News of the Week; January 16, 2019

GAMES

1. Red Dead Redemption 2’s Pinkerton agents are at the center of a lawsuit
2. The Pinkertons Are Still Around, Suing Over Red Dead Redemption 2
3. Rockstar threatened with legal action over Red Dead 2’s Pinkerton agents: Take-Two and Rockstar say use of Pinkerton and trademarks is protected under the First Amendment
4. Infamous Pinkerton Detectives Claim Red Dead Redemption’s Use Of Historically Accurate Pinkertons Is Trademark Infringement
5. Red Dead 2 sparks legal tussle between Take-Two and the real-world Pinkertons
6. Gearbox CEO accused by former studio lawyer of taking $12M bonus
7. Former Gearbox lawyer reportedly filed discrimination claim ahead of November lawsuit: 10 days before Gearbox sued Wade Callender, he filed a discrimination claim against CEO Randy Pitchford alleging religious harassment
8. Randy Pitchford and ex-Gearbox lawyer engaged in ugly legal fight over alleged $12 million ‘secret bonus,’ unpaid loans, camgirl porn: Pitchford and former Gearbox general counsel Wade Callendar have filed lawsuits accusing each other
9. Amidst legal battle, Gearbox CEO says he left USB stick of porn at Medieval Times: Alleges Pitchford received $12M bonus, hid from Gearbox staffers, siphoned elsewhere.
10. Gearbox CEO allegedly mocked ex-lawyer’s Christianity with slurs, “ridiculing” gifts
11. Forza Horizon 4 patches out Floss and Carlton dance emotes
12. Forza Horizon 4 removes dance moves following Fortnite lawsuits: The Carlton and the Floss removed from game as creators pursue Epic Games for damages
13. Microsoft removes Forza dances amid Fortnite lawsuits
14. ‘Fresh Prince’ actor, rapper and dancer sue makers of video game over popular dance moves
15. Fortnite dance lawsuits continue with “Orange Justice”: Mother of Orange Shirt Kid sues Epic Games for copyright infringement following campaign that saw dance included in-game
16. Epic fixes Fortnite security flaw which left all 200M+ players vulnerable
17. Settlement reached in long-running 38 Studios lawsuit 
18. Riot Games updates company values following “bro culture” toxicity claims: Developer says new values are a “guide for who we want to be”
19. Law firm investigating Activision-Blizzard on behalf of investors: Pomerantz LLP looking into claims that company leadership engaged in securities fraud, other unlawful practice
20. Bungie takes Destiny 2 publishing rights back from Activision
21. Bungie Splits With Activision, Maintains Destiny Rights
22. Bungie breaks from Activision to publish Destiny on its own: Activision to “increase focus on own IP projects” as Bungie transitions to self-publishing
23. Bungie splits with Activision, keeps control of Destiny
24. Activision will cut ties with Bungie, give up publishing control of Destiny
25. The Game Industry Reacts To The Bungie-Activision Breakup: General consensus: people are happy for Bungie. 
26. Destiny: We React to the Activision Bungie Split
27. Destiny 2’s Impossible Puzzle Might Have Been Broken All Along
28. Take-Two and NBA extend partnership in $1.1bn deal: Multi-year licensing agreement enables 2K to continue making its best-selling basketball game
29. Rocket League finally gets cross-platform play on PS4: The popular Psyonix title is the latest to benefit from Sony’s cross-platform u-turn
30. Rocket League now allows cross-play for all platforms, including PS4
31. Pioneer, Ubisoft’s sci-fi game teased in Watch Dogs 2, reportedly cancelled 
32. Call of Duty has made more money than the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars: Activision release about presidential appointments reveals best-selling shooter franchise trumps box office takings of Hollywood hits
33. EA Cancels Open-World Star Wars Game [UPDATE] 
34. EA has reportedly canceled Vancouver studio’s Star Wars title: Unseen project was supposedly an open-world reset of closed Visceral Games’ Star Wars title
35. Report: EA’s beleaguered open-world Star Wars game is no more [Updated]
36. Update: EA Responds To Reports Of Alleged Star Wars Game Cancellation
37. EA Vancouver’s open-world Star Wars game has been canceled  
38. Chinese government approves another 84 games for release: Total since end of the approval freeze is now 164 games, but Tencent and NetEase are still absent
39. Tencent picks up 36% ownership of Warhammer: Vermintide 2 dev Fatshark  
40. Blizzard and NetEase extend China publishing deal until 2023
41. Blizzard states importance of ‘inclusive’ workplace after discrimination allegations
42. Meet MASHBot, the touchscreen-tapping, Nintendo DS-playing robot
43. Nintendo of Europe issues formal warning to Russia boss after investigation: But platform holder says accusations of harassment by general manager Yasha Haddaji remain unsubstantiated
44. Hackers find Super NES games mentioned in Switch’s emulated NES files
45. Travis Strikes Again review: Switch may already have its weirdest game of 2019
46. ESA and World Health Organization discuss ‘gaming disorder’ classification  
47. World Health Organization and ESA meet to discuss gaming disorder diagnosis: UKIE and ISFE also urged WHO to “reconsider the mounting evidence” during formal dialogue last month
48. PEGI announces new content descriptor for in-game purchases on physical products: An “important first step” to helping making parents make informed purchasing decisions, says PEGI managing director
49. Roblox launches Digital Civility Initiative: Online safety and education will be the focus of the program, led by new hire Laura Higgins
50. Unity changes terms of service to block SpatialOS projects
51. Improbable calls for Unity to clarify TOS in wake of SpatialOS dev concerns
52. GDC 2019 will host a Classic Game Postmortem ofPaperboy!
53. Unity updates terms of service (again) in response to Improbable dispute
54. SpatialOS games under threat as Unity revokes Improbable’s license – Update: Spilt Milk Studios brings Lazarus back at least temporarily, while Bossa’s Worlds Adrift is “operating as normal”
55. Changes to Unity terms of service are “insanity” says Improbable CEO: Devs share concerns with GamesIndustry.biz about how changes could spell the end for their in-development projects
56. Cloud gaming firm: Unity must clarify its terms, reinstate our license 
57. Unity explains Improbable license revocation, says SpatialOS creator’s claims “incorrect”: SpatialOS devs are safe, Improbable calls for “code of conduct” in development ecosystem
58. Unity clarifies ToS changes, welcomes back “unsupported” SpatialOS
59. Video: How Life is Strange brought a new era for narrative games
60. Epic, Improbable start fund to lure devs away from Unity amid engine kerfuffle
61. Epic, Improbable team up for $25 million fund to bring SpatialOS developers to “more open engines”: Saga of Unity, Improbable, and SpatialOS continues as Epic opens door to developers “left in limbo” by terms of service changes
62. Unity changes course following dispute with Improbable: John Riccitiello and Joachim Ante to host Reddit AMA today 
63. Epic Games store planned for launch on Android this year: Company looks toward iOS launch also, despite “apparent conflict” with Apple policy
64. Epic Games Store alters refund policy to match Steam
65. Epic Games Store now offers a refund policy similar to Steam’s: Within a Fortnite of purchase.
66. Sergey Galyonkin clarifies how the Epic Games Store targets influencers
67. Sergey Galyonkin: Epic Games store courting a younger, Steam-less audience – Epic Games’ director of publishing strategy offers glimpse of what the storefront plans to offer both consumers and influencers in the coming months and year
68. Sergey Galyonkin clarifies how the Epic Games Store targets influencers
69. Verizon is testing its own cloud-based game streaming service
70. Valve wants to overhaul discoverability on Steam with machine learning this year
71. Valve working on new algorithmic recommendation tools for Steam, curating features: Other 2019 plans include PC Cafe Program, Trusted Matchmaking across all games, and Steam China
72. Video: How reward systems can guide player experience inWorld of Warcraft
73. ‘We have a big hit because we have a healthy work/life balance’, says Slime Rancher director
74. Dusk sells 69,420 copies a month after launch
75. Jurassic World Evolution and Planet Coaster have crossed 2 million sales
76. There are now over 30,000 games on Steam
77. NPD: US, Canada saw more mobile gamers in 2018 – Number of mobile gamers increased 5% year-over-year; Android remains most popular smartphone option
78. Tabletop games continue to succeed on Kickstarter as video games fall behind
79. Analyst: 2018 was an unimpressive (but stable) year for video game crowdfunding
80. Ico Partners: Video games see fewer crowdfunded projects, steady amount funded in 2018 – Trends indicates Kickstarter is stabilizing, with a higher percentage of quality projects as platform matures 
81. Report: Amazon is developing its own game streaming service
82. Amazon reportedly developing its own game streaming service: Company already in talks with publishers, but service wouldn’t be ready until 2020 at the earliest
83. Amazon may be going after cloud gaming, but Microsoft has a big head start
84. Gamestop Buyout Expected To Be Finalized Next Month
85. From forum post to feature update: Supercell’s community connection: How the Brawl Stars studio hopes to continue its “two-way street” partnership with content creators and game communities 
86. IGDC: Solving the monetisation problem in India – The Indian market is brimming with potential, but it’s far from straightforward
87. Fallout 76 players find human NPC and unreleased items in secret ‘dev room’: Like Fallout 4, Fallout 76 has a room containing every item in the game – and some players have apparently found a way inside.
88. Fortnite tops SuperData’s 2018 chart with $2.4 billion digital revenue: Epic’s game toppled Honor of Kings in the free-to-play chart, PUBG was the highest earning premium title
89. Streamlabs: Twitch growth slows as streamers turn to YouTube and Facebook – Meanwhile, Fortnite sees first decline in hours streamed since launching battle royale mode 
90. Niantic closes funding round with $245 million raised  
91. Niantic raises $245 million in Series C funding: Funding round led by IVP brings company valuation to nearly $4 billion
92. Hitman developer IO Interactive has opened a new studio in Malmo
93. IO Interactive opens new studio in Malmö: Second studio will support Hitman series and enables IOI to develop “new universes, new franchises”
94. Examining the relationship between a studio’s survival and success
95. Weavr Consortium receives £4m grant to develop esports viewing tech: UK government’s Industry Strategy Challenge Fund selects esports group for two-year Sports and Entertainment grant
96. ESForce sells majority stake in SK Gaming: Esports holdings company to sell 67% share to Daimler AG, FC Koeln 
97. THQ Nordic has acquired the rights to Outcast
98. Founded by CERN Engineers, CREAL3D’s Light-field Display is the Real Deal 
99. MetaAR Shuts Down Amidst Patent Infringement Lawsuit & Asset Liquidation
100. Sony Shows More ‘Ace Combat 7’ VR Gameplay Ahead of Jan. 18 Launch
101. Jam City secures $145 million to support global growth and acquisition plans  
102. Jam City announces $145m in strategic finance just weeks after layoffs: Investment comes on the heels of a “large numbers” of redundancies and a multi-year development deal with Disney
103. What’s the one game you think people pretend to like the most?
104. The UK Games Industry in 2018: Winners and Losers – Nintendo and Sony shine as EA falters
105. UK industry braces for no-deal Brexit: How developers, publishers and more are preparing for the worst following next week’s vote
106. Games4EU outlines the good and (mostly) bad of potential Brexit deal
107. From Uncharted to Obra Dinn: Lucas Pope dishes on his illustrious game-dev career
108. Success and sustainability at Supercell DLC: The Finnish studio’s developers discuss how they keep games thriving for years, and CEO Ilkka Paananen shares his philosophy on crunch
109. Was classic JRPG grind that bad?: An in-depth analysis
110. God of War nominated for 12 awards at 2019 DICE Awards
111. God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man lead nominations for 22nd annual DICE Awards: Red Dead Redemption 2, Return of the Obra Dinn also see numerous mentions
112. These were the most downloaded games on the PlayStation Store in 2018
113. Writers Guild crowns Reigns: Her Majesty for best writing in a video game
114. Awesome Games Done Quick 2019 raises $2.39M for Prevent Cancer Foundation

DIGITAL

1. Appeals Court: First Amendment Violation To Ban Members Of The Public From Gov’t Officials’ Facebook Pages
2. Facebook page is a government forum
3. Blocking Constituents from Facebook Page Violates First Amendment–Davison v. Randall 
4. Pakistan Demands Google Take Down Petition For Academic Freedom… Saying It Represents Hate Speech
5. Apple loses patent case appeal, owes VirnetX $440M in FaceTime dispute 
6. The Duty to Read the Unreadable (Uri Benoliel & Shmuel Becher)
7. Twitter’s TOS Upheld Despite Unilateral Amendment Clause – Brittain v. Twitter
8. Court To Revenge Porn Bro Suing Twitter: You Agreed To Twitter Picking The Courtroom Every Time You Created A New Alt Account
9. “This isn’t like shipping wine”—Defense Distributed v. Grewalhas its day in court
10. Amazon Dash Buttons Ruled Illegal In Germany For… Making It Too Easy To Buy Stuff 
11. Here’s How Much Money Creators Can Make Via Amazon’s Influencer Program (Report)
12. President Trump Mocks Amazon’s ‘Jeff Bozo’ During Unhinged Twitter Rant
13. Microsoft signs a huge deal with Walgreens, as Amazon’s growing interest in health care looms large
14. Microsoft’s fonts catch out another fraudster—this time in Canada
15. How Tracking And Selling Our Data Became A Business Model
16. Night Club Accused of TCPA Text Messaging Violations
17. 3rd Circuit: Enrollment packet e-signature requires student to arbitrate claims 
18. EU Parliament Puts Out Utter Nonsense Defending Copyright Directive
19. Hollywood Asks EU To Drop Article 13 Entirely, Because It Might Possibly Have A Tiny Compromise For The Internet
20. Google Shows What Google News Looks Like If Article 11 Passes In The EU Copyright Directive
21. EU Court Adviser Says Google Shouldn’t Have To Enforce A French RTBF Request Anywhere But In Europe
22. Google kills the Chromecast Audio
23. Alphabet board sued over massive payout to Android creator, among others
24. Music Groups Waste No Time Using Australia’s New Copyright Law To Shut Down Stream Ripping Sites
25. Federal Appellate Courts Ring In the New Year by Taking Up Website and Mobile Application Accessibility  
26. Carriers Swore They’d Stop Selling Location Data. Will They Ever?
27. LinkedIn Is Helping The Chinese Government Silence Critics
28. Internet Censorship and the Intraregional Geopolitical Conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa (Helmi Noman)
29. Kylie Jenner Dethroned By An Egg For Most-Liked Instagram Post Of All Time
30. Instagram’s Most-Liked Egg Now Trying To Be Twitter’s Most-Retweeted Egg
31. Report: DOJ pursuing criminal charges against Huawei for theft of tech
32. Huawei employee arrested, accused of “high-level espionage” for China: Polish authorities arrest a Huawei employee and former government security expert.
33. Chinese Police Now Performing Door-To-Door Twitter Censorship
34. Roku Reverses Course, Bans Alex Jones Channel After Outcry 
35. Suppressing Customer Reviews Leads to $25 Million Judgment
36. Few people shared fake news in 2016 election, but seniors shared the most
37. And Now Professional Sports Teams Are Cutting The Cable Cord, Too
38. Netflix sued for trademark infringement by ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ publishers  
39. Netflix’s ‘Black Mirror: Bandersnatch’ Leads to “Choose Your Own Adventure” Trademark Lawsuit 
40. Netflix Is About to Cost You More Money
41. Netflix Announces Biggest Subscription Price Hike To Date
42. Millions of customers will now pay more for Netflix—here’s how much
43. Netflix reveals Space Force comedy series before Trump gets real thing approved
44. Hulu Stealth Drops Fyre Fest Documentary Featuring Interview With Founder Billy McFarland 
45. Gillette’s New Ad Addressing Toxic Masculinity Met With 400,000 Dislikes, Vitriol From YouTube Users
46. Massively-Viewed K-Pop Videos Temporarily Pulled From YouTube After False Copyright Claims
47. Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 1/13/2019
48. YouTube will “ramp up” enforcement of its policies against dangerous challenges and pranks
49. YouTube updates policies to explicitly ban dangerous pranks, challenges
50. YouTube Bans Stunts Like Particularly Risky ‘Bird Box,’ Tide Pod Challenges In Updated Guidelines
51. Jake Paul’s ‘Bird Box Challenge’ Video Yanked From YouTube Following Backlash
52. Logan Paul Half-Apologizes For Saying He Wanted To Try Being Gay For 1 Month
53. The First Dumb Meme Accident of 2019 Is Here
54. “Ghost guns,” underage sex, and the First Amendment: Defense Distributed’s legal saga: Legal turmoil for company rolls on as Cody Wilson faces felony charges for sex with a minor. 
55. Family-Friendly YouTube Stars ‘ACE Family’ Under Fire After Father Shown Buying Child A Phallic Lollipop
56. YouTube Clarifies Policies On How Profanity Impacts Monetization
57. YouTube Allows Disney Nerds to Relive Extinct Theme Park Attractions
58. YouTube Boomers Show #Vanlife Isn’t Just For Millennials 
59. “Baby Shark” Enters Billboard Hot 100 Largely Thanks To Viral YouTube Views
60. YouTube Axes Ability To Automatically Share Video Uploads, ‘Likes’ On Twitter
61. YouTube Piloting Blue Tags Under Videos That Help Filter Recommendations
62. YouTube Officially Rolls Out Swipe-To-Advance Navigation On iOS App
63. NBCUniversal set to launch standalone streaming service in 2020
64. NBCUniversal Announces Streaming Service To Launch 2020, Puts Exec Bonnie Hammer In Charge Of Development
65. NBCU Crafts Bluprint For A New Kind Of Influencer
66. Social Influencers are not immune from advertising codes and laws – Ads must be identified as Ads
67. Twitch Suspends Smash Bros. Streamer For Drunkenly Passing Out On Camera
68. Nike To Unveil Latest Shoe Launch On Twitch
69. CAA Signs Twitch Streamer Dr DisRespect As It Builds Out Gaming Roster
70. Studio71 launches talent management company
71. Machinima Creators Just Got A Letter Telling Them That They’re Now Part Of Fullscreen
72. ‘DaddyOFive’ Parents’ Sentences Reduced Despite Allegations They Broke Court Order, Continued To Vlog Children
73. Bird Scooter tried to censor my Boing Boing post with a legal threat that’s so stupid, it’s a whole new kind of wrong
74. Bird tries to forcibly remove Boing Boing’s story detailing how to hack and keep its scooters
75. Bird Issues ‘Chilling’ Legal Threat After Boing Boing Publishes Blog on E-Scooter Hack
76. Scooter Company Bird Sends Absolutely B.S. Copyright Threat Letter To Cory Doctorow For Reporting On Modifying Scooters 
77. EFF flips Bird the bird, says Boing Boing post doesn’t violate copyright law – EFF: Bird’s legal demand to take down recent Cory Doctorow post is “meritless.” 
78. Scooter startup Bird tried to silence a journalist. It did not go well.
79. Bird to Boing Boing: We’re sorry about sending you a legal-demand letter 
80. The Internet is Facing a Catastrophe For Free Expression and Competition
81. Hulu Is Rolling Out Performance-Based Measurement for Brands: The streaming service is working with ‘several’ partners on the offering
82. UX rant: The nightmare horrorshow that is the Apple TV remote
83. Vietnamese Government Whines Facebook Isn’t Helping It Censor Critics Quickly Enough
84. Facebook-executive swatting sends significant police response to his home
85. Facebook brings stricter ads rules to countries with big 2019 votes 
86. Barstool Sports Shuts Down Comment Section, Silencing Its Most Loyal Racists
87. The best PCs, gadgets, and future tech of CES 2019
88. Man says CES lidar’s laser was so powerful it wrecked his $1,998 camera
89. Remember when Bill Gates challenged Slash to Guitar Hero? 13 years of Ars at CES
90. This Sad Booth Is a Metaphor for CES This Year
91. The Totally Unofficial CES 2019 Meta Awards
92. IBM’s New AI System Can Compose Logical Arguments: Next thing we know, it’ll be arguing in the comment section. 
93. AI can diagnose some genetic disorders using photos of faces 
94. Artificial Intelligence, collaboration with online platforms and tackling the ‘Wild West’: How the ASA plans to make its impact online over the next 5 years  
95. Litigating intellectual property issues: The impact of AI and machine learning
96. New Robot Dogs Can Deliver Your Lunch Right to Your Desk
97. Blythe Masters and the End of a Blockchain Era
98. Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Real Implications of Blockchain in the Legal Industry (Justin Evans)
99. Okay, This Argument for 8K TVs Is Kinda Convincing 
100. Etch a Sketch lives on in browser-based Chrome Labs project
101. 2H 2018 Quick Links, Part 6 (IP, E-Commerce, Censorship, & More) (Eric Goldman)

CREATIVITY

1. Jury Orders Mongols Biker Club to Forfeit Its Logo, the ‘Holy of Holies’
2. The Rock says that “generation snowflake” interview was “100 percent fabricated,” totally fake
3. UQAM co-op excludes white comedian from shows because of his dreadlocks: Zach Poitras was barred from performing at the Snowflake Comedy Club and the Soirée d’humour engagée.
4. Must Universities Shut Down Constitutionally Protected Speech Forums That Also Enable Student Harassment? (Eric Goldman)
5. Federal Court Says Iowa’s Ag Gag Law Is Unconstitutional
6. Turkish Court Jails Journalist For Telling The Truth About A Politician’s Offshore Tax Shelter
7. Immoral and Scandalous Trademarks: If They Can Be Registered, What Does It Mean For Other Prohibitions on Registration?
8. Software patents poised to make a comeback under new patent office rules
9. ASA ruling on Coral national press ad
10. ASA announces that from June harmful gender stereotyping in adverts will be banned
11. Aloha, Copyright Infringement
12. The Crown Jewels: How to Protect Your Jewelry Designs

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

1.  Why So Secret?: Government’s Communications Law Panel Plans to Keep Public Submissions Under Wraps for Months (Michael Geist)
2. All About the Internet: My Submission to the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review Panel on the Future of Canadian Communications Law (Michael Geist)
3. Ajit Pai gives carriers free pass on privacy violations during FCC shutdown
4. Ajit Pai Refuses To Brief Congress On What He Plans To Do About Wireless Location Data Scandals
5. T-Mobile CEO, execs stay at Trump hotel while lobbying Trump administration
6. AT&T’s Planning Yet More Layoffs Despite Tens Of Billions In Tax Breaks And Government Favors
7. AT&T defends misleading “5G” network icons on 4G phones
8. AT&T Execs Think It’s Really Funny They Misled Consumers About 5G Availability
9. Verizon Promises Not To Over-Hype 5G, Immediately Proceeds To Over-Hype 5G
10. Verizon charges new “spam” fee for texts sent from teachers to students
11. Frontier Hammered By Minnesota AG For Its Refusal To Repair Its Broadband Network
12. FCC asks court for delay in case that could restore net neutrality rules

 SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

1. Vizio Admits Modern TV Sets Are Cheaper Because They’re Spying On You
2. Employee Falls for Fake Job Interview Over Skype, Gives North Korean Hackers Access to Chile’s ATM Network: Report
3. Feds forcing mass fingerprint unlocks is an “abuse of power,” judge rules
4. Federal Judge Says Compelling People To Unlock Phones With Their Fingerprints/Faces Violates The 5th Amendment
5. Five Companies Settle Privacy Case With NY AG Over Apps 
6. Nine defendants charged in SEC hacking scheme that netted $4.1 million
7. California Regulates Internet of Things
8. An Ounce of Prevention: Responding to California’s New Privacy Law
9. Government Shutdown Means Government Website Security Certs Aren’t Being Renewed
10. FBI Officially Has A Leak Investigation Unit
11. DOJ Indictment Alleges Theft of Hundreds of Gigabytes of Corporate and Government Data in Attacks Targeting Managed Service Providers
12. Directors and Officers Settle Over Yahoo Hack: A New Chapter in Derivative Litigation? 
13. Hack Brief: An Astonishing 773 Million Records Exposed In Monster Breach
14. Google Play starts manually whitelisting SMS and phone apps
15. Artificial Intelligence vs. the Hackers: Machine-learning algorithms watch hackers’ behavior and adapt to their evolving tactics.
16. The U.S. Government Has Amassed Terabytes of Internal WikiLeaks Data
17. New ransomware rakes in $4 million by adopting a “big game hunting” strategy
18. A DNS hijacking wave is targeting companies at an almost unprecedented scale
19. 2019: The Push For Bad Faith, Loophole-Filled Privacy Legislation Begins
20. 2H 2018 Quick Links, Part 5 (Privacy, Advertising, Consumer Reviews) (Eric Goldman)

Jon