Young Turks Leads To A Lawsuit
- Insights: Purging – It’s Not Just For Twitter Anymore (Or At Least It Shouldn’t Be)
- A Serial Twitter Follow/Unfollower Explains Himself: “I’m just trying to get eyes on me. It’s a big attention game online… the end goal for me is just be on as many screens as I can.”
- Unfollowing Everybody (Anil Dash)
- The 10 Most Difficult-To-Defend Online Fandoms
- Creators Are Making As Much As $50,000 With Music Video App Triller’s New Monetization Feature
- Kid-Friendly Network Pocket.watch Raises $15 Million Series B Round Led By Viacom
- Original Shows From DeStorm, Lil Tay Lead The Way As New SVOD Service Zeus Launches
- Do Subscription Models Work with Apps?: Thoughts on Setapp – subscription-based collection for Mac apps
- Reddit Reinvents The Chat Room With Community Chat
- Don’t Feed The Trolls, And Other Hideous Lies: The mantra about the best way to respond to online abuse has only made it worse
- The “Intellectual Dark Web” Is Nothing New
- PC market appears to have grown for the first time since 2012
- Microsoft finally gives Teams what it needs to take on Slack: A free version
- Early Amazon Prime Day Sales Were Up Over 50% Despite Website Crashes and Worker Strikes
- Uber faces new probe over alleged gender discrimination in hiring practices
- Elon Musk could face lawsuit for calling cave rescuer a “pedo guy”
- Antarctic Exploration Vessel Which Should Be Named Boaty McBoatface But Tragically Isn’t Launches
CREATIVITY
- All’s Fair in Whoville: Dr. Seuss Parody is Fair Use
- DeLorean Estate Alleges ‘Back to the Future’ Royalties Were Improperly Distributed
- Green v. Harbach
- The first rule of copyright reform: Don’t mess with free speech and net neutrality (Michael Geist)
- Guy In Charge Of Pushing Draconian EU Copyright Directive, Evasive About His Own Use Of Copyright Protected Images
- Did The Ninth Circuit’s “Blurred Lines” Ruling Just Quietly Move To Kill Off The So-Called Inverse Ratio Rule?
- Court Won’t Rehear Blurred Lines Case, Bad News For Music Creativity
- Is the press regulator subject to judicial review? – Coulter v Independent Press Standards Organisation CIC (IPSO)
- The MAGA Trolls Have Met Their Match In Sacha Baron Cohen And “Who Is America?”
- Congressman Introduces Legislation To Criminalize Protesting In A Mask
- When Black Performers Use Their ‘White Voice’
- Court to Kanye Plaintiff: Imma Let You Finish
- Kanye’s Tweet Could Be False Advertising, New York Court Rules
- Pussy Riot has a wake up call for America’s youth in the Trump era
- State Appeals Court Tosses Defamation Suit Against Lawyer Who Wrote About Teen Driver Who Injured His Client
- How A US Burger Chain Brought ‘Ruby Tuesday’ Full Circle Through Trademark Bullying
- Eighth Grade’s R rating deters actual 8th-graders from seeing it. What a shame.: The MPAA ratings system and its very specific hang-ups are keeping teens away from the movies they need most.
- Disruption, Consolidation, Uncertainty: Welcome to Hollywood’s Age of Anxiety
- Why Did American Music Festivals Almost Disappear in the 1970s and ’80s?
- There Is Now Just One Blockbuster Left in the US
- Alaska’s last two Blockbusters are shutting down, leaving one in US
- The Simpsons Wouldn’t Exist Without Yellow Submarine: How the Beatles classic changed the future of animation.
- Q2 2018 Quick Links, Part 5 (Potpourri) (Eric Goldman)
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- Canada: A $250,000 Reminder that “CASL” is Not Just an Anti-Spam Law
- AG’s False Advertising Suit Challenging Broadband Claims Not Preempted
- Bill to save net neutrality gets first Republican vote in US House
- The Cable TV & Broadband Sector Has A Nasty Billing Fraud Problem
- The FCC’s Sneaky Plan To Make It Easier To Ignore ISP Complaints
- Ajit Pai Pretends To Care About Identity Fraud That Plagued Net Neutrality Repeal
- Ajit Pai’s Cure For The ‘Digital Divide’ Looks Suspiciously Like A Giant Middle Finger
- Ajit Pai finalizes vote to limit FCC reviews of customer complaints
- Ajit Pai deals major setback to Sinclair/Tribune merger
- The FCC Mysteriously Retreats From Sinclair Cronyism, Potentially Dooming Controversial Merger
- FCC Seeks “Large Step” Toward Advancing Broadband Infrastructure Goals With Draft One-Touch Make-Ready Order
- Trump administration appeals court loss in AT&T/Time Warner case
- After AT&T Jacks Up Prices Post Merger, DOJ Decides To Appeal Court Loss
- Charter Spectrum’s New ‘Unlimited’ Wireless Service Bans HD Video Entirely
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- Supreme Court of Canada affirms privacy protections in tobacco health-data case
- B.C. wins SCC appeal on production of health-care databases in Big Tobacco case
- PIPEDA at 20: Time for PIPEDA 2.0 (Michael Geist)
- US v. Microsoft Litigation Update: Supreme Court Dismisses Case as Moot After Congress Amends Stored Communications Act
- Shocker: DOJ’s Computer Crimes And Intellectual Property Section Supports Security Researchers DMCA Exemptions
- Judge slams FBI for improper cellphone search, stingray use
- Oregon Supreme Court Sets Up New Limits For Digital Device Searches
- Florida Man Jailed for Failing to Unlock His Phone
- Guy Gets Tossed In Jail For Contempt Charges Because Cops Say They Need To Unlock His Phones To Get Evidence Of Drug Possession
- State Appeals Court Says Exigency Beats A Warrant Requirement If A Phone Has A Passcode
- Walmart Patents Tech for Eavesdropping on Workers
- Our Data, Ourselves: How to stop tech firms from monopolizing our personal information.
- Microsoft President Calls For Government Rules For Facial Recognition Technology
- How Facial Recognition Could Tear Us Apart: Will the new tech create a safer society – or a dystopian panopticon?
- Smart TVs are invading privacy and should be investigated, senators say
- ‘Smart’ TVs Remain The Poster Child For Dismal Privacy, Transparency & Security Standards
- Should we have any expectation of privacy in public spaces? (Andres Guadamuz)
- Obtained Documents Show The DEA Sold Compromised Phones To Suspected Drug Dealers
- Health Insurers Are Vacuuming Up Details About You – And It Could Raise Your Rates
- The most ambitious browser mitigation yet for Spectre attacks comes to Chrome
- California’s Data Privacy Law: What It Is and How to Comply (A Step-By-Step Guide)
- Can the Privacy Shield survive? What’s next for exports of personal data to the US?
- European Parliament Turns Up The Pressure On US-EU Privacy Shield Data Transfer Deal A Little More
Jon