News of the Week

GAMES

1. Report: China to further regulate online games and streaming to curb addiction
2. China reveals new mental health initiative that may further limit violence in games: “Healthy China 2030” includes crackdown on games considered violent, pornographic, or promoting gambling
3. Japanese prefecture considers restrictions on gaming time for minors: Proposed ordinance in Kagawa Prefecture would limit those under 18 to one hour of gaming per day
4. How Game Companies Use Credits To Reward, Or Punish, Developers
5. How can Rio Ferdinand help protect kids from inappropriate video games?: UKIE CEO Dr Jo Twist on why spending time gaming with children is just as important as using parental controls
6. Nintendo Escapes Vice Grip in ITC Challenge
7. Inside TASBot’s semi-secret, probably legal effort to control the Nintendo Switch
8. Nintendo Switch was best-selling console in France last year: Lifetime sales exceed expectations to reach 3.3 million, Switch Lite outsells Xbox One
9. Super Nintendo World to focus on “interactive experiences”: New details about the Osaka theme park were revealed ahead of its summer opening
10. Nintendo looking at ‘interesting’ ways it can use AR technology
11. In a series first, Pokemon Sword and Shield will offer an expansion pass
12. Game Dev Torrents Its Way To More Sales, Not Less
13. Analyst: With $894 million in revenue, 2019 marked Pokemon Go’s best year so far
14. 2019 was Pokemon Go’s best year ever: Niantic’s location-based game brought in $894 million last year, even more than its 2016 launch year
15. Microsoft first-party titles to be cross-compatible between Xbox One, Xbox Series X
16. Xbox Series X won’t have next-gen exclusives for a while
17. Xbox won’t kick off the Series X generation with next-gen exclusives
18. Xbox still plans to attend E3 2020
19. Phil Spencer confirms Xbox will be at E3 2020: Platform holder responds to Sony’s decision to ditch major games showcase for a second consecutive year
20. Sony’s skipping E3 again in 2020
21. PlayStation will not participate in E3 2020: The company will instead attend ‘hundreds of consumer events across the globe’
22. On eve of PS5, Sony confirms it will skip E3 for second year in a row
23. Is PlayStation right to skip E3?: Sony does not need to go to LA to get people excited for PS5
24. Sony’s PS5 marketing strategy does away with convention | Opinion: E3 absenteeism is just the latest example of a company paying little heed to conventional wisdom, but will that help or hurt it?
25. Call of Duty, Beat Saber, and Apex Legends led PlayStation downloads in 2019
26. SIE boss: The ‘biggest, more unique’ PS5 features have yet to be revealed
27. Square Enix is shutting down Mobius Final Fantasy after four years
28. Final Fantasy VII Remake delayed: Hotly-anticipated remake of beloved PlayStation classic pushed back by one month for polish
29. Square Enix Delays Final Fantasy VII Remake And Avengers
30. Call of Duty and GTA V dominated PlayStation Store downloads in 2019
31. ‘Beat Saber’ Takes Top Spot as PSVR’s Most Downloaded Game of 2019
32. HTC permanently trims $200 off Vive Pro price tag 
33. Report: Valve Index headset sold out globally as Half-Life: Alyx nears launch
34. Valve Index out of stock around the globe ahead of Half-Life Alyx launch: Prospect of VR exclusive Half-Life drives sales of high-end hardware, despite $999 price tag
35. Riot Games launches new tabletop division
36. Riot Games sets up Riot Tabletop to take another stab at board games
37. Subscriptions will “unlock the market to weirder things,” says Outer Wilds dev
38. Look at how digital changes the UK charts: Call of Duty retains No.1, but Uno, The Sims 4 and Rainbow Six make the Top Ten
39. Growth of mobile gamers slows while revenue continues rising – Research firm finds number of US and Canada mobile users playing games was up just 2% last year, but revenues jumped 24% to more than $11.82 billion
40. FIFA 2020 enjoys sixth consecutive week at No. 1 in EMEAA charts: Both Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Luigi’s Mansion 3 make appearance in top ten despite Nintendo not reporting digital sales figures
41. GameStop says its unexpectedly low holiday sales follow an industry-wide trend
42. GameStop holiday sales down 27.5% in 2019: CEO lowers full-year guidance again, maintains declining sales are reflective of market trends
43. GameStop stock tumbles by 16 percent following poor holiday sales
44. GAME threatens to close 40 UK stores unless rents are cut: Retailer says ‘landlords need to work with us’
45. Subnautica has surpassed 5 million sales worldwide
46. Subnautica has sold over 5m copies: Unknown Worlds founder Charlie Cleveland comments on milestone reached nearly two years after game’s full launch
47. Monster Hunter World: Iceborne’s PC release pushes it past 4 million shipped
48. Don’t Miss: How Monster Hunter: World’s director breathed new life into the series
49. Call of Duty Mobile reached 180m downloads in launch quarter
50. Video: How Call of Duty handles automated testing and profiling
51. Comical career sim Job Simulator has crossed 1 million sales
52. Terry Cavanagh has released the source code for VVVVVV on Github
53. YouTuber Extortion? MxR Plays v. Jukin – Real Law Review // LegalEagle
54. YouTube signs on exclusive streaming deals with 3 big gaming creators: LazarBeam, Muselk and Valkyrae
55. YouTube Signs Creators LazarBeam And Muselk, Poaches 100 Thieves Member Valkyrae From Twitch
56. Twitch Reportedly Fell Short Of Ad Revenue Projections Last Year
57. Twitch is launching Hype Train this afternoon, which means you’ll get emotes for going off in chat
58. Researchers find 17 Google Play apps that bombard users with battery-draining ads
59. Google Stadia is like the early days of Steam, says Tequila Works CEO: Developer of Stadia-exclusive Gylt believes platform hasn’t reached its potential yet, but that game streaming services will only get better
60. Analyst: Facebook Gaming saw sizable growth in viewers and stream time during 2019
61. Facebook Gaming streaming market share sees end-of-year rise: In December 2019, Facebook held 8.5% of the market, compared to 3.1% a year prior
62. Mobile gaming projected to surpass $100b in spend in 2020: Mobile games now bring in more spending than all other game types combined
63. 32 notable mobile games released in December 2019 you may have missed
64. Mobius Final Fantasy shutting down after five years: Japanese version of the game has already ended; global service to conclude in June 2020
65. GTA IV unavailable on Steam because Rockstar can no longer generate keys
66. Rockstar says defunct Games for Windows Live to blame for GTA IV delisting
67. Analyzing the top Steam tags
68. Steam’s year in graphs: An in-depth 2019 breakdown
69. Exclusives helped the Epic Games Store earn $680 million during 2019
70. Epic Games Store tops $680 million in player spending: Storefront touts 108 million PC customers a little over a year after launch, extends weekly free game promotion through 2020
71. Ninja’s Getting His Own ‘Fortnite’ Skin, Epic Games Says More Creator Skins To Come
72. In 2019, video game projects on Kickstarter held steady: Ico Partners – Though tabletop drove segment’s rise, video games saw only minute growth in funded projects, money raised
73. Overwatch League addresses on-air talent departures: Activision Blizzard’s esports outfit will “evolve” its broadcast after losing five hosts and casters in the past month
74. BT becomes first major UK brand to sponsor an esports team: Excel Esports signs multi-year partnership with British telecom giant
75. Professional gaming… Are there investment opportunities in esports?
76. UK retailer GAME likely to close 40 stores amid ‘challenging retail market’
77. This simulator company reverse-engineered the Tesla Nürburgring lap
78. The tiniest controller we’ve ever tested is a lot better than you might think
79. The Witcher’s Netflix success: How three timelines somehow became cohesive
80. RuneScape saw 1.1 million paid subscriptions in 2019, an all-time high
81. The RuneScape franchise reached a record peak of 1.1m paid subscribers in 2019: Old School RuneScape on mobile also achieved a new milestone of 8m installs
82. Kansas Game Invest rebrands as Amplifier after THQ Nordic acquisition
83. Phoenix Games acquires Promotion Software and Emergency dev Sixteen Tons
84. Hamburg creates $2.2 million fund to support local game developers
85. Designing user interfaces for visually impaired players
86. Blog: A condemnation of time
87. Blog: A Kirby Super Star retrospective
88. Blog: The importance of the new player’s experience
89. Blog: A TILTit postmortem (or how to not publish a game in today’s market)
90. Blog: What I learned making 12 games in one year
91. Blog: A conversational Touring Karts postmortem
92. Blog: Kickstarter and games in 2019
93. Blog: How monster design influences player behavior and level design 
94. Control and Death Stranding lead nominations for 2020 DICE Awards 
95. Control, Death Stranding each receive eight DICE 2020 nominations, including Game of the Year: Disco Elysium and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare honored with six nominations
96. Jägermeister’s indie game soundtrack competition returns for second year
97. Super Crate Box: Elegant, frantic, and unapologetically small
98. GDC YouTube Top 5: Mipumi Games’ Eline Muijres
99. Ubisoft, Bungie join ranks of devs raising funds for those affected by Australian fires
100. Infinity Ward, Bungie and Ubisoft join Australian bushfire relief efforts: Modern Warfare DLC, Destiny 2 T-shirt sales and AUS$30,000 donation all go towards charities and emergency services
101. Awesome Games Done Quick 2020 raises a record $3.13 million for charity
102. Australian developers organising global fundraising auction for fire services: Game Devs For Firies calls on industry to help encourage donations to bushfire relief by offering signed games, services and more
103. Toward a Critical History of Touch Feedback in Video Games (David Parisi)

DIGITAL

1. Indian Supreme Court finds 150-day Internet blackout in Kashmir illegal
2. India’s Supreme Court Declares Country’s 5 Month Internet Blackout Illegal
3. Instagram is taking down posts supporting slain Iranian general Soleimani
4. Instagram Now Placing Warnings Over Posts Deemed To Contain “False Information”
5. China: Privacy, Security and Content Regulation to Increase in 2020
6. Brazil supreme court sides with Netflix over gay Jesus comedy
7. On Russian Troll Journalism
8. Fake News as a Tool of Populism in Turkey: The Pastor Andrew Brunson Case
9. ‘On the Shoulders of Giants’, Analysis of a Social Network of Intellectual Influence
10. Website Denied Section 230 for No Good Reason, Wins the Case Anyways–DF Pace v. Baker-White
11. Academic Journals In Russia Retract Over 800 Papers Because Of Plagiarism, Self-Plagiarism And ‘Gift Authorship’
12. Gambling on Browsewrap: Casino App Loses Huuuge Bet on Enforcing Terms of Use
13. Facebook Says (Again) That It Won’t Limit Political Ads
14. Facebook Not Fact-Checking Candidate Ads – Looking at the Contrast Between Online Political Ads and Those Running on Broadcast and Cable
15. Malware Marketer NSO Group Looks Like It’s Blowing Off Facebook’s Lawsuit
16. Misleading political ads are the user’s problem to avoid, Facebook says: Rather than ban lies or microtargeting, the company’s putting the onus on users.
17. Instagram adds new tools to Boomerang feature to catch up with competitors: Users can now choose where the loop starts and ends
18. On Novel Grounds, Philadelphia Judge Rejects Uber’s Bid to Arbitrate Passenger’s Personal Injury Claim
19. William Gibson: ‘I was losing a sense of how weird the real world was’ – The writer who invented ‘cyberspace’ – and possibly the most influential living sci-fi author – on the challenges of a reality even stranger than fiction
20. FBI arrests man suspected of orchestrating dozens of “swatting” calls 
21. New Feature Alert: Twitter to Allow Users to Limit or Block Replies Completely
22. Deleting WhatsApp chats during dawn raids may cost you dearly
23. Mozilla lays off 70 people as non-search revenue fails to materialize
24. Google gives Chrome OS Apps a shutdown date
25. Inside Google’s Quest for Millions of Medical Records: The company has struck deals that grant it access to troves of patient data; ‘We want to be helpful’
26. Chrome’s Move To Stomp Out Third Party Cookies? Good For Privacy, Good For Google’s Ad Business… Or Both?
27. When YouTubers Cry: Prince Concert Videos Deemed Not Fair Use
28. Content Moderation At Scale Is Impossible: YouTube Says That Frank Capra’s US Government WWII Propaganda Violates Community Guidelines 
29. YouTube To Stream Coachella For 10th Year Running, Announces Doc About Festival
30. YouTube Studio Adds New ‘Restrictions’ Column, Ability to Manually Insert Mid-Roll Ads, More
31. ASA rules that Betway YouTube video breached the CAP Code
32. YouTube App Introduces New Subscription Feed Filters For ‘Unwatched’, ‘Live’ Videos, More
33. Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 1/12/2020
34. Beauty Creator NikkieTutorials Thwarts Apparent Blackmail Attempt By Coming Out As Trans
35. Justin Bieber Faces “Yummy” Backlash After Posting Guide Showing How To Game Billboard Charts
36. ‘RackaRacka‌’ Prankster ‌Appears‌ ‌In‌ ‌Court‌ ‌After‌ ‌Arrest‌ ‌For‌ ‌Underwater Car ‌Prank‌
37. Olay Spokesmodel Lilly Singh To Star In Brand’s Super Bowl Commercial
38. Instagram Creator Behind ‘House Of Highlights’ Tapped By ESPN To Helm Social Content, Strategy
39. Tell the Whole Story – New Rules for Influencer Marketing under the Competition Act
40. Casper Flags Its Use of Influencers as a Risk
41. The Israeli Chipmunk Emoji Mystery Resolved! (Eric Goldman)
42. Golden Globes Piloted Facebook’s ‘Collaborative Stories’ Feature At 77th Awards (Exclusive)
43. Snapchat was overtaken by Pinterest in US users last year. But the real threat is coming from China’s TikTok and no one knows how fast it’s growing.
44. WME Signs TikTok Luminary Chase Hudson And His Creator Collective ‘The Hype House’
45. Spotify Makes Push Into Sports Podcasting
46. Spotify is now making playlists for your pets
47. Spotify, Warner Music Sign Global Deal, Ending Dispute in India
48. Amazon lifts ban on FedEx for third-party marketplace sellers
49. Amazon Sets Cast For ‘Lord Of The Rings’ Series, Production To Start Next Month
50. Amazon asks court to block US/Microsoft contract because of Trump interference
51. New Bluetooth standard copies best features of Apple, Qualcomm’s proprietary tech
52. Apple launches replacement program for iPhone battery cases
53. ECJ toughens the requirements for the use of cookies: Active consent of users required
54. How online sales of food pose a regulatory challenge in the EU
55. Tax on digital advertising introduced in Maryland Senate
56. Maryland Proposes (French) Tax on Advertising – Digital Platforms and Advertisers Beware!
57. New Trend Developing? Another Digital Advertising Tax Proposal
58. Anti-SLAPP Laws Work: Tennessee Doctor Suing Patient Over Negative Review Drops Lawsuit
59. Dear Larry Lessig: Please Don’t File SLAPP Suits
60. SEC Staff Issues Guidance on Technology, Data and Intellectual Property Risks in International Operations
61. NIST Solicits Comments on Revised Draft IoT Cybersecurity Device Guidance
62. Tesla is now worth more than Ford and GM—combined
63. Linus Torvalds says “Don’t use ZFS”—but doesn’t seem to understand it
64. The Way We Train Doctors Is Backward – And Cyberpatient Has The Treatment
65. Notes on the networked psyche: Exploring online hyper-sensibilities
66. Digital Transformation is a matter of survival
67. An Oral History of Rickrolling: From the pages of 4chan to the White House, the story behind the meme that’s never going to give you up
68. Shifting Capitalist Critiques: The Discourse about Unionisation in the Hi-Tech Sector (Eran Fisher & Ben Fisher)
69. Turf wars: Using social media network analysis to examine the suspected astroturfing campaign for the Adani Carmichael Coal mine on Twitter (Hanna Della Bosca, David Schlosberg & Chao Sun)
70. To-Do Is to Be: Foucault, Levinas, and Technologically Mediated Subjectivation (Jan Peter Bergen & Peter-Paul Verbeek)
71. Digital Platform Policy and Regulation: Toward a Radical Democratic Turn (Bart Cammaerts & Robin Mansell)

A.I.

1. Technology Can’t Fix Algorithmic Injustice: We need greater democratic oversight of AI not just from developers and designers, but from all members of society.
2. Chinese court rules AI-written article is protected by copyright
3. Chinese Court Says AI-Generated Content Is Subject To Copyright Protection
4. Evolution of IP Protection for Artificial Intelligence in France
5. “Alexa, Can You Receive a Patent?”: Chris Mammen Discusses AI as Inventors in MIT Technology Review Article
6. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Machine can be an Inventor? EPO says NO!!!
7. AI Update: WIPO Begins Public Consultation Process on Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property Policy
8. Ad Delivery Algorithms: The Hidden Arbiters of Political Messaging
9. Do androids dream of product liability?
10. Creating the ever-improvising text adventures of AI Dungeon 2
11. What is AI-Based Contract Management?
12. Insights: Deepfake Videos Go Commercial! In Election Season! WCGW?
13. The line between deepfake legislation and deeply fake legislation
14. How Google researchers used neural networks to make weather forecasts
15. Principled Artificial Intelligence: Mapping Consensus In Ethical And Rights-Based Approaches To Principles For AI (Jessica Fjeld, Nele Achten, Hannah Hilligoss, Adam Christopher Nagy, Madhulika Srikumar)
16. From a ‘Race to AI’ to a ‘Race to AI Regulation’ – Regulatory Competition for Artificial Intelligence (Nathalie Smuha)
17. Addressing the Growing Need for Algorithmic Transparency (Hugh J. Watson & Conner Nations)
18. ‘Move Fast and Break Things’: Law, Technology, and the Problem of Speed (Simon Chesterman) 

COMMUNICATIONS

1. Don’t trust the US gov’t, states tell court in T-Mobile/Sprint merger case
2. US may subsidize Huawei alternatives with proposed $1.25 billion fund 
3. PIRATE Act Passes Senate, and Now on to the President for Signature – Provides for Big Fines and Enforcement Sweeps in Big Markets
4. Congress Adopts New Cable Operator Advertising and Billing Requirements Affecting Both Video and Broadband Internet Offerings
5. FCC Fines Noncommercial Broadcaster $76,000 for Airing Commercial Advertisements 
6. Ajit Pai Hits CES… To Make Up Some Stuff About Net Neutrality
7. FCC Kicks Off 2020 by Establishing the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund
8. Some FCC Subsidized Low Income Phones Are A Chinese Malware Shitshow
9. Verizon’s great FiOS offer to me: Pay $50 extra for slower Internet
10. Verizon offers no-tracking search engine, promises to protect your privacy
11. FCC will pay ISPs to deploy broadband with 250GB monthly data cap 
12. Washington And Oregon Fine CenturyLink For Completely Bogus Broadband Fees 
13. Scripps Broadcasting Agrees to Pay $1,130,000 to Settle Investigation of Tower Violations 
14. ISP settles with two more states over hidden fees and false advertising, agrees to pay $15 million
15. AT&T TV Service Goes Dark On Roku As The Streaming Wars Get Stupid
16. Bipartisan Senators Introduce 5G Bill Pushing Non-Chinese Vendors
17. China Isn’t the Only Problem With 5G: The network has plenty of other security weaknesses, including ones the United States doesn’t want to fix since they help its own surveillance efforts.
18. New Law Bans ISPs From Charging You A ‘Rental’ Fee For Hardware You Already Own 
19. President Signs Sweeping New Robocall Legislation 
20. Dissolving privacy, one merger at a time: Competition, data and third party tracking (Reuben Binns & Elettra Bietti) 

PRIVACY

1. Attorney General William Barr Says Apple Isn’t Doing Enough To Let The DOJ Check Out A Dead Man’s Phones
2. Bill Barr: Apple Is Holding Up This Investigation. Apple: You Waited A Month To Tell Us You Needed More Help
3. Unable to unlock gunman’s iPhones, the FBI (once again) asks for Apple’s help (updated)
4. San Bernardino 2.0: FBI Asking Apple To Crack Encryption On Phones Owned By Pensacola Naval Station Gunman
5. The broken record of breaking encryption skips again in Florida shooter case
6. Exploit that gives remote access affects ~200 million cable modems
7. Advocates ask colleges to avoid facial recognition as surveillance grows
8. Google plans to drop Chrome support for tracking cookies by 2022
9. Patch Windows 10 and Server now because certificate validation is broken
10. Windows 7: “I’m not dead yet!” – Over half of businesses still haven’t finished move to Windows 10; zombie systems flourish.
11. Failure to Apply Recent Microsoft Patch May Create Legal Liabilities
12. Critical Windows 10 vulnerability used to Rickroll the NSA and Github
13. Senator Wyden Wants Paid Ad Blocking Whitelists Investigated
14. Grindr shares personal data with ad companies in violation of GDPR, complaint alleges: A Norwegian nonprofit has filed three complaints against the company
15. Amazon’s Ring fired at least four employees for snooping on user videos
16. Shocking Absolutely No One, Ring Admits Employees Improperly Accessed Customers’ Data
17. Ring Throws A Moist Towelette On Its Dumpster Fire With A Couple Of Minimal Security Tweaks
18. It’s 2020. American elections are still “frighteningly easy” targets
19. Ninth Circuit Doubles Down on Bad Ruling That Undermines Cybersecurity–Enigma v. Malwarebytes (Eric Goldman)
20. Iranian hackers have been “password spraying” the US grid
21. US Government-funded Android phones come preinstalled with unremovable malware
22. The Deadline for Registration of “Data Brokers” in California Is Near: Are You Ready?
23. Data From Smartwatch Help Investigators Solve The Case Of The Stabbing That Never Happened
24. Amazon takes a swipe at PayPal’s $4 billion acquisition: Holiday shoppers warned that Honey, a popular browser extension, was a “security risk.”
25. Paul Krugman’s no good, very bad Internet day
26. Company Sells Surveillance Cameras Hidden In Tombstones, Threatens Websites For Talking About Its Tombstone Cameras
27. Unpatched Citrix vulnerability now exploited, patch weeks away
28. January 2020 Survey of Fortune 500 Companies’ Privacy Representations
29. Are you protected against phishing email? What the Court of Appeal said in insurance matters
30. Federal Privacy Law – Is It About to Change?
31. Federal Privacy Law – Is It About to Change: Part Deux?
32. Towards a Transatlantic Concept of Data Privacy (Erdem Büyüksagis)

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

1. Appeals Court Makes The Right Call Regarding Non-Commercial Creative Commons Licenses
2. Notable Works Entering the Public Domain in 2020
3. Life + 70 Years: Copyrighted Works That Have Entered into the Public Domain in 2020 – Economic Rights Gone with the Wind
4. Harry and Meghan seek global trademark for ‘Sussex Royal’ brand: Filings suggest plans for items and activities from clothing to ‘emotional support groups’
5. Can Booking.com Trademark Its Company Name? How Will the U.S. Supreme Court Resolve Whether a Generic Term Plus a Top-Level Domain Is Protectable?
6. Carve It All Up: Compumark Report Shows Trademark Registrations, Claims Of Infringement Both Rising Fast
7. Smartphone Apps for Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram declared patent infringing by German Court – The End of Social Networks?
8. Who owns the ink? Reproduction of tattoos in film, photographs and video games
9. Wells Fargo Twice Found Guilty of Willfully Infringing Patents on Remote Check Depositing Technology
10. Non-Prior Art Evidence May Be Used to Prove Inherency
11. When Merger Clauses Don’t Merge
12. A Different Analysis for Manufacturing Method Patents under the 35 U.S.C. § 271 (e)(1) Safe Harbor Provision?
13. Biosimilar Litigation Trends and Lessons Learned in 2019
14. Athena Diagnostics v. Mayo Collaborative Services
15. The EU should not contemplate abandoning the Unified Patent Court system
16. 2019 Will Go Down in History as “The Year of Change” in Canadian Trademark Law
17. 2019 Will Go Down in History as “The Year of Change” in Canadian Trademark Law Part II
18. Key Patent Decisions of 2019
19. Who Holds the Right to Exclude for Machine Work Products? (Garry Gabison)

CREATIVITY   

1. The Rorshach Test Of The Covington Catholic Boy’s DC Encounter Now Extends To Bogus Lawsuits And Confidential Settlements
2. Professor Removed From Teaching For Sharing A Downfall Parody Video
3. Former “Bachelor” Contestant’s $1 million Fantasy Football Win Under Investigation
4. Defamation and Wrongful Termination Claims Against the Los Angeles Times Were Properly Dismissed
5. Sober ad campaign leaves brewery with an unwanted hangover.
6. Beer Institute Says Modelo Commercials with Athletes Don’t Violate its Advertising Guidelines
7. Don’t Oversell It – False or Misleading Advertising
8. Marvel Studios’ ‘Avengers: Endgame’ Receives Oscar Nomination: The film also took home two Critics’ Choice Awards!
9. How Years Of Copyright Maximalism Is Now Killing Pop Music
10. The Revolutionary Sixties: Poetry and Social Change (Viviane Carvalho da Annunciação)
11. Video Screen Interfaces as New Sites of Media Circulation Power (David Hesmondhalgh, Amanda D. Lotz)
12. Impact of Censorship on Translating and Publishing Virginia Woolf During the 1930s in Italy (Anna Maria Cipriani)
13. Popular Music and the State: The British Honours System and its Treatment of Popular Musicians (Emma-Jayne Reekie)

Jon

GAMES

1. Nintendo wins injunction against seller of Switch mod, pirated games: Defendent allegedly also sold modded NES Classic with over 800 games
2. Nintendo Responds To RomUniverse’s Lame Argument That First Sale Doctrine Makes The Site Non-Infringing
3. Crytek wants to dismiss its own lawsuit against Star Citizen developers
4. Crytek seeks to dismiss its own Star Citizen lawsuit until Squadron 42 launches: Creator of CryEngine believes Star Citizen’s single-player game will be delayed past June, moves for October trial
5. CD Projekt signs new agreement and ends dispute with The Witcher author: The game developer has the rights to the IP in video games, graphic novels, board games and merchandise
6. Take 2 Sues Fan Over Project To Finally Bring ‘Red Dead 1’ To The PC
7. Ragnarok acquires Rune II source code and assets following legal complaint
8. Rune II source code returned to publisher: More than a month after launch, Ragnarok Game LLC may have what it needs to update game left in limbo by demise of Human Head
9. Case Update: Iron Maiden Holdings Ltd. v. 3D Realms Entertainment ApS
10. Labor union CWA takes steps to organize game workers
11. Campaign to organise industry backed by major US communications union: Communication Workers of America allies with Game Workers Unite on new campaign to unite tech and gaming sector
12. Rockstar Spouse and the slow change of culture – 10 Years Ago This Month: Red Dead Redemption and its sequel both had crunch controversies, but the studio’s reactions show some change in thinking
13. Tackling online abuse in the games industry is “not optional” – 2019 in Review: “Whatever the platforms are doing, we’ve got to behave as if the cavalry is not coming,” says digital security expert
14. Escape from Tarkov dev says no playable women because of lore, “huge amount of work” required: Statement made in an effort to walk back three-year-old comment that war was only for “hardened men”
15. WWE 2K20 crashes because it’s 2020, and no, that’s not a joke: This Y2K bug can be called “Crash Jericho.”
16. Record $120.1 billion earned by games and interactive media in 2019: Superdata report shows $4 out of every $5 spent on digital games goes on free-to-play titles
17. Number of adults over age 50 playing games regularly is on the rise: More older adults prefer puzzle and logic games, and most are playing on phones and tablets
18. If History Repeats, Video Game Stocks Could Soar 690%+
19. UK video game sales drop for the first time since 2012: Physical sales plunge as digital growth slows
20. Analyst: Free-to-play games pushed digital game spend over $109 billion in 2019
21. The number of Steam releases remained relatively flat from 2018 to 2019
22. These are the highest grossing Steam games of 2019 
23. Major slowdown of new releases on Steam last year
24. Only two of the biggest Steam games in 2019 were new releases: “Sekiro Shadows Die Twice” and “Total War Three Kingdoms” manage to secure a place in platform’s highest grossers
25. The Witcher 3 hits new peak player record on Steam in wake of Netflix show
26. Amazon’s best-selling games of 2019 dominated by gift cards and Switch: Top three items were digital currency, 22 of top 50 products were for Nintendo’s console
27. On Christmas, mobile game spending reached $210 million: Sensor Tower accounted for 76% of all mobile in-app spending that day
28. UK Charts: Call of Duty retains No.1 as Brain Training Switch makes Top 20
29. It’s FIFA 20’s ninth week at No.1 in EMEAA
30. Twitter reveals which games dominated the online chatter in 2019
31. Square Enix eyes potential of XR, blockchain, and cloud gaming in 2020
32. Blizzard signs three-year deal with ESL, Dreamhack: StarCraft II World Championship Series is being retired as Blizzard commits to ESL Pro Tours for StarCraft II and Warcraft III: Reforged
33. League of Legends professional Maria ‘Remilia’ Creveling dies at 24: In 2015, Creveling became the first woman to compete in the League of Legends Championship Series
34. Destiny’s Sword presents a double-edged dilemma: 2Dogs’ Ken Hall talks about dealing with PTSD, anxiety, and addiction in a strategy MMO intended to be fun first and foremost
35. 2K Games resolves New Year bug in WWE 2K20: Y2K-style error rendered game unplayable as 2019 ended
36. Pokemon Go: Documents show Canadian military’s struggle with game
37. Final Fantasy VII Remakedemo has leaked, is packed with teases, spoilers
38. PlayStation VR sales have topped 5 million units worldwide
39. 5 Million PlayStation VR Units Sold, Sony Announces: PSVR continues to sell but slows in light of Quest and newer headsets
40. How Sony’s PlayStation 2 took the world by storm
41. Sony reveals PlayStation 5 logo, touts PlayStation 4 sales milestones
42. Feelreal VR Scent Mask Hits Roadblock Amidst Crackdown on Flavored Vaping Products
43. Subscriptions: When are auto-renewals fair game? | Opinion – As the CMA investigates the use of subscriptions in video games, legal experts at Lewis Silkin offer advice on best practices`
44. Nexon sells off mobile dev Gloops for a single yen
45. From licensing to lunch: How to work with Chinese partners – Unit 2 Games’ Hannah Waddilove on some of the less-discussed aspects of targeting the world’s largest games market
46. Simplified Chinese is now the dominant language among Steam users: Chinese users flock to Steam as platform provides more localised experience and uncensored games
47. Uncharted movie loses sixth director: Travis Knight leaves project over crunch and scheduling conflicts with lead actor
48. Don’t Miss: How classic games make smart use of random number generation
49. Breaking linear character progression with Outer Worlds’ flaw system
50. Superhot VR grossed over $2 million in the final weeks of 2019
51. Untitled Goose Game has topped 1 million sales in three months
52. Here are your finalists for the 2020 Independent Games Festival Awards!
53. Death Stranding leads the pack of 2020 Game Developers Choice Awards nominees
54. Team 17 acquires UK studio Yippee Entertainment for $1.85 million
55. At 10 million players, Xbox calls Sea of Thieves its most successful new IP this gen
56. Team17 acquires Yippee Entertainment for £1.4m: Developer behind Chimpact and Commandos 2 remaster will work on new IP, plus brands owned by Worms firm and its partners
57. Razer applies for digital bank licence in Singapore, proposes ‘youth bank’: Gaming accessories firm will take 60% stake in company and is leading a consortium of partners to bolster its bid
58. Clever design, lack of Bluetooth make Razer’s new phone gamepad a winner
59. Dell’s new Concept UFO puts PC gaming on a Nintendo Switch-like device
60. Alienware’s handheld Concept UFO PC takes cues from the Nintendo Switch
61. Report: Rumors suggest a new Switch model is due out this year
62. Fantasy Flight Interactive to close after company-wide layoffs
63. Platinum Games will use Tencent investment to ‘explore self-publishing’
64. Legal issues a new game studio should consider
65. Dead Cells Steam owners can now play previous versions of the game: The studio introduces the ability to roll-back the game to previous iterations
66. Report: Amazon’s Twitch Not Meeting Ad Revenue Expectations
67. The Last of Us director Bruce Straley on ludonarrative dissonance
68. Video blog: Historians discuss Assassin’s Creed II
69. Blog: Luring players with gratification
70. Blog: How Disco Elysium’s interjections turn information into gameplay
71. Blog: Game accessibility quotes of 2019
72. Blog: 3 disruptive game design trends to look out for in 2020
73. Analysts dole out 2020 predictions: Panel of industry watchers call their shots for the upcoming year in games (and assess how their 2019 calls turned out)
74. Gamasutra’s Best of 2019: Kris Graft’s top 10 games
75. Gamasutra’s Best of 2019: The top 10 game developers of the year
76. Gamasutra’s Best of 2019: The top 10 games of the year 
77. Games of the Year 2019: Our favourite games of the year ranged from epic adventures to innovative indie games – plus a couple of Switch hits
78. The Universim developer Crytivo donating two months’ revenues to Australian bushfire relief
79. U.S. Patent no. 10,275,947: Modifying a simulated character by direct manipulation

DIGITAL

1. Russia Disconnects Itself From The Internet, Asks UN To Let It Have More Control Of Internet Usage Around The World
2. Academic Publishers Get Their Wish: DOJ Investigating Sci-Hub Founder For Alleged Ties To Russian Intelligence
3. U.S. Army Bans TikTok On Government Phones, Calling App A “Cyber Threat”
4. China strengthens regulation of online audiovisual services
5. Amazon threatens to fire critics who are outspoken on its environmental policies: E-commerce giant warned workers who participated in protests that future comments regarding business practices could lead to termination
6. Oracle copied Amazon’s API—was that copyright infringement?
7. Turns Out Oracle Copied Amazon’s S3 APIs; When Confronted, Pretends That’s Different (Spoiler Alert: It’s Not)
8. Amazon partners with India’s second largest retailer to sell its goods online
9. EU top court rules out possibility to create second-hand marketplaces for digital content
10. Judge awards women $13 million in massive lawsuit against GirlsDoPorn
11. New Civil FOSTA Lawsuits Push Expansive Legal Theories Against Unexpected Defendants
12. Minnesota Appeals Court Nukes State’s Broadly-Written Revenge Porn Law
13. It’s the network, stupid: Study offers fresh insight into why we’re so divided: Social perception bias might simply be an emergent property of our social networks.
14. The FTC’s 2020 COPPA rules have YouTube creators scared
15. YouTube decides it’s easier to treat all watchers of kids’ content as kids
16. SCOTUS Grants Google’s Cert Petition in Oracle API Dispute
17. Java API Classes as Fictional Characters – A Proposal for Google v. Oracle
18. Court (Barely) Allows Class Action Lawsuit Over Google’s Location Tracking To Move Forward
19. Google’s Ad Network Prepares for the California Consumer Privacy Act
20. Researchers unearth malicious Google Play apps linked to active exploit hackers
21. Apple targets jailbreaking in lawsuit against iOS virtualization company
22. Apple’s app sales hit record $1.4 billion in the final days of 2019: App Store spending on the first day of 2020 reached US$386 million, a single-day record and a 20 per cent increase from last year
23. Apple and GPU-maker Imagination make nice in new licensing deal
24. Text and data mining under the digital copyright directive
25. Sonos’ Wasteful ‘Recycle Mode’ Bricks Perfectly Usable Tech
26. Films are quietly disappearing from Disney Plus: Movies like Home Alone and Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides have vanished from the streaming service
27. Disney Plus removes some films from service with no explanation: Users noticed a handful of titles went missing from the streaming library as soon as 2020 began
28. Disney+ Titles Disappear Without Warning, Bringing Confusion To The Streaming Wars
29. Here’s Why Some of Your Favorite Movies Are Disappearing from Disney Plus
30. Twitter Blocks Animated PNGs After A Bunch Of Shitbirds Spend National Epilepsy Month Harassing Epileptics
31. Twitter will put options to limit replies directly on the compose screen
32. YouTube officially rolls out changes to children’s content following FTC settlement
33. YouTube Disables More Product Features On Kid-Oriented Content After FTC Settlement
34. New Tool Enables YouTubers To Snip Sections Of Videos That Have Been Copyright Claimed
35. ‘Justin Bieber: Seasons’ Is Reportedly YouTube’s Most Expensive Original Ever
36. In 2019, WWE Uploaded 500 YouTube Videos Per Month—Making A Reported $13 Million In AdSense
37. Control and Influencers: ASA bans Love Island star Molly Mae Hague’s Instagram post
38. UK Advertising Standards Authority Bans Unlicensed E-Cigarette Instagram Posts
39. “Naked Philanthropist” Kaylen Ward Has Raised $700K For Bushfire Relief By Sending Nudes
40. Tana Mongeau, Jake Paul “Taking A Break,” Potentially Leaving MTV Collab In The Lurch
41. Jake Paul Sets Second Boxing Match With Gamer ‘AnEsonGib’, Streaming On DAZN From Miami
42. Michelle Obama To Launch College Docuseries On IGTV, ‘A Year Of Firsts’
43. Facing the Music: Protecting Photography in the Age of Instagram
44. Snapchat To Introduce ‘Bitmoji TV’, Fully-Animated Cartoons Starring Users’ Bitmojis
45. Spotify will use everything it knows about you to target podcast ads: One step closer to becoming a podcast ad network
46. Insights: Two Months In, Apple TV+ And Disney+ Hit The Churn Zone
47. Apple hires former HBO chief to produce TV, film, and documentaries exclusively for Apple TV Plus: Richard Plepler signs a five-year contract with Apple
48. Apple Shares Top $300 Amid Optimism About Holiday Sales
49. Disappointing: Apple The Latest To Abuse DMCA 1201 To Try To Stifle Competition, Security Research, Jailbreaking And More
50. Apple reunites with iPhone graphics chip partner to license technology: The company split with Imagination Technologies back in 2017
51. CES has never been great for women. Is 2020 the year that changes?: Keynotes or he-notes?
52. IRS drops longstanding promise not to compete against TurboTax
53. How modern tech has powered our favorite superheroes through the years
54. This time, for sure! Ars Technica’s 2020 Deathwatch
55. In This Time Of Techlash, It’s Important To Remember That Sometimes Social Media Is Actually Good
56. Goop’s Netflix trailer: Paltrow sinks into a vagina, spews pseudoscience
57. Can you resell an e-book online?
58. Redistributing E-Books Online Constitutes Copyright Infringement, Says Top EU Court
59. Troublesome Emojis in Criminal Cases
60. Tired of hearing about Wi-Fi 6? Great, let’s talk about Wi-Fi 6E
61. Top Internet Law Developments of 2019 (Eric Goldman)

A.I.

1. New Study Suggests That YouTube’s Recommendation Algorithm Isn’t The Tool Of Radicalization Many People Believe (At Least Not Any More)
2. The US just released 10 principles that it hopes will make AI safer: All future AI regulations will need to clear the checklist.
3. EU Patent Office Rejects Two Patent Applications In Which An AI Was Designated As The Inventor
4. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Patents – Will the Patent Office Change the Rules?
5. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Takes on Artificial Intelligence
6. WIPO Releases Draft Issues Paper on IP Policy for AI Inventions
7. Ex Parte Linden Gives a Boost to the Subject Matter Eligibility of AI inventions
8. USPTO Designates Ex Parte Linden as an Informative § 101 PTAB Decision
9. NextMind Unveils $400 Brain-Computer Interface Developer Kit
10. Video: Valve’s perspective on brain-computer interfaces in games
11. European Law Enforcement Officials Upset Facebook Is Warning Users Their Devices May Have Been Hacked
12. Facebook is banning (most) deepfakes: The policy doesn’t cover videos doctored using more conventional techniques.
13. Facebook Says It Will Ban ‘Deepfakes’: The company said it would remove videos altered by artificial intelligence in ways meant to mislead viewers.
14. Facebook bans deepfakes, but new policy may not cover controversial Pelosi video
15. Welcome to the age of uncertainty: If everything can be faked, how can we know anything is real?
16. European Union – Algorithmic Pricing under Article 101 TFEU
17. Snap Acquires Ukraine Startup ‘AI Factory,’ Which Helped Build Its ‘Cameos’ Feature, For $166 Million
18. Snap Confirms Acquisition of Deepfakes Startup AI Factory, Used to Power ‘Cameos’ Selfie Videos 

COMMUNICATIONS

1. Notice of Violation: Orcus Technologies: Investigation Into The Orcus Rat
2. Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation – 2019 Year in Review
3. Merger Lawsuit Docs Reveal T-Mobile Eyed Merging With Comcast
4. FCC Seeks Comment on Designations of Huawei and ZTE as National Security Threats
5. AT&T et al. fight against higher upload speeds in $20-billion FCC program
6. There’s A Recurring Theme With 5G, And It’s Disappointment
7. US finally prohibits ISPs from charging for routers they don’t provide
8. NYC broadband plan calls for fiber everywhere, with ISPs sharing network
9. TV Ratings Sag As Cord Cutting Continues To Surge

PRIVACY

1. Unable to unlock gunman’s iPhones, the FBI (once again) asks for Apple’s help
2. No, cops aren’t using SiriusXM to find criminals. Here’s how they do it
3. Department of Homeland Security Warns of Cyber-attacks by Iran
4. Unpatched US government website gets pwned by pro-Iran script kiddie
5. Iran courted US security expert for years, seeking industrial hacking training
6. There Is No ‘Going Dark:’ Always-On Surveillance Posing Risks To US Covert Operations
7. Florida Appeals Court Asks State’s Top Court To Decide Whether Compelled Password Production Violates The Fifth Amendment
8. Ring Sued Because ‘Taking Customers’ Security Seriously’ Means Selling Easily-Hijacked Cameras
9. “Cache issue” causes Xiaomi cameras to show other people’s camera feeds
10. Wyze Breach Leaves Data Of 2.4 Million Users Exposed Online
11. Unpatched VPN makes Travelex latest victim of “REvil” ransomware
12. Firefox gets patch for critical 0-day that’s being actively exploited
13. Firefox 72 blocks fingerprinting scripts by default, rethinks notification pop-ups
14. Chrome to start blocking annoying notification requests
15. UL Pushes Security Standards For The Internet Of Broken Things
16. ENISA releases report detailing security guidelines for Internet of Things
17. BitTorrent claims require more proof than an IP address to name a defendant
18. Jones Day Global Privacy & Cybersecurity Update

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

1. What the amendments to the USMCA mean for Canadian IP law
2. 2019 Highlights in Canadian Life Sciences IP and Regulatory Law
3. Appeals Court Smacks Down Patent Troll Blackbird, Orders It To Pay $363k In Attorneys Fees To Company It Sued
4. In flashpoint for the rebellion against big tech, Sonos sues Google for patent infringement
5. Securing Copyright and Trademark Rights for Broadcasts and Promotions Related to NFL Championship Games and Super Bowl LIV (54)
6. George Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue Is In The Public Domain And Gerswhin’s Nephew Is Worried Someone Might Turn It Into Hip Hop
7. The Murkiness of the Public Domain
8. Tackling bad faith registration of domain names in a fast-changing landscape
9. Fox Factory v. SRAM – According to CAFC, No Presumption of Nexus for Bicycle Chainring Patents; IPR Decision Reversed and Remanded
10. The big IP stories you will be reading about in 2020

CREATIVITY

1. Chinese Skiers Training In Norway Ask Local Library To Remove ‘Controversial’ Books
2. Turkey Continues Its Attempt To Pass China In The ‘Most Journalists Jailed’ Category
3. Ex-Fox News reporter Courtney Friel claims Donald Trump invited her to Trump Tower to ‘kiss’
4. Susan J. Demas: Why are there so few stories about Trump’s health and sexual harassment scandals?
5. Class action lawsuits may be available for copyright infringement cases in some instances
6. Devin Nunes Libel Tourism Continues To Highlight The Problems Of Virginia’s Weak Anti-SLAPP Laws
7. Connecticut Cop Sues Local Blogger To Get Him To Turn Over Personal Info On Commenters Who Said Thing The Cop Didn’t Like
8. Hank Haney Sues PGA Tour, Claims They Forced SiriusXM to Cancel His Radio Show
9. Navy SEAL Leader Accused Of War Crimes Threatens Defamation Suit Against NY Times Reporter For Revealing Videos & Text Of Men Who Reported Him
10. Academic paper in comic form explores ethics of treating torturer with PTSD

Jon

GAMES

1. Running Man Stars Suing Epic Games for Fortnite Dance
2. Fortnite Lawsuit a Battle Over Jack-o’-Lantern Figures
3. Corinna Kopf Leaving Twitch to Stream Exclusively on Facebook Gaming
4. Blog: Scalable content management with Unity addressables
5. The one video game my kids played all year long
6. How much of a genius-level move was using binary space partitioning in Doom?
7. UK Charts: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is the final No.1 of the year – Official charts to change suppliers in 2020 and to include a digital chart
8. Police Departments Are Using Swatting Registries To Help Protect Swatting Targets From Police Officers
9. U.S. Patent no. 10,272,346: Bounded competitions in a video game framework
10. The 2010s were full of video games we’ll gladly revisit for decades to come
11. Best of 2019: How Steam users see your game
12. Gamasutra’s Best of 2019: 8 standout Apple Arcade games
13. Gamasutra’s Best of 2019: Bryant Francis’ Top 10 Games
14. Gamasutra’s Best of 2019: Chris Kerr’s Top 5 Games
15. Gamasutra’s Best of 2019: Alissa McAloon’s top 5 games (from 2018’s backlog)

DIGITAL

1. European Court of Justice’s Landmark Decision on the Resale of E-Books
2. U.S. Internet Access Provider Hit with a Billion Dollar Verdict for Copyright Infringement by its Subscribers
3. Internet Access Provider Gets Another Devastating Result in a Secondary Copyright Infringement Case – Sony v. Cox (Eric Goldman)
4. Huuuge Mistake in Contract Formation
5. A Lost Gamble on Enforcement of Electronic Terms and Conditions in a Browsewrap Agreement
6. Internet Access Provider Gets Another Devastating Result in a Secondary Copyright Infringement Case—Sony v. Cox (Eric Goldman)
7. Federal Circuit Decides Apple’s Invalidity Challenges Were Properly Litigated; Are Precluded
8. Sour Note: Mraz Sues MillerCoors for ‘I’m Yours’ Clip in Instagram Ad
9. Doctor’s Promotion of ‘Vampire Facial’ a Pain in Kim Kardashian’s Neck
10. FTC Approves Settlement with Former Cambridge Analytica CEO and Application Developer Over Claims of Deceiving Consumers
11. Amid Ongoing ‘Explore’ Tab Tests, YouTube Makes ‘Creator On The Rise’ Shelves More Prominent
12. Facebook Wants To License Official Music Videos — A Massive Draw On YouTube
13. YouTube Takes Down Chanukkah Parody Of Old Town Road… Because It Infringes On A Date?
14. Why the 2010s were the Facebook Decade
15. Turkish Court Says Government’s Two-Year Ban Of Wikipedia Violates Freedom Of Expression Rights
16. Driver training was reportedly too much of “a bottleneck” for Amazon
17. Spotify will ‘pause’ political ads in early 2020: The platform says it does not have the capability to ‘responsibly validate’ ad content
18. Spotify Says “No” to Political Advertising
19. Cloudflare Removes Warrant Canary: Thoughtful Post Says It Can No Longer Say It Hasn’t Removed A Site Due To Political Pressure
20. CMA seeks new regulatory regime to regulate online platforms
21. “They’re abysmal students”: Are cell phones destroying the college classroom?
22. Travis Kalanick quits Uber’s board, sells off all his Uber stock
23. NYTimes Predicted San Francisco Would ‘Drown In Millionaires’ Post IPO Boom; Now Whines That It Never Happened
24. NIST digitized the bullets that killed JFK
25. GPS is going places
26. 88% of Americans use a second screen while watching TV. Why?
27. No foolin‘—the 2010s were a crazy decade for tech
28. New Year’s Message: Opportunities Come From Unexpected Places

A.I.

1. Enhanced Intelligence, VR Sex, and Our Cyborg Future: Recent progress in AI, many believe, makes the promise and peril of transhumanism increasingly possible.
2. NIST Study Of 189 Facial Recognition Algorithms Finds Minorities Are Misidentified Almost 100 Times More Often Than White Men
3. Counting the Countless: Why data science is a profound threat for queer people
4. How AI helps unlock the secrets of Old Master and modernist paintings
5. Attack of the terrifying robot vacuum
6. Data Science as Political Action Grounding Data Science in a Politics of Justice (Ben Green)
7. The Second Wave of Algorithmic Accountability (Frank Pasquale) 

COMMUNICATIONS  

1.  Court backs Comcast, puts Maine’s à la carte cable law on hold
2. Court Blocks Maine Attempt To Force Cable Providers To Sell Individual TV Channels
3. New Law Finally Bans B.S. Cable TV Fees
4. DOJ Antitrust Boss Delrahim Ignored Hard Data As He Rubber Stamped T-Mobile Merger
5. Wired for sound: How SIP won the VoIP protocol wars
6. FCC Postpones Filing Deadline for First Annual Children’s Television Programming Report and Announces Effectiveness of Other Changes in Children’s Television Rules

PRIVACY

1. IoT vendor Wyze confirms server leak: Details for 2.4 million users were exposed online for 22 days.
2. Employee error to blame for massive data leak, Wyze says
3. Tracking College Students Everywhere They Go On Campus Is The New Normal
4. Survey of Fortune 500 Companies’ Privacy Representations
5. NAI Issues New Guidance on Consumer Opt-In Consent for Sharing of “Sensitive” Data
6. SEC reminds public companies to assess technology and IP theft risks when preparing their disclosures
7. The 2019 Privacy Legislation Bomb Cyclone

CREATIVITY

1. UK Metropolitan Police Admit They’ve Finally Shelved ‘Investigation’ Into Journalists Who Reported On Snowden Docs
2. Federal Court Blocks Unconstitutional Arkansas Law That Prevents Plant-Based Food Companies From Using Meat Words
3. Chris Cornell’s Widow Sues Soundgarden for Copyrights to Unreleased Songs
4. No Apologies: Marc Jacobs Pushes Back on Nirvana’s Copyright and Trademark Infringement Claims
5. Washington Court Says Local Pot Dealers Can Hang Up Christmas Lights That Spell ‘POT’
6. Austrian Hotel Drops Libel Lawsuit Against Guest Who Complained About Pictures Of Nazis In The Lobby
7. Too Funny to Be Believed? NAD Says No.
8. IP Alert: Copyright Course Correction of the Year
9. Right of Publicity Punch: Bruce Lee Enterprises Sues Kungfu Catering
10. Trump could mandate free access to federally funded research papers
11. The 2010s were a veritable golden age of opening credits in television
12. TV Technica 2019: These were our favorite shows and binges this year
13. Journalists under siege around the world: The global assault on journalists continued unabated in 2019.
14. Ars Technica’s best films of 2019
15. 2019 – The Copyright Year
16. The 2020 Intellectual Property Year in “Preview” Article

Jon

GAMES

1. Arsenal’s Mesut Özil removed from PES 2020 after criticising China’s treatment of Muslims: NetEase also pulls the midfielder from two other Chinese version of Konami’s football game
2. Mesut Ozil removed from Pro Evolution Soccer 2020 in China: NetEase said Ozil’s comments ‘hurt the feelings of Chinese fans and violated the sport’s spirit of love and peace’
3. Police Arrest, Charge Twitch Streamer With Child Abuse After Receiving Tips From Community
4. Mixer, Facebook Gaming chipped away at Twitch market share in 2019: But Twitch is still far and away the streaming giant, with 73% of all streaming hours watched
5. Mixer Sees 149% Year-Over-Year Jump In Hours Watched, But Is Still Far From Challenging Twitch’s 9.3 Billion
6. CD Projekt and The Witcher author Andrzej Sapkowski settle royalties disagreement
7. The Witcher 3 sees jump in Steam players after debut of The Witcher Netflix show
8. Every major older version of Dead Cells is now preserved and playable on Steam
9. Ethics in the video game industry: A mythbusting and scientific approach
10. Dangen Entertainment’s new CEO to let devs cancel existing contracts: Developers remain skeptical of plan to right the ship after former CEO accused of harassment, unethical business practices
11. UK charity calls on government to regulate loot boxes: The Royal Society for the Protection of Health releases report on attitude of young people toward loot boxes
12. Telltale Games revival is aiming for a “stable, non-crunch work environment”: “We are a new company – with different ownership and management, and a different approach as to how we structure a studio”
13. Analyst: Red Dead Redemption 2 sold 400k copies on Epic Games Store
14. Google acquires Typhoon Studios to boost Stadia-exclusive content
15. Google Stadia acquires Typhoon Studios: Stadia head and Typhoon co-founders explain why the upstart studio is giving up being indie before its first game even launches
16. Panic will ship Playdate preview units to curious devs ahead of full launch
17. Facebook acquires cloud gaming service PlayGiga
18. Facebook acquires cloud gaming company PlayGiga for $78 million
19. Facebook acquires cloud gaming outfit PlayGiga: Madrid-based services provider reportedly cost $78m
20. Tencent expands ‘Start’ cloud gaming platform in China
21. Tencent launches its Start cloud gaming service: Blade & Soul, Path of Exile, Fortnite, NBA2K Online 2 are part of the beta test
22. The Rainbow Six Siege core team is shifting to new Ubisoft projects
23. After Inking Multiyear Endorsement Deal, Ninja Unveils First Adidas Sneakers
24. Global Esports Federation announced, backed by Tencent: Federation aims to be “the voice and authority for the worldwide esports movement”
25. Embracer Group acquires Little Nightmares developer Tarsier Studios
26. Embracer Group acquires Little Nightmares dev Tarsier Studios for $10.5m: Also gains Statik IP, but Little Nightmares and Stretchers remain with their publishers
27. Dragon Quest XI ships 5.5 million: Number includes digital sales and physical shipments of PS4, PC, 3DS, and Switch versions of Square Enix RPG
28. The long game: Running PR in the games-as-a-service era – Prezly’s Kate Bystrova talks to PR experts on the unique challenge of getting exposure for games that can be played for years and years
29. N3twork acquires Funko Pop Blitz after NBCUniversal winds down game business
30. Half-Life: Alyx Hands-On! Tested on 8 VR Headsets
31. 15 VR Games We Can’t Wait to Play in 2020
32. Road to VR’s 2019 Game of the Year Awards
33. In February, Apple TV+’s Mythic Quest is the next “game devs on TV” show
34. Video: Crafting the unsettling sounds of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
35. Blog: Pillars of playability – Exploring dynamic difficulty
36. Blog: The mighty MMM concept in hyper-casual game design
37. Blog: Engaging level design for combat – Part 3
38. Blog: Why Epic’s attempt to go fee-free on Google Play is bad news
39. Blog: Procedural texturing for hand-painted stylized character pipelines
40. Blog: Improving resource harvesting in real-time strategy games
41. Video Game Deep Cuts: 2019’s Best Best Best Best & Other Animals
42. Death Stranding, Control and next-gen teases among industry’s 2019 highlights: We asked publishers, platform holders, developers and more for their favourite moments and games of the year
43. Games of the Year 2019: The Outer Worlds – Obsidian Entertainment’s RPG showed what the studio can achieve with the time and space to express its talent
44. Games of the Year 2019: Eastshade – Stopping a moment to paint the Bloomsacs. Then another moment. Then so many more
45. 4 events that shook up the game industry in 2019
46. What we can learn from…The Future – 2019 in Review: Department of Play’s Will Luton on the trends technologies and that will disrupt the games business over the next decade
47. Mobile’s fast risers of 2019 could be leaders in 2020: Call of Duty and Mario Kart fell away in November, according to Sensor Tower, while Playrix’ Township and Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle were ascendant
48. 38 reasons why 2019 was not all bad: From charitable acts to crank-powered consoles, we round-up the best things to happen in the games industry over the past 12 months
49. Best of 2019: Level design patterns in 2D games
50. Gamasutra’s Best of 2019: Katherine Cross’ Top 5 Games
51. Ars Technica’s best games of 2019
52. Console makers lay out their 2020 visions | Opinion: Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo all have very different ideas of where the console market is going in 2020 and beyond – and it’s even possible that they’re all correct
53. U.S. Patent no. 10,265,627: Virtual reality simulation of a live-action sequence
54. U.S. Patent no. 10,272,335: Systems and methods of serving video for remote play

DIGITAL

1. FTC Rules Political Ad Marketing Firm Cambridge Analytica Deceived Facebook Users
2. FTC Approves Final Settlement Agreements Concerning Collection of Facebook Data
3. Facebook vs. the FTC: It’s Not Over Till It’s Over
4. 267 Million Names And Phone Numbers Leaked Online – And They’re All From Facebook
5. Facebook removes accounts with AI-generated profile photos
6. Facebook is working on its own OS that could reduce its reliance on Android
7. Glawischnig-Piesczek v Facebook: CJEU ruling on online defamation and liability of hosting services providers under the e-Commerce Directive
8. Schrems v Facebook: AG says Standard Contractual Clauses are Valid
9. Facebook Releases New Advertising Rules for the 2020 Census
10. ‘I am going to say quiet words in your face just like I did with Trump’: a conversation with the Zuckerbot -Mark Zuckerberg won’t talk to the Guardian. So we fed everything he says into an algorithm, and interviewed it
11. Sorry, but cryptocurrency will likely make you uncomfortable in 2020: It might even piss you off.: Thanks, Libra.
12. Financializing authoritarian capitalism: Chinese fintech and the institutional foundations of algorithmic governance (Julian Gruin)
13. Beyond scandal?: Blockchain technologies and the fragile legitimacy of post-2008 finance
14. Swiping right: face perception in the age of Tinder
15. Cox Communications hit with $1 billion verdict over music piracy
16. Dear Americans: Be Very, Very Afraid Of The EU’s New Copyright Rules
17. Inside the Koch data mine: Meet the guys building the right’s new machine.
18. The Surprising Nuance Behind the Russian Troll Strategy: We set out to study #BlackLivesMatter – instead, we were unintentionally learning about the Russian information operation to undermine democracy
19. The case for publicly enforced online rights: Democracies should establish a single infrastructure for the digital identity (Evgeny Morozov)
20. New German draft law to fight online hate speech obliges social media providers to notify police of suspicious online posts
21. ECJ rules that the sale of second-hand e-books infringes copyright
22. Indian Government Sets New Record For ‘Internet Shutdown By A Democracy’
23. Canadian ISPs Subject to Site-Blocking Order
24. Competition Bureau Hones in on #SponsoredContent and Social Media Advertising
25. Losing Streak Continues For Litigants Suing Social Media Companies Over Violence Committed By Terrorists
26. Report: Apple is developing satellites so the iPhone can skip wireless carriers
27. Apple, Google, and Amazon create “CHIP,” a new smart home standard [Updated]
28. Accountability Is Nowhere To Be Found For Foxconn’s Wisconsin Head Fake
29. Google fined ~$166 million by France over search ads
30. Chrome is getting a dedicated media control button
31. The Canadian Digital Law Decade: The Ten Most Notable Cases, Laws, and Policy Developments (Michael Geist)
32. CJEU rules that the provision of ebooks is an act of communication to the public (so there is NO digital exhaustion under the InfoSoc Directive) (Eleonora Rosati)
33. Study: Hadopi Has Been Great For Big Artists And Labels, Bad For The Spread Of Culture And Smaller Or New Artists
34. Contractor admits planting logic bombs in his software to ensure he’d get new work
35. The Hassle of Housework: Digitalisation and the Commodification of Domestic Labour (Ursula Huws)
36. Insanity (AKA Copyright Statutory Damages) Rules: Cox Hit With $1 Billion (With A B) Jury Verdict For Failing To Magically Stop Piracy
37. Ghosh Yoga College Claims Copyright Infringement Over Netflix Documentary On Bikram Choudhury
38. Dethroning the Digital Platform Champions
39. Elon Musk And SpaceX Just Backed Down From Earlier Promise To Release SpaceX Photos To The Public Domain
40. Jake Paul Sued For Copyright Infringement Over 2017 Holiday Track “Litmas”
41. Influencers face backlash for promoting a Saudi Arabian music festival: And were reportedly paid six-figure sums
42. ‘Influencing is heading into the void’: Natasha Stagg and Kate Durbin on the future of social media
43. Tana Mongeau Lands ‘Here Comes Tana Claus’ YouTube Special At MTV
44. Want to Become A World-Famous YouTube Personality? Don’t Forget the Fine Print
45. Under the Influence: The Canadian Competition Bureau’s Stand on Misleading Product Endorsements
46. Cameron Dallas To Star As Aaron Samuels In Broadway Adaptation Of ‘Mean Girls’
47. Latte Lover Emma Chamberlain To Launch Her Own Coffee Business This Sunday
48. In Just 55 Days, MrBeast And Mark Rober’s #TeamTrees Raised $20 Million To Plant 20 Million Trees
49. Influencer marketing must be accurate and based on actual experience, says Competition Bureau
50. #InfluencerMarketing and #Transparency in #Ads: Competition Bureau Sends Letters to Brands and Agencies
51. How to Decrease Your Influencer Marketing Legal Risk
52. Pixel Perfect: The Legal Implications of Virtual Influencers and Supermodels
53. For Beauty Influencer Campaigns, YouTube Delivers
54. Instagram To Enforce Ban On Sponsored Content Involving Weapons, Tobacco, Vaping
55. Instagram To Enforce Ban On Sponsored Content Involving Weapons, Tobacco, Vaping
56. Australian Millionaire Seeking Personal Instagram Photographer, At $55,000 Salary
57. Instagram Announces Restrictions on Branded Content and Says Further Policies are Coming
58. All Def Digital’s Assets Acquired, Content Slate To Be Rebooted By Startup Culture Genesis
59. Not so IDLE hands: FBI program offers companies data protection via deception
60. I went undercover as an Amazon delivery driver. Here’s what I learned about the hidden costs of free shipping
61. Motorola gets cold feet, delays $1,500 Razr foldable days before launch
62. Leaked images of new Samsung foldable surfaces: It’s a flip phone
63. Is Your Website Accessible and Are You Liable if it Isn’t?
64. Social Media Made America Tired of Rich People: It used to be easier to hide your wine cave.
65. The 84 Biggest Flops, Fails, And Dead Dreams Of The Decade In Tech
66. Tech regulation and protecting children online; latest thinking from the UK
67. Reflections on 2019 in Technology Law, and a Peek into 2020
68. Tech & Comms 2020 Predictions

A.I.

1. World Intellectual Property Organization Weighs in on Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property
2. World Intellectual Property Organisation and UK Information Commissioner’s Office announce consultations on AI
3. Patents Created by Artificial Intelligence?
4. EPO refuses DABUS patent applications designating a machine inventor
5. Towards a Critical Race Methodology in Algorithmic Fairness (Alex Hanna, Emily Denton, Andrew Smart & Jamila Smith-Loud)
6. 2019 Quantified Self Report Card
7. Artificial Intelligence Is Rushing Into Patient Care – And Could Raise Risks: AI systems are not as rigorously tested as other medical devices, and have already made serious mistakes
8. Is the idea of ‘care robots’ an oxymoron?: Pursuing efficiency by seeking to dehumanise human interaction by use of robotic support is a worrying development
9. United States – E-commerce and Big Data: Merger Control
10. Intervention – “Is Legal Technology a New ‘Moment’ in the Law and Development Trajectory?”
11. Do all marketing lists discriminate against consumers that exercise a right to be deleted?
12. Why I dislike what “quantum supremacy” is doing to computing research
13. Can Computers Dream? Refik Anadol Explores The Future of Artificial Intelligence: Anadadol’s installation at Light Art Space explores how our world will transform as humans and computers come closer together.  

COMMUNICATIONS

1.  Touchdown! The Supreme Court of Canada simplifies the standard of review analysis in historic Super Bowl trilogy
2. Supreme Court of Canada Establishes New Approach to Standard of Review 
3. Phone companies must block scam calls starting today. Here’s what you can expect
4. Congress Passes Bipartisan Robocall Legislation
5. Congress passes legislation expanding robocall penalties
6. T-Mobile/Sprint deal is good actually, Feds tell court in states’ lawsuit
7. Spectrum Customers Stuck With Thousands In Home Security Gear They Can’t Use
8. TV changed a lot in the 2010s, and the decade’s best reflects that
9. What’s New in 5G – December 2019
10. FCC Announces Improved Wireless Emergency Alerts 
11. Supreme Court Declines to Overturn Landmark TCPA Jury Verdict
12. GDPR and the Cloud – Helpful DPC Guidance for Organisations 

PRIVACY

1. Data Protection Changes Are Coming to Canada
2. Nearly 4,000 Ring Credentials Leaked, Including Users’ Time Zones And Device Names
3. NY Times Shows The Scope Of The Cell Location Data Scandal Nobody’s Doing Anything About
4. San Francisco Amends Facial Recognition Ban After Realizing City Employees Could No Longer Use Smartphones
5. Second Circuit Says Warrantless Backdoor Searches Of NSA Collections Might Violate The Fourth Amendment
6. Update privacy policies post-tech backlash, report tells smart watch and fitness tracker makers
7. PoS malware skimmed convenience store customers’ card data for 8 months
8. Dark Overlord taunted, threatened, and extorted. Now alleged member is behind bars
9. The California Consumer Privacy Act Is Upon Us; Here’s What Your Company Should Be Doing
10. Hospitality company’s bid to dismiss data breach suit rejected
11. Attorney General issues opinion on validity of Privacy Shield and Model clauses
12. Austria’s Top Court Says Police May Not Install Surveillance Malware On Computers And Phones, Nor Collect Vehicle And Driver Information Covertly
13. Top EU Court’s Adviser Says Personal Data Can Be Transferred Using ‘Standard Contractual Clauses’ — But Also Suggests That Privacy Shield Should Be Ruled Invalid
14. Giant surveillance balloons are lurking at the edge of space
15. The Internet of Things (IoT) will see an increase in regulation and self-regulation
16. How many websites are using opt-in, opt-out, or deemed consent cookie notices?
17. How many third party behavioral advertising cookies deploy on most websites?
18. Is Your Privacy Policy Ready for 2020?
19. When We Fail To Understand Privacy As A Set Of Trade-Offs, Everyone’s ‘Solutions’ Are Unhelpful
20. Rethinking privacy in the age of psychological targeting: Direct regulation of psychological targeting may lift from users the burden of actively protecting their privacy (Sandra Matz, Ruth Elisabeth Appel & Michal Kosinski)

CREATIVITY

1. Paris Court of Appeal confirms that Koons’s ‘Naked’ sculpture infringes copyright in ‘Enfants’ photograph, rejecting freedom of the arts and parody defences (Eleonora Rosati)
2. US government lists fictional nation Wakanda as trade partner
3. No Surprise: Judge Says US Government Can Take The Proceeds From Snowden’s Book
4. Billionaire Sheldon Adelson Is Trying To Use An Anti-SLAPP Law To Get Out Of Paying Anti-SLAPP Damages And It Ain’t Working
5. Street art raises novel copyright issues – or does it?
6. Guity v. Santos: Court dismisses copyright claims against Santos, finding plaintiff had not identified protectable elements that were allegedly infringed, and that parties’ songs in their entirety were not substantially similar.
7. Remedies in IP antitrust cases in USA
8. China and Hollywood: Is the romance over?
9. ‘Cats’ Director Rushes Visual Effects Update Into Theaters After Disastrous Opening
10. Minority Report: How Canada’s Electoral System Disrupts Copyright Reform
11. The craziest Christmas patents you didn’t know existed
12. Naughty or Nice? A Few Last Minute Tips for Using Santa Claus in Your Advertising
13. Ars’ favorite movies of the 2010s (John Wick most definitely included)

Jon

GAMES

1. Russia’s Rambler Group suing Twitch for $2.8 billion: Internet giant takes takes legal action against streaming service in the region over pirated football broadcasts
2. Twitch facing $2.9 billion lawsuit over broadcast of pirated soccer streams
3. Nreal files motion to dismiss Magic Leap copycat suit
4. Company fined nearly $100k for publishing unapproved game in China: Chinese law allows companies to be fined between 5 and 10 times their revenue for unlicensed titles
5. Dangen chief Judd steps down following harassment, mismanagement allegations
6. Ben Judd departs Dangen, DDM amid accusations of harassment, bad business: Sources allege Judd mishandled communications and payments, publicly exposed himself, upheld harmful power dynamic
7. Bethesda adds John Romero Sigil mod to Doom console ports: Publisher recognises unofficial sequel alongside other free community mods
8. Xbox Series X is Microsoft’s next console, launching holiday 2020
9. Xbox’s next-gen Project Scarlett revealed as Xbox Series X
10. The Xbox Series X will support backwards compatibility at launch
11. The next Xbox has a name and a new design: Behold, 2020’s Xbox Series X
12. Microsoft returning to simpler “Xbox” branding for next gen hardware: Xbox Series X is not the brand, Microsoft says, and name will allow “room for additional consoles in the future”
13. Nintendo Switch outsells Xbox One worldwide
14. Developing Switch-first eases the porting process, says Axiom Verge dev
15. Sony launching DualShock 4 rear button attachment: Plug-in peripheral will let players map actions to two new buttons on the back of the controller
16. Apple Arcade introduces a cheaper annual subscription option
17. Apple Arcade rolls out $50 yearly subscription option
18. Apple Arcade now has a cut-price annual payment tier: New subscription option gives a year’s access for the price of ten individual months
19. Atari details revenue splits, engine partnerships ahead of Atari VCS 2020 launch
20. Atari offers 88% of revenue to exclusive VCS games: Non-exclusive games will get an 80/20 revenue split from sales through the VCS store
21. Gameloft teams up with Blacknut for new cloud gaming service
22. Why new consoles probably won’t be enough to save GameStop
23. Mortal Kombat 11 will soon bring cross-console ‘Krossplay’ into the fray
24. Mario has the most fans in the US, but Call of Duty ranks higher for most people: Over 44% of Americans are fans of Nintendo’s mascot, but 26% put Activision’s shooter in their Top Five
25. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare narrowly beats Star Wars ahead of UK Christmas chart – There are nine Mario-related games in the Top 40
26. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has topped $1 billion in sell-through revenue
27. FIFA 20 is still at the top of the EMEAA charts: EA’s latest entry returns to No.1 for the sixth week since its launch
28. Mobile games made 15 times more revenue than entertainment apps in a single year: Liftoff report on app industry shows games leading the way in downloads, in-app revenue and number of new releases
29. Survey finds parents getting stricter on kids’ in-game spending: ISFE finds parents more likely than last year to have an agreement with children regulating purchases or to forbid children from in-game spending entirely
30. Undead Labs setting up new studio, game development academy in New Orleans
31. Warcraft III: Reforged will release on January 28, not in 2019
32. Rainbow Six Siege switches core team: Leroy Athanassoff to lead new group as Xavier Marquis and Alexandre Remy move on to new projects at Ubisoft
33. Animoca Brands buys Power Rangers: Legacy Wars developer nWay
34. Animoca Brands acquires Power Rangers developer nWay: Studio behind mobile fighting game Legacy Wars purchased for $7.69 million
35. Brawl Stars brought in $422m in its first year: Sensor Tower – Supercell’s multiplayer arena brought in $94m in South Korea alone
36. Final Fantasy XIV Online has passed 18 million registered players
37. Wargaming finally branching beyond World of Tanks with UK studio’s new IP: CEO Victor Kislyi and UK studio director Sean Decker discuss how the publisher’s newest team aims to conquer the West
38. Zynga opens new UK mobile studio to expand racing game portfolio
39. Zynga starts a new racing game studio in United Kingdom
40. Analyst: Clash of Clans claimed the most consumer spend of any mobile game this decade
41. Riot Forge is publishing two new League of Legends games
42. Dobre Brothers Launch ‘Dobre Dunk’ Mobile Game With BroadbandTV
43. Just 15% of Shroud’s US audience followed him to Mixer: Shroud’s US audience on Mixer is one-third of what it was on Twitch
44. Game.tv raises $25 million to bring esports to Discord, Twitter, and Facebook
45. Esports platform Game.tv secures $25 million in funding: Also launches AI-driven platform via Discord and web app
46. EA, Respawn announce Apex Legends Global Series: $3m at stake in the game’s first international, multi-tournament esports program
47. League of Legends World Championship 2019 was the most-watched LoL esports event ever: The Finals reached an average minute audience of 21.8m, and 44m peak concurrent viewers
48. Local split-screen has been added to Fortnite on the PS4 and Xbox One
49. PewDiePie Quits Twitter Over Amount Of “Virtue Signaling,” Says He’ll Take A Break From YouTube In 2020
50. Playable Gothic prototype will let fans decide direction of possible remake
51. High Fidelity lays off half of studio in pivot away from VR
52. High Fidelity lays off half of staff, pulls plug on open-source VR platform: Company cuts headcount for second time this year, says it is refocusing on new project early in development
53. Boneworks review: An absolute VR mess—yet somehow momentous
54. Blog: Analyzing the pitfalls of the Virtual Boy
55. N3twork acquires Funko Pop! Blitz: The game, along with several key developers, picked up from defunct NBCUniversal gaming arm
56. Why the creator of Kerbal Space Program is returning to the troposphere: After leaving Squad, Felipe Falanghe has created his own two-person studio to make Balsa Model Flight Simulator
57. How ArenaNet is rewriting the narrative for its narrative writers: Novera King and Bobby Stein discuss the studio’s first run of a narrative writing mentorship program — and its next iteration
58. A QA breakdown of The Outer Worlds’ elusive companion killing bug
59. Watch the lead dev of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition break down the game’s rebirth
60. Blog: Building a fantasy VR world in Unity
61. Blog: Practical tools for game designers
62. Video: Designing efficient, effective branching narratives for games
63. Video: To make 1997’s Blade Runner, Westwood first had to create the universe
64. Video: Inside the UX of onboarding and player engagement 
65. Case Study: A ‘peek’ at Golf Peaks’ multiplatform sales
66. Industry vet Kate Edwards to be honored with Ambassador Award at 2020 GDCAs!
67. Kate Edwards to be honored with GDCA’s Ambassador Award: Former IGDA head and current executive director of Global Game Jam to accept award at GDC in March
68. Naughty Dog to donate all cash from Jak and Daxter re-releases to charity
69. The 12 biggest announcements from The Game Awards 2019
70. Sekiro claims GOTY, but Disco Elysium leads The Game Awards winners
71. The Game Awards: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice takes game of the year
72. The Game Awards reached 7.5m concurrent viewers: Total livestreams of the event were up 73% from last year to 45.2m
73. People of the Year 2019: From charity pioneers and environmental movements to legendary designers and AAA studios, our choices reflect the depth and breadth of the modern games industry
74. Epic’s exclusivity push leads to ugliness – 2019 in Review: How consumer grumbling over Steam’s newest competition snowballed into outright abuse
75. People of the Year 2019: Respawn Entertainment – Starting with Apex Legends and finishing with Jedi Fallen Order, in 2019 Respawn became EA’s single most important studio
76. Analyst: Clash of Clans claimed the most consumer spend of any mobile game this decade
77. Subway Surfers is the top mobile game of the decade by downloads: Clash of Clans was No.1 in consumer spend from 2010 to 2019
78. The 50 best games of 2019
79. Games of the Year 2019: Sea of Thieves – Rare’s pirate adventure offered an object lesson in how service-based games can get better and better with age
80. Games of the Year 2019: Untitled Goose Game: Is the goose horrible, or is it me?
81. Games of the Year 2019: Heaven’s Vault – Inkle delivers a deep adventure where everything from the world’s history to individual puzzles is open to interpretation
82. Games of the Year 2019: Divinity: Original Sin II – The Switch version of Larian’s latest captures the feel of pen-and-paper role-playing in ones and zeroes
83. Games of the Year 2019: Super Mario Maker 2 – Nintendo delivered the sequel Super Mario Maker deserved this year and finally learnt to trust its community
84. Best of 2019: Designing the gameplay and aesthetic of Diablo IV
85. Best of 2019: Former Fortnite UX lead digs into ethical game design
86. Gamasutra’s Best of 2019: Alex Wawro’s top 5 games
87. Video Game Deep Cuts: (More Of) The Best Games Of 2019 
88. The GamesIndustry.biz Podcast: Games of the Year 2019 – Download the latest episode now to find out which games have most impressed the editorial team this year
89. GamesIndustry.biz presents… The Year In Numbers 2019: Find out this year’s global games market value, biggest games on social media, speediest digital discounts and more
90. U.S. Patent no. 10,265,621: Tracking specific gestures related to user movement

DIGITAL

1. People who are given correct information still misremember it to fit their own beliefs: “What we have had in lieu of a well-informed citizenry is what might be termed a  myth – the myth of the attentive public.”
2. Can fact-checkers save Taiwan from a flood of Chinese fake news?
3. Change to Chinese university’s charter dropping ‘freedom of thought’ stirs debate
4. Chinese students denounce limits on free speech, in a rare protest
5. Iran Accelerates Longstanding Quest To Cut Itself Off From The Internet
6. Nevada’s Top Court Says The State’s Journalist Shield Law Also Applies To Bloggers
7. Maryland Disclosure Requirements for Online Political Ads Violates the First Amendment–Washington Post v. McManus (Eric Goldman)
8. Breach of Contract/Promissory Estoppel Claims Bypass Section 230 But Fail Anyways—Yue v. Miao (Eric Goldman)
9. AG William Barr Attacks Section 230… Even Though It Doesn’t Hinder The DOJ At All
10. Engineer says Google fired her for browser pop-up about worker rights
11. This 3D-printed Stanford bunny also holds the data for its own reproduction
12. Russian media group Rambler attempting to hold Nginx hostage
13. Facebook fails to convince lawmakers it needs to track your location at all times
14. Twitter and Facebook Want to Shift Power to Users. Or Do They?: A decentralized internet was hailed as a way to dethrone Twitter and Facebook. But to the tech giants, the idea could unload some of their burdens.
15. Hungary Has Fined Facebook For ‘Misleading Consumers’ Because It Promoted Its Service As ‘Free’
16. FTC may block Facebook from integrating messaging apps, per WSJ report
17. Regulator weighs action against Facebook over plans to integrate WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger
18. Instagram to start warning users before they post ‘potentially offensive’ captions: The AI-powered feature came to comments earlier this year
19. Instagram Launches AI Tool That Warns Users Before They Post Potentially Offensive Captions
20. Instagram now lets you upload multiple photos on one Story post with ‘layout’ feature: A third-party tool brought inside
21. Instagram Won’t Pull These Racist, Violent, Russian-Inspired Accounts: Neo-Confederates are posting racist memes – and reusing material from Kremlin trolls. But Instagram says the accounts don’t violate its rules.
22. Sons Of Confederate Veterans Sued Over Bogus DMCA Takedown
23. NC, Or Not NC: Why Suing The Sons Of Confederate Veterans In N.D.Cal For Violating The DMCA Makes Sense
24. Bing’s Top Search Results Contain an Alarming Amount of Disinformation
25. Are you sharing too much about your kids online? Probably
26. Lumen Presents Comments to the Third Meeting of the Stakeholder Dialogue on Art. 17 of the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market in Brussels
27. Shedding light on fraudulent takedown notices: Berkman Klein Center’s Lumen database helps bring attention to falsified court orders
28. Beware your automatic email footer!
29. Where’d You Get Your Tech? New Rules May Allow the U.S. Government to Unwind Your Latest IT Purchase
30. Samsung chair imprisoned and 24 others found guilty in union-busting case
31. Netflix docuseries Broken highlights prevalence of counterfeit cosmetics products on online marketplaces
32. Another ex-Google employee accuses company of union busting: A fifth fired worker attests company let her go for coding internal notification about workers’ rights
33. Trump administration says employers can ban organizing via company email
34. Rather Than Radicalize, YouTube’s Algorithm Brings Viewers Toward “Mainstream” Content, CEO Says
35. Robert Downey Jr.’s Long-Awaited YouTube Original To Drop Dec. 18
36. Susanne Daniels, Robert Kyncl Talk Pros And Cons Of YouTube’s Switch To Ad-Supported Originals
37. Billboard 200 to Include Official Video Plays From YouTube, Streaming Services
38. These Are The 10 Most-Viewed YouTube Ads Of The Year
39. Ryan Kaji Is Reportedly YouTube’s Top-Earning Creator This Year, Raking In $26 Million
40. For The First Time, YouTube Consumption Will Inform The ‘Billboard 200’ Albums Chart
41. YouTube Music gets Spotify-like personalized playlists
42. Apple’s new Screen Time Communication Limits are easily beaten with a bug
43. iPhones and iPads finally get key-based protection against account takeovers
44. Mac Pro teardown finds a largely traditional desktop inside
45. Apple Filed A Silly, Questionable DMCA Notice On A Tweeted iPhone Encryption Key… Before Backing Down
46. Bogus DMCA Notices Still A Huge Problem As Apple Gets Unfairly Blamed For Reddit Takedown
47. Abbott Laboratories Sends Heavy-Handed Copyright Threat To Shut Down Diabetes Community Tool For Accessing Blood-Sugar Data
48. Copyright Trolls Go Mostly Silent In US Federal Courts
49. Yup, Strike 3 Is Going The Prenda Route By Filing ‘Pure Discovery’ Suits In FL State Court
50. Spotify debuts a new original podcast that looks back on the last decade in music
51. Spotify prototypes Tastebuds to revive social music discovery
52. Sponsorship: good faith and measuring the value of influencers
53. Tana Mongeau, Jake Paul Land Linear MTV Series ‘Bustedness’
54. Snap Dropping Complex-Produced Doc About Incarcerated Rapper Tekashi69
55. Deji Olatunji Appealing U.K. Court’s Decision To Euthanize His Dog After “Nasty” Attack
56. Bretman Rock Lands ‘No Filter’ Digital Reality Series At MTV
57. Streamys Bestows ‘Premiere’ Awards To Ninja, JoJo Siwa Ahead Of Tomorrow’s Flagship Ceremony
58. Here Are Your 2019 Streamy Awards Winners
59. NLRB Restores Employers’ Right to Restrict Employees’ Personal Use of Company Email and Other IT Resources
60. Be Careful What You Wish For: TikTok Tries To Stop Bullying On Its Platforms… By Suppressing Those It Thought Might Get Bullied
61. Parents Sue TikTok for COPPA Violations, Settle for $1.1M
62. VidCon 2020 Goes All In On TikTok With Featured Creators Andre Swilley, ThunThun Skittles, More
63. VidCon Makes Middle Eastern Foray In 5-Year Deal With Abu Dhabi Tourism Department
64. TikTok Inks Deal With WWE For 30 New Wrestler Accounts, Entrance Music Licensing
65. Amazon bans third-party merchants from shipping with FedEx
66. Some junk for sale on Amazon is very literally garbage, report finds
67. Amazon Prime Reportedly Lands Rihanna Documentary For A Cool $25 Million
68. Amazon and Google Are Practically Giving Away Smart Speakers. Here’s Why.
69. Hulu debuts a new type of ad that will reward binge-watchers
70. Large tech merger provides an early opportunity to test the fitness of the competition regime in 2020
71. What’s App? – End of Year Round-up on mHealth App Developments
72. Trust, Decentralization, and The Blockchain
73. Exhume dead cryptocurrency exec who owes us $250 million, creditors demand
74. This alleged Bitcoin scam looked a lot like a pyramid scheme
75. Controversial sale of .org domain manager faces review at ICANN
76. The idiot’s guide to why you should not steal a domain name at gun point
77. This “essential piece of computing history” just sold for $43,750
78. The LawBytes Podcast, Episode 36: The Year in Canadian Digital Law and Policy (Michael Geist)

A.I.

1. A sobering message about the future at AI’s biggest party
2. I created my own deepfake—it took two weeks and cost $552
3. Owning Intelligence: The United States Patent and Trademark Office is trying to answer a very complicated question: who owns artificial intelligence?
4. Does AI generated work give rise to a copyright claim?
5. Deep Learning breakthrough made by Rice University scientists
6. Rigid machines meet human creativity: Advising on data strategies

COMMUNICATIONS

1. The CRTC Imposes New Obligation on Telecommunications Service Providers to Combat Nuisance Calls
2. Mozilla, Consumer Groups Petition For Rehearing of Net Neutrality Case
3. FCC’s “illogical” claim that broadband isn’t telecommunications faces appeal
4. Bernie’s Broadband Plan Gives A Big Green Light To Community Broadband 
5. CRTC Enforces CASL in Case of Malware Distribution 
6. CASL Enforcement Action – $115,000 in Penalties for Distributing Malware
7. Netflix Data Suggests Streaming Giant Spending One-Third of Canadian Revenues on Film and TV Production in Canada (Michael Geist)
8. Tax Policy Confusion: What Digital Taxes are on the Canadian Government’s Agenda? (Michael Geist)
9. New communications law research platform will strengthen policymaking: Analyzing millions of pages of legal documents, new tools will simplify legal data for the public
10. AT&T Said Trump Tax Cuts Would Create Thousands Of Jobs. Instead, AT&T’s Laying Off Thousands.
11. AT&T doesn’t want you to see its slow Internet speed-test results 
12. The FCC Helped AT&T Hide Its Crappy Broadband Speeds 
13. FCC Proposes Fines of Over $600,000 to Two Boston-Area Pirate Radio Operators 
14. Cheaters Never Prosper: FCC Proposes $10MM Fine On Man Who Used His Business Rival’s Phone Number on Spoofed Robocalls
15. TCPA Legislative Update — After Much Negotiation, House Passes Consensus Robocall Legislation; Senate Vote Imminent
16. Constitutional Challenges to TCPA: What’s Next?
17. TCPA Regulatory Update — FCC Wakes from TCPA Hibernation with Orders Granting Two Petitions
18. FCC Admonishes and Cites ISPs for Failure to Comply with the Transparency Rule
19. FCC Seeks Comment on Cable Service Change Notifications 
20. FCC Seeks Comment on Establishing 988 Suicide Crisis Hotline 
21. FCC Announces Deadlines for the Next Auction for New FM Channels – And a Filing Freeze 
22. FCC Adopts Changes to Rules for New Noncommercial FM and LPFM Stations – Changing Application Processing Procedures and Holding Periods
23. No-fiber zone: FCC funds 25Mbps, data-capped satellite in rural areas
24. 5G deployment stands ready to supercharge the Internet of Things 
25. 5G Phones Will Be Bigger & More Expensive With Crappy Battery Life. Excited Yet? 
26. Commerce Department Takes Steps To Thwart Use of Information and Communications Technology and Services Associated With Foreign Adversaries 
27. What now for UK telecoms regulation? 
28. The Access Act: Can Data Portability Increase Online Platform Competition? 
29. €2.6bn for the Irish National Broadband Plan Approved by the European Commission
30. 988 will be the new 911 for suicide prevention—by sometime in 2021 

PRIVACY

1. Avast CEO Downplays Collection Of 400 Million Users’ Browsing Data
2. Guess What? Many Cookie Banners Ignore Your Wishes, So Max Schrems Goes On The GDPR Attack Again
3. Recent Developments on Cookies – a Pan-European Overview
4. Chrome’s data disaster: Browser update wipes out Android app data
5. Chrome 79 will continuously scan your passwords against public data breaches
6. Building trust as a foundation for a growth mindset around data
7. Nebula VPN routes between hosts privately, flexibly, and efficiently
8. Feds reap data from 1,500 phones in largest reported reverse-location warrant
9. Michael Hayden Ran The NSA And CIA: Now Warns That Encryption Backdoors Will Harm American Security & Tech Leadership
10. Florida Appeals Court Says Govt’s Lack Of Good Faith Can’t Save A 2012 Warrantless Stingray Deployment
11. Inspector General’s Report On Investigation Of Trump Campaign Finds More FISA-Related Abuse By The FBI
12. FISA Court Benchslaps FBI For Its Abuse Of The FISA Warrant Process During The Trump Campaign Investigation
13. Hackers steal data for 15 million patients, then sell it back to lab that lost it
14. LifeLabs pays ransom after cyberattack exposes information of 15 million customers in B.C. and Ontario
15. What is the IAB’s CCPA Compliance Framework for “Do not sell my personal information?”
16. The CCPA is Only Two Weeks Away and Only 6% Of Companies Have Deployed a “Do Not Sell My Personal Information” Link
17. California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) – You are not California Dreamin’!
18. Resetting the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)…with 2 Weeks To Go! (Part 1 of 3) (Eric Goldman)
19. Some Lessons Learned from the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), 18 Months In (Part 2 of 3) (Eric Goldman)
20. Eric Goldman’s Comments to the California DOJ Draft Regulations for the Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) (Part 3 of 3) (Eric Goldman)
21. EDPB Publishes Guidelines on the Right to Be Forgotten in Search Engine Cases
22. Purple Communications, Inc. Overruled: Employees have no presumptive statutory right to use employer equipment, including email systems, under the NLRA
23. Privacy Peril: Is Your Smart TV Too Smart?
24. Wave of Ring surveillance camera hacks tied to podcast, report finds
25. Online Forum Members Exploited Weak Credentials To Turn Ring Cameras Against Their Owners
26. Privacy Tip #219 – Holiday Shopping Tip for Internet-Connected Gifts
27. A new draft code of practice for consumer IoT devices – hardening IoT supply chains
28. Evaluating Risks in the IoT Supply Chain
29. The IOT is Here and so is the Regulation
30. Upload – 2019 Data Protection update

CREATIVITY

1. Objections Filed re Access Copyright Proposed Post-Secondary Tariff for 2021-2023 and Update re 2011-2017
2. Why Are Members Of Congress Telling A Private Organization Not To Comment On Copyright Law?
3. Free-riding on reputation of LOUIS VUITTON mark
4. Pepsi Scores Dismissal Of Copyright Dispute Over Super Bowl Ad
5. Arsenal’s Mesut Özil Slams Uighur Repression and China Pulls Premier League Game: The move puts Beijing in conflict with a second major global sports league
6. Hallmark Apologizes for Pulling Commercials That Show Brides Kissing
7. Does Elon Musk’s Defamation Defense Verdict Spell “Open Season” for Social Media Insults? Answer: Nope.
8. Robyn Openshaw, ‘The Green Smoothie Girl,’ Threatening SLAPP Suits Over Mediocre Reviews
9. Tennessee Doctor Decides He Wants To Take The State’s Anti-SLAPP Law For A Spin, Files Bogus Defamation Lawsuit Over A Negative Review
10. No, Filing A Defamation Lawsuit Is Never The Only Way You Can Clear Your Name
11. Teespring Takes Down Our Copying Is Not Theft Gear, Refuses To Say Why
12. Why Intermediary Liability Protections Matter: Our ‘Copying Is Not Theft’ T-Shirt May Be Collateral Damage To A Bad Court Ruling
13. Delhi High Court Rules That Making A Copy Of The Film Is Not Only Restricted To Making A Physical Copy Of The Film But It Also Includes A Substantial And Fundamental Reproduction Of The Original
14. US government is entitled to all Snowden book proceeds, judge rules
15. Restaurant Association Looks To Take Back Taco Tuesday For The People
16. Beyond The Taco: Someone Is Now Trying To Trademark ‘Breakfast Burrito’
17. Copyright in designs: G-Stars in their Eyes
18. University of Phoenix Settles FTC Deceptive Advertising Law Allegations
19. Intellectual Property Rights and the Employer-Employee Relationship: A Canadian Law Q&A
20. At Oral Argument Justices Consider Copyright Protection for Legal Annotations
21. European Copyright: Memes, GIFs, and Other Images on the Internet

Jon

GAMES

1. German regulator prompts Valve crackdown on Steam Nazis: Valve pledges to better train moderators after media agency finds dozens of banned symbols, slogans, anti-Semitism
2. Epic Games files preemptive lawsuit against Dancing Pumpkin Man: Fortnite developer responds to cease and desist letter with a lawsuit
3. Epic Games Store implements in-game purchases for third-parties: Developers who use their own payment tools will not share revenue with Epic on in-game transactions
4. Epic Games Store policy change expands in-game payment options for devs 
5. Indies hit with takedowns over trademarked ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ term
6. Chooseco Chooses An Adventure In Bullying Indie Game Devs Over Trademark
7. Ex-Razer employees accuse CEO of abusive behavior: Former employees say Min-Liang Tan yelled, threw objects, made threats, demanded unreasonable overtime, and was verbally abusive
8. Latest Rocket League update replaces loot boxes with an item store
9. Chucklefish apologizes after casting white voice actors for non-white characters
10. Chucklefish apologizes for Wargroove’s whitewashed voice casting: Developer says it made decision based only on audio files, pledges to be more sensitive in the future
11. Federal Communications Commission Rules Require Communications in Video Games to Be Accessible and Usable
12. 2K opens new in-house studio to work on BioShock franchise
13. 2K opens Cloud Chamber to build “another unforgettable BioShock experience”: We speak to the publisher’s first female studio head Kelley Gilmore about continuing Ken Levine’s acclaimed franchise
14. Nintendo Switch faces an uphill slog in China | Opinion: China is a country with little interest in consoles, so success for the Switch will require building a whole market segment from nothing
15. Nintendo Switch sold estimated 50k units in China on launch day: Niko Partners – Console on track to reach 100k units in the country by the end of 2019
16. Nintendo stock rises following Switch launch in China: Share price up 2.9%, reaching highest intraday level since May 2018
17. Nintendo Indie World showcase talks exclusives, sequels, and 2020 lineup
18. Sony will bring MLB: The Show to rival console platforms ‘as early as 2021’
19. Sony’s MLB The Show will be released on rival consoles: No new platforms confirmed for baseball series, but both Nintendo and Microsoft have shared the news
20. Sony pulls PS4 Lineup video after accusations of plagiarism: Video showcase appeared to directly copy animation styles from multiple other properties
21. Resident Evil 2 remake has passed 5 million sales
22. Resident Evil 3 remake headlines a handful of PS4 announcements
23. Sony announces plan to publish PlayStation games on non-PS consoles [updated]
24. PS4 finally gets Minecraft cross-platform play with Bedrock Edition – Sony overcomes worries about “safety risk” a year and a half after all other platforms connected
25. Minecraft update brings cross-platform play to PlayStation 4
26. Minecraft beats Fortnite and GTA as YouTube’s most-watched game of 2019
27. Choose Your Own Adventure publisher cracks down on Itch.io devs: Chooseco issues trademark infringements to four developers
28. Starbreeze exits reconstruction, looks toward continued Payday development
29. Payday 2 won’t see parity on consoles and PC, future Switch updates ‘unlikely’
30. Starbreeze completes reconstruction process after 12 months: It’s been a “toilsome journey” says CEO Mikael Nermak
31. Layoffs as mobile developer Gameloft closes UK office
32. Gameloft UK shuts down: Seven staff affected as mobile giant ditches British presence
33. Avakin Life dev Lockwood Publishing closes Leamington Spa studio: All four members of staff declined opportunity to move to growing Nottingham studio
34. The dawn of streaming requires contract revisions: Beiten Burkhardt’s Dr Andreas Lober explains why developers and publishers should check their contracts as services like Google Stadia emerge
35. Some Stadia games cost more than their downloadable counterparts
36. E3 without the lines: System Shock, other games to get 48-hour Steam demos
37. Important Updates to Google Play Developer Policies
38. Google refuses to budge on Play Store fees after Epic asks for Fortnite exemption
39. Kongregate acquires mobile and browser battle royale shooter Surviv.io
40. Kongregate acquires browser and mobile 2D battle royale Surviv.io: This marks the publisher’s second acquisition this year, more planned to come
41. Playrix acquires Eipix Entertainment: Homescapes creator enters Serbian market to create more free-to-play mobile games
42. Voodoo acquires mobile dev Gumbug
43. Voodoo acquires Gumbug: Mobile publisher picks up London-based developer of Smash Supreme and Notorious 99
44. Wildlife Studios raises $60m, now valued at $1.3b: Benchmark leads funding for Sao Paulo studio to grow mobile reach
45. Tatsuya Minami reportedly starts new, Capcom-backed studio M-Two Inc: Former PlatinumGames president’s Osaka-based team said to be contributing to Resident Evil 3
46. NetEase launches its own cloud gaming platform in beta: Service currently supports 38 games on mobile, but testers are waiting in long queue times to play
47. 12 years later, players somehow keep Team Fortress 2 alive on the PS3
48. The modders who spent 15 years fixing Knights of the Old Republic 2: From missing planets to missing romance options, players are restoring a classic.
49. FIFA 20 returns to No.1 on EMEAA charts for fifth week since launch: No new major releases and holiday sales kept momentum for Pokemon, Star Wars
50. UK Charts: No new releases means Mario Kart 8 Deluxe races back to No.3 – Nintendo racer boosted by new Switch bundle, FIFA and COD still top
51. Sales down 25 percent at close of GameStop’s third quarter 
52. GameStop Q3 global sales down again, expected full-year decline in the high-teens: Collectible sales was once again the only segment that showed any year-over-year growth
53. GameStop plans to wind down Nordic presence, close more stores to cut costs
54. GameStop winding down operations in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden: 140 stores globally have been closed already this year, 250 to 300 total closures planned by end of 2019
55. GameStop CEO: Financial struggles are a console issue, not a GameStop issue – George Sherman says industry headwinds are “having an outsized impact on our business”
56. Black Friday saw US mobile game spending hit nearly $70m: Sensor Tower Marvel Contest of Champions led record single day sales for mobile in the US
57. Call of Duty Mobile made almost $87m in its first two months: Sensor Tower reports Activision’s smartphone shooter has been downloaded 172 million times
58. Resident Evil 2 remake surpasses five million sales: Franchise lifetime sales at 94 million
59. Review aggregator site GameRankings is shutting down
60. GameRankings to close down after 20 years: Site will go offline on December 9
61. Rental kiosk Redbox is giving up on video game rentals
62. Redbox will no longer rent video games: Games will still be sold through the end of the year before it goes movies-only
63. CD Projekt Red ending Gwent console support to focus on PC and mobile
64. Mobile developer Wildlife Studios nets $60 million in funding
65. GAME’s Belong esports division opens 100-seat venue in London: Oxford Street location will be the home of the London Lionhearts esports team
66. PatronGG secures $1m for esports engagement app Kokyo: Bitkraft leads funding to continue its string of esports investments
67. Pole to Win opens product development unit: Orange Rock Studios will also contain Orange Rock Esports division
68. Canada a hub for booming esports industry, says lawyer
69. TV Academy Unveils First Emmy Category for Esports
70. The Emmys Adds First Category For Esports, Recognizing Outstanding Journalism
71. Riot teams up with Louis Vuitton for League of Legends clothing
72. Riot Games opens publishing label for League of Legends games from other devs 
73. Amid Flurry Of Departures, Twitch Locks Down DrLupo, LIRIK, TimTheTatman In Exclusive Deals
74. Twitch signs three exclusivity deals with major streamers: Video platform responds to Ninja and Shroud departure with own deals
75. Twitch just locked down top streamers DrLupo, TimTheTatman, and Lirik: According to the e-sports consultant Rod Breslau, the deals are potentially worth millions
76. Skybound Entertainment to make TV series based on DrDisrespect: Scripted, narrative series to focus on origins of popular, contentious Twitch streamer Guy Beahm’s character
77. Pokemon Go developer Niantic raised $100,000 for STEM programs in 2019
78. Niantic releases 2019 social impact report: Pokémon Go dev has raised $100,000 for STEM programs, hosted 90,000 players at charity events and picked up 20 elephants’ worth of trash
79. Niantic and Qualcomm collaborating on augmented reality glasses: Multi-year partnership will see Pokémon Go developer working on hardware and software for new AR platform
80. ‘Apollo 11 VR’ Studio to Launch ‘Shuttle Commander’ Next Week on PSVR
81. Fast Travel CEO navigates VR’s speed bumps: With two new VR titles launching in quick succession, Oskar Burman talks about how far the market has come and where it can improve
82. Oculus is rolling out controller-free hand tracking for the Quest this week
83. Surprise! Oculus Quest becomes first VR set with native hand tracking—this week
84. Oculus Quest Hand-tracking Starts Rolling Out This Week, Developer SDK Next Week
85. Report: Magic Leap laid off ‘dozens’ following slow sales of its debut AR headset
86. Magic Leap launches upgraded headset, reportedly lays off dozens: Company said to have planned to sell over 100k Magic Leaps in first year, only sold 6k in six months
87. Niantic and Qualcomm join forces to create new AR glasses
88. Adobe acquires 3D VR sculpting tool Medium from Facebook
89. Behind the ingenious audio design of action RPG classic Diablo II
90. How MechWarrior’s return took me back to the early ‘90s mall in my mind
91. Brenda Romero breaks down Empire of Sin’s complex relationship system
92. BioShock will return, but without Ken Levine
93. Halo Reach on PC is the customizable combat we’ve been wanting—but just barely
94. How Angry Birds broke the limits for mobile games: Marking the original game’s ten-year anniversary, we take a look at the impact the series had on the industry and the resilience of Rovio
95. How God of War converted a non-believer – Why I Love: Double Eleven’s Matt Dunthorne says the 2018 revamp turned him from uninterested onlooker into full-on fanboy
96. Bethesda updating Doom 1, 2 to include select mods like John Romero’s Sigil
97. Bethesda suspends The Elder Scrolls Legends development
98. Betheda has halted development on The Elder Scrolls: Legends
99. Elder Scrolls Legends development “on hold for the foreseeable future”: Bethesda no longer making new content for fantasy card battler, but will continue support with monthly rewards and regular events
100. Minecraft is most popular game on YouTube in 2019 with 100bn views: Controversial YouTuber Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg drives popularity of Minecraft as Fortnite settles
101. People of the Year 2019: Sam Barlow: We speak to the Telling Lies director about showcasing the true potential of interactive narrative in video games
102. Rockstar and Nintendo fill top five in Metacritic’s Games of the 2010s: Mario Galaxy 2, Breath of the Wild, Red Dead 2, GTA V and Mario Odyssey all had 97 average ratings
103. IndieBI: Superhot Team’s biz dev platform that helps indies stay indie – Business developer Tomas Kaczmarczyk on why good business intelligence benefits the whole industry
104. Kalypso opens third internal studio to work on ‘next-gen’ Commandos title
105. Kalypso opening third German studio: New team will work on next-gen Commandos title from the greater Frankfurt area
106. Report: iDreamSky in talks to acquire Leyou Technologies for $1.4 billion 
107. iDreamSky in talks to buy Leyou: Mobile publisher would get controlling interest in fellow Chinese outfit with stakes in Digital Extremes, Splash Damage, SNK Playmore
108. Imgur Launches New ‘Melee’ App Where Users Can Host, Discover Gaming Memes
109. Staying Alive: How some indies are setting their studios up for survival
110. Blog: How Ghost Recon Breakpoint broke the rules of player intel
111. Blog: How do bullets work in video games?
112. Blog: Building a procedurally generated Hearthstone
113. Blog: Five books to help you better understand player behavior
114. Blog: Sharing accessible narratives through environmental design
115. Blog: Emotional context in decision design
116. Blog: Turning a negative Steam review into a positive
117. Blog: Getting your big break as a game composer (2020 edition)
118. Watch Russ Bullock break down the dev process for MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries
119. Video: How women-in-games initiatives make a difference
120. Video: How Eve Online addressed exploit abuse with customer care
121. Best of 2019: Designing Baba is You’s delightfully innovative rule-writing system
122. Best of 2019: Dissecting the development of Dwarf Fortress with creator Tarn Adams
123. Best of 2019: Designing Baba is You’s delightfully innovative rule-writing system
124. Best of 2019: Exploring the secret depths of Bubble Bobble’s design
125. People of the Year 2019: Yu Suzuki – Shenmue III came out 18 years after its predecessor and picked up exactly where it left off
126. People of the Year 2019: Media Molecule – The full version of Dreams will launch on February 14 — and Media Molecule spent 2019 paving the way for its success
127. People of the Year 2019: Hermen Hulst – Guerrilla Games’ former MD on the journey from Killzone to Horizon Zero Dawn, and his next challenge as PlayStation’s head of Worldwide Studios
128. The Year of PR Disasters – 2019 in Review: Industry figures and companies said or did ridiculous, inappropriate, and outright harmful things… and got away with it
129. The state of PC gaming in 2019.
130. Video Game Deep Cuts: PlayStation’s 25th, Top Games Of 2019
131. Industry-backed campaign encourages gamers to vote: Gamechanger Giveaway offers prizes in effort to increase voter turnout
132. Steam to host demos for The Game Awards digital spin-off event The Game Festival
133. Mourning the end of the video game rental era
134. A nebbishy bank teller discovers he’s trapped in a video game in Free Guy

DIGITAL

1. American WeChat Users Getting Banned For Celebrating Hong Kong Election Results
2. TikTok settles children’s data lawsuit one day after it was filed
3. The USA is investigating social media app TikTok – what does this mean for social media platforms & transparency?
4. TikTok CEO Cancels Capitol Hill Meetings Amid Investigation Into Chinese Surveillance, Censorship
5. TikTok Wraps 2019 With First-Ever Top 10 Lists Of Creators, Videos, Memes
6. TikTok’s Parent Company Piloting Spotify Competitor ‘Resso’ In Emerging Markets
7. Russia Blocks All Of Shutterstock Due To ‘Offensive’ Image Involving The Russian Flag
8. Russian ‘Evil Corp’ Was Behind a Decade of Hacks, U.S. Says
9. Kingpin of Evil Corp lived large. Now there’s a $5 million bounty on his head
10. FTC Slaps Cambridge Analytica With An Order Barring The Already Defunct Company From Illegally Collecting Data Ever Again
11. DHS Sued Over First Amendment-Trampling Social Media Vetting Program
12. Critics say Facebook’s powerful ad tools may imperil democracy. But politicians love them.
13. Trolling The Trademark Troll: Lemonade CEO Releases Chrome Extension To Remove Magenta From Websites
14. Senate Judiciary committee interrogates Apple, Facebook about crypto
15. Who’s Spreading Disinformation in U.K. Election? You Might Be Surprised
16. Social media platforms leave 95% of reported fake accounts up, study finds: Fake accounts are easy to buy and make, and platforms are bad at yanking them.
17. Twelfth Lawsuit Against Social Media Providers for “Materially Supporting Terrorists” Fails–Retana v. Twitter (Eric Goldman)
18. The Subtweet Defense Wins: Elon Musk Cleared In Defamation Case
19. Jury sides with Elon Musk in “pedo guy” defamation case
20. Lawyer Asks Racists To Use Sketchy Millions They Got From UNC To Fund Scholarships For Black Students To Avoid Lawsuit For Bogus Takedown
21. 3D printing can keep aging Air Force aircraft flying
22. DOL’s $400M pay-discrimination suit is unconstitutional, Oracle argues
23. Pinning Copyright Violations on Pinterest
24. Digital Entrepreneur To Serve 14 Years For Criminal Plot To Wrest Domain Name
25. Failed plot to steal domain name at gunpoint brings 14-year prison term
26. ADA Website Compliance: It’s back to the trial court for Domino’s Pizza
27. Verizon To Lay Off 150 More Employees From ‘Media’ Division
28. Verizon lays off more Yahoo/AOL employees after another drop in revenue
29. Verizon Media Pacts With Advisory Chair Serena Williams On Branded ‘Yahoo Shopping’ Series
30. Verizon reportedly blocks archivists from Yahoo Groups days before deletion
31. Verizon Is Undermining Efforts To Archive Yahoo Groups…For No Coherent Reason
32. Sledgehammer or scalpel? EU policy makers and industry debate digital regulation
33. Europe’s bid to re-nationalise tech
34. Alibaba and the forty infringers: IP enforcement with China’s biggest online marketplace
35. France, As Promised, Is First Out Of The Gate With Its Awful Copyright Directive Law: Ignores Requirements For User Protections
36. Sony Music Entertainment v. Cox Communications: Summary judgment for copyright holders, finding that ISP had specific knowledge of copyright infringement by subscribers on its networks and was contributorily liable.
37. Revolving Door Revolves Some More: Head Of Copyright Office Leaves To Join MPAA
38. Why Won’t Creative Future’s Members Comment About This Hollywood Front Group Smearing A Well Respected Law Professor?
39. Disney’s Decision Not To Renew SecuROM License Bricks ‘Tron: Evolution’
40. Disney+ Has Gotten 22 Million App Downloads In One Month (Report)
41. Netflix To Develop Limited Series About The Birth Of Spotify
42. Netflix Orders Limited Series Chronicling Origins Of Fellow Streamer Spotify
43. Hulu is finally offering 4K and 5.1 audio on Roku devices
44. Instagram Will Ask New Users For Birthdays
45. Instagram Is Finally Asking New Users If They’re Over 13, But Will That Protect It From COPPA?
46. Mraz Sues Festival Sponsor Over Use of Footage
47. Building a More Honest Internet: What would social media look like if it served the public interest? (Ethan Zuckerman)
48. The memefication of knowledge (Andres Guadamuz)
49. Netflix And Scorsese’s ‘The Irishman’ Brought 17 Million TV Viewers In First 5 Days
50. Netflix Is Spending $420 Million on Indian Content, CEO Says
51. Platforms, publishers, and the end of scale
52. Fewer than 10% of Americans are buying $1,000 smartphones, report says
53. Apple to speak at CES for first time in decades
54. Digital Kids’ Content Company ‘Moonbug’ Launches VOD Channel On Apple TV
55. Devin Nunes’ Virginia SLAPP Suits Causing Virginia Legislators To Consider A New Anti-SLAPP Law
56. Amazon: Trump used “improper pressure” to block AWS from DOD cloud contract
57. Amazon Secures Live Champions League Rights In Germany
58. Amazon Creates a Cost-Effective and Efficient Patent Infringement Remedy for Infringing Products Sold on its Marketplace by Third Parties
59. Ex-Governor Tries To Silence A Critic With A Bar Complaint; Gains Critic 70,000+ New Twitter Followers
60. Twitter is funding research into a decentralized version of its platform: The outside research team will be called Bluesky
61. Twitter Unveils New ‘Retweets’ Account To Fete User Community
62. Twitter Makes A Bet On Protocols Over Platforms
63. Snapchat Cameos edit your face into videos
64. It Doesn’t Take A Genius To Recognize How Dumb Genius’ Lawsuit Against Google Is Over ‘Stolen’ Lyrics
65. New YouTube policy tries to ban “implied” threats, “malicious” insults
66. YouTube Asks The FTC To Give Creators Clearer COPPA Guidelines Ahead Of Jan. 1 Enforcement
67. YouTube asks the FTC to clarify how video creators should comply with COPPA ruling
68. YouTube’s Revamped Harassment Policy Will Remove Videos With Insults Based On Race, Gender, Sexual Orientation
69. Michelle Obama, Liza Koshy, Julia Roberts Venture To Vietnam For YouTube Learning Original
70. YouTube Treads Safe Approach To This Year’s ‘Rewind’, With Series Of Data-Driven Lists
71. Shane Dawson, MrBeast, James Charles, Jeffree Star In YouTube’s Top Trending Videos Of 2019 Amid More Rewind Lists
72. Michelle Khare Debuts ‘YouTube Rewind 2019: The Musical,’ Chronicling Creator Community’s Successes And Scandals
73. Streamys Announces Host-Less Ceremony In Lieu Of ‘Collaborators’ Brandon Rogers, Mark Rober, Emma Chamberlain, Hannah Stocking, And More
74. Hyperlinks killed the radio star: High Court of England and Wales “Tunes In” to the radio streaming debate
75. BuzzFeed Loses 3 More Creators, Who Have Exited To Launch Indie Studio ‘Watcher’
76. BroadbandTV Reorganizes Music Services Under ‘Opposition’ Division
77. The LawBytes Podcast, Episode 35: Allen Mendelsohn on Canada’s Copyright Site Blocking Saga (Michael Geist)
78. Hosted copyrights – are you bound by the EU directive?
79. Canadian Copyright 2.0: A look back at the 2019 statutory review recommendations for guidance on the future of copyright reform in Canada
80. OSC Orders Approval of Prospectus for Canada’s First Bitcoin Investment Fund
81. Patenting Blockchain Technologies
82. Electronic signatures – progress, but don’t throw away your pen
83. Australia remains closed for business on computer implemented business method patents
84. Insights: Seven Social Media Trends That Point To A Vexing 2020 For Creators, Brands

A.I.

1. Biased Algorithms Are Easier to Fix Than Biased People: Racial discrimination by algorithms or by people is harmful — but that’s where the similarities end.
2. Addressing indirect discrimination and gender stereotypes in AI virtual personal assistants: the role of international human rights law (Rachel Adams & Nora Ni Loideáin)
3. Who Owns an AI-generated Invention?
4. Does the FTC’s Recent Influencer Guidance Address Robots?
5. Best of 2019: How GoldenEye 007 set a new standard for video game AI
6. Video: The alchemy and science of machine learning for games
7. The case for artificial intelligence: 2020 will be the year for broad AI adoption in Canada, argues Sean Lynch
8. Bringing a balance of arms to communications policy making: CIPPIC and vLex deploy expert knowledge and artificial intelligence to improve the ability of Canadian citizens to make a difference.
9. Public opinion lessons for AI regulation
10. Biased Algorithms Are Easier to Fix Than Biased People
11. How Deepfakes Scramble Our Sense of True and False
12. Emotion-sensing robot launches to assist space station astronauts
13. Chatbots – Trends, Predictions and Five Key Legal Issues
14. An intersection of technology and life sciences: The impact of big data and social media 
15. The “Ghost Workers” Underpinning the World’s Artificial Intelligence Systems: Ron Orol speaks with Mary Gray, author of a book on the unseen labour that powers the internet 
16. Competing in an AI-driven world 
17. AI and healthcare
18. Cloudy with a chance of neurons: The tools that make neural networks work

COMMUNICATIONS

1. Court of Appeals Finds Maryland Law Imposing Political Disclosure Obligations on Online Platforms to be Unconstitutional – Finding Different Treatment of Broadcasters is Justified
2. Tucker Carlson and the Russification of the GOP
3. Fox News Is Now a Threat to National Security: The network’s furthering of lies from foreign adversaries and flagrant disregard for the truth have gotten downright dangerous.
4. Bernie Sanders vows to break up huge ISPs and regulate broadband prices
5. Study Says US Ranked 68th Out Of 100 In Mobile Video Quality
6. As Trial Begins, Evidence Shows Sprint, T-Mobile Know Merger Will Raise Prices
7. AT&T raises DirecTV prices again despite losing millions of customers
8. AT&T Says The Real Problem With The Internet Is We Pay Too Much Attention To Giant ISPs
9. Lawsuit forces CenturyLink to stop charging “Internet Cost Recovery Fee”
10. Huawei sues FCC to stop ban on Huawei gear in US-funded networks
11. FCC proposes new rules and spectrum reallocation that could change the future of auto safety communications – agency seeks comments and input
12. Another Day, Another Telecom Giant Caught Taking Taxpayer Subsidies They Didn’t Deserve 
13. Franken FMs – The FCC Asks if It Should Continue to Allow Channel 6 LPTV Stations to Operate as FM Broadcasters
14. FCC Issues New Radio Frequency Safety Rules, Seeks Comment on Additional Measures
15. FCC Grants Waivers of Geocoded Location Data Deadline 
16. FCC Plans Major Overhaul of Suspension and Debarment Rules for its USF, TRS, and Other Funding Programs
17. FCC Issues New Radio Frequency Safety Rules, Seeks Comment on Additional Measures 
18. FCC Rules That Unsolicited Ads Sent to Online Fax Services are not Prohibited 
19. New York Enacts New Telemarketing Law 
20. 5G Spectrum Auctions in Kinstellar Jurisdictions
21. Can 5G replace everybody’s home broadband?
22. Google Fiber ends $50, 100Mbps plan, but 1Gbps is still $70 with no data cap 
23. CIPPIC and Legal Tech Firm vLex Partnering on LFO-Funded and AI-Fueled Communications Policy Analysis Project 

PRIVACY

1. The Afghanistan Papers v. The Pentagon Papers: How A Whistleblower Worked Much Better Than Endless FOIA Litigation
2. Foreign Companies Can Use 28 U.S.C. § 1782 to Unmask Anonymous Internet Posters
3. Colorado Appeals Court: Three Months Of Surveillance Via Pole-Mounted Camera Is Unconstitutional
4. California Supreme Court Closes Warrantless Vehicle Search Loophole
5. Another Federal Court Says Compelled Production Of Fingerprints To Unlock A Phone Doesn’t Violate The Constitution
6. NYPD Finally Releases A Body Camera Policy That Gives The Department Plenty Of Ways To Withhold Footage
7. The FBI Says Your TV Is Probably Spying On You
8. DOJ Headed By William Barr Asked To Explain Warrantless Bulk Data Collection William Barr Authorized 27 Years Ago When He Was The Head Of The DOJ
9. Do cookie banners receive different acceptance rates on desktops and on smartphones?
10. Does the placement of a cookie banner impact user acceptance rate?
11. Do cookie banners receive different acceptance rates depending upon how many choices are provided to website visitors?
12. Getting Cookie Consent Right
13. EDPB Finalizes Guidance on GDPR Applicability Outside EU
14. The Fate Of EU Legislation Designed To Bolster Data Protection Beyond The GDPR, The ePrivacy Regulation, Hangs In The Balance
15. Framing a Federal Privacy Standard: Congressional Efforts Continue
16. Intel’s SGX coughs up crypto keys when scientists tweak CPU voltage
17. Defense Department To Congress: ‘No, Wait, Encryption Is Actually Good; Don’t Break It’
18. Keybase moves to stop onslaught of spammers on encrypted message platform
19. Newly discovered Mac malware uses “fileless” technique to remain stealthy
20. Louisiana State Government Systems Down Following Ryuk Ransomware Attack
21. Pensacola confirms ransomware attack but provides few details
22. Maze ransomware was behind Pensacola “cyber event,” Florida officials say
23. Fund Managers Targeted in Sophisticated Cyberattacks
24. The iPhone 11’s U1 chip necessitates constant geolocation checks, Apple says
25. Cops Offered Deeper Discounts On Ring Cameras Depending On How Much Of The Neighborhood The Cameras Would Surveil
26. Uploaded Ring footage reportedly provides location to the square inch

CREATIVITY

1. Taking Value out of the Copyright Tariff Process: The Copyright Board’s Access Copyright Post-Secondary Tariff Decision (Michael Geist)
2. Making the Best of a Bad Provision: Why Canada Should Work Toward a Copyright Term Extension Registration Requirement (Michael Geist)
3. Ad Agency Loses Copyright Infringement Attack on Pepsi
4. Ben and Jerry’s Hit With Two Sticky Suits
5. Last Christmas – Copyright and sound recordings
6. Marvin Gaye Family Not Done With Pharrell Just Yet: Bring Him Back To Court Claiming Perjury
7. The £90,000 banana – Why is it so appealing to the art market?
8. Questions Raised Over Marketing Restrictions on Olympic Athletes
9. Bias Disguised as Neutrality Gives Rise to False Advertising Claims
10. Spate of FDA and FTC Warning Letters Sets Stage for Wave of False Advertising Consumer Class Action Lawsuits
11. Smells Like Infringement: Court’s Refusal to Dismiss Copyright and Trademark Claims Makes Nirvana Smile
12. Standing Up for Stand-Up Comedy: Joke Theft and the Relevance of Copyright Law and Social Norms in the Social Media Age (Hannah Pham)
13. Watch: The Law of Advertising
14. Judge Orders Man Who Violated Recording Ban To Publish An Essay About Respecting The Court AND To Delete All Negative Comments From Readers

Jon

GAMES

1. Riot Games to pay $10 million in gender discrimination settlement
2. Riot Games to Pay $10 Million to Settle Gender-Discrimination Lawsuit
3. Riot Games offers female employees $10 million in settlement
4. Riot Games to pay out $10m to former employees in gender discrimination settlement: Total will be spread across up to around 1,000 former women employees
5. Ragnarok files legal complaint against Human Head Studios over Rune II assets
6. Ex-Human Head devs sued by Rune II publisher: Ragnarok Game accuses defunct studio and its co-founders of fraud, holding game assets hostage
7. Pausing the Game: Take-Two Seeks to Pause WWE Copyright Infringement Lawsuit
8. EA removes Marco van Basten from FIFA 20 after Nazi comment: Former Netherlands striker was suspended from working at Fox Sports last month
9. Are publishers doing enough with their brands? | Opinion: EA hasn’t produced much with the Star Wars brand, and it’s not alone among publishers in the west — it’s high time they took some lessons from Japan
10. Quantic Dream on the hook for €7,000 for allowing vulgar images to circulate
11. Quantic Dream to pay former employee €7,000 over offensive photoshopped image: Tribunal found the Detroit Become Human developer guilty of having breached the security obligation it has towards its employees
12. Overcoming unconscious bias in the games industry: Diversity advocates Cinzia Musio and Leon Killin discuss the dangers of unconscious bias, and how to foster an inclusive studio
13. Atari VCS enters final stages of pre-production following series of delays: “Atari will always prioritise delivering a high-quality product over a self-imposed deadline,” says Atari VCS COO
14. Patrice Désilets: Ancestors fell foul of critics’ expectations – “People expected my studio of 35 people to ship a game that is close to Assassin’s Creed — and it’s just not possible”
15. Campo Santo’s In the Valley of the Gods on hold as team shifts to Valve projects
16. Firewatch developer’s next game “on hold” after Valve acquisition
17. A group of senior Ubisoft devs have joined Google’s in-house Stadia studio 
18. Google hires senior Assassin’s Creed developers to build Stadia games: Three experienced Ubisoft staff join Jade Raymond’s Stadia Games and Entertainment studio
19. Important Updates to Google Play Developer Policies
20. Call of Duty Mobile is Google Play’s best game of 2019: Tencent and Activision collaboration won top award as well as users’ choice and best competitive
21. Report: A cheaper Project Scarlett alternative remains in Xbox’s next gen plans
22. The next Xbox is in the wild, connecting to current-gen Xbox One players
23. Xbox One was the UK No.1 games console over Black Friday: It narrowly beat Switch, but Nintendo generated the most revenue from hardware sales
24. Microsoft’s cheaper, discless next-gen Xbox reportedly still in the works: New report indicates Lockhart still planned as a logical fit with Game Pass, xCloud
25. Valve Index Backordered Until After Christmas Due to “recent high demand” in Some Regions
26. Half-Life Alyx changes the game for VR exclusives | Opinion: Never mind the hardware — Valve is dipping deep into its own playbook to become the default storefront for VR software
27. Why Steam’s discoverability improvements may still mean your game won’t sell
28. CD Projekt dismisses investor fears over Cyberpunk and Half-Life: Alyx release clash: “That niche is very, very, very — and I could add a few ‘verys’ here — small”
29. CD Projekt Red will shut down Gwent on consoles: Players will be able to copy accounts to PC, mobile via GOG
30. ‘Angry Birds Movie 2 VR’ Studio Raises $2M to Continue Development on AR/VR Games
31. Microsoft Affirms VR Isn’t a Focus for Xbox Scarlett
32. Phil Spencer: “Nobody’s asking for VR” on Xbox – Xbox boss cites concerns with VR’s form and popularity in strategy around Microsoft’s next console
33. Xbox boss: We want to deliver a new first-party game ‘every three or four months’
34. XR Games secures £1.5m investment: Virtual and augmented reality studio looks to grow team and portfolio
35. The GamesIndustry.biz Podcast: How unconscious bias is holding back the industry – This week the team discuss the dangers of unconscious bias, the benefits of diversity, and the slow progress of virtual reality
36. Rocketwerkz CEO shares how and why the studio offers unlimited time off
37. Dean Hall’s Rocketwerkz offers unlimited annual leave: Most experienced staff get unlimited sick days, and four weeks minimum annual leave with no cap
38. Super Mario Maker 2 becomes Super Zelda Maker with playable Link
39. Super Mario Maker 2’s first big update brings new mode, playable Link
40. Nintendo Switch sees best US sales week ever: Thanksgiving week saw a total of 830k Nintendo Switch and Lite units sold
41. The Switch sold over 830,000 units during Thanksgiving week alone
42. Nintendo and Tencent have set a launch date for the Switch in China
43. Tencent launching Nintendo Switch in China next week: Will cost 2,099 yuan (approx $300), comes with New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe demo and a one-year warranty
44. Nintendo to launch Switch in China on Dec. 10 priced $300
45. Nintendo Switch sees best ever week of sales in US as it prepares to enter China
46. Football Manager 2020 releases at No. 1 in EMEAA charts: Football Manager beats out Q4 big-hitters, but otherwise charts remain steady as holiday season looms
47. Sea of Thieves is No.4 as Black Friday transforms UK Charts: FIFA 20 is No.1 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare takes No.2
48. Black Friday weekend digital game spending reached record $4.36b: In-game spending in free-to-play games up 13% YOY as digital interest continues to grow
49. Shenmue III comes up short in the Japanese chart: Ys Net’s sequel failed to make waves in its home market, with less than 18k sales on PS4
50. The truth about revenue sharing | Opinion: Revenue sharing has allowed great games to be made, says Unlock Audio’s Elliot Callighan, but it’s also used as a crutch by inexperienced teams
51. An inside look at one indie dev-publisher relationship (with contract details!)
52. What will the next UK gaming IPO look like? | Opinion: Liberum’s Andrew Bryant reflects on the flood of floatations in the last two years, and discusses why the next will need to be different
53. Codemasters acquires Project Cars developer Slightly Mad Studios
54. Codemasters acquires Project CARS developer Slightly Mad Studios: Racing studio grows to 700 people
55. Codemasters buys Slightly Mad Studios for $30m: Project CARS studio will join the UK publisher in a deal that could rise by $67m based on three-year earnout clause
56. Persona 5 has topped 3.2 million sales worldwide
57. In the Valley of Gods “on hold” indefinitely: Former Campo Santo devs now at Valve have moved to other projects, including Half-Life: Alyx
58. Pathfinder: Kingmaker dev Owlcat Games raises $1 million to fund new project
59. Peripheral maker Logitech pledges to become carbon neutral by 2030
60. YouTube no longer equates video game and real-world violence for age restrictions
61. YouTube’s new gaming policy will allow creators to produce more violent footage: Advertising concerns are still high on creators’ agendas
62. YouTube lightens restrictions on violent video game content: Policy update aims to better reflect difference between real-world and simulated violence
63. YouTube Officially Separates Ad Policies For Video Game And Real-World Violence
64. Dicebreaker launches news and reviews site to serve thriving tabletop community: Editor-in-chief Matt Jarvis discusses how the games industry can capitalise on the explosive growth of board games
65. Streaming startup Genvid nets $27 million to expand ‘dev-grade’ broadcasting platform
66. Twitch introduces new dashboard so more people can create livestreams
67. ESL reportedly shuts down Spain, France branches, UK is “at risk”: Esports league tells GamesIndustry.biz no offices have closed, but are being restructured
68. Counter-Strike World Champions Aim for First Esport Team IPO
69. Astralis Group plans first ever IPO for an esports team: Danish Counter-Strike outfit seeks as much as €20 million from December 9 listing
70. Esports Laws of the World
71. Star Citizen hits $250m raised through crowdfunding: Almost 2.5m players have now funded the game, which is closing in on $300m in total investment
72. Genvid closes $27m Series B round: Interactive streaming tech firm has also opened new offices in Berlin and California
73. Area28 raises $2.15m for cloud-based development platform: Technology will add “significant value to the game development process” says Alibaba investor
74. XR Games raises £1.5 million for new projects and staff
75. Owlcat Games raises $1m for new Pathfinder video game: Gem Capital and My.Games investment arm lead funding for Moscow studio’s second foray into Pathfinder
76. Persona 5 has sold 3.2m copies worldwide: Latest edition Persona 5 Royal has sold 400,000 copies in Japan, series’ lifestime sales now past 11 million
77. Meet the young developer turning her severe anxiety into a games career
78. “Winning and measuring engagement is no longer enough”: Midia’s Karol Severin warns entertainment firms should be measuring positive sentiment in this age of abundance
79. Over 450 million PlayStation home consoles have been sold in 25 years
80. PlayStations 1 to 4 have sold more than 450 million systems: Sony touts Guinness record for “best-selling home video game console brand ever”
81. Don’t Miss: A brief history of PlayStation, from one-time frontman Phil Harrison
82. The $0 marketing game guide
83. Blog: Breaking down the Steam sales of Battle Royale Tycoon
84. Blog: An introduction to wargame design – Part 1
85. Blog: The perception of fairness in games
86. Blog: Lessons learned from building a digital board game business
87. Video: Breathing life into the machines of Horizon Zero Dawn
88. Video: How Oddworld solved its narrative problems with mind control
89. Video: A game dev’s guide to designing games with social impact
90. Best of 2019: The ‘Door Problem’ of combat design
91. Best of 2019: Downscaling, upscaling, same-scaling – Porting to Switch and under-powered consoles
92. How “randomizers” are breathing new life into old games
93. Video Games Without Borders wins UN Refugee Agency’s Innovation Award: Non-profit studio was selected from 259 entries for its mobile game promoting literacy and well-being among Syrian children
94. Logitech commits to carbon neutrality by 2030: “We want to leave our mark on the future. We know that mark can be positive or negative, depending on the large and small decisions we make every day,” says CEO
95. People of the Year 2019: Jeffrey Rosen and John Graham – We explore the legacy of Humble Bundle’s co-founders in the first of this year’s series on outstanding contributions to the industry
96. People of the Year 2019: Remedy Entertainment: The Finnish studio’s bid for independence was about building a more stable future — Control proved it was also about creating the best possible games
97. People of the Year 2019: SonicFox and Blitzchung – In a year where major industry figures were increasingly reluctant to take stances, two esports pros used their reach to demand change
98. People of the Year 2019: Playing for the Planet Alliance – Unifying against climate change is the first of many steps the games industry must take
99. The state of Xbox One in 2019.
100. The state of the PlayStation 4 in 2019.
101. The state of the Nintendo Switch in 2019.
102. EA donating $500,000 to Team Trees: Donation, in the name of new Plants Vs Zombies game, will see half a million trees planted by January 1, 2020
103. Apple has named the best iOS games of 2019
104. Sky Children of the Light and Hyper Light Drifter among Apple’s Games of the Year: Meanwhile, Mario Kart Tour and Minecraft top most downloaded charts and The Gardens Between honoured in Apple Design Awards
105. Google Play names Call of Duty: Mobile as best Android game of 2019
106. Did “Fewer, Bigger, Better” actually work? – 10 Years Ago This Month: Major publishers have been narrowing their release slates for years, but has it produced the intended results?
107. The Game Theorists’ Star-Studded Stream Raises $1.3 Million — And Counting — For St. Jude
108. E3 media study shows declining media attendance, coverage: ESA says over 3,700 members of the media attended E3 in 2019
109. U.S. Patent no. 10,258,880: Dynamic selection of voice quality over a wireless system
110. U.S. Patent no. 10,258,882: Recording companion

DIGITAL

1. China Uses DNA to Map Faces, With Help From the West: Beijing’s pursuit of control over a Muslim ethnic group pushes the rules of science and raises questions about consent.
2. Ukraine condemns Apple for calling Crimea part of Russia in its apps
3. Apple ‘looking at how it handles borders’ after Crimea map controversy
4. Apple ‘taking a deeper look’ at map policies after calling Crimea part of Russia
5. Apple ‘looking at how it handles borders’ after Crimea map controversy
6. When politi-fact veers into politi-fiction, broadcast and internet advertising rules diverge sharply
7. As Devin Nunes Threatens More SLAPP Suits, He May Have To Explain Why Cows Can Type In His First SLAPP Suit
8. Devin Nunes Follows Through And Sues CNN In Laughably Dumb SLAPP Suit
9. Tony Robbins Crosses The Atlantic For Some Libel Tourism In Ireland; Files SLAPP Suit Against Buzzfeed
10. Human rights standards apply to online sellers on sites such as Kijiji, says N.L. Human Rights case­­­­­­­­­­­­
11. Copyright Troll Threatens Criminal Charges In Germany Against Domain Registrar
12. Warner Music and Sony Music win copyright case against internet music radio service TuneIn
13. Capitol Records v ReDigi appeal decision
14. TekSavvy Appeals Canada’s First Site-Blocking Order
15. Canadian ISP Teksavvy Fights Back Against Overbroad Copyright ‘Blocking Order’ For GoldTV
16. A Tale of Two Copyright Decisions: Canada’s Federal Court Issues First Site-Blocking Order & Denies Certification of Reverse Class Action Test Case
17. Justices debate allowing state law to be “hidden behind a pay wall”
18. Copyright Clash to Receive Supreme Treatment
19. The US’s reaction to France’s DST
20. Notifying Twitter of TOS Violations Isn’t Tortious Interference–Illoominate v. CAIR (Eric Goldman)
21. Content Moderation At Scale Is Impossible: That Time Twitter Nazis Got A Reporter Barred From Twitter Over Some Jokes
22. Online harmful content: the race to regulate
23. Bipartisan Bill Seeks to Increase Internet Transparency and Consumer Control Over Content
24. Microsoft shareholders reject call for gender pay gap report: Additional proposal to report on employee representation on board of directors also dismissed
25. Twitter introduces a Privacy Center to keep users informed: Its new privacy policies go into effect January 1st.
26. Intimidation or Free Speech: Are Trump’s Tweets Witness Tampering?
27. Study Says Russian Trolls Didn’t Have Much Influence On Election; But It’s More Complicated Than That
28. Assessing the Russian Internet Research Agency’s impact on the political attitudes and behaviors of American Twitter users in late 2017
29. Facebook Now Altering Users’ Posts To Add Singapore Government’s ‘Fake News’ Warnings
30. Facebook updates crisis response tools, adds WhatsApp integration
31. UNC Gave Racists $2.5 Million To Settle A Lawsuit That Hadn’t Been Filed Yet, And The Racists Are Abusing The DMCA To Hide The Details
32. Amazon Faces Widening U.S. Antitrust Scrutiny in Cloud Business
33. Intellectual Property Alert: Amazon Creates a Cost-Effective and Efficient Patent Infringement Remedy for Infringing Products Sold on its Marketplace by Third Parties
34. CreateSpace Isn’t Liable for Publishing Allegedly Infringing Uploaded Book–King v. Amazon (Eric Goldman)
35. Copyright, State Sovereignty, and Pirates: Some Thoughts on Oral Argument in Allen v. Cooper
36. This free tool maps propaganda and misinformation as it goes viral
37. The Baby Yoda gif debacle exposes the messy world of meme law: Gifs from The Mandalorian went viral on social media. But then they disappeared
38. Why Baby Yoda Unequivocally, Unfortunately Rules (Column): The breakout star of ‘The Mandalorian’ is impossibly cute for a reason.
39. TikTok Moderators Were Told To Suppress Videos Made By Marginalized Users Because They Might Be Bullied
40. TikTok Apologizes After Banning A Teen Whose Video About Muslims In China Went Viral
41. TikTok’s parent company sued for collecting data on kids: Everything’s coming up COPPA
42. CJEU: Courts may Order Host Providers to Take Down Illegal Content
43. Instagram finally launches 13+ age checkups
44. Quibi Picks Up Kendall Jenner-Produced Series Based On Parody Instagram Account
45. Insta-Famous Lil Bub, A Special Needs Cat Known For Her Altruism, Has Passed Away At Age 8
46. Insights: ‘Tis The Season For Instagram Sponsored Posts, But Perhaps ‘Tis Too Much?
47. Sundar Pichai becomes CEO of Alphabet and Google, as Larry Page steps down
48. Facebook’s new tool lets you transfer pictures to Google Photos: Available worldwide in first half of 2020
49. Fired Google employees accuse company of union-busting: Group will take grievances to National Labor Relations Board “as a first step”
50. Google workers fired amid organization efforts file retaliation complaint
51. Certiorari Granted in Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc.
52. Google attempts to protect users from sketchy stem cell clinics
53. Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin step back from executive roles: Sundar Pichai to assume role as CEO of both Google and Alphabet, founders will remain on board
54. YouTube says viewers are spending less time watching conspiracy videos. But many still do.
55. YouTube Says Watch-Time On ‘Borderline’ Content By Non-Subscribers Has Dropped 70% This Year
56. YouTube Has Removed At Least 300 Donald Trump Campaign Ads Since 2016
57. YouTube Says Creators Could See Subscriptions Drop As It Purges Shuttered Accounts
58. Olivia Jade Returns To YouTube Nine Months After College Admissions Scandal
59. YouTubers Attempt Levitation In BBC Original ‘The Edge Of Science’
60. Netflix And YouTube’s Share Of Daily Viewership To Drop As Field Grows (Study)
61. How To Make A ‘Heist’: Markiplier’s Interactive Special Is A Whole New Kind Of Content For YouTube
62. TYT Launches 24-Hour Channel On Xfinity X1, As Election Coverage Looms
63. BBTV Signs Five Creators, Including Purposeful Prankster ThatWasEpic, Rapper-Skater Roy Purdy
64. FTC Releases Disclosure Manual for Social Media Influencers
65. Retailer Reminder: FTC Releases Guidance for Social Media Influencers
66. Collab Asia, A Spin-Off Of The U.S.-Based Influencer Network, Raises $7.5 Million Series B
67. Updated Advice and Practical Tips from the FTC for Social Media Influencers and the Companies that Hire Them
68. Content Changes Challenge YouTube Creators; FTC to the Rescue
69. The FTC Issues a New Disclosure Guide for Influencers
70. Spotify offers half-price annual subscription in India
71. Online shopping on Thanksgiving hit $4.2B, up 14.5% on 2018, 45% of sales via mobile
72. Black Friday shoppers spent more in stores, broke records online over the weekend
73. Never mind the naysayers: Emoji are a vital part of online communication
74. ICANN report wipes the smile off emoji domains
75. Blockchain Basics: Global Regulations
76. Developer faces prison time for giving blockchain talk in North Korea
77. Blockchain and the Financial Industry
78. The Future of Stablecoins—Anything But Stable?
79. Lawyer ‘monopoly’ hampers consumer access to legal tech, says former AG Chris Bentley
80. The LawBytes Podcast, Episode 34: The Fight to Save the Dot-Org (Michael Geist)
81. Honouring Ian Kerr’s Legacy: University of Ottawa Launches the Kerr Fellows Program (Michael Geist)
82. Half an operating system: The triumph and tragedy of OS/2
83. Geo-blocking or global take-down
84. What You Should Know before Launching a Website or App
85. Tech Regulation Series: The End of Permissionless Innovation?
86. Ambush Marketing in the Digital Age
87. Cross-Border Supplies of Intangible Services, Digital Content and Rights: Global VAT Guide – Fourth edition – November 2019
88. Launch of .ευ
89. Brexit from another angle: Domain names and donkeys
90. Competition Law and the Digital Economy in Canada

A.I.

1. Senators want answers about algorithms that provide black patients less healthcare
2. To stop a tech apocalypse we need ethics and the arts
3. How neural networks work—and why they’ve become a big business
4. Life Under the Algorithm: How a relentless speedup is reshaping the working class
5. Quantum computing’s also-rans and their fatal flaws 
6. The Rise of Artificial Intelligence Will Usher Changes to Patent Law
7. Patents – When artificial intelligence authors the invention
8. Designing strategically intelligent AI in Halo Wars 2
9. AI Innovators Should Be Listening to Kids: Input from the next generation is crucial when it comes to navigating the challenges of new technologies. (Urs Gasser)
10. Robots Are Taking Over (the Rental Screening Process): Landlords are using artificial intelligence to vet prospective renters
11. What should newsrooms do about deepfakes? These three things, for starters: Researchers argue the dangers of deepfakes are overblown, but require journalists to give thought to how they handle unconfirmed information. 

COMMUNICATIONS

1. Canada’s New Internet Code
2. Huawei funds $56M in academic research in Canada. That has some experts concerned
3. Huawei is now shipping smartphones with zero US components
4. Current “Whole of Government” Approach to Perceived National Security Risks from Chinese Technology Reflected in the FCC’s Latest Universal Service Fund Order
5. The True Impact of the Chinese Telecom Ban on Government Contractors
6. FCC Seeks Comment on All-Digital AM and Radio Non-Duplication NPRM
7. DOJ Wimps Out On Wireless Sector eSIM Antitrust Investigation
8. Mobile industry has stifled eSIM—and the DOJ is demanding change
9. Prison Telecom Monopolies Bring Their ‘Innovation’ To Prison Ebooks
10. Priority Filing Deadline Set for Tribes’ Access to Spectrum
11. 5G on the horizon: Here’s what it is and what’s coming
12. T-Mobile’s ‘Nationwide’ 5G Isn’t Nationwide, Only Slightly Faster Than 4G
13. T-Mobile touts “nationwide 5G” that fails to cover 130 million Americans
14. FCC tries to bury finding that Verizon and T-Mobile exaggerated 4G coverage
15. FCC to Propose National Crisis Hotline, Tackle Mid-Band Spectrum Items at December Meeting
16. FCC Suspends the Processing of Renewal Applications for the 470-512 MHz Spectrum Band (T-Band)
17. Vulnerability in fully patched Android phones under active attack by bank thieves
18. Librem 5 backers have begun receiving their Linux phones
19. What is a Prerecorded Call for TCPA Purposes?: The Czar and the Baron Speak with the FCC to Push for Clarity on this Critical Issue 
20. IoT Update: FCC Proposes New Spectrum Plan for Vehicle Safety and Unlicensed Uses
21. Today’s Hot Topic: News Simulatio
22. AMFM Act Introduced in Congress to Impose Sound Recording Performance Royalty on Broadcast Stations
23. Telecoms Law Update – The Right to Survey Clarified by the Court of Appeal 
24. Court of Appeal confirms that telecoms operators can obtain Code rights to carry out site visits
25. AT&T says TV losses have peaked after latest loss of 1.3 million customers 

PRIVACY

1. Cell Phone Searches at the Border: What you need to know
2. Egyptian Government Plans To Track The Movement Of 10 Million Vehicles With Low-Cost RFID Stickers
3. New Iranian wiper discovered in attacks on Middle Eastern companies
4. Cops Are Running Ring Camera Footage Through Their Own Facial Recognition Software Because Who’s Going To Stop Them
5. Draft Code of Practice: securing the Internet of Things for consumers
6. IoT patent owners still hold the future in their own hands – but the clock is ticking
7. HackerOne breach lets outside hacker read customers’ private bug reports
8. Code Blue: Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities for Medical Device Makers Require Urgent Care
9. Ring Coyness About Adding Facial Recognition Tech To Its Cameras Doesn’t Extend To Its Marketing Materials
10. Wireless ISP Starry Says It Will Apply California’s Privacy Requirements Nationwide
11. Payment card-skimming malware targeting 4 sites found on Heroku cloud platform
12. The (Extra) Territorial Scope of the GDPR: The Right to Be Forgotten
13. Revised Guidelines on the Territorial Scope of the GDPR and Local Representatives
14. The Right to be Forgotten Shoots the Shark
15. Privacy & Cybersecurity Update: November 2019
16. EU Cookie Compliance: Getting Ready for 2020
17. The Digitization of Vehicles: Privacy Concerns
18. New crypto-cracking record reached, with less help than usual from Moore’s Law

CREATIVITY

1. Federal Court rejects controversial copyright litigation strategy
2. Right of publicity in Canada
3. Artist wins court battle to stop luxury watchmakers from cutting up his painting
4. Intellectual Property Update – Is there protection in an idea?
5. Copyright licenses are as easy as a quick few words
6. New Balance v Liverpool FC
7. Want To See Pete Davidson Do Standup? There’s An NDA You Have To Sign First…
8. Musk takes the stand in first day of “pedo guy” trial
9. Proving bad faith at registration time could be a good ‘Techtrend’
10. Tenuous Common-Law Trademark Rights Inadequate to Sustain UDRP Complaint
11. Exhaustion of trademark rights: Barcelona Court of Appeal rules in Schweppes case
12. Cambridge University repatriate bronze cockerel to Nigeria
13. Eco-friendly or falsely advertised? Sustainable fashion advertising in Europe: do’s and don’ts
14. State’s Rejection Of Driver’s ‘IMGOD’ Vanity Plate Unconstitutional, Federal Court Rules
15. Author Tries To Trademark The Word ‘Dark’ For All Of Literary Fiction

Jon

GAMES

1. Blizzard and NetEase win Overwatch copyright lawsuit in China
2. Patent Infringement Suit Over Apex Legends and Anthem
3. The Pokemon Company is suing unknown parties over Sword and Shield leaks
4. The Pokemon Company sues Pokemon Sword and Shield leakers: Unknown US individuals sought for posting early, unreleased images of new Pokemon on Discord, 4chan
5. What happens if loot box regulation passes into UK law? | Opinion: Reed Smith’s Emily Daniels and Hunter Thomson offer tips on how to stay ahead of any future legal restrictions
6. Man Spends $1.4 Million On Game Character, Which His Friend Then Accidentally Sold For Only $552
7. EA: “Cloud gaming is going to bring in another billion players” – CTO Ken Moss on EA’s huge investment in AI, cloud streaming and tech
8. EA/Origin Rewards Adopters Of Extra Security By Scaring Them
9. Analyst: Men more likely than women to buy games based on reviews
10. Brass Lion Entertainment and the critical business of diversity: Manveer Heir, Bryna Dabby Smith, and Rashad Redic on why their focus on diverse games is both a business decision and a human one
11. Google responds to claims it misled consumers over Stadia launch performance
12. Google addresses complaints of sub-4K image quality on Stadia
13. Google Stadia’s Claims For Streaming In 4K Seem… No, Just No
14. Stadia access codes have now reached Founder’s Edition buyers, days after launch
15. Google Stadia: Critical Consensus: Critics say Google Stadia is the best game streaming option around, but still falls short in almost every way that matters
16. Stadia Issues Continue And It’s The One Thing That Can’t Happen If We’re Going To Give Up Our Consoles
17. Google responds after Stadia owners accuse it of breaking promises over game performance
18. Google responds to criticisms of Stadia’s 4K support: After Red Dead Redemption 2 and Destiny 2 found to be upscaling lower resolutions, company says it expects developers to improve their games’ performance
19. Google offers refunds to Stadia players who bought games added to Pro subscription: Subscribers who purchased Farming Simulator and Tomb Raider are entitled to compensation
20. Google is offering refunds for players who bought new Stadia freebies
21. Google hires senior Assassin’s Creed devs for first Stadia studio
22. IP Insight – Blizzard v Bossland: Cheaters Never Prosper
23. Report: Amazon plans to announce long-rumored game streaming service in 2020
24. Amazon reportedly announcing game streaming service next year: Analyst suggests the retail giant will launch its service in time to compete with PlayStation 5 and Project Scarlett
25. PlayStation controller patent shows larger triggers, no light bar
26. The hidden gems of Apple Arcade
27. Why are developers betting on Apple Arcade?: The mobile subscription service frees developers from monetisation worries, but questions linger about its future
28. AirConsole raises $3 million to expand library and reach
29. AirConsole raises $3m in Series A round: Cloud-based casual gaming platform looks towards partnership development
30. Toadman Interactive acquires publisher Sold Out
31. Toadman Interactive buys Sold Out for £16 million: UK publisher joins Swedish firm’s growing network of games companies
32. Top 1% of mobile publishers take 82% slice of downloads: Sensor Tower data showed 95% of IAP revenue going to just 1% of publishers in Q3 2019
33. Check out Xbox’s latest guidelines for building more accessible games
34. State of Decay 2, from Xbox Games Studios’ Undead Labs, headed to Steam
35. Xbox currently has no plans for xCloud exclusives, though it has been discussed
36. “No plans” for Project xCloud exclusives: Microsoft emphasises that it is “very early in the multi-year journey” for games streaming service
37. Shenmue III: Critical Consensus – The 18 year wait for a new Shenmue is over, and critics are split over a game deliberately out of step with the times
38. How Modern Warfare smooths over the horrors of war
39. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare sold 4.75m digital units in its launch month – SuperData’s October report also shows Apex Legends having its best month since its launch quarter
40. UK Charts: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is back at No.1 as Nintendo Switch conquers top ten – Shenmue III debuts at No.17 and Football Manager 2020 comes in at No.16
41. Metacritic reveals the best 15 games of 2019 by review scores: Only One Nintendo Title Makes The Top Ten, According To Site’s Metascores
42. Making a career in games more sustainable: Goodbye Kansas’ Henrik Jonsson on how different corners of the games industry can stop driving away talent and support individuals long-term
43. Straight talk on funding — five top tips: Fundamentally Games’ Ella Romanos on forecasts, fees, the value of debt, and why failure can be useful
44. Ubisoft partners with blockchain distribution platform Ultra: “[Ubisoft] believes that all blockchain use cases that bring value to players are important to support,” says blockchain initiative director
45. Paid subscriptions coming to Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp: Nintendo follows Mario Kart subscription with two tiers for Animal Crossing amounting to $10.98 per month
46. Who Leaked ‘Sword And Shield’ Secrets? Pokémon Lawyers Want To Catch ’Em All
47. Pokemon Sword and Shield have topped 6 million sales worldwide
48. Pokémon Sword & Shield are the fastest-selling games in Switch’s history: Switch duo sells six million copies worldwide in first week of release
49. The Witcher 3 continues to sell well as CD Projekt reports rising revenue
50. The Witcher 3, Gwent drive revenue growth at CD Projekt: Polish company looks toward strong Q4 with Gwent iOS and The Witcher 3 for Switch
51. Mobile developer and tool maker N3twork secures $40 million in funding
52. NetEase buys minority stake in Bossa Studios: Deal worth an alleged $30m precedes Bossa’s push into China with the launch of Hogwash
53. Coffee Stain invests in Kavalri: Goat Simulator publisher puts money into Equestrian the Game developer as part of initiative to address industry’s gender imbalance
54. Candy Crush Soda Saga and Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle hit $2b lifetime revenue – But Dragon Ball reached the milestone faster, according to Sensor Tower estimates
55. ‘Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order’ broke multiple sales records for EA: Turns out Star Wars fans love a classic single-player game.
56. Jedi: Fallen Order sets records for EA Star Wars titles – Publisher says Respawn’s latest has best two-week digital sales in franchise history, best PC launch sales as well
57. Roblox grosses $1 billion in mobile revenue
58. Roblox surpasses $1b in lifetime revenue: Sensor Tower: Kid-friendly game creation platform has already grossed $435m so far in 2019
59. Analyst: Roblox revenue on mobile alone surpasses $1 billion
60. Rebellion has purchased Xenon and Speedball developer The Bitmap Brothers
61. Rebellion acquires The Bitmap Brothers: Sniper Elite developer plans to develop new games based on classic IPs from The Bitmap Brothers
62. Behaviour Interactive scrapping Deathgarden due to lack of players
63. Behaviour Interactive shuts down Deathgarden: Bloodharvest development: This is the second title Behaviour has shuttered this year, after its mobile Westworld game
64. Battleborn pulled from digital stores, going offline in 2021
65. 2K begins slow sunset of Battleborn: Free-to-play hero shooter will shut down virtual currency in February, game will remain live through January 2021
66. Swedish startup Coherence nets $2.5 million to build ‘democratic’ dev platform
67. Valve issues string of Steam bans after publishers caught abusing Steamworks
68. Steam removes hundreds of games after publishers abuse Steamworks: Russian publisher Dagestan Technology among those affected, although Valve has yet to offer further explanation
69. Valve is clearing out the last of its Steam Controller inventory
70. Valve discontinues Steam Controller: Ill-fated controller put out to pasture after four years
71. The Steam Controller is dead, but its legacy lives on
72. Intel granted patent for a new gamepad
73. VR would be “a really dark space right now” without Facebook’s money: At Reboot Develop Red, Chet Faliszek reflected on progress in the VR industry since he departed Valve
74. ‘Half-Life: Alyx’ Trailer Revealed, Release Date Set for March 2020
75. Valve’s Gabe Newell: ‘We’re excited to return to Half-Life, VR has energized the studio’
76. First Look: ‘Half-Life: Alyx’ Screenshots Are Classic Valve, with a Decade More Detail
77. Valve releasing Source 2 tools alongside Half-Life: Alyx next March
78. ‘Half-Life: Alyx’ Will Run on All SteamVR Headsets, Free for Index Owners
79. Valve Index is Sold Out in Some Regions Following ‘Half-Life: Alyx’ Announcement
80. Source 2 Tools Will Ship with ‘Half-Life: Alyx’ for VR Content from the Modding Community
81. Valve shares platform and launch details for VR exclusive Half-Life: Alyx
82. Half Life Alyx hits PC VR headsets in March 2020
83. Xbox chief: “Nobody’s asking for VR” for Project Scarlett
84. Phil Spencer: VR is isolating, isn’t a priority for Project Scarlett
85. Hey Surgeon, Is That a HoloLens on Your Head?: Mixed reality displays are entering the operating room, first as surgical planning tools and soon as real-time guides to help doctors zap tumors.
86. Beat Saber dev Beat Games acquired by Facebook
87. Facebook acquires Beat Games: Beat Saber developer joins Oculus headset maker to continue work on music VR games
88. Facebook just bought the developers behind virtual reality mega-hit ‘Beat Saber’ as part of a plan to ‘push VR to new heights’
89. Russian dairy cows wear VR glasses for better milk production: Farmers try virtual reality headwear to see if it will help cows calm down and produce more milk.
90. SuperData: Russia to surpass France as third-largest games market in Europe – Growth of mobile, esports, and free-to-play PC games expected to offset end of generation slowdown
91. DisguisedToast, a top Twitch streamer, is moving to Facebook Gaming
92. Facebook Makes First Play In Gaming Streamer Sign-Up Wars With ‘Disguised Toast’
93. Hearthstone streamer Jeremy ‘DisguisedToast’ Wang signs Facebook exclusivity deal: Wang follows in the footsteps of several other top streamers departing Twitch in recent months
94. Esports Org ‘Rogue’ Launches Latest Accelerator Program For Teen Fortnite Players
95. NBA star Tony Parker to be honoured at Esports BAR Cannes: Former San Antonio Spurs player will be given Ambassador award for his activities in esports
96. Why Session’s skateboarding design is more Skate than Tony Hawk
97. Snapchat’s journey to be a “gaming destination”: Global partnerships lead John Imah offers insight into the early days of Snap Games, and how it fits the company’s broader gaming strategy
98. The origins of Out Making Games, the UK’s first games industry LGBTQ+ network: We speak to the group’s founders about its initial success and plans to spread awareness and support in 2020 and beyond
99. Mike Pondsmith: “If you want to get somebody to see your point of view, don’t preach” – The veteran designer on adapting to new technology and using games to tackle political and social themes
100. Shovel Knight Showdown: Designing a roulette of gameplay
101. Reworking the combat system in Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2
102. NetEase has purchased a stake in Surgeon Simulator dev Bossa Studios
103. Don’t Miss: Designing characters as UI in games like State of Decay
104. Don’t Miss: A game dev postmortem of the original BioShock
105. Don’t Miss: The legacy of Street Fighter II, in the words of the experts
106. Video: Adopting continuous delivery to combat crunch on Sea of Thieves
107. Video: How Riot creates new League of Legends champions
108. Blog: Handling Unity scene hierarchy and performance
109. Blog: What lessons can action games learn from Doom?
110. Blog: A trailer analysis of Manifold Garden
111. Blog: Combining film and comics to create the noir aesthetic of Interrogation1
112. Blog: The community-driven development of Vecter
113. Obituary: Stuido Studios co-founder Jose Zambrano

DIGITAL

1. Surprised about Mark Zuckerberg’s secret meeting with Trump? Don’t be
2. Facebook and Twitter data was exposed to developers through app store bug
3. Facebook is building an Instagram-style Close Friends feature: ‘Favorites’ sorts your actual friends from your Facebook acquaintances
4. Instagram Campaign Use Grows — But What Could The Removal Of Likes Mean For Creators?
5. Instagram’s @bitch Isn’t Your Typical Social Video Aggregator. It Actually Credits Content Creators And Licenses Their Work.
6. Singapore Government Tests Out Its Fake News Law Against An Opposition Party Leader
7. TikTok issues public apology for suspending the account of the teen behind the viral Chinese takedown video disguised as a makeup tutorial
8. YouTube Is Still Struggling To Label Videos From State-Controlled Outlets
9. Germany’s CDU, Angela Merkel’s Party Of Fuddy-Duddies, Decides To Join The Cool Kids: Backs Open Standards, Open Source, Open Data, Open APIs — Open Everything
10. Google fires four employees at center of worker organization efforts
11. Google Photos rolls out manual face tagging: Tutorial, benefits, and a big asterisk
12. Google bans microtargeting and “false claims” in political ads: Google’s new policy, like Twitter’s, is a shot across Facebook’s bow.
13. Google Permits Sports Betting Advertisements
14. Google Updates Its Political Advertising Policies
15. Supreme Court to Weigh in on Google-Oracle Copyright Dispute
16. A seismic cert – what to watch out for following the Supreme Court’s decision to hear Google v Oracle
17. Copyright Troll Mathew Higbee Demands ~$1,000 For Image Only His Team Viewed
18. Indiana manipulated report on Amazon worker’s death to lure HQ2, investigation says
19. State ignored worker death to lure Amazon business, report says
20. Amazon: Cops Can Get Recordings From Ring, Keep Them Forever, And Share Them With Whoever They Want
21. Court Says It’s Not Tortious Interference To Report Your Account Or Ask Twitter To Ban You
22. Twitter halts plan to remove inactive accounts until it can memorialize dead users: The company apologized for confusion around its plan to remove accounts
23. Twitter Just Confirmed A Better Way To Secure Your Account
24. Twitter will remove inactive accounts and free up usernames in December: No exact date for when usernames will be available
25. When Does a Tweet Fall Afoul of Regulation FD
26. Photographer Doubles Down On Tweet Copyright Protection
27. The Sketchy, Sketchy Case Of ICANN Execs And Self-Dealing Regarding The .Org Domain
28. Love Baby Yoda, you must
29. People can’t stop sharing Baby Yoda memes (and we don’t want them to)
30. Baby Yoda GIFs Removed Over Disney Copyright Issues: Leave our precious powerful alien infant alone!
31. Adorable ‘Baby Yoda’ GIFs return after Giphy mix-up: Disney wasn’t responsible for removing the cute little scamp.
32. Disney+’s The Mandalorian joins a long list of fake HDR content, analysis finds
33. Viacom’s Pluto TV Launches 24-Hour AwesomenessTV Channel In The U.K.
34. Former Devin Nunes’ Aide Uses Nunes’ Lawyer To File SLAPP Suit Against Politico
35. Alexander Vindman Now Threatens Bogus SLAPP Suit Against Fox News & Laura Ingraham
36. Google Will No Longer Allow Political Ad Targeting Based On Party Affiliation, Voter Records
37. Google Assistant can now navigate websites, book movie tickets
38. Google will pay $1.5 million for the most severe Android exploits
39. Google is killing Google Cloud Print
40. Rehearing Briefs in Enigma Software v. Malwarebytes (Eric Goldman)
41. Review Services Aren’t Liable for Removing Business Profiles (and Associated Reviews)–PCS v. HomeAdvisor (Eric Goldman)
42. More Evidence That Print-on-Demand Vendors May Be Doomed–Greg Young Publishing v. Zazzle (Eric Goldman)
43. Be careful with your AdWords: The German Federal Court of Justice sets a limit on the use of keywords for online advertising
44. Content and Conduct: How English Wikipedia Moderates Harmful Speech
45. Why can’t Internet companies stop awful content? – Opinion: Section 230 already got the balance right.
46. Sacha Baron Cohen Is Wrong About Social Media, Wrong About Section 230… And Even Wrong About His Own Comedy
47. Potential Amendments To CDA Section 230 Relating to Immunity Provided To Internet Intermediaries
48. Despite clear warnings, Europe is out of IP addresses—again
49. CCPA – Adtech Update
50. The Impact of Uber Eats, SkipTheDishes, and Other Online Ordering and Delivery Platforms on your Franchise Agreement
51. Netflix Starts To Harden Its Stance On Password Sharing
52. Netflix Clinches More K-Dramas In Multiyear Deals With Studio Dragon, JTBC
53. Netflix cancels its Mystery Science Theater 3000 revival
54. The Librem 5 has been “shipping” for a month—but not to backers
55. Bill Nye, Casey Neistat, iJustine Among Guests For Marques Brownlee’s YouTube Original ‘Retro Tech’
56. YouTube Test Matching “Edgy” Creators And Advertisers Has Resulted In Hundreds Of Thousands In Ad Dollars
57. YouTube Launches Largest ‘Masthead’ Ad Format On TV Screens Globally
58. YouTube Powerhouse ‘Bon Appétit’ Launches Linear Channel On Samsung TV Plus
59. YouTube Millionaires: Sierra Schultzzie Tries It All On In Her Adventurous, Body-Positive Videos
60. ‘Ryan’s World’ Continues Global Domination With Japanese-Language YouTube Hub
61. Epidemic Sound, A Music Licensor For Creators, Onboards YouTube, Spotify Vet Kate Vale
62. Spotify Faces Lawsuit From Indie Music Company Claiming Mistreatment
63. Just in case you didn’t get the message – Apple issues SEP FRAND statement
64. Apple and Intel Sue SoftBank-Funded Patent Troll, Claiming Antitrust Violations For Patent Trolling
65. Apple cancels theatrical premiere of its Oscar hopeful, The Banker
66. Apple Pulls “The Banker” From Premiere After Sexual Abuse Claims Against Real-Life Subject’s Son
67. To cut down on bugs, Apple is changing how it develops its software
68. ‘Rick And Morty’, Adult Swim Drive Social Video Views Amid Show’s Highly-Anticipated Return
69. Liza Koshy’s Latest Hosting Gig Is A Dance Competition Series For Quibi
70. Hey influencers! The FTC is talking to you – new guidance from the FTC
71. FTC Releases Sponsorship Disclosure Guide for Influencers on Social Media
72. Influencer Disclosure Update 101, Courtesy of the FTC
73. Influencer Marketing Pioneer ‘Best Fiends’ Taps Joey Graceffa, LaBrant Fam For Latest Launch
74. How MagicLinks Is Measuring Influencers’ Sales Data To Help Them Know Their Worth
75. UTA Signs Viral TikTok Star Brittany ‘Kombucha Girl’ Tomlinson (Exclusive)
76. Insights: College Sports Is About To Unleash An Influencer Deluge
77. Shane Dawson Concludes Jeffree Star Series With 142 Million Collective Views
78. Browser Extension ‘Honey’, A Frequent Shane Dawson And MrBeast Sponsor, Acquired For $4 Billion
79. Donut Media Drives In Creators MatPat, Linus Tech Tips, Gus Johnson, ChrisFix For Kia Challenge Series
80. Internet radio streams and the communication to the public right in Warner Music & Sony Music v TuneIn Inc.
81. Spotify’s Plans For Podcast Domination Involve Deals With Ryland Adams, Lele Pons
82. Spotify Awards to Debut in 2020, Geared to Mexico & Latin America
83. Spotify Is Launching Its Own Music Awards, Based on Streaming Data
84. Understanding Regulation of Cookies
85. Facebook posts that revealed client info bring public reprimand for MA lawyer
86. WayBack machine, a valid tool to verify a prior version of a web page
87. Private equity firm buys .org domain months after ICANN lifted price caps
88. The right T-shirt may increase medical implant’s battery life
89. Legal statement on cryptoassets and smart contracts
90. Cryptoassets: UK Jurisdiction Taskforce Publishes Statement
91. Legal statement on cryptoassets and smart contracts – the breakdown
92. Blockchain Basics: What GCs Need to Know About the Disruptive Technology
93. What does the FBI regard as the main cybercrimes? A closer look at the typologies
94. Voltage v. Salna + ~55,000 – Costs Implications of Dismissal of Reverse Class Action Certification Motion (Howard Knopf)
95. Website “Blocking Orders” Now Available In Canada
96. Can Canadian Courts Issue Site-Blocking Orders?
97. Federal Court Issues Site-Blocking Order for ISPs
98. Teksavvy Fights Back Against GoldTV Website Blocking Order – Interveners: Start Your Engines (Howard Knopf)
99. Canadian Copyright Website Blocking Underway As TekSavvy Appeals Federal Court Ruling (Michael Geist)
100. The Curious Case Of The Bogus CC License On A 3D Scan Of A 3000-Year-Old Bust Of Nefertiti
101. Rana Foroohar On How Tech Lost Its Way
102. Kate Klonick On Facebook’s Oversight Board
103. Digital assets and estate planning
104. Is it time to turn away from touchscreens in our cars?
105. Ubuntu 19.10: It’s fast, like “make old hardware feel new” fast

A.I.

1. NYC wants a chief algorithm officer to counter bias, build transparency
2. When Innovation Creates: Additional Developments in Artificial Intelligence at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
3. Can artificial intelligence systems patent their inventions?
4. “The UK Patents Act leaves no doubt that an inventor is a person…”
5. Sony establishes AI R&D division: New organisation will have offices in Japan, the US and Europe
6. FaceIt asking players to help train Minerva AI in fairly tackling toxicity: Upcoming Justice update will allow Counter-Strike community to review cases flagged by the machine learning tool
7. To secure a safer future for AI, we need the benefit of a female perspective
8. How A.I. Invoice Review Actually Works (Legal Tech Lesson)
9. How will AI transform the management of Intellectual Property?
10. Intel Core i9-10980XE—a step forward for AI, a step back for everything else

COMMUNICATIONS

1. Competition Bureau Continues Advocacy on Telecom Competition and Regulation
2. Cable Execs Now Falsely Claiming Cord Cutting Is Slowing Down
3. Huawei Files SLAPP Suits In France Against Critics Who Highlighted The Company’s Ties To The Chinese Government
4. FCC finalizes ban on Huawei and ZTE equipment in Universal Service Fund
5. FCC Adopts Order Restricting USF Funding on Huawei/ZTE; Possible Future Ban on All Equipment
6. FCC Proposes Rules Eliminating Outdated Network Unbundling/Resale Requirements
7. FCC Proposes Rules to Remove Bad Actors from Federally-Funded Programs
8. Third Circuit Denies Petition for Rehearing of Decision Overturning FCC Ownership Rule Changes
9. Empty T-Mobile Promises Convince Texas To Back Off Merger Lawsuit
10. Robocall Legislation Likely to Move Forward for White House Approval
11. NAB Seeks Reconsideration of FCC’s Clarification of Issue Advertising Public Disclosure Requirements – Rules Remain in Effect Though Some Clarification Provided
12. AT&T Exec Insists That No Broadband Company Is Violating Net Neutrality Even Though AT&T Is Absolutely Violating Net Neutrality
13. At launch, AT&T’s real 5G will only be as fast as its fake 5G
14. The Washington Post And AT&T Team Up To Over-hype 5G
15. Verizon’s new 5G coverage maps show just how sparse the network is
16. DOD joins fight against 5G spectrum proposal, citing risks to GPS
17. MediaTek and Intel team up to bring 5G networking to laptops and PCs
18. University of London v Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure Limited [2019] EWCA Civ 2075
19. Telecoms: Court of Appeal ruling on operator’s right to survey  

PRIVACY

1. Suspect can’t be compelled to reveal “64-character” password, court rules
2. Pennsylvania Supreme Court Says Compelled Password Production Violates The Fifth Amendment
3. California Makes $50 Million Annually Selling Your DMV Data
4. EU’s High Court Issues Important Opinion on Website Cookie Consent
5. EU Tells US: Ban Strong Encryption, And Privacy Shield Data Sharing Agreement Could Be At Risk
6. Senate takes another stab at privacy law with proposed COPRA bill
7. Law Enforcement Agencies Bumping Up Demands For Uber Customers’ Data
8. A notorious Iranian hacking crew is targeting industrial control systems
9. 2.2 Million GateHub and RuneScape Passwords Compromised
10. Scammers try a new way to steal online shoppers’ payment-card data
11. Louisiana was hit by Ryuk, triggering another c
12. IIROC introduces mandatory cyber breach reporting
13. FedEx securities class action following the NotPetya cyberattack – implications for D&O insurance
14. Preparing for the California Consumer Privacy Act
15. States Set to Regulate the Internet of Things (IoT)
16. GDPR Privacy FAQs: Which supervisory authorities have released guidance on compliance with European cookie laws?
17. GDPR Privacy FAQs: What are the major differences between the Information Commissioner’s Office guidance on cookies and the CNIL’s guidance on cookies?
18. GDPR Privacy FAQs: Can organizations use “terms and conditions” consent to gain consent to the deployment of cookies?
19. IP and data protection for fintech businesses in United Kingdom
20. Increased Ransomware Attacks Affecting All Industries
21. Hacker’s paradise: Louisiana’s ransomware disaster far from over
22. Senator Cantwell Releases Another Federal Privacy Law That Won’t Go Anywhere And Doesn’t Deal With Actual Issues
23. Governments Are Feeding on Facebook Data: Report Shows Recent Rise in Official Requests for User Information

CREATIVITY

1. Lawyer With Neo-Nazi Ties Loses Defamation Lawsuit Against SPLC For Calling Him A Neo-Nazi
2. This Week In Free Speech Hypocrites: ‘Free Speech’ Supporter Sheila Gunn Reid Gleefully Sues Someone For Calling Her A Neo-Nazi
3. Three Media Corporations Avoid Defamation Liability in Suit Brought by Joseph Arpaio
4. Supreme Court allows climate scientist’s defamation case to proceed
5. Australian Attorney General Wants To Make The Country’s Defamation Law Even Worse
6. The Federal Circuit’s Determination That Administrative Patent Judges are Unconstitutionally Appointed
7. The LawBytes Podcast, Episode 33: “Canadian Patenting is Not Going to Drive Anything” – Aidan Hollis on New Research on Patents and Innovation (Michael Geist)(
8. Banksy – showing “use” of his trademark or attempting to avoid evidential requirements of copyright law?
9. Nirvana Smiling as Motion to Dismiss Its Copyright and Trademark Claims is Denied
10. Beer Trademarks At Record High In UK As The Locking Up Of Language Continues To Boom
11. Nirvana, LLC v. Marc Jacobs International, LLC
12. Betty, Inc. v. PepsiCo, Inc.: District dismisses ad agency’s copyright infringement and breach of contract lawsuit accusing PepsiCo of copying concepts from rejected pitch for 2016 Super Bowl commercial.
13. Court of Appeal summarises law of joint authorship – Kogan v Martin
14. Transfer of “Know-How” includes Copyrights
15. The End Of Ownership, Military Edition: Even The US Military Can’t Fix Its Own Equipment Without Right To Repair Laws

Jon

GAMES

1. Game On: FaZe Clan’s $20 Million Lawsuit Against eSports Gamer Will Continue
2. To find new games, more women value social circles, while men look to influencers – Newzoo: More women than men tend to value games that are easy to pick up and play quickly
3. Bobby Kotick: Games are not a platform for my political views
4. ‘Perpetual franchises’ are key to Activision Blizzard’s strategy, says CEO Kotick
5. Google’s Stadia Game Streaming Service Arrives To A Collective ‘Meh’
6. Google Stadia Launch Review: A Technical, Conceptual Disaster
7. Google Stadia review: Gaming’s streaming future isn’t here yet
8. Google Stadia launch review: Gaming’s “future” looks rough in the present
9. Google Stadia review — It works, but it doesn’t matter
10. Stadia delivers on low-latency, high quality cloud gaming – but is that enough?
11. Unplayable at times, magical in others: Stadia’s dream is still in the clouds
12. Google Stadia will be missing many features for Monday’s launch
13. Google Stadia will launch without key features: Reddit AMA confirms that streaming service will not have Family Sharing, achievements, 4K for PC or Buddy Pass at launch
14. Will Google’s Stadia Game Streaming Platform Be A Dud?
15. Google Stadia nearly doubles launch lineup to 22 games on eve of debut
16. Google expands today’s Stadia’s launch lineup to 22 games
17. Google expands Stadia launch lineup to 22 titles right before launch
18. Stadia nearly doubles line-up just days before launch: Ten titles pulled forward to November 19 as Google gears up to take streaming service live
19. Stadia what? Xbox game streaming will become part of Game Pass in 2020
20. Finalists named in Google’s annual Change the Game Design Challenge
21. Xbox Game Pass subscriptions have doubled as its library continues to grow
22. Project xCloud preview sees 50 more games, hits Windows 10 in 2020
23. Xbox: “People are using xCloud to create couch co-op” – Microsoft’s xCloud leaders discuss what they’ve learned — and still need to learn — about game streaming
24. From Project xCloud to New Rare Studio Game: Everything Revealed at Microsoft’s X019 Event
25. Logitech has made an expansive accessory kit for the Xbox Adaptive Controller
26. Logitech’s $100 Adaptive Gaming Kit finishes what Xbox’s XAC started: “People buy the XAC, then ask, ‘what should go with this? ’” Logitech made the answer.
27. PlayStation has 100 million reasons to feel confident | Opinion: X019 saw Microsoft ready for the next generation, but the power remains with PlayStation
28. Sony controller patent points to potential PS5 permutations
29. Apple Arcade may be accelerating premium game decline, but not by much: Apple’s subscription service coincided with lower premium revenue during launch month, but sales have already been declining for years
30. Games and datacenter chips drive Nvidia’s Q3 revenue to $3.01 billion
31. Forge of Empires dev InnoGames surpasses $1 billion revenue
32. InnoGames’ lifetime revenues pass €1bn: More than half of this came from Forge of Empires, company has grown revenues every year since 2007
33. Report: BioWare planning revitalizing overhaul for Anthem
34. Sources: BioWare Plans A Complete Overhaul For Anthem
35. NPD: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is the best-selling game of 2019 so far – The Switch remains the best-selling console of the year so far in the US
36. Call of Duty and Mario Kart front a siege of PC and console IP on mobile: Sensor Tower looks back on a busy month in the mobile charts, and reflects on the growing influence of console and PC brands
37. Call of Duty tops EMEAA chart for third straight week: Death Stranding debuts in second spot on the charts as Need for Speed Heat races into third place
38. UK Charts: Pokémon Sword and Shield post huge opening weekend sales – But the new games can’t top Sun and Moon
39. Report: Pokemon Sword and Shield have sold over 1.36 million retail copies in Japan
40. Pokemon Sword and Shield sold 1.36m retail copies in three days in Japan: Sales reportedly mark the best opening week a Nintendo Switch title has had in Japan so far
41. Nintendo is bringing paid subscriptions to Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp
42. Paid subscriptions coming to Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp – Nintendo follows Mario Kart subscription with two tiers for Animal Crossing amounting to $10.98 per month
43. A Nintendo designer reviews your Super Mario Maker 2 levels
44. Analyst: Borderlands 3, NBA 2K20 helped 2K dominate online chatter in Q3
45. 2K Games apologises after social media feeds were hijacked on Friday: Publisher lost control of official Twitter account, along with pages for WWE, Borderlands, and Civilization
46. Sustained mobile portfolio brings continued growth for NetEase in Q3: Chinese mobile giant sees year-over-year increases in net revenue and profit amid new releases, WoW Classic launch in China
47. Southeast Asia is the world’s fastest-growing mobile games market – Newzoo: Mobile revenue expected to be up 17% in 2019 to $2.6 billion, nearly 70% of the region’s total games revenue
48. Niko Partners: Southeast Asia’s $5 billion game market expected to grow to $8.3 billion in 2023
49. Mobile party app Bunch nets $3.85M from Supercell, Tencent, and others
50. Bunch raises $3.85m toward development, expanded partnerships: Supercell, Tencent, and Riot Games among investors in mobile game chat and party app
51. Net profit up 53.7% as Netmarble closes Q3
52. New studio Dream Games raises $7.5 million to fuel mobile game development
53. Dream Games raises $7.5m to develop casual puzzle titles: Investment in Turkish studio made by Makers Fund, Balderton Capital
54. German government to continue $55 million game development fund 
55. Mythical Games closes $19m funding round
56. Mobile party app Bunch nets $3.85M from Supercell, Tencent, and others
57. Take-Two leads $20 million funding round into Spellbreak developer Proletariat
58. Proletariat raises $20m for self-publishing, expansion: Spellbreak developer nets investment from Take-Two as it ramps up development
59. Rune II publisher Ragnarok ‘shocked’ by closure of dev Human Head Studios
60. Rune II publisher “shocked” by Human Head closure: Ragnarok Game confirmed it will continue to support Rune II and launch on other PC platforms in 2020
61. Net game sales up 117% at THQ Nordic parent Embracer Group
62. Wreckfest drives games revenue up 117% at Embracer Group: Company formerly known as THQ Nordic looks ahead to a Q3 with Darksiders and Shenmue 3
63. How Koch Media is ensuring classic brand comebacks are worth the wait: From Shenmue III to TimeSplitters, CEO Klemens Kundratitz discusses the publisher’s upcoming line-up
64. Goodbye Kansas grabs 45 percent stake in Norwegian studio Misc Games
65. Goodbye Kansas Game Invest now owns 45% of Misc Games: Minority stake in ship simulation dev acquired in two separate deals
66. Tencent grabs 10 percent stake in UK game company Sumo Group
67. Revenue up at Paradox as it maintains focus on games with ‘long lifespans and strong IPs’
68. Rebellion launches board games division: UK developer and publisher will kick off new business with tabletop version of Sniper Elite
69. LG and Twitch Reveal Streaming Partnership with Pokimane
70. FaZe Clan’s First Deaf, Female Gamer — 14-Year-Old ‘Ewok’ — Is Latest Twitch Departee To Sign With Mixer
71. Faze Ewok is the latest streamer to jump ship from Twitch: She’s set to stream exclusively on Mixer
72. FaZe Clan To Open First Storefront, Aims To Be Esports’ Supreme
73. Esports Org 100 Thieves Adds Fortnite Pros ‘Falconer’, ‘Grandma’ To Growing Roster
74. esports – gearing up to play in the pro leagues!
75. Esports gamers experience same stressors as pro athletes, study finds
76. The beauty of the indie spin-off: Binding of Isaac developer Edmund McMillen explains how and why he followed up the action game with a deckbuilding puzzle prequel
77. Blog: Going indie in Syria
78. Blog: Understanding Agile game development – Part 1
79. Blog: Designing interesting decisions in games (and when not to)
80. Blog: A guide to scrappy social media management
81. The Game Theorists To Host Nine-Hour Stream For St. Jude With Markiplier, Colleen Ballinger, More
82. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Review – A Good Feeling About This
83. Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order review: the Star Wars game no one was expecting – Jedi Fallen Order focuses on exploration, with moments of explosive combat
84. Jedi Fallen Order Shows That A Good Star Wars Game Doesn’t Have To Be Original: Part Zelda, part Tomb Raider, part Uncharted – all Star Wars
85. Jedi: Fallen Order game review: More like, the Force goes back to sleep
86. Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order: Critical Consensus – Respawn Entertainment delivers on the experience of being a Jedi, critics say, but did the new film’s imminent release cause EA to push the game out early?
87. Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky’s design lessons from The Outer Worlds
88. Steam’s online couch co-op feature Remote Play Together leaves beta 
89. Genre viability on Steam and other trends – An analysis using review count
90. How players shop during a Steam sale: An in-depth analysis
91. Valve is making a new VR Half-Life game
92. Half-Life: Alyx: What we know about Valve’s upcoming full-length VR game
93. Oculus Link launches in beta, opening Rift games up to Quest owners
94. Oculus Link for PC is live: Everything we know about cables, GPU support [Updated]
95. John Carmack steps down as Oculus CTO to explore artificial intelligence
96. John Carmack moves to “consulting CTO” role at Oculus: Industry veteran will focus on AI, with Oculus now taking a “modest slice” of his time
97. Oculus, Unity partner on free VR development course: 20+ hour course will teach VR build and launch best practices
98. Snapchat Pledges $750,000 To Support AR Influencers In 2020
99. Snapchat Will Invest $750,000 For AR Influencers To Create New AR Lenses
100. Mixed reality game streaming platform LIV secures $2.6 million in funding
101. New 3D display combines visuals, haptic feedback, and sound: A small sphere levitated on sound can be moved around fast enough to be a display.
102. How Mario 64 inspired that horrible goose’s moveset
103. What went into Apex Legends’ surprise launch?: Respawn’s Arturo Castro and Drew McCoy explain how they made and marketed a Titanfall game with none of the key elements of Titanfall
104. Ars talks fighting games with Guilty Gear creator Daisuke Ishiwatari
105. Don’t Miss: Translating the humor & tone of Yakuza games for the West
106. Don’t Miss: Shenmue director Yu Suzuki shares his unique approach to game design
107. Don’t Miss: The secrets of great voice acting
108. Don’t Miss: How Neopets has influenced a generation of game developers
109. Video: Inside Far Cry Primal’s character pipeline and customization tech
110. Video: Top game composers share hard-won advice and lessons learned
111. Video: Inside the art design of Firewatch
112. Video: Game design insights from the GDC 2019 Failure Workshop
113. Video: How Rockstar tackles environment design as spatial cinematography
114. The never-ending journey of No Man’s Sky – Why I Love: EA Vancouver games researcher James Berg loses himself in Hello Games’ vast universe
115. Designing the drunken dialogue puzzles in Night School Studio’s Afterparty 
116. Charity streaming event Desert Bus for Hope surpasses $6 million in lifetime donations
117. Bungie raises $1.6 million for charity through Game2give pledge drive
118. U.S. Patent no. 10,252,167: Location graph adapted video games
119. Smash Bros, Death Stranding among GOTY nominees for The Game Awards 2019
120. EverQuest lead producer and designer Brad McQuaid has passed away
121. Obituary: Everquest designer and MMORPG vet Brad McQuaid

DIGITAL

1. TikTok Head Says He’s “Quite Optimistic” About U.S. National Security Probe
2. TikTok Hits 1.5 Billion Total Downloads, Driven By Explosive Growth In India
3. TikTok Taps In Social Shopping Tools, Letting (Some) Users Add Buy Links To Bios And Videos
4. Federal Court Short-Circuits Voltage Pictures’ Canadian File Sharing Class Action Copyright Lawsuit Strategy (Michael Geist)
5. Supreme Court agrees to review disastrous ruling on API copyrights
6. Big News: Supreme Court To Hear Google v. Oracle Case About API And Copyright
7. Site blocking orders come to Canada: GoldTV.biz
8. Federal Court issues landmark website-blocking injunction with significant implications for ISPs
9. Fool’s Gold: Why a Federal Court Judge Was Wrong To Issue a Website Blocking Order Against GoldTV (Michael Geist)
10. Bell Media Inc. Groupe TVA Inc. Rogers Media Inc. v. goldtv.biz goldtv.ca  (Federal Court, November 15, 2019)
11. More Evidence That IP Law Protects Individual Emoji Depictions–Nirvana v. Marc Jacobs (Eric Goldman)
12. Rules of the game? Digital political campaigning for the 2019 UK general election
13. Judge Says The FBI Can’t Keep Refusing To Confirm Or Deny The Existence Of Social Media Monitoring Documents
14. Google search results have more human help than you think, report finds: Google is sometimes hands-on under the hood, and investigators want to know more.
15. How Google Interferes With Its Search Algorithms and Changes Your Results: The internet giant uses blacklists, algorithm tweaks and an army of contractors to shape what you see
16. Google outlines plans for mainline Linux kernel support in Android
17. The Ethical Dilemma at the Heart of Big Tech Companies
18. Microsoft says yes to future encrypted DNS requests in Windows
19. Twitter Releases New Global Political Advertising Policy
20. Twitter’s ban on paid political advertisement comes into effect
21. You might be able to schedule tweets from Twitter’s web app starting today: You used to have to use Tweetdeck or another service
22. Evan Spiegel Says Snapchat Has A Team That Fact-Checks All Political Ads
23. Snapchat Introduces Extended Play Commercials: The 6-second non-skip format still applies, but video can run up to 3 minutes
24. Andrew Yang’s Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Tech Policy
25. Disney+ Has a Hacking Problem
26. The version of Star Wars on Disney+ changes the canon once again: Han Solo vs. Greedo might look different than it did in 1977. And 2004. And 2011.
27. Disney+ Promises To Fix Cropped Episodes Of ‘The Simpsons,’ But That’s Not Users’ Only Issue
28. Hulu, Which Reportedly Has Nation’s Most-Subscribed Skinny Bundle, Institutes $10 Price Hike
29. Online content and take down requirements- what are the boundaries?
30. Narcos Defeats Yet Another Silly Copyright Lawsuit
31. Court Sanctions Defendant for Failure to Preserve Text Messages in Copyright Infringement Suit Brought by Prince’s Estate
32. Court Finds Communications Decency Act Protects Tumblr Against Revenge Porn Claim
33. Unrelenting “ad blocker” plasters users with—you guessed it—ads
34. Elsevier Gets Sci-Hub And LibGen Blocked In Austria, Thereby Promoting The Use Of VPNs And Tor In The Country
35. Giant Publisher Macmillan Goes To War Against Libraries
36. David Dobrik Nabs People’s ‘Sexiest Man Alive’ Honors, People’s Choice Award
37. David Dobrik Says Monthly YouTube Ad Earnings Went From $275,000 To $2,000 In Two Years
38. Logan Paul Filing Appeal With Athletic Commission After KSI Boxing Defeat: “I Don’t Think I Lost”
39. Studio71 UK Talent Firm ‘Moxie’ Signs Pro-Biker Ryan Taylor, Comedian Munya Chawawa, More
40. Evangelical ‘Financial Whiz’ Who Apparently Hates Gossip, Sues YouTuber For Criticism
41. James Charles To Host YouTube’s First Beauty Influencer Competition Series
42. Manny MUA, FouseyTube, Andrea Russett Tapped For Season 2 Of ‘The Reality House’
43. ICYMI: FTC Summarizes Existing Influencer Rules
44. Influencing the Influencers: FTC Staff Release “Disclosures 101” Guidance for Online Endorsers
45. Spreading The Influence: FTC Issues New Guidance for Influencers
46. Senators ask if Facebook really lets users opt out of location tracking
47. Facebook Claims Users Sign Up Because They Want To See Personalized Ads, Max Schrems Disagrees — And Usually Wins These GDPR Arguments
48. Facebook Seeks Post-Spokeo Review of Biometric Privacy Class Action
49. Facebook Levels Up Charity Livestreaming Tools, Opening Them To All Partner Creators
50. Facebook quietly built “Popular Photos”, an in-app Instagram
51. Facebook gets into the meme-making biz with experimental Whale app: The app was quietly released in Canada last week
52. Pay Data Pitfalls: What We Can Learn From Facebook’s Discrimination Case
53. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the single leading source of anti-vax ads on Facebook
54. Is it Time to Prioritize Making Websites and Mobile Apps Accessible?
55. We Need to Fix Online Advertising. All of It.: For the sake of democracy.
56. Troll Lawyer Shows Up In Court To Explain His ‘Dead Grandfather’ Excuse, Gets His ‘Fitness To Practice’ Questioned By The Judge
57. Should Doxxing Be Illegal?
58. Google’s acquisition of Fitbit proves that data is king
59. Google Maps translate feature will speak local place-names
60. Google gives up on US carriers, will roll out its own RCS chat system
61. Google Pixel 4 review—Overpriced, uncompetitive, and out of touch
62. Google Earth gets content creation tools for geography-focused presentations
63. InterDigital reveals new licensing deal with Google secured through mystery platform
64. YouTube’s Top 5 Most-Viewed Music Videos Of 2019 All Belong To Latino Artists
65. Japanese Hotel Charges Guests $1 If They Agree To Stream Their Stays For 24 Hours
66. Following Positive Feedback, Instagram Expands Test Of Hidden ‘Like’ Counts Globally
67. Condé Nast Reveals Latest IGTV Slate Amid Revamped Ad Strategy
68. Instagram tests hiding Like counts globally
69. Apple plans a Prime-like subscription bundle, but that has News+ publishers worried
70. Apple bans vaping apps from the iOS App Store
71. No, Apple isn’t opening a new manufacturing plant in Texas
72. Insurer Must Face Email Spoofing Lawsuit
73. Spotify confirms it’s testing real-time lyrics synced to music
74. Spotify’s free music service will now stream on Alexa devices, plus Bose and Sonos smart speakers
75. Spotify will now make a road trip playlist for you: It’s not as frighteningly accurate as the Daily Mix playlists, though
76. Spotify turns its personalization technology to podcasts with launch of Your Daily Podcasts
77. Amazon makes its music streaming service free with ads
78. It’s the user’s fault if a Ring camera violates your privacy, Amazon says
79. AMS Neve vs. Heritage Audio: What does the CJEU ruling mean for online infringement cases?
80. The LawBytes Podcast, Episode 32: Reflections from the Open Source Member of Parliament – A Conversation with Ex-MP David Graham (Michael Geist)
81. Masnick’s Impossibility Theorem: Content Moderation At Scale Is Impossible To Do Well
82. Shipping Firms Pilot Blockchain, New Crypto Payment Gateways and Products, Wyoming Announces Crypto Custody Rules
83. Financial Institutions and D&O International Review – Facebook’s Libra: watershed moment for digital currencies?
84. Patreon Now Counts 4 Million Patrons That Have Paid Creators $1 Billion To Date
85. Every Tech Company Wants to Be a Bank – Someday, At Least: Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Uber are all eyeing financial services as the next frontier. Getting there might take some work.
86. IBM, Microsoft, the Linux Foundation and OIN join forces to counter open source threat
87. Price Parity Clauses and Online Platforms: Is There a New Way Forward?
88. Online intermediaries: Fresh guidance from the CJEU on the scope of the E-Commerce Directive
89. “Where the Wi-Fi sucks” is where a new wireless protocol does its magic
90. Should The Big Tech Companies Voluntarily Fund The Journalism Business?

A.I.

1. Deepfakes are already breaking democracy. Just ask any woman: It doesn’t take a faked prime ministerial address to threaten the democratic process
2. What should newsrooms do about deepfakes? These three things, for starters
3. Microsoft sends a new kind of AI processor into the cloud
4. Blog: Automating machine learning for mobile games
5. Google’s FreddieMeter AI Experiment rates how well you sing ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’
6. Algorithms were supposed to make Virginia judges fairer. What happened was far more complicated.
7. Improving autonomous autos by having them guess which humans are selfish
8. Protecting AI-Created Works – US seeking comments on copyright. What about Canada?
9. Request for Comments on Intellectual Property Protection for Artificial Intelligence Innovation
10. Will AI replace IP attorneys?
11. AI & Privacy: PrActIcal AdvIce for OrgAnIzAtIons
12. Capital One Asks the FCC To Make It Easier For You Communicate With its Very Polite Texting Robot: Here’s Why That’s a Good Thing
13. Delaware Court Allows Stockholder To Inspect AI Company’s Books
14. Write AI code once, run anywhere—it’s not Java, it’s Intel’s oneAPI 

COMMUNICATIONS

1. The US gives Huawei its third 90-day support exemption from export ban
2. Apathy Isn’t A Business Model: Major US Telcos Teeter Toward Bankruptcy
3. Comcast trying to drive local sports network out of business, lawsuit says
4. 46 Cities Sue The FCC For Trampling Their Rights
5. FCC sued by dozens of cities after voting to kill local fees and rules
6. Congress Says The FCC Is Trying To Run Out The Clock On Wireless Location Data Scandals
7. FCC Announces Schedule for Transition to Annual Children’s Television Reports
8. Ajit Pai Does a Good Thing As He Pushes For Public C Band Auction
9. Who is leading the 5G patent race?
10. PSA: DirectTV Pushes Back By Mentioning All The Refunds For Blackouts Its Issued… To Customers That Asked
11. 11th Cir. Reverses Class Cert. in DIRECT TV; Says “Fairly Traceable” Analysis Has Some Bite Under Art. III
12. 11th Circuit vacates class certification in TCPA action against satellite TV provider
13. Clarification of the Electronic Communications Code
14. Federal robocall legislation: “agreement in principle”
15. Federal robocall legislation update
16. As DirecTV tanks, AT&T says it will “re-bundle” TV with HBO Max
17. AT&T to Pay $60 Million to Settle Dispute Over “Unlimited” Claims
18. John Legere leaving T-Mobile after 7 fun years of bashing AT&T and Verizon
19. Knowing What Happens Next, T-Mobile CEO Legere Heads For The Exit 

PRIVACY

1. Federal Court Says ICE, CBP’s Suspicionless Searches Of Electronic Devices Is Unconstitutional
2. Supreme Court’s Warrant Requirement For Cell Site Location Info Apparently Killed Another Domestic Surveillance Program
3. Cops put GPS tracker on man’s car, charge him with theft for removing it
4. Attorney General Calls FOIA Requests ‘Harassment’ During Long Rant About How Much It Sucks To Be Running The Nation
5. Password data for ~2.2 million users of currency and gaming sites dumped online
6. Nikki Haley lost her password, so she sent confidential info over unclassified system
7. Impeachment hearing reveals major White House phone security fail
8. Impeachment Hearings Highlight More Trump Phone OPSEC Failures
9. FTC head asks Congress for real privacy laws he can enforce
10. New EDPB guidelines on processing personal data through video devices
11. Think of the children: FBI sought Interpol statement against end-to-end crypto
12. Official Monero website is hacked to deliver currency-stealing malware
13. How Did A Hacker Allegedly Access A Million Customers’ Personal Data? Let the FTC Count the Ways.
14. Court Provides Guidance on What Constitutes “Telemarketing” to Residential Phone Numbers
15. What the newly released Checkra1n jailbreak means for iDevice security
16. Beware of PureLocker Ransomware
17. Legal Aspects of Managing Data
18. Privacy Policy Requirements
19. Leveraging open source intelligence for cyber threat modeling
20. Watch: Cyber threats in the Internet of Things
21. Brexit and data protection: What to do next (when you don’t know what’s happening next)
22. GDPR Enforcement Update: Can European Union Authorities Enforce Their Laws On U.S.-Based Companies?
23. Interpol Confirms, Denies It’s Against Strong Encryption
24. Google & Samsung fix Android spying flaw. Other makers may still be vulnerable

CREATIVITY

1. Court To Racist Douchebags: It’s Not Defamatory For A Newspaper To Call You ‘Racist Douchebags’
2. Journalists Publish List Of Convicted Cops The State’s Attorney General Said Was Illegal For Them To Have
3. Taylor Swift says she’s been stopped from performing her own music on TV by Scooter Braun.
4. Taylor Swift says she’s being blocked from singing her songs at American Music Awards
5. Taylor Swift’s fight with Big Machine is getting support from Elizabeth Warren and AOC
6. Leave Taylor Alone! Why Swift Action Is Needed Now
7. Rap Song, Video Trigger Sharon Stone Lawsuit
8. Bullock, DeGeneres Fight ‘Celebrity Endorsement Theft Industry’
9. The Ins and Outs of Canadian Copyright: Movies and the real and substantial connection test
10. Universal Music Claims Copyright Over Newly Public Domain ‘Yes! We Have No Bananas’
11. Music Collection Org: Revenues Are Booming… And That’s Proof Why We Need Even More Draconian Copyright Laws
12. Auction of ‘kidnapped’ Banksy work reignites bitter feud
13. Restrictive Covenants Do Not Inhibit Free Speech
14. Needless Trademark Spat In Canada At Least Has Exactly As Polite Ending As You’d Expect
15. Supreme Court to Hear Dot-Com Trademark Issue
16. Trade Marks – where to sue when infringement occurs online
17. Running an International Prize Promotion Without Breaking the Law
18. How to defend yourself in case the artwork you bought at auction does not match its pre-sale description?

Jon

GAMES

1. Epic is suing another tester for leaking Fortnite Chapter 2 content
2. Another tester is being sued by Epic Games for leaking Fortnite Chapter 2: Keywords Studio employee was fired day after leak, now faces claim for over $85,000 in damages
3. Activision and EA insiders have been profiting from selling stock during buybacks: CEOs Bobby Kotick and Andrew Wilson have made millions, but companies insist there is no improper practice
4. China details new play time and spending restrictions for minors playing online games
5. US and China agree to roll back tariffs that were set to affect console and mobile
6. Blizzard Confirms It Won’t Rescind Blitzchung’s Suspension
7. US congressman calls out Blizzard for allowing racist groups in WoW: “Racism isn’t a game,” rep. Lou Correa said after being made aware of far-right user guild, The Enclave
8. Overwatch director thinks Blitzchung ban “should be reduced more or eliminated”: Jeff Kaplan says the process for a suspension or ban in OWL “takes about four to five days”
9. Activision Blizzard sees slumping sales, sliding engagement: Revenues and monthly active users down across the board for Activision, King, and Blizzard divisions
10. CoD and WoW push Activision Blizzard to better-than-expected Q3
11. Blizzard plans to merge Overwatch 1 and 2 clients down the line
12. Has Blizzard solved the sequel dilemma? | Opinion: Launching a sequel to a service-based game can easily lose player goodwill — but Overwatch 2 may have found a clever way to thread the needle
13. Blizzard: Overwatch and Overwatch 2 clients will merge eventually – Jeff Kaplan says that all benefits of the paid sequel will be available to players of the first game
14. Why the Hearthstone devs wanted to make an auto battler
15. Player spending in Grand Theft Auto Online jumped 23% following casino update
16. Ignore the critics — Tax Relief is vital to the UK games industry | Opinion: Criticising Rockstar, Rocksteady and Creative Assembly for benefiting from VGTR misses the point, says legal expert Tim Davies
17. Take-Two raises guidance as microtransaction spending grows 32%
18. Net revenue up 74% at Take-Two thanks to Borderlands 3, NBA, GTA, and others
19. Live games propel Take-Two toward quiet holiday as GTA V reaches 115m units sold – CEO Strauss Zelnick: “There’s no rulebook around how you create transitions or new products in a world of live services”
20. Key resellers claim legitimacy — the courts say otherwise | Opinion: Beiten Burkhardt’s Andreas Lober probes the legal basis for key resellers, and finds those marketplaces on shaky ground
21. Indie storefront Itch.io now boasts 200,000 games
22. Valve appears to be working on a “Steam Cloud Gaming” service
23. Steam game sales for ‘the other 50%’
24. Steam search suggestions & premium positioning
25. Death Stranding will launch simultaneously on Steam and the Epic Games Store
26. UK Charts: Death Stranding is the second biggest PS4 launch of 2019 – Hideo Kojima’s game debuts at No.2 behind Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
27. Roblox survey reveals disconnect between parents and teens over online bullying: Majority of parents believe their children will discuss online behaviour with them, but more than half of teens disagree
28. U.S. VA evaluating how more accessible games help veterans heal
29. NPD: U.S. games spending up 1% in Q3 as live-services offset consoles
30. Revenue down at Nexon as Dungeon&Fighter works to win back players
31. Nexon sales slip in Q3: MapleStory publisher shows modest revenue growth, but can’t offset double-digit percentage declines everywhere else
32. PUBG Mobile generated $154 million during October 2019
33. Call of Duty: Mobile racks up almost $60 million in launch month
34. Call of Duty holds off Luigi’s Mansion 3 in the EMEAA chart: Activision’s shooter remained top of every chart despite competition from Nintendo’s latest exclusive
35. Call of Duty Mobile beats Mario Kart Tour’s first month downloads: Sensor Tower estimates 148m downloads, behind only Pokémon Go in the all-time list
36. Pokémon Sword and Shield review: A big adventure with a small Pokédex
37. Just Dance 2020 is the last Ubisoft title on the Wii: Nintendo won’t say if it’s the last Wii game ever
38. Nintendo: While nostalgia has appeal, remakes need to offer new game experiences
39. Nintendo’s 3DS support will continue into 2020
40. Don’t Miss: How Game Freak designs the iconic monsters of Pokemon
41. Pokémon fans rally around Game Freak amid Sword and Shield unrest: The new Nintendo Switch games are due out this week
42. Nintendo expects “remarkable results” from Mario Kart Tour: President Shuntaro Furukawa told investors that “earnings are off to a good start” following strong launch
43. Bandai Namco revealed as a development partner for Mario Kart Tour
44. Playtonic dismisses Microsoft buyout rumours: The Yooka-Laylee studio also confirmed it’s not working on a new Banjo-Kazooie game
45. Xbox Elite Series 2 Controller review: For $180, it better be this good
46. Microsoft using Xbox Adaptive Controller to rehabilitate US veterans: Company is working with Veteran Affairs to roll out device to medical centres
47. Minecraft nearing 300 million registered users in China
48. Minecraft closes in on 300m registered accounts in China: Mojang’s game now has 112m monthly active users worldwide
49. Net sales and profits up at Square Enix despite HD game struggles
50. Square Enix profits up 32% in first half of fiscal year: Publisher’s success driven by MMOs and mobile games as HD games sales slip year-on-year
51. Flavourworks raises $3.8 million to make interactive games with live-action video
52. Erica dev Flavourworks nets $3.85 million to make more interactive games
53. Flavourworks raises £3m to expand Touch Video platform: Series A round was led by Hiro Capital, making its first investment after launching earlier this year
54. TabTale changes its name to Crazy Labs with focus on hyper-casual mobile games
55. Stillfront reaps rewards of Kixeye acquisition in Q3: Revenue from Core games division rises almost 200% following $90m deal
56. Indie publisher Kiss launches Intelligent Finance ISA: Company tells GamesIndustry.biz it will fund future games by promising investors 6.8% profit per year through tech bond
57. Playtika considering IPO as Chinese acquisition plans collapse: Mobile games firm seeks listing in unspecified market, according to the company that failed to buy it
58. Epic Games acquires photogrammetry asset library and toolset maker Quixel
59. Epic acquires Megascans creator Quixel: All Megascans assets to become free for Unreal Engine users
60. Epic Games acquires photogrammetry startup Quixel to make games more realistic
61. Atlas Empires dev Cerberus acquires marketplace platform Tastebud
62. Cerberus Interactive acquires Tastebud: Texas studio wants to incentivise real-world purchases in its location-based title Atlas Empires
63. Sony opening Malaysian art studio to boost first-party development
64. PlayStation to open development studio in Malaysia: The new office will provide animation services to developers building exclusive PlayStation 5 games
65. Sony’s Jim Ryan: We had to make changes to deliver our PlayStation 5 dream – PlayStation’s CEO on the globalisation of Sony Interactive Entertainment
66. Sony has a PlayStation Now problem
67. Abbey Games will terminate all employee contracts next month: Dutch indie “forced to scope down significantly” after Early Access version failed to live up to expectations
68. Susan Wojcicki Talks Self Certification, Monetization, And Video Game Violence At YouTube’s First Gaming Creator Summit
69. Starbreeze proposes plan to pay debts in full: Administrator signs off on reconstruction schedule that would see Payday outfit meet obligations to creditors within five years
70. Homescapes has grossed $1b in lifetime revenue
71. Tencent’s online game revenue surpasses $4 billion in Q3
72. The Tencent zombie game trying to advance the battle royale formula – We speak to Next Studios about how Synced: Off-Planet recreates the tension of Fortnite or DayZ without copying the structure
73. Report: Tencent wants to develop console games with help from Nintendo
74. Tencent reportedly looking to use Nintendo IP as it expands internationally
75. Tencent wants to make console games with Nintendo IP to boost US and Europe presence: It follows the two companies’ partnership to bring Switch to China
76. PUBG Mobile, Call of Duty: Mobile help drive Tencent gaming revenues: Chinese publisher cites increased contributions from overseas titles as driving growth in mobile gaming business, offsetting declines from PC
77. Zynga: “Not every DAU is created equal”: President of publishing Bernard Kim talks about long-running live ops games and the decision to sunset or reinvest in them
78. Gaming Industry Associations Agree on Universal Esports Principles
79. Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag to be honoured at Esports Bar Cannes: 100 Thieves founder will be named Shaker of the Year at annual awards
80. Hitmarker raises £200k for esports recruitment platform: Startup eclipsed £80k equity crowdfunding target in less than a week
81. Twitch Studio, the company’s streaming software for new users, is now in open beta: The streaming site’s first software product is now available to everyone
82. Q&A: Designing the foreboding Apple Arcade Soulslike Bleak Sword
83. Apple reportedly making a VR/AR headset with a focus on gaming: Combined headset planned for 2021 or 2022, with lightweight AR glasses following in 2023
84. Two years later, Apple’s AR/VR headset plans reportedly pushed back two years
85. John Carmack wins Lifetime Achievement prize at VR Awards 2019: Oculus Quest crowned best hardware, while A Fisherman’s Tale is declared best game
86. Virtual reality: Infringement in cyberspace
87. Pistol Whip review: The year’s freshest VR game—and oh-so close to greatness
88. Oculus and Unity team up for free course on VR game development
89. Google brings DIY virtual reality to the masses by open-sourcing Cardboard SDK
90. Only 12 games will be available on Google Stadia in time for Nov. 19 launch
91. Stadia launch includes familiar lineup, one exclusive
92. Google Stadia’s launch lineup includes 12 games: Only one title is an exclusive; three of them are Tomb Raider games
93. Google unveils Stadia’s full 12-game launch day line-up: Plus 14 more titles for 2019.
94. Stadia launch dev: Game makers are worried “Google is just going to cancel it”
95. Kine creator: “The biggest concern with Stadia is that it might not exist” – DLC. At PAX West, developers Lucy Morris, Ken Hall, and Gwen Frey discuss diversity, community, and Stadia’s long-term potential
96. Google plans to roll out Stadia features weekly after a barebones Nov. 19 launch
97. Q&A: Respawn’s Mohammad Alavi works for greater diversity in game dev
98. Diablo 4 impressions: Soaking in dark atmosphere and feel-good combat
99. World of Warcraft: Shadowlands impressions: Leveling alts is about to get a lot more fun
100. Activision Blizzard hits Q3 earnings targets with strong World of Warcraft Classic results
101. Voodoo opens Canadian studio to expand beyond hypercasual market
102. Voodoo opens Montreal studio as it expands beyond hypercasual games: New branch will be led by former Gameloft producer Mehdi El Moussali
103. Human Head shuts down, staff to join Bethesda’s new studio: Co-founder Chris Rhinehart becomes creative director at Roundhouse Studios
104. Prey dev Human Head Studios closes, is immediately revived by Bethesda
105. What games are people talking about on Twitter?: Platform’s head of gaming content Rishi Chadha discusses what sparks conversation and how it differs from region to region
106. Goldeneye 007’s lost remaster emerges again via massive, polished video leak
107. Turning love into a cooperative game mechanic in The Game Bakers’ Haven
108. Soul Reaver: Audacious, pulpy, intelligent, trashy, uncompromising
109. “Expectations for full-price games is very high. You need a large budget to have a chance”: CI Games CEO Marek Tymiński on the struggles of Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 and how upcoming sequel Contracts will rectify this
110. Video: A chat with Mac Walters on the unsolved mysteries of the Mass Effect universe
111. Video: Insights from the GDC 2019 Narrative Innovation Showcase
112. Video: How Techland built Dying Light’s remarkable parkour system
113. Blog: A battle royale analysis from Q3
114. Blog: Analysing the success of Free Fire, the other king of battle royale
115. Blog: When theme and mechanics collide
116. Blog: Making a successful indie game using the GemuKai framework
117. Don’t Miss: The Binding of Isaac postmortem
118. Don’t Miss: Devs recount their near-catastrophic run-ins with the sunk cost fallacy
119. Don’t Miss: How moving from 2D to 3D shaped the design of Risk of Rain 2
120. Don’t Miss: Designing decisions that matter in Orwell
121. “I believe I am preserving digital art in a physical form”: Special Reserve Games CEO Jeff Smith talks about the business of selling physical copies of indie hits, from speculators to customers buying games “almost blindly”
122. New Noclip vid offers devs an inside look at how the ESRB works
123. Video: An indie game dev’s guide to contracting
124. Video Gaming / E-Gaming Law Update: Does Your Gaming Stream Violate the Copyright Act?
125. Galaga and Pole Position composer Nobuyuki Ohnogi has passed away

DIGITAL

1. India Is Stifling Kashmir Journalists And Twitter Is Helping Get The Job Done
2. Insider Threats: DOJ Says Twitter Employees Spied On User Accounts For Saudi Arabia
3. Hong Kong Court Hands Down Protest-Targeting Order Banning Online Content That ‘Incites Violence’
4. Did a UK Judge Just “Break the Internet”? Stay Tuned re the TuneIn Decision
5. UK Premier League scores big in battle against illegal streaming devices
6. Is it time to look at monetisation as a new exclusive right of the author? (Andres Guadamuz)
7. Court Deems Screenshot Fair Game for Fair Use Defense in Copyright Action
8. Section 230 Helps Salesforce Defeat Sex Trafficking Lawsuit–Doe v. Salesforce (Eric Goldman)
9. Biden Spreads False Info By Saying That Taking Away Section 230 Will Make Facebook Liable For Spreading False Info
10. John Oliver Takes On SLAPP Suits And Anti-SLAPP Laws With A Grand Musical Number
11. Massive Facebook document leak gives ammunition to investigators
12. ECJ rules on Facebook “Like” button
13. NY regulators investigating Apple Card after viral complaint of sexism: Customer service reportedly blamed “the algorithm” for discrepancies.
14. Copyright Troll Lawyer Serves Up BS ‘Dead Grandfather’ Excuse For Missing Court; Now Facing Sanctions And Arrest
15. Techdirt Podcast Episode 232: Copying Is Not Theft
16. New Class Action Targets Discriminatory Ad Practices
17. Members of violent white supremacist website exposed in massive data dump
18. Netflix CEO defends censoring anti-government video in Saudi Arabia
19. Netflix: We’re Not In The Truth To Power Business, We’re In The Entertainment Business
20. Netflix Unveils Multi-Year Pact With Nickelodeon One Day After Disney+ Launch
21. Too Many Streaming Exclusives Is Already Starting To Tick Users Off
22. One Day In, Disney+ Already Has More Than 10 Million Subscribers
23. High demand causes login problems on Disney+ launch day
24. Defamation by Hyperlink
25. Uber CEO: Time To Forgive The Saudis For Murdering That Journalist
26. Uber CEO Defends Saudis After Jamal Khashoggi Murder: ‘Doesn’t Mean They Can Never Be Forgiven’ (Video)
27. Softbank is getting exactly what it deserves, and it’s thanks to something way bigger than WeWork: Softbank took a $6.5 billion loss on investments in Uber and WeWork this quarter, and it deserves to lose more.
28. Uber CEO says he was wrong to call slaying of Saudi Arabia journalist Jamal Khashoggi ‘a mistake’
29. Uber CEO downplays Khashoggi murder, then walks back his comments
30. Uber CEO downplays murder of Jamal Khashoggi as ‘mistake,’ then backtracks
31. How terrible software design decisions led to Uber’s deadly 2018 crash
32. Report Suggests Rampant Negligence In Uber Self Driving Car Fatality
33. Amazon gains unfair edge by making sellers use its shipping, complaint says
34. Amazon fails to unseat pro-tax city council members in Seattle
35. Heineken challenged for targeting under 18s on Instagram
36. Instagram is testing a new video editing tool called Reels that copies TikTok’s best features
37. Twitter And Instagram Both Begin Experiments In Decreasing The More Socially Questionable Incentives Of Their Platforms
38. TikTok Facing CFIUS Scrutiny
39. US committee warned of China’s bulk data collection
40. Google enlists outside help to clean up Android’s malware mess
41. Google has access to detailed health records on tens of millions of Americans
42. Google: You can trust us with the medical data you didn’t know we already had – Google has 50M people’s medical records but won’t merge them with other Google data.
43. Google fires staffer, suspends two others, amid rising workplace tensions
44. Google will offer checking accounts, says it won’t sell the data
45. YouTube Insists It Isn’t Changing “Right To Monetize” After Terms Of Service Update Sparks Backlash
46. YouTube To Host Charity Tribute Concert In Nashville To Fete Its Johnny Cash Doc
47. YouTube Overhauls Homepage With Bigger Thumbnails, New Queue Button, More
48. Federal and State Authorities Increase Scrutiny and Enforcement of Children’s Privacy; Google, YouTube Agree to Pay a Record $170 Million Fine
49. Operation Full Disclosure, Continued: FTC Releases Disclosure Guides for Influencers
50. FTC Releases New User-Friendly Disclosure Guidelines for Influencers
51. FTC offers guidance for social media influencer disclosures
52. FTC Releases Guidance for Influencers
53. FTC Guidance for Social Media Influencers and Endorsements Continues to Evolve
54. FTC Releases New Disclosures Guidance for Influencer #Ads
55. Avoiding both irresponsible and misleading influencer marketing
56. ASA ruling on “celebrity” status – ThisMamaLife
57. ASA ruling on weight loss post – Jemmy Lucy
58. ASA ruling on audience composition – Tanya Burr
59. Tis the Season: Act in Time, or Your Nonprofit Will Say Goodbye to Any DMCA Safe Harbor Protection from Copyright Infringement Liability
60. Liza Koshy Named Co-Chair Of Michelle Obama-Founded Nonprofit ‘When We All Vote’
61. With 25 Million Views On Season 1, Kian And JC Are Readying Another ‘Reality House’
62. Logan Paul vs. KSI 2 Turned Into A Legit Boxing Event
63. Ahead Of Logan Paul Rematch, KSI Drops “Down Like That” Rap Track With Rick Ross, Lil Baby
64. Spotify taps Viacom for content marketing globally
65. Spotify’s Magic Leap app will change playlists as you change rooms: With an interface that appears in your real-world environment
66. On Podcasting
67. How Ipsy And Warby Parker Are Harnessing The Engagement Power Of Micro Influencers For Social Video
68. Deloitte Ranks BroadbandTV One of The Fastest Growing Companies in North America
69. How Canadian media-tech giant BroadbandTV is giving content owners a boost
70. Microsoft’s Project Silica offers robust thousand-year storage
71. Why more than 168,000 Valentine’s day text messages arrived in November
72. The perils of messaging apps
73. How Airbnb’s fight to overturn a New Jersey law imploded
74. Will the Music Industry Continue To Win Its Copyright Battle Against ISPs?
75. CISAC Labels Canada a “Digital Champion” for Digital Music Royalty Growth (Michael Geist)
76. The LawBytes Podcast, Episode 31: Is Canadian Media in a Financial Crisis? – Marc Edge With a Different Take on What the Data Says
77. Cloudflare Explains What It Takes To Slay A Patent Troll
78. What is cyber insurance and how popular is it becoming?
79. Safeguarding User Freedoms in Implementing Article 17 of the Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive: Recommendations from European Academics
80. Spotlight on Digital Competition Issues – A Digital Legacy

A.I.

1.  Twitter wants your feedback on its proposed deepfakes policy
2. Intellectual property in open innovation and co-innovation in the field of artificial intelligence
3. This system from Garmin can land a private plane when your pilot can’t 
4. When AI systems cause harm: the application of civil and criminal liability
5. Task force on artificial intelligence hearing: AI and the evolution of cloud computing – key testimony on the risks, challenges and opportunities
6. Uber still using Waymo-derived self-driving technology, expert says
7. Meet MLPerf, a benchmark for measuring machine-learning performance 
8. Robot delivery services: the latest in anthropomorphic marketing? 

COMMUNICATIONS

1. Comcast is trying to “dismantle” Civil Rights Act of 1866, MLK’s daughter says
2. How the FCC solves consumer problems—well, it doesn’t, really
3. Third Circuit Asked to Rehear Decision Overturning FCC Ownership Rule Changes – Where Do We Go from Here?
4. FCC To Consider All-Digital AM at its November Meeting – What Questions are Being Asked?
5. AT&T switches customers to more expensive plans without asking them first
6. A Decade Later, AT&T Pays A Pittance For Lying About Its Unlimited Data Plans
7. States Are Being Conned By Lobbyists Into Backing Off The T-Mobile Merger Lawsuit
8. The Color Magenta, Or How T-Mobile Thinks It Owns A General Color
9. ‘Unlimited’ Data Plans With Very Obvious Limits Are Only Getting More Confusing 
10. DirectTV Forgot To Stop Charging Customers For Channels That Were Blacked Out 
11. Mozilla: ISPs Are Lying About Encrypted DNS, Should Have Privacy Practices Investigated
12. Defense Department and FCC to Collaborate on 5G Testbeds
13. 2020 Political Broadcasting Rules
14. 2019 – 2020 Political Issue Advertising The Blessing and the Curse!
15. How does Plume get all these ISP partnerships? Open source software 

PRIVACY

1. US violated Constitution by searching phones for no good reason, judge rules
2. FBI Asks Congress To Permanently Reauthorize The Phone Record Collection The NSA Voluntarily Shut Down
3. Breach affecting 1 million was caught only after hacker maxed out target’s storage
4. Ring Spends The Week Collecting Data On Trick-Or-Treating Kids And Being An Attack Vector For Home WiFi Networks
5. Ring-a-ding: IoT doorbell exposed customer Wi-Fi passwords to eavesdroppers
6. Search warrant overrides 1M users’ choice not to share DNA with cops
7. One of the world’s most advanced hacking groups debuts new Titanium backdoor
8. The Battle Over Encryption
9. Microsoft Says It’s Cool With California’s New Privacy Law
10. IoT Security: NIST Spotlight

CREATIVITY

1. Copyright & Colourable Imitation – Inside Out or Upside Down?
2. Religion and belief discrimination: dismissing employee who refused to sign a copyright agreement was not discriminatory
3. Indirect religion and belief discrimination: Did an employee suffer indirect discrimination because of her beliefs about copyright?
4. Artists’ moral rights in the frame
5. Vallejo v. Narcos Productions LLC
6. Everybody must get (Sharon) Stoned
7. Federal Court Says Man Arrested For ‘Criminally Defaming’ Cops Can Continue Suing To Block The Law From Being Enforced
8. ASA ruling on gender stereotyping Philadelphia
9. ASA ruling on gender stereotyping – Volkswagen
10. Sandra Bullock & Ellen DeGeneres Lawsuit Takes on “Celebrity Endorsement Theft Industry”
11. ASA ruling on alcohol and social responsibility – Macallan
12. Public Backlash Leads To Backcountry.com Backing Down From Trademark Bullying
13. Just Sue It: Nike Takes Skechers to Court For Copying Design Patents
14. The best science and math moments in Sesame Street’s first 50 years
15. A snapshot of the global patent landscape in eight charts

Jon

GAMES

1. Blizzard president gives vague apology for Hong Kong protest response
2. Blizzard president J. Allen Brack apologizes for bungled Hearthstone punishment
3. Hong Kong protesters shine, but don’t quite spark at BlizzCon
4. Blizzard’s substance-less BlizzCon statement speaks volumes | Opinion: Allen Brack’s speech rings hollow as company changes no policies, stands by Hearthstone pro’s ban for supporting Hong Kong protesters
5. Allen Brack apologizes for Blizzard’s “tough Hearthstone esports moment”: At BlizzCon, company president alludes to ban of Hearthstone player Blitzchung for pro-Hong Kong support, welcomes protests
6. Brack confirms Blizzard won’t repeal Blitzchung ban: The sanction against the casters won’t be withdrawn either, Blizzard’s president said
7. Blizzard won’t reverse Hearthstone pro’s Hong Kong protest suspension: Blizzard boss shifts some blame for initial decisions to Chinese publishing partner.
8. Blizzcon: Blizzard Apologizes For Banning Blitzchung, Keeps Him Banned, More Fallout Ensues
9. Hearthstone developers think Blizzard was “too harsh” with Blitzchung: But creative director Ben Thompson said that taking control of a platform that is “very much not your own” is not free speech
10. Xiaomeng ‘Liooon’ Li is the first woman to win Hearthstone GrandMasters: Li is also the first woman to win a major competition across all Blizzard games at Blizzcon
11. China fears young people are addicted to video games. Now it’s imposing a curfew
12. China gaming regulator publishes new rules for minors targeting playtime, spending: Age-rating system still in the works as restrictions are tightened, expanded to mobile games
13. “If we’re going to be drug dealers, let’s not literally mine for addicts”: At Reboot Develop, indie publisher Mike Wilson used the game addiction debate to call for devs to “be intentional” about what they create
14. Video: Addiction science and advice for devs on promoting healthy play
15. ‘Fortnite’ Pro FaZe Jarvis Banned From Game For Life After YouTube Videos Showed Him Cheating
16. Aimbot video leads to lifetime ban for popular Fortnite pro
17. General Court says that relevant public’s attention is ‘average at best’ when assessing likelihood of confusion relating to games and computer games (“Dungeons” is confusingly similar to “Dungeons & Dragons”)
18. Reselling Digital Video Games Now entering the age of the digital yard sale?
19. ZeniMax ordered to issue refunds for Fallout 76 in Australia: Well, this can’t be good.
20. ZeniMax to offer refunds for faulty Fallout 76 in Australia: ZeniMax admits it likely misled consumers over their digital rights
21. ZeniMax to grant Fallout 76 refunds under pressure from Australian commission
22. Less than half of US gamers purchased in-game content last month – SuperData: Additional content spending stagnating on PC and console as players gravitate toward fewer titles overall
23. Fabulous investigating after Devolver Digital accuses its app of ripping off Gris
24. Self-help app “investigating” after accusations of stealing art, animation from Gris: Devolver Digital shares side-by-side comparison of Fabulous video, Gris gameplay and cutscenes
25. Brendan Greene: “I [only] have one woman on my team, and I hate that” – At the View Conference, PUBG’s creator discussed hiring for diversity, and why education will be the best long-term solution
26. Amazon blocks sales of all unauthorised Nintendo products: Third-party sellers now need platform holder’s approval before selling second-hand games or hardware
27. Amazon reverses sudden restriction of third-party “Nintendo product“ sales
28. Report: Amazon cracking down on third-party sales of Nintendo products
29. Switch Lite sells strong at launch, as total Switch sales near 42M
30. Nintendo: Switch Lite is expanding the Switch market, especially with women
31. The Nintendo Switch has sold over 10 million units in Japan 
32. The Nintendo Switch has sold 10m units in Japan: Japanese sales make up nearly one-fourth of total console sales (including the Lite)
33. UK Charts: Luigi’s Mansion 3 is the biggest Switch launch of 2019 (so far) – At least until Pokémon comes along
34. Nintendo Profits Lifted by Switch Lite Sales
35. Nintendo has nearly doubled its first-party game sales in 2019 
36. So far, game spending is over $27 billion for 2019 in the US 
37. US gamers have spent $27.9bn in 2019 so far: Spending is only up 1% over 2018 year-to-date, with hardware sales down 23%
38. How Arcade1Up found a sweet spot for scaled-down home game cabinets
39. Abbey Games ‘scoping down’ and terminating all employee contracts by 2020
40. Call of Duty was the UK’s best-selling game in October
41. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare dominates the EMEAA charts – Meanwhile, FIFA fends off new releases The Outer Worlds, MediEvil and WWE 2K20
42. Supercell scraps upcoming title Rush Wars after failing to find the fun
43. Supercell shuts down Rush Wars after three months of beta: PvP strategy title cancelled due to “repetitive” nature, concerns about longevity
44. Profits down 48.1% for Rovio Entertainment in Q3: Angry Birds dev in discussions to potentially lay off staff as The Angry Birds Movie 2 falls short of expectations
45. PS4 slows as the transition nears | Opinion: Sony’s next year will be vital; as PS4 sales decline faster than expected, can the company balance support for its older console with building excitement for the new?
46. Retrospective: As Sony Clearly Wins This Generation’s Console Wars, Let’s Recall How It All Began
47. Watch Dogs Legion, Rainbow Six Quarantine and Gods & Monsters heading to PS5, Project Scarlett: Delayed Ubisoft titles will be joined by two unannounced AAA games in the next fiscal year
48. Industry veterans form ‘diverse and inclusive’ studio Brass Lion Entertainment
49. Brass Lion Entertainment aims to diversify the industry: New studio from AAA vets will focus on original games “that center on Black and Brown characters, cultures, and stories”
50. Epic Games Store update brings new navigation and in-game store options
51. Epic adds free Infinity Blade content to Unreal Engine Marketplace
52. Does French streaming platform Shadow have its head in the clouds?: Co-founder Emmanuel Freund on opening up games to more people, the tech side of things and Google’s entry into the space
53. F1 extends licencing deal with Codemasters until 2025: Codemasters has extended its deal for exclusive video game rights for the Formula 1 World Championship until 2025, with an option for a further two years.
54. Modern Warfare dev compares game’s “awareness building” to Schoolhouse Rock: Narrative director responds to criticism about ‘Highway of Death’ mission: “This is not some kind of propaganda”
55. Modern Warfare. Modern Warfare never changes.: 10 Years Ago This Month: No Russian turns the mass shooting into mass market entertainment and Nokia buries the N-Gage for good
56. Which platforms are publishers and investors really interested in?: Xsolla shares lessons from its funding club and offers advice on how to impress potential investors
57. Death Stranding is Kojima unleashed, and it’s as weird as you’d expect
58. Death Stranding: Critical Consensus – A haunting experience that succeeds in spite of its own clumsy excess, Death Stranding arrives to frequently mitigated praise
59. Hideo Kojima and Kojima Productions to start making movies
60. Hideo Kojima to venture into film production: “Games, films and dramas will have to compete in the same space,” Death Stranding director said
61. Blizzard announces Overwatch sequel at BlizzCon
62. Overwatch 2 announced, will be cross-compatible with original game: Overwatch surpasses 50 million players, all of whom will be able to PvP match with, transfer cosmetics to Overwatch 2
63. Jeff Kaplan: Leaks impact developer morale more than anything else
64. Hearthstone Battlegrounds is Blizzard’s card-based take on auto chess
65. Blizzard confirms Diablo IV is coming to consoles and PC
66. Diablo IV is revealed, sure looks like a supercharged Diablo II
67. Designing the gameplay and aesthetic of Diablo IV
68. Don’t Miss: David Brevik’s tale of designing the original Diablo
69. Blizzard is adding ethnically diverse character skins with World of Warcraft: Shadowlands: Fifteen years after launch, players will be able to customise their character to match their ethnicity
70. Wargaming partners with Gearbox for its first full retail release: World of Warships: Legends will get a retail version in Firepower Deluxe Edition
71. Vainglory dev Super Evil Megacorp raises $10.5 million as it refocuses on next project
72. Super Evil Megacorp closes $10.5m financing round as it prepares to launch new project: Vainglory developer hands off publishing responsibilities for its cross-platform MOBA to Rogue Games
73. Improbable and Tencent Cloud team up to help devs bring games to China
74. Improbable partners with Tencent Cloud for game development program: New Improbable/Tencent Cloud Developer Program to support creators making games in SpatialOS for the Chinese market with cloud services
75. Unity acquires 3D application streaming platform creator Obvioos
76. Unity acquires cloud application streaming service creator Obvioos: French studio begins aligning Furioos’ 3D application streaming tech closely with development platform
77. Video: Inside BioWare’s embedded QA process
78. Video: Advice for game devs on creating believable heroes
79. Zordix secures $1.4 million in funding, acquires Dimfrost Studio
80. Chad Wild Clay And Vy Qwaint’s ‘Spy Ninja’ Mobile Game Surpasses 3 Million Downloads
81. Games industry international trade bodies unite on universal esports principles: Set of four principles for engagement agreed upon by representatives of the ESA, ESAC, UKIE, ISFE, and IGEA
82. Yoshinori Ono on Street Fighter’s road to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics: The Capcom producer discusses the Intel World Open, a tournament that aims to break the barriers to entry for esports
83. Esports tournament platform Mainline closes $6.8m funding round: Funding led by Work America Capital will help expand software platform
84. Report: Embattled real estate startup WeWork mulling esports investment
85. Esports Org 100 Thieves Signs Rapidly-Ascending Twitch Star ‘Brooke AB’
86. Another major streamer leaves Twitch, this time for YouTube
87. YouTube Steals CouRage From Twitch As The Celebrity Streamer Gold Rush Heats Up
88. CouRage Becomes Latest Streamer To Ditch Twitch — In Exclusive Deal With YouTube Gaming
89. 100 Thieves’ Jack “CouRage” Dunlop signs YouTube exclusivity deal: Dunlop asks over 2m Twitch subscribers to follow him as exodus of major streamers from Twitch to other platforms continues
90. Twitch Teams With Analytics Provider Moat To Measure Its Unblockable ‘SureStream’ Ads
91. Longtime NASCAR Exec Lou Garate Switches Lanes, Becoming Twitch’s First Global Head Of Sponsorship Sales
92. Twitch CEO Emmett Shear On How Moderation Creates Communities: Twitch is bigger than it’s ever been, and here’s how it’s going to change
93. Mixer Price-Matches Twitch, Dropping Monthly Creator Subscription From $5.99 To $4.99
94. New Oculus Social Tools Will Help VR Feel More Like a Place, Less Like a Game
95. Facebook CEO: ‘VR is Taking Longer Than Expected, but We’ll See It to Mass Adoption’
96. Reality Gaming Group expanding to China: Chengdu government will help promote the studio and its flagship game Reality Clash, as well as AR and blockchain tech
97. Rumor: Apple Reportedly Partners With Valve to Develop AR Headset
98. Toys R Us partners with Snapchat to create AR shopping experience: The augmented reality experience aims to help users with their holiday shopping
99. Niantic opens Niantic Creator Program to fund and support AR-minded devs
100. Niantic opens up Pokemon Go sponsored location program for smaller businesses
101. Niantic announces Creator Program to support AR development: Pokemon Go developer also offering funding opportunities, AR development kit
102. Braid and the beauty of not wasting time – Why I Love: A Duel Hand Disaster dev Jaycee Salinas takes inspiration from the indie time manipulation platformer
103. Video: Advice for game devs on creating believable heroes
104. Video: Game preservation lessons learned on EA’s biggest sports games
105. Blog: Kickstarter lessons learned from a 300 percent funded solo project
106. Net sales down at Starbreeze as company readies for Payday-centric future
107. Starbreeze losses were $30.8 million for the first nine months of 2019: But company is confident reconstruction efforts and new publishing deal Payday 3 will save the studio
108. Bake ‘n’ Switch wins big at the Reboot Develop Indie Awards: Streamline Studios’ original IP picked up GOTY, while Myst creator Rand Miller received the Hero award
109. Don’t Miss: Designing the stealth, economy, and encounters of Horizon Zero Dawn
110. Red Dead Redemption 2 on PC: More frames, more volumetric beauty, no Steam
111. Don’t Miss: Composing the music of Red Dead Redemption
112. SingStar servers slated for January 2020 shutdown
113. Sony will close down SingStar servers in January 2020: Online sales, support and shared content will be pulled, 15 years after the series debuted
114. Just Dance launches campaign to raise money for Alzheimer’s Research UK: Ubisoft will donate £1 for every dance memory shared on social media
115. U.S. Patent no. 10,252,163: Music video game with user directed sound generation

DIGITAL

1. Twitter will ban political ads, Jack Dorsey announces
2. Man Sues Twitter For $1 Billion Claiming His Account’s Suspension Violated His Right To Worship President Trump As A Demigod
3. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Announces New Ban On Political Ads, Takes Shot At Facebook
4. Twitter Bans Political Ads – Doing What Broadcasters are Forbidden to Do
5. Twitter is rolling out Topics, a way to follow subjects automatically in the timeline: Starting with more than 300 subjects across sports, gaming, and entertainment
6. Former Twitter employees charged with spying on users for Saudis
7. Twitter’s Decision To Ban Political Ads Is A Moderation Choice Itself That Likely Will Backfire In Its Own Way
8. 8chan gets back online—and is promptly forced off again
9. Breaking the law: How 8chan (or “8kun”) got (briefly) back online
10. Devin Nunes Demands Satirical Internet Cow Stop Making Fun Of Him… Or Else
11. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Apologizes And Unblocks Critic Who Sued Her
12. Why America needs a hate speech law
13. Former Journalist Decides There’s Too Much Free Speech These Days
14. After 10 failed logins, Giuliani had Apple Store wipe his iPhone: Report – The 2017 incident occurred shortly after Trump named Rudy cybersecurity advisor.
15. Exclusive: U.S. opens national security investigation into TikTok – sources
16. The U.S. Government Is Investigating TikTok Parent Bytedance As A Potential National Security Threat (Report)
17. TikTok Integrates Third-Party Editing, Posting Tools Amid Developers Program Launch
18. TikTok’s parent company facing national security review, report says
19. Antitrust 101: Why everyone is probing Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google
20. Competition Bureau Cracks Down on Misleading Advertising in the Digital Economy
21. Deadspin Is Being Burnt To The Ground By Its New Management As Staff Quits Or Revolts
22. A Thumbs-Up Emoji Doesn’t Mean That Dad Disavowed His Child–Bardales v. Lamothe
23. Strike 3’s Copyright Litigation Campaign Completely Strikes Out (Eric Goldman)
24. Copyright Lawyer Asks that Judge Recuse Himself for Referring to Lawyer as “Troll”
25. No Copyright Case Too Small: Content Creators Rejoice or Casual Infringers Beware?
26. The Fine Print of Terms of Use
27. Ninth Circuit Preserves LinkedIn Competitor’s Data-Scraping Rights
28. Just Another Day In Academic Publishing: Professor Posts His Own Article On His Own Website, Gets Takedown Notice Alleging Copyright Infringement
29. Content Moderation At Scale Remains Impossible: Vaccines Edition
30. NY Times At It Again: Has To Run Massive Correction For All The Errors In Aaron Sorkin’s Facts Optional Rant About Why Facebook Should Fact Check
31. Facebook’s Sues Israeli Malware Marketer With A Lawsuit That Aims To Make An Easily-Abused Law Even More Abusable
32. Courts in the EU Can Order Facebook to Remove Defamatory Content Globally and Monitor Republications
33. Facebook changes product branding to FACEBOOK
34. Microsoft Japan’s four-day week trial boosts productivity by 40%: Company also noted paper and electricity consumption dropped significantly
35. Google to Buy Fitbit for $2.1 Billion: The deal represents an aggressive attempt by Google to bolster its lineup of hardware products.
36. Google Buys Fitbit for $2.1B
37. Google buys Fitbit for $2.1 billion
38. What is Google going to do with your Fitbit data? Anything it likes: Fitbit’s teams could soon be working on future Pixel watches. But more importantly, what can Google do with all the health and fitness data?
39. Hungary: Google is set to triumph over the Hungarian advertisement tax
40. Google workers call on company to adopt aggressive climate plan: Letter signed by more than 1,000 employees calls for zero emissions by 2030 in latest wave of industry climate activism
41. FTC Brings First Case against Developers of “Stalking” Applications
42. Is A YouTube COPPAcalypse Coming? FTC Rules Could Start Demonetizing Creators In 2020
43. Will the FTC Crack Down on Online Influencers?
44. FTC to Influencers: Don’t Lie. Be Transparent. Keep It Simple.
45. FTC Releases New Guide for Influencers
46. The FTC Releases New Guidelines (And Its First Creator-Friendly Brochure) For Influencers Who Post Sponsored Content
47. FTC Issues Guidance on Proper Disclosures for Social Media Influencers
48. Key Takeaways from FTC’s “Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers”
49. Keeping It Real: FTC Settles Cases Over Fake Social Media Indicators, Reviews
50. FTC Imposed a $2.5 Million Fine on a CEO for Selling Fake Likes and Followers on Social Media
51. “Good Genes?”: Maybe Not. FTC Takes Action Against Sunday Riley and Sunday Riley Modern Skincare, LLC For Employees False Reviews
52. Actively exploited bug in fully updated Firefox is sending users into a tizzy
53. Xiaomi’s Apple Watch clone removes everything good about the Apple Watch
54. YouTube Ads Contain More Male Characters, But Those Starring Females Nab More Views (Study)
55. State Court Rejects Prager University’s Lawsuit Against YouTube
56. Prager University Loses Another Of Its Silly Lawsuits Against YouTube Over Non-Existent ‘Bias’
57. Warner Music UK Ltd. & Sony Music Entertainment UK Ltd v. TuneIn Inc. [2019] EWHC 2923 (Ch)
58. Susan Wojcicki Joins #TeamTrees With $200,000 Personal Contribution
59. YouTube Might Have Banned Former Trump Adviser, Sebastian Gorka, For Copyright Violations
60. YouTube Rolls Out Latest Creator Monetization Tool In The Form Of ‘Super Stickers’
61. YouTube rolls out Super Stickers, a new way for creators to make money
62. These Are The YouTube Music Videos With The Highest Halloween Viewership
63. Halloween Social Videos Amass Over 6.6 Billion Views in October Alone
64. YouTube Testing New App Layout With Three Featured Comments Directly Under Videos
65. RIP OG Pixel: Google ends support after just three years
66. Google Brings ‘Shopping Ads’ Format To YouTube Ahead Of Holiday Frenzy
67. Shopping ads come to YouTube’s home feed and search results
68. Coldplay To Premiere New Album In Two-Part YouTube Stream From Jordan
69. After Boxing Defeat, FouseyTube Launches New ‘YouTube Cribs’ Series With Logan Paul
70. Shane Dawson And Jeffree Star’s ‘Conspiracy’ Launch Hits Hourslong Snag Amid Shopify Crash
71. After Selling 1 Million Palettes In 30 Minutes, Jeffree Star And Shane Dawson Announce ‘Conspiracy Collection’ Restock
72. David Dobrik Swipes Right On Branded Courtship With Dating App ‘Bumble’
73. Man City: controlling brand and reputation in the age of agencies, ads and #influencers
74. Spotify Saved the Music Industry. Now What?: Profits are hard to come by—and Apple and Amazon aren’t going away.
75. Netflix Sinks Its Teeth Into Scripted Podcasting With Post-Apocalyptic Miniseries ‘The Only Podcast Left’
76. Apple TV+ launches with eight TV shows and one movie
77. Insights: Beyond Reflex, React, and Repost Journalism, NewsMatch Boosts Nonprofit Newsrooms
78. With Vice Deal Done, Refinery29 Founders Moving Out of Management Roles
79. Intel hits 10nm goals and signals a shift away from traditional CPUs
80. Just Browsing: District Court Finds Browsewrap Agreement Enforceable
81. Texas court upholds “do it on a computer” check-cashing patent
82. Bipartisan social media data portability bill introduced in U.S. Senate
83. Because Internet makes a linguist’s case for l33t speak, other online-text fads

A.I.

1. The Global Forum on AI for Humanity: A Global Forum That Excluded the Globe (Michael Geist)
2. Can An Algorithm Be An Author? (And Other AI Questions The PTO Is Now Asking)
3. When both drivers are in error, people blame the human one more
4. Deepfakes: is seeing still believing?

COMMUNICATIONS

1. When does hyperlinking infringe copyright? UK High Court addresses linking to internet radio stations
2. Warner Music UK Ltd. & Sony Music Entertainment UK Ltd v. TuneIn Inc. [2019] EWHC 2923 (Ch)
3. DirecTV kept charging regional sports fee while channel was blacked out
4. FCC Freaks Out About Huawei, But Ignores The Internet Of Broken Things
5. Researchers unearth malware that siphoned SMS texts out of telco’s network 
6. Shocker: ISPs Cut Back 2020 Investment Despite Tax Breaks, Death Of Net Neutrality 
7. Cops Now Using Warrants To Gain Access To DNA Services’ Entire Databases
8. AT&T Will Pay $60 Million to Settle FTC Charges of Unfair Practices
9. AT&T Enters Into $60 Million Settlement With FTC Over “Unlimited” Claims 
10. AT&T Loses Another 1.36 Million Pay TV Subscribers Thanks To Relentless Price Hikes
11. AT&T’s priciest “unlimited” plan now allows 100GB+ of un-throttled data
12. AT&T users whose “unlimited data” was throttled get $60 million in refunds
13. AT&T makes customers work to get refunds they should get automatically
14. 5G Is Not A ‘Race,’ And We’re Incapable Of Determining Winners Even If It Was
15. California Wildfire Cellular Outages Could Have Been Easily Avoided
16. Changes to the Electronic Communications Code 

PRIVACY

1. New Suit Against Spyware-Maker Demonstrates One Company’s Offensive Strategy Against Cyber Attacks
2. ACLU Sues DOJ Over Facial Recognition Documents
3. ACLU sues feds to get information about facial-recognition programs
4. ISPs lied to Congress to spread confusion about encrypted DNS, Mozilla says
5. FBI’s Top Lawyer From The Apple Encryption Fight Says Law Enforcement Needs To Suck It Up And Embrace Encryption
6. Tipped off by an NSA breach, researchers discover new APT hacking group
7. Researchers hack Siri, Alexa, and Google Home by shining lasers at them
8. New bill would create Digital Privacy Agency to enforce privacy rights
9. DoD’s new cybersecurity compliance program . . . What you need to know
10. Facebook Groups API flaw exposed data to 100 developers, company says
11. Australia’s Idiotic War On Porn Returns, This Time Using Facial Recognition
12. Children’s Privacy Law Updates: Tricks or Treats?
13. GDPR fines were meant to rock the data privacy world. They haven’t: GDPR hasn’t heralded the swarm of huge fines that was predicted. But that doesn’t mean the fines so far haven’t been influential
14. Privacy Shield Third Annual Review
15. Ransomware Hits Hard During 2019
16. FBI Warns of E-Skimming Threats

CREATIVITY

1. Jean Carroll suing Trump for defamation: The 28-page lawsuit filed on Monday outlines Trump’s alleged rape of Carroll 23 years ago.
2. Jean Carroll, Who Accused Trump of Rape, Sues Him for Defamation: The writer says the president hurt her career when he said she had lied about him attacking her in a dressing room in the 1990s.
3. DOJ, Apparently Unaware Of 1st Amendment, Threaten Anonymous White House Official About To Release A Book
4. 9th Circuit Revives Ridiculous ‘Shake It Off’ Copyright Lawsuit, Because The 9th Circuit Loves To Mess Up Copyright Law
5. Bob Murray, Who Sued John Oliver For Mocking His Support Of Trump’s Plan To Bring Back Coal Jobs… Files For Bankruptcy
6. US Government Threatening To Kill Free Trade With South Africa After Hollywood Complained It Was Adopting American Fair Use Principles
7. The bell tolls for alleged copyright claim to skyline photo
8. The copyright woes of Meghan Markle
9. Believe it or not – claim based on belief in copyright fails
10. Prince’s Foundation struck by £100 million art fraud scandal
11. Estoppel based on patent prosecution history in Canada: The Pandora’s box is opened
12. Hall v. Swift
13. G-Star clothing designs not covered by copyright protection
14. Of Passion, Prejudice and Punitive Damages
15. Ex-Wrestlers Argue WWE Hid Risks of Head Injuries in Concussion Lawsuit
16. Employer Pays Millions in Compensation for Employee’s Invention
17. California Man Gets Sued After Trying To Trademark Bully A Theme Park
18. Black Friday – Not Just Shopping Madness, Beware the Trademark Trap
19. Splatter master Jackson Pollock avoided “coiling” when creating his paintings
20. Spooky IP
21. Patent Tips for Halloween

Jon

GAMES

1. Valve disables container key sales and trades in CS:GO due to rampant fraud
2. ‘Nearly All’ Counter-Strike Microtransactions Are Being Used for Money Laundering: N”early all key purchases that end up being traded or sold on the marketplace are believed to be fraud-sourced” Valve says.
3. Money laundering prompts Valve to halt CS:GO in-game key sales: “At this point, nearly all key purchases that end up being traded or sold on the marketplace are believed to be fraud-sourced”
4. According to a French court, the principle of exhaustion applies to video games acquired via a download platform
5. Epic is suing a Fortnite user experience tester over Chapter 2 leaks
6. Epic sues tester who leaked Fortnite Chapter 2 details: Developer says defendant Ronald Sykes waited just three days to breach his NDA
7. Ubisoft is suing Rainbox Six Siege cheat provider MizuSoft
8. Ubisoft sues Rainbow Six Siege cheat provider MizuSoft: One of the defendants had recently appeared in a BBC report about cheats
9. Rainbow Six cheat maker faces Ubisoft lawsuit after BBC appearance
10. Ubisoft severely cuts 2019-20 targets in wake of delays and underperforming games
11. Yves Guillemot: “We have no pay-to-win elements in our games”: Ubisoft CEO addresses investor concerns that players will reject games that are too microtransaction-heavy
12. Net bookings decline, but still beat expectations as Ubisoft closes out Q2
13. Ubisoft delays Watch Dogs Legion, Gods & Monsters, Rainbow Six Quarantine: Shares fall by 16% following delays, profit warning and announced overhaul of development process
14. Bethesda’s ‘Fallout 1st’ Paid Server Launch Has Become a Disaster
15. Fallout 1st Is Creating A Class Divide Among Fallout 76 Players
16. Video Game Class War Has ‘Fallout’ Players Targeting Premium Subscribers: “At least 5-7 people in teddy bear costumes kept punching me,” one member complained.
17. As the Fallout 1st disaster hits mainstream headlines, Fallout 76 players head in-game to protest: Everyone disliked that.
18. Fallout 76: The ‘Fallout First’ Web Domain Has Been Taken Over By a Hilarious, Angry Fan
19. Bethesda Has Brought Idiocy To A New Level & Betrayed Their Remaining Fans
20. Bethesda pledges to fix early “Fallout 1st” bugs and complaints
21. Bethesda looks to bolster its mobile game offerings with Alpha Dog Games acquisition
22. Bethesda acquires Alpha Dog: Fallout outfit picks up Nova Scotia-based mobile studio behind MonstroCity: Rampage and Atari’s Ninja Golf remake
23. New budget ends IDM tax credit for video game studios in Alberta, Canada
24. Alberta eliminates game dev tax credit after just one year: Beamdog’s Trent Oster feels “betrayed” after new government budget cancels Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit
25. New Zealand government commits $10m to growth of local games industry: City of Dunedin will become hub for aspirations to grow games industry to $1 billion sector
26. Call of Duty Modern Warfare decried as ‘American propaganda’ over Highway of Death mission: Activision’s latest shooter has been panned by critics and players, claiming game attempts to rewrite history
27. UK Charts: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare launch sales beat Black Ops 4
28. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare saw $600 million in revenue in three days
29. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare grosses $600m in opening weekend – Latest game from Infinity Ward is fastest-selling entry in the franchise this generation
30. EA to ‘double down on live services’ as FIFA and The Sims 4 help outperform goals 
31. EA “doubling down on live services” as digital net revenue share grows in Q2: Apex Legends reaches 70 million players, seven months after launch
32. EA shows its hand for next fiscal year: Beginning March 2020, EA plans focus on Apex, new EA sports title on annual slate, two third-party IP, “exciting remasters”
33. EA Dice’s Star Wars Battlefront I and II have sold 33m copies combined: Battlefront II originally missed 2017 launch sales expectations by around 1m units
34. Tales from the making of Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
35. The Sims franchise surpasses $5b in lifetime sales: EA asserts franchise’s position as part of plans for its increased focus on supporting live services
36. EA will not ship an NBA Live game this fiscal year: NBA Live 20 either cancelled or reworked as franchise prepares for an “innovative new direction”
37. EA Access heading to Steam after U.S. publisher reconnects with Valve
38. EA returns to Steam: SVP Mike Blank talks about the need to reduce fragmentation as EA pledges to bring Jedi Fallen Order, EA Access to Valve’s storefront
39. So long, Origin? EA comes back to Steam with new games
40. Remnant: From the Ashes sells 1 million copies in just over 2 months
41. Watch Afterparty director Adam Hines break down the game’s drink-fueled design
42. Overwatch 2 reportedly to be revealed at BlizzCon: New Hero and PvE mode
43. The Last of Us Part II delayed to May 29: Sony pushes post-apocalyptic sequel back three months to polish the game to Naughty Dog’s standards
44. Sony issuing refunds for faulty WWE 2K20: Latest entry into 2K Games’ annual wrestling franchise mired with bugs and glitches
45. Jaguar designed an electric sportscar just for Gran Turismo
46. Plants vs Zombies: Battle for Neighborville was the No.1 game download across EMEAA last week – The Witcher 3 and Ring Fit Adventure perform strongly at physical retail. FIFA 20 is No.1 combined
47. Starbreeze resumes Payday 2 development, new paid DLC on the horizon
48. Starbreeze restarts Payday 2 content production ten months after pulling the plug: Beleaguered game company turns to reliable territory in recovery attempts
49. Google sets up first Stadia game studio in Montreal
50. Google is making a “spectrum of bets” on Stadia content: As Google unveils new Montreal development studio, Stadia Games & Entertainment boss Jade Raymond discusses the platform strategy
51. Google Stadia’s stealth launch does not inspire confidence | Opinion: After its bombastic announcement, Stadia’s low-key and poorly communicated launch will fuel suspicion that it’s another of Google’s passing fads
52. Google: Stadia exclusives to have features “not possible” on home hardware
53. European gamers wary of digital-only games consoles: Just 11% of players claim they would likely buy a games machine that doesn’t include a disc-drive
54. Apple Arcade isn’t the only subscription: GameClub revives old iOS games
55. GameClub’s “greatest hits anthology” of mobile games launches today: VP of business development Eli Hodapp shares his goals for the subscription service and how it differs from Apple Arcade
56. Gameloft partners with TIM Italy for new mobile subscription service: TIM I love games costs €2/week for access to over 700 games sans in-app purchases or ads
57. My.Games sees Q3 revenue driven by free-to-play mobile: Company aims to have 80% of its revenue from from international markets by 2022
58. Wizards of the Coast acquires Tuque Games: Dungeons & Dragons owner picks up Montreal studio that created Livelock and has been working on a D&D game
59. Scopely announces $200m in Series D funding: Financing will be used to accelerate mergers, acquisitions, and investment strategies
60. Welcome Back, Koster: Why an MMORPG vet is back building a new virtual world
61. The French games industry had over 1200 titles in production in 2019: 63% of those games were new IP
62. Video games in China: beyond the great firewall
63. Empires and Puzzles surpasses $500m lifetime revenue: Match-three puzzler is most profitable in Zynga’s portfolio
64. Zynga reports record Q3 revenues and weaker-than-expected profits
65. GreedFall beat expectations, led Q2 revenue for publisher Focus Home Interactive
66. Greedfall success drives H1 growth for Focus Home Interactive: Publisher says it remains on target to build yearly revenue from €44m to €150m over three years
67. Microsoft relaunches Xbox All Access financing program with next-gen upgrade option
68. Microsoft beat expectations with strong Windows revenue, but Xbox had a rough quarter
69. Xbox services flat as gaming revenue dips to $2.5B in Microsoft’s Q1
70. Xbox All-Access expands to UK and Australia with Project Scarlett upgrade option: The smartphone-style contract will include a console and Ultimate Game Pass
71. Xbox has paid out $1.2 billion to independent developers this generation: ID@Xbox boss Chris Charla says program offers great commercial and artist opportunities
72. Suda51 and Swery collaborating on new game, Devolver unaware it’s the publisher: Acclaimed developers say indie publisher offered $1 million for the project, which Devolver said is “news to us”
73. DragonVale dev Backflip Studios is closing down
74. Backflip Studios shutting down: Hasbro pulling plug on DragonVale and Transformers: Earth Wars developer after a decade in business
75. One company’s cast-off can be Deca Games’ treasure: Founder of indie publisher talks about the perks and pressures of acquiring existing games after original owners stop investing in them
76. Blizzard Loses First Sponsor Due To Stance On Hong Kong Speech
77. Sponsor abandoned Blizzard esports league after Blitzchung controversy: Mitsubishi pulled support for Asia Pacific Hearthstone tournament two days after player was punished for supporting Hong Kong protest
78. League of Legends: Understanding the success of an esport that doesn’t turn a profit: LEC head of business development and sponsorship Alban Dechelotte discusses finding the balance with esport partnerships
79. Modern Times Group considering US IPO as esports business grows: Swedish investment firm begins strategic review, which could also lead to joint venture partnership in video games space
80. WeWork parent considering gaming business: Play By We trademark application says it would run competitions, offer space for conferences or offices
81. No Pixel Podiums: Lack of governance in esports excludes them from the Olympic Games
82. Update Required for Youth Esports – Children’s Privacy Takes Center Stage at Upcoming FTC Workshop
83. Another top Twitch streamer has switched over to Mixer
84. Shroud Pulls A Ninja, Exiting Twitch For Exclusive Livestreaming Deal With Mixer
85. Mixer signs exclusive deal with Shroud: Michael Grzesiek leaves Twitch channel with 7 million followers behind for Microsoft’s livestreaming platform
86. Third Streamer, King Gothalion, Departs Twitch In Exclusive Deal With Mixer
87. Gothalion is the latest big Twitch streamer to switch to Mixer
88. Mixer lowers its subscription price to better compete with Twitch
89. Sony files trademarks for PlayStation 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10: Platform holder’s trademark security process teases decades worth of new console
90. The PS4 has become the second best-selling home console of all time
91. Sony financials: PS4 hardware and software sales ‘lower-than-expected’
92. PlayStation revenues down 17% but Sony’s financials hold steady: PS4 now second best-selling home console of all time, despite slowing sales as generation nears its end
93. PlayStation Vue is shutting down in 2020
94. Report: Sony looking to sell PlayStation Vue as service continues to lose money
95. Sony is trying to sell off PlayStation Vue, but it might have a hard time of it
96. Sony considering sale of PlayStation Vue: Live TV streaming service has reportedly failed to turn a profit since launching in 2015
97. Sony to shut down PlayStation Vue in January: Four years after launch, TV subscription to close due to “slow-to-change” industry
98. An end in Vue: Sony will shutter its streaming video service
99. Kojima Productions’ Death Stranding will come to PC months after PS4 launch
100. Death Stranding no longer a PlayStation exclusive as 505 Games prepares PC version: Publisher will bring Hideo Kojima’s upcoming title to desktops in Summer 2020
101. Enterprise revenue expected to jump 69% this year as VR takes hold in business: PlayStation VR continues as market leading headset, breaching 4.7 million units sold
102. VR Web Browser ‘Supermedium’ No Longer in Active Development
103. UKIE partners with Space Ape and Playmob on environmentally conscious game jam: Bi-annual student game jam will see teams competing for £2,000 scholarship
104. Full motion, full emotion: Bandersnatch’s Emmys as a (literal) game changer: Acclaimed FMV game makers dish in the wake of Black Mirror’s Emmys.
105. Mario Kart Tour’s first-month downloads zoom past 123m: Revenue of $37.4m is the second-best first-month revenue for a Nintendo mobile game
106. Shigeru Miyamoto named ‘Person of Cultural Merit’ by the Japanese government
107. Shigeru Miyamoto recognised with Japanese cultural award: Super Mario creator will be awarded for elevating the Japanese games industry around the world
108. Star Trek Fleet Command publisher Scopely nets $200 million for future acquisitions 
109. Luigi’s Mansion 3 review: The most “Nintendo” game from Nintendo in years
110. Luigi’s Mansion 3: Critical Consensus – Reviewers welcome plumber brother’s latest adventure on Switch as a charming frightfest
111. First Switch game ok’d for launch in China, though the console remains in limbo
112. Switch China launch draws nearer as Tencent approved to publish Mario Bros U DX: Chinese publisher also approved to bring Monster Hunter: World back to shelves
113. Profit up at Capcom thanks to strong Monster Hunter World: Iceborne sales
114. Monster Hunter World: Iceborne drives profit for Capcom in latest financials: DLC has shipped 2.8 million units since September, while base game surpasses 14 million lifetime sales
115. Pokémon Go surpasses $3bn lifetime revenue: Niantic’s augmented reality mobile game on track to break 2016 revenue record
116. Revenue up at Rovio, though high user acquisition costs impact operating profit
117. The Climate Trail: A bleak look at what awaits us if we fail to address climate change
118. Star Theory’s shot beyond the Mun with Kerbal Space Program 2: Creative director Nate Simpson on the challenges of grounding the interstellar sequel in reality while adding accessibility
119. Designing interesting and informative conversations in Heaven’s Vault
120. Ninja Theory launches mental health R&D effort: Hellblade studio’s The Insight Project aiming to “help mental health treatment to go mainstream”
121. Shattering Muslim stereotypes with Islamic Relief’s mobile game: Ultimatum Games’ Shahid Ahmad explains why an idle clicker was perfect for the charity
122. Don’t Miss: How Red Faction: Guerrilla uses player freedom to drive open-world design
123. Blog: Examining the design and UX of Miniclip’s 8 Ball Pool
124. Blog: The client-to-cloud revolution — A 3D view of how we got here
125. Blog: Understanding permadeath as a mechanic in survival horror
126. Meet the new best Android TV device: The 2019 Nvidia Shield TV
127. Cloud gaming service Shadow raises $33m: Start-up has now raised $100 million to date
128. Why I hate fun | Opinion: ArenaNet’s John Hopson has spent a career applying “fun scores” to games — here’s why the practice needs to change
129. Don’t Play the Goose Game: Untitled Goose Game is fun. The problem is, all games are also work. (Ian Bogost)

DIGITAL

1. G/O Media Is Fighting Its Staff Over ‘Objectively Bad’ Autoplay Ads: Deadspin, Gizmodo, and Jezebel have been inundated with sound-on ads that the rest of the internet killed a decade ago.
2. What happened when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez came face to face with Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg
3. Zuckerberg faces heat in Congress: “It’s almost like you think this is a joke” – Hearing on Libra cryptocurrency went off the rails, running down the CEO.
4. Facebook’s new political-ad policy already showing cracks, loopholes
5. No, you apparently can’t run for office just to put false ads on Facebook
6. Facebook launches a news section — and will pay publishers
7. Facebook will begin paying some outlets for their content as it introduces its News tab: Breitbart News is among the 200 outlets participating in the program.
8. Facebook Launches ‘News’ Tab, Will Pay (Some) Partner Outlets For Their Content
9. ‘Facebook Spaces’ Has Been Shut Down But Its Lessons Shouldn’t Be Forgotten
10. Viacom Digital Studios International Inks Multi-Territory Content Deal With Facebook Watch
11. Facebook deletes the accounts of NSO Group workers
12. Russia’s Fancy Bear hackers conduct “significant cyberattacks” on anti-doping agencies
13. Indian nuclear power plant’s network was hacked, officials confirm
14. Indian nuke plant’s network reportedly hit by malware tied to N. Korea
15. India Looking To Be The Next China, Sends Out Call For Bids On Massive Facial Recognition Program
16. India: Delhi High Court orders removal of all posts defamatory to Ramdev ‘Globally’
17. The LawBytes Podcast, Episode 29: Partisan Posts, Social Media, and Misinformation – Taylor Owen on What Actually Happened Online in the 2019 Election (Michael Geist)
18. Internet Access Provider May Be Vicariously Liable for Subscribers’ BitTorrent Downloads–Warner Bros. v. Charter (Eric Goldman)
19. Instagram expands ban on suicide content to cover cartoons and memes
20. How memes got weaponized: A short history
21. Youth and Cyberbullying
22. Congress concerned teenagers’ favorite app is national security threat
23. TikTok, Under Scrutiny, Distances Itself From China: Three senators have called for an investigation into the social media app, which is owned by the Chinese tech giant ByteDance.
24. Indian Court Orders Global Takedown Of ‘Defamatory’ Video From YouTube, Twitter, Facebook
25. Trump to Tell Federal Agencies to Cut New York Times, Washington Post Subscriptions
26. Twitter blocking all political ads globally starting in November
27. Twitter says it now removes half of all abusive tweets before users report them
28. Twitter shares plunge almost 20% after revenue hit by weaker advertising, low demand
29. India uses opaque legal process to suppress Kashmiri journalism, commentary on Twitter
30. No, Internet Companies Do Not Get A ‘Free Pass’ Thanks To CDA 230
31. Insights: As Social Media Sites Fiddle Over Cannabis Creator Bans, Public Health Suffers
32. Lego’s Mostly Obnoxious IP Bullying Of The 3D Printing Community Doesn’t Make Any Sense
33. Your Periodic Reminder that Blogging About Litigation Can Generate More Litigation–Wexler v. Dorsey & Whitney (Eric Goldman)
34. FTC Reaches Settlement with Developer of Tracking Apps
35. Social Media Bot Company Devumi LLC Reaches $2.5 Million Settlement with FTC for Sale of Misleading Social Media “Influence Indicators”
36. FTC Sues Over Phony Business Practices Online
37. FTC Enforcement Action Against Deceptive Online Reviews
38. The FTC fosters fake reviews, its own commissioners say
39. Customer Review Fraud Top of FTC’s Priority List
40. NAAG Asks Online Retailers to Prevent Illegal Alcohol Sales
41. Skin Care Company, Sunday Riley, Somehow Gets No Consequences In Fake Reviews FTC Settlement
42. Website and Its Operator Settle FTC Charges They Sold Fake Indicators of Social Media Influence
43. Tax Treatment of Cryptocurrency Mining
44. See on Apple TV+: Less Game of Thrones, more unintentionally funny SyFy
45. Apple earnings Q4 2019: Tim Cook says health will be what Apple is remembered for
46. Creatives, Including Judd Apatow, Balk At Netflix Playback Speed Tests: “Don’t F-ck With Our Timing”
47. Spotify Testing Sponsored Version of ‘Brand New Music for You’ Recommendation Feature
48. Spotify launches a dedicated Kids app with curated playlists and playful art
49. Snapchat now lets you 3D Paint faces and pretty much anything else
50. Amazon Can’t Force Arbitration of Minors’ Privacy Claims Based on Alexa Recordings–BF v. Amazon
51. Court Partially Enforces Amazon’s Non-Compete Against Employee Who Joined Google–Amazon v. Moyer
52. Amazon Will Make Amazon Fresh Free, Moving To Strengthen Its Lead In The Online Grocery Market
53. Amid Missed Alphabet Earnings, Analyst Suggests YouTube Spin-Off Could Boast $300 Billion Market Cap
54. YouTube Music Brings 10,000 Fans Together To Create New Queen Music Videos
55. Jesse Ridgway Spent 13 Years Making Content On YouTube. Here’s Why He’s Leaving — And Building Its Competitor.
56. MrBeast Is Going To Plant 20 Million Trees — With A Little Help From The YouTube Community
57. Creators Discovered YouTube’s Publicly Available Code Displayed Channels’ P-Scores, Video Ratings, And More
58. Target Hones YouTube Presence In Massively-Viewed Collabs With Michelle Phan, Emma Chamberlain
59. Ryan ToysReview Changes Clunky Channel Name, Launches Spanish-Language Hub
60. Group Nine Announces New Executive Leadership Structure Following PopSugar Acquisition
61. NBA’s Top Offseason Video Topics, Plus Lebron, Zion, And More Very Engaging Stars For The 2019-20 Season
62. Microsoft finally built a repairable Surface Laptop
63. Red quits the smartphone business after a single, terrible phone
64. Here’s what the people who claimed Google’s quantum supremacy have to say about it
65. Google And Facebook Didn’t Kill Newspapers: The Internet Did
66. Google’s parent company reportedly wants to buy Fitbit
67. An Army “hacker con” goes big: The return of AvengerCon
68. A Turning Point for Tech – Global survey on digital regulation: Technological developments and tech-based business models have become a focus for global regulation across borders and industries in recent years.
69. Global Media Technology and Communications Quarterly: Autumn 2019 Edition
70. Internet Broadcasting and Section 31D of Copyright Act 1957
71. Models for Platform Governance
72. Elon Musk Contributes $1 Million To MrBeast’s #TeamTrees, Pushing Total To $8.2 Million In 5 Days
73. Our FOIA Lawsuit Gets Results: ICE Admits It Didn’t Really Seize A Million ‘Copyright Infringing’ Domains
74. E-retailer takeovers rise as high street decline increases pressure to grow online sales
75. Does reselling online content infringe copyright in the EU?
76. 50 years ago today, the Internet was born. Sort of
77. The Internet At 50: It Has Enabled Many Wonderful Things, But We Have To Fight To Keep It That Way

A.I.

1. DeepMind AI achieves Grandmaster status at Starcraft 2
2. Level up: DeepMind’s AlphaStar achieves Grandmaster level in StarCraft II
3. FACEIT and Google-designed ‘Admin AI’ bans 20,000 toxic CS:GO players in six weeks
4. A health care algorithm offered less care to black patients
5. Skynet, But For Welfare: Automating Social Services Is Killing People
6. Solving Rubik’s Cube with a Robot Hand
7. Six cars aced new pedestrian detection tests 
8. New community management AI from FaceIt bans 20,000 players in trail run: Esports tournament platform reduces number of toxic messages in Counter-Strike games by 20%
9. Patenting Artificial Intelligence Inventions in Canada 
10. The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Patent Infringement Claims 
11. Jones Day Talks:®When AI Invents: Two Applications Test U.S. Patent Law
12. AI technology – the pitfalls of protecting inventions
13. Introducing AI Blindspot: A Call for Tech to Think Holistically and Spot Risks
14. Distracted by Data: What we risk by hyper-focusing on “data” as a problem to solve 
15. Data Voids: Where Missing Data Can Easily Be Exploited
16. When Binary Code Won’t Accommodate Nonbinary People: The next frontier in gender rights is inside databases.

COMMUNICATIONS

1. The Retailers Strike Back with a Motion to Strike in the Allarco Litigation (Howard Knopf) 
2. Motion to Strike in Allarco
3. Wireless Worsens: Report Finds Canadian Wireless Pricing Now Less Competitive Compared to Other Developed Economies (Michael Geist) 
4. Canadian Wireless Carrier Rogers ‘Surprised’ That People Like Unlimited Data Plans
5. AT&T loses another 1.3 million TV customers as DirecTV freefall continues
6. AT&T will slash $3 billion off its capital investments next year
7. AT&T Jacks Up TV Prices Post Merger After Repeatedly Claiming That Wouldn’t Happen
8. Man sues AT&T after fraudulent SIM swap led to $1.8M cryptocurrency theft 
9. AT&T Will Invest $4 Billion In HBO Max Over Next 3 Years, Doesn’t Expect Profit Until 2024 
10. This Idaho Town Lets You Switch Between Cheap Fiber ISPs In A Matter Of Seconds
11. HBO Max will bring up the streaming-video rear in May 2020 for $15/mo
12. FCC plans Huawei/ZTE ban, may require ripping out existing network gear
13. FCC Seeks Comment on Adequacy of US Broadband Deployment
14. FCC Requires 911 Fee Parity Between VoIP Services and Traditional Phone Service
15. TV Network Declares IPTV Tool Copyright Infringing, Even Though It’s Just A Tool
16. Comcast’s ‘Free’ Streaming Box Is Actually $13 After Stupid Fees
17. Comcast fights Google’s encrypted-DNS plan but promises not to spy on users
18. Comcast Insists It’s An Innocent Little Daisy On Consumer Privacy
19. Like The Rest Of Its 5G Footprint, Verizon 5G Sports Venue Availability Is Being Overhyped
20. Eagles fly to Iran, rack up huge roaming charges

PRIVACY

1. Report: Devin Nunes’ Aide Going Around Leaking Ukraine Call Whistleblower’s Name
2. Australia wants to use face recognition for porn age verification
3. New York AG Sues Dunkin’ Over Cybersecurity
4. Georgia Supreme Court Says Cops Need Warrants To Search Vehicle Crash Data Recorders
5. Magistrate Judge Rejects Govt’s Attempt To Use A Stored Records Law To Seek Future Cell Site Location Info
6. Interesting developments in the law of confidential information
7. Steak With A Side Of Surveillance: Outback Restaurants Adding Employee-Tracking Analytics To Its Cameras
8. Whirlpool Left Appliance Data, User Emails Exposed Online
9. Man planted keyloggers in companies’ networks and stole their data
10. WhatsApp suit says Israeli spyware maker exploited its app to target 1,400 users
11. Johannesburg’s network shut down after second attack in 3 months
12. The Stakes for Complying With DoD Cybersecurity Requirements Are Higher Than Ever
13. New Mass Shooting Prevention Bill Will Use ‘Anti-Terrorism’ Methods To Ramp Up Surveillance Of Students
14. IP Insight: Remember the “Right to be Forgotten?”
15. Right to Privacy: Can the Employer conduct Surveillance?
16. The count of managed service providers getting hit with ransomware mounts
17. Five months after returning rental car, man still has remote control
18. The Countdown Begins on California’s “Internet of Things” Law
19. Hacked, cracked or breached: What’s in a name when it comes to privacy?

CREATIVITY

1. General Court confirms cancellation of EU trade mark consisting of the shape of famous Rubik’s Cube (Eleonora Rosati)
2. Aussie Censorship In Action: National Enquirer Editor Threats Get Bookstores To Block Sale Of Ronan Farrow Book
3. Communication Breakdown: Canadian Quirks in Madrid International Trademark Filing System Can Trip Up Foreign Practitioners
4. Strengthening Trade Secret Protection in Canada
5. Federal Court Opens Door to use of Foreign Patent Prosecution Histories in Canadian Litigation
6. UK Supreme Court hands employee-inventor a dramatic £2 million victory
7. Shanks v Unilever: What does this mean for employers’ intellectual property rights?
8. IP Brief – Shanks v Unilever
9. UK Supreme Court awards Professor Shanks £2m compensation for invention of ‘outstanding benefit’ after 13 year court battle
10. Compensation and ownership – Two thorny issues in employee invention cases
11. Supreme Court rules no employer is “too big to pay” employees for inventions of outstanding benefit
12. Reproduction of Works and Kraft-works
13. Louis Vuitton ‘chessboard’ dispute in Poland: the court overturned the Patent Office’s decision
14. Halloween Edition: Copyright for Banana Costume is upheld on A-Peel
15. Olympic Advertising Rules Scaled Back Prior to 2020 Games
16. Is ‘Liverpool’ bigger than Liverpool Football Club?
17. Artistic value and copyright protection for industrial designs
18. Who Owns Truth Hurts?
19. Supreme Court Ruling on When Copyright Infringement Lawsuits May Be Filed Brings Heightened Interest in Preregistration
20. Fair and Balanced Reporting Pays Off: Newspapers Avoid Defamation Suits by Sticking to the Truth
21. Dorsey & Whitney Beats Defamation Claim Over TCPA Blog: Court Finds “Major Spousal Scheme” Headline Was Inactionable Opinion, Not Fact
22. James Woods Avoids Defamation Liability for a Tweet
23. MLB Umpire Joe West Sues Ex-Player Paul Lo Duca for Defamation Over Bribery Claims
24. New NCAA Marketing Rules for Athletes Proposed
25. Federal Labeling Laws vs. State False Advertising Laws: The Ongoing Preemption Battle
26. Cimabue Masterpiece found in French kitchen sells for £20 million

Jon

GAMES

1. In These Partisan Times, The Only Thing That Gets Bi-Partisan Agreement Is That Blizzard Sucks
2. Legislators condemn action against Hearthstone pro in letter to Activision Blizzard CEO
3. Lawmakers express “deep concern” over Blizzard’s Hong Kong protest response
4. US legislators: Blitzchung ban could have “chilling effect” on free speech – Bipartisan letter urges Blizzard to reverse decision to ban player for pro-Hong Kong statements
5. Blizzard belatedly punishes college Hearthstone team for Hong Kong protest: Team member welcomes “expected” punishment, says he’s quitting Hearthstone anyway.
6. Blizzard Digs Its Heels In And Issues 6 Month Ban To College ‘Hearthstone’ Team Over Hong Kong Message
7. Adam Silver Reveals The Chinese Government Asked Him To Fire Daryl Morey
8. Weaponizing The GDPR: Gamers Want To Use It To Flood Blizzard With Requests As Protest Over China Appeasement
9. Magic: The Gathering pro uses win to show Hong Kong protest support
10. Nicecactus.gg raises €5m, launches €1m esports player fund: Fund will be used to help support amateur and semi-pro players and teams through travel, training
11. Onmyoji server shut down in Vietnam for violating local sovereignty laws: Update to in-game map shows disputed South China Sea territory as Chinese against Vietnamese law
12. Children’s Commissioner for England wants urgent action to combat loot boxes
13. Children’s Commissioner calls for ban on all non-cosmetic in-game purchases: UK body also urges government to regulate loot boxes as gambling
14. Oxford researchers say clinical ‘gaming disorder’ lacks sufficient evidence
15. Study casts doubt on value of WHO’s “gaming disorder” diagnoses
16. Academic research finds no evidence of gaming as a clinical disorder: Previous studies failed to examine wider context of young peoples’ lives, says professor Andrew Przybylski
17. So long, supply drops: Call of Duty gets rid of randomized loot boxes
18. Call of Duty tosses loot boxes along with Season Pass, DLC map packs: Modern Warfare adopts Battle Pass system, won’t be available at launch
19. Call of Duty drops loot boxes in favor of battle passes in Modern Warfare
20. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare won’t be sold on PS Store in Russia – Game will still be sold digitally on Battle.net, Xbox console store
21. Andrew Yang: “Games are intrinsic to the human experience” – Democratic presidential candidate shares views on loot boxes, Blitzchung situation, gaming addiction
22. Yodo1’s AI-driven whale hunt is a bad look for the games industry | Opinion: Transformers players spending $150k grabbed headlines, but Yodo1’s GCAP talk raised tough questions about responsible monetisation in mobile
23. Big spending whales aren’t the problem with free-to-play games | Opinion : A player spending $150k on a mobile game isn’t a problem — but we should still be conscious of players that struggle with compulsion
24. Games Blamed For Moral Decline And Addiction Throughout History
25. Riot’s automated filters accidentally censor Muslim minority: But League of Legends developer has now fixed the error and is reviewing all disallowed words and phrases
26. How Riot Games’ Legends of Runeterra will bring “true free-to-play” to the CCG space: League of Legends developer ditches random packs for rewards scaled to play time and wild cards that let you buy anything
27. Diversity isn’t only skin deep: Accommodating autistic and neurodiverse people: Austistica Play ambassador Dominic Shaw explains how to consider talent that is often overlooked and underused
28. “All I understood was the company wanted me to work, so I worked, worked, worked”: At Game Connect Asia Pacific, Mega Man composer Manami Matsumae described the shifting attitudes towards crunch in Japan
29. Autonauts: Motivating players without conflict – Former Grand Theft Auto creative director Gary Penn discusses changing relationship with violence and conflict with his new game
30. National Literacy Trust and Penguin Random House researching link between games and literacy: Partnership with UKIE will survey secondary school children to explore whether gaming improves literacy skills
31. FIFA 20 supporting Premier League’s No Room For Racism campaign: Branding will appear on in-game stadium dressing, LED boards and FIFA Ultimate Team player kits in the coming months
32. FIFA 20 tops EMEAA chart for a third consecutive week: Codemasters Grid charts at No.5, new Yooka-Laylee scrapes the top 50
33. NBA 2K20 slam dunks with best US launch month sales of any sports game ever: NBA 2K is now the sixth-best-selling gaming franchise in US history, beating out Guitar Hero
34. Mario Kart Tour was the third most-downloaded mobile game in Q3 2019 – Sensor Tower: Nintendo’s racer doesn’t make it to top 100 grossing despite record-breaking downloads to start
35. Ring Fit Adventure: Critical Consensus – Reviewers felt the burn of Nintendo’s RPG-minded Wii Fit successor, recommending staying hydrated, stretching, and doing more reps
36. Downscaling, upscaling, same-scaling: Porting to Switch and under-powered consoles
37. Nintendo has sold over 15 million Switch systems in North America
38. Nintendo Switch has sold over 15m units in North America: Switch sales in NA are up over 20% year-to-date as of the end of September
39. Eleven Engineering v. Nintendo
40. UK Charts: Switch dominates as Ring Fit Adventure leads slew of new releases – But Mario Kart is the best-selling Switch game of the week, now past 1m units. Oh, and FIFA is still No.1
41. Should Nintendo go third-party? GamesIndustry.biz answers gamers’ questions at EGX 2019
42. Stadia’s wireless controller needs a cord to play on everything but TV at launch
43. Google Stadia’s controller is wireless, but only on TV at launch: PC, laptop, and mobile will need the USB-C cable to connect for now
44. Google can’t fulfill all Stadia preorders for Nov. 19 launch
45. Study Says Broadband Caps Are A Big Problem For Google’s Game Streaming Ambitions
46. Project Xcloud preview serves as a passable, portable Xbox One
47. Xbox Game Pass users are playing 40% more games — including outside Game Pass
48. Xbox software and services revenue remains flat as hardware continues to slow
49. Microsoft kicks off FY20 with flat gaming revenues: Company no longer reporting Xbox Live MAUs as it prepares for next console generation
50. Steam launches beta for Remote Play Together, taking couch co-op online
51. Capcom plans to ‘revive dormant IP’ as Resident Evil, Monster Hunter take off
52. Fallout 76 is offering premium features through a paid monthly membership
53. Bethesda rolls out $100/year subscription for Fallout 76 with private servers
54. Bethesda introduces Fallout 1st subscription to Fallout 76: $13/month nets players a private world for them and friends, other in-game conveniences
55. Don’t Miss: 20 years of Fallout: Lessons learned shipping games in the wasteland
56. Ubisoft’s VR Escape Rooms Have Quietly Reached 200+ Locations Across the Globe
57. The Louvre is Bringing The Mona Lisa to Life Soon in a New VR Experience
58. Sandbox VR raises $11 million thanks to celebrity contributions
59. What Tilt Five learned from the funding, focus stumbles of CastAR: Tilt Five CEO Jeri Ellsworth shares lessons on VC backing and strategic focus from AR tabletop outfit’s VR/AR predecessor
60. Microsoft’s DreamWalker VR turns your daily commute into a totally different one
61. Epic’s HoloLens 2 Demo ‘Apollo 11: Mission AR’ Showcases Impressive PC-quality Graphics
62. Youtubers Life has brought in more than $12 million in revenue
63. YouTubers Life passes $12m lifetime revenue: U-Play Online’s streamer simulation game has sold one million units
64. How Crows Crows Crows launches games multiple times for max marketing impact
65. Unit 2 Games secures $5m investment from Makers Fund: Studio will use finance to build development platform Crayta, launching spring 2020
66. Saber Interactive acquires Bigmoon Entertainment: World War Z developer also announces its zombie-fighting shooter has sold 3m copies
67. THQ Nordic expands into Japan with new distribution office 
68. THQ Nordic expands to Japan: Growing publisher has established second international distribution outlet to handle releases in Japanese market
69. Syberia publisher Anuman Interactive has rebranded as Microids
70. Anuman Interactive becomes Microids, opens Japan office: French publisher’s Japanese branch to focus on distribution, connections with Japanese developers
71. Dash Valley dev MadBox raises $16.5 million
72. MadBox raises $16.5m to broaden mobile portfolio: Startup also plans to open second office in Barcelona
73. Tilting Point acquires monetization firm Gondola: User acquisition and marketing outfit picks up in-game offer and ad optimization company
74. A look at the studio-building process at Avalanche Malmo
75. Deca acquires four games from Gree: Indie publisher grabs midcore titles Knights and Dragons, Crime City, Modern War, and Kingdom Age from Japanese mobile outfit
76. Bigmoon Entertainment acquired by World War Z dev Saber Interactive
77. Tencent now owns 51.2% of Supercell-controlling consortium
78. Tencent takes majority control over Supercell: World’s largest game company increases stake in consortium which owns Finnish mobile developer
79. Jagex denies reports it has been sold (again): Rumours re-emerge but RuneScape developer says sale “remains one of various possible outcomes”
80. Unity is raising Pro and Plus prices for new subscriptions in 2020
81. Unity to raise subscription prices: Beginning in January, Pro subs will go up 20% to $150 a month, while Plus plans rise 14% to $40 a month
82. Blog: A UI development diagram for Unity
83. Blog: How commercial games are designed to develop players’ skills
84. Video: Tuning the Halo plasma rifle’s muzzle velocity on Legendary difficulty
85. Video: How changing Halo 3’s sniper rifle fire rate by 0.2 seconds changed the game
86. Video: How to lead a healthier, more effective game dev team
87. Video: Curating the Victoria & Albert Museum’s video game exhibition
88. Don’t Miss: My Friend Pedro’s journey from Flash cult hit to indie success
89. Don’t Miss: 7 influential immersive sims that all devs should play
90. Video Game Deep Cuts: Fortnite’s End In Jedi’s Order
91. Fortnite tumbles down digital spending charts: Superdata says September saw Epic’s shooter post 43% month-over-month sales decline as worldwide digital game spending slipped
92. ‘Fortnite’ Sees Social Video Viewership Resurgence Amid Launch Of ‘Chapter 2’
93. Fortnite’s black hole event broke Twitch and Twitter viewing records: More than 7 million people watched across social platforms
94. Fortnite’s “The End” event set Twitch record for concurrent viewers of a single game: 1.7m people were watching a black hole on Twitch at the same time last week
95. Explaining how fighting games use delay-based and rollback netcode
96. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order hands-on: Tried, true, and tough
97. Can Need For Speed turn up the heat after 25 years?
98. New law means EA could revive NCAA sports games: CEO Andrew Wilson says he “would jump for the opportunity” to publish titles around $14 billion industry
99. Haven is about “cooking, chatting, drinking, kissing — that’s very French”: The Game Bakers’ Audrey Leprince on finding the recipe for a quintessentially French game
100. Starborne studio sees a universe of potential: Solid Clouds originally stemmed from CCP, but it’s aspirations are shaped more by Paradox
101. YouTube Settles Lawsuit Against Man Who Attempted To Extort ‘Minecraft’ Creators With Copyright Flags
102. Minecraft becomes a board game, and the results are faithful, fantastic
103. Three million square miles of wilderness: How Silk advances a lost genre – Chris Bateman and Rob Hewson on the ’80s-style exploration game’s vast world and the choices that drive players through it
104. Obituary: Former Eidos president Keith Boesky has passed away
105. Former Eidos president Keith Boesky dies: Boesky’s law firm worked closely with game developers bringing IP across platforms
106. U.S. Patent No. 8,992,321: Apparatus and method for displaying player character showing special movement state in network game

DIGITAL

1. Privacy bill would give FTC actual authority, land lying executives in jail: CEOs won’t consider privacy until they face “personal consequences,” Wyden said.
2. FTC Announces Settlement Over Fake Followers
3. Fake Reviews and Fake Followers: FTC Cracks Down on Deceptive Online Posting
4. Mark Zuckerberg Still Doesn’t Get It
5. Zuckerberg doubles down on free speech—the Facebook way
6. Sacha Baron Cohen Makes Nazi Analogy to Slam Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook Policy
7. Facebook, Under Fire For Political Ad Policies, Lays Out Election Protection Plan
8. Facebook promises to beef up “election integrity” efforts heading into 2020
9. Facebook Criticized for Not Censoring Candidate Ads – Even Though Congress Requires No Censorship from Broadcasters
10. Facebook takedowns show new Russian activity targeted Biden, praised Trump: The company disabled accounts that posed at times as locals in swing states to post on divisive political issues and the upcoming election.
11. Facebook Announces Additional Measures to Protect the Upcoming U.S. Elections
12. Facebook’s new Oversight Board is a step forward – but it can’t help Kashmiris: If Facebook decides incorrectly that local laws in India require it to silence Kashmiri calls for self-determination, the Board will not be able to review.
13. Facebook must face $35B facial-recognition lawsuit following court ruling
14. Facebook’s Failure To Stop TikTok Shows, Once Again, That Big Companies Often Can’t Just ‘Copy’ Disruptive Upstarts
15. The Libra Digital Currency Project: The (Long) Path Forward
16. Cryptocurrency 2.0: Is Libra the Tipping Point?
17. Instagram is banning plastic-surgery effect filters
18. Instagram test helps you choose people to unfollow: Groups would help you cut users you rarely see in your feed.
19. Bringing Free Speech Back: Trump Promises To Sue CNN Over Its Biased Coverage Based On Dumbest Legal Theory Ever
20. IGTV Rolls Out Tools Enabling Creators To Publish Videos As An Episodic Series
21. Cautionary Notes on Disinformation and the Origins of Distrust (Yochai Benkler)
22. The New Copyright Directive: Are OCSSPs Now Required to Carry Certain Content?
23. The ASA ruling on identifying ads – Brooks Brothers and Matthew Zorpas
24. China’s Surveillance State Has Tens of Millions of New Targets: So-called key individuals, from drug addicts to religious believers, are singled out in police databases.
25. The Ultimate Aim Of China’s 2016 Cybersecurity Law Is Now Clear: Nothing Digital Can Be Secret From The Authorities
26. Insights: Doing Business In China Vexes Companies That Depend On Creators — And Creators Themselves
27. Report On Global Social Media Censorship Shows Russia, India, And Turkey Are Still Leading The Censor Pack
28. Stealthy Russian Hacker Group Resurfaces With Clever New Tricks: Largely out of the spotlight since 2016, Cozy Bear hackers have been caught perpetrating a years-long campaign.
29. Hacking the hackers: Russian group hijacked Iranian spying operation, officials say
30. Republicans storm ultra-secure “SCIF,” some with cell phones blazing
31. White House kicks infosec team to curb in IT office shakeup
32. Blocked: Twitter, Trump, and the Public Forum Doctrine
33. A cacophony of self-pity drowns out r/The_Donald’s message as Reddit extends quarantine
34. Rounding Up Two Online Contract Formation Cases (Eric Goldman)
35. Roundup of the House Commerce Committee Hearing on Section 230 (Eric Goldman)
36. Marc Benioff Calls For Section 230 To Be Abolished At The Same Time His Company Is Relying On 230 To Get Out Of A Lawsuit
37. Senators propose near-total ban on worker noncompete agreements
38. Congressional Reps Targeting Homegrown Terrorism Are Pushing A Bill That Would Allow Congress To Subpoena Citizens’ Communications
39. Should all connected cars have a physical network kill switch?
40. How meme culture changed the PSAT
41. Cookies: A Coming-of-Age Story
42. Accessibility, the future, and why Domino’s matters
43. Supreme Court’s Avoidance of Web Accessibility Bodes Increase in ADA Demands and Lawsuits
44. Navigating ADA Compliance Issues in an Online World
45. Supreme Court Denies Review of ADA Website Accessibility Case, Leaving Businesses Subject to Ninth Circuit’s Guidelines
46. The Good And The Bad Of The ACCESS Act To Force Open APIs On Big Social Media
47. The latest Google shutdowns: Daydream VR, Google Clips
48. Report: Home builders ditch Nest products after Google takeover
49. Chrome rolls out new protections preventing password and data theft
50. Penn State Study Posits YouTube’s Algorithm Isn’t To Blame For Far-Right Radicalization
51. Guy Who Tried To Extort YouTubers With Bogus DMCA Takedowns Agrees To Settlement
52. Tati Westbrook Launches Makeup Brand, As YouTuber Palette Season Kicks Into High Gear
53. YouTube’s first interactive original is a heist show starring gaming personality Markiplier
54. YouTube Founder Chad Hurley Raises $8.5 Million For Fan-Centric Sports Game Startup ‘GreenPark’
55. Jeffree Star Cosmetics Forecasts Shane Dawson Collab Will Generate $35 Million In Morphe, Online Sales
56. Netflix offers $2 billion in debt to fund more original content
57. Netflix hit with interrogator’s libel suit
58. Netflix releases first teaser trailer for Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045
59. Ed Norton Calls Out Steven Spielberg & Hollywood For Demonizing Netflix
60. Amazon Launches Ad-Supported ‘News’ Video App With CBS, HuffPost, Cheddar
61. New ‘Watch Parties’ feature lets streamers watch Amazon Prime with their viewers on Twitch: You do, however, need to have Amazon Prime to watch those streams
62. Amazon hits back at AAFA notorious markets submission with rare public rebuttal
63. Amazon Launches Ad-Supported ‘News’ Video App With CBS, HuffPost, Cheddar
64. Whistle To Launch First-Ever OTT Channel, WhistleTV, With Original Shows, Influencers, More
65. T-Mobile To Serve As Exclusive Telecom Launch Partner For Katzenberg’s Quibi
66. The 2019 iPad races to the bottom (price-wise), but it’s not so bad down there
67. Patreon Founder Jack Conte Launches ‘Super Patron’ Endowment That Will Give Creators A Yearly Salary
68. BroadbandTV Content Partners Nominated for The 9th Annual Streamy Awards Which Honor Excellence in Online Video
69. Online Sports Gambling
70. Adobe Announces Plan To Essentially Steal Money From Venezuelans Because It ‘Has To’ Due To US Sanctions
71. TikTok Makes Some Users Ad Stars—Without Asking
72. TikTok Collaborates With 12 Creators For New ‘You’re In Control’ Online Safety Videos
73. Music Video Upstart ‘Triller’ Says It’s Taking On TikTok Amid $28 Million Series B
74. Feds bust massive child porn sharing site—hundreds of users arrested
75. After Four Years Of Failing To Bring Its Plan To Completion, UK Government Pulls Out Of Porn Blockade Effort
76. Snapchat Beats Third-Quarter Expectations But Provides Weaker Guidance
77. Snapchat Adds 7 Million Daily Active Users In Q3, Looks Ahead To Wearable AR Tech
78. Snapchat goes after retailers and DTC brands with new Dynamic Ads
79. BuzzFeed Launches Inaugural Creator Program For Its Travel Brand ‘Bring Me!’
80. Hulu ramps up its personalization efforts, starting with launch of Like / Dislike buttons
81. Yahoo is deleting all content ever posted to Yahoo Groups
82. “You’re going to flip”: Motorola teases the new Razr in November event invitation
83. What is Bitcoin good for?
84. Blockchain helps busts bad guys in darkweb shutdown
85. When MS Paint ruled the fandom world: An innovative webcomic, 10 years later
86. Air Force finally retires 8-inch floppies from missile launch control system
87. Expect that Our Romance with Tech Companies Might Be Over

A.I.

1. AI and Copyright: Who’s That Author Behind the Computer?
2. One in three councils using algorithms to make welfare decisions: Machine-learning tools being deployed despite evidence they are unreliable
3. AI and IoT Legislative Developments: Third Quarter 2019

COMMUNICATIONS

1. What Comes Next for Canadian Digital Policy Under a Liberal Minority Government? (Michael Geist) 
2. No more free rides for large online digital media services
3. Canadian Broadcasting Company Hits Conservative Party With Questionable Copyright Infringement Lawsuit 
4. The CBC Lawsuit, Fair Dealing and Future Reform: The Unexpected Arrival of Copyright in Election 2019 (Michael Geist) 
5. The Conservative Party of Canada Moves to Dismiss the Controversial CBC Litigation and CBC’s Apparent Inaction on Removing Barton & Tasker (Howard Knopf)
6. CBC lawsuit against CPC raises questions about use of copyrighted media content in partisan election advertisements
7. CBC “Fresh as Amended” Lawsuit Against the Conservative Party of Canada (Howard Knopf)
8. After court loss, Ajit Pai complains about states regulating broadband
9. Ajit Pai Whines About The Numerous State-Level Net Neutrality Laws He Just Helped Create
10. FCC Approved T-Mobile Sprint Merger Without Even Seeing The Full Details
11. FCC Issues “Clarifications” of Political Broadcasting Public File Disclosure Requirements – Significantly More Disclosures to Be Required on Issue Ads
12. States Rush To Protect Net Neutrality On Heels Of Court Ruling
13. AT&T hits online TV customers with second big price increase this year 
14. AT&T Jacks Up Broadband Rates With Misleading ‘Property Tax’ Fee
15. Frontier gets away with “paltry” settlement after breaking 35 laws and rules
16. Comcast’s “free” streaming box requires you to rent $13-per-month router
17. Verizon’s 5G network can’t cover an entire basketball arena, either
18. Google Fi will soon connect you to two LTE networks at once
19. General Services Administration issues consolidated schedule solicitation and mass modification which contain prohibitions against the People’s Republic of China
20. Germany Chooses China Over the West: Berlin’s refusal to shut Huawei out of its 5G networks weakens Europe’s prospects of standing up to Beijing.
21. Calling time on hands-free? Government considers blank ban on mobile phone use while driving

PRIVACY

1. Canadian Supreme Court To Cops: You Can’t Arrest Someone Just Because You Think Something Illegal Might Happen In The Future
2. Ed Snowden: Governments Can’t Make The Public ‘Safer’ By Undermining The Encryption Essential To The Public’s Security
3. DOJ’s Latest Child Porn Site Takedown Shows Encryption Isn’t Really Stopping The Feds From Fighting Child Porn
4. Alexa and Google Home abused to eavesdrop and phish passwords
5. ICE in New York has a spy tool to hunt undocumented immigrants via their cell phones: ICE is spying on cell phones and acquiring call records to hunt down undocumented immigrants
6. California Governor Signs Bill Banning Facial Recognition Tech Use By State’s Law Enforcement Agencies
7. Warrantless Retrieval of Electronic Automobile Data Held to Be Unreasonable Search – Ruling Points to Private Nature of Digital Data Collected in Today’s World
8. Civil Rights Groups Ask Legislators To Block Ring’s Surveillance Partnerships With Law Enforcement
9. Anyone can fingerprint unlock a Galaxy S10—just grab a clear phone case
10. The Pixel 4’s face unlock works on sleeping, unconscious people
11. Google says a fix for Pixel 4 face unlock is “months” away
12. Hackers steal secret crypto keys for NordVPN. Here’s what we know so far
13. NSA Warns of Hackers Attacking VPN Service Applications
14. CBP And Local Law Enforcement Are Mixing And Matching Surveillance Gear To Skirt Already-Minimal Constitutional Protections
15. Colleges Held for Ransom: Responding to a Ransomware Attack
16. UK Hospital Somehow Manages To Turn A Patient’s Private Message Into Its Voicemail Greeting
17. Planet49: CJEU rules out opt-out consent for cookies
18. Europe – European Court of Justice rules on the scope of the ‘right to be forgotten’ for search engines
19. The Third Annual Review on the U.S.-EU Privacy Shield Notes the U.S. Is Doing Well, Are You?
20. Reevaluating the COPPA Rule
21. COPPA Workshop Explores Rule Changes
22. Microsoft’s new Secured-core PC initiative short circuits firmware attacks

CREATIVITY

1. The 30th (or 83rd?) Anniversary of Canada’s Copyright Board: Waiting for Version 3.0 (Howard Knopf)
2. FTC Targets False Celebrity Endorsements, Deceptive Claims
3. Phillie Phanatic Creators Fire Back with New Filing
4. Chuck Yeager Sues Airbus for Right-of-Publicity Violations
5. Banksy’s online ‘shop’ vets potential buyers with one simple question
6. Copyright is for losers, trade marks are for Banksy — the Banksy trade mark case explained
7. Controversial copyright bill inches closer to becoming law as House approves
8. Congress Looks To Rush Through Unconstitutional Pro-Copyright Trolls Bill, Despite Promising To Explore Alternatives
9. House Overwhelmingly Votes To Empower Copyright Trolls And To Bankrupt Americans For Sharing Photos
10. Bad Laws And The Best Of Intentions: Law Designed To ‘Protect’ Gig Workers May Destroy Journalism Freelancers
11. Cop’s Bogus Defamation Lawsuit Nearly Puts A Small Iowa Newspaper Out Of Business
12. France Rejects Poland’s Bad Faith Efforts to Extradite Art Dealer Alexander Khochinsky
13. New Federal Circuit Guidance on Design Patents: Key Takeaways for Companies Seeking Protection
14. Foreign prosecution history evidence permitted under Section 53.1 of Patent Act
15. CBS Rejects Commercial Depicting Menstruating Men
16. Art Law in New York
17. McDonald’s Bullies Local Canadian Burger Joint Over ‘Filet O’ Fish’ Trademark
18. Society Of Professional Journalists Makes Itself Look Foolish In Strange Attempt To Trademark ‘Fake News’

Jon

GAMES

1. US Hearthstone players banned for Hong Kong protest: Team that held up a “Free Hong Kong, Boycott Blizz” sign punished “for engaging in behavior disruptive to” tournament broadcast
2. College Hearthstone team hit with 6-month ban after showing ‘Free Hong Kong’ sign
3. Nintendo NYC Overwatch launch event cancelled by Blizzard
4. Blizzard cancels Overwatch live event at Nintendo World in New York: Launch event for Overwatch on Nintendo Switch cancelled amid hostility over Chinese censorship furore
5. Blizzard employees organise walkout following Hong Kong controversy: Popular caster Brian Kibler also withdrew his participation to the Hearthstone Grandmasters final
6. Thanks Blizzard: Riot Games Forced To Let Everyone Know They’re Allowed To Use Hong Kong’s LoL Team’s Name
7. Blizzard’s Face Plant Creates Marketing Opportunity For Companies With A Spine
8. The GamesIndustry.biz Podcast: Can Blizzard recover from Blitzchung?: We discuss the wider impact of the backlash against the World of Warcraft publisher
9. Blizzard reinstates Hong Kong protestor’s prize, says “China had no influence”
10. Blizzard reduces ban for Hearthstone player, but stands by its initial reasoning
11. Blizzard: Chinese interests “had no influence” on Blitzchung ban – Hearthstone developer reduces punishments for pro player’s support of Hong Kong protesters
12. Publishers risk being trapped between the US and China | Opinion: Publishers are on the frontline of a battle that goes beyond trade — and will far outlast the Trump administration
13. Blitzchung says he will “be more careful” following Blizzard statement: The Hearthstone pro player says he has “no idea” if he’ll still want to compete after his six months ban
14. More Fallout From The Hong Kong Protests Hitting eSports
15. Riot calls for esports casters, players to avoid ‘sensitive topics’ during its broadcasts
16. Riot Games: “We aren’t telling anyone to avoid saying ‘Hong Kong'” – League of Legends firm clarifies confusion as rumours spread it is censoring esports team name Hong Kong Attitude
17. Riot Games directs casters and players not to discuss politics on air: Global head of League of Legends esports says it wants “to keep broadcasts focused on the game”
18. After a decade of League of Legends, Riot to expand with new games
19. Riot Games files trademark lawsuit against esports organisation Riot Squad: The League of Legends developer says the copyright infringement has caused “irreparable damage”
20. Paradox takes Stellaris: Galaxy Command offline over stolen Halo 4 artwork
21. Two Hat: Stop tweaking your game and start fixing your community – Security expert Two Hat teams up with Image Analyzer to tackle harmful online content and toxic communities
22. A case for ethical game design from BioWare’s Åsa Roos
23. A guide for devs to battle (and convert) their online haters
24. German regulator begins process to ban Coin Master game: Review board considers blacklisting game with gambling-like elements as harmful to minors, decision could set precedent for other titles
25. FTC Takes a Peek at Loot Box Regulation
26. Ustwo Games accused of union busting: Independent Workers Union of Great Britain has taken legal action against Monument Valley developer
27. Gay World of Warcraft guild forced to change name because of user complaints
28. Blizzard forces name change for gay guild: Publisher renames “Gay Boys” as “Guild ZFXPK” in response to player reports, changes it back but says it can’t stop it happening again
29. Video games help people with disabilities find friends and transcend real-world limitations
30. Rocksteady and Creative Assembly under fire over Video Game Tax Relief: TaxWatch UK highlights ways multinational companies are using scheme to shift profits
31. Changing mental health depictions in games: Developers say the industry is getting better at incorporating real conditions into their stories, but more progress is needed
32. New charity Safe In Our World focuses on mental health in the games industry: Organisation aims to raise awareness of mental health issues among both gamers and developers
33. G2A: “There’s no place in a business like ours for shadiness or fraud” – Communications boss Maciej Kuc addresses the biggest complaints against the divisive marketplace
34. Steam will soon let users play local-multiplayer games over the internet
35. Steam to add ability to play local co-op games with friends online: Support will be added automatically week of October 21 for all applicable games
36. Steam’s next big feature will make any “local multiplayer” game work online
37. Case study: Steam’s ‘Deal Of The Day’ and DLC attach rates4
38. Untitled Goose Game passed 100,000 sales in first two weeks
39. “Troll Factory” turns disinformation campaigns into teaching game
40. PlayStation 5 to Launch Holiday 2020, Including New Controller with Improved Haptics
41. After All That, Sony Unceremoniously Rolls Out PS4 Remote Play To All Android Devices
42. World of Warcraft sees Q3 streaming rise – StreamElements: WoW Classic interest persists as Fortnite continues to dip
43. Sony Reveals AR Headset Prototype in New Ghostbusters Location-based Attraction
44. DIY thumbsticks and clay creations: How Google designed its Stadia gamepad
45. Google Stadia finally has a concrete launch date
46. Google Stadia launching at 9am PST, November 19 for pre-orderers
47. Google backs away from Daydream VR due to a general lack of interest
48. Google ending Daydream: Company will stop selling View VR headset holder, citing decreasing usage and lack of adoption by developers and consumers
49. Nintendo Switch sales in Europe pass 10m: Since launch, 36 million Nintendo-published games have been shifted
50. Blizzard calls off public event to promote Switch Overwatch launch
51. Video: How (and why) Blizzard finally ported Overwatch to Switch
52. “The Switcher” is real: Witcher 3 on Switch is a blurry, tolerable compromise
53. Apple now sells Xbox controllers on its official store
54. Apple is selling Xbox controllers: Microsoft’s GamePad available through mobile giant’s online store following Apple Arcade launch
55. Mixer’s other co-founder also leaves Microsoft
56. Mixer co-founder Matt Salsamendi departs Microsoft
57. Microsoft introduces swear filters for Xbox: Platform holder will roll out four levels of filtration later this year to all Xbox devices and apps
58. Both Co-Founders Of Microsoft’s Twitch Competitor Mixer Are Departing The Business
59. The public preview for Xbox’s streaming service Project xCloud is now live
60. Analogue shows off Pocket retro portable: $199 handheld hardware set for 2020, will play original carts from Game Boy family, Game Gear, Lynx, and Neo Geo Pocket Color
61. $199 Analogue Pocket promises FPGA accuracy for portable retro gaming
62. The Analogue Pocket offers a modern way to play and make Game Boy games
63. Snapchat partnered with Adidas to launch its first shoppable mobile game
64. Hitman dev IO Interactive partners with Warner Bros. on ‘new game experience’
65. Warner Bros partners with IO Interactive for new game: Hitman partnership transformed into multi-IP deal with both IO studios involved in development
66. Niantic wants players to help expand location-games with new ‘Wayfarer’ tool
67. Niantic announces Wayfarer program to improve in-game play locations: Program currently in beta for Ingress players, coming to Pokemon Go players later
68. Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery reaches $150m in revenue – Jam City’s title has been downloaded 54.6 million times across iOS and Android
69. FIFA 20 tops EMEAA charts for second week since launch: Just Cause 3 makes surprise appearance in top ten, climbing from No. 123 last week
70. Busy September charts see FIFA 20 take No.1: A strong slate of new releases battle for top five, with Borderlands 3 in second place
71. FIFA 20 retains No.1 as Grid reaches Top Five: Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair debuts at No.31
72. Daybreak Games lays off multiple employees in company ‘realignment’
73. Daybreak Game Company suffers more layoffs: Company “realignment” leads to third round of redundancies in 18 months
74. Report: 50 workers laid off at Bendy and the Ink Machine developer Kindly Beast
75. Bendy and the Ink Machine studio Kindly Beast lays off just under 50 – CEO Mike Mood: “All current projects will continue as planned”
76. PUBG Mobile is highest-grossing smartphone game in Q3: Sensor Tower report shows growth across all metrics in the mobile game sector
77. Fortnite’s latest narrative turn has taken the entire game offline
78. Fortnite “shuts down” ahead of battle royale’s Chapter 2: Latest live event sees iconic island devoured by black hole in livestream, game currently unavailable
79. Fortnite is back after suddenly going dark for days to hype a big content update
80. Don’t Miss: The unconventional launch of Fortnite
81. Esports-focused mobile dev Meta Games nets $2 million in funding
82. Nerd Street Gamers raises $12m for building esports facilities: Will start by constructing 3,000 square foot spaces for Five Below stores
83. Esports’ ongoing data competition: PCU v. ACU v. AMA – Newzoo’s new head of esports Remer Rietkerk on the challenges of finding good data for the right occasion
84. Millennial Esports acquires YouTube channel LetsGoRacing: The channel, created by Grand Central Entertainment, focuses on motorsports and, recently, esports racing
85. Hiro Capital is “determined to fill the post-seed gap” with new €100m fund: Industry veterans will invest in around 20 promising games, esports and digital sports companies by 2021
86. What we can learn from… successful game teams: Crunch and financial rewards don’t work, says Department of Play’s Will Luton, but there are strategies that can lead to more effective teams and projects
87. Curve Digital owner Catalis Group acquired by NorthEdge Capital for $113 million
88. NorthEdge Capital acquires Curve Digital parent Catalis: Company invests £46.6m in games group, deal values Catalis at £90m
89. Summerfall Studios breaks new ground with Chorus: An Adventure Musical – Australian startup has assembled David Gaider, Austin Wintory, Troy Baker and Laura Bailey for its “interactive musical”
90. The enduring appeal of simulation games: Simulation games find their audience among maturing gamers and wild-eyed influencers alike
91. Divinity: Fallen Heroes placed on indefinite hold by developer Larian Studios
92. How Ubisoft designed and refined its Assassin’s Creed VR escape rooms
93. Owlchemy’s audio wizard offers tips on making the most of music in VR
94. Using body language to create more compelling VR game characters 
95. Fine-tuning for the ‘action hero’ feel in PlayStation’s VR game Blood & Truth
96. How to get your game on the front page of Imgur: A practical guide
97. Don’t Miss: An in-depth look at the physics of trains in Assassin’s Creed Syndicate
98. Don’t Miss: 10 video game production lessons learned the hard way
99. Don’t Miss: How the Surviving Mars devs built a city-builder on a barren planet
100. Blog: Making games is easy – selling them, not so much
101. Blog: The problem with the indie game pedestal9
102. Blog: A look at scavenger hunts in two modern adventure games
103. Blog: Rimworld, Dwarf Fortress, and procedurally generated storytelling
104. Blog: The simple difficulty of bringing Frostpunk to consoles
105. Blog: Accessibility and difficulty as barriers to art
106. Blog: An exploration of map region-based narrative
107. Video: The math behind predictable projectiles in games
108. How Raw Data dev Survios succeeds by recycling its own tech
109. Adi Shankar working on another video game TV series, this time for Far Cry 3 – Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Vibe to be a part of a greater Ubisoft multiverse of shows
110. Ubisoft is making animated shows based on Rayman, Watch Dogs, and more
111. Ukie releasing advice pack to help UK games industry prepare for no-deal Brexit
112. UKIE prepares no-deal Brexit advice: Trade body to release free written, audio, and visual content as Britain prepares to leave EU
113. Thousands of DOS games have been added to the Internet Archive
114. U.S. Patent no. 9,180,378: Conditional access to areas in a video game

DIGITAL

1. Livestream of Germany shooting removed from Twitch: Streaming site is still investigating, will permanently suspend any accounts reposting footage
2. Self-Regulation Of Social Media Platforms Failing To Curb Disinformation, Says New Report
3. Political ads can lie if they want, Facebook confirms
4. Inside Mark Zuckerberg’s private meetings with conservative pundits
5. Warren escalates Facebook fight with ad targeting Zuckerberg
6. #DeleteFacebook trends after report Zuckerberg secretly dined with conservatives
7. Facebook can be forced to remove content on a global scale after landmark CJEU ruling
8. Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, and eBay all quit Facebook’s Libra in one day
9. Facebook launches Libra Association—and says 180 companies could join
10. Third Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Sprawling Anti-Competitive Conduct Complaint Against Facebook
11. Facebook’s new Portal has a refined design but familiar limitations: It’s a better Portal, but it’s still a Portal
12. Grace Helbig To Sit Down With Powerful Women In Studio71 Facebook Series
13. Instagram’s latest security feature lets you better manage third-party app permissions: See who has your data at a glance
14. How Pinterest Built One of Silicon Valley’s Most Successful Algorithms
15. Rent-a-troll: Researchers pit disinformation farmers against each other
16. In flip-flop, Apple bans app used by Hong Kong protestors
17. Apple Signs Overall TV Deal With Oscar-Winning Auteur Alfonso Cuarón
18. 10 Risks Associated with Inaccessible Websites and Mobile Apps
19. Feds hit GirlsDoPorn owners with criminal sex trafficking charges
20. Top Myths About Content Moderation (Eric Goldman)
21. UK porn blacklist is dead after government abandons age verification
22. Elizabeth Warren’s Feud With Facebook Over ‘False’ Ads Just Highlights The Impossibility Of Content Moderation At Scale
23. Section 230 Helps Tumblr Defeat Nonconsensual Pornography Suit–Poole v. Tumblr (Eric Goldman)
24. The PLAN Act Proposes to Amend Section 230 to “Protect”…Landlords and Hotel Chains? (Eric Goldman)
25. New Paper Explains Why Technologists Should Rally Behind Section 230 (Eric Goldman)
26. ASA rules Casumo ad was targeted irresponsibly
27. Attorney Who Sued Grindr Responds Extremely Poorly To The Supreme Court’s Rejection Of Her Section 230 Lawsuit
28. Why International Human Rights Law Cannot Replace Content Moderation
29. How Photos of Your Kids Are Powering Surveillance Technology
30. Avatar Alert! ASA uses child avatars to tackle irresponsible ads targeted at children
31. The do’s and don’ts of sharing about your children online
32. The Ellen Show Issues Copyright Takedown On Transformative Video Commenting On Her Friendship With President Bush
33. Techdirt Podcast Episode 229: Pirate Shaming Lists Don’t Work
34. ‘The Irishman’ Ban Once Again Shows Hollywood’s Disdain For Netflix is Stupid & Counterproductive
35. Infamous Police Interrogation Firm Sues Netflix For Defamation Over Criticism Of Its Interrogation Technique
36. How to protect your brand on social media — seven top tips
37. Disney Bans Netflix Advertising on Most of Its Networks
38. James Murdoch reportedly bought a stake in Vice, as his new company begins to make media investments
39. OECD Publishes Digital Tax Draft Proposal
40. Government Tells Supreme Court Not to Review Copyright Fair Use Decision In Long-Running Oracle-Google Dispute over Software Copyrights
41. Supreme Court Passes on Challenge to Extension of Title III to Websites and Mobile Apps
42. Supreme Court Denies Review in Website Accessibility Case Against Domino’s Pizza
43. US Supreme Court denies review of Robles v. Domino’s Pizza, opening door to more lawsuits on website and mobile app accessibility claims
44. Supreme Court Passes On Domino’s ADA Website Case
45. The Supreme Court Deals a Blow to Businesses Regarding Accessibility of Their Websites and Mobile Applications
46. Wild West of Website Accessibility Lawsuits Continues
47. Mobile App Sweepstakes and the Law
48. Gathering social media as evidence in e-discovery
49. Comments on Social Media about an Employee’s National Origin Could Lead to Allegations of Discrimination
50. Electronic signatures – no new law required, says Law Commission
51. Twitter releases new Catalyst app for macOS Catalina
52. Whoops, Twitter The Latest To Use Two Factor Authentication Phone Numbers For Marketing
53. Influencer Advertising: How Brands Can Successfully Navigate Using Influencers or Dealing With Employees Posting About Work on Social Media
54. David Dobrik, Joey Graceffa, Brandon Rogers Lead This Year’s Streamy Awards Nominations
55. HBO Max Taps YouTubers LaurDIY, Michelle Khare To Host Kids’ Competition Series
56. Pocket.watch Greenlights Shows With The Onyx Family, Eh Bee Family, Expands Hulu Pact
57. Viral Video Upstart ‘Doing Things Media’ Appoints Former Group Nine Exec President, Taps Starry Advisers
58. YouTube Continues Crackdown On ‘Pick-Up Artist’ Vloggers Globally
59. YouTube Drops Trailer For Original Series ‘BookTube,’ Featuring All-Star Authors Chatting With Creators
60. ‘Bon Appétit’ Magazine Is Making Cover Stars Out Of Its Beloved YouTube Crew
61. YouTube Star Jordyn Jones Drops Self-Titled EP, Will Embark On ‘Eyes On Me’ Tour
62. YouTube Pacts With Michelle Obama On Third Series To Spotlight Global Girls’ Education Initiatives
63. YouTube Pacts With MerchBar To Help ‘Official Artist Channels’ Drive Merch, Vinyl Sales
64. YouTube Drops Trailer For Latest Learning-Focused Original, Starring VSauce3’s Jake Roper
65. Man agrees to pay $25,000 for abusing YouTube’s takedown system
66. Guns N’ Roses Lays Claim To Only Music Videos From The ’90s — And Now The ’80s — With 1 Billion Views
67. Sardonic Twitter Account ‘Dril’ Nabs Weekly Web Series On Adult Swim
68. Jenna Marbles Celebrates 20 Million Subscribers By Taking A Well-Deserved Nap
69. After Near-Death Experience, ‘Threadbanger’ Star Says Merch Sales Helped Pay Off Hospital Bills
70. Shane Dawson Launches Online Store With Jeffree Star’s Killer Merch, All Items Promptly Sell Out
71. Gigi Gorgeous To Launch Eponymous Makeup Brand In Collaboration With Ipsy
72. Rooster Teeth’s Podcast Network, The Roost, Unveils Slate Of 3 Scripted Series
73. Trump Signs Up For Twitch, Will Livestream Campaign Rallies
74. Amazon Pacts With Howard University On College Program To Diversify Entertainment Pipeline
75. Amazon’s massive investment in food delivery startup Deliveroo faces further delays thanks to a formal antitrust probe
76. EU orders Broadcom to halt exclusivity deals while investigation deepens
77. Hulu Finally Adds Download Feature, But Only For $11.99-Per-Month Subscribers
78. Adobe backtracks, will refund customers after canceling their accounts
79. LinkedIn Data Scraping Case—9th Circuit’s Trigger for CFAA Liability
80. Alert: IRS Issues New Guidance and FAQs on Virtual Currencies
81. U.S. Internal Revenue Service Takes on “Hard Fork” and “Airdrop” as Part of New Guidance on Virtual Currency
82. Cryptocurrency Industry and Investors Receive New Guidance on Key Tax Issues: Hard Forks, Airdrops and Other Virtual Currency Transactions Addressed by IRS
83. The legal challenges of Blockchain and smart contracts according to a recent EU Flagship report
84. Why it’s time to start talking about blockchain ethics: Blockchain technology is changing the nature of money and organizations. We should probably start pondering the potential consequences.
85. Patent Attacks Against Open Source Intensify!
86. Riot will use League of Legends as springboard for deluge of new games
87. After a decade of League of Legends, Riot to expand with new games
88. Legal Research Services Are Struggling With Emojis and Emoticons (Eric Goldman)
89. The Lines of Code That Changed Everything: Apollo 11, the JPEG, the first pop-up ad, and 33 other bits of software that have transformed our world.
90. The biggest lie tech people tell themselves — and the rest of us: They see facial recognition, smart diapers, and surveillance devices as inevitable evolutions. They’re not.
91. Ethical Open Source: Is the world ready? – Open source status quo is challenged by developers unsatisfied with current state of ethics, writes Lisa Lifshitz

A.I.

1. Digital dystopia: how algorithms punish the poor
2. Is a popular machine learning text tool trained using copyrighted material? (Andres Guadamuz)
3. Is A.I. The Next Step For Influencer Marketing? Meet Lil Miquela. 
4. The Next Word: Where will predictive text take us?
5. Microsoft wants to use AI to bleep out bad words in Xbox Live party chat
6. Video: Using data-informed design to make more accessible games
7. Ethics and Governance of AI at Berkman Klein: Report on Impact, 2017-2019

COMMUNICATIONS

1. CBC Sues the Conservative Party of Canada for Copyright Infringement Citing Campaign Video, Posting Debate Excerpts on Twitter (Michael Geist) 
2. What Was the CBC Thinking?: A Closer Look at the Video Clips in its Copyright Lawsuit Against the Conservative Party (Michael Geist)
3. CBC vs. CPC: Why the CBC’s Attempt to Use Copyright to Stifle Expression Backfired Badly (Michael Geist)
4. Platforms or People?: The Liberals and Conservatives Outline Competing Visions of Internet Responsibility (Michael Geist) 
5. CNN Rejects Trump Campaign Commercials
6. Washington State keeps enforcing net neutrality as it hails FCC court loss
7. T-Mobile and Sprint get FCC approval to merge in 3-2 party-line vote
8. AT&T raises prices 7% by making its customers pay AT&T’s property taxes
9. AT&T charged customers for a corporate tax that it doesn’t have to pay
10. AT&T and other carriers want to hide detailed 5G maps from FCC and public 
11. Wireless Industry Is Trying To Hide Where 5G Is Actually Available
12. A Brief Overview of the EU Electronic Communications Code 

PRIVACY

1. Why Political Parties + Mass Data Collection + Religious Targeting + No Privacy Laws = Trouble (Michael Geist)
2. US claims cyber strike on Iran after attack on Saudi oil facility
3. Federal Trade Commission Hosts Workshop to Review the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule
4. Court of Justice of the European Union rules on Cookie Consent
5. The Cookie Consent Form Crumbles as EU Now Requires Users to Opt In to Website Tracking
6. EU’s Highest Court Crumbles Cookie Consent Via Pre-Checked Box
7. Forum cracks the vintage passwords of Ken Thompson and other Unix pioneers
8. Activists’ phones targeted by one of the world’s most advanced spyware apps
9. Low Cost Phones Are Turning Privacy Into A Luxury Option
10. Data for a whopping 26 million stolen payment cards leaked in hack of fraud bazaar
11. New French Mandate Will Use Facial Recognition App To Create ‘Secure Digital IDs’
12. Planting tiny spy chips in hardware can cost as little as $200
13. After Jack Hack, Government Starts Taking Wireless ‘SIM Hijacking’ Seriously
14. The European Court of Justice Issues Two Important Decisions Clarifying the Scope of the Right to Be Forgotten and ISPs’ Liability
15. How A Right To Be Forgotten Stifles A Free Press And Free Expression
16. New Draft ePrivacy Regulation Released
17. Cyber and data breaches: the questions that always arise
18. New Bill Would Force Hardware Makers To Disclose Hidden Mics, Cameras
19. The Long Arm of UK Law Enforcement Reaches a Handshake Deal with U.S. DOJ on UK-U.S. Electronic Data
20. The City Of Baltimore Blew Off A $76,000 Ransomware Demand Only To Find Out A Bunch Of Its Data Had Never Been Backed Up

CREATIVITY

1. Can You Copyright a Powder? Charlotte Tilbury Wins Over look-a-like Contender from Aldi
2. Banksy’s Fake Store Is An Attempt To Abuse Trademark Law To Avoid Copyright Law
3. Harry and Meghan take on the press – what is the likely outcome?
4. Copyright fit for a princess
5. New guidance on works of joint authorship under the Copyright Act
6. CJEU and German Courts Rule on the Copyrightability of Non-Fictional Literature
7. The Latest: Hollywood Writers Guild and Talent Agencies Entangled in Labor/Antitrust Lawsuits and Countersuits
8. Anti-Safe Space Crusader Bret Stephens Apparently Needs A Safe Space: Backs Out Of Bedbug Debate
9. True North and Rebel News seek judicial review on press accreditation denial for debates
10. How A Key Story About The 1919 Black Sox Scandal Was Completely Made Up… Due To A Confused Understanding Of Copyright
11. Portland Police Review Board Says It’s OK For Officers To Lie To Get Someone To Stop Filming Them
12. Tax Preparation Patent Directed to an Abstract Idea
13. GMR Sues Entravision for Royalty Payments – Looking at the Issues Raised By This New Development in the Music Royalty Wars

Jon

GAMES

1. Epic failed to inform players of Fortnite addiction risks, argues law firm
2. Epic Games Settles With Cheating Minor To End Lawsuit
3. Epic, minor accused of cheating in Fortnite settle copyright suit: Confidential settlement concludes summer dispute between Fortnite YouTuber and game maker
4. ‘Fortnite’ company may face class-action lawsuit over claims game as addictive as cocaine
5. Amid Blizzard’s Hong Kong controversy, Epic says it wouldn’t censor players
6. Epic won’t take action against Fortnite players who speak up about Hong Kong: “Epic supports everyone’s right to express their views on politics and human rights”
7. Blizzard backlash escalates following Hong Kong supporter ban: US senators, Blizzard employees and Hearthstone communities decry developer’s attempt to avoid controversy with China
8. Gamers propose punishing Blizzard for its anti-Hong Kong partisanship by flooding it with GDPR requests
9. Blizzard bans pro Hearthstone gamer for statement supporting Hong Kong
10. Blizzard dismisses Hearthstone player for supporting Hong Kong protests: “I’m not [regretful] of what I said,” says Chung ‘blitzchung’ Ng Wai
11. Blizzard bans Hearthstone esports pro over ‘liberate Hong Kong’ interview
12. “League of Legends” Maker Riot Sues Riot Squad Esports Over Name
13. Randy Pitchford and ex-Gearbox general counsel agree to settle legal dispute
14. Gearbox and its former lawyer agree to drop lawsuits: Suits dismissed after parties resolve “misunderstandings,” say evidence exonerated Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford
15. SAG-AFTRA dismisses Gearbox’s stance in Borderlands 3 union row: Actors union says Gearbox was unwilling to apply SAG-AFTRA standards to all Borderlands 3 actors
16. According to a French court, the principle of exhaustion applies to video games acquired via a game download platforms
17. Man breaks into Valve, steals $40,000 of equipment, games: Same suspect has been previously arrested for burglary, stealing a FedEx truck
18. EA leaks personal information of ‘approximately 1600’ FIFA 20 players
19. EA leaks FIFA Global Series player data: Up to 1,600 players signing up for tournament series had their personal information exposed to other registrants
20. FIFA 20 remains leagues ahead in UK charts: Electronic Arts’ annual football release remains on top by a wide margin, despite 66% sales decline from last week
21. FIFA 20 arrives atop EMEAA charts: EA’s annual football franchise leads a trio of newcomers to the charts as Code Vein and Dragon Quest XI S also make top 5 debuts
22. Monument Valley developer Ustwo threatened with legal action over union busting
23. Ustwo Games accused of union busting: “The union will not stand idly by in the face of this unlawful and vicious act,” says Game Workers Unite
24. Sauropod Studio responds to concerns surrounding layoffs, sexism, studio’s status: Management says studio remains open to support existing games despite termination of most of its staff
25. GWU Australia survey shows 19% of direct employees aren’t making minimum wage: Only 27% of respondents felt their employment was secure in both long and short-term
26. Co-founder Rick Fox files multi-million dollar lawsuit against Echo Fox partners
27. Rick Fox sues Echo Fox partners for fraud: Ongoing dispute between organization owners sees Fox ousted as he accuses partners of “financially ruining” the company
28. Stardew Valley creator distances from under-fire publisher Chucklefish
29. Stardew Valley creator clarifies relationship with Chucklefish following exploitation accusations
30. UK Video Games Tax Relief comes under fire for mostly going to triple-A companies
31. Rocket League swaps loot boxes for transparent Blueprints system: Psyonix will implement a new system that shows users exactly what they receive for a set price
32. Immersive and addictive technologies report published
33. Immersive and addictive technologies Fifteenth Report of Session 2017–19 (House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee)
34. The UK games industry is at a regulatory crossroads | Opinion: Harbottle & Lewis’ Kostya Lobov breaks down the potential impact of various government initiatives and investigations
35. NHS targets gaming addiction with new specialist clinic:
36. “Compulsive gaming and social media and internet addiction is a problem that is not going to go away when they play such a key part in modern life”
37. Atari VCS architect Rob Wyatt leaves project, calls out Atari for missed pay
38. Atari VCS architect quits, citing six months of missed payments – Rob Wyatt: “As a small company, we have been lucky to survive this long.”
39. Microsoft expands Windows/Xbox family settings to Android: More control for parents for the cross-play generation
40. Sony indicates PlayStation cross-play has now left beta: Interview with SIE’s Jim Ryan reports that the in-demand feature is now widely available
41. PS4 Remote Play is now supported on Android 5.0 phones and tablets
42. PlayStation 5 set for holiday 2020: Sony confirms official name, rumble feature replacement, and varying resistance triggers for next-gen console
43. Sony confirms the PlayStation 5 is coming in 2020, reveals new hardware details
44. Sony confirms PlayStation 5 release window, teases new gamepad tech
45. What’s going on with PlayStation? | Opinion: A look at why Sony has so far taken an understated approach to heralding the arrival of the next generation
46. Report: Sony Interactive Entertainment lays off dozens in UK and US
47. Sony Interactive Entertainment EU reportedly lays off “dozens” amid restructuring: US-based creative services also affected, employee notice given on same day as PS5 details announcement
48. Sony temporarily removes Facebook integration from PS4: Users will no longer be able to search for Facebook friends or post clips and screenshots to the social network
49. Catalina brings Apple Arcade to MacOS but kills support for 32-bit games
50. Apple Arcade is a short-term fix with far reaching consequences | Opinion: Is Apple Arcade the ultimate solution to selling premium mobile games, or a walled oasis offering a reprieve from a larger problem?
51. Monster Hunter: World shipments and digital sales cross 14 million units
52. Former CEO of Bungie founds new multi-studio AAA game company
53. Harold Ryan sets up ProbablyMonsters: Former Bungie CEO’s developer of developers lands $18.8 million in funding, reveals Cauldron Studios and Firewalk Studios
54. Call of Duty: Mobile passes 35 million downloads within days of launch
55. Call of Duty: Mobile surpasses 35m downloads in just three days – Mobile spin-off becomes No. 1 app in over 100 countries on App Store
56. Call of Duty Mobile sees best first-week downloads of any mobile game
57. Oxenfree has been downloaded 3 million times through Xbox Game Pass
58. Oxenfree reaches 3m downloads: Within that, Night School Studio’s indie hit has sold one million copies
59. NPD Group: 73% of Americans play video games – Survey finds “notable increase” in both engagement and spending among younger audience
60. Mario Kart Tour racks up 90m downloads in its first week: New mobile title downloaded six times more than any other Nintendo mobile game
61. Mario Kart Tour’s Gold Pass has potential – if done right | Opinion: GameRefinery’s Joel Julkenen analyses how Nintendo is experimenting with the increasingly popular Battle Pass model
62. It’s Amazing All The Cool Stuff We Could Have If Nintendo Didn’t Insist On Nintendo-Ing
63. Video: Working up a sweat with Ring Fit Adventure
64. Obituary: Former Nintendo lawyer John Kirby
65. Former Nintendo lawyer and Kirby namesake John Kirby dies: Legal expert saved Donkey Kong in case against Universal
66. World of Warcraft celebrates 15 years with a $100 Firelord statue
67. John Wick Hex game review: Become the bloody Baba Yaga of legend
68. Rovio warns brand licensing restructure could result in layoffs
69. Redundancies expected as Rovio reshuffles its licensing division: Up to 20 employees could be made redundant as the mobile developer refocuses its brand licensing division on key products
70. Doom Eternal delayed to March: id Software pushes back game launch into packed Q1 “to live up to our standards of speed and polish”; Switch version postponed further
71. Doom Eternal joins this year’s game-delay club, will launch March 2020
72. Acquisition and conversion costs threaten a mobile bust | Opinion: Acquisition and retention costs for mobile games show no signs of plateauing — for many firms, this segment is becoming unsustainable
73. Discord makes layoffs due to ‘active shift in talent needs’
74. Discord confirms layoffs: Chat platform says it “made an active shift in the talent needs of our marketing department”
75. Egypt used Google Play in spy campaign targeting its own citizens, researchers say
76. Report: Google plans ‘Game Certified Device’ standard for Android
77. Google Stadia could sidestep latency issues by predicting button presses
78. Croteam co-founder Alen Ladavac departs studio to join Google’s Stadia team
79. Red Dead Redemption 2 arrives on PC next month: Wild wild news.
80. Red Dead Redemption 2 officially announced for PC and Stadia
81. Epic clarifies Fortnite matchmaking update amid cross-play balance concerns
82. Overwatch League Snags 16% More Viewership This Season, Is Only Major Sports League To See Boost In Young Viewers
83. Mixer viewership down in Q3 despite Ninja’s exclusivity deal: Report from Streamlabs and Newzoo paints mixed picture for Microsoft’s streaming platform
84. Bringing non-endemic brands to esports… and keeping them: At Esports BAR Miami, Christopher ‘Monte Cristo’ Mykles shared how brands can make their way into esports
85. Miami will get esports racing arena in early 2020
86. Fortnite Professional Players Association formed: Group of 16 players aim to “provide a professional platform” for discussing the future of battle royale’s competitive scene
87. Overwatch League’s Grand Finals Grows 16% in Average Viewers From Last Year
88. NBA star invests to become co-owner of RektGlobal: Rudy Gobert joins already star-studded ownership team of esports organisation
89. Can supporting esports communities deliver returns for publishers?: Hi-Rez Studios COO Todd Harris explains why the company invests in esports both within and beyond its own game communities
90. PUBG Mobile envisions esports for casuals
91. Update Required for Youth Esports
92. Five Vectors raises $1m in seed funding to make music for esports: Music startup to partner with publishers for team, league, and game anthems
93. Raph Koster’s new MMO studio Playable Worlds raises $2.7 million
94. Raph Koster launches new MMO studio with $2.7m in seed funding: Bitkraft Esports Ventures leads investment in Ultima Online designer’s Playable Worlds, building “an online world where players can find a home”
95. Playable Worlds has a ‘different mindset’ on engagement: CEO Raph Koster takes a look at the right lessons and wrong lessons the industry took from MMOs like Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies
96. Ex-ArenaNet devs raise $3.3 million for new studio, Tenacious Entertainment
97. Magic: The Gathering Reveals My Little Pony Crossover Set for Charity
98. Unity acquires live game management platform ChilliConnect
99. Unity acquires ChilliConnect: Live game management platform to join deltaDNA to improve Unity’s live ops offerings
100. ArenaNet co-founder leaves to start new studio: Mike O’Brien departs Guild Wars developer to “make small games again”
101. How one game studio is trying to tackle the loneliness epidemic: BetaDwarf sees opportunity in crisis as it builds a game to foster friendship among lonely people
102. Five misconceptions about the Chinese games market: Apptutti’s Daniel Camilo on the myths around console sales, PC gaming, rampant piracy, and more
103. Independent film producer looks to adapt ten game IPs: UK-based Goldfinch is searching for games built on Unreal to adapt into film, TV, podcasts or graphic novels
104. Video: Go behind the scenes of Forza Horizon 3’s mesmerizing skies
105. Video: A game dev’s guide to better representing and supporting disabilities
106. Deep Dive: Telling Lies – Making a mechanic out of scrubbing video
107. Don’t Miss: Producing Silent Hill and the challenge of making portable games scary
108. Don’t Miss: The aesthetics of frustration in Getting Over It
109. Don’t Miss: Punishing difficulty conveys a personal story in The End is Nigh
110. Don’t Miss: Building game mechanics to elevate narrative in Oxenfree
111. Blog: A guide to lucid storytelling in games
112. A closer look at Control’s reality-bending VFX
113. Behind the HONK: An Untitled Goose Game Q&A
114. An untitled Untitled Goose Game analysis
115. Neo Cab is the dystopian gig-economy Crazy Taxi we’ve always wanted
116. Wendy’s has released a tabletop RPG where you have to fight McDonalds
117. Charting the darker periods of history in Humankind: Amplitude’s Jeff Spock on creating a historical strategy game that doesn’t shy away from religion, slavery and colonisation
118. When “easy mode” isn’t enough: An analysis of unclear lessons in video games
119. WGA removes video game writing category from 2020 awards
120. WGA drops video game award category: Writers Guild Awards suspends game honor saying there aren’t enough eligible titles for “a meaningful award selection process”
121. U.S. Patent No. 9,186,575: Online game with animal-breeding mechanic
122. In Major Blow To Sony’s Upcoming PlayStation 5, Microsoft Announces PlayStation 6 (Onion Gamers Network)

DIGITAL

1. China-Based TikTok Actively Banning The Gay Away When Not Helping Authoritarians Be More Authoritarian
2. Will Smith Is Now On TikTok
3. Google’s Looking To Take On TikTok With Acquisition Of Competitor Firework (Report)
4. UK Court of Appeal Permits Activist to Proceed with Claim for Damages Against Google
5. Data Security and Cybercrime in China
6. Commerce Adds 28 Chinese Organizations to the Entity List for Associations with Human Rights Violations and Abuses
7. Turkish Gov’t Demands US Embassy Apologize For ‘Liking’ A Tweet The Turkish Gov’t Didn’t Like
8. Facebook, YouTube, Twitter Refuse To Remove Trump Campaign Ad That Pushes Biden/Ukraine Conspiracy Theory
9. Facebook to Pay $40 Million to Settle Claims It Inflated Video Viewing Data
10. Twitter and Facebook could be facing billions in fines after Ireland investigations: Ireland Data Protection has concluded investigations. Companies can be fined up to 4% of global annual revenues for breaching data privacy.
11. Twitter used phone numbers provided for security to target ads: ‘We’re very sorry this happened’
12. EU nations can force Facebook to remove content worldwide, court rules
13. EU Continues To Muck Up The Internet: Approves Broad Filtering/Censorship Requirements
14. Facebook Can Be Forced to Delete Content Worldwide, E.U.’s Top Court Rules: The decision that individual countries can order Facebook to take down posts globally sets a benchmark for the reach of European laws.
15. Facebook Responsible for Worldwide Removal of Defamatory Comments
16. EU Court of Justice: Orders to remove defamatory content issued by member state courts can be applied worldwide
17. PayPal becomes first member to exit Facebook’s Libra Association
18. The Ties That Bind Facebook’s Libra: Facebook says its cryptocurrency will be managed by an independent group, but an analysis finds more than half of the members have links back to the social media giant.
19. US wants Facebook to backdoor WhatsApp and halt encryption plans
20. DOJ Boss Joins UK, Australian Gov’t In Asking Facebook To Ditch Its End-To-End Encryption Plan
21. Deputy Attorney General Rosen: Companies Like Facebook Are Making Everyone Less Safe By Offering Encryption
22. DOJ Using The FOSTA Playbook To Attack Encryption
23. CJEU rules that an intermediary can be ordered to remove content identical and equivalent to that found illegal, also worldwide (Eleonora Rosati)
24. Microsoft says Iranian hackers tried to hack a US presidential campaign
25. Kaspersky finds Uzbekistan hacking op… because group used Kaspersky AV
26. Twitter nixes Trump Nickelback meme after dubious takedown request
27. Twitter Removes Nickelback Meme Trump Tweets, But Leaves All The Others Up
28. Even Trump Can’t Turn Down a Nickelback Joke (but Twitter Did): The site removed a video posted by President Trump that showed a meme of the rock band’s lead singer, edited as an attack on Joe Biden.
29. The broken record: Why Barr’s call against end-to-end encryption is nuts
30. New York launches online whistleblower submission system
31. Moscow man suing Apple because his iPhone turned him gay
32. Kickstarter controversially sends unionization to a vote after staff firings
33. Trudeau’s Blackface: The Chilling Effects of Disinformation on Political Engagement – During election season, journalists should be ready for even more sophisticated attempts to plant false narratives
34. Music Piracy Continues To Drop Dramatically, But The Industry Hates To Admit That Because It Ruins The Narrative
35. NY Times Opinion Section Gets CDA 230 Wrong AGAIN!
36. Senator Mark Warner Repeats Senator Ted Cruz’s Mythical, Made Up, Incorrect Claims About Section 230
37. Thumbs up to taking down defamatory content online
38. The ‘right to be forgotten’ within the European Union
39. The CJEU confines the scope of the ‘right to be forgotten’ to the EU
40. Section 230 Helps Search Engine Defeat “Right to Be Forgotten” Lawsuit–Mosha v. Yandex (Eric Goldman)
41. Partial Screenshot Qualifies as Fair Use (on a Motion to Dismiss)–Yang v. Mic (Eric Goldman)
42. EUIPO publishes ‘IPR Enforcement Case-Law Collection’ on the liability and obligations of ISPs
43. Supreme Court Declines to Review Ninth Circuit Decision in Robles v. Domino’s, Exposing Businesses to More Website Accessibility Lawsuits
44. Domino Effect: Will SCOTUS Refusal to Hear ADA Website Case Yield Flood of Litigation?
45. The Domino’s Effect—What to Expect as a Result of SCOTUS’s Denial of Cert
46. U.S. Supreme Court Clears the way for Visually-Impaired to Sue Over Allegedly Inaccessible Websites and Apps
47. Supreme Court Leaves in Place Ruling Requiring Websites and Apps to Comply with ADA
48. Supreme Court Passes On a Case That Likely Would Have Clarified the Scope of the ADA Regarding Access to Private Businesses’ Virtual Platforms
49. Adobe cancels all user accounts in Venezuela to comply with Trump order
50. Here’s The No. 1 Reason People Cancel Their Streaming Service Subscriptions (Survey)
51. Disney And Amazon Are Arguing About Ad Inventory, Which Could Delay Disney+ Arriving On Fire TV (Report)
52. Crypt TV And Facebook Watch Scare Up Trailer For Horror Series The Birch
53. Major League Baseball’s Playoff Teams Didn’t Necessarily Top Social Video Standings
54. Company Behind YouTube DIY Channel Blossom Pulls Down Videos Showing False, Dangerous Hacks
55. YouTube Millionaires: Adi Fishman Is A Trend-Tracking Master Who’s Amassed A Million-Strong Audience In 1 Year
56. Aussie Children’s YouTube Channel ‘CKN Toys’ Inks Global Deal With Nickelodeon
57. YouTube Fined US $170 Million. Could You Use A Safe Harbor From The Coming Storm?
58. YouTube Originals Continues Push Into Music-Themed Docs With Mark Ronson Feature
59. YouTube Terminates 2 Channels Linked To U.K.-Based ‘Pick-Up Artist’ Convicted Of Harassing Women
60. American Teens Call YouTube, Not Netflix, Their Top Daily Streaming Destination (Survey)
61. Kids’ Content Upstart Moonbug Launches ‘Little Baby Bum’ Merch At Amazon, Walmart
62. Talent Firm Rare Global Forms Incubator Division For ‘Mid-Tier’ Influencers Like Genelle Seldon, Brittany Sky
63. Group Nine Acquires PopSugar In All-Stock Deal That Will Boost Its Reach To Half The U.S. Population
64. Italian Government Reportedly Investigating Netflix For Tax Evasion
65. Hulu finally launches support for downloads, initially to ad-free viewers
66. Hulu finally catches up with Netflix and Amazon, offers video downloads
67. Whistle Acquires Elisabeth Murdoch-Founded, Snap-Backed Content Studio ‘Vertical Networks’
68. Insta-Mural Infringement: Public Art in Instagram Ad Leads to Copyright Claim
69. Instagram launches Threads, a Close Friends chat app with auto-status: Can it steal messaging from Snapchat?
70. Instagram introduces Threads, a new messaging app for your close friends
71. Instagram launches Create mode with On This Day throwbacks
72. Instagram Rolls Out Long-Awaited ‘Dark Mode’ on Latest Versions Of iOS, Android
73. Instagram makes its bully-blocking feature available to everyone
74. Twitch And Music Startup Endel Partner On ‘Insomnia’ — A Channel That Uses AI To Put Viewers To Sleep
75. Spotify and Twitch finally debut Apple TV apps
76. Insights: How Smaller VOD Services Can Attract Subscribers Amid Epic Competition
77. The gig economy’s deepest problem isn’t about tech at all
78. Augmented Reality is making industrial work more productive

A.I.

1. Blog: Simple and effective character pose prediction in Cascadeur 
2. Video: A game programmer’s guide to the math of deep learning
3. Utopos raises $1 million to gamify machine learning with debut title Raivo
4. Utopos Games raises $1m for machine learning game: Seed funding will support Raivo, a game where players and machine learning train AI robots to battle
5. AI inventions and sufficiency of disclosure – when enough is enough 
6. Beware of Automated Hiring: It won’t end employment discrimination. In fact, it could make it worse.
7. How AI is shaking up legal practice: Displacement of junior lawyers at large firms could be a boon to smaller firms
8. The USPTO seeks AI expertise to change the rules of the game internally and externally 
9. “AI will drastically change the way in which we search trademarks”
10. Next Level E-commerce with Responsible AI
11. Protection of inventions in AI and digitalisation
12. A Strategy for Protecting Artificial Intelligence Inventions in Europe
13. AI, the Internet of Things, and the health care industry 
14. Canadian and Other Privacy and Data Protection Authorities Address Anticipated Challenges Related to Artificial Intelligence 
15. Why Navigation Apps, Working Properly, Can Make Traffic Flows Worse — And What To Do About It 

COMMUNICATIONS

1. Why Do Canada’s Political Parties Have a Hard Time Saying No to New Internet and Wireless Taxes? (Michael Geist)
2. The LawBytes Podcast, Episode 26: There Is No Crisis – Dwayne Winseck on the State of Canadian Communications, Media and Cultural Policy (Michael Geist)
3. The War on Piracy and the Attacks on Privacy in Canada: Copyright and Collateral Damage
4. Election 2019: The “Netflix Tax” May Be Hiding in Plain Sight
5. Former FCC Boss Wheeler Says New Court Ruling Won’t Stop Net Neutrality
6. Comcast incorrectly charged 2,000 customers for exceeding data cap
7. AT&T, facing $158 billion debt, to sell Puerto Rico network for $2 billion
8. The Cable Industry Makes $28 Billion Annually In B.S. Fees
9. Surprise! Buzzfeed Links Bogus Net Neutrality Comments Directly To Broadband Industry
10. Cable companies use hidden fees to raise prices 24% a month
11. The FCC’s “Restoration of Internet Freedom Order” Largely Survives on Appeal; But Net Neutrality is Not Dead Yet
12. WarnerMedia ratchets up layoffs across HBO, Turner, Warner Bros.