News of the Week; September 25, 2019
GAMES
- Steam must allow digital games to be resold, rules French court
- French court rules country’s Steam users can resell their games: Ruling contradicts EU law and would be “disastrous” for consumers and industry, says ISFE CEO
- French Court Declares That Steam Gamers Actually Do Own What They Bought
- Bandai Namco is suing AtGames over Ms. Pac-Man copyright infringement
- Ubisoft is taking legal action against Rainbow Six Siege DDoS attackers
- Suspect arrested in conjunction with World of Warcraft DDoS attack: Blizzard confirms individual believed to be behind wave of server outages this month is in custody
- Games professor accuses Kingdom of Loathing designer of abuse: A.M. Darke shares her story of physical, emotional abuse at the hands of ex-husband Zack Johnson
- UK Parliamentary Committee says ‘loot boxes’ should be considered gambling and regulated accordingly
- Dynamic and Nonliteral Elements Win Protection in Blizzard Copyright Suit
- RomUniverse To Attempt To Crowdfund Legal Defense, Which Isn’t Going Well At All
- Blog: How the California AB5 Labor Bill might affect game companies
- Ustwo: Apple Arcade “unshackles the finances” from mobile gaming – The developer of Monument Valley and Apple Arcade launch title Assemble With Care on the benefits of subscriptions
- Apple Arcade’s debut heralds the launch of dozens of games on iOS (and Steam?)
- Xbox’s Project xCloud launches in public preview this October
- Microsoft launching public xCloud streaming test on Android in October
- Google Stadia ‘Founder’s Edition’ pre-order bundle has sold out in Europe
- Google announces Play Pass subscription service: Android’s answer to Apple Arcade includes over 350 premium apps and games at launch for $4.99/month
- Play Pass and its library of 350 apps offers a different take on mobile subscriptions
- Devs that sign on to Play Pass are paid by the time players spend in their games
- Niko Partners: Cloud gaming revenue to reach $3bn in Asia by 2023 – Projections suggest there will be 500 million cloud gamers in Asia by 2028
- Control’s Epic Games Store exclusivity initially cost Epic $10.45 million
- Epic seems to have paid $10.5 million for Control’s PC exclusivity
- Epic paid 505 Games parent over $10m for Control PC exclusivity: Digital Bros financial statements reveal exclusivity deal payout for Remedy’s latest release
- Steam Labs rolls out new discoverability experiments
- Steam Labs adds two more experiments: Deep Dive, Community Recommendations – Prior experiment Interactive Recommender gets promoted to Steam Store home page
- TurboPlay’s grand ambition to be the Spotify of games: Co-founder Vince McMullin wants to take on other PC storefronts with different takes on algorithms, revenue sharing, and community
- Nicalis delists Ittle Dew 2 from console storefronts: Developer says he was ghosted by publisher for six months after terminating publisher’s license
- Do you need a publisher to ‘make your game sell’?
- NBCUniversal is closing its game publishing division
- NBCUniversal shuts down game publishing arm
- Summer games drought slowed inflation in the UK: Office for National Statistics points to video games as prime contributor to lowest inflation rate since December 2016
- Unity acquires game marketing and analytics specialist deltaDNA
- Unity acquires deltaDNA: Engine maker says live ops analytics firm will continue to operate independently as engagement tools are integrated into Unity Engine
- Borderlands 3 is the fastest selling game in 2K’s history: And 70% of all sales in the first five days were digital
- Borderlands 3 has sold over 5 million copies in five days
- New releases, led by Borderlands 3, shake up EMEAA charts: eFootball PES 2020 and Greedfall debut at No. 2 and 3, NHL 20 arrives at No. 5
- The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening topples Borderlands 3 in UK Charts – The most successful Zelda remake so far
- Zelda: Link’s Awakening review: This beach adventure looks 2019, feels 1993
- Link’s Awakening: Critical Consensus – Faithful modern-day remake of original Game Boy game charms reviewers despite underwhelming dungeon creator, frame rate issues
- PUBG becomes first mobile battle royale to surpass $1bn revenue: Since Chinese re-launch, PUBG Mobile has seen 540% growth year-on-year
- Pride Run developers: “We didn’t expect so much resistance” – The IV Productions team discuss the challenges they’ve faced in making a game that celebrates LGBTQ+ culture
- Call of Duty Modern Warfare expected to be US best-selling title of 2019: NPD – NBA 2K20 predicted second, Pokemon Sword and Kingdom Hearts III also make top ten
- Pokemon GO just saw its best month since 2016 – SuperData: Niantic’s deluge of summer events helped the game gross $176 million in August
- Can Nintendo learn from its mistakes with Mario Kart Tour? | Opinion: All eyes are on Mario Kart Tour, Nintendo’s most important mobile release so far
- Nintendo’s free-to-play mobile Mario Kart now offers a monthly subscription
- Nintendo fought hard to lower the Switch Lite’s price to $200, say suppliers
- Nintendo Switch Lite is the best portable system Nintendo has ever made
- Nintendo Switch Lite: Critical Consensus – Few see any faults with Nintendo’s new hardware, and even its critics concede that it’s just about perfect for handheld gaming
- Report: The Switch Lite has already sold over 170,000 units in Japan
- How do you manage software and saves on a second Switch? It’s complicated
- Dead Cells crosses 2.4M sales due to ‘ridiculous’ Switch performance
- Twitch Acquires ‘Internet Games Database’ (IGDB) To Improve Search Functionality
- Content Moderation At Scale Especially Doesn’t Work When You Hide All The Rules
- Esports investment: Building resilience in a volatile space – New Wave Esports CEO Daniel Mitre on the glamour of teams versus the sustainability of platforms
- UTA Adds To Burgeoning Esports Roster With Call Of Duty Star Seth ‘Scump’ Abner
- Is it time to retire virtual currency? | Opinion: The industry doesn’t want to curb loot boxes, but it could address some concerns by giving up another consumer-unfriendly tactic
- Take-Two: Next-gen won’t see dev costs spike – CEO Strauss Zelnick says the days of console transitions putting significantly increased burden on publishers are long gone
- Revealed: The 2019 GamesIndustry.biz Best Places To Work Awards winners
- LVP raises $80 million to fund new game startups
- Manticore Games raises $30m for accessible development platform: Core platform aims to enable players to quickly and easily make high-quality games
- Removing Denuvo DRM doesn’t improve performance for Arkham Knight
- Immutable raises $15m for blockchain card game Gods Unchained: Australian studio will also use investment to build out its Immutable Platform toolkit
- 21 game companies join Playing for the Planet Alliance to combat climate change
- PlayStation, Xbox, Stadia and more sign up to United Nations climate change initiative: Platform holders pledge to save the planet with carbon neutral Xbox units and low-power suspension mode for PlayStation 5
- PlayStation teams with UN to reduce carbon footprint of game hardware
- PlayStation 5 to increase energy efficiency—but only if users opt in
- PlayStation cuts out the middleman, starts selling its own consoles and more online
- 20% of the Oculus Store’s $100 million lifetime sales were Quest titles
- Where Oculus’ VR games go from here: Facebook’s Jason Rubin and Mike Verdu talk Vader Immortal, Respawn, and the future
- Oculus Quest’s secret trick: It can double as a wired PC VR headset
- Oculus announces plans to build augmented reality glasses
- Controller-free hand tracking comes to Oculus Quest in early 2020
- Oculus adding hand-tracking to Quest
- Oculus Rift games are coming to Quest via Oculus Link this November
- Oculus will add new social features powered by Facebook: The brand integration gets tighter and tighter
- Mobile AR game Dragon Quest Walk passes 5 million downloads in Japan
- Respawn’s first VR game is Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond
- Ex-Owlchemy devs land $4.4 million for new XR studio absurd:joy
- Absurd: joy aims to “invent a genre of content no one has ever seen before” – Ex-Owlchemy Labs devs Alex Schwartz and Cy Wise launching new VR/AR company making things that may or may not be games
- MTG invests in emotional regulation app Mightier: Swedish outfit puts $250,000 toward app and subscription service intended to help children with ADHD, anger, or anxiety issues
- Manticore Games raises $30 million for its social game platform Core
- Unit 2 Games launches £100,000 fund indie development: Finance available to developers who want to make the first wave of games for multiplayer platform Crayta
- Untitled Goose Game review: HONNNNNNK
- Getting goosey with Debussy: Creating an adaptive score for Untitled Goose Game
- Unheadlined Goose Game interview: House House’s Jacob Strasser and Michael McMaster on the studio’s surprising growth from gosling to gander
- Video: Ars talks Civilization with the man himself: Sid Meier
- Video: Living a long, full, and fulfilling life in game development
- Making people understand and care about your game
- How to grow as a designer: What to read, where to get ideas, and knowing thyself
- Blog: Development stress, choices that matter, and language of games
- Blog: Why you should invest more in community management
- Blog: Strategies for growing player loyalty and retention rates
- Raven Software devs look back at the making of Jedi Outcast
- Video: How to be an effective, high-performance game producer
- Don’t Miss: How Everything connects the arts of animation and game design
- Don’t Miss: A 2007 look at the essential open-world games for game designers
- Don’t Miss: How Naughty Dog designed The Last Of Us’ brutal melee system
- Don’t Miss: A deep dive into the art that gives colors back to Dead Cells’ cryptic worlds
- Using the language of film & theater to entice new players in FMV game Erica
- Influencers and E3: Invasion of the tweens | Opinion – E3 as a festival for influencers and celebrities may horrify some, but is likely a good move – as long as we’re realistic about the age demographics it will reach
- GDC YouTube Top 5: NYU Game Center’s Mitu Khandaker
- U.S. Patent No. 9,308,458: Automatic movement of player character in network game
DIGITAL
- Facebook Is Making Millions by Promoting Hate Groups’ Content: Despite a company policy banning hate speech, the social media giant has taken in nearly $1.6 million from hate groups since mid-2018.
- Top Court Rules Google Doesn’t Have to Censor Around the World Because of European Privacy Laws
- Other Big CJEU Case Says Google Must Put Certain Links At The Top Of Search Results
- Paper leaks showing a quantum computer doing something a supercomputer can’t
- AT&T tells court: Customers can’t sue over sale of phone location data
- Missing Link: Tibetan Groups Targeted with 1-Click Mobile Exploits
- Inside the campaign that tried to compromise Tibetans’ iOS and Android phones
- Defense media tweet threatening Area 51 “raiders” pulled, DOD apologizes
- Google takes hard line, refuses to pay French news sites despite new law
- No, it wasn’t a virus; it was Chrome that stopped Macs from booting
- Another Day, Another Major Disinformation Effort Facebook Thinks Is Ok
- Snapchat reportedly has “Project Voldemort” dossier on Facebook’s bad behavior
- Snap Detailed Facebook’s Aggressive Tactics in ‘Project Voldemort’ Dossier: Antitrust investigation gives competitors chance to air complaints about Facebook’s hardball tactics
- Meet Facebook’s latest fake: An “Oversight Board” programmed by Facebook should not be confused with democratic oversight
- Facebook and Google have ad trackers on your streaming TV, studies find
- The Best People: White House Emailed Talking Points Meant For Surrogates To Dems, Tried To Recall Email Afterwards
- Facebook confirms its “standards” don’t apply to politicians
- Facebook is Building an AR Headset, Starting By Making a Digital Copy of the Real World
- Facebook will be sticking ads with polls, games and AR into News Feed: The interactive advertising formats were already being tested in Instagram and other parts of the Facebook universe. Now they’ll be in your feed.
- Facebook suspends tens of thousands of apps in ongoing privacy investigation
- Facebook Watch And ESPN Team Up For New Slate Of Interactive Sports Shows
- Coder deletes open source add-on for Chef in protest over ICE contract
- NYAG Sends Cease & Desist Letters to Online Gun Marketers
- Clickwrap Litigation Trends 2019
- Jerks ‘Reporting’ Women Who Swipe Left On Them In Tinder, Once Again Highlighting How Content Moderation Gets Abused
- Defamation and Social Media – the ordinary, reasonable tweeter
- Deepfake Legislation: A Nationwide Survey – State and Federal Lawmakers Consider Legislation to Regulate Manipulated Media
- SCC rules that class actions in lawsuits against tech giants can proceed
- Source Hacking: Media Manipulation In Practice
- Voltage v. Salna & ~55,000 – the “Reverse Class Action” (Howard Knopf)
- Twitter rolls out ‘hide replies’ to let you tame toxic discussions: Trying to win back its reputation as a platform for healthy conversations
- Twitter details new policies designed to crack down on financial scams
- Romance Scams Harm Victims and Lead to Prosecutions
- Cyber-dystopianism: The Internet seen through the lens of nightmares (Andres Guadamuz)
- Jeff Bezos pledges that Amazon will swiftly combat climate change: Retail giant vows to meet climate goals ahead of schedule
- Amazon orders 100,000 electric trucks to fight climate change
- “Grassroots” anti-Amazon nonprofit turns out to be retailer astroturfing
- People Freaking Out About Amazon Copying A Shoe Are Totally Missing The Point
- Apple says it will make the new Mac Pro in Texas: Media reports had suggested Apple could shift Mac Pro work to China.
- Apple Watch Series 5 review: A better, more independent timepiece
- After a five-month delay, the $2,000 Galaxy Fold arrives in the US on Friday
- Huawei’s new flagship smartphone ships without Google apps: Trump’s export ban means no Google apps for the Mate 30 Pro.
- Xiaomi’s crazy new $2,800 phone has display on the front, sides, and back
- YouTube Security Warning For 23 Million Creators As ‘Massive’ Hack Attack Confirmed
- YouTube Exec Says Some Conspiracy Videos Aren’t “Causing Harm,” And Can Remain Uploaded
- Susan Wojcicki Says YouTube Won’t Remove Politicians’ Content Because “It’s Important For Other People To See”
- YouTube will remove politicians’ content if it breaks rules, but there are some exceptions: Context of videos is important, CEO says
- YouTube creators may lose verified badges as company makes verification program even stricter
- YouTube Apologizes, Reverses Course After Creators Balk At Verification Update
- Creators Lash Out After YouTube Retroactively Strips Them Of Verification
- YouTube Revamps Verification System With New Look And Eligibility Requirements
- YouTube Launches New ‘Video Reach Campaign’ Ad Format, Brings ‘TrueView For Action’ To Home Feeds
- Jellysmack’s New ‘Creator’s Program’ Invests Time, Money, And Tech In YouTubers
- How Mattel Harnessed YouTube To Help Bring Its Iconic Barbie Character Down To Earth
- Louis Vuitton Launches ‘LV TV’ YouTube Series With Emma Chamberlain, Dolan Twins, More
- Journalists Seek Answers To YouTube Users’ Burning Questions In Upcoming Vox Original ‘Glad You Asked’
- YouTube Music Spins Itself Up As Spotify Challenger With Weekly 49-Song ‘Discover Mix’
- YouTube Backs 14 More Independent Artists Via Its Foundry Development Program
- Spotify artists can now see how many listeners they have in real time: Thanks to the revamped Spotify for Artists app
- Play It Again, Sam: Spotify’s Newest Playlists Are Based on Repeat Listens
- Snap Sets Series With Nikita Dragun, Bhad Bhabie, Will Launch New ‘Shows’ Page To The Right Of ‘Discover’
- Every Single Video MrBeast Has Made In The Past Year Got More Than 10 Million Views
- Emma Chamberlain To Drop Sunglasses Collection With Eyewear Brand ‘Crap’
- Issa Rae Takes Stake In Streamlytics, Which Lets People Monetize Their Own Streaming Data
- SeatGeek Taps David Dobrik To Launch Its First Branded Series, ‘Postgame Press Conference’
- Russian national confesses to biggest bank hack in US history
- In India, you don’t need a Google phone to have a Google Assistant
- How Google Changed the Secretive Market for the Most Dangerous Hacks in the World: Google has funded a team of hackers with the mission of finding bugs in software. Are they making the internet safer?
- Nielsen Now Tracks Interactions With TV Stars’ Social Media Posts, Which Drive 60% Of Engagement For Shows
- Nielsen Buys Minority Stake In OpenSlate, Which Measures Brand Safety In Online Video
- Vimeo Debuts ‘For Hire’, A Marketplace For Video Professionals To Find Clients (And Vice Versa)
- Insights: Apple And Comcast Giveaways May Net Tens Of Millions Of Subscribers And Send SVOD Super Derby Back To Where TV Started
- Meet the Women Leading Netflix Into the Streaming Wars: Apple, Disney, and others are challenging its dominance like never before. Here’s the team behind the tech giant’s big bet on original content.
- Facebook Watch And ESPN Team Up For New Slate Of Interactive Sports Shows
- 21% Of U.S. Households Will Buy A Disney+ Subscription (Study)
- Website Accessibility Claims on the Rise: A Higher Education Perspective
- BuzzFeed Hires New York Times Vet In Bid To Better Monetize Its News Business
- Levi’s CMO Jen Sey Talks Importance Of Taking A Social Stand
- E-Sign of the Times: Law Commission report promotes confidence in e-signatures
- Tristan Harris — Fighting Skynet and Firewalling Attention (#387)
- The Mysterious Death Of The Hacker Who Turned In Chelsea Manning
- How Peloton made sweat addictive enough to IPO: 13 reasons this bike has a cult
- The rise and fall of Flash, the annoying plugin that shaped the modern web: The web was a static, dull place. But the accidental creation of Flash turned it into a cacophony of noise, colour, and controversy, presaging the modern web
- The Unsolved Case of the Most Mysterious Song on the Internet: 12 years ago, a New Wave anthem appeared on the internet. Amateur detectives have spent thousands of hours since trying to figure out where it came from…
A.I.
- Chinese Authorities Call For Internet Companies To Add Bias To AI Algorithms — In Order To ‘Promote Mainstream Values’
- Google Says It’s Achieved Quantum Supremacy, a World-First: Report
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- How “information gerrymandering” influences voters: Study analyzes how networks can distort voters’ perceptions and change election results.
- Harnessing machine learning to make managing your storage less of a chore
- Human vs. Algorithmic Recommendations
- A facial recognition ban is coming to the US, says an AI policy advisor
- Pentagon seeks ‘ethicist’ to oversee military artificial intelligence: General says ‘We are thinking deeply about the ethical, safe and lawful use of AI’ as US seeks to catch up with China’s early lead
- Teaching machines to autonomously write stories
- For India’s Caste-Based Sewer Cleaners, an Uncertain Robot Rescue: Sewer robots and other new technology aim to end caste-based scavenging, which regularly costs lives. But are they enough?
- No Rage Against the Machines: Threat of Automation Does Not Change Policy Preferences (Baobao Zhang)
- MegaBots calls it a day, puts fighting robot up for sale on eBay
COMMUNICATIONS
- Can Price Caps or Virtual Competitors Solve Canada’s Wireless Pricing Problem? (Michael Geist)
- Net Neutrality Proposals for Tech Platforms Raise First Amendment Concerns
- FCC loses in court, judges say agency would fail “intro statistics class”
- Courts Shoot Down Yet Another FCC Proposal For Being Factually Sketchy
- Sprint took FCC cash for “serving” 885,000 people it wasn’t actually serving
- Cable Giant Spectrum On Quest To Outlaw ‘Insane’ Streaming Password Sharing
- Something Has Spooked AT&T Enough To Warrant Bringing Their Top Lobbyist Out Of Retirement
- AT&T Ponders Dumping DirecTV After Investor Backlash, But It’s Not Likely To Help
- Comcast promised not to raise prices—guess what happened next
- ‘Subscription Fatigue’ Looms As Comcast Reveals Yet Another New Streaming TV Platform
- Complexity Investing Applied to ViacomCBS
- Significant Changes to Media, Communications, and Data Claims in the English Courts
PRIVACY
- Busy North Korean hackers have new malware to target ATMs
- Yahoo data-breach settlement: You’ll get $100, if you’re lucky
- California Senate Passes Statewide Ban On Facial Recognition Tech Use By Law Enforcement
- Ninth Circuit Allows Class Action Against Facebook under Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act to Proceed in California
- Ninth Circuit Declines to Shelve Lawsuit Alleging Facebook Violated Illinois Biometric Privacy Statute
- Court Says Compelled Production Violates Fifth Amendment… Unless The Gov’t Takes Certain Steps First
- Private Companies Gathering Plate Data Are Selling Access To People’s Movements For $20 A Search
- CJEU Judgment C-40/17: what are the implications of the ‘like’ button in terms of data protection?
- YouTube will Pay $170 Million Fine for Children’s Privacy Law Violations
- Should The Media Voluntarily Embrace A ‘Right To Be Forgotten’?
- European Court of Justice Rules on the Scope of the Right to be Forgotten for Search Engines
- Google wins case as court rules “right to be forgotten” is EU-only
- Google wins landmark right to be forgotten case
- Google wins CJEU right to be forgotten case
- Europe’s Supreme Court Places Limits on the Right To Be Forgotten
- ‘Right to be forgotten’, but only in Europe?
- The Right to be Forgotten Held to Apply Only to Europe in Landmark European Court of Justice Decision
- Forget-me-not: Google v. CNIL defines territorial scope of the right to be forgotten
- Google Search is not required to forget us outside the EU
- Phew: EU Court Of Justice Says Right To Be Forgotten Is Not A Global Censorship Tool (Just An EU One)
- Edward Snowden wants to come home: “I’m not asking for a pass. What I’m asking for is a fair trial”
- The FBI Tried To Get A Secure Phone Company To Create A Backdoor In Its Encrypted Network
- World’s most destructive botnet returns with stolen passwords and email in tow
- IE zero-day under active attack gets emergency patch
- Payment card thieves hack Click2Gov bill paying portals in 8 cities
- A New Era of COPPA Enforcement?
- CCPA Privacy FAQs: Does the CCPA require that a company allow consumers to opt-out (e.g., toggle off) analytics cookies?
- CCPA Privacy FAQs: Are businesses required to display the “Do Not Sell My Personal Information” link during subsequent visits to the business’s homepage where the consumer does not “opt-out” during his/her first visit?
- Meaningful Consent: An Evolving Standard under Canadian Privacy Law
- Enhancing Understanding of Legal Trends Impacting Freedom of Expression and Privacy in the ICT Sector
- Fake veteran hiring site downloads spyware instead of jobs
- Milan Fashion Week and Fashion Law Trends – Is the retail and fashion sectors ready for the IoT revolution?
- Forget erasure: why blockchain is really incompatible with the GDPR
- Automatic License Plate Readers Are The Latest Neighborhood Perk
CREATIVITY
- Pro-China groups to tear down pro-democracy graffiti in Hong Kong
- Global Freedom Declines as Chinese, Russian Info Control Practices Spread, Says Study
- During A Police Raid, Russian Activist Uses Drone To Whisk Sensitive Data To Safety
- US Court Says Fair Use Nullifies French Rightholder’s Attempt To Extract $2.25 Million From A California Art Scholar
- French Picasso Judgement is Abstract Expression to U.S. Law
- The Controversial Use of Rap Lyrics as Evidence
- Mercedes Drives Suits Against Artists Forward
- Copyright clarification from Europe’s top court
- Copyright dispute over ‘Stairway to Heaven’ continues to climb in the courts
- The Differences Between Copyright And Possession: Gilda Radner Interview Copyright Lawsuit Dismissed For Lack Of Registration
- Strange changes discovered in Banksy painting ahead of auction
- Chuck Yeager Sues Airbus For Mentioning That Chuck Yeager Broke The Sound Barrier
- Chuck Yeager sues Airbus for writing “Yeager broke the sound barrier”
- Louisiana’s Terrible Criminal Defamation Law Again Being Used To Unconstitutionally Target A Critic Of Law Enforcement
- How Canada should deal with obscene trademarks
- LeBron’s “Taco Tuesday” Trademark Blocked
- LeBron James Declares Victory In Losing Bid For ‘Taco Tuesday’ Trademark
- The New Consumer Gatekeepers: Inside the Hidden Power Of The DJ Industry 2.0
- IP/Internet/Antitrust Professor Amicus Brief in 1-800 Contacts v. FTC (Eric Goldman)
- Duels, Dualities, and Destiny in Canadian Copyright – a Snapshot at Summer’s End 2019 (Howard Knopf)
- Milan Fashion Week and Fashion Law Trends – Karl Lagerfeld’s heritage: who is going to award the rights on his image? Does the cat really take it all?
Jon
News of the Week; September 18, 2019
GAMES
- Parliamentary committee recommends banning loot box sales to children: Report proposes industry tax to fund research into the harmful effects of gaming, slams “wilfully obtuse” industry representatives
- UK Parliament: Ban all loot boxes until evidence proves they’re safe for kids
- UK committee argues loot boxes should be covered by gambling regulations
- Electronic Arts responds to DCMS committee calls for loot box regulation: Publisher “doesn’t agree with all conclusions” but will continue dialogue with UK government
- TIGA: Government should “urgently” carry out research around loot boxes and gambling – CEO Dr Richard Wilson raises impartiality concerns over suggestion of taxing industry to fund research; PEGI also weighs in
- The GamesIndustry.biz Podcast: A Turning Point For Loot Boxes? – Haydn and Brendan discuss the potential consequences of recommendations that the UK government introduces regulation
- Nintendo’s ROM Site War Continues With Huge Lawsuit Against Site Despite Not Sending DMCA Notices
- Anti-bullying advocates assess what’s wrong in games: There’s a cultural problem that isn’t going to fix itself overnight, but behaviours can and do change with the right support
- Sea of Thieves adds microtransaction store in latest update
- Former Donkey Kong champ threatens to sue Guinness over record removal
- Steam’s latest discovery update tilts the algorithm away from popular games
- Discord cuts games from paid subscription plan after Nitro Games fails to take off
- Discord pulls free games from Nitro: Chat service pulls feature from subscription offering because “vast majority of Nitro subscribers didn’t play them”
- Second person gets prison sentence in fatal swatting case: Call of Duty WWII player gets 15 months for asking third party to report emergency at online opponent’s address
- Instigator of fatal Kansas swatting receives prison sentence
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare offering cross-platform play in all modes
- Devs restore Modern Warfare’s mini-map after two days of beta backlash
- Video: A cautionary tale in community crisis management
- Newzoo: Android games will earn more revenue than iOS games in 2019 – Between Google Play and third-party stores, Android games will earn majority of revenue for the first time this year
- Google Stadia Founder’s Edition is nearly sold out: Premium bundle is being replaced with similar bundle sans Buddy Pass with a different controller
- Nintendo’s weird exercise ring is used to control a Switch RPG
- Nintendo’s first Ring-Con game is a Switch fitness RPG: Ring Fit Adventure
- Nintendo’s new fitness game is Ring Fit Adventure: Switch title uses new Ring-Con and leg strap peripherals to sense movement, launches October 18
- How do people find your game on Switch?: A discoverability run-down
- Sega Genesis Mini review: $80 delivers a ton of blast-processing fun
- Report: The PS4 has sold-through 30 million units in the United States
- PlayStation 4 has sold 30m units in the US, analyst reveals: Meanwhile, Niko Partners’ Daniel Ahmad also says Gears 5’s boxed sales in the UK are “tiny and no longer important” for Microsoft
- Gears 5 saw 3 million players during launch week through Game Pass and retail
- Rockstar Games now has its own game launcher on PC
- Rockstar Games launches its own storefront: GTA V, Bully, others now available through latest publisher-driven game launcher
- Rockstar Games Launcher: We install it on Windows so you don’t have to
- Gears 5 tops 3 million players in first week: Microsoft says The Coalition sequel enjoyed “the biggest launch week of any Xbox Game Studios title this generation”
- EMEAA charts: Slam dunk for NBA 2K20 in launch week – Strong digital sales push older games into the top ten, while Game Pass sees Gears 5 barely rank
- Borderlands 3 has nearly doubled Borderlands 2’s peak concurrents record on PC
- Borderlands 3 is the biggest UK boxed launch of 2019: But the lack of digital data makes all of this hard to compare
- Borderlands 3 PC doubles 2’s peak concurrent users at launch: Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford reveals latest outing is breaking company records despite Epic backlash
- Borderlands 3 is a lot more Borderlands, in ways both good and bad
- Apple Arcade soft launches early, to surprise of some developers
- Blog: The long slow death of an indie studio
- Indie game pricing is in a familiar death spiral | Opinion: Data suggests a race to the bottom in PC indie game pricing, and Apple Arcade is a reminder of where this process leads
- Swedish games industry generated €1.87bn in 2018, employs almost 8,000 people: Latest figures from Dataspelsbranschen also shows the number of companies is also on the rise
- Blog: NetEase drives mobile games business in Japan, Tencent targets emerging markets
- Scavengers dev Midwinter Entertainment acquired by Improbable
- Keywords expands game audio services with TV+Synchron Berlin acquisition
- JoJo Siwa’s Latest Business Venutre Is A Mobile Game Called ‘Live To Dance’
- Ex-King, Z2 devs launch Starform: New Seattle-based studio aims to make online games for friends, attracts $1.25 million in funding
- How to develop for a licence (successfully): Brand Licensing Europe’s Anna Knight speaks to developers and IP holders about pleasing both fans and gamers
- Football Manager boss Miles Jacobson calls for an end to plastic packaging: Sports Interactive director tells us he expects savings of up to 20 tonnes of plastic as series switches to eco-friendly cases
- How PES wants to level the playing field: European brand manager Lennart Bobzien discusses the eFootball rebrand and renewed efforts to put Konami’s football game on top
- Vivendi, Riot veterans announce gaming broadcast network, VENN: Ben Kusin and Ariel Horn share their plans and goals for a space that unifies publishers, leagues and audiences under one network
- One decade in, League of Legends still averages 8M peak concurrent players daily
- League of Legends hits 8 million peak concurrent players a day: Riot shares August’s daily worldwide average figures, says it’s larger than the top 10 games on Steam combined
- Valve launches revamped Steam Library in open beta
- Twitch sexual content crackdown causing confusion: Streaming site has issued multiple suspensions against streamers wearing Chun-Li costumes, sports bras and more
- Twitch acquires IGDB to bolster search and discoverability capabilities
- Twitch acquires Internet Gaming Database: Acquisition will see Twitch feed database into discovery feature set
- Esports: The next billion dollar industry
- Video: Building explosive 8-bit Nintendo eSports the Tetris World Championship way
- Dignitas CEO: Soccer, basketball, and esports will be the major sports of the future
- Esports tournament platform XY Gaming raises $2.5 million
- XY Gaming announces $2.5m funding round: Funds will go toward expanding esports tournament platform, adding games such as Fortnite
- Subnation’s ‘LVL UP’ Highlights Explosion Of Premium Content For Esports
- PlayVS lands another $50 million: High school esports platform details Series C funding round, brings total funding to $96 million in just over a year
- Hulu dropped support for Google’s Daydream VR
- HTC Vive Cosmos VR: We have the price, release date, and first hands-on
- Image courtesy Daqri: Well-funded AR Headset Startup DAQRI is Shutting Down
- Vive Cosmos arrives on October 3 for £699: New virtual reality headset from HTC will cost roughly the same as predecessor
- 2K will donate up to $500,000 to blood cancer research in WWE marketing campaign: Publisher partners with Leukemia & Lymphona Society as survivor Roman Reigns stars on the cover of this year’s wrestling game
- UKIE partners with Alzheimer’s Research UK for Journo/Dev Swap game jam: GamesIndustry.biz will be publishing the developers-turned-journalists coverage from September 27
- Don’t Miss: Gwent and 6 other minigames that developers should study
- The 57 years of unseen work that built Cyberpunk 2077’s Night City
- Bioware, Beamdog devs unveil Summerfall Studios
- Blog: Creating hit games in Dreams
- Blog: The difference of accessibility vs. playability in game design
- Blog: Historians play Assassin’s Creed Discovery Tour
- Blog: Why not just use thumbsticks?
- Kojima details the subtly social gameplay of Death Stranding
- Don’t Miss: How Sonic Mania’s devs made the old new (and good) again
- Don’t Miss: Writing Firewatch, and capturing the beauty of being alone
- Watch two of GreedFall’s developers discuss their new colonial RPG
- Where do you go from Doom?: Doom Eternal’s Marty Stratton and Hugo Martin talk about their approach to following up the successful reboot of a seminal classic
- Every game should copy Death Stranding’s “Very Easy Mode”
- Knights and Bikes TV show in the works: Peaky Blinders production company Tiger Aspect options rights for animated series based on Foam Sword game
- How a basement hacker transformed Donkey Kong for the Atari 2600
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate wins big at the Japan Game Awards
- Proposed E3 revamp could turn expo into ‘fan, media, and influencer festival’
- E3 2020 pitch shows move towards celebrities, consumers and influencers: ESA pitch also includes 10,000 additional consumer passes for the E3 showfloor
- This new eco-friendly game packaging could save tonnes of plastic every year
- Football Manager 2020 studio swaps to recyclable packaging, wants others to do the same
- Billy Mitchell Threatens To Sue The Guinness World Record Folks For Removing His Records
- Knights and Bikes is being turned into an animated TV show
- U.S. Patent No. 9,364,746: System and method configured to unlock content within a videogame
DIGITAL
- Examining The Expanding Web Of Chinese And Russian Information Controls
- Ninth Circuit’s LinkedIn Decision Does Not Greenlight the Unauthorized Webscraping of Public Websites
- The Ninth Circuit Takes On Web Scraping
- Instagram Confirms Security Issue Exposed User Accounts And Phone Numbers
- YouTube, Facebook, Instagram Are Epicenters For Steroid Sales — And So Are Their Recommendation Algorithms (Study)
- Facebook plans launch of its own “Supreme Court” for handling takedown appeals
- Audible fires back at book publishers, says captions are fair use: Audible Captions is not a book of any kind,” Audible writes in court filing.
- Hotel Owner Files Libel Suit Against Reviewer For Calling Nazis Nazis, Gets Support From Austrian Court
- Twitter Stands Up For Devin Nunes’ Parody Accounts: Won’t Reveal Who’s Behind Them
- History Repeats Itself: Twitter Launches Illegal SF Street Stencil Campaign Just As IBM DId Decades Ago
- Scraping the Web: Practical Implications From the hiQ v. LinkedIn Opinion
- Facebook is launching a streaming device that watches you while you watch TV
- House lawmakers ask Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google to turn over trove of records in antitrust probe
- Congress wants Facebook, Google, Apple, and Amazon emails as probe heats up
- WSJ: Amazon changed search results to boost profits despite internal dissent
- Kickstarter accused of “union busting campaign” by former employees: Two former staff claim they were fired for their roles in unionising Kickstarter’s workforce
- Ninth Circuit Upholds Amazon.com’s Cost-Sharing Valuation
- The $24 Billion Online Casino Boom China Is Struggling to Halt: The Communist Party is hard-pressed to stop the spread of digital gambling in Asia.
- Self-Help in Cyberspace: A Path Forward
- Would the Internet Be Healthier Without ‘Like’ Counts?: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube have moved to hide or obscure measures of popularity, in the name of less toxic dialog. Users give a thumbs-down.
- OONI Explorer team unlock the web’s untold censorship stories
- Amazon Music Jumps Into the Hi-Res Audio Game: Amazon adds “high definition” and “ultra high definition” options to its music-streaming service, taking hi-fi music into the mass market
- Alibaba Opens Online Marketplace to U.S.-Based Businesses
- Content Moderation Is Impossible: Facebook Settles Legal Fight Over Famous Painting Of A Woman’s Genitals
- Facebook launches its own Supreme Court
- Facing Fines—The Mechanics of Facebook’s Reportedly Forthcoming FTC Settlement
- Facebook Unveils Several Video Product Updates, Including ‘Live’ Rehearsals, Pre-Scheduled ‘Watch Parties’
- Congress Is Investigating Apple’s Repair Monopoly: Part of the antitrust investigation centers on “Apple’s restrictions on third-party repairs.”
- Apple Takes on EU’s Vestager in Record $14 Billion Tax Fight
- Apple, services and moats
- The U1 chip in the iPhone 11 is the beginning of an Ultra Wideband revolution
- Apple’s Big YouTube Stream Was Just Part Of Its Swelling Social Video Impact
- Disney CEO Bob Iger resigns from his Apple board seat
- “We Could Say Anything To Each Other”: Bob Iger Remembers Steve Jobs, The Pixar Drama, And The Apple Merger That Wasn’t
- Less Human Than Human: The Design Philosophy of Steve Jobs – To what degree do “good design,” or “taste,” depend on human values?
- Ninth Circuit Reverses Course While Quoting Its Own Precedent Saying Otherwise; Says Section 230 Doesn’t Cover Anti-Competitive Moderation
- Terrible Ninth Circuit 230(c)(2) Ruling Will Make the Internet More Dangerous–Enigma v. Malwarebytes (Eric Goldman)
- Court Enforces Arbitration Clause in “Modified Clickwrap”–Chen v. Sierra Trading Post
- That Time EFF Got A Copyright Takedown Demand Of Its Own Artwork
- Forwarding email is a crime, Jerry Falwell Jr. says after leaks to media: A legal expert told the AP Falwell’s claims were “totally insane.”
- Meet the three North Korean hacking groups funding the country’s weapons programs
- NBCUniversal’s streaming service is called Peacock: Launching with a slate of original and beloved licensed series
- NBCUniversal’s Streaming Service Peacock Will Reboot ‘Battlestar Galactica’ And Revive ‘Saved By The Bell’
- NBC Peacock is Comcast’s dive into the crazy streaming-video fray
- Oh, frak: There’s another Battlestar Galactica reboot coming
- Bizarre Streaming Service Quibi Already Has a Better Lineup Than Apple TV+
- Tinder Wraps First Scripted Series, A Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Set In The Apocalypse
- Insights: Music’s 360 Deals Come To The Hypercompetitive Video Streaming World
- Whistle Inks Multi-Year Deal With U.K.-Based Soccer Content Company ‘OTRO’
- Google’s ‘Smart City’ Project For Toronto
- YouTube’s Abbreviated Subscriber Counts Are Here
- Google launches YouTube Music Charts in India
- YouTube Changes Music Chart 24-Hour Rankings to Exclude Paid Ad Views
- YouTube Will No Longer Count Ads Toward Music Charts, 24-Hour Music Video Debuts
- YouTube Is Bringing Its Most Prominent Ad Product, The Masthead, To Smart TV Screens
- YouTube introduces a massive ad box to its TV app: A prominent feature on the standard site
- YouTube To Shutter Its TV-Optimized ‘Leanback’ Feature On Oct. 2
- YouTube Testing New ‘Profile Cards’ That Showcase Channel-Specific Comment History
- Google Is Adding The Ability To Search For ‘Key Moments’ Within YouTube Videos
- Google Launches Ability to Find Key Moments in YouTube Videos via Search
- SoulPancake’s NewFronts Presentation: Control Over Its YouTube Ad Inventory, New Programming, And A PBS Partnership
- Lilly Singh Posts Confident Late-Night Debut With Socially-Conscious Bits, YouTube-Esque Challenges
- ‘Close Friends,’ for a Monthly Fee: Influencer culture has normalized charging money for all kinds of intimacy.
- Instagram Partners With Jonah Hill On Anti-Bullying Docuseries For IGTV
- Instagram Debuts Jonah Hill’s ‘Un-filtered’ Bullying Docu-Series
- Instagram tightens rules on diet and cosmetic surgery posts: Platform responds to concerns about impact of content on mental health of young people
- Instagram, Facebook, and the Perils of “Sharenting”
- Fantasy Football Videos Gain Steam All Summer From Unexpected Sources
- Whistle Inks Content Deal With U.K. Soccer Subscription App ‘OTRO’
- Christine Sydelko Says She’s Quitting The Internet: “It’s Such A Trivial Job”
- PewDiePie Retracts $50K Donation To Anti-Defamation League, Says It Doesn’t “Feel Genuine”
- Rooster Teeth Lays Off 13% Of Staff, Is Beginning “A New Chapter,” CEO Says
- DoubleVerify Becomes a Snapchat Measurement Partner: Its viewability and fraud verification technology will help brands maximize their campaigns
- Snapchat Is Once Again Pivoting Back to News
- #No Filter: Terminating an Employee for Social Media Posts – Part 2
- Volkswagen’s bold plan to create a new car operating system
- It’s real and it’s spectacular: Netflix buys exclusive rights to stream Seinfeld
- Warner Media’s Rooster Teeth Lays Off 50 Employees: Cuts represent about 13% of the Austin-based digital production company’s employees
- WarnerMedia Unveils J.J. Abrams, Bad Robot Mega-Deal
- CBS, Viacom, and WarnerMedia ban e-cigarette advertisements amid vaping health crisis: Following a similar CNN ban last week
- One Year After Acquiring Ecommerce Startup ‘Kit’, Patreon Sells It To Affiliate Link Company Geniuslink
- England’s Law Commission reports on e-signatures – A missed opportunity?
- Just How Far Does California’s New IoT Security Law Reach?
- Rhode Island Expands Electronic Money Transfer Licensing Requirements to Certain Cryptocurrency Service Providers
- Björk made music’s first “VR pop album”—she opens up about its heartbreak
- Say hello to 802.11ax: Wi-Fi 6 device certification begins today
- Does The Public Care About Tech Backlash? And Does That Matter?
- Impact of digital disruption worldwide
- I researched Uighur society in China for 8 years and watched how technology opened new opportunities – then became a trap
A.I.
- Google is changing its search algorithm to prioritize original news reporting: Humans will train it, as usual
- On “AI” replacing jobs and humans
- Artificial Intelligence & the Intellectual Property Landscape
- Who needs qubits? Factoring algorithm run on a probabilistic computer
- Video: Deterministic vs. replicated AI: Building For Honor’s battlefield
- The LawBytes Podcast, Episode 24: A Tribute to Ian Kerr (Michael Geist)
COMMUNICATIONS
- Counterpoint: Big telcos have no business howling over CRTC decision that encourages fair internet prices – Any unfairness pales in comparison to what Canadian consumers have had to put up with for years
- 50% of US homes still won’t have fiber broadband by 2025, study says
- AT&T to lose 1.1 million TV subscribers as DirecTV continues nosedive
- Lawsuit: AT&T signed customers up for DirecTV Now without their knowledge
- AT&T considers getting rid of DirecTV as TV business tanks, WSJ reports
- AT&T’s Terrible New TV Branding Confuses Even AT&T
- Some Investors Are Fed Up With AT&T’s Costly Obsession With Merger Mania
- FCC Commissioner Investigating Payola in the Radio Industry
- Colorado Town Offers 1 Gbps For $60 After Years Of Battling Comcast
- Comcast Sues Maine For Demanding It Sell TV Channels À La Carte
- Verizon plans 5G Home Internet in every city where it deploys mobile 5G
- At Qualcomm, 5G is headed everywhere and into virtually everything
- Upcoming FCC Consumer Advisory Committee Meeting Will Consider Robocall Working Group Recommendation
- FCC Expands Anti-Spoofing Prohibitions to Foreign-Originated Calls, Text-Messaging Services
- FCC’s consumer Advisory Committee adopts robocall blocking recommendation
- Alarm Industry Communications Committee Seeks Reconsideration of Call Blocking Declaratory Ruling to Prevent Blocking of Alarm Calls
- Fall TV Is the Crystallization of Broadcast’s Existential Crisis
PRIVACY
- Digital privacy evolves in class actions: With two recent failed digital privacy class-action certifications, litigators say certification is becoming a higher hurdle to pass
- District court allows majority of privacy invasion class action claims to proceed against social media company
- Millions of Americans’ Medical Images and Data Are Available on the Internet. Anyone Can Take a Peek.
- Millions of Americans’ medical images and data are available on the Internet
- University Of Alabama Is Using A Location-Tracking App To Punish Students For Leaving Football Games Early
- The DMV Is Selling Your Data To Vast Array Of Third Parties
- Hackers are exploiting a platform-agnostic flaw to track mobile phone locations
- Advanced hackers are infecting IT providers in hopes of hitting their customers
- You’d Think The FBI Would Be More Sensitive To Protecting Encrypted Communications Now That We Know The Russians Cracked The FBI’s Comms
- Privacy Regulators Turning Up the Heat: Major Fines for Data Breaches and Privacy Violations This Summer
- Los Angeles partnership launches platform to help people catch phishes
- Encryption Working Group Releases Paper To ‘Move The Conversation Forward’
- Denmark Releases 32 Prisoners Convicted Because Of Flawed Mobile Phone Tracking Data
- Spouse of Ring exec among lawmakers trying to weaken Calif. privacy law
- California’s Consumer Privacy Act Completes its 2019 Legislative Journey
- California now has toughest law in U.S. for the collection of personal information
- And At the End of the Day, the CCPA Remains Very Much the Same
- California Legislature Passes CCPA Amendments and Privacy Bills
- Compliance Tips From the Largest COPPA Settlement Ever
- CCPA’s Moving Target Comes into Focus
- Nevada’s New Privacy Law Will Go Into Effect Next Month: Are You Ready?
- A connected world will be a playground for hackers: Few companies making connected gadgets have much experience with cyber security
- Feds seek to seize all profits from Snowden’s book over NDA violation
- DOJ Decides To Help Publicize Snowden’s Memoir By Suing Him For Failing To Run His Book By The CIA And NSA First
CREATIVITY
- Mercedes’s Claims Against Street Artists Survive Dismissal Motion
- When IP meets counterculture: Is graffiti protected by copyright?
- After Being Sued, Mississippi Rewrites Its Unconstitutional Ban On The Use Of Meat Words By Vegan Food Producers
- New Mexico City Starts Crowdfunding Effort To Pay For Its Stupid Defense Of Constitutional Violations
- Lawsuit Settlement Over Detainment Of A Journalist Will Force Denver Police Department To Admit The First Amendment Exists
- Australian Aboriginal Flag Mess Is Getting Worse — All Thanks To Copyright
- USPTO Drops Its Demands For Applicants’ Green Cards
- The Music Business Wants to Blow Up Copyright – and the Trump Administration Is On Board
- She’s just not that ‘Into You’ – Ariana Grande seeks $10 million after snubbing Forever 21
- Charlotte Tilbury successful in copyright action against Aldi for “lookalike” makeup
- All Over the Map: Publishers, Writers, Small Towns & Apartment Owners Weigh In On Consent Decree Debate
- Researchers analyzed more than 300,000 local news stories on Facebook. Here’s what they found.: “Aside from critical information needs, 31 percent of stories categorized covered sports and 9 percent were obituaries.”
- THE Ohio State University Loses Its Trademark Application For ‘THE’
- Liverpool FC Fans Plan Protest Of Their Own Club Over Trademark Issue
- AB InBev Fails To Get ‘Patagonia’ Trademark Suit Dismissed
- Monster Energy Opposes Teenager’s Trademark Application Over Logos Not At All Similar
- Fluid Trademarks: Will Companies Go With the Flow?
- Intellectual Property Is Neither Intellectual, Nor Property: Discuss
- Elections Advertising—What You Need to Know About the Third-Party Advertising Rules
- The amendment to the Patent Rules – Coming into Force October 30
- The Cutthroat Battle for Controlling Le Monde
- No-deal brexit and intellectual property
- The MoviePass Mess Has Finally Come To An End
- Ken Burns’ Soft-Focus Look at Country Music: The filmmaker’s latest documentary has more than three chords, not enough of the truth.
- The Decline and Fall of the Modern Nerd: The sad saga of how fandom transformed from being about love into hate and intolerance
- The Female Patrons Who Shaped Art History
- No, James Murdoch Doesn’t Watch “Succession”: After leaving the family empire, Rupert Murdoch’s son is fighting threats to democracy that sound an awful lot like Fox News.
- The 100 best TV shows of the 21st century
- The 100 best films of the 21st century
Jon
News of the Week; September 11, 2019
GAMES
- UK High Court orders ISPs to block Switch hacking sites: Judge sides with Nintendo in blacklisting a handful of sites advertising circumvention devices and software
- Nintendo wins UK court case over Nintendo Switch piracy and modification
- Nintendo gets UK ISPs to block Switch piracy sites
- Nintendo launches infringement lawsuit against ROM site RomUniverse
- Nintendo sues ROM site: Switch maker’s anti-piracy legal efforts continue with copyright and trademark infringement suit against RomUniverse
- Capcom wins patent infringement lawsuit against Koei Tecmo
- Chinese Giant Tencent Is Suing Bloggers Who Criticize The Company For ‘Reputational Damage’
- Gears 5 review: An obvious gaming recommendation—if you already paid for it
- Gears 5 launch delayed in China: Sales and pre-orders suspended due to unspecified issue
- Niantic settles Pokemon Go public nuisance class action lawsuit
- Niantic agrees to combat trespassing Pokémon Go players: Developer settles class action lawsuit after three years, committing to new preventative measures
- Unionized Nexon staff rally for job security amid company-wide reorganization
- Nexon Korea union holds demonstration one year after formation: South Korea’s first games industry union demands job security, protests restructuring
- Steam rejects LilithSoft visual novel featuring rape scenes: Employee of Taimanin Asagi developer says Valve is “extremely strict with regards to characters that might be perceived as underage”
- Is Valve still censoring adult games on Steam?: Taimanin Asagi removal puts question to Valve’s hands-off moderation policy.
- Valve kept quiet on Epic exclusives following Metro Exodus backlash: Statement on “unfair” exclusivity was not intended to be a “lightning rod,” Valve said
- Tales From The Platform Wars: Steam Dev Says Calling ‘Metro Exodus’ Epic Exclusive Unfair Wasn’t Intended To Incite
- Epic Accuses Cheating Minor Of Continuing To Promote Cheat Software Even After Lawsuit
- The (not) new Russian games store taking on Epic and Steam: My.Games on how a 70/30 split and lack of exclusives won’t prevent it from making “the best platform ever”
- How Steam users see your game: An analysis of what players are looking for
- A platter of experimental discovery features are heading to Steam
- Valve updates experimental Steam Labs features: Micro Trailers coming to every game, plus new algorithms to help users explore Steam catalogue
- Crunch not needed for live ops game dev, says Zynga producer
- Why Ubisoft isn’t abandoning its open worlds: CEO Yves Guillemot explains why the growing audience for games means the publisher’s blockbuster model is sustainable
- EA readying cloud gaming technical trials: PC players will test cloud versions of FIFA, Titanfall, Need For Speed and Unravel
- EA is running a closed trial for its Project Atlas cloud gaming service this month
- John Justice: “We are trying to implement cross-progression with every title on Stadia” – Google Stadia VP and head of product confirms service will include free trials, parental controls, mods, more features
- Apple Arcade offers up 100+ exclusive(-ish) mobile games for $4.99 a month
- Apple Arcade subscription offers 100+ games for $4.99/month on Sept. 19: Pac-Man, Frogger, Chu Chu Rocket, Rayman, and a new Square Enix RPG in the lineup.
- MWM Immersive turns game publisher, debut title will beCreature in the Well
- Team Rocket event pays off for Pokémon Go: Sensor Tower data puts $110m August haul in the game’s top five months since launch
- Drivetime grabs $11 million in funding for voice-powered games for drivers
- Drivetime raises $11m for games drivers can play on the road: Makers Fund leads Series A round with participation from Amazon and Google; Jeopardy offering launches today
- Team17 draws up acquisition hit list as revenue jumps 97%: The UK publisher’s office move is set for November as staff count rises
- The role of Double Fine’s publishing biz is still up in the air after joining Microsoft
- Starbreeze applies for third extension on reconstruction period: If granted, troubled Swedish publisher would have had an entire year to avoid insolvency
- Tim Schafer: “I don’t know if it makes sense to have a publisher within a publisher” – Double Fine founder says he isn’t certain about the future of publishing arm Double Fine Presents following Microsoft acquisition
- Nintendo Direct shows off surprise sequels, new ports in aggressive year-end pitch
- Nintendo teases Switch peripheral focused on physical exercise: New controller extends motion control functions of the Switch console
- Wii Fit redux: Nintendo shows mysterious exercise ring for the Switch
- Say goodbye to a “regular schedule” of emulated classics on Switch
- What Sega’s Dreamcast launch keynote would have looked like, 20 years ago
- Dreamcast 20th anniversary interview extravaganza
- Dreamcast devs reflect on how the industry has changed since the console’s debut
- Crash Team Racing was the UK’s best-selling game in August: But Nintendo dominates the month in terms of unit sales, revenues and top-selling titles
- UK Charts: NBA 2K20 is No.1 in poor sales week
- Marry everything: The satisfying sandbox of Fit for a King – Kitfox CEO Tanya Short on sandboxes and micro-publishing
- Sony’s upcoming Xperia 5 phone supports the PS4’s DualShock controller
- Celeste developers form new studio: Matt Makes Games team sheds its old name, emerges in new Vancouver offices as Extremely OK Games
- Twitch kicks off partnership with the Raiders & Allegiant Stadium
- Report: Disney plans to sell Marvel Strike Force dev FoxNext Games
- Up to 200 more GameStop stores set to close, with more to follow
- 200 GameStop closures planned ahead of “a much larger tranche” coming
- Sales continue to slide downhill as GameStop continues its reboot
- The exciting uncertainty of esports’ future: Nielsen Esports’ Nicole Pike shares her patient views on the esports landscape ahead of her keynote at Esports BAR Miami 2019
- BoomTV acquires American Video Game League in bid to expand collegiate esports: Deal is “huge step forward” for collegiate esports, says AVGL CEO
- Why NASCAR raced into esports in 2019
- Veloce Esports headed for series A investment after angel round: Initial investors include former Liberty Global exec Eric Tveter
- Growing Pains: Issues Affecting eSports Stakeholders
- DLA Piper’s Media, Sport and Entertainment sector, sports magazine: e-Sports update – “Loot boxes” in the crosshairs
- RetroArch brings real-time translation to emulated games
- Game-focused social video platform Medal.tv raises $9 million
- Medal.tv raises $9 million in new funding: Horizons Ventures led the round, which takes social video platform to $12.5m lifetime funding
- WoW Classic reminds us of all we’ve lost | Opinion: Nostalgia for an earlier version of Blizzard’s MMO is a stark reminder of how much of gaming’s creative history continues to be lost entirely
- Blizzard’s World of Warcraft Classic hit with weekend DDoS attacks
- Everspace 2: Rockfish’s not so difficult second album
- Igniting a Chinese fighting game revolution: China isn’t known for its fighting game scene, but Next Studios wants to change that with Metal Revolution
- Call of Duty developer Sledgehammer Games opens new studio in Australia
- Sledgehammer Games is opening a studio in Australia: Call of Duty to expand its presence in Australia with new dev studio in Melbourne
- VRChat raises $10 million to expand its virtual reality platform
- VRChat secures $10m Series C funding: New investor Makers Fund joins HTC to help “open unique opportunities” in virtual reality space
- VR firm MWM Immersive expands into games publishing: Rebrands as MWM Interactive, debut title is Creature In The Well
- Here’s What 100 Hours of VR Drum Practice Gets You
- Digital Frontier: Where Brain-computer Interfaces & AR/VR Could One Day Meet
- The Coalition’s Gears 5 includes an expansive list of accessibility options
- Gears 5: Critical Consensus – Reviewers agree The Coalition’s second tour of duty is vintage Gears with an assortment of twists, but split on how good that makes it
- Blog: How I discovered the world of user acquisition and advertising
- Blog: I am the cheapest bastard in indie games
- Blog: Kickstarter tactics based on our campaign forUnbound: Worlds Apart
- Blog: Unity Addressables – It’s never too big to fit
- Blog: How music enhances virtual presence – Part 3
- Don’t Miss: How Maxis avoided sequel-itis on The Sims 2
- Watch John Pearl discuss the procedural design ofRemnant: From the Ashes
- Video: Understanding Halo 5’s geometry caching optimizations
- Video: Designing levels for a video game mixtape
- Video: How to survive and thrive as a small studio without a big hit
- Practical game writing insight from No Man’s Sky: Atlas Rises’ Greg Buchanan
- U.S. Patent No. 9,174,128: Dynamic quests in game
- U.S. Patent No. 9,545,571: Methods and apparatus for a video game magic system
- Home Office confirms games roles will be added to UK occupation shortage list: Migration Advisory Committee’s industry-informed recommendations have been approved
- UK regulatory roundup: Where we are and what lies ahead – Harbottle & Lewis on four imminent developments that will impact the games industry in the UK and Europe
- Ars goes back to school: The video games that threatened our college GPA
- BAFTA shuffles categories for 2020 Games Awards as submissions open
DIGITAL
- 8chan owner testifies to Congress about extremism on the site
- Months After Christchurch Shooting, The Australian Government Is Issuing Site-Blocking Orders Targeting Footage Of The Incident
- Google And Facebook To Face Antitrust Probes Investigating Their Impact On The Digital Ad Market
- Yes, News Sites Need To Get Out Of The Ad Surveillance Business — But Blame The Advertisers As Well
- DOJ Wants Apple, Google To Hand Over Names And Phone Numbers Of 10,000 App Users
- 50 states and territories launch massive joint probe into Google
- Google Bans Ads for Experimental Medical Treatments
- Amazon Probed by U.S. Antitrust Officials Over Marketplace: The FTC is interviewing merchants to determine whether the e-commerce giant is using its market power to hurt competition.
- Watchdog Group Files FTC Complaint Against Ryan ToysReview For Improper Ad Disclosures
- In Blockbuster Ruling, Ninth Circuit Affirms hiQ Injunction – CFAA Claim Likely Not Available for Scraping Publicly Available Website Data
- Big News: Appeals Court Says CFAA Can’t Be Used To Stop Web Scraping
- Web scraping doesn’t violate anti-hacking law, appeals court rules
- HIQ LABS, INC. v. LINKEDIN CORPORATION (USCA 9th Circuit, September 9, 2019)
- China Issues New Cybersecurity Law to Protect Children
- New Huawei rule: what it means for US companies
- Chinese professor stole hard drive secrets for Huawei, US government charges
- How China is Cashing in on Group Chats
- 18 months after indictment, Iranian phishers are still targeting universities
- YouTube Lets Indonesian Government Block Satirical Video That Criticizes The Indonesian Government
- How an Élite University Research Center Concealed Its Relationship with Jeffrey Epstein: M.I.T. Media Lab aware of Epstein as a convicted sex offender & that Epstein contributions far exceeded what M.I.T. admitted.
- Inside the bizarre world of internet trolls and propagandists
- How online harassment threatens press freedom
- Microsoft President Brad Smith: Tech sector needs to face up to responsibility and embrace regulation
- Federal Gov’t Gives Customs Officers Permission To Break Social Media Platform Rules Forbidding Fake Accounts
- A feel-good story about social media!
- Facebook on the hook as states launch competition, privacy probe
- The Technology 202: Facebook, Microsoft team up with academics in race to thwart deepfakes
- Facebook tightens policies around self-harm and suicide
- Facebook Dating launches in the United States today
- Facebook dating is now available in the US. Here’s how it works
- Facebook Watch Partners With International News Organizations To Produce New Slate
- Section 230 Applies to Facebook’s Post Removals and Account Suspensions–King v. Facebook (Eric Goldman)
- The NY Times Got It Backwards: Section 230 Helps Limit The Spread Of Hate Speech Online
- Ninth Circuit Says LinkedIn Wrongly Blocked HiQ’s Scraping Efforts
- California Court Of Appeal’s Midvale Decision Opens The Floodgates For More Website Accessibility Lawsuits
- FTC’s Latest Fine Of YouTube Over COPPA Violations Shows That COPPA And Section 230 Are On A Collision Course
- FTC and Google reach $170 Million Settlement over children’s privacy on YouTube
- FTC announces record $170 million COPPA settlement with Google and YouTube for children’s privacy violations
- Google and YouTube Pay Record $170 Million Fine for Allegedly Violating Children’s Privacy Law in Settlement with the FTC and the New York Attorney General
- Hotel Lobbyists Push Forward Their Plan To Kill The Internet Because They Hate Competing Against Airbnb
- Canadian YouTube Giant WatchMojo Invests In Digital Video Festival ‘Buffer’
- Video-sharing site reaches $170 million settlement with FTC and New York AG
- Tom Brady Joins TikTok on Heels of NFL’s Deal With Video Platform
- Insights: The Future Of The NFL Is TikTok, And Other Hail Mary Passes For Continued Relevance
- A Quick Study in Doxing and Personal Jurisdiction: Vangheluwe v. GotNews
- Execution in a Digital Age
- What Happens To Your Digital Assets When You Die?
- That Time Taylor Swift Threatened To Sue Microsoft Over Its Racist Chatbot
- The Internet Remains Broken In The Ninth Circuit And, At Least For Now, The Third
- ThinkProgress, a Top Progressive News Site, Has Shut Down: A search had been underway for a new publisher. But none was found.
- YouTube launches a dedicated Fashion vertical
- Bart Baker Says He’s Quitting YouTube, Moving To China To Pursue Social Superstardom
- YouTube network Studio71 is expanding into streaming
- YouTube Forges New ‘Red Diamond Creator Award’ For Channels With 100 Million Subscribers
- YouTube Taps K-Pop Groups TVXQ! And Super Junior For Travel Docuseries
- Tubular Labs Unveils New Metrics That Seek To Measure Social Video Like TV
- How to Avoid a Complaint to the ASA as a #Socialinfluencer When Posting #Ads in the UK
- New NLRB Advice Memo Clarifies Social Media Policy Rules
- Viacom Digital Studios Readies Facebook Watch Slate With Grace Helbig, MatPat, Joey Graceffa
- No, Netflix Is Not Ditching Binge-Watching. It’s Just “Trying Something New” With Competition Series ‘Rhythm + Flow.’
- Apple Music launches its official web-app in beta
- Apple TV Plus to Launch on Nov. 1, Cost $4.99 per Month
- Apple TV+ subscription service soft-launches November 1 for $4.99/mo
- Apple releases first trailer for new sci-fi series See, starring Jason Momoa
- Apple continues health push with three new medical studies
- Apple: The First Hope-Based Company
- Apple, Foxconn caught breaking Chinese labor laws while making iPhones
- Apple Wanted to Revolutionize the Way Streaming Pays. Here’s Why It Wasn’t Allowed: Spotify and Amazon are battling the Copyright Royalty Board over streaming royalty rates.
- Spotify users can now share music and podcasts to Snapchat
- Snapchat Prepares a Dedicated News Channel Ahead of 2020 Debates: Snapchat has made forays into the news business before
- Howard Stern is Getting Ripped Off: Why podcasting may have minted its first billionaire, subscription podcasting is the next great business model, and how to join the revolution
- Was Etsy too good to be true?
- WarnerMedia’s Crunchyroll Invests In European Anime Firm Viz Media Group
- WarnerMedia centralises distribution leadership for HBO, Turner
- Patreon Eyeing Providing Loans, HR Support, Health Care To Creators, CEO Says
- “Everything as a service” is coming—but we’re not there quite yet
- US tech IPOs on track for record year in money raised, reaching $17.1bn in 2019 H1 – Linklaters reports
- A Paranoid Tech Bro, a Homemade Nuclear Bunker, and a Shocking Death: In the tunnels beneath a placid suburban home, an angel investor turned into an angel of doom.
- China is close to releasing a Libra-like digital currency
- It’s just emojions misleading us over [laughing tears of joy face]?
- Emojis Have Unsettled Grammar Rules (and Why Lawyers Should Care) (Eric Goldman)
- Someone moved $1 billion in a single bitcoin transaction
- The hacker, bitcoin, the Proceeds of Crime Act and the Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act.
A.I.
- CDA Section 230 Immunizes Platform From Liability for Friend and Content Suggestion Algorithms
- An AI app that turns you into a movie star has risked the privacy of millions
- Algorithms should have made courts more fair. What went wrong?
- Texas Law Could Signal More State, Federal Deepfake Bans
- Cops Digitally Erase Suspect’s Facial Tattoos To Make Him Look More Like The Robbery Suspect Caught On Camera
- ‘Years ahead of the pack’: uOttawa’s renowned robot researcher Ian Kerr remembered as a leader in his field
- How do intellectual property rights apply to AI?
- Construction Robots Learn to Excavate by Mimicking Humans: Human movements can teach robots the skills they need to dig holes and – maybe someday – build the first colonies on Mars
- Leveraging Data Analytics and AI Through the M&A Life Cycle
- AI & Privacy: The Struggle is Real: meAnIngful consent and retAIning data
- Ethical Implications of AI and Ubuntu as an Intervention
- The Age of AI: How Will In-house Law Departments Run in 10 Years
- Hunting for the Sharpest Tools in the AI Shed
- Will AI Chatbots Replace Your Employee Handbook?
COMMUNICATIONS
- Disruption drags on for some Telus email customers
- Much Of The Assault On ‘Big Tech’ Is Being Driven By ‘Big Telecom’
- Comcast sues Maine to stop law requiring sale of individual TV channels
- T-Mobile Metro stores sell used phones as new, charge “fake taxes,” NYC says
- New York City Sues T-Mobile For Ripping Off Its Prepaid Users
- T-Mobile Employees Want Promises They Won’t Be Fired Post Merger
- Charter Spectrum Once Again ‘Competes’ By… Raising Prices
- Verizon’s 5G network isn’t good enough to cover an entire NFL stadium
- Verizon Can’t Stop Over-hyping 5G; This Time In NFL Stadiums
- Supreme Court Punts On Whether FCC’s Interpretation of the TCPA Binds Federal Courts
PRIVACY
- White House Pushing Proposal That Would Subject Mentally Ill People To Increased Surveillance
- DMVs Are Selling Your Data to Private Investigators: You gave them your data in exchange for a driver’s license. DMVs are making tens of millions of dollars selling it, documents obtained by Motherboard show.
- Hyp3r-misappropriation of data gets Instagram’s attention, but is enough being done?
- Senator pushes Amazon for details about Ring “partnerships” with police
- Ring Let Cops Know How Often Their Requests For Camera Footage Were Ignored
- Ring Has A ‘Head Of Face Recognition Tech,’ Says It’s Not Using Facial Recognition Tech. Yet.
- Appeals Court Says An IP Address Is ‘Tantamount To A Computer’s Name’ While Handing The FBI Another NIT Win
- FBI’s Operation reWired Targets International E-mail Scams
- The CCPA and COPPA: Looking for the “Betwixt and Between”
- Back to school: With latest attack, ransomware cancels classes in Flagstaff
- 600,000 GPS trackers for people and pets are using 123456 as a password
- Zero-day privilege escalation disclosed for Android
- Exploit for wormable BlueKeep Windows bug released into the wild
- CCPA Privacy FAQs: If a company collects personal information through a cookie, is it required to provide a consumer with a privacy policy?
- Apple takes flak for disputing iOS security bombshell dropped by Google
- MoviePass Left Tens Of Thousands Of Credit Card Numbers Exposed Online
- Firefox is stepping up its blocking game
- Riding in cars with hackers
- How The Cyber Insurance Industry’s Bottom Line Is Fueling Ransomware
- Cybersecurity Starts at the Top: Risks and Concerns for Directors and Officers
- Nevada’s New Privacy Bill Requires Website Operators That Collect Information About Consumers to Update Privacy Policies by October 1, 2019
- Equifax Victims Jump Through Hoops To Nab Settlement Money They Won’t Get Anyway
CREATIVITY
- A Famous Argument Against Free Will Has Been Debunked: For decades, a landmark brain study fed speculation about whether we control our own actions. It seems to have made a classic mistake.
- “Precious hours were wasted”: Trump’s doctored map affected hurricane forecasters
- Devin Nunes Drops One Ridiculous Lawsuit, Only To File Another One
- Court Tosses $100 Million Defamation Suit Brought By Former Trump Spokesman Over Reporting On Court Documents
- Judge Orders White House To Restore Reporter’s Press Pass It Illegally Removed
- Elections Canada’s third-party advertising controversy ignores regulatory discretion, says lawyer
- Football, gambling and advertising: The opposite of a young man’s game
- A New ‘Taco Tuesday’ Trademark Challenger Approaches: LeBron James
- Ariana Grande Sues Forever 21, Asserting Right of Publicity, Lanham Act and Copyright Claims
- Never ever getting back together: Taylor Swift Re-Records back Catalogue
- Charlotte Tilbury – highlighting the pow(d)er of using copyright against copycats
- Update on Canadian Copyright Mass Litigation – September Snapshot (Howard Knopf)
- The music modernization act: A primer for copyright holders
- That’s All He Wrote: Copyright Owners No Longer Enjoy Presumption of Irreparable Harm
- Myth #4: The 30 Seconds/500 Copies/Two-Thirds/200 Words Rule
- Using copyright to stop copycats – Islestarr Holdings Ltd v Aldi Stores Ltd
- New NAD decision addresses incentivized reviews
- Stouffer v. National Geographic Partners, LLC
- U.S. Supreme Court Issues Decisions Resolving Two Major Copyright Law Issues
- Queen Anne’s Revenge?
- Wu-Tang Clan’s “C.R.E.A.M.” Is Not the Capitalist Anthem You Think It Is
- Heirs to stolen painting seek its return from Japanese museum
Jon
EA’s Staggered Release Experiment
I just stumbled across this article that discusses an interesting new strategy for increasing player engagement with games. The idea is to release games in smaller pieces over time. Traditionally, games are released in their entirety when they are complete. The supposed problem with this is that it makes games “disposable” and incentivizes “bingeing”, where customers buy games, play the whole thing for a short, intensive period of time, and then shelve it or throw it away. The problem EA is fighting against is the fading attention of their customers after the release of their games. Instead of releasing a whole new game to renew interest, EA is experimenting with a staggered release model with one of its games, Plants vs Zombies: Battle for Neighborville. Even though the game is fully complete, it is being released over the course of six weeks. Additionally, EA is giving an incentive to buy early through a 25% discount off the full price.
I don’t really think of releasing a full game as a problem. Numerous games have been massively successful without this kind of release structure. Having said that, to compare this to television and movies, this could open the door for another category of more casual, episodic games as opposed to trying to make every game a big, blockbuster release. It’ll be interesting to see if this kind of strategy is successful or profitable enough that it shows up in other places. Anyway, even though it’s more business-focused, I thought the article seemed relevant enough to the course to share.
https://www.polygon.com/2019/9/11/20859185/plants-vs-zombies-ea-release-neighborville
News of the Week; September 4, 2019
GAMES
- Blizzard is suing Chinese studio Sina Games for ripping offWarcraft series
- Report: Valve is pushing back against accusations it violated EU trade rules
- Valve reportedly fighting EU antitrust charges: Focus Home, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Koch Media, and ZeniMax reportedly settling charges
- Recent Valve VR update contains hidden Half-Life demo code
- Night in the Woods devs cut ties with collaborator accused of assault: Others accused of harassment in the industry include Skyrim composer, Oculus co-founder.
- Oculus VR faces two allegations of sexual assault and harassment: Facebook’s current head of VR/AR describes stories as “sickening”
- Chucklefish responds to accusations it exploited Starboundvolunteers
- Sony Is Feverishly Battling Vita Tinkerers Despite Vita Being Discontinued
- Report: Annapurna Interactive parent company wipes $200 million in debt
- Starbreeze seeking to extend reconstruction period for a third time
- Facebook is using Minecraft to train an AI Assistant
- Former colleagues accuse Alexis Kennedy of abuse, retaliation: Weather Factory co-founder denies accusations from Red Queens’ Meg Jayanth and Failbetter’s Olivia Wood
- Voice actor shares a second warning about Skyrim composer: Aeralie Brighton accuses Jeremy Soule of sexual misconduct; he says, “I don’t agree with her point of view”
- Ken Wong apologises following accounts of abuse from former employee: Florence designer admits to his “failure as a leader” but assures he is working hard to “take better care of my team”
- Night in the Woods team cancels game amid Alec Holowka allegations: Scott Benson and Bethany Hockenberry cut ties with Holowka, will handle the property alone from now on
- Ukie launches diversity census to analyse shape of the UK games industry
- UKIE launches UK diversity census: New study aims to deliver detailed analysis on the British games industry
- NBA 2K20 trailer sells the thrill of gambling | Opinion: The lurid online casino is wilfully short-sighted at a precarious time for the industry
- Ninja Becomes Adidas’ First Pro Gamer Partner In Multiyear Deal
- Niko Partners: Mobile esport games grossed $15.3bn worldwide last year – Mobile esport titles poised to overtake PC competitors which grossed $16.1 billion in 2018
- ‘This is a sport.’ Playing video games for $7,000 in scholarship money at Durham College
- ESL and Dreamhack merging CS GO tourneys to form ESL Pro Tour – IEM Katowice and ESL One Cologne Counter-Strike: Global Offensive competitions will serve as two Masters events for 2020
- Twitch Signs Top YouTube Streamer Nick Eh 30: Twitch’s deal with the ‘Fortnite’ player comes just weeks after the platform’s biggest star, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, moved to Microsoft’s Mixer.
- Gearbox launches Homeworld 3 crowdfunding campaign with $1 goal
- Microsoft partners with SK Telecom for 5G game-streaming in Korea
- Chris Charla: “Discoverability may be harder to solve than investment” – ID@Xbox head on the importance of sustainability, and how Microsoft is trying to ensure “every game has a chance”
- Yu-Gi-Oh is the best-selling boxed game in EMEAA charts: But Switch-exclusive Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution missed out to FIFA and (yes) GTA V in combined Top 10
- What convinced Ubisoft to launch its own subscription service?: As Uplay+ launches, Brenda Panagrossi talks about the motivations and market research behind the publisher’s new offering
- Yves Guillemot on the thin line between politics and entertainment: Ubisoft CEO speaks about the difficulty of tackling sensitive real-world issues while running a multi-billion dollar entertainment firm
- Nintendo adds SNES titles to Nintendo Switch Online: 20 titles join the service tomorrow, compatible controller will be sold only to online subscription members
- Nintendo is the new lead partner for Digital Schoolhouse: Firm will help 55 schools teach students about careers in the games industry, including esports via a Smash Bros tournament
- Nintendo Direct shows off surprise sequels, new ports in aggressive year-end pitch
- The best-selling games product on Amazon last month was a Switch screen protector: Nintendo dominated the online retail giant last month with six of the ten best-selling games
- Nintendo Switch will finally get SNES games—20 of them—starting tomorrow
- Pokemon Masters has topped 10 million downloads in four days
- Trine 4 publisher Modus Games acquires Brazilian studio The Balance
- Don’t Miss: The pros and cons of procedural generation inOverland
- Don’t Miss: Tackling network programming for Age of Empires’ demanding battles – in 1996
- Don’t Miss: A classic postmortem of Epic Games’ Unreal Tournament
- Why you may be underpricing your video game
- Blog: How onboarding should be applied to tutorials
- Blog: 50 mistakes to avoid when developing an advergame
- Blog: How painting works in Chicory: A Colorful Tale
- Blog: The UX of the Overwatch role queue
- Opinion: Can World of Warcraft Classic capture the MMO’s original glory?
- Don’t Miss: Rethinking the RPG to make it fun to be the bad guy in Tyranny
- How Remedy harnessed the ethereal beauty of brutalism to shape Control
- Crafting the mobile-friendly atmospheric storytelling ofSky: Children of the Light
- How to make 80-hour adventures for blind gamers | Opinion: Accessibility consultant and blind gamer Brandon Cole offers advice on how to open up your epic blockbusters to the visually impaired
- Video: How indies and small studios can succeed with licensed games
- Video: A data-driven deep dive into the 12 motivations for players
- Video: Conquering the creative challenges in Marvel’s Spider-Man
- Disney, Marvel, and a decade of missed opportunity: 10 Years Ago This Month: Media giant planned to make super hero games internally, then spent years dismantling its own studios
- Koch Media CEO: “We should welcome Epic and their business model” – Klemens Kundratitz says publisher is open to more exclusives with Epic Games Store despite backlash against Metro Exodus
- A dev’s guide to sustainably supporting live games without crunching
- Producer Keith Fuller on business realities of crunch, how to overcome them
- How to get your game released on Google Stadia: Google’s Ray Bautista says Stadia is “moving away from the Wild West that exists in some storefronts today”
- Google open sources real-time hand and finger tracking tech
- Google Play apps with 1.5 million downloads drained batteries and slowed devices
- Viveport Infinity rolls out support for the Valve Index
- Nine Steam pre-release marketing tips from Valve’s Alden Kroll: Steam UI and interaction designer offers insight on the tools developers can use to build an audience before launch
- Steam Library redesign ushers in new features for devs alongside spruced up game pages
- Steam’s new, handsome “Library” update is better 16 years late than never
- Steam Library overhaul to focus on organization, events: Coming changes include new developer tools, customizable “collections,” more from Steam Labs
- Lucky’s Tale dev Playful secures $23 million to create viewer-friendly games
- Porsche got thousands of Twitch viewers to play its newest ad: The prize? Showing off Porsche’s newest Formula E car
- Sales revenue up at CD Projekt thanks to evergreen The Witcher series
- CD Projekt first-half revenues climb 26%: The Witcher franchise continues to drive Polish publisher’s results as Cyberpunk 2077 sees “final, most intensive phase of development”
- Luminous Productions’ Back Stage tech demo shows off Square Enix’s ray tracing tech
- Mobile studio Cerberus Interactive nets $1.75 million in funding
- Investors sink $4 million into instant game developer Knock Knock
- Modus Games acquires The Balance Inc: Maximum Games’ newly-launched publishing label picks up Brazilian studio behind Override – Mech City Brawl
- Project xCloud to use SK Telecom exclusively in Korea: Microsoft partnership with mobile carrier calls for a 5G/LTE public preview of the streaming service next month
- Sam Barlow on crafting stories players tell themselves: The acclaimed developer discusses his work on Telling Lies and Her Story, and how he hopes to advance interactive fiction
- Critique Gaming: “We try to explore reality in meaningful ways” – Romanian indie dev discusses its motives as a politically charged studio, and how to breach difficult topics in sensible ways
- Serious Games for and as Cultural Heritage (Boyan Bontchev)
- First encounter: Ohio Challenger 2P (and its 4KB of RAM) – [From the archives] Wait, I can write my own video games?!?!
DIGITAL
- Hong Kong ISPs Refuse To Help China Censor The Internet
- Senator: Mark Zuckerberg should face “the possibility of a prison term”: “He ought to be held personally accountable,” Ron Wyden (D-OR) said.
- FTC Fines Google $150-$200 Million For YouTube’s Child Data Privacy Violations
- YouTube fined $170 million for violations of children’s privacy
- Google Is Fined $170 Million for Violating Children’s Privacy on YouTube
- Google Exec Accused Of Fathering, Abandoning Baby With Employee
- The career rise and controversy of David Drummond, Alphabet’s chief lawyer whose extramarital relationship with a former employee reignited criticism of Google’s culture
- Google’s top lawyer allegedly cheated on his wife with multiple employees – against Google’s own policies: Drummond denies he had relationships with more than one Google employee
- Google lets David Drummond do the talking
- $650,000-a-year Google legal chief ‘had affairs with employees – and a CHILD with me before dumping me by text’ claims ex-worker as she hits out at ‘sexist culture’ at company
- YouTube Re-Bans InfoWars Channel After It Temporarily Circumvented The Site’s Terms Of Service
- Amid Reported FTC Investigation, YouTube Announces New ‘YouTube Kids’ Website
- YouTube Kids is getting its own website: The platform has also introduced new age-based categories.
- GM and Tesla unlock connected car features to help with Hurricane Dorian: OnStar’s Crisis Assist is free, and Tesla is unlocking extra range on some cars.
- There Is Essentially No Statute of Limitations for Online Copyright Infringement–APL v. US (Eric Goldman)
- Facebook Confirms 2 Billion Users Will Now Need To Opt In To Facial Recognition
- Instagram may allow creators to syndicate IGTV videos to Facebook
- Indiana Appeals Court Decides Badmouthing A Cop On Facebook Is A Crime
- Netflix can kill The OA, but it can’t kill a movement: #SaveTheOA understands the stakes of the streaming wars.
- YouTube Now Requires Creators To Manually Approve Crowdsourced Video Translations To Clamp Down On Trolls
- YouTube Makes ‘Cobra Kai’ Free To Kick Off AVOD Era, Unveils New European Slate
- YouTube Hands Out Grants To 8 Indian Creators As Part Of $20 Million ‘Learning Fund’
- Delhi High Court yet again calls for accountability from e-commerce platforms.
- Pinterest’s Way Of Dealing With Anti-Vax Nonsense And Scams Is Only Possible Because Of Section 230
- Reminder: The Copyright Office Will Be Yanking Eligibility for the DMCA Online Safe Harbor (Again) (Eric Goldman)
- Three Years Later And The Copyright Office Still Can’t Build A Functioning Website For DMCA Agents, But Demands Everyone Re-Register
- Pressured By ‘Right To Repair’ Movement, Apple Will Sell Parts To Independent Repair Shops
- Spotify is testing a ‘Create podcast’ button inside its app: Record, edit and publish a podcast right from your phone.
- Pandora now lets you share music and podcasts to your Instagram Stories
- Vevo strikes a new distribution deal for smart TVs
- YouTube will stop displaying exact follower counts in September: It’s an attempt to take pressure off of creators, but it’s drawing criticism.
- Amazon’s Next-Day Delivery System Has Brought Chaos And Carnage To America’s Streets — But The World’s Biggest Retailer Has A System To Escape The Blame
- Amazon delivery contractors operate with little oversight, report finds
- Alibaba, the $435 billion Chinese shopping giant, is gunning for Amazon in Europe
- President Trump tweets picture of sensitive satellite photo of Iranian launch site
- Judge Wants To Know Who’s Behind Devin Nunes’ Cow’s And Mom’s Twitter Account
- Knight Institute Warns Rep. Ocasio-Cortez That She, Like Trump, Can’t Block People On Twitter
- Former Hotel Exec Gets Elected To Congress, Decides First Order Of Business Is To Destroy Airbnb
- Josh Hawley Continues To Pretend That Silicon Valley Isn’t Innovative
- Vice sees success with its year-old cross-platform video ad sales push
- Vice News To Merge With Viceland Amid Layoffs At Latter, Pivot Away From Entertainment
- Pro Tip: Don’t Send A Completely Bogus Defamation Threat To A Website That Employs A Former ACLU Badass
- Antonio Neri and Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s cultural revolution
- Unix at 50: How the OS that powered smartphones started from failure
- Film & TV makers debut new feature to end the “soap opera effect” scourge
- The (un)sustainability of Bitcoin | Alex de Vries
A.I.
- A Voice Deepfake Was Used To Scam A CEO Out Of $243,000
- Fraudsters deepfake CEO’s voice to trick manager into transferring $243,000
- How YACHT fed their old music to the machine and got a killer new album
- IoT botnet creator cops plea to hacking more than 800,000 devices
- AI having uneven impact on lawyers
- White House Now Thinks Harvesting Fitness Tracker Data Could Stop The Next Mass Shooting
COMMUNICATIONS
- Fraudsters preying on Telus customers impacted by major email outage
- AT&T’s confusing mess of online TV services even has AT&T confused
- Unlicensed signal boosters get a boost from Amazon
- The FCC Doesn’t Actually Know How Many People Have Broadband
- DOJ ‘Solution’ For Sprint T-Mobile Merger Will Result In Less Overall Wireless Coverage
- Comcast, beware: New city-run broadband offers 1Gbps for $60 a month
- Samsung launches its first 5G-integrated CPU
- Resolving telecoms disputes involving state entities in the Middle East
PRIVACY
- EFF Sues CBP, ICE Over Refusal To Hand Over Its GPS Tracking Device Policies
- Facebook And Twitter Hope To Fix California’s Troubled Privacy Law With…Misleading Ads?
- You Know That Mobile Phone Tracking Data You Used As Evidence In Over 10,000 Court Cases? Turns Out Some Of It Was Wrong, But We’re Not Sure Which Yet
- Just As Attorney General Barr Insists iPhone Users Have Too Much Security, We Learn They Don’t Have Nearly Enough
- A glut of iOS 0-days pushes their price below cost of those for Android: Top price for unpublished Android exploits reaches $2.5 million, a 25% premium over iOS.
- The Conflict Between Social Media Transparency And Bad Privacy Laws Is Going To Get Worse
- Rash of ransomware continues with 13 new victims—most of them schools
- Armed with iOS 0days, hackers indiscriminately infected iPhones for two years
- Ring reportedly shared video sharing data, detailed maps with police in 2018
- GirlsDoPorn.com faces trial for allegedly filming 22 women under false pretenses
- InvizBox 2 redefines what “privacy” routers can do
- Office Of Legal Counsel Sued For Refusing To Turn Over Legal Memos Congress Said Aren’t Exempt From FOIA Law
CREATIVITY
- ‘Baby Shark’, Derived From A Public Domain Folk Song, Now The Subject Of A Copyright Dispute
- Uber Takes On Beautician/Barber Over Her BeauBer Mobile App
- Tom Brady Fails To Trademark ‘Tom Terrific’ As USPTO Rightly Assesses He’s Not The Most Terrific Tom
- Even Kirk Herbstreit Thinks THE Ohio State Is Being THE Silliest With Its ‘THE’ Trademark Application
- In video message on Dorian, President Trump displays doctored forecast
- Bedbug Privilege: Bret Stephens Uses His NY Times Column To Suggest Jokingly Comparing Him To A Bedbug Is Prelude To Ethnic Genocide
- Should advertising regulators enforce wokeness?
Jon
News of the Week; August 28, 2019
GAMES
- Blizzard sues over “brazen” Warcraft clone: World of Warcraft maker taking InstantFuns to court due to Glorious Saga, saying the game’s content “is almost entirely copied”
- New allegations of sexual assault surface against established game devs
- Developers sound off after abuse accusations: People across the industry offer support to victims, perspective and calls to action for the rest of their peers
- Tetrageddon Games developer warns women about Skyrim composer: Nathalie Lawhead says Jeremy Soule raped them, took advantage of an industry newcomer’s situation
- More developers come forward with accounts of emotional abuse and sexual assault: Nathalie Lawhead’s account prompts Zoë Quinn, Adelaide Gardner, more to speak out about their experiences in the industry
- Night in the Woods devs cut ties with Alec Holowka after abuse allegations
- Riot Games settles gender-discrimination class action lawsuit
- Riot Games reaches preliminary settlement in class action lawsuit over gender discrimination: “Gender discrimination (in pay or promotion), sexual harassment, and retaliation are not systemic issues at Riot”
- Ion Fury retains controversial in-game content after all: Facial cleanser name is in, slur is out, company still donating to Trevor Project and mandating sensitivity training
- Sony clamps down on Vita hacking: Despite console’s slow death, Sony moves to protect its interests in Japan with anti-hacking firmware update
- Mixer streamers can now earn cash for recommending Xbox Game Pass
- Six men arrested over alleged Counter-Strike match fixing: Australian police say offences could lead to up to ten years in prison
- Better with the cloud? Stadia gets the “fastest” Football Manager sims
- Another Bad PR Sign: Indie Developer Shuns Epic Store, Saying ‘My Word Means Something’
- Darq developer offers Epic revenue to charity if given non-exclusivity: Unfold Games offers to let the gaming community choose which organisation would receive donations
- Australian police make arrests as part of investigation into esports match fixing
- Twitch’s cuts of payments to esports teams is benefiting YouTube
- OG wins Dota 2’s International for second straight year: Valve’s premiere esports competitions sees back-to-back champs for the first time
- Benjamin ‘DrLupo’ Lupo Inks Multi-Year Equity Deal With Esports Conglomerate ReKTGlobal
- Ninja defamed?
- Accessibility Unlocked offers support to disabled developers in Australia and New Zealand: New group also wants to raise more awareness about accessibility issues for players
- Restoring trust in Star Wars Battlefront II: Design director Dennis Brännvall reflects on the fallout from the loot box controversy, and how DICE has won back the community
- DICE cancels new Battlefield V multiplayer mode to focus on eradicating bugs
- DICE cancels Battlefield V competitive mode to focus on bug fixes: Battlefield still bug crushing nine months after release
- Celebrity Entertainer Sues Over Video Game Avatar
- The joyful representation of The Sims: EA Maxis senior producer Michael Duke on creating studio longevity, improving representation, and building a lasting franchise
- Modified DayZ receives MA15+ rating in Australia: Bohemia Interactive’s changes satisfy the Australian Classification Board
- Video Game Age Ratings in Online Retail: Legal Requirements for Merchants
- Emulator aims to keep Flash games alive and kicking after official support ends
- New publisher Modern Wolf commits to “ethical development practices”: UK-based indie publisher has a zero tolerance policy on crunch, will champion developers from underrepresented regions
- Nintendo continues marginal improvements to ethical mineral sourcing: Switch maker says it’s “putting smiles on the faces of our supply chain,” but efforts to ensure it isn’t funding human rights abuses far from complete
- Hands-on: The Switch Lite is a smaller, more comfortable handheld
- Nintendo removes credit card payment option from Wii U, 3DS eShop in EU and UK
- Nintendo Wii U, 3DS eShops to stop accepting credit cards in UK, EU: Credit card purchases can still be made through Nintendo accounts
- The future for platform holders is cooperation, not just competition | Opinion: Companies like Sony and Microsoft will always seek a competitive advantage, but the clear lines of the console wars are all but gone
- Microsoft’s Age of Empires studio will oversee the IP rather than develop games
- Microsoft’s Age of Empires studio won’t be developing games: Shannon Loftis’ newly-created studio is focused on oversight of teams like Forgotten Empires, Relic
- Bungie – “We need to dispel the notion Activision was some prohibitive overlord”: Destiny 2 developer discusses whether the game’s big changes this year were related to splitting from its original publisher
- Google Play Store design refresh aims to boost game discoverability
- Game stores: you need more real-time charts!
- Play Ventures raises $40 million to fuel game-focused VC fund
- Playtika acquires Best Fiends developer-publisher Seriously
- Playtika acquires Best Fiends developer Seriously: Seriously’s “mobile first” entertainment strategy drove it to $69m revenue last year
- Grand Theft Auto V is back on top in the EMEAA charts: The drought of major new releases leaves the door open for Rockstar once again
- UK Charts: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe takes No. 1 (but it should be Minecraft, again) – For second week running, listing anomaly denies Minecraft top spot, despite being best-selling game for the week
- ISFE: EU games industry worth over €21bn – Consoles account for 47% of revenue in France, Germany, Spain, and UK
- MatPat’s Alternate Reality Game ‘The Theorist Gateway’ Has Amassed 400,000 Unique Players
- Scopely announces Barcelona and Dublin expansion: Just two years since opening Barcelona office, mobile dev plans to triple its presence in the city
- Razer and Tencent partner to further cloud gaming ambitions
- Tencent partners with Razer for cloud gaming hardware, overseas expansion: Collaboration aims to have gaming hardware compatible with Tencent Cloud launched by year’s end
- Play Ventures closes first funding round at $40m: Led by Rovio investment, VC fund raises $10m more than initial targets
- Hatch and Vodafone partner to bring 5G mobile game streaming to Germany
- Valve tweaks bug bounty program after ‘mistakenly’ turning away researchers
- Valve says turning away researcher reporting Steam vulnerability was a mistake
- Steam no longer allowing payments in Argentinian pesos: Storefront error cites “government laws,” but currency depreciation may be at the heart of payment block
- Ubisoft exec claims Valve needs to modify Steam’s ‘unrealistic’ business model
- Ubisoft exec criticises Steam’s “unrealistic” business model: “It doesn’t reflect where the world is today in terms of game distribution,” says VP of partnerships and revenue
- “I spent 300 days on the road last year meeting developers”: Meet Kowloon Nights, the games fund that wants its partners to leave it behind
- LCG Entertainment relaunches Telltale Games brand: New owners are “working very hard” to avoid mistakes of previous management
- Telltale Games, the studio behind The Walking Dead, has been reanimated
- Like a zombie, the Telltale brand is coming back from the dead
- Warner Bros. Interactive to Open San Diego Studio Focused on Mobile Games
- Warner Bros. forms new free-to-play mobile studio in San Diego
- Warner Bros opens new mobile studio in San Diego: Branch will be led by Boston studio boss Tom Casey and specialise in free-to-play games
- Using UI as a means to tell a story, convey emotion, and create personality
- Video: A soft skills survival guide for game developers
- Video: The three phases of designing Episode’s interactive fiction
- Video: Inside the transmedia storytelling of Final Fantasy XV
- Fumito Ueda on weaving empathy into victory in Shadow of the Colossus
- 20 years after Seaman, Saito reflects on creativity and making new, strange things
- World of Warcraft is hearthing back home again with Classic
- Ancestors – The Humankind Odyssey: Critical Consensus – Patrice Désilets’ Panache Digital leaves the critics intrigued and ultimately frustrated with a unique game that refuses to hold the player’s hand
- Don’t Miss: Taking the sting out of failure in Supergiant’sPyre
- Don’t Miss: The story behind Remedy’s viral dog mocap star
- Don’t Miss: How Remedy rewrote its engine tech to makeAlan Wake
- Don’t Miss: Creating the free-flowing text conversations inMr. Robot:1.51exfiltrati0n
- How we balanced our game for beginners and for pros
- Blending comedy with capitalism in The Outer Worlds: Obsidian’s senior designer Brian Heins also discusses why tougher moral choices are more interesting
- Bhad Bhabie Joyriding Game ‘Ride or Die!’ Geared Around Stealing Cars, Outrunning Cops
- Bhad Bhabie Pacts With BBTV Interactive On Mobile Car Game ‘Ride Or Die!’
- Blog: Creating Merchant of the Skies from announcement to Early Access launch
- Blog: A primer on sound design for video games
- Blog: Depiction of war in games – can you do better?
- Blog: Second looks at snowballing
- Creating a narrative focused mission design document: A Last of Us example
- ‘Why all of our games look like crap’: One dev’s lessons in art style
- Review: Control is Remedy’s best game yet—and a ray tracing masterpiece
- C’mon and SLAM: How Oculus tackled portable, 6DOF tracking for the Quest
- Oculus’ former head of mobile VR has left Facebook
- Oculus VR loses its head of mobile: Max Cohen left this month, after leading Gear VR, Oculus Go, and starting push toward Oculus Quest
- Indie Dev Experiment Brings Google Lens to VR, Showing Real-time Text Translation
- VRGO Mini is Small Form Factor VR Locomotion Peripheral, Kickstarter Now Live
- Telling Lies: Critical Consensus: Her Story creator Sam Barlow delivers critically acclaimed follow-up, but Telling Lies still lives in the shadow of its predecessor
- PlayStation Productions joins the Uncharted movie as another director exits
- PlayStation Productions is now working on the Uncharted movie: Sony’s new unit joins the producing team after film project loses yet another director
- Metro 2033 movie in the works: Gazprom Media producing a feature film based on the novel that spawned 4A Games’ post-apocalyptic shooter franchise
- Staffsource: Ars staffers reminisce on the games that made them gamers
- The ten best console racing games of all time
- Our favorite gaming studios, expos, museum exhibits—in a photo blowout
- First International Gaming Summit on Mental Health set for October
- Gamescom: Opening Night Live attracts 500,000 viewers – Another record-breaking year for Gamescom is topped off by newfound digital engagement of 100 million video views
- U.S. Patent no. 9,656,167: Pre-play and post-play video game character presentation and equipping
DIGITAL
- Alphabet’s legal chief, David Drummond, comes under the spotlight following new allegations about his personal conduct
- My Time at Google and After
- Ex-Google Staffer Says After Split With Chief Legal Officer David Drummond: ‘Hell Does Not Begin To Capture My Life’
- Google defends tracking cookies—some experts aren’t buying it
- Google Play app with 100 million downloads executed secret payloads
- Former Google engineer Levandowski indicted for stealing trade secrets
- Top MPAA Lawyer, Mastermind Behind Its Plan To Attack The Internet, Arrested On Blackmail And Sexual Assault Charges
- Facebook likely knew about Cambridge Analytica much earlier than we thought
- Facebook bans ads from The Epoch Times after huge pro-Trump buy: By hiding its multimillion-dollar dark money ad spend, the organization bypassed Facebook’s political advertising transparency rules.
- Facebook’s Weird Pointless Auditless Audit Of Political Bias On Its Platform
- Russian Troll Farm Tries Again To Sue Facebook, Despite Having Its Original Complaint Dismissed On 230 Grounds
- Ninth Circuit Releases Another Important CDA Section 230 Opinion With Broad Application – Automated Content Recommendation and Notification Tools Do Not Make Social Site the Developer of User Posts
- Gutting Section 230 Will Harm The Most Marginalized
- Decision to Dismiss Suit Seeking to Hold Facebook Liable for Hamas Attacks Affirmed by the Second Circuit
- Internet Presence Creates Exposure For Discrimination Claims Under California Law
- California State Court Tosses Spam Suit
- Facebook tightens rules for U.S. political advertisers ahead of 2020 election
- Ninth Circuit Denies En Banc Re-Hearing of Facebook First Amendment Challenge—TCPA Constitutionality Fight Headed to the Supremes?
- Guy Sues Facebook For Violating Basically All The Laws, For Shutting Down His Account And For Everything Else Bad Facebook Has Ever Done
- Tracking online hate groups reveals why they’re resilient to bans
- Australia plans to block sites hosting extremist content during attacks
- YouTube disables 210 accounts spreading misinformation about Hong Kong
- Google shutters more than 200 YouTube channels amid Hong Kong protests
- YouTube Disables 210 Channels For Spreading Misinformation About Hong Kong Protests
- YouTube is now labeling videos in Hong Kong uploaded by publishers with government or public funding
- Amid Objective Content Controversies, Susan Wojcicki Defends “Openness” Of YouTube Platform
- Google Agrees To Meet With The YouTubers Union, But Says It Won’t “Negotiate Their Demands”
- The YouTube Radicalization Pipeline Exists, And It’s Driving Users Toward Increasingly Alt-Right Content (Study)
- YouTube Expands New “Borderline Content”-Hunting Algorithm To The U.K.
- China (Yes, China) Complains About Attack On Its ‘Free Speech Rights’ After Twitter/Facebook Boot Propaganda Accounts
- Twitter Says No More Ads From State-Controlled News Media
- Book publishers sue Audible to stop new speech-to-text feature
- YouTube Updates Child Safety Policies To Remove Adult-Themed Videos Aimed At Kids
- YouTube flags robot battle videos as “animal fights”
- Probably Speech, Maybe Free: Toward a Probabilistic Understanding of Online Expression and Platform Governance – Applying a probablistic statistical framework to First Amendment questions (Mike Ananny)
- Macron claims deal to end digital service tax fight with the US
- Why Is MLB Claiming Revenue From Obviously Fair Use Videos On YouTube?
- PewDiePie reaches 100m subscribers: Long-running YouTuber is the first individual to achieve this milestone
- PewDiePie Hits 100 Million Subscribers, And Surprisingly, YouTube Pays Him Tribute
- YouTube Embraces PewDiePie After Two-Year Cold Shoulder, Congratulates Him On 100 Million Subs
- YouTuber Olly Thorn Raises $100,000+ By Livestreaming Shakespeare Readings 24/7 For 4 Days
- Netflix-like pirate sites offered more video than the real Netflix, feds say
- Netflix To Screen Scorsese’s $159 Million ‘The Irishman’ And 9 Other Films In Theaters This Fall
- Anti-vaxxer livestreamed alleged assault on pro-vaccine lawmaker
- James Charles Leaks Own Nude Photo Amid AT&T Hack Affecting Several Creators
- IP Legal Considerations for Live Streaming
- NY Times Goes Off On Amazon Because Some People Are Publishing Fake George Orwell Books
- Hundreds of “banned” goods still for sale on Amazon, report finds
- Amazon Prime Video Signs Distribution Deal With Altice Europe
- EU data economy: legal, ethical & social issues
- Agreement Amongst Competition Authorities of the G7 Countries on the Digital Economy
- California arms traffickers used Snapchat to market illegal weapons: Recent investigations show that in the Bay Area, social media is playing a significant role in firearms sales
- Snapchat Turns to Sneaker Culture in New ‘Kick Life’ Original Series: Dedicated to exploring what it truly means to be a sneakerhead.
- TikTok Reportedly Piloting New Ad Product, An Audience Network, In Asia
- What3words Is A Clever Way Of Communicating Position Very Simply, But Do We Really Want To Create A Monopoly For Location Look-ups?
- Apple’s $44 Billion Drop Shows Growing Cost of Reliance on China
- Maybe don’t keep your Apple Card in a leather wallet, Apple warns
- Spotify matches Apple Music’s 3-month trial
- Eminem’s music publisher claims Spotify owes millions in royalties for ‘Lose Yourself’ and other songs
- Audiomack Announces Official Partnership With Warner Music Group: The streaming service’s first deal with a major label will focus on identifying and elevating new talent
- Lululemon Launches ‘Sweatlife’ Podcast in Partnership With Makers
- FameBit Founders Raise $2.2 Million For Podcast Advertising Startup ‘Podcorn’
- NAD Gives Online Review Promotion a Negative Grade
- Bosch Pulls Social Media Post Over Charges of Sexism
- Companies Are Not Complying With the Safe Harbor Provision of the DMCA
- Section 230 Protects HOA for Publishing Meeting Minutes–Eagle Ridge Townhouse Ass’n v. Snapp (Eric Goldman)
- Thinking About Restricting Online Reviews? FTC: Think Again
- Building Buzz: Facebook Dominates In Audience Views for Three Highly-Anticipated TV Shows Coming This Fall
- Why people keep falling for viral hoaxes
- Nashville Trump Supporter Fired Over Facebook Post Wins Trial
- Instagram, Facing Pressure From Facebook, Is Testing Back-To-Back Ads In Stories (Report)
- Facebook is developing a new standalone Snapchat-like messaging app called ‘Threads’
- Facebook Is Developing ‘Threads,’ An Instagram-Adjacent Messaging App That Automatically Shares Location, Battery Life Data (Report)
- What’s not to like about Instagram’s latest test?
- Opinion: With This Statement, I Give Notice That Instagram Owns Your Soul – People posting a pseudo-legal declaration may believe they’re in a two-way dialogue with the company. The opposite is true.
- YouTube TV To Sell Add-Ons For AMC-Owned Acorn TV, Urban Movie Channel
- Beauty Giant Estée Lauder Now Allots 75% Of Its Digital Marketing Budget To Influencers
- ASA rules against BetIndex Ltd
- Vevo announces new ROUNDS urban series
- Alleged “snake oil” crypto company sues over boos at Black Hat
- Company Sues Blackhat Because People Mocked Their Sponsored Presentation And Called It Snake Oil
- Judge savages self-proclaimed bitcoin inventor Craig Wright
- FTC Permanently Bans Operators of Cryptocurrency MLM
- 3 Key Takeaways: Emerging Issues & Trends: Blockchain for In-House Counsel
- The Circuitous International Travel of Your Data
- No longer up in the air? Cloud transaction regulations are released
- Bernie Su’s Livestreamed Interactive Sci-Fi Series ‘Artificial’ Brings Twitch Its First Emmy
- Protocols, Not Platforms: A Technological Approach to Free Speech
- The Barlowian Internet: The Faults Of The Internet Are Also Its Opportunity, But It’s Up To Us To Embrace Them
A.I.
- Singularity: how governments can halt the rise of unfriendly, unstoppable super-AI
- Do Citizens Have A Right To See The Algorithms Used By Publicly-Funded Software?
- Why We Should Teach Kids to Call the Robot ‘It’: As a new generation grows up surrounded by artificial intelligence, researchers find education as early as preschool can help avoid confusion about robots’ role
- Music to regulators’ ears? Antitrust, RPM, and AI
- Robotic thread is designed to slip through the brain’s blood vessels: Magnetically controlled device could deliver clot-reducing therapies in response to stroke or other brain blockages.
- 2019: A Bot Odyssey
- The rise of CGI influencers: getting real about the virtual within the fashion industry
- In Memoriam: My Dear Friend and Colleague Ian Kerr (Michael Geist)
COMMUNICATIONS
- The Cultural Lobby Demands for Internet Taxes and Fees: The Forgotten Piece in Canada’s Lower Wireless and Internet Cost Puzzle (Michael Geist)
- DOJ’s plan to make Dish the fourth major carrier has a fatal flaw
- The FCC has no idea how many people don’t have broadband access
- Insights: You Can’t Always Get The Bandwidth You Want, But You’re Probably Getting The Bandwidth You Need
- FCC Does Something Right: Proposes Making Suicide Prevention Hotline A Three Digit Number
- NY Investigates Frontier Communications As US Telcos Slowly Implode
- When a Broadcast Advertiser Becomes A Political Candidate, What is a Station to Do?
- FCC Seeks Comment on Verizon Petition for Declaratory Ruling on County’s Recurring Fees for Small Wireless Facilities in Public-Rights-of-Way
- Cable industry fights plan to require robocall-detection technology
- Anti-Robocalling Principles Established by State Attorneys General
- Anti-Robocall Principles Agreed to by Carriers and State AGs
- State attorneys general and carriers announce collaboration to stem illegal robocalls
- State attorneys general work with telecom giants to address robocalls
- US phone carriers make empty, unenforceable promises to fight robocalls
- FCC Charges Stations With Unlawful Use of Emergency Alerts in Promos and Programming
- New UK Regime for Telecoms Contract Changes and What To Expect in Ireland
PRIVACY
- Limitation Period for Damages Claims under Personal Information Protection Act (Alberta)
- Millions Of Biometric Records Collected By Companies And Governments Left Exposed On The Web
- How insurance companies are fueling a rise in ransomware attacks
- Ninth Circuit Says Warrantless Device Searches At The Border Must Be Limited To Searches For Contraband
- Ring has more than 400 police “partnerships,” company finally says
- Unrollme Inc. Settles with FTC Over Allegedly Deceptive Email Practices
- FTC Unrolls Settlement Over Privacy Violations
- Rogue ‘Smart’ Ovens Again Highlight How Dumb Tech Is Often The Smarter Choice
- Cuckoo for Cookies
- Interlopers in Things? IoT devices may be used as backdoors to your network
- CCPA Privacy FAQs: If a business receives a data subject access request, does it have to provide the specific pieces of personal information that it collected about the consumer?
- Mitigating Franchisor Exposures for Systemwide GDPR Compliance through Cyber Insurance
- The Myth of Consumer Security (Bruce Schneier)
CREATIVITY
- Jeffrey Epstein Used a Bullet and a Dead Cat to Intimidate Vanity Fair Editor Graydon Carter: Report
- Why ‘Vanity Fair’ Story Left Out Abuse Allegations Against Epstein
- State Rep Tries To Bring Criminal Harassment Charges Against Journalists For Being Journalists
- Missouri Attorney General Claims The First Amendment Allows Him To Withhold Public Records
- SLAPP Threats Don’t Even Need To Become Lawsuits To Be Effective: Cop Gets Columnist Fired For Pointing To Picture Of Him With Racists
- New Government Documents Reveal That Backpage Was Actively Helping Law Enforcement Track Down Traffickers
- Court Rejects Plaintiff’s Attempt To Seal His Entire Lawsuit Against A Website That Publishes Court Documents
- District Court: No negligent misrepresentation claims in smart TV privacy suit
- Don’t Let The Bret Stephens Bite: NY Times’ Hypocritical ‘Free Speech’ Columnist Flips Out After Being Called A Bedbug
- Rutgers Forces LA High School To Change Logos Due To Its ‘R’ Trademark
- The Man With the Tiger (and Snake) Tattoo Redux
- Canadian Brewery Changes Name Of Brew Due To Peanut Butter Company Bully That Doesn’t Ship In Canada
- The Patent And Trademark Office Is Apparently Branching Out Into The Immigration Enforcement Business
- Never again advertising with women who do not know how to park cars and men who are incapable of raising children?
- 4 lessons from the ASA’s first bans on sexist ads
- The Estate of Stanley Kauffmann v. Rochester Institute of Technology
- New York State Bans Floating Digital and Flashing Billboards
- Planning to Use Digitally Altered Photos of Your Competitor’s Product in Your Advertising?
Jon
News of the Week; August 21, 2019
GAMES
- Why It’s So Hard to Stop Marketing Guns in Video Games: Video games don’t cause mass shootings, but they do serve as insidious advertisements for weapons.
- YouTube sues alleged copyright troll over extortion of multiple YouTubers: Chris Brady seemed to target the Minecraft community, according to the suit
- YouTube Sues User Who Allegedly Tried To Extort ‘Minecraft’ Creators By Filing Fraudulent Copyright Claims
- After canceling one upgrade, Minecraft gets another—and it’s Nvidia RTX exclusive
- Blizzard v Bossland Saga: a UK post-credits scene on account of profits
- DayZ has ban lifted in Australia following modification
- Ion Fury developers apologize for sexist, ableist, homophobic, transphobic remarks: Voidpoint pledges zero-tolerance policy, sensitivity training, game patch, and donation to The Trevor Project
- Ubisoft Entertainment, S.A. et al v. Yousician Oy
- PewDiePie Enters Nth Evolution Of His YouTube Channel, “Just Wants To Play ‘Minecraft’”
- Survey highlights culture of overwork and toxicity in UK games industry: Entertainment union boss describes results as “damning indictment” of industry’s problems
- Denuvo 6.0 has been cracked
- Denuvo launches new mobile game security solution to help devs prevent tampering
- Denuvo launches new mobile game security solution: Mobile Game Protection prevents debugging, reverse engineering, and changing the game
- Google Stadia exclusives push potential players to data centers
- Cyberpunk 2077, more games coming to Google Stadia: Stadia Connect reveals more titles for Google’s upcoming cloud streaming service
- Cyberpunk 2077, exclusive Orcs Must Die 3, and many more now headed to Stadia
- Robot Entertainment CEO: Orcs Must Die 3 “would not be possible without Google” – Patrick Hudson explains the decision to make the latest Orcs Must Die entry a Stadia-exclusive
- 85 Google Play apps with 8 million downloads forced fullscreen ads on users
- Google Play Store’s blindingly white redesign starts rolling out
- Apple delays new rules around data tracking in kids’ games: “We aren’t backing off on this important issue, but we are working to help developers get there”
- Report: Apple Arcade monthly subscription will cost $4.99
- Report: Apple Arcade will cost just $4.99 a month
- UK Charts: Crash Team Racing still No.1 (but it should be Minecraft) – Best-selling sandbox game just about outsold remastered racer, but listings quirk puts it lower in the Top 10
- Mojang ends development on Minecraft’s Super Duper Graphics Pack: Microsoft working with Nvidia to bring ray-tracing to Minecraft on PC
- Nvidia’s gaming business sees growth thanks to graphics demands
- Loot Crate files for bankruptcy, lays off over 50: Employees report no notice or severance despite promises that “operations will continue as usual”
- How Ark: Survival Evolved “fell into sustainable revenue” without skins or loot boxes
- Gears 5 “ahead of the industry” on monetising without loot boxes: Multiplayer design director Ryan Cleven says The Coalition has been working on “player-friendly” purchase systems since Gears of War 4
- Respawn devs roped into Reddit feud with fans over Apex Legends loot box furore: Respawn apologizes for comments made by developers toward players in response to loot box anger
- Respawn at the Apex of community dysfunction | Opinion: Fans and developers say they want an open, transparent relationship with each other, but their actions suggest anything but
- Embrace Fans: How One Mystery Modder Has Kept System Shock 2 Playable
- Section 230 Doesn’t Protect Print-on-Demand Vendor–Atari v. Sunfrog (Eric Goldman)
- Supreme Court Asked to consider section 230
- Herrick v. Grindr: Why Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act Must be Fixed
- Nintendo clamps down on YouTube game music channels: One channel received over 140 copyright claims against their videos
- Nintendo Hates You: Company DMCAs Over 100 Videos Celebrating Nintendo Game Music
- NPD: Nintendo sweeps July, though Madden takes the crown – “Fire Emblem Three Houses” saw the largest launch of a Fire Emblem game in US history
- Turning the Nintendo Switch into Android’s best gaming hardware
- Report: Nintendo continues its 2019 domination in hardware and software
- Guidemaster: The best Nintendo Switch accessories you can buy in 2019
- Microsoft contractors listened to user audio from Xbox consoles: Both deliberate and accidental Cortana, Kinect commands were recorded and heard, most reportedly from children
- Xbox Game Studios-published Ori and the Blind Forestheaded to Switch
- Xbox expands Nintendo Switch support with Ori and the Blind Forest
- Xbox open to some first-party games appearing on other consoles
- Microsoft has “no plans” to release more Xbox exclusives on PS4 or Nintendo Switch: Company says the focus is on its own platforms
- Don’t Miss: A look back at the development of Ori and the Blind Forest
- Don’t Miss: Surrendering control and trusting in players with Her Story
- Mojang partners with Nvidia to bring real-time ray tracing to Minecraft
- Kerbal Space Program 2 will take flight in 2020—here’s the first trailer
- You’re Not Helping: ESPN Delays ‘Apex Legends’ Broadcast After 2 Mass Shootings
- Echo Fox terminates its League of Legends players’ contracts
- Echo Fox lays off League of Legends players as franchise slot sale moves forward: Riot Games taking applications for new partner in league slot following dispute between Echo Fox founder and shareholder
- ELeague to broadcast Nintendo 2019 World Championships on CBS: Three-episode series to air summer competitions in Splatoon 2, Super Mario Maker 2, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
- Gfinity Esports Australia shutting down this November: Esports tournament organiser ceasing operations after two years
- Rapper Offset Tenders Investment In Leading Esports Collective FaZe Clan
- The onslaught of regulation against games and esports | Opinion: Legal experts at Reed Smith reflect on the scrutiny the industry is under, and how the European Esports Federation might offer hope
- Underneath The International’s $33m prize pool, a flawed system in continuous need of repair
- Making money out of E-Sports Opportunities
- YouTube Millionaires: The Leaderboard Is Building An Inclusive Destination For Gamers Of All Sorts
- Sony open to PC versions of PlayStation exclusives
- Sony-owned studios may lean into a wider, non-PlayStation install base in the future
- Sweating the details of diversity in Marvel’s Spider-Man
- Sony announces it’s buying Spider-Man developer Insomniac Games
- Spider-Man developer Insomniac acquired, joins Sony Worldwide Studios
- Sony acquires Insomniac Games: Insomniac’s Spider-Man, a PS4-exclusive, has now sold over 13m copies
- Sony Acquires Insomniac Games, Delivering a Strategic Blow to Oculus Studios in the Process
- Insomniac Games acquired by Sony, calls out “a special relationship”
- ‘No Man’s Sky’ VR Review – A Wonderful, Deeply Flawed Space Odyssey
- Guidemaster: 2019’s best VR is a battle between Oculus Quest, everyone else
- Phoenix Labs acquires Bot School Inc: Dauntless developer invests further in cross-platform efforts
- Phoenix Labs acquires Bot School Inc to further Dauntlesscross-play efforts
- Epic apologises following release of re-skinned cosmetic item: Players refunded after complaints that new battle pet is nearly indistinguishable from previously released one
- Epic Games opens new Cologne studio with Factor 5 founders
- Epic Games rolls out new store features as Cologne studio opens doors
- Epic Games and Factor 5 founders opens new studio in Cologne: Unreal firm’s third German branch will focus on interactive media and streaming technology
- Despite complaints, Epic stands behind Fortnite’s “anyone can win” mechs
- Epic Games Store rolls out more cloud save support, flashier store pages
- Unfold Games, studio behind DARQ, turns down Epic Games Store exclusivity deal
- DARQ dev highlights “double standard” of Epic Game Store: Unfold Games explains decision to turn down exclusivity deal
- Why one PC developer turned down the security of Epic’s exclusivity offer
- ReadySet Heroes is the first Sony-published game to debut on Epic’s Games Store
- Cracks Showing In Epic Store’s PR War As Developers Have To Plead With Public To Not Harass Them
- Sony publishes ReadySet Heroes on Epic Games Store: Robot Entertainment’s action-adventure title is the first Sony-published title on the storefront
- Steam’s ‘Follower’ counts: A discoverability gem hidden in plain sight
- Steam is heading to China as a separate marketplace
- Government regulation means Steam China will be a curated platform
- My.Games is launching its own PC video game storefront
- Klang Games raises over $22m in Series B funding for persistent MMO Seed
- Starbreeze posts $6.6 million loss amid ongoing reconstruction
- Starbreeze attempts to stop Q2 FY19 bleeding with one-time revenue injections
- Ubisoft on politics in games: “We know we’re not taking it far enough” – Editorial VP Tommy François says he wants future games to better represent multiple viewpoints on the world
- Stop asking “is it political?” It always is | Opinion: Asking developers if their games are “political” has become an exercise in avoiding outrage; there are better ways to explore this complex, important question
- Bungie says current Destiny 2 development is “unsustainable”
- Activision Blizzard appoints its first-ever corporate-wide CMO
- GOG has fulfilled two million Community Wishlist requests: Digital distributor celebrates milestone, ten years after launching programme
- Fire Emblem Three Houses sold an estimated 800k digital units in July – SuperData: GTA Online Diamond Casino update brings in $69m across console and PC, PUBG sells another 1m units on PC
- Microsoft has no plans to bring Xbox first-party exclusives to other consoles
- Report: Microsoft used human contractors to listen in on Xbox-recorded audio
- PUBG is rolling out console crossplay to Xbox One and PS4 this year
- DuckTales makes a staggering last-minute comeback in EMEAA charts: Disney platformer rockets to No.3 before being delisted from stores
- Report: Mortal Kombat 11 leads the way in second-quarter video game engagement
- Ubisoft rebrands its German studios: Blue Byte studios to become Ubisoft Düsseldorf and Ubisoft Mainz
- Lockwood Publishing closes funding round led by Novator, CCP Games CEO: Unity Technologies founder David Helgasson also participates, appointed chairman of the board
- Unity launches two new classroom tools to help teach programming
- THQ Nordic AB board proposes name change to Embracer Group: Proposal would separate holding company’s nomenclature from that of subsidiary publisher
- My.Games to launch new PC gaming storefront: Mail.ru gaming division to distribute free-to-play and premium PC titles and other services starting late this year
- What we can learn from… Warframe: From a slow start, Digital Extremes built a service game to rival Destiny, defying every convention along the way
- U.S. retailers and consumers get stay of execution on Trump’s China tariffs
- Metaari: US surpasses China as top-buying country for game-based learning – Industry revenue is expected to rise to over $24 billion by 2024
- Valve to keep original Steam up in China: Company plans to have its global storefront freely available in the country even after the launch of the official Steam China storefront
- Superhot Team aims to support ‘weird but smart’ devs with new indie fund
- Superhot launches indie development fund: Director of special projects Callum Underwood details how the studio is giving back to the indie community with Superhot Presents
- Wikia’s Fandom is getting into the game publishing business
- Pre-tax earnings more than double at Stillfront Group in Q2: Group posts $49.9 million revenue and $15.9 million earnings
- Bloodborne and Mass Effect 3 composer forms new audio production company
- Bloodborne composer co-founds new audio production company: The Audio Hive roster includes veterans from The Witcher 3, God of War, and Red Dead Redemption II
- Halo Infinite and Halo 5: Guardians creative director has left 343 Industries
- Defining ‘hyper-casual’ as a genre and exploring its long-term viability
- Blog: Creating a questlog people actually read in Pathologic 2
- Blog: How I translated Ancient Greek punishment games into Bitsy
- Blog: Implementing data structures – Part 2
- Don’t Miss: A deep dive into the ‘old school’ save system ofAlien: Isolation
- Video: Inside the flexible music system of Plants vs. Zombies Heroes
- Don’t Miss: Designing Spider-Man 2’s classic web-swinging mechanic
- Designing communities for kindness
- Video: Designing multiplayer ranking systems like Elo and TrueSkill
- Video: Great game audio choreography for battle design
- Video: Designing for color blindness in games
- Video: Think you’re ready to pitch a publisher? You’re not, and here’s why
- Borderlands 3’s secret weapon is in the writers’ room: At Devcom, Gearbox Software’s Randy Varnell detailed the creation of a “narrative department” to meet the challenge of Borderlands 3
- Remastering Yakuza for the modern world: Series producer Daisuke Sato discusses how and why the newly announced remasters have been changed in various ways
- How positive relationships and slow, steady progress keep Raconteur Games smiling
- Engaging level design for combat
- Growing into Growtopia: Ubisoft Abu Dhabi head Yannick Theler talks about building a new studio in a non-traditional development scene
- From concept to doubt to reevaluation: Designing Creature in the Well
- GameStop lays off 120+ people, including some Game Informer staff
- GameStop lays off 120 corporate staffers as stock continues to tumble
- GameStop suffers another round of layoffs, Game Informer editors affected
- Game Informer lays off ‘many’ staff: Now-former employees break the news about cuts at GameStop-owned magazine
- What will be the biggest video games of Christmas 2019?: In the absence of Battlefield and Assassin’s Creed, there’s a big opportunity for alternative franchises to break through this Q4
- Sony, Ubisoft receive multiple honors in Gamescom Awards 2019
- U.S. Patent No. 7,717,789: Game program, game device, and game method
- Guidemaster: Navigating the hazy world of gaming laptops in 2019
- Remembering the best shareware-era DOS games that time forgot
- Ars Technica’s favorite video games from our first 10 years, 1998-2008
DIGITAL
- Latest ‘Google Whistleblower’ To Prove Anti-Conservative Bias Doesn’t Prove Anything And Appears To Be Bigoted Conspiracy Theorist
- Facebook audit of alleged anti-conservative bias fails to pinpoint any
- Facebook, Twitter accuse China of spreading Hong Kong disinformation
- Facebook and Twitter uncover Chinese trolls spreading doubts about Hong Kong protests: Close to 1,000 accounts were found on Twitter alone
- Twitter and Facebook say China-linked accounts sought to fuel political discord in Hong Kong: Twitter said it pulled down 936 troll accounts, many of which pushed conspiracy theories about the protest groups.
- Twitter and Facebook take first actions against China for using fake accounts to sow discord in Hong Kong: Social media giants taking action against a ‘significant state-backed information operation’ related to the protests
- Twitter, Facebook Turn Off Hundreds of Accounts Linked to Chinese Disinformation about Hong Kong Protests: In press releases, the companies say they have shut down Bejing-controlled activity.
- Twitter And Facebook Removing Chinese Disinfo Campaigns Shows That, Contrary To Popular Opinion, They Do Moderate Against Disinfo
- Google, Apple, and Mozilla block Kazakhstan government’s browser spying
- States reportedly plan monopoly investigation of Google, Facebook, Amazon
- WSJ Rightly Attacks Senator Josh Hawley’s ‘Nannyish’ Laws Regarding The Internet
- Another Politician Unconstitutionally Censored Constituents on Twitter–Campbell v. Reisch (Eric Goldman)
- How Beijing wages its media assault on the credibility of the Hong Kong protesters
- Hong Kong Protestors Call for Disney Boycott After ‘Mulan’ Star Voices Support for Police Crackdown
- Hong Kong Protestors Call for ‘Mulan’ Boycott After Star Shares Support for Police Crackdown
- Pushing For Facebook, YouTube And Twitter To Ban Hate Speech Won’t Stop It From Migrating Elsewhere
- Is There A Conspiracy Among Legacy Media Companies To Push A False Narrative About Big Tech?
- 8 Ways to Stay Ahead of Influence Operations: With election meddling inevitable in 2020, the United States needs a powerful kill chain.
- Websites that peddle disinformation make millions of dollars in ads, new study finds
- Cutting the Funding of Disinformation: The Ad-Tech Solution
- It’s On: Details Emerge Of Polish Government’s Formal Request For Top EU Court To Throw Out Upload Filters
- Misinformation Has Created a New World Disorder: Our willingness to share content without thinking is exploited to spread disinformation
- Mainland Chinese netizens face ‘pink terror’ of patriotic trolls amid Hong Kong protests
- ‘Humiliating’: Chinese nationalist trolls target critics in Australia
- Anonymous “Anonymous Cowards” are, for now, not welcome on Slashdot
- Altruism Still Fuels the Web. Businesses Love to Exploit It: How open source projects reveal technology’s free rider problem. (Zeynep Tufekci)
- Global regulation threatens to take a bite out of the FAANGs
- Facebook Fined Again: Real Hypothetical Risks
- In New Facebook Effort, Humans Will Help Curate Your News Stories
- Facebook Is Rolling out a Tool to Limit Data Gathering
- YouTube Sues Guy Who Tried To Extort People Through Bogus DMCA Takedowns
- Man sued for using bogus YouTube takedowns to get address for swatting: YouTube sues man for multiple egregious abuses of the DMCA takedown process.
- LGBTQ creators accuse YouTube of discrimination in class-action lawsuit alleging it unfairly restricts and demonetizes queer content
- Lawyers Who Sued YouTube For Anti-Conservative Bias Are Suing YouTube Again… For Anti-LGBTQ Bias
- LGBTQ+ YouTubers Allege that YouTube Engages in Discriminatory Practices
- Lilly Singh Talks Late-Night Production, Says Her YouTube Uploading Schedule “Won’t Be So Rigorous”
- ‘Spill’ Is A Drama YouTuber Who’s Gotten Nearly 1 Billion Views In 11 Months. But She Might Not Be A Real Person.
- YouTube Testing Mega-Sized Thumbnails On Desktop Homepage, Much To Some Users’ Chagrin
- YouTube Will Prevent Manual Copyright Claimants From Monetizing Creators’ Videos With “Short Or Unintentional” Uses Of Music
- YouTube Is Finalizing Plans To Remove Targeted Advertising From Videos Aimed At Kids (Report)
- YouTube will reportedly halt targeted ads for videos that appeal to kids: But how do you decide when a video is targeted at kids?
- YouTube Originals become ad-supported and free after September 24th
- YouTube’s Original Programming To Become Free For All Users On Sept. 24
- The Streamy Awards Pact With YouTube For Exclusive Distribution Deal, Announce Dec. 13 Showdate
- YouTube Is Hiring Partner Managers To Work With Conservative And Liberal News Creators
- YouTube No Longer Commissioning Scripted Originals In EMEA, Orders 3 Education-Focused Projects
- YouTube Is Axing Its Two-Year-Old Direct Messaging Feature In September
- YouTube Links Up With Taylor Swift For Live Event Ahead Of ‘Lover’ Album Release
- Google Testing Monetization Tool That Would Enable YouTubers To Host Virtual Events With Fans
- The death of “Works with Nest” begins now with Google account migrations
- The Meme Generation: Social Media Platforms Address Content Curation
- NBC Gives Lilly Singh A Superpowered Welcome With Hourlong Primetime Special
- Asian Streamer Viu Adds Wattpad Development Deal
- Whitney Cummings did a brave thing
- Using #BrandAmbassador As Your Influencer Disclosure?
- Premier League Social Video Standings Look A Lot Like Typical Season’s Table
- Disney+, ESPN+ Subscribers Might Face Crackdowns On Password Sharing After Disney/Charter Deal
- Disney fights streaming account sharing with help from cable industry
- Disney+ is set to launch on all the major streaming platforms except Amazon
- Disney+ To Launch In 5 Countries On Apple, Google, Roku, Microsoft, And Sony Devices
- Apple TV+ will launch in November for $9.99, facing off against Disney+ at $6.99
- Apple sues company that sells “perfect replicas” of iOS without a license
- Apple Card is now available to all US iPhone owners, adds new cash-back rewards
- Apple delays new rules for kid-focused apps to give devs more room to comply
- Insights: ViacomCBS, Tumblr, And Houseparty – The Companies We Keep, And Those We Can’t
- Twitter tests hiding direct messages it thinks are abusive: ‘Unwanted messages aren’t fun’
- Comments on Rep. Gosar’s “Stop the Censorship Act,” Another “Conservative” Attack on Section 230 (Eric Goldman)
- A Significant Section 230 Defense Win in the Ninth Circuit–Dyroff v. Ultimate Software (Eric Goldman)
- Beto O’Rourke Joins The Silly Parade Of Confused Politicians Looking To Destroy Section 230
- Companies Are Not Complying With the Safe Harbor Provision of the DMCA
- Domain Name Registrar Isn’t Liable for Counterfeit Goods–InvenTel v. GoDaddy (Eric Goldman)
- FTC Settles Email Lawsuit with Unrollme
- Instagram to let US users report false content: Facebook-owned company seeking to stem spread of misinformation by removing dubious posts from searches
- What’s not to like about Instagram’s latest test?
- Former Texas Governor Rick Perry fell for an old-school Instagram hoax
- Reddit Piloting New ‘RPAN’ Livestreaming Feature Over The Next Five Days
- Oh, (No) Snap! CARU Praises Snapchat for Safeguarding the Underaged
- Moviepass Changed User Passwords So They Couldn’t Use The Flopping Service
- Senators Ask for Answers About the Meaning of “Amazon’s Choice”
- Amazon outstrips Netflix on content marketing spend
- What does Amazon’s “Top Brand” badge actually mean?
- For Barstool Sports, Podcasts Are Now Around One-Third of Revenue
- Spotify Is Developing A Stories Feature For Its Playlists
- Spotify to Test a More Expensive Version of Its Popular Music Service
- Ryan ToysReview, Pocket.watch To Premiere Five Specials On Roku’s Just-Launched ‘Kids & Family’ Channel
- Kenyan Government Risks Squandering The Long-Term Potential Of Mobile Transactions In The Hope Of A Little Extra Tax Revenue
- Résumés Are Starting to Look Like Instagram – and Sometimes Even Tinder: Employers see surge in Gen Z CVs containing photos and illustrations; ‘there’s a freaking bitmoji’
- Facebook’s Libra Currency Gets European Union Antitrust Scrutiny
- Law firm BakerHostetler develops blockchain-based smart legal contracts for the freight market
- The Past and Future of The Internet: A Symposium for John Perry Barlow (Duke Law & Technology Review)
A.I.
- International AI ethics panel must be independent: France and Canada are establishing an international committee to advise on the ethics of artificial intelligence. The group should be supported and shielded from undue influence.
- Regulating unreality | The legal implications of “deepfakes”
- There Is No Tech Solution to Deepfakes: Funding technological solutions to algorithmically-generated fake videos only puts a bandage on the deeper issues of consent and media literacy.
- Update: The Illinois Artificial Intelligence Video Interview Act
- A Looming AI War: Transparency v. IP Rights
- Don’t Miss: How enemy AI works in Dicey Dungeons
- Music to regulators’ ears? Antitrust, RPM, and AI
- AI – top tips for the board
- YouTube Reportedly Deleting Battlebot Videos Citing Animal Fighting Ban
- AI reads books out loud in authors’ voices
COMMUNICATIONS
- Telus customers’ blood boiling after two days of email outage
- 4-day Telus email outage caused by mishap during repair of data storage service
- Telus offers bill credits as email disruption hits 5th day
- CRTC sets final wholesale rates for access to high-speed broadband networks
- Bell scales back rural internet plans after CRTC decision on rates: Bell will nix 200,000 customers from expansion, Rogers says it is reviewing options
- FCC Chairman Pai Formally Recommends Approval of Sprint/T-Mobile Merger and Associated Dish Requests
- FCC Forgets About, Then Dismisses, Complaint Detailing Verizon’s Long History Of Net Neutrality Violations
- FCC Expands Anti-Spoofing Prohibitions to Foreign-Originated Calls, Text-Messaging Services
- How malformed packets caused CenturyLink’s 37-hour, nationwide outage
- Huawei Busted Helping African Governments Spy On The Press, Political Opponents
- Huawei’s futuristic foldable smartphone gets delayed for a second time
- Report: US expected to give Huawei another 90-day export license
- Report: United States will give Huawei another 90-day export license
- AT&T brings cable TV prices to online streaming with $135 monthly plan
- Useless dads and passive women – first ads banned under the ASA’s gender stereotyping rules
- A new regime for English media and communications cases
PRIVACY
- Privacy Rights in the Internet Age and the New Tort of Public Disclosure of Private Facts
- Attorney General William Barr Declares War On The General Public
- As The NSA Declares Phone Record Program Dead, Trump Administration Asks For A Permanent Reauthorization
- Ring asks police not to tell public how its law enforcement backend works
- California Police Officers Are Handing Out Free Doorbell Cameras In Exchange For Testimony In Court
- Gizmodo Media’s Clueless New Owners Tell Reporters They Can’t Use Encrypted Email Any More
- Ransomware strike takes down 23 Texas local government agencies
- While one Texas county shook off ransomware, small cities took full punch
- The year-long rash of supply chain attacks against open source is getting worse
- Microsoft bucks trend, maintains contractor reviews of voice recording
- Badge life: The story behind DEFCON’s hackable crystal electronic badge
- Kaspersky AV injected unique ID that allowed sites to track users, even in incognito mode
- New Attack exploiting serious Bluetooth weakness can intercept sensitive data
- The GDPR Is A Wide Open Vulnerability For Identity Fraud And Scams
- Concealed Registration Data Under the GDPR Complicates UDRP Complaints
- Can a company decide whether to deidentify information or delete information if it receives a ‘right to be forgotten’ request?
- Ninth Circuit Rejects Facebook’s Article III Argument; Biometric Lawsuit Will Proceed
- Facebook pivots privacy failings into pop-up cafes: The company cares about your privacy. Honestly.
- Ninth Circuit Affirms Ruling that Plaintiffs Have Article III Standing in Illinois Biometric Privacy Class Action
- Cybersecurity and the Internet of Things – is it Time to Regulate?
- NIST Unveils IoT Baseline of Core Cybersecurity Features for Comment
- A cyberattack could wreak destruction comparable to a nuclear weapon
- Still much to be determined on insurance coverage after cyberattacks: Case law on coverage after social engineering fraud is sparse
- FCA introduces 18-month grace period for two-factor authentication for online transactions
- Security Researchers Find Several Bugs in Nest Security Cameras
CREATIVITY
- Copyright law: set for an overhaul? – A look at the key recommendations of two recent House of Commons reports concerning Canadian copyright law
- SCOTUS: Full Costs in Copyright Cases Limited by General Costs Statute
- DOJ/Copyright Office File An Amicus Brief In Support Of Led Zeppellin
- Spider-Man is out of the MCU thanks to Sony/Disney standoff
- THE Ohio State University Applies For THE Stupidest Trademark In THE World
- NC Appeals Court Withdraws Its Horrendous, Free Speech-Damaging Opinion On Retaliatory Arrests
- Loss for Sheriff Joe Arpaio
- They called you a troll, deal with it—court slaps down libel lawsuit
- New Hampshire Supreme Court: Of Course It’s Not Defamatory To Call A Patent Troll A Patent Troll
- White House Suspends Another Reporter’s Press Pass, Once Again, Raising 1st Amendment Concerns
- Missguided Missed Deadline in Kardashian Suit
- Bronze, Shape, Glow: A copyright tale destined for Broadway
- Artist Sues Singer for Shooting then Selling Artwork
- National Gallery discovers hidden secrets in Leonardo painting
- NDA and IP deals
- The Matrix 4 is officially happening with Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss
Jon
News of the Week; August 14, 2019
GAMES
- Ubisoft loses Rocksmith patent suit: Judge dismisses publisher’s claim against music tutorial software maker Yousician with prejudice
- Twitter Data Shows Major Increase in Gaming Engagement on Platform
- US tariffs on video game consoles imported from China delayed to December
- US delays tariff on game consoles: Trump says extra tax on some electronic products made in China won’t go into effect until December 15 to lessen impact on holiday shopping
- Game revenues rise as Tencent enjoys end of China’s approvals freeze: Chinese publisher released ten mobile games in Q2 2019, compared to just one last year
- Tencent doubling down on season passes as mobile titles drive revenue
- Trump’s video game scapegoating feels downright nostalgic | Opinion: In an era when the industry’s real problems are internal and divisive, a flashback to being united against an external foe feels deceptively good
- Walmart pulls video game ads — but not guns — after El Paso shooting
- Walmart tells staff to pull violent game ads and demos, but guns still for sale
- Walmart Reportedly Removing Violent Game Ads, Will Still Sell Guns: Despite the lack of evidence video games cause violence.
- Walmart, ESPN pull violent game marketing following shootings
- Walmart taking down violent video game demos, displays: Signs, displays containing “violent images or aggressive behavior” removed in wake of shootings; retailer still sells guns
- ESPN, ABC delay Apex Legends tournament broadcast in wake of shootings
- ESPN, ABC pull Apex Legends tournament show in wake of mass shootings: Broadcasters say decision was made “out of respect for the victims”
- You’re Not Helping: ESPN Delays ‘Apex Legends’ Broadcast After 2 Mass Shootings
- Strauss Zelnick says if violent games caused gun violence, he wouldn’t sell them – Take-Two CEO: “I wouldn’t choose to market substances that would cause people to get sick”
- G2A responds to Unknown Worlds’ accusations, calling them slander
- G2A fudges own history in response to developer complaint: Developer retracts accusations against marketplace, but remains frustrated with key reseller
- Subnautica dev demands G2A pay $300,000 to cover lost chargebacks: Studio calls for controversial marketplace to honour its offer of 10x compensation
- Twitch links to ‘porn account’, other Fortnite streamers via Ninja’s abandoned channel
- Twitch backtracks after accidentally showing porn on Ninja’s old page
- Twitch CEO apologizes after lengthy porn stream promoted on Ninja’s old page
- Twitch CEO Apologizes To Ninja After His Defunct Account Was Used To Promote A Porn Stream
- Ninja’s New Cross-Platform Video Strategy Since Leaving Twitch For Mixer
- Insights: With Ninja’s Nifty Mixer Move, Live Streaming Leaps To Its Next Era
- Newzoo: Fans watched 81.8m hours of the Fortnite World Cup across Twitch, YouTube – Official YouTube channel beat out official Twitch channel for viewership hours during finals
- $3 million Fortnite winner—and his parents—become latest swatting targets
- UTA Signs 21-Year-Old Twitch Newcomer BrookeAB
- eFootball transfers: Juve and Man U snub FIFA to sign for PES
- UMG Media to acquire esports event company, Activate Entertainment
- Statespace raises $2.5 million for esports training platform: Seed round was led by First Mark Capital, with participation from Expa, Lux Capital and WndrCo
- Industry veterans launch payment platform for esport tournament winnings: “We want to help publishers…be more efficient by removing their hands-on time expediting the payments,” says Prize Payments CEO
- Riot’s League Championship Series announces partnership with Honda
- Epic is being sued over a security issue that left Fortniteplayer data exposed
- Epic Games hit with class action suit over Fortnite security breach
- Australian ratings board working to completely ban DayZfor promoting cannabis
- DayZ refused classification in Australia after Five Star Games submission: Five Star Games has confirmed it was denied classification for DayZ’s retail release in Australia — the game is still available digitally
- Bohemia Interactive will modify all versions of DayZ to avoid Australia ban
- DayZ will be modified worldwide to lift Australian ban: Bohemia Interactive confirms it will be tweaking zombie hit to avoid isolating Australian players
- FTC Gathers Video Game Industry to Talk Loot Boxes
- Loot boxes a matter of “life or death,” says researcher: Academics discuss their studies and concerns surrounding game monetization at FTC workshop
- Epic Games commits to loot box transparency across portfolio: THQ Nordic also weighs in on ESA pledges: “We do not plan to implement casino-styled mechanics in our games”
- Animoca Brands acquires digital collectibles marketplace Quidd for $5 million
- Loots details new live streaming platform for the “TikTok generation”: Monetisation firm says its Twitch rival will open up new commercial opportunities for younger streamers
- Valve turns to hands-on moderation to solve Steam Workshop woes
- Devs are now required to contact Valve for release date changes on Steam
- Valve addresses release date exploit for Steam’s Popular Upcoming List
- Valve now requires moderator approval for some Steam Workshop submissions
- THQ Nordic confirms new Saints Row title after strong Q1: The publisher also said that development of Dead Island 2 is now being led by Dambuster Studios
- THQ Nordic acquires Darksiders dev Gunfire and racing studio Milestone
- THQ Nordic buys Milestone Interactive for €44.9m in cash: Acquisition of Italian racing studio could almost double in value based on earnouts
- THQ Nordic acquires Darksiders developer Gunfire Games: Value of the deal for Gunfire’s 63 staff and IP catalogue was not disclosed
- THQ Nordic strengthens portfolio with Goodbye Kansas Game Invest acquisition: Goodbye Kansas Game Invest has five investments in early stage games companies, deal includes royalty rights to Biomutant
- Managing the evolving state of Destiny 2: ‘the game cannot grow infinitely forever’
- Bungie: Working on Destiny 2 “starting to wear people down” – Working practices for Annual Pass will be changed in third year to break out of “unsustainable development cycle”
- Report: Riot Games workforce divided on diversity and inclusion push
- One year later, Riot leadership, employees, say things are improving: Chief diversity officer Angela Roseboro reflects on a year of change as current and recent employees confirm efforts
- Ustwo: Giving creativity the attention it deserves – Ustwo Games’ CCO and CEO discuss how to not lose creative people to business meetings
- 2K confirms sending private investigators to Borderlands streamer’s house: A rep said the company has been investigating SupMatto for nearly a year.
- Take-Two investigating streamer over Borderlands 3 leaks: Publisher says Twitch and YouTube user SupMatto has “a history of profiting from infringing our copyright”
- Kawhi Leonard dunking on the Raptors was the only screen time they got in new NBA 2K trailer
- Sharkmob on balancing social responsibility against revenue: “It’s not only about taking social responsibility, it’s also about the team being proud of what they make,” says CEO
- Infinity Ward says Modern Warfare isn’t political, debates how it ever could be: Game’s directors stress that upcoming Call of Duty reboot focuses on “thematic things” not current politics
- Activision Blizzard’s Q2 net revenue falls year-over-year to $1.4 billion
- Activision Blizzard sees sagging sales, profit, engagement
- Key metrics dip for publisher in second quarter as it prioritizes investments it expects to pay off in back half of the year
- Activision Blizzard’s net-revenue down year-over-year in Q2 2019
- Imperator: Rome plus multiple game expansions lift Paradox’s Q2 – Swedish publisher posts record Q2 revenues as long-term investments begin to pay off
- Swedish studio Isbit Games shuts down after running out of funds
- Isbit Games shut down: Former CEO Ben Cousins confirms Zlatan Legends studio closed its doors in June after running out of money
- Fig to pay Wasteland 3, Psychonauts 2 investors lump sum following Microsoft purchase
- Xbox head: Cloud gaming is inevitable but ‘years and years’ away from mainstream
- Multi-platform games from Xbox-owned studios must ‘make sense for the franchise’
- Xbox considers multi-platform options for some first-party studios
- Microsoft: Cloud gaming is “inevitable” but “years” from mainstream
- Mojang cancels Minecraft’s big graphics overhaul after performance struggles
- Mojang ends development on Minecraft’s Super Duper Graphics Pack: Feature announced at E3 2017 “proved too technically demanding to implement as planned”
- After two years of delays, Minecraft’s visual upgrade has been canceled
- Singularity 6 secures $16.5 million to fund tech and game development
- Square Enix shutting down Star Ocean: Anamnesis in the West after little over a year
- Report: Parent company of publisher Annapurna Interactive is exploring bankruptcy
- Singularity 6 lands $16.5m investment: Former Riot devs’ social simulation studio scores Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz
- Industry veterans launch hyper casual development outfit JaffaJam: New Zealand-based studio looks to “perfect the way free-to-play games are made and monetised”
- Madden 20 just about squeezes into EMEAA Charts’ Top 10: Yes, Grand Theft Auto V is still No.1
- EA SPORTS Madden NFL 20 Scores Early With Biggest Ever Digital Launch in Its First Week on Sale
- FIFA 19 and New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe are best-selling games in Europe this year: Physical sales data paints uniform picture of European consumers
- UK spent £1.6bn on video games in the first half of 2019
- NetEase revenue and profit up in Q2 following strong international performance: “We will continue exploring overseas market opportunities and growing our games business on a global scale,” says CEO
- Nexon profits tumble in Q2 despite rising revenues: FIFA Online 4 drove Korean market, but China was the publisher’s single biggest region
- Spilt Milk Studios cancels upcoming sci-fi MMO, Lazarus
- The Final Fantasy XIV team is reworking base game content to be ‘more compact’
- What Sharp’s IGZO display technology will mean for the Nintendo Switch
- Dr. Mario World continues to lag after first month: Mobile puzzler falls well-below bar set by previous Nintendo titles
- “Blast processing” in 2019: How an SNES emulator solved overclocking
- Discord is launching in-server streaming later this month with new ‘Go Live’ feature
- No More Robots: “I’m just doing D&D, but in a Discord server” – Mike Rose on the marketing tactics that drove the small publisher to $3m revenue, and why Xbox Game Pass is good for sales (for now)
- Growing the industry with evening-sized games: Former Chinese Room lead Andrew Crawshaw on his romantic metal-detecting adventure that explores how people define success
- Sean Murray calls No Man’s Sky Beyond the game’s “2.0” version—we believe it
- Virtual reality streaming company Vreal has closed its doors
- VR streaming platform Vreal shuts down and lays off staff: “We were definitely ahead of our time,” says virtual reality startup
- Video: Designing great room-scale VR interactions theVacation Simulator way
- Oculus co-founder Nate Mitchell departs Facebook
- Nate Mitchell leaves Oculus: Mitchell becomes the last of the VR outfit’s original co-founders to leave Facebook
- Blow out your knee? Hope your surgeon’s got a VR headset
- UCLA Surgical Training Study Shows VR Beats Traditional Training by 130%
- British Airways testing VR headsets for first-class passengers this year
- XRDC Innovation Report reveals games remain the top focus for AR/VR/MR devs
- Unity brings Create with Code, Unity Teach programs out of beta: Educational initiatives enter classrooms to teach coding, offer sharing platform for educators
- Discoverability: A ‘hot or not?’ genre guide
- Video: A decade of improving the approachability of fighting games
- Blog: Understanding the reality of game development
- Blog: Avoiding helplessness – The worst feeling in games
- Blog: The big game branding 101
- Blog: Lessons learned from the development of Vicious Circle
- Blog: 7 must-read books for game designers
- Blog: Ancient Greek punishments as hypertexts
- Blog: How music enhances virtual presence – Part 2
- Blog: How to make a casual mobile game
- Watch Age of Wonders: Planetfall’s lead dev discuss updating the series for a new age
- Like a boss: The secrets behind great boss design
- How moving from 2D to 3D shaped the design of Risk of Rain 2
- Creature in the Well’s limiting, limitless unknown: Flight School Studios creative director Adam Volker shares how a two-person team turned constraints into creativity
- How Astroneer creates an enjoyably unsafe space – Why I Love: Student game developer Aden Webb explores the mood-building design decisions of System Era’s survival sandbox
- Don’t Miss: How data miners shed light on P.T.’s ghost story
- Don’t Miss: Training players right, so they don’t hate learning to play
- Don’t Miss: Exploring the secret depths of Bubble Bobble’s design
- After 24 years at id, Tim Willits is now Saber Interactive’s chief creative officer
- The hottest new board games from Gen Con 2019
- Are We Living in a Computer Simulation? Let’s Not Find Out: Experimental findings will be either boring or extremely dangerous.
- U.S. Patent No. 9,259,652: Time-shifted multiplayer game
- U.S. Patent No. 9,616,329: Adaptive learning system for video game enhancement
DIGITAL
- White House proposal would have FCC and FTC police alleged social media censorship
- White House Once Again Circulating A Draft Executive Order On Social Media Bias
- Be Careful What You Wish For In Asking Silicon Valley To Police Speech Online
- Four Democratic Candidates Call on Walmart to Stop Selling Guns
- TikTok is fuelling India’s deadly hate speech epidemic: In small-town India, TikTok videos are a new hate speech minefield. Thousands of videos are being removed as users exploit the wild growth of the social network
- New Report Further Clarifies Foxconn’s Wisconsin Deal Was An Unsustainable Joke
- Fox News Commentator Calls For A ‘Backlash’ Against Big Tech… Because Wikileaks Released His Phone Number
- UK Moves To Give Regulators Power To Fine Internet Companies 5% Of Revenue If They Can’t Wave A Magic Wand And Make Bad Content Disappear
- If You Lament The State Of Politics Today, Lament The Loss Of Aereo
- Republicans suspend Twitter ad spending after boneheaded video takedown
- Twitter backs down, allows McConnell to post video of protestor threats
- What’s in a Tweet? Employer does not have to pay Settlement Funds After Grievor takes to Twitter
- Twitter’s latest test lets users subscribe to a tweet’s replies
- Has Twitter Declared You Dead?
- Giant Copyright Troll, Malibu Media, Sued By Investors
- Elsevier Says It’s Infringing To Link To Sci-Hub; Hypocrite Elsevier Links To Sci-Hub All The Time
- Elsevier Tries To Lie About University Of California’s Contract Negotiation; UC Shows Its Receipts
- Top University Of California Scientists Tell Elsevier They’ll No Longer Work On Elsevier Journals
- Amazon workers in Minnesota walk off the job over parking issues
- Schoolchildren in China work overnight to produce Amazon Alexa devices: Leaked documents show children as young as 16 recruited by Amazon supplier Foxconn work gruelling and illegal hours
- Senators demand Amazon explain how junk winds up in “Choice” listings
- Amazon says its facial recognition can now identify fear
- Amazon unveils first batch of casting for The Wheel of Timeadaptation
- ESRP Rebukes Yoga Company for Stretching the Truth About Influencers
- Russian State Watchdog Tells YouTube To Stop Sending Push Notifications About Mass Protests
- New Study Demonstrates YouTube’s Role In Far-Right Radicalization, Spread Of Conspiracies In Brazil
- ‘We can’t reach the women who need us’: the LGBT YouTubers suing the tech giant for discrimination
- YouTube should stop recommending garbage videos to users
- Ex-Googler Recently Held Up As A ‘Whistleblower’ And ‘Proof’ Of Anti-Conservative Bias At Google, Actually Supported Richard Spencer, Racist Skinheads
- Dennis Prager Peddles Complete Nonsense About ‘Google Censorship’ In The WSJ
- LGBTQ YouTubers Hit Google With Lawsuit For Alleged Discrimination: Eight video creators say that have been unfairly targeted and demonetized by YouTube.
- LGBTQ YouTubers are suing YouTube over alleged discrimination: Including suppressing video recommendations and demonetization
- YouTube Unequally Applies Policies, Giving Favor To Creators Who Bring In Big View Counts, Content Moderators Say
- YouTube lets biggest stars off the hook for breaking rules, moderators say
- YouTube Testing Program That Lets Certain Demonetized Channels File Immediate Appeals Via YouTube Videos
- LAPD Investigating YouTuber Brooke Houts For Hitting Her Dog On Camera
- In Wake Of Brooke Houts Incident, PETA Asks Platforms To Enact Zero-Tolerance Animal Abuse Policy
- YouTube Rolls Out ‘Super Chat’ Feature To 19 Additional Countries
- Tech firms face fines for harmful videos from regulator Ofcom
- Half Of Teens Turn To YouTube For News, Preferring Influencers Over Traditional News Organizations (Study)
- YouTube Debuts First Shoppable AR Ad With Beauty Vlogger Roxette Arisa And MAC Cosmetics
- YouTube tests letting ad bans be appealed by filming a YouTube video: Making it easier for creators to earn money
- New Jersey Attorney Ethics Opinion Blesses Competitive Keyword Advertising (…or Does It?) (Eric Goldman)
- Apple locks new iPhone batteries to prevent third-party repair, report says
- The Apple Card is launching soon – here’s how to apply for one directly from your iPhone
- Goldman Sachs, bank of the rich and powerful, is dipping into subprime lending with Apple Card
- Apple’s new credit card comes with forced arbitration—here’s how to opt out
- Apple Music For Artists Launches, Rivalling Spotify’s Analytics Tools
- Apple TV+ Gives First Glimpse At Billion-Dollar Originals Slate With ‘Morning Show’ Teaser, Starring Jennifer Aniston
- FAA Bans Recalled MacBook Pros From Flights
- FAA tells airlines MacBook Pros with defective batteries can’t fly
- Microsoft cuts Office 2019 one-time licenses through Home Use Program
- Spotify’s pitch to podcasters: valuable listener data: Spotify for Podcasters comes out of beta today
- Facebook Shielded by CDA Immunity against Federal Claims for Allowing Use of Its Platform by Terrorists
- Biometric Class Action Against Facebook Greenlit by Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
- Finding Article III Standing, Ninth Circuit Declines to Do an About-Face in Illinois Biometric Privacy Class Action against Facebook
- Ninth Circuit finds Article III standing in case alleging Facebook violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act
- Ninth Circuit Allows Class Action Challenging Facebook’s Facial Recognition Technology Under Illinois BIPA
- Senate Members Ask DOJ to Take Action as Number of Website Accessibility Lawsuits Continues to Rise
- Facebook Tests Selling Subscriptions To Tastemade Plus, CollegeHumor’s Dropout, BritBox
- In strategy shift, Facebook seeks to pay millions to license news
- Facebook wants to be relevant in news again, and it’s willing to pay millions to bring back publishers: The company is building a new news effort
- Instagram Is Rolling Out The Ability To Natively Pre-Schedule Grid Posts, IGTV Videos
- Snapchat to Raise $1 Billion to Further Build Content, Gaming, and AR
- Snapchat Decides to Raise $1bn for Filters, Content, Acquisitions: The company owes its financial escalation to some of its AR lenses like the baby lens and gender-change filters which had gone viral.
- Snap announces Spectacles 3 with an updated design and a second HD camera: They’re $380 and go on sale in November
- Snap Unveils Third Generation Of $380 Spectacles, With Two Cameras To Create AR Effects
- Revealed: how Monsanto’s ‘intelligence center’ targeted journalists and activists – Internal documents show how the company worked to discredit critics and investigated singer Neil Young
- Google Maps AR Navigation comes to iPhones and Android devices
- Owners of defective 2016 Google Pixels can now claim up to $500
- Google is giving students three months of YouTube Premium for free: Or YouTube Music Premium, which is a less good deal
- Students Can Now Snag Three Free Months Of YouTube Premium And YouTube Music
- YouTube Rolls Out ‘Super Chat’ Feature To 19 Additional Countries
- Google, Cookies, and Cy-Pres-Only Settlements
- Now you can use Android phones, rather than passwords, to log in to Google*
- Vice Appoints Former Munchies Exec Cliff Gulibert To Oversee All Digital Video Production
- Liza Koshy Gets Glam As Beauty Brand C’est Moi’s Very First Ambassador
- U.K. Vlogger Marina Joyce Found Safe By Police After Going Missing For 10 Days
- U.S. Navy Taps Kevin ‘VSauce2’ Lieber, Jake Koehler, William Osman For Inaugural Influencer Campaign
- Social Good Creators: Ashley Villa Is Changing The World For Female Entrepreneurs
- Did a trainee social worker’s offensive social media postings render him unfit to practice?
- Police say there is no danger after Twitch HQ threatened
- Twitch launches beta for all-in-one streaming app Twitch Studio
- Twitch has released its own broadcasting software: This is the company’s first broadcast offering
- Netflix Signs Reported $300 Million Overall Film, TV Deal With ‘Game Of Thrones’ Creators
- Game of Thrones creators sign $200 million Netflix deal to make exclusive shows and films: They’re also still helming Star Wars films for Disney
- HBO Max Adds Millennial Comedy to Lineup of Originals
- HBO Orders Female-Led Skateboarding Comedy From Crystal Moselle, Lesley Arfin
- HBO Is About to Spend $1.5 Billion on…Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men?: Fledgling streamer casting a wide sitcom net—but will this leave it unable to secure another big hit, as Seinfeld invites a bidding war?
- Blogger says she got an injunction for a post published five days earlier
- Uber’s no-good, terrible-rotten bad Q2 loses more than $5 billion
- Uber, losing billions, freezes engineering hires
- At Defense Distributed, few glimpses of life after Cody Wilson: Court cases and social media spats continue over 3D-printed guns.
- What a future without social media ‘likes’ could mean for the industry
- The Hidden Risks Associated with Social Media Background Checks
- Companies Are Not Complying With the Safe Harbor Provision of the DMCA
- Regulation of Digital Platforms in Australia and UK
- The Endless, Invisible Persuasion Tactics of the Internet: Online shopping turns your brain against you, but you can fight back.
- UK consumers switch to online streaming en masse
- Cody Wilson pleads guilty to lesser charge, will register as sex offender
- NY Times Publishes A Second, Blatantly Incorrect, Trashing Of Section 230, A Day After Its First Incorrect Article
- Cyber restraints of trade in the new era of digital markets
- To Cajole to Threaten: How Best to Curb Online Counterfeiting
- Transferring or cancelling a domain in USA
- EU Court Determines Responsibility for Social Plug-ins on Website
- Embedded EthiCS: Integrating Ethics Across CS Education
- The guy behind the ‘Storm Area 51’ Facebook event is hosting an alien-themed festival
- Geeky license plate earns hacker $12,000 in parking tickets
A.I.
- AI researchers have a plan to pay patients for data
- Artificial Intelligence and Bias: Social Impacts of a Technical Solution
- Why AI needs more social workers, with Columbia University’s Desmond Patton
- Video: Using AI to build a better future for game art production
- All watched over by machines of loving grace: A critical look at smart contracts (Andres Guadamuz)
- Putin’s robo-nauts prepare for lift-off: Russia’s space agency releases eerie footage of human-like android Fedor as he gets ready to join the International Space Station crew next week
- A Tesla owner implanted the RFID chip from her Model 3’s keycard into her arm: Keyless entry
- Elon Musk’s Neuralink: Both an evolution and a plan for radical change
- Law in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
- Intellectual Property and Artificial Intelligence in the UK
- Breaking down the rich and complex AI of Hitman
COMMUNICATIONS
- CRTC Establishes New Internet Code For Consumers
- CRTC’s latest report shows price decline in communications services
- CBC News: High cost of internet access leaving low-income families behind, report finds
- Competition Bureau Study on the Broadband Industry Paints a “Largely Positive Picture”
- It’s Back: The Netflix Tax Debate Returns for the 2019 Election (Michael Geist)
- Postmedia Announces Refinancing Transaction
- AT&T Employees Took Bribes To Plant Malware On Company’s Network
- CBS and Viacom merger: ‘It’s not a surprise, but it is a big deal’
- Courts Again Shoot Down FCC For Ignoring The Law, Making Up Stuff
- Ajit Pai loses another court case as judges overturn 5G deregulation
- FCC Opens the 2.5 GHz Band for 5G Wireless Services
- Trump admin reportedly drafting order to counter social media “bias”: The proposal would reportedly put the onus of content regulation on the FCC.
- Texas AG Joins Lawsuit Against T-Mobile, Showing Bipartisan Opposition To Mindless M&As
- Frontier network outages get worse in NY, triggering state investigation
- Verizon: 5G speeds on low-spectrum bands will be more like “good 4G”
- Verizon demands $880 from rural library for just 0.44GB of roaming data
- Comcast Wireless Joins Verizon In Charging You More For HD Video
- Verizon selling Tumblr to WordPress.com owner, but porn ban won’t go away
- Verizon Selling Tumblr to Company That Owns WordPress
- With Tumblr Sale, Verizon Continues To Stumble In Bungled Pivot Away From Telecom
- Verizon sues city to avoid paying 5G fees, says the FCC has its back
- Utility Provider Settles Call Recording Lawsuit for $3.7 Million
- Trump Administration Issues Interim Rule Banning Agencies’ Procurement of Telecom Equipment and Services from Huawei, ZTE and Other Designated Chinese Companies
- Federal Government Further Banned from Using Huawei
- Huawei announces its first operating system, HarmonyOS
- Ofcom Consultation on the protection of TV and radio programme participants
PRIVACY
- Class Action Lawsuit Hopes To Hold GitHub Responsible For Hosting Data From Capital One Breach
- Whitney Cummings shares NSFW pic on Twitter after ‘foolish dorks’ attempt to extort her
- Airline tracks Twitter user’s real-world ID, publishes her flight number: Southwest Airlines finally relents, after first insisting flight numbers aren’t PII.
- Ring Is Teaching Cops How To Obtain Doorbell Camera Footage Without A Warrant
- California Judges Nuke Two More SFPD Warrants Used To Search A Journalist’s Home And Office
- Unsealed Warrants Show SFPD Officer Told Judges He Was Targeting A Journalist, But Judges Approved Them Anyway
- Personal Email Management Service Settles FTC Charges over Allegedly Deceptive Statements to Consumers over Its Access and Use of Subscribers’ Email Accounts
- Makers of Head Impact Sensors Avoid FTC Enforcement Headache
- Warren: FTC’s $125 cash option in Equifax settlement “misled” customers
- I Tried Hiding From Silicon Valley in a Pile of Privacy Gadgets: Avoiding digital snoops takes more than throwing money at the problem, but that part can be really fun.
- Google “Street View” Wiretap Allegations Settled for a “Modest” $13 Million
- Microsoft contractors hear phone sex and more while reviewing Cortana, Skype audio
- They Grow Up So Fast These Days: Facial Recognition Tech Edition
- Consumer Reports Finds Numerous Home Routers Lack Even Basic Security Protections
- Found: World-readable database used to secure buildings around the globe
- These companies claim to provide “fair-trade” data work. Do they?: Companies like CloudFactory, iMerit, and Samasource promise data sets provided by workers who are well paid and cared for. It’s not an easy business.
- You’ve Been Hacked: Board Cybersecurity Liability and Risk Management
- Woman accused of Capital One hack had stolen data from 30 companies, authorities say
- Hack in the box: Hacking into companies with “warshipping”
- Will technology return shame to our society?
- Enforcement under the GDPR – the new paradigm
- Indian Counseling Company Files Criminal Complaint Against Blogger Who Informed It About A Sensitive Data Leak
- Hacker site’s incriminating database published online by rival group
CREATIVITY
- A long and winding road: Canada nears the end of an ambitious project to modernize patent, trademark and industrial design laws
- Blacklock’s Tendentious and Tenacious Litany of Litigation – the Latest (Lack of) Developments (Howard Knopf)
- Judge Dismisses Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Defamation Lawsuit Against The New York Times
- Combating Hate Speech Through Counterspeech
- Universal pulls The Huntafter most recent deadly mass shootings [Updated]
- Appeals Court Says Banana Costume Is Infringing
- City of Phanatic Love: Phillies Face Lawsuit Over Beloved Mascot
- Chequered flag to Ferrari: Competitors back to the drawing boards after Ferrari copyright ruling
- Reaping What They Sowed: Recording Industry Now Quite Upset About Copyright Run Amok
- DC Opposes Trademark Application For ‘Algorithmic Justice League’ For Some Reason
- Brewery In Wales Changes Name Of 2 Beers After Fight With Hugo Boss
- North Carolina Court Says Retaliatory Arrests Over Protected Speech Are Cool And Legal
- NAAG Asks VOD Providers to Shield Kids From Tobacco Imagery
- Oops: Japan Anti-Piracy Proposals Probably Violate Its Constitution
- Keep Shining Upon Us, Our Guiding Star – Prof. (Dr.) Shamnad Basheer (1976 – 2019)
- IP rights in art in United Kingdom – England & Wales (England & Wales)
- IP Top 10 July: Copyright Infringement is a… Dark Horse
Jon
News of the Week; August 7, 2019
GAMES
- Parties agree to settle in Damion Perrine v. Sega of America
- TaxWatch: Activision Blizzard has dodged taxes on billions – UK think tank details how Call of Duty company’s corporate structure, IP royalty scheme minimizes money owed
- Republican politicians say videogames partly to blame for mass shootings: GOP House minority leader Kevin McCarthy says videogames ‘dehumanize individuals’.
- Another mass shooting, another wave of politicians pointing at video games
- In Wake Of Mass Shootings, Top Trade Org Refutes Trump’s Claim That Gaming Is To Blame
- ESA defends against Trump’s proposed video game crackdown: Meanwhile, publisher share prices fall in wake of US president’s address
- IGDA, IGDAF issue statement on weekend shootings in the US: Advocacy organizations defend industry following President Trump’s accusations against “gruesome and grisly video games”
- Biden says violent games are “not healthy” but not the cause of “carnage”
- DayZ has been refused classification by the Australian ratings board
- Psyonix is removing paid, randomized loot boxes fromRocket League this year
- After Epic purchase, Psyonix removes random loot boxes from Rocket League: Move follows similar removal in Epic’s Fortnite: Save the World.
- What did the FTC hear in its loot box workshop?: ESA defends virtual currency and dynamic drop rates as concerns are raised about consumer protection and similarities to gambling
- Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo team up to force loot box odds disclosures: Major publishers will also increase transparency in 2020 as FTC looks at loot boxes.
- Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony to launch platform-wide rules on loot box disclosures
- Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony to require loot box odds disclosure: Activision Blizzard, Bethesda, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Wizards of the Coast, and other publishers will also comply
- Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft to require loot box odds disclosure: ESA says platform holders will roll out new policy that would apply to new games and updates that add loot box features
- Consumer advocates to ESRB, FTC: Loot box odds disclosure is not enough – Consumer Reports’ Anna Laitin – “A kid is not going to make a better decision with odds disclosure”
- Blog: The glorious, profitable, inescapable art of addiction
- The flawed Kinder Egg defence: The University of Adelaide’s Dr Daniel King on what his “Unfair Play” academic study reveals about the industry’s monetisation practices
- Psyonix removes paid, randomized crates from Rocket League: Replacement system will show exact items being purchased, similar to Fortnite
- 18% of all physical ESRB-rated games have received an ‘in-game purchases’ label
- FaZe Clan Countersues Tfue, Claims He Cost The Company “Many Millions” In Lost Income
- FaZe Clan Claims ‘Fortnite’ Star Tfue Is Using Its Secrets to Launch a Competitor
- Faze Clan countersues its Fortnite pro Tfue: Team responds to claims of illegal contract by saying player violated confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses
- Super Mario Mischief
- Ion Maiden — new video game alleged to infringe heavy metal band’s trade mark
- An in-game casino gave GTA Online its biggest player surge since launch
- Fig to pay lump sum to Wasteland 3 investors as Microsoft buys publishing rights
- Wasteland 3 investors will receive lump payout following studio acquisition: Microsoft’s acquisition of inXile will get Fig investors higher-than-promised dividend rate
- Fig plans payouts for Psychonauts 2 investors after Double Fine joins Microsoft
- Microsoft’s Double Fine acquisition results in early Psychonauts 2 investor payout: Rate is higher than original promise, but eliminates chance to earn more on greater success
- E3 data breach that exposed 2,000 journalists’ private data puts ESA in legal crosshairs
- E3 accidentally leaks personal details of journalists, YouTubers and analysts: Over 2,000 names on the list
- ESA has previously leaked media’s personal details for E3: Files have now been taken down from web archive, ESA “still investigating the matter”
- ESA also leaked E3 2018’s media attendee list: Data has now been removed but was still live earlier this year, despite show organisers being alerted last September
- UK’s Video Games Tax Relief has paid out £324m in five years: Over 1,000 claims have been made by developers and publishers since incentive launched in 2014
- German games market’s headcount declines, but small companies on the rise: More than 11,000 people and 600 companies in Germany develop and distribute games
- What to do when Bolivia hates you: Lewis Manalo used his life experiences to write on Ghost Recon – Wildlands, and was met with the wrath of both the critics and the entire country of Bolivia
- Real people starring in porn games is a surreal new frontier: We talked to model and YouTuber LetyDoesStuff about starring in the sex game House Party.
- It’s A New Dawn For ‘Minecraft’ Content On YouTube. Here’s What Sparked The Renaissance.
- Ninja, one of Twitch’s top streamers, has left the platform for Mixer
- Ninja ditches Twitch for exclusive streaming deal with Mixer
- Ninja Ditches Twitch, Will Exclusively Stream On Microsoft’s Mixer
- Ninja’ed: Microsoft swipes top game-streamer from Amazon’s Twitch
- Ninja departure is “unlikely to diminish” Twitch: But it marks a “turning point” for Mixer, says analyst
- Ninja off to strong start on Mixer: Racks up one million free subscriptions since announcing deal last week
- Ninja Nabs 350,000 Mixer Followers Overnight, Catapults App To Top Of Charts
- Ninja Accumulates 1 Million Mixer Subscribers In 6 Days, Thanks In Part To Free Offer
- Mixer criticised for “breast-focused” streamer clothing guidelines: Twitch partner says rules deem female body “inherently inappropriate”, Microsoft will “evaluate if changes are needed”
- Blog: 7 questions to answer before marketing on Twitch
- Ooblets devs reveal threats of violence and racist abuse following Epic Store announcement: Despite the appalling backlash, the developers say that going with the Epic Games Store was the right call.
- Ooblets dev received thousands of “hateful, threatening messages” over Epic exclusivity: Glumberland on being the target of online hate: “I had no idea it was this bad”
- Ooblets devs break down their Epic Games Store exclusivity decision
- Regarding what’s been happening
- Ooblets dev stands by comments about toxic, entitled gamers: Wave of anti-Semitic, homophobic, racist abuse over Epic Games store exclusivity fails to convince Glumberland dev to recant statements
- Epic Games denounces “disturbing trend” of harassment toward its partners: Following Ooblets exclusivity deal, Epic professes commitment to supporting its partners
- Epic exclusivity deal covered Ooblets’ sales forecast across all stores: Glumberland offers insight into how important exclusivity can be for a smaller team
- Don’t Miss: Building an audience early with visuals-first development in Ooblets
- Steam’s Interactive Recommender landed 10,000 new games on wishlists
- Severe local 0-Day escalation exploit found in Steam Client Services
- Dapper Labs Partners With NBA To Launch Digital Collectibles Game
- Revenue and bookings up at Zynga, despite slowing active users on mobile
- After Japanese, Korean success, Zynga turns to China: COO Matt Bromberg: “We’re trying to take a measured approach”
- Russian dev My.Games and Chinese publisher iDreamSky partner for global expansion
- Creative Assembly and NetEase partner up to bring Total War to China
- Koch Media opens Polish publishing office to boost presence in Europe
- Ubisoft acquires mobile publisher Green Panda Games: 70% stake in Paris-based studio could raise to 100% over four years
- Borderlands 2 has sold 22 million units to date: Franchise overall has reached 48 million units, buoyed by lead-in to Borderlands 3 launch
- Final Fantasy and Romancing SaGa boost sales at Square Enix despite profit downturn
- Square Enix kicks off financial year with Q1 sales of $501m: Sales up 19%, income rises 86% – driven in part by Final Fantasy XIV and remasters
- UK Charts: Fire Emblem Three Houses scores second week at No.1: Madden arrives at No.5
- Modern Pick Entertainment to acquire “substantial” stake in Slightly Mad Studios: European publisher says dev “fits perfectly” with non-violent esports mission
- Obsidian “is not a crunch studio”: “We’d rather cut something than try and get people to not have a life outside the industry”
- Glu Mobile sees record quarterly bookings in Q2 2019: Mobile publisher lowers full-year guidance to “reflect the timing of new launches”
- At Schell Games, culture is the antidote to crunch and conflict: CEO Jesse Schell and four of the studio’s original executives discuss the importance of stability, team-building, and open communication
- Yuke’s splits from WWE 2K franchise: Japanese studio will continue to support the game engine, but isn’t directly involved in WWE games for the first time in two decades
- Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick ‘feels good’ about Google Stadia’s release
- Strauss Zelnick: Take-Two is “open-minded” on streaming, subscriptions – Despite caution on subscriptions, CEO says the company will “be where the consumer is”
- Digital net revenue up to $427.8 million for the quarter at Take-Two Interactive
- Take-Two Interactive ups full-year guidance following strong recurrent returns: Red Dead Redemption 2 has sold 25m units; NBA 2K19 has sold nearly 12m; Civilization VI over 5.5m
- Automaton Games enters administration: Improbable offers to match former employees with open positions at SpatialOS developer
- Studio71 Launches ‘The Binding Of Isaac’ Card Game At Target: Studio71 launches strategy card game based on indie video game.
- Blog: Preparing for the changes to Google Play’s ratings system
- Google is developing a game and app subscription service called Play Pass
- Tencent launches its cloud services on WeGame in China:
- Moonlight Blade, Chinese Parents, Blood of Steel, others can be played instantly on the service without download
- Tencent aiding with localization, online services for the Switch’s move into China
- Temporary Pokémon Center coming to London: Pop-up store opening at Westfield to coincide with Sword and Shield launch
- Nintendo and Tencent working to localize Switch games for China: No Switch software has been approved by Chinese government so far, four games shown at ChinaJoy 2019
- Blog: How I got my Nintendo Switch port to run at 60fps
- Here’s why Nintendo Switch consoles keep frying
- $13,000 NES cartridge found at the bottom of a Safeway sack
- New ‘Game Trials’ program will let Switch Online members try games for free
- Why is Electronic Arts almost completely ignoring the Switch?
- EA CEO: The Switch isn’t players’ first choice for multi-platform EA games
- EA: Our players often choose other platforms over Nintendo Switch – EA explains absence of games like The Sims 4 on Switch, points to $300m-plus bookings forecast for The Sims 4
- EA: Subscriptions combined with cloud services will “lower the barriers” to gaming – CEO Andrew Wilson suggests cloud services paired with subscriptions would cause “shift” in gaming
- Roblox has surpassed 100 million monthly active users
- Pokémon GO reaches over one billion downloads worldwide: Niantic’s location-based Pokémon catching adventure achieves milestone just over three years after launch
- Console Wars—a book about the Genesis and SNES—will become a TV show
- DuckTales: Remastered is being pulled from digital stores on August 8
- Enduring popularity of key franchises helps boost sales and profits at Capcom
- Capcom profits up 50.8% thanks to “highly profitable” digital downloads: Japanese publisher increases focus on esports as it restructures unprofitable arcade business
- “NBA Last 90” Foreshadows the Potentially Lucrative Intersection of eSports and Sports Betting
- Chinese publisher NetEase is building a $725 million esports park in Shanghai
- NetEase reveals plans for $700m esports stadium in Shanghai: Stadium to feature game development, team building, and training facilities
- EVO in trouble with Bandai Namco, Konami and Solid Snake actor David Hayter: Tekken tournament organisers used iconic character in promo video without permission from any of the above
- Nexon to acquire Swedish game developer Embark Studios
- Nexon to fully acquire stock in Embark Studios: Nexon’s Western development strategy will now be “driven” by Embark founder Patrick Söderlund
- Layoffs at Nexon America as two California-based offices are closed
- Nexon closes second US office in a month: LA-based Division Partners precedes the closure of Nexon M later this month
- Slitherine acquires Master of Magic publishing rights from Atari
- Slitherine acquires Master of Magic franchise: Strategy game developer hints at publishing sequel to 1994 MS-DOS title
- Flurry of New Apple ‘AR/VR’ Job Listings Point to New Products on the Horizon
- Iconic VR Film ‘The Matrix’ to Return to Select Theaters for 20th Anniversary
- XRDC: 59% of AR/VR developers are working on games – Oculus Rift surpassed HTC Vive this year as the top AR/VR/MR development platform
- Valve Cancels VirtualLink Adapter Accessory for Index, Cites Technical Issues & Laptop Adoption
- Valve clamping down on abuse of Steam’s Popular Upcoming list: Developers reportedly now need Valve’s approval before changing release date
- Oculus Rift surpasses HTC Vive as VR devs’ top platform in new XRDC Innovation Report!
- Here’s What Facebook Says About Camera Privacy on Quest & Rift S
- Video: Reinventing a platformer for VR the Astro Bot way
- Over 50 ‘field leaders’ laid off at GameStop due to ongoing cost-cutting
- Why the gaming world will be worse once GameStop is gone
- Video: A postmortem of indie kingdom-builder Kingdoms and Castles
- Video: Delivering data-driven dynamic gameplay effects inFor Honor
- Video: What an art-house indie learned from a year of working in F2P
- Video: How Slay the Spire achieved success through marketability
- Dangen Entertainment: What it really costs to run an indie publishing label – With the right focus and the right relationships, the Osaka-based publisher can find success with 10,000 units sold
- Genetics-themed survival game Niche is heading to schools for free
- Immortalising your grandmother in a WWII game: Bob De Schutter talks us through the inspiration and incredible true stories behind his PC title Brukel
- Don’t Miss: Building the monstrous transforming puzzle heads of GNOG
- Don’t Miss: Deconstructing the development and design ofGravity Ghost
- Don’t Miss: The Chinese Room’s Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs postmortem
- Don’t Miss: Deconstructing the art design of Journey
- This War of Mine: Five years later – Publishing director Paweł Feldman on how 11 bit Studios managed the game’s life-cycle and ensured steady sales
- Niche developer offers game to schools for free: Stray Fawn Studio encourages teachers to get in touch for free classroom codes
- How Diablo meets Left 4 Dead in co-op action RPGKillsquad
- Metal Wolf Chaos XD: A weirdly timed return to 2004’s robo-blasting innocence
- The design and iteration of tactical deck-building gameNowhere Prophet
- Giving players the ability to bump off any NPC in The Outer Worlds was ‘insanely hard’
- Making family matter in Children of Morta
- The three eras of game discoverability
- nWay introduces blockchain solution to its development platform: Power Rangers: Legacy Wars developer adds support for unified marketplace across all nWayPlay games
- Video Gaming / E-Gaming Law Update
- U.S. Patent No. 5,885,156: Video game apparatus, method of controlling the growth of play character in video game, and video game medium therefor
- Halo TV series pushed to 2021: Production on Showtime adaptation begins later this year with Natascha McElhone and Bokeem Woodbine among announced cast
DIGITAL
- European Court Of Justice Rules On Three Big Copyright Cases
- Have You Heard? If You Spread ‘Hurtful’ Rumors In China, You’ll Be Thrown Off The Internet For Years
- The ‘cesspool of hate’ message board 8chan was taken offline after being linked to 3 mass shootings this year
- Online providers knock 8chan offline after mass shooting
- 8chan resurfaces, along with The Daily Stormer and another Nazi site
- The Lawless Way to Disable 8chan: The decision to disable an infamous message board fell to Matthew Prince, an internet executive who is deeply uncomfortable with his own power.
- Trump Calls On Social Media Companies To Become Pre-Crime Agents
- From Trump to Fox News to 8chan – the web of white supremacist rhetoric is wide: Trump is a politician perfectly fitted for an ecosystem that amplifies extreme emotion and allows the loud to drown out the calm
- ‘Free Speech Defender’ Devin Nunes Sues More Critics, Promises More Such Lawsuits Are Coming
- Microsoft catches Russian state hackers using IoT devices to breach networks
- Image, ownership and an app made in St Petersburg
- Four questions about online hate speech
- Why Is Our First Reaction To Mass Shootings To Talk About Censorship?
- Using Restorative Justice To Deal With Internet Trolls And Jackasses
- Twitter users are escaping online hate by switching profiles to Germany, where Nazism is illegal
- Twitter to Remove Third-Party Data From Ad-Buying System: The change follows a similar move by Facebook and comes as privacy concerns grow
- Judge Not Impressed With DOJ’s Attempt To Claim Presidential Tweets And Orders Don’t Mean Anything
- iOS 13 privacy feature will force total overhaul for Facebook apps
- UK Lobbyist’s Long-Running Astroturf Efforts Shows Facebook Will Never Be Able To Stop Fake News, Ban All Conservatives
- Enough With The Myth That Big Tech Is ‘Censoring’ Conservatives AND That The Law Requires Them To Be Neutral
- New legislation is putting social networks in the crosshairs: Republicans and Democrats have ideas for regulating big tech platforms – and their bills are now moving through Congress
- A new bill aims to protect US voters from the next Cambridge Analytica
- FBI says “extremists” motivated by Pizzagate, QAnon are threats
- Cloudflare has had enough, cutting off 8chan
- Dumped by Cloudflare, 8chan gets back online—then gets kicked off again
- 8chan is all the way down—“It’s DNS. It’s always DNS.”
- Competition law scrutiny on tech giants spills over to the other side of the Atlantic (and the rest of the globe?)
- Once More With Feeling: Nearly All General Interest News Paywalls Will Fail
- UK’s Online Harms Regime Must be “Proportionate”, According to the ICO and Ofcom
- North Korea took $2 billion in cyberattacks to fund weapons program: U.N. report
- What Happens When The US Government Tries To Take On The Open Source Community?
- Philippines Lawmaker Introduces ‘Fake News’ Bill That Would Allow The National Police To Literally Police Speech
- Finland is winning the war on fake news. What it’s learned may be crucial to Western democracy
- Apple and Google temporarily stop listening to Siri and OK Google queries
- Apple suspends Siri response grading in response to privacy concerns
- Apple’s AirDrop and password sharing features can leak iPhone numbers
- Apple hones its focus on services with new TV deals for AirPlay 2, HomeKit
- The FTC is looking into the Amazon and Apple deal that crushed small resellers: Experts say the deal raises serious antitrust concerns
- Apple’s innovative virtual credit card is now available—but only to some people
- Apple isn’t the most cash-rich company in the world anymore, but it doesn’t matter
- FedEx Ends Ground-Delivery Deal With Amazon
- FedEx leaves Amazon on the doorstep as the store becomes a competitor
- Another Day, Another Company Leaving Sensitive User Data Exposed Publicly On The Amazon Cloud
- Google has a problem with pregnant workers, employee memo alleges
- Google will charge search providers to be the Android default in Europe: The top-three bidders will join Google on the choice screen
- Google Is Testing a $4.99 App Subscription Bundle
- Google launches new shopping service in the US
- Google publishes sustainability plan for hardware, but its impact is uncertain
- Big Four Broadcasters Sue Streaming Video Provider Locast, Claim It’s ‘Aereo 2.0’
- Bumble stumbles: State policy interests override dating app’s contractual forum
- Domino’s takes its case for non-accessible design to the Supreme Court: The ADA is almost 30 years old, but the company says websites don’t count.
- Facebook penalised $US5 billion by the FTC – A digital privacy reckoning
- Facebook open-sources algorithms for detecting child exploitation and terrorism imagery: Crowdsourcing a better solution to disturbing photos and videos
- No Immunity For Cops Who Arrested A Man For Creating A Facebook Page Mocking The Police Department
- What Facebook’s New Policy Means for Alcohol, Tobacco, and E-Cigarette Content and Sales
- Facebook’s settlements with the Federal Government—Key takeaways for all companies to consider
- Facebook just fine following eye-watering privacy penalty?
- Facebook briefly removes Area 51 event ‘by accident’
- Area 51 raid event ‘to see them aliens’ removed by Facebook: The event creator is planning a real-life festival to replace the tongue-in-cheek Area 51 raid.
- Tastemade Taps Ian Hecox, Meghan Rienks, Arden Rose For Facebook Watch Slate
- Facebook Wants to Integrate Instagram Direct Messages With Messenger
- What’s FaceApp and Facebook Got to Do with Competition Compliance in Canada?
- The Tax Man Taps the Brakes on Digital Currency Expansion
- Anime gets its #MeToo moment in clash between Dallas-area voice actors
- Netflix Is Asking Android Users For Permission To Track Their Physical Movements
- Utah Tax Commission Doesn’t Want a Piece of Your Video Streaming
- The Streaming Video-on-Demand War Is Going to Get Bloody: Media behemoths want to conquer a realm now dominated by the likes of Netflix.
- The Worst May Be Yet to Come for Netflix: There’s a long road ahead for the streaming giant as new competitors, including your phone company, step up
- Disney’s new streaming bundle priced to compete with “standard” Netflix plan
- Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu will be bundled for $12.99. Netflix should be worried.: Disney is aggressively crafting the service to be an end-all, be-all for streaming subscribers.
- Insights: How Netflix Is Building Its Global Reach One Acquisition At A Time
- HBO Launches ‘Recommended by Humans’ Streaming Site in Dig at Netflix
- HBO Max secures exclusive US streaming rights for Doctor Who, other BBC series
- Malaysia Looks To Prosecute Homeowners Where Accused Streaming Piracy Occurs
- YouTube is the world’s top-grossing video app with $138M in user spending
- YouTube’s recent algorithm change explains why your feed is full of children’s videos: Including nursery rhymes and cartoons
- YouTube Tweaked Its Algorithm To Promote “Quality Family Content.” That Change Decimated Kid-Friendly Creators’ View Counts.
- Gizmodo: Why Can’t YouTube Do ‘Good’ Content Moderation? Answer: Because It’s Impossible
- YouTubers ‘The Ingham Family’ Are Selling $340 Dolls Of Their Newborn Son
- Michelle Obama To Launch College Advice Series On ‘YouTube Learning’ Hub
- Susan Wojcicki Discusses New Creator-On-Creator Harassment Policy In Sitdown With Alfie Deyes
- Claim Over Takedown Notice Triggers Anti-SLAPP Law & a Fee Shift–Complex v. X17 (Eric Goldman)
- Some Much-Needed Pushback on the Anti-Section 230 Craziness (Linkwrap) (Eric Goldman)
- Correcting the Record on Section 230’s Legislative History
- NY Times Joins Lots Of Other Media Sites In Totally And Completely Misrepresenting Section 230
- The scary trend of internet shutdowns
- Wake-up call: ways of working with influencers
- When Influencers Fail to Influence
- By Winning Motion to Dismiss, Supermodel Loses Chance to Clarify Whether She Can Lawfully Post Photos of Herself to Social Media
- Are you an influencer? Then you may well need to be a follower …
- Actor Wil Wheaton Sues Geek & Sundry For Shorting Him On Web Series Payment
- Bernie, Biden, And Warren Get Post-Democratic Debate Social Video Bump
- Snapchat Parent Company to Raise $1 Billion in Debt Financing, Citing Potential Acquisitions
- Snapchat To Raise $1 Billion In Debt Financing, In Part To Fund Acquisitions
- Snapchat Launches New, Streamlined Ad Creation Process
- Snapchat Launches Latest Batch Of ‘Creator Shows’ With The Kaplan Twins, Matt Steffanina, Teala Dunn
- Snapchat Takes Implicit Dig At Instagram In New Ad Campaign — On Instagram
- Following Platform-Wide Purge, Instagram Hires First Exec To Interface With Meme Accounts
- Tencent in Talks to Buy 10% of Universal Music Group
- Warner Posts Solid Third Quarter Results, Digital Revenue up 12.5%
- New EU and UK guidance on online terms and conditions and privacy policies
- Electronic credit contracts and signatures under Quebec Consumer Law
- Rocky Mountain States Make Headway in Blockchain-Related Legislation
- Building better legal blockchains: More law firms are testing the use of blockchain technology in their legal business, as organizations grapple with standards
- I tried to pay with bitcoin at a Mexico City bar—it didn’t go well
- Crypto Exchange and Payment Solutions Expand, New UK Guidance Issued, US Enforcement Actions Continue
- Online Platforms: “Walking” the line between legal and financial services compliance
- Paddling to surfing: the rise of Online Dispute Resolution
- Work Ruined Email: It’s not too late to fix it.
- MSDN Magazine will publish its last issue, ending a Microsoft developer era
- Now even funerals are livestreamed—and families are grateful
- Don’t Let This Get Lost In The Shuffle: The Data Transfer Project Is Expanding, And Could Help Create Real Competition Online
- Don’t worry – It’s publicly available on the internet!: Due diligence considerations with respect to licensing data and acquiring data-dependent businesses.
- From Apps On Your Phone To Satellites In The Sky, A New Program Looks Into The Ethics Of Mapping
A.I.
- California now has a new Bot disclosure law – will other states follow suit?
- Roll over, Beethoven: Decoding the maestro’s musical style with statistics
- People don’t want to see workers replaced by a robot—themselves excepted
- Everyone Hates Customer Service. This Is Why.: Technology lets companies see how badly they can treat consumers, right up until the moment they bolt
- ‘We cannot have technology and sales take over safety’: Tesla is being sued again for a deadly Autopilot crash
- Feds told Tesla to stop making “misleading statements” on Model 3 safety
- Whitney Cummings—and her sex robot—take on modern womanhood
- Robotic tails for humans are here
- The Next Frontier: A.I. and the Efficiently Resourced Legal Department
- Computer Science Could Learn A Lot From Library And Information Science
- Artificial Intelligence: What we have seen so far in 2019 and what is to come…
- We Took a Ride on NYC’s First Self-Driving Shuttle
- Are Your AI Selection Tools Validated? OFCCP Provides Guidance for Validation of AI-Based Algorithms
COMMUNICATIONS
- CRTC tells wireless companies to stop offering 3-year contracts again
- CRTC ups the CASL liability ante for directors and officers
- Cable Programming Blackouts Continue To Rise As Cord-Cutting Continues
- FCC finally orders ISPs to say exactly where they offer broadband
- ISP Frontier is failing so badly it won’t take questions from investors
- Pai’s FCC orders cities and towns to stop regulating cable broadband
- FCC Seeks to Close the Digital Divide with Its Proposed $20.4 Billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund
- Virgil Quick Come See: FCC Drives Down Local Government Regulation of Cable Operators
- FCC Adopts Rules Banning Spoofing of Texts and Foreign Calls
- FCC adopts rules to ban malicious spoofing of texts and international calls
- FCC Releases Order Removing Unbundling, Resale Requirements for Price Cap ILECs
- FCC finally gets around to denying net neutrality complaint against Verizon
- The FCC Finally Starts Taking America’s Broadband Maps More Seriously
- Verizon’s New ‘Unlimited’ Data Plans Still Have Very Real, Problematic Limits
- AT&T Scores $1 Billion Contract To Rebuild DOJ Systems
- AT&T workers took $1 million in bribes to unlock 2 million phones, DOJ says
- AT&T Hopes A Confusing Rebranding Will Help Its Muddled Video Plans Make Sense
- Comcast’s “unlimited” mobile plan now costs $20 extra for HD video
- FCC adopts rules addressing spoofed texts and international robocalls
- After Missing Cord Cutting Trend, Nielsen Falls Apart
PRIVACY
- Oversight Report Shows The NSA Did Not Delete All The Inadvertently-Collected Phone Records It Claimed It Had Deleted
- Cisco pays $8.6 million for selling surveillance system it knew was vulnerable
- Cisco Shells Out $8.6 Million For Selling The Government Easily Hackable Tech
- Amazon Has Already Roped 200 Police Departments Into Its Ring Doorbell Surveillance/Promotional Scheme
- Police can get your Ring doorbell footage without a warrant, report says
- Louisiana Governor Declares Statewide Emergency After Cyber-Attacks Against School Systems
- The FTC’s Settlement With Equifax Is Such A Joke, The FTC Is Now Begging You Not To Ask For A Cash Settlement
- Class Action Against Yahoo!: A Data Breach is Not Always Evidence of Compensable Loss
- Ransomware, “wiper” malware attacks have more than doubled, IBM team says
- Microsoft Nabs Russian Hackers Exploiting Flimsy IOT Security
- Skype, Slack, other Electron-based apps can be easily backdoored
- Hong Kong protesters are using lasers to distract and confuse
- Pentagon testing mass surveillance balloons across the US
- Brace for controversy: Edward Snowden has written a memoir
- Barr says the US needs encryption backdoors to prevent “going dark.” Um, what?: “The FBI says they’re ‘going dark.’ Well yeah, because they’ve been staring at the sun.”
- WIPO Says Websites In Its Pirate Database Don’t Deserve Due Process Because ‘They Know What They’re Doing’
- New advanced malware, possibly nation sponsored, is targeting US utilities
- Google starts selling its Titan security key in Canada, Japan, the UK, and France: The rest of the world may follow
- Hush — They’re Listening to Us
- Facial Recognition Is Suddenly Everywhere. Should You Worry?
- GDPR Privacy FAQs: Do cookie banners that disclose the use of analytics or behavioral advertising cookies, and state that continued use of a website is deemed acceptance of those cookies, satisfy European privacy laws?
- Privacy and Cybersecurity State Law Tracker: Maine Consumer Privacy Law
- What all the stuff in email headers means—and how to sniff out spoofing
CREATIVITY
- Jury awards Joyful Noise $2.8M in copyright infringement damages for Katy Perry’s Dark Horse
- Who Wrote ‘Stairway to Heaven’? Music Industry Braces for Copyright Suits: A $2.8 million judgment against Katy Perry has record business worried about an onslaught of infringement cases
- Bat Out of Court: Meat Loaf Settles Copyright Lawsuit Over “I’d Do Anything For Love”
- A Decision of Interest to the Entertainment Industry: Is an event organizer responsible for an artist’s late appearance? Court dismisses class action regarding Travis Scott’s late appearance at Osheaga Festival.
- IP monitor – Confusion: more than just the sum of its parts
- Canadian Copyright Mass Litigation – Reasonable Reimbursement for Norwich Order Compliance
- Sex tech companies protest for the right to advertise—online or in the subway
- A History Of Women In Quentin Tarantino Movies: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood has reignited discussion about how Tarantino depicts women.
- SLAPP Suit In Virginia Tries To Silence Historian Highlighting Ancestry Of Guy Suing To Keep Confederate Statues In Charlottesville
- Yes, That Banana Costume Is Copyrightable
- Court of a-peel: nasty split over banana costume leads to legal monkey business – Judge found a full-body banana costume sold by Arizona company may be too similar to one originally sold by a New Jersey costumer
- Copyright Protection for Banana Costumes Is, Uh, Bananas–Silvertop v. Kangaroo (Eric Goldman)
- Another Competitive Keyword Advertising Lawsuit Fails–Dr. Greenberg v. Perfect Body Image (Eric Goldman)
- Scotch Jedi: American Whiskey Isn’t Going Down Smooth
- 100% Natural Case 100% Dismissed: You Can’t Have a False Advertising Case Without Advertising
- Competition law considerations for licensing agreements in Canada
- 10 most urgent press freedom cases in August: One Free Press Coalition
- Brexit and… copyright – an update
Jon
News of the Week; July 31, 2019
GAMES
- British Gambling Commission: Industry should be “proactively dealing” with skin betting – Loot boxes still aren’t gambling but concerns raised over similarities and companies that fail to police secondary markets
- Addicted to Loot: Recent developments in gaming addiction and gambling concerns in the UK
- SEC Issues No-Action Letter for Gaming Tokens
- GTA dev Rockstar Games under fire from UK tax watchdog
- Rockstar hasn’t paid UK corporation tax in ten years, claims investigative think tank: Grand Theft Auto V developer also issued claims worth over £42 million in Video Game Tax Relief
- No Shellebration for Turtle Rock Studios
- Heroes Charge into Copyright Battle
- “It ain’t over till the Old Lady sings” – Konami, Juventus and the licensing of IP for use in sports video game content
- CD Projekt Red promises “no disrespect” in religious-themed Cyberpunk 2077 quests: Polish studio “doesn’t want to avoid religion as a topic” but acknowledges player choices could cause controversy
- Doomed: Bethesda’s Classic Doom Re-Releases Are Fixed, But Demonstrate Again That We Don’t Own What We Buy
- Classic Doom games vanish, reappear on Xbox One with features missing
- Bethesda removing mandatory login from Doom re-releases after fan backlash
- Bethesda says online requirement for Doom re-releases was a mistake
- Joke game removed from Steam after offering bribes to customers: Cyerprank 2069 offers collectors edition of Cyberpunk 2077 for “funniest review”
- A bug has tanked Team Fortress 2’s Steam Marketplace economy
- Creators Going Pro: YouTube Gets Viewers Into The Mind Of Gamer Rez And His ‘Fortnite’-Loving Family
- PUBG Corp says it has buried the hatchet with Fortnite dev Epic Games
- PUBG. Corp says Epic is “one of our best partners” despite previous lawsuit attempt: Studio director Brian Corrigan dismisses notion of animosity between two companies
- The Epic Games Store has started rolling out cloud saves
- Epic Game store adds cloud saves: Feature active for a handful of titles, storefront says more work needed before it can be adopted on a larger scale
- Understanding the success of Fortnite: A UX and psychology perspective
- On YouTube’s Biggest Channels, Videos With Keywords Like ‘Fortnite,’ ‘ASMR’ and ‘Insane’ Get Higher Views
- Immortals Gaming Club reportedly selling Houston Outlaws for $40m: Deal expected to close in August to keep Immortals from owning two Overwatch League teams at once
- Strafe raises $3m for esports hub app: Seed round led by Bitkraft Esports Ventures
- Bulkhead Interactive announced $650,000 investment into esports: Battalion 1944 dev expands esports offering and suggests more future investment
- Winner of the Fortnite World Cup took home $3m: Kyle Giersdorf, 16, won the solo competition, winners of the duos tournament received 1.5m each
- The Fortnite World Cup | A Record-Setting Tournament
- The ‘Fortnite’ World Cup Finals Drew More Than 2 Million Concurrent Viewers
- FaZe Clan Brings In First Female Member, 13-Year-Old Deaf ‘Fortnite’ Pro Ewok
- Ninja is writing a book that will teach you to become an ‘unstoppable’ gamer: He’s also co-writing a graphic novel that will showcase his ‘unmatched wits and skill.’
- Rocket League gets license approval in China: Tencent partnership leads to free-to-play release of Psyonix’s car soccer hit
- Qualcomm and Tencent team up for future mobile game devices and content
- Whoever wins the console wars of tomorrow, Microsoft will profit | Opinion: Satya Nadella sees a future where every game “platform” will ultimately run on Azure’s infrastructure
- Microsoft CEO: Partnership with Sony was driven by the PlayStation maker
- Microsoft: Cloud partnership “all driven by Sony”: The deal means Microsoft is “dependent” on Sony’s success, according to CEO Satya Nadella
- The PlayStation 4 has shipped 100 million units faster than any other console
- Putting the PS4’s 100 million sales in context: 67 months to hit 9 figures is the fastest-ever pace for a home console.
- PlayStation 4 software revenue dips as hardware shipments hit major milestone
- US tariffs on Chinese goods could raise PlayStation console prices, warns Sony
- Facebook migrating Instant Games away from Messenger
- Facebook Instant Games moves off Messenger: New game reviews re-opening after three-month hiatus
- Zynga sees best mobile bookings and revenue in company history for Q2: Mobile publisher raises year-long guidance following record performances from Empires & Puzzles, Merge Dragons! and mobile Words With Friends
- Pokemon Go surpasses 1 billion downloads worldwide
- Slitherine enters contract with Dstl to develop games for UK military: Wargaming developer to create dedicated versions of Command Modern Air/Naval Operations, Flashpoint Campaigns
- Tilting Point invests $30 million in Mino as Cat Gamelaunches worldwide
- Tilting Point invests $30m into Mino Games’ Cat Game: This marks the publisher’s largest user acquisition investment so far
- Mail.Ru’s My.Games grows revenues to $116.9 million in Q2: But suffers $10 million impairment charge as Obsidian co-developed MMO Skyforge falters
- Focus Home Interactive’s Q1 revenue up 49% YOY: World War Z accounted for nearly half of the publisher’s sales last quarter
- Star Trek Fleet Command surpasses $100m in lifetime revenue: Mobile game is publisher Scopely’s fastest-growing mobile title
- No More Robots reaches $3m in lifetime revenue: Manchester-based publisher reaches milestone one week after launch of Nowhere Prophet
- Bigben Interactive acquires French development studio Spiders
- Automation enters administration and cancels Mavericks: Proving Grounds
- Kickstarter veterans on how to run a successful crowdfunding campaign: YoYo Games’ Ross Manthorp explains seven key crowdfunding lessons from GameMaker Studio 2 developers
- EA expects The Sims 4 to deliver net bookings on par withApex Legends
- Live services brought EA $2.5 billion in net bookings in the last 12 months
- Nearly half of EA’s unit sales are now digital: Publisher’s quiet first quarter headlined by growing digital dominance
- Switch driving sales at Nintendo as ‘foreign exchange losses’ cut profits
- Nintendo recasts Fire Emblem: Three Houses voice actor after abuse confessions
- Fire Emblem beats Wolfenstein to the top of the UK charts: Nintendo published four of the top ten games in the UK last week
- Nintendo’s 3DS plans remain unchanged as unit and software sales slow
- Both digital and packaged game sales on the rise at Sega Sammy
- Wolfenstein: Youngblood Review: A co-op spin-off does Wolfenstein better and worse than ever.
- Fire Emblem Three Houses: Critical Consensus: Critics heap near unanimous praise for the strategy RPG’s return to console
- Grand Theft Auto V leads a static top three in the EMEAA charts: Team Ninja’s Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 was the only new entry in the combined physical and digital chart
- Dragalia Lost becomes second highest-grossing Nintendo mobile game: Game still sits well behind Fire Emblem Heroes, but continues trend of high spend per install
- Amazon is ending Prime Video support on the Wii U
- Amazon reportedly ends Prime Video on Wii U, launches it for VR: Company offering a $25 credit toward Fire TV services for Wii U Prime users
- Bandai Namco opening Barcelona mobile studio: Bandai Namco Mobile will focus on creating and marketing games outside the Asian market
- The irony of Oddworld: Lorne Lanning on crunching to make games about the exploitation of workers
- There is no typical Curve game: Publishing director Simon Byron explains how the indie publisher tries to keep surprising and introduces new signing Autonauts
- Creating terrifying, memorable 2D monsters
- Video: A game programmer’s guide to the dark secrets of RNG
- Watch two of Elsinore’s devs discuss the tragic Shakespeare simulator
- Don’t Miss: Balancing the old with the new in Monster Prom’s fandom-friendly DLC
- Unity valuation hits $6 billion following latest investment deal
- Latest Unity investment values company at $6 billion: Tender offer of $525 million more than doubles valuation for game dev engine outfit
- Video: Niantic founder examines the state & future of AR games
- Schell Games receives $900,000 for HistoryMaker VR from government grant
- US Department of Education awards $900k to Schell Games for VR education: Grant from Small Business Innovation Research program will assist with development of HistoryMakerVR
- HP Reverb Still ‘Sold Out’ as Reports of Display Issues Continue
- Zuckerberg to Shareholders: ‘Quest is selling as fast as we can make them’
- Cloudhead Games’ VR sleight of hand: Designer Antony Stevens and senior programmer Cameron Oltman talk Aperture Hand Labs, and where hand tech is headed now
- Devcom set to thrive in close alliance with Gamescom: Nico Balletta on what being backed by the organiser of Gamescom means for the future of Devcom
- Creating a vegetation system that reacts to the environment
- Learn, reset, repeat: The intricacy of time loop games
- Improving the depiction of mental illness in Vampire: The Masquerade
- Don’t Miss: How devs deal with making enemies that feel ‘okay’ to kill
- Don’t Miss: The Blue Shell and its discontents (Ian Bogost)
- Making the bizarre, hilarious world of Trover Saves the Universe
- Q&A: Behind the new open-ended design of Wolfenstein: Youngblood
- Video: How 20XX survived and thrived in Early Access
- Making the most interesting licensed games through self-sabotage: John Wick Hex director and writer Mike Bithell shares his strategy for finding good partners to make interesting licensed projects
- EarthNight’s quest for epic yet accessible: Cleaversoft’s Rich Siegel on why he made it less punishing for novices late in the process
- Blog: Considerations when writing music for games
- Couples that play Mario Kart together stay together: A survey finds playing Mario Kart keeps the romance alive. And Call of Duty and Skyrim aren’t bad for love either.
- U.S. Patent No. 9,061,205: Music video game with user directed sound generation
DIGITAL
- Sites could be liable for helping Facebook secretly track your web browsing, says EU court
- Court of Justice of the European Union Press Release No 99/19 Luxembourg, 29 July 2019 Judgment in Case C-40/17 Fashion ID GmbH & Co. KG v Verbraucherzentrale NRW eV
- Russian Interference and Data Privacy: Facebook Stockholders Demand Section 220 Inspection to Investigate Wrongdoing of Board and Senior Management
- The FTC is investigating Facebook. Again
- FTC Announces Record-Breaking Facebook Settlement
- FTC unfriends Facebook
- FTC Sues Cambridge Analytica for Deceptive Practices
- Facebook Enters into Data Privacy Violation Settlement Agreement
- FTC Hits Facebook With an Unprecedented Fine for Privacy Violations and a Rigorous Order on Privacy Governance
- Business Takeaways from the FTC $5 Billion Settlement with Facebook
- What’s Next After Facebook’s Record $5 Billion Fine and Cambridge Analytica?
- Cambridge Analytica made “ethical mistakes” because it was too focused on regulation, former COO says: “…we forgot to pause and think about, ethically, what was going on.”
- The Great Hack Wasn’t A Hack And Big Tech’s Problems Aren’t Really About Big Tech
- FTC Hands Down 5 Billion Dollar Penalty To Facebook
- Facebook Just Paid a $5 Billion Fine for Privacy Breaches. Now it Wants Access to Your Brain.
- Please break up Facebook, cofounder asks regulators: They say that breaking up is hard to do, but Hughes really wants to try.
- Facebook to Settle with SEC for $100 Million
- Privacy group asks court to reconsider FTC’s $5 billion Facebook deal: The settlement does nothing to address the underlying issues, EPIC says.
- What Facebook’s next 20 years will look like: is this the future of US privacy?
- Facebook is Making Progress on Its Mind Reading Headset: Facebook really wants to get inside your head.
- Facebook is funding brain experiments to create a device that reads your mind: Big tech firms are trying to read people’s thoughts, and no one’s ready for the consequences.
- NY Times Calls Out Politicians For Lying About Section 230
- Congressman Who Was Sued For Blocking Constituents On Social Media Now Also Wants To Undermine Section 230
- Second Circuit Issues Powerful Section 230 Win to Facebook in “Material Support for Terrorists” Case–Force v. Facebook (Eric Goldman)
- Facebook Defeats Pro Se Consumer Privacy Suit–Hassan v. Facebook (Eric Goldman)
- Facebook reached out to Netflix, Disney on new TV device, report says: The device will reportedly use the same tech as Facebook Portal.
- Facebook Wants Disney, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and HBO’s Streaming Services On Its Upcoming Connected TV Device (Report)
- GitHub access restricted in Iran, Syria, and Crimea due to sanctions
- Disney to Integrate Hulu Scripted Originals Team Under Dana Walden
- Facebook announces Libra cryptocurrency – Congress responds
- Regulators Dislike Facebook’s Entry into Cryptocurrency Market, Calling “Libra” an AML Threat
- Facebook’s Libra Prompts Federal Draft Legislation
- Facebook And Instagram Ban User Posts Selling Alcohol And Tobacco
- Teenage Instagram Users Are Exposing Their Personal Information To Access The Platform’s Business Analytics (Report)
- Instagram Permanently Suspends Roughly 30 Meme Accounts With Millions Of Followers
- Why Conservatives Allege Big Tech Is Muzzling Them: Google and Facebook aren’t infringing on the right’s freedom of expression, but insisting otherwise is politically convenient.
- The future of the decentralized web
- International Law and Cyber Activity: Why are a set of governing norms needed?
- Full Social Media Disclosure Now Required for U.S. Visas
- CJEU rules that unauthorized (non-trasformative) sampling can infringe a phonogram producer’s rights and German free use is against EU law (Eleonora Rosati)
- Chinese vlogger who used filter to look younger caught in live-stream glitch
- Presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard sues Google for ad censorship
- Presidential Candidate Tulsi Gabbard Sues Google, Using All The Same Debunked Legal Theories Others Have Tried
- People forged judges’ signatures to trick Google into changing results
- Why Is Trump Seeing Red Over France’s ‘Google Tax’?: French unilateral efforts to fix loopholes in global tax rules are adding fuel to the trans-Atlantic trade spat.
- Chrome continues to wind down Flash support with latest browser update
- Missouri Senator Proposes Bill Banning YouTube’s Autoplay, Facebook And Twitter’s Infinite Scroll
- Proposed US law would ban infinite scroll, autoplaying video: The features drive addiction by exploiting our brains, Sen. Josh Hawley says.
- Josh Hawley Wants To Appoint Himself Product Manager For The Internet
- Can YouTubers really unionize?: Yes, and no. They at least have the support of a really big one.
- Popular Stream-Ripping Site Declines To Play Whac-A-Mole With YouTube
- YouTube videos with kids get three times as many views as videos without kids: A new study has found
- YouTube Videos Featuring Young Children Get Triple The Views Of Videos That Don’t (Study)
- A Week in the Life of Popular YouTube Channels: Analysis of videos posted finds that children’s content – as well as content featuring children – received more views than other videos
- YouTube video takedowns of harmful content haven’t hurt revenue: Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat says the company’s doing just fine.
- YouTube’s New Feature Requires Creators To Self-Rate How Ad-Appropriate Their Videos Are
- YouTube Stays Uncharacteristically Silent On New 24-Hour Music Video Viewership Record
- YouTube Creator Group Teams With Europe’s Largest Trade Union To Launch ‘FairTube’ Initiative
- All Def Digital Has Reportedly Filed For An ‘ABC’ — An Alternative Procedure To Bankruptcy
- Bustle Digital Shelves Gawker Relaunch, Lays Off Site’s Staff
- Apparently, More Than 64,000 People Paid $50 To Watch Jake Paul And Tana Mongeau Get Married
- Consumers Can’t Understand the Online Contracts They “Agree” To. Now What?
- After SEC Approval, YouNow Integrates ‘Props’ Crypto Tokens Into Livestreaming Ecosystem
- Iran’s Government Gives the Official Nod to Crypto Mining
- Cryptocurrencies: practical considerations in insolvencies
- NBCUniversal Streaming Service To Launch In April 2020, Will Feature ‘The Office’ And Original Content From Sky Studios
- NBC Pacts With Twitter For Exclusive 2020 Tokyo Olympics Live Programming
- Lilly Singh’s NBC Talk Show To Bow Sept. 16, Names Comedy Vet John Irwin Showrunner
- Vice Media In Talks To Acquire Refinery29
- NBA Renews China Digital Deal With Tencent
- Music crowdfunding website PledgeMusic goes offline amidst bankruptcy proceedings: The company shut down operations earlier this year after not delivering funds to
- Why A ‘Clever Hack’ Against Nazis Shows How Upload Filters Have Made Copyright Law Even More Broken
- Everything Cops Say About Amazon’s Ring Is Scripted or Approved by Ring
- Amazon writes scripts for cops to sling Ring home cameras, report says
- Amazon’s Free Doorbell Cameras Only Cost Law Enforcement Agencies Their Dignity And Autonomy
- New Campaign Demands End to Amazon’s Partnerships with Police: People can sign a petition urging their local government to forbid police partnerships with surveillance companies like Amazon’s Ring.
- Could Oberdorf Open the Door to Infringement Liability for Amazon
- Wisconsin Court Holds Amazon Can Be Strictly Liable for Marketplace Items–State Farm v. Amazon (Eric Goldman)
- The L.A. Times’ disappointing digital numbers show the game’s not just about drawing in subscribers – it’s about keeping them
- HBO, The Walking Dead, And Star Trek Grab Comic-Con Spotlight On Social Video
- Virtually every Apple business grew in every region this quarter—except the iPhone
- Apple acquires Intel’s 5G smartphone modem business for $1 billion
- Apple acquires the bulk of Intel’s smartphone modem business for $1 billion
- Insights: Netflix Tumbles But Who Can Take Advantage?
- Netflix is not a tech company
- Netflix Is Asking Android Users For Permission To Track Their Physical Movements
- WarnerMedia greenlights a retelling of The Odyssey for HBO Max: Based on Madeline Miller’s take on the original epic poem
- Snapchat launches ‘instant’ tool for creating vertical ads
- The ugly side of Snapchat and Instagram filters
- PinkNews has tripled revenue over the last year, driven by Snapchat
- Duolingo partnered with Twitch to help you learn languages better: Now you have no excuse to avoid the owl
- Casey Neistat’s 368 Hits Stride With Brand Collabs, Including Ongoing Pact With Adobe
- Nerdy Craigslist founder wants to change the world — starting with your news: Craig Newmark is a self-proclaimed nerd and reformed jerk. Now he’s putting money behind his politics.
- Bytedance Confirms It’s Developing A Smartphone, But Says That’s Not Because Of TikTok
- Sony Music Revenue Up 11%, Streaming Soars 27% in First Quarter
- Spotify’s Q2 2019: 108m subscribers, €1.67bn revenues, and a €76m net loss
- Thinking about our digital afterlives
- The Death Of Ownership: Educational Publishing Giant Pearson To Do Away With Print Textbooks (That Can Be Resold)
- Trump threatens retaliation against France over digital service tax
- The Superiority of the Digital Service Tax over Significant Digital Presence Proposals (Wei Cui)
- Redbox Automated Retail, LLC v. Disney Enterprises, Inc.
- Cyber laundering: What are some key challenges in detection and regulation?
- Now Even Funerals Are Livestreamed—And Families Are Grateful
- Chinese vertical dramas made for phone viewing show the future of mobile video
A.I.
- No authors at all, or too many to count? – AI and IP
- DeepMind AI predicts acute loss of kidney function two days in advance, study shows
- AI’s current hype and hysteria could set the technology back by decades
- 6 ways AI is making an impact on video games: AI has changed the way video games work, and it’s slated to change that even more. NPCs beware.
- Video: A dev’s guide to testing game AI
- One chip to rule them all: It natively runs all types of AI software
- It’s Sentient: Meet the classified artificial brain being developed by US intelligence programs
COMMUNICATIONS
- Telecom Regulatory Policy CRTC 2019-269: The Internet Code
- CRTC’s new Internet Code of Conduct falls short of expectations
- Soon you’ll be able to watch PBS on YouTube
- DOJ Approves T-Mobile/Sprint Merger Based on Third-Party Divestiture Agreement Involving Dish Network
- DOJ Prepares To Sign Off On An Elaborate T-Mobile Merger Plan That Isn’t Likely To Work
- It’s official: US government approves T-Mobile/Sprint merger
- The DOJ’s Plan To ‘Fix’ The T-Mobile Merger Isn’t Going To Work
- AT&T loses nearly 1 million TV customers after raising DirecTV prices
- AT&T Loses 1 Million Video Users After Spending Billions On Mergers To Dominate Video
- AT&T kills DirecTV Now brand name as TV subscribers leave in droves
- TV networks sue nonprofit to kill free TV service: Locast, an AT&T-funded nonprofit, retransmits local TV over the Internet.
- Court Will Decide If AT&T Is Liable For Cryptocurrency Theft Caused By Shoddy Security
- Inside CEO John Stankey’s ‘Action-Oriented’ Approach to Reposition WarnerMedia
- To protect its satellites, France outlines ambitious space-weapons program
- Looking at Equal Opportunities – When Does the Appearance of a Political Candidate on a Broadcast Program Trigger Equal Time Obligations?
- Advertising is a cancer on society
- Proposed Broadcast Industry Equal Employment Opportunity Reforms Receive Significant Media Attention
- Cord Cutting Is Setting Records In 2019
PRIVACY
- FaceApp, the Methuselahn faced Cloud of privacy concerns
- Terms of Use: Disarming Ourselves, Arming Russia and China
- Hackers Seize Control Of Bulgarian Tax Agency, Sprinkler System
- Siri records fights, doctor’s appointments, and sex (and contractors hear it)
- Apple contractors ‘regularly hear confidential details’ on Siri recordings: Workers hear drug deals, medical details and people having sex, says whistleblower
- Privacy Tip #200 – Iranian Backed Hacking Group Using LinkedIn To Deliver Malicious Documents
- Hacker ID’d as former Amazon employee steals data of 106 million people from Capital One
- Capital One Gets In On The Data Breach Action, Coughs Up Info On 100 Million Customers To A Single Hacker
- San Mateo Dumps Red Light Camera Program After A Decade Of Continuous Failure
- ICO Issues First Intentions to Fine Under the GDPR
- UK – New ICO guidance on the use of cookies and similar technologies
- An Increasing Regulatory Focus on Cookies: Time to Review Your Compliance?
- Capital One Data Breach Compromises Data of Over 100 Million
- Post GDPR world – cross-border data privacy best line of defence
- Cookie consent: update one year post-GDPR
- William Barr Turns Up The Heat On The DOJ’s Anti-Encryption Rhetoric
- Unsealed Warrant Shows SFPD Officer Misled Court About Journalist’s Occupation
- You can go claim at least $125 from the Equifax settlement right now
- You’re probably not going to get your $125 from the Equifax settlement: Equifax has somehow found a way to make the settlement even more disappointing.
- City Of Orlando Kicks Amazon’s Facial Recognition Tech To The Curb
- NYPD Screws Up Again; Hands Out Even More ‘Secret’ Facial Recognition Docs To Researchers
- Louisiana declares state of emergency in response to ransomware attack
- The Newest Growth Market For License Plate Readers Is Those A——s Running The Local Homeowners Association
- Once More With Feeling: ‘Anonymized’ Data Is Not Really Anonymous
- Privacy Perils: Bluetooth Blues
- Who have you been giving your name and number to? A cautionary tale
- WannaCry slayer, malware author Marcus Hutchins sentenced to time served
- 200 million devices—some mission-critical—vulnerable to remote takeover
- Cybersecurity officials warn state and local agencies (again) to fend off ransomware
- FTC Seeks Comments on COPPA
- FTC Announces COPPA Rule Review
- FTC Seeks Comments on Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Rule
- Preparing for the inevitable hack: Experts in cybersecurity say businesses that handle personal information need to know that protecting themselves from liability is not a matter of if a data breach occurs but when.
- Op-Ed: How data privacy laws could make the criminal justice system even more unfair
- The CPSC Releases Framework of Safety for the Internet of Things
- Interaction Between Privacy and Competition Law in a Digital Economy
- Intellectual Property and Technology News (North America), Q2 2019: The government in your cloud
- Data Protection update – July 2019
CREATIVITY
- Watch Hong Kong demonstrators pack airport, sing protest song from ‘Les Misérables’: The tune has become a universal anthem of protesters, “Do you hear the people sing? Singing a song of angry men?”
- Attacks on the media in Hong Kong threaten democracy
- Covington teen’s $250M suit against the Washington Post dismissed
- As Expected: Covington HS Teen’s Lawsuit Against The Washington Post Is Dismissed
- Covington student’s defamation case against Washington Post is dismissed
- Judge dismisses suit against Washington Post filed by teen who faced-off with Native American activist in DC
- Defamation Lawsuit Against The Washington Post Has Been Dismissed: Teen claimed he was misrepresented, but a judge ruled that was not supported “by the plain language in the article.”
- $250 Million Lawsuit Against The Washington Post Dismissed: Federal judge dismissed suit of student Nick Sandmann after the Post wrote about his confrontation with a Native American activist earlier this year.
- Court Dismisses Democrats’ Nutty Lawsuit Against Russia, Wikileaks And Trump Associates
- CJEU rules that freedom of information and of the press cannot justify a derogation from the rights of copyright holders beyond allowed exceptions and limitations (Eleonora Rosati)
- CJEU rules that use of a protected work for the purpose of reporting current events does not, in principle, require authorization (Eleonora Rosati)
- Aussie court finds media outlets liable: Winkler
- Iron Man’s Iron Defense
- Katy Perry loses ‘Dark Horse’ Trial:…Jury Says It’s A Rip-Off
- Katy Perry Flame’d: Dark Horse infringes Joyful Noise Copyright
- Andy Warhol Foundation Wins Copyright Lawsuit Over Prince Portrait & More Art World Headlines
- Horizon Comics Productions, Inc. v. Marvel Entertainment, LLC.
- Copyright Troll Richard Liebowitz May Have Cost His Client A Ton Of Money, And Set An Expensive Precedent For Copyright Trolls
- Rock Stars Form Lobbying Group to Counter Tech Giants’ Power
- Liverpool FC Also Apparently Attempted To Trademark Widely Used Chant By Football Fans
- Fans, Indie Soccer Clubs Slam Liverpool FC For Trying To Trademark ‘Liverpool’
- The World’s Most Ridiculous Trademark Dispute Is Now Over: Yosemite Gets Its Names Back
- Canadian Competition Bureau updates Intellectual Property Enforcement Guidelines
- Kawhi Leonard v. Nike, Inc.: Copy, derivative work or distinct work?
- Copyright Infringement Claims Against Just Fresh Restaurant Prove Stale
- Intellectual Property Protection for Recipes
- K-Pop’s Big China Problem: Chinese stars are spinning off in their own orbit as politics gets in the way of profit.
- UFC Broadcast Partner Goes Pay-Per-View And Pushes Fans To Piracy
- Sweden vs. ASAP Rocky: The rapper has unwittingly stumbled into a bitter debate over race, crime, immigration, and the future of the country’s famed welfare state.
- IP rights in art in USA – New York (New York)
- Intellectual Property and Technology News (North America), Q2 2019: Supreme Court Corner Cases we are following
- Woman dies in Alaska trying to reach famed bus from book
Jon
News of the Week; July 24, 2019
GAMES
- Court Tosses Lawsuit Claiming Muting A Runescape Character Violates The First Amendment
- Nintendo facing class action suit over drifting Switch controllers
- Nintendo faces class action lawsuit over Joy-Con drifting defect: US law firm calls on Switch owners to join suit as plaintiff Ryan Davis seeks monetary relief
- Nintendo is reportedly offering free repairs for Joy-Con controllers: An internal memo advises support staff that no proof of purchase or confirmation of warranty is required
- Report: Nintendo offering free Joy-Con repairs after drifting controversy
- Report: Nintendo quietly owns up to “Joy-Con drift,” will repair for free
- Miyamoto remembers the late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata in new book
- Is Playing a Video Game on YouTube a Public Performance?
- FIFA’s loot boxes don’t count as gambling, says UK Gambling Commission
- FIFA packs and loot boxes ‘not gambling’ in UK
- Grand Theft Auto Online’s new casino is limited by gambling laws in some countries
- Grand Theft Auto V update adds a casino that can be played with real money: Real money can be spent on chips, though it cannot be cashed back out into actual money
- UKIE’s Jo Twist is right: the words we use matter | Opinion – If we casually use terms like “addictive” it robs us of the ability to have a proper discussion when games do cross a line
- Supercell discontinues games in Vietnam due to ‘regulatory issues’
- Supercell pulls games out of Vietnam, citing “regulatory issues”: 142 other mobile games removed by government agency in legal crackdown
- A look at The Sims 1 design docs, and a dev’s argument for including same-sex romance
- Girls’ Game Lab launches to host game development workshops for young girls
- “If she can do it, I can too”: The message behind Girls’ Game Lab – New not-for-profit team setting up coding workshops for young girls, first one to be held at Playground next month
- “Employee health, employee happiness, and then the game — in that order”: Michael Paixao on winning a legal battle against former employer ZeniMax Media to create a better work culture with Bad Yolk
- Ex-MachineGames devs target healthy work-life balance with new studio: Bad Yolk already has a team of ten AAA veterans, with experience on Gears of War, The Darkness and The Division
- GOG reverses decision to reject Heaven’s Vault: Inkle’s adventure game will be added to the storefront despite GOG’s initial refusal
- Harry Potter: Wizards Unite’s first month revenue lags far behind Pokémon Go – Sensor Tower data shows Niantic’s new game firmly in Pokémon Go’s shadow
- After 28 years, cofounder Frank Pearce is leaving Blizzard
- Blizzard’s bad-news year continues with another co-founder’s departure
- Blizzard co-founder Frank Pearce ends 28-year career at company: “The time has come for me to step away from Blizzard and pass the torch to the next generation of leaders,” says Pearce
- Gearbox commits to cross-play for Borderlands 3: The feature will not be available immediately, but Randy Pitchford promises support “as soon as practicable after launch”
- Don’t Miss: Crafting the oppressive soundscape ofWolfenstein II: The New Colossus
- Don’t Miss: The challenges and rewards of designing local multiplayer games
- Don’t Miss: The art of the tutorial
- Deep Dive: Burdening players with the power of the system in Legal Dungeon
- Disney and Glu aim to target nostalgia without exploiting it: Both companies address the scrutiny around free-to-play ahead of the launch of Disney Sorcerer’s Arena
- Tencent and The Pokemon Company are making games together
- The Pokémon Company teams up with Tencent to create more Pokémon games: Tencent’s TiMi Studio Group will lead development on multiple unknown new titles
- Tencent makes ‘substantial investment’ in retro streaming service Antstream
- DouYu goes public with $775m Nasdaq IPO: Tencent-backed Chinese streaming platform is valued at more than $3.7 billion
- Nintendo, Tencent set a date to discuss Switch launch in China
- Tencent and Nintendo to host Switch press conference in China on August 2: Shanghai event is the first official update since Tencent was cleared to distribute the console in China
- NPD: Super Mario Maker 2 warps to the top of June US sales – Nintendo Switch continues its reign as best-selling hardware platform for 2019
- Bandai Namco combines physical toys and mobile games with Tori: New platform will be an “ecosystem” of toys and software, designed with input from “experts in children’s learning and development”
- Sega ends publishing partnership with narrative studio Interior Night
- Sega drops publishing deal with Interior Night: But studio says parting was amicable and a new partnership will be announced soon
- Microsoft sees dip in quarterly Xbox revenue as hardware sales slow
- Microsoft hardware revenue dips 48% YOY for fourth quarter: Xbox Live reaches 65 million MAUs as subscriptions offset hardware and software declines
- Microsoft is ‘well positioned’ to succeed in larger game market, claims CEO
- Satya Nadella: Microsoft is “well positioned” to expand beyond traditional gaming: CEO says investments in cloud technology will benefit Xbox as well as company’s other divisions
- The Mirage of Cloud Gaming (And How to Reach the Oasis)
- Google tries to reassure gamers it’s behind Stadia for the long haul
- Stadia director of product: “Eventually all games will be in the cloud and we’ll feel great” – Andrey Doronichev responds to concerns about service discontinuation, ISPs, features in Reddit AMA
- Tools to manage Stadia’s data usage are in the works, says Google
- Ubisoft says porting games to Stadia hasn’t been a costly affair
- Ubisoft pledges support to open source 3D creation tool Blender
- Doppio raises $1.1 million from Google and Amazon for voice-controlled games
- Google, Amazon invests in voice-controlled games studio Doppio: Portuguese developer secures €1m in seed funding
- PC overtakes PlayStation 4 as Ubisoft’s most lucrative platform this quarter
- Zynga is growing its presence in India with a studio expansion
- Grand Theft Auto V returns to top spot in EMEAA charts: Super Mario Maker 2 is best-selling physical game for the week
- SuperData: Crash Team Racing sold over 550k units digitally in June – Overwatch surpasses $1b in in-game spending, Rainbow Six Siege revenue up to $36.8m last month
- UK Charts: Crash Team Racing returns to No.1 as Amazon Prime Day boosts market – Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 debuts at No.2
- Tekken 7 has crossed 4 million sales worldwide
- id Software studio director Tim Willits is stepping down after 24 years
- Kongregate acquires mobile and browser game Bit Heroes
- Kongregate acquires Bit Heroes from Juppiomenz: Publisher plans to turn mobile, web-based RPG into larger franchise
- Bigben acquires Spiders: French studio is the latest in a series of acquisitions bolstering Bigben Interactive’s internal development prospects
- NetEase opens R&D studio in Montreal
- NetEase launches Montreal studio: Creation of new R&D-focused development location follows last week’s R&D-minded investment in Montreal’s Behaviour Interactive
- Rooster Teeth To Drop First Original IP Game In August, Unveils ‘Shark Week’ Collab
- Techland: “It’s still not a corporate studio. We still get crazy sometimes” – The Dying Light 2 developer on the rise of the Polish industry, and growing from 200 staff to 300 in just a few years
- Indies on Steam are betting on discoverability: After a year of missteps by Valve, indie devs are cautious about Steam Labs and their future visibility on Steam
- From platform holder to indie investor: Former PlayStation boss Jack Tretton talks about backing indies like Blue Isle’s Citadel: Forged With Fire
- 5 tips for surviving and thriving in game design
- Inside Steam Diving Bell, a tool for ‘Wikipedia binging’ Steam games
- Game Seer Venture Partners launches with €10m fund: Company will invest up to €1.5 million in PC and console games, doesn’t require long-term plans
- Don’t Miss: Making Insomniac’s Spider-Man do what a spider can
- Don’t Miss: Deconstructing the success of The Witcher 3’s open world
- Drawkanoid: Launching an indie game in a market where “everything changes”: Nordic Game Discovery Contest winner discusses game launches and monetisation in an ever-changing ecosystem
- Australian studio Defiant Development is ceasing development of new titles
- Defiant Development to close after nine years: Pioneering Australian studio was “not able to change quickly enough” to adapt to the changing industry
- “If you’re trying to make the game of the film, you’re onto a loser”: Outright Games’ Nick Button-Brown explains how the publisher is trying to break the stigma around licensed kids games
- Blog: Turning my grandmother’s childhood memories into a game
- Blog: A NASA historian considers Kerbal Space Program
- Blog: Designing sounds and music for a casual mobile game
- Blog: The one metric you SHOULD care about when launching your game
- Video: Letting Go – The Florence postmortem
- Video: An actor’s advice on getting great mocap performances in games
- Video: Tips for programmers in the game industry
- Video: What makes for successful, memorable game trailers
- Watch a design breakdown of digital card game adventureNowhere Prophet
- Kind Words: A game of lo-fi beats, letters to strangers, and feeling less alone – Popcannibal’s Ziba Scott on designing and moderating a game exclusively about being kind to other people
- Brendan Greene: “It’s crazy, the hate I receive. I just have to ignore it”: At Gamelab 2019, Vlambeer’s Rami Ismail talked to PUBG’s creator about the darker side of making a global phenomenon
- ‘Fortnite’ Partners With YouTube To Give Players Exclusive Loot When They Watch Live Streams
- The free-to-Play cookbook: Secrets to player engagement – deltaDNA reveals the top tips on monetizing your mobile game
- NSE and Intel partner for second season of the British University Esports Championship: Long-term strategic partnership committed to investing in grassroots esports
- Gaming and esports revenues on the rise for MTG: InnoGames’ Forge of Empires was at the heart of the Swedish firm’s growth in the second quarter
- Echo Fox proposes sale of slot in League of Legends Championship Series: Riot must still review the sale, rumoured to a $30.25 million sale to Kroenke Sports & Entertainment
- Tencent to stream NBA 2K League in China: Selected playoff matches and every game of the finals to be made available through Tencent Sports, Tencent Video, and Tencent News
- Geoff “iNcontroL” Robinson dies at 33: Esports broadcaster, streamer, former StarCraft II pro suffered a sudden illness
- Fight for money and fame in Fortnite and Apex Legends this weekend
- Football Manager 19 surpasses 2m copies sold across all platforms: It’s the first annual Football Manager game to reach this milestone
- How Satisfactory’s network optimizations keep multiplayer factories humming along
- Oculus Go emulation coming to the Quest later this year
- Oculus Quest teardown shows how the standalone VR headset was built
- Digital Catapult launches AR and VR accelerator programme for UK startups: Early-stage companies to receive mentorship and access to investors
- I Spent a Full Day Working in the Magic Leap One & Discovered the AR Office of the Future
- Blockchain Gaming: Buzzwords, bulls and bears
- Netflix’s ‘The Witcher’ Looks Absolutely Fantastic – ‘Game Of Thrones’ Fans Take Note
DIGITAL
- FTC fines Facebook $5 billion, imposes new privacy oversight
- Facebook Agrees to New FTC Privacy Oversight, Will Pay $5 Billion Fine Under 20-Year Settlement
- FTC’s Privacy Settlement With Facebook Gets Pretty Much Everything Backwards; Probably Helps Facebook
- Facebook Knows More About You Than The CIA
- Facebook: Hypothetical Risk Factors are Insufficient Disclosure When the Risk has Occurred
- Still available via Google Analytics: Data slurped from 4 million browsers
- Google Finally Settles Lawsuit Over Decade-Old WiFi Snooping Accusations
- Justice Department launches antitrust probe into big tech
- Antitrust as a Tool to Regulate the FANG Companies: Differing Approaches in the United States and in Europe
- It’s Time to Reboot the Startup Economy: The new laws and antitrust actions that would resurrect American innovation (Tim Wu)
- As Russian “FaceApp” gobbles up user photos, Schumer asks FBI to investigate
- Advanced mobile surveillanceware, made in Russia, found in the wild
- Section 230 Works: Russian Trolls Don’t Get To Sue Facebook For Being Kicked Off Facebook
- Russia F’d With American Democracy, But It Can’t F— With Section 230 – Federal Agency of News v. Facebook (Eric Goldman)
- “We’re not ready” for foreign election interference in 2020, says Rep. Adam Schiff: Democrat has warned Facebook, Twitter, and Google to be on notice for deepfakes and other dirty tricks.
- Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg Says $5 Billion FTC Settlement Terms “Go Beyond Anything Required Under U.S. Law”
- Breaking: US to ban Facebook Cryptocurrency
- Crypto and Blockchain Markets Signal Growth Amid Regulator Skepticism, Hacks and Sanctions Warnings
- Judge allows suit against AT&T after $24 million cryptocurrency theft
- Google’s Project Dragonfly ‘terminated’ in China: Google’s controversial plan to launch a censored search engine in China has been “terminated”, a company executive has said.
- Google pays $11 million to settle 227 age discrimination claims
- For All Of Trump’s Complaints About Social Media ‘Censorship’, The White House Itself Moderates Content Similarly To Social Media Sites
- Trump’s Tweets: A Warning That Public Officials’ Personal Social Media Posts Might Actually Be The Government’s
- Police Union Responds To Outing Of Officers’ Bigoted Social Media Posts By Offering To Erase Officers’ Online Presences
- The Man Who Built The Retweet: “We Handed A Loaded Weapon To 4-Year-Olds” – The button that ruined the internet – and how to fix it.
- Leave.EU may keep name after no-deal Brexit if ownership handed to EU citizen: UK-based owners of .eu domains could use transfer loophole to keep name
- Brexit funder Arron Banks threatens Netflix over Great Hack documentary: Legal threat comes as campaigners warn UK government that courts are being used to intimidate journalists
- Netflix Hit With Class Action Shareholder Lawsuit Following Dismal Q2 Earnings
- Copyright Infringement Confirmed, but No Damages for “Cordoba” Photographer
- Court Holds that Arbitration Clause in “Hybridwrap” Terms Is Unenforceable
- Lessons from Bumble’s Choice of Law Clause–King v. Bumble
- Instagram Hides Likes And Video Views In More Countries To Cut Down On “Pressure” Users Face, While TikTok Tests Adding Another Public Metric
- Why hiding likes won’t make Instagram a happier place to be: Mark Zuckerberg’s app is making likes invisible in a new trial. The aim is to “reduce pressure” on users, but it’s not clear how (or if) this will work
- Judge Tosses Crazy Copyright Lawsuit Over Gigi Hadid Photo
- Dear AHL: Get Your App S— Together Because You’re Freaking Us Out
- Another Blocked Facebook User Loses in Court–Dipp-Paz v. Facebook
- The Fall Of Mic Was A Warning: “I don’t need a pair of Nikes. I need a 401(k)” — and other lessons from the death of a venture-backed, Facebook-dependent, millennial-focused news site.
- Web Search Data Indicates Soaring Interest for Facebook Libra in China
- Facebook is backpedaling from its ambitious vision for Libra
- Facebook Watch Scares Up 5-Series Content Slate From Horror Hub Crypt TV
- Facebook is both killing and funding local journalism
- Snap Stock Skyrockets as Company Adds 13 Million Daily Active Users in Q2
- Netflix Takes Aim at Facebook With ‘The Great Hack’: A new documentary out July 24, explores Facebook’s role in helping get Trump elected and pushing Brexit – among other things.
- Netflix Sees First Subscriber Losses Ever
- Netflix lost US subscribers in Q2 over price hikes; how can it win them back?
- Netflix’s Original Content Strategy Is Failing
- Netflix Hit With Class Action Shareholder Lawsuit Following Dismal Q2 Earnings
- Adware Is The Malware You Should Actually Worry About
- Which Sports Brands Have Been Viewed The Most In 2019 So Far?
- Social Media Platforms Under Attack in the Senate
- Influencer and Content Marketing: IP, Privacy and Compliance Issues
- KLM and Its Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day on Social Media
- 51% Of Gen Z, Millennials Daydream About Life Without Social Media, Fullscreen Study Finds
- FTC Seeks Public Comments to Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule
- HQ Trivia Turns Down New Funding Amid Layoffs, Internal Petition To Oust CEO
- Andy Signore Acknowledges “Appalling” Behavior, But Fiercely Refutes Allegations Of Sexual Assault
- Stream-Ripping Sites And YouTube Now Engaged In Whac-A-Mole
- YouTube, FTC reach settlement over child privacy
- FTC’s YouTube Privacy Settlement Pisses Everyone Off; Perhaps We’re Doing Privacy Wrong
- YouTube shifts the burden: requires manual copyright claimants to timestamp the allegedly infringing material; simplifies the rectification process
- YouTube’s Autocomplete Feature Has a Huge Spoiler Problem: If you type “Iron Man” into YouTube, the top suggestion is a major “Avengers: Endgame” spoiler. And that’s just the tip of the spoilerberg.
- Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody video hits 1 billion views on YouTube: It’s the first pre-1990s video to reach that milestone.
- Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” Becomes Oldest Music Video In YouTube History To Hit 1 Billion Views
- Creators Going Pro: Married YouTubers ‘Rose & Rosie’ Have Made A Career Of Candid, Clever Content About Their Life Together
- YouTube Will Exclusively Livestream Fuji Rock, Japan’s Largest Outdoor Music Festival
- MLB to livestream 13 games exclusively on YouTube in Canada
- Odell Beckham Jr. Launching Production Company, YouTube Channel With Wheelhouse
- Odell Beckham Jr. Forms Content Company To Launch His Own YouTube Channel
- Logan Paul Reveals Income Woes, Hypes His Upcoming YouTuber vs. YouTuber Event ‘The Challenger Games’
- Zefr Sells YouTube Management Businesses RightsID And ChannelID To Vobile Group For $90 Million
- Zefr Sells Its Copyright-Flagging and YouTube Channel-Management Businesses to Vobile for $90 Million
- YouTube Music Now Lets Users Switch Seamlessly Between A Song And Its Music Video
- Apple Music Launches ‘Rap Life’ Playlist: The rebrand replaces “A-List: Hip-Hop.”
- Apple closes in on $1 billion deal to buy Intel’s modem business: report
- Dropbox irks Mac users with annoying Dock icon, offers clueless support
- Very Confused Judge Allows Bizarre Copyright Lawsuit Against Cloudflare To Continue
- The CASE Act: The Road To Copyright Trolling Is Paved With Good Intentions
- The Amazon dilemma: how a tech powerhouse that fulfills our every consumer need still lets us down – Despite criticism, Amazon refuses to acknowledge unintended consequences of its rise
- Amazon warns customers: Those supplements might be fake
- Hulu’s Longtime CFO Elaine Paul Joins Amazon Studios In Same Role
- Hulu Launches Collection Of Space-Themed Content From NASA, Including 24-Hour NASA TV Feed
- Microsoft closes fiscal 2019 with revenue spikes driven by cloud services
- Microsoft has a wild hologram that translates HoloLens keynotes into Japanese: Azure and HoloLens combine for a hint at the future
- Can Disney’s Circle really deliver a porn-free Internet?
- BuzzFeed To Host ‘Internet Live’ Variety Show With Lil Nas X, JoJo Siwa, Jason Nash
- Fanjoy To Host Creator Pop-Up Series At Los Angeles Mall This Summer, Starting With Sam And Colby
- Creators For Social Good: Jackie Aina Is Pushing The Beauty World To Be Better For People Of Color, One Video At A Time
- Dude Perfect’s 2016 Collab With Serena Williams Sees Viral Resurgence After Polarizing Survey
- Shane Dawson’s Surprise Eugenia Cooney Doc Nabs 21 Million Views In 3 Days
- WarnerMedia’s HBO Max Unveils Content Team
- Vice Media, Mailchimp Partner on Original Docuseries ‘Second Act’
- iHeartMedia Stock Drops in NASDAQ Debut
- Why The Appearance Of A One Terabyte microSD Card Means The War On Unauthorized Music Downloads Is (Almost) Over
- Love letter to my iPod Classic
- Open Source Is Becoming a ‘Best Practice’
- Why Carl Malamud’s Latest Brilliant Project, To Mine The World’s Research Papers, Is Based In India
- Texas Rule on “Gig Workers” Takes Effect
- Second Circuit Upholds Ban on In-Uber Advertising
- How Humans Will Bring the Internet to Space: In the future, orbiters, rovers, deep space probes, and even human space habitats will be nodes on the internet of things.
- John McAfee believed to have been detained, campaign manager says: Data secreted across the world will be released if McAfee stays missing, his Twitter account says.
- After outcry, DoorDash promises workers will get 100% of tips
- Tech Tax – Times Are A Changing?
A.I.
- Ticketmaster Reaches Settlement with Ticket Broker over Unauthorized Use of Automated Bots
- China’s deepfake celebrity porn culture stirs debate about artificial intelligence use
- Jazz Generated By A Neural Network Is Absolutely Terrifying
- Microsoft invests $1 billion in OpenAI
- Microsoft invests $1 billion in OpenAI: Group commits to using Azure as exclusive cloud provider in its pursuit of artificial general intelligence
- Elon Musk Details ‘Neuralink’ Brain Interface Tech, Oculus CTO Calls It “very bold work”
- Pedestrian collision puts Vienna’s driverless bus trial on hold: The city has paused Navya’s trail pending a full investigation
- The Algorithmic Colonization of Africa: Startups are importing and imposing AI systems founded on individualistic and capitalist drives
- AI and IoT Legislative Update: Second Quarter 2019
- The Human Brain Project Hasn’t Lived Up to Its Promise: Ten years ago, a neuroscientist said that within a decade he could simulate a human brain. Spoiler – It didn’t happen.
- An introduction to Artificial Intelligence for in-house lawyers in the Retail and Consumer sector
- Mayer Brown’s Tech Talks: Smart Licensing of AI
- Shall we play a game? Reinforcement learning and the AI training data challenge
COMMUNICATIONS
- DOJ to approve T-Mobile/Sprint merger despite 13 states trying to block it
- Telecom Union Got Hoodwinked Into Supporting AT&T’s Shitty Merger
- Verizon wants you to pay $650 plus $85 a month for a 5G hotspot
- Claims Of 5G Health Risks Are Frequently Based On A Single, 20 Year Old Flawed Graph
- Who is leading the 5G patent race? July 2019 update
- Early 5G Plans Show Cell Carriers Haven’t Learned Much About Misleading ‘Unlimited’ Plans
- TV blackouts hit record high as customers get screwed by industry squabbles
- FCC Aims to Make Broadband Deployment Data More Precise
- FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, Better Broadband Mapping – Two More Reverse Auctions
- Latest Huawei ‘Smoking Gun’ Still Doesn’t Prove Global Blackball Effort’s Primary Justification
PRIVACY
- Steve Bannon The Latest To Abuse Consumer Location Data
- Instead Of Parents Spying On Their Kids Online, Why Not Teach Them How To Be Good Digital Citizens
- Judge Unseals, Tosses Warrant Used By The San Francisco PD To Obtain A Journalist’s Phone Records
- I found your data. It’s for sale.: As many as 4 million people have Web browser extensions that sell their every click. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
- My browser, the spy: How extensions slurped up browsing histories from 4M users
- Dropbox silently installs new file manager app on users’ systems [Updated]
- More on DataSpii: How extensions hide their data grabs—and how they’re discovered
- How private is your browser’s Private mode? Research into porn suggests “not very”
- DNA Information of Thousands of Individuals Exposed Online for Years
- Tech firms “can and must” put backdoors in encryption, AG Barr says
- Oversight Report: World’s Most Powerful Spy Agency Is An Insecure Mess That Can’t Keep Tabs On Its Own Employees
- Inadequate Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Due Diligence Alleged in Starwood Deal as UK ICO Fines Marriott $125M for GDPR Violations
- Chances of destructive BlueKeep exploit rise with new explainer posted online
- U.S. Supreme Court Broadens FOIA Exemption 4 for ‘Confidential’ Materials
- How to make your creative business GDPR compliant
- GDPR Privacy FAQs: What are the different types of cookie banners?
- GDPR Privacy FAQs: Do European privacy laws require a cookie banner when a company uses first-party session cookies?
- FTC reportedly approves $5 billion privacy settlement with social media company
- FTC Requests Public Comments on COPPA Rule
- FTC Asks if COPPA Rule Amendments Warrant Further Changes
- Equifax to pay $575M for data breach, promises to protect data next time
- What You Should Know About the Equifax Data Breach Settlement
- Public Records Request Nets User’s Manual For Palantir’s Souped-Up Surveillance Software
- Privacy Tip #199 – Guard Your Cryptowallet: Cryptoheist in Japan Drains $32 million from Exchange
- London Metropolitan Police’s Facial Recognition System Is Now Only Misidentifying People 81% Of The Time
- FBI, ICE Are Running Facial Recognition Searches Against State Drivers’ Databases
- Oakland, California On Its Way To Becoming The Third US City To Ban Facial Recognition Tech
- Facial recognition banned in another city: Oakland, California, has followed San Francisco as the second Bay Area city to vote down the use of the technology.
- UK Parliamentary Committee Calls For The End Of Facial Recognition Tech By The UK Government
- CCTV cameras don’t deter crime, so why does Ottawa want them?
- Chrome 76 prevents NYT and other news sites from detecting Incognito Mode
- Nigerian scammers slide into DMs, so Ars trolls them: Romance scams persist, somehow, by preying on the gullible; Twitter is fertile ground.
- Phishing for victims: Cybercriminals can use complex technology but rely on old-fashioned human error to succeed
- An Old Hack Comes Back to Haunt (Newly-Public) Slack
- Recent FinCEN Advisory Details Dramatic Increase in Frequency and Severity of Business Email Compromise Fraud Schemes
- One of These Things Is Not Like The Other: Emails Are Not Subject To The TCPA, Even If You Get Them On Your Smartphone.
- 8th Circuit affirms reduction in TCPA statutory damages from $1.6 billion to $32 million
- GandCrab Ransomware Backers Working on New Ransomware REvil
- Researchers Build App That Kills To Highlight Insulin Pump Exploit
- CCPA Creates Possible Dilemmas for Companies Sending Text Messages. Is Your Business Ready?
- Global Data & Privacy Update – June 2019
- 1H 2019 Quick Links, Part 6 (Privacy, E-Commerce, & More) (Eric Goldman)
CREATIVITY
- New York Court Finds Warhol Series to be Fair Use of Prince Photograph
- Sony Music brings recordings and publishing under one roof
- Dean Guitar Counter-Sues Against Gibson Guitars, Attempts To Invalidate Several Trademarks
- Gibson Guitar Formalizes Its Hands-Off IP Enforcement Approach With Authorized Partnership Program
- The U.S. Trademark Office Adopts New Rule Requiring Appointment of U.S. Counsel to Represent a Non-US Domiciliary in Trademark Matters
- Filipina Girl From New Zealand Takes Her Slime Show International After Fending Off Nickelodeon Lawsuit
- Logical? Logos do not necessarily enjoy copyright protection
- Harmful Gender Stereotypes Banned in UK Advertising: An Update
- Nike Strikes Back Against Kawhi Leonard Over Logo Lawsuit
- Unlicensed “health coach” claims health advice is free speech—court disagrees
- Olympics Games organisers issue strict guidelines for Tokyo 2020
- Court Determines That This Duck Doesn’t Look Enough Like Another Duck To Be Infringing
- You can’t copyright a cocktail, so what’s a creative bartender to do?
- The art of Hong Kong protests
- Tales of the ‘Basterds’: The story of Quentin Tarantino’s World War II revenge fantasy ‘Inglourious Basterds’ as seen through the eyes of the ragtag crew he created to take down the Nazis
Jon
News of the Week; July 17, 2019
GAMES
- Former College Basketball Players Sue Fortnite Creators for Use of “Running Man” Dance
- ESA Steps In With Amicus Brief In Support Of Activision Versus Humvee
- Would freedom of speech beat loot box legislation? | Opinion: A look back at the Supreme Court’s 2011 ruling on video game violence suggests the First Amendment defense may not play out the same way a second time
- German researchers propose treatment for gaming addiction: Clinical trial of 143 finds promising remission rate using cognitive behavioral therapy
- Losing yourself in virtual worlds can have good as well as negative effects: Psychologist Pete Etchells chats with Ars about his first book, Lost in a Good Game.
- Yogscast CEO Mark Turpin resigns following sexual harassment allegations: Turpin apologises for “error of judgement” as second sexual harassment case hits Yogscast in as many weeks
- Ion Maiden becomes Ion Fury following Iron Maiden trademark lawsuit
- Battlegrounds has been banned in Jordan due to negative impact on players
- Gears 5 to drop depictions of smoking after urging from Truth Initiative
- The Coalition partners with Truth Initiative, cuts smoking from Gears 5: Rod Fergusson – “I’ve been against smoking from the beginning”
- Why is there no smoking in Gears 5? It depends on who you ask: Either way, you won’t see cigars dangling from COG mouths any time soon.
- Red Candle won’t be re-releasing Devotion (yet) following China controversy
- Red Candle Games will not re-release Devotion “in the near term”: Developer apologizes again for artwork mocking Chinese president, but hopes to “rebuild trust”
- Respawn will deal with Apex Legends cheaters by making them fight each other
- Respawn working on matchmaking Apex Legends cheaters with other cheaters: Studio upping anti-cheat resources, working on spam and cheat detection using machine learning
- Overwatch’s new cheat detection will end matches when cheats are used
- Blizzard testing automatic shutdown for Overwatch matches where players are cheating: But game’s director Jeff Kaplan promises rule-abiding players will not be punished in any way
- Ubisoft criticised for sourcing Watch Dogs Legion music through Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s HitRecord: Developers and composers decry use of audience compositions as ‘exploitative spec work’
- Ubisoft Once Again Crowdsourcing Content For Video Game, Once Again Gets Unwarranted Backlash
- Ubisoft defends Watch Dogs HitRecord partnership amid spec work criticism
- Ubisoft puts kibosh on Assassin’s Creed XP-farming exploit
- Ubisoft bans XP farming quests in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’s story creator: Coincidently, publisher continues to sell permanent XP boosts as in-game purchases
- Ubisoft: “Nobody has dared do anything with a granny before” – EMEA Director Alain Corre on Watch Dogs, Tom Clancy, and the dream of creating a game with one billion players
- Odyssey and Siege push Ubisoft to a better-than-expected quarter
- Ubisoft sees PC, digital sales share increase in Q1: Publisher continues anticipating quieter first half as it preps for big releases, UPlay+ later this year
- Ubisoft’s Uplay+ subscription library launches this fall with 100+ games
- How to spot an exploitative mobile game publishing deal — from a former publishing CEO
- Blog: Charting the record $9.6B games investment over the past 18 months
- ‘Reality-focused’ game dev Surrogate secures $2 million in funding
- UK publisher Merge Games creates $4 million indie game fund
- Kickstarter suspends funding campaign for online gameRAW over honesty concerns
- Ratio of successful Kickstarter projects at highest since Double Fine Adventure: ICO Partners breaks down ongoing maturation of crowdfunding projects with H1 2019 update
- Kickstarter suspends over ambitious MMO inspired by GTA Online: “We require projects to be honest and clearly presented, and this project failed to meet that standard,” says Kickstarter
- Blog: Crowdfunding and video games – A 2019 mid-year update
- Blog: Crowdfunding and tabletop games – A 2019 mid-year update
- Minecraft Earth’s closed beta: This augmented reality needs more augmenting
- Want to be more creative? Playing Minecraft can help, new study finds
- Video Games can Increase Creativity, but with Caveats (Jorge Blanco-Herrera, Douglas Gentile & Jeffrey Rokkum)
- Jo Twist: Games industry needs to “step up” to fight cultural bias – UKIE CEO warns critics and publishers to be careful with their language, says games are “an easy target because we’re new”
- Under fire from game devs, G2A proposes new ‘Key Blocker’ tool
- G2A proposes key-blocking tool: But controversial marketplace wants at least 100 developers to register interest before it begins development
- How does the games industry get rid of G2A? Eliminate game keys altogether: The only way to stop key resellers is to stop selling keys, but will the industry take such a radical step?
- Wube Software takes up G2A on offer to pay back ten times its chargeback fees: Studio has racked up $6,600 in chargebacks for Factorio, also encourages players to pirate rather than buy via G2A
- GOG puts Heaven’s Vault up for sale after declining to sell the game at launch
- Jason Kingsley: Epic is “paying through the nose” to build its store – Rebellion founders discuss change of heart on Epic Store exclusivity
- Epic awards Blender Foundation $1.2m grant: Epic MegaGrants-fueled support to help bolster Blender creation suite
- RetroArch will be Steam’s biggest emulation launch yet, coming July 30
- Steam Labs is Valve’s new home for experimental Steam features
- Controversial freelance firm Fiverr opens game services store
- Fiverr adds dedicated gaming store: Freelancer hiring platform includes sections for development and streaming services
- Stadia’s dev partners program has received more than 4,000 applications
- Google’s Dead Wrong If It Thinks Broadband Caps Won’t Hurt Game Streaming
- PlayStation’s former portfolio strategy head is now tackling game licensing at Disney
- Disney hires former PlayStation portfolio boss to head up games licensing: John Drake says it’s an “amazing time” to bring the worlds of Star Wars, Marvel and Fox to video games
- Video: The importance of finding your platform champions
- RuneScape dev Jagex says sale is possible, but not set in stone
- Jagex denies reports it has been sold: Suggested sale by owner Fukong “remains one of various possible outcomes”
- Smartphone maker Rokit launches $50 million game development fund
- Smartphone maker ROKiT announces $50m indie dev fund: Selection committee of industry veterans established, up to $500,000 per project on offer
- Tencent launches app for streaming PC games to smartphones: League of Legends only game currently available, but more expected soon
- Twitch growth dips as Fortnite viewership continues to decline: Riot Games surpasses Epic Games as most-watched publisher in Q2 2019
- Fortnite streaming hours drop for fourth straight quarter: Biggest battle royale games all show declines but Epic’s hit remains most watched title on streaming platforms
- Epic awards $1.2 million to Blender Foundation through Epic MegaGrants program
- Don’t Miss: 20 difficult games worth revisiting and learning from
- League of Legends dominates South Korean PC cafés: Riot Games’ hit accounted for almost 40% of hours played last month as Path of Exile made a strong first impression
- Riot extends deadline for removal of Echo Fox shareholder following racist remarks: Esports organisation was instructed to oust shareholder two months ago or face “formal action” from LCS
- Esports Upstart 100 Thieves Names Retail Vet Doug Barber VP Of Brand And Apparel
- Don’t Miss: Memoirs of a video producer who put Madden in Madden
- Nearly three-fourths of gamers prefer Netflix-style subscription for cloud games: Broadband Genie: 86% say they expect cloud purchases of games to be cheaper than digital or physical copies
- Nintendo deletes popular Mario Maker 2 level for unexplained reasons
- Dr Mario World is the lowest grossing Nintendo mobile launch so far: But Sensor Tower says puzzle game is on par with latest Candy Crush release
- Nintendo reaffirms its toy-maker identity | Opinion: Ventures into mobile games and streaming might have clouded Nintendo’s self-image — but the company is still first and foremost a toy-maker
- Switch owners say Joy-Con controllers are prone to drifting after just months
- Evidence points to another Switch hardware revision on the horizon
- Nintendo releasing new Switch with longer battery life: Tweaked model of flagship console will last up to nine hours – two more than Switch Lite
- The Switch may be getting a new processor and flash storage
- New standard Switch model will improve battery life 40 to 80 percent
- Nintendo is boosting Switch battery life through a slight hardware refresh
- The industry is still “developing games in a bubble”: FlavourWorks’ Jack Attridge says Conan O’Brien’s Clueless Gamer videos are proof of how inaccessible games have become
- “In the past, YouTubers were very problematic… Suddenly they became our allies”: How streaming can benefit storytellers, and the “serious problem with people not even finishing our games”
- CAA Signs Comedic Gaming Collective ‘Neebs Gaming’ (Exclusive)
- Control, alt, degree: Trinity Western to launch game development program this fall
- Big PC sales continue to rock EMEAA charts: GTA V back in the lead alongside resurgence of Borderlands games
- UK digital charts: Sales and anticipation lift Borderlands 2, Pre-sequel once more – Crash Team Racing holds on for one more week, before being dethroned by GTA V
- Gearbox wants crossplay in Borderlands 3, but it won’t launch with it
- UK Charts: Super Mario Maker 2 scores third consecutive No.1 – But Crash is snapping at Nintendo’s heels
- German consumers spent €4.4bn on video games in 2018: Mobile and consoles have overtaken PC as nation’s most popular games platforms
- MTG has invested $11m in games companies this year: H1 deals include Dorian, Tonk Tonk Games and Sviper
- Merge Games announces $4m indie publishing and marketing fund: UK publisher looking for multi-platform titles to support as it celebrates 10th anniversary
- Indie publisher Private Division splits from Swedish dev The Outsiders
- Video: Living the freelancing dream while avoiding the nightmare
- NetEase acquires minority stake in Behaviour Interactive: Partnership to help enhance Chinese game giant’s research and development efforts
- LuckyHammers shuts down: 70 employees affected by closure of Montreal-based studio
- Private Division has parted ways with Darkborn developer, The Outsiders: Publisher confirms split at end of last year, but financially supported dev for “several months” afterwards
- NetEase nabs minority stake in Dead by Daylight dev Behaviour Interactive
- Terraforming Mars dev LuckyHammers has closed down
- Outsourcing studio Pole to Win expands with Montreal office
- Surrogate raises $2m in seed round: Funding will go toward development of “Surrogate Reality” portfolio of games
- Sports Direct now owns 84% of GAME: Shares in UK games retailer will be removed from London Stock Exchange by August 12
- GameStop taps design firm R/GA to help keep its stores relevant
- GameStop plans to renovate stores, pilot new store concepts: Troubled retailer hopes to draw customers back in with local esports competitions and retro-only branches
- Pixion Games raises $2m toward mobile esports development: Seed funding to focus on core PvP experiences, expansion of “lunchtime esports”
- Spiritfarer wants to talk to you about death: Thunder Lotus CEO William Dubé and creative director Nicolas Guérin on the game’s conception and the personal stories that built it
- Lego Star Wars: Rise of TT Games: Game director James McLoughlin talks us through the evolution of the Lego games as the studio comes full circle with The Skywalker Saga
- Boom-shaka-laka: Call of Duty’s new “Gunfight” mode is like NBA Jam with guns
- The aggressive resource management of Doom Eternal
- Blog: The secrets of dynamic difficulty adjustment
- Blog: Finding the fun in monetizing Archero – Part 3
- ‘Things will go wrong’: The challenge of Dauntless’ day-one crossplay
- Don’t Miss: Designing Baba is You’s delightfully innovative rule-writing system
- Designing experimental game Cultist Simulator for commercial success
- Rumor: Apple Reportedly Suspends Work on Consumer AR Headset
- Overcooked 2 named Game of the Year at Develop:Star Awards: Sumo Digital, Playground Games take home multiple prizes in inaugural event
- Pokemon Detective Pikachu is the second highest grossing video game movie ever
- Blog: How music enhances virtual presence – Part 1
- Detective Pikachu becomes the highest-grossing video game movie: Film has brought in over $436m worldwide as five remaining territories push it over record set by Warcraft
- The Man in the High Castle creator to produce TV series based on Warhammer 40,000: Games Workshop, Big Light Productions partner for live action series, entitled Eisenhorn
- Atari 2600 rarity Extra Terrestrials goes on sale for $90,000
- U.S. Patent No. 5,805,784: Computer story generation system and method using network of re-usable substories
- Fashion in games: Why it matters
- Pakistani Minister Congratulates Pilot For Miraculous Save In Retweet Of GTA V Video
DIGITAL
- Facebook Embeds ‘Hidden Codes’ To Track Who Sees And Shares Your Photos
- Facebook To Face Record $5 Billion FTC Settlement Related To Cambridge Analytica Scandal
- Facebook’s FTC fine will be $5 billion—or one month’s worth of revenue: Fine will settle privacy investigation triggered by Cambridge Analytica scandal.
- FTC Approves Record $5 Billion Settlement with Facebook
- FTC Approves $5 Billion Fine Against Facebook for Privacy Violations
- The FTC And Facebook: Why The $5 Billion Fine Is Both Too Little And Too Much
- Facebook denies allegations that you make friends on Facebook: Facebook responds with blanket denials to DC’s Cambridge Analytica suit.
- Here’s What Facebook Says About Camera Privacy on Quest & Rift S
- Germany Cashes Out, Hits Facebook With Fines For Failing To Comply With Its Ultra-Vague ‘Hate Speech’ Law
- Laura Loomer Files Defamation Suit Against Facebook For Calling Her ‘Dangerous’ When Booting Her From The Platform
- There’s a big problem with Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency
- House Representatives Ask Facebook to Halt Moving Forward with its Cryptocurrency
- Donald Trump blasts Facebook’s Libra, demands strict regulation
- Donald Trump: Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies aren’t money – The US president said he’s not a fan of Facebook’s Libra, and demands digital coin companies seek a banking charter
- Anti-money laundering rules for cryptocurrency dealers finalized by Canadian government
- A Global Review of the Regulatory Considerations Relating to Crypto-Asset Trading Platforms
- By Clicking Continue…
- Affirmed: President Trump Cannot Block Critics on Twitter
- Second Circuit Affirms Judge Buchwald in Trump Twitter Case
- Second Circuit Holds That Blocking Users’ Access To Presidential Twitter Account Violates First Amendment
- Trump can’t block his critics from the @realDonaldTrump Twitter account, says the Second Circuit (and the First Amendment)
- Right-wingers say Twitter’s “bias” against them should be illegal
- Following Trump Ruling Against Twitter Blockade, AOC Sued For Her Blocks On Twitter
- Comments on the Hikind v. Ocasio-Cortez Lawsuit Over AOC’s Twitter Blocks (Eric Goldman)
- America’s Road to Reputational Ruin: The decline in U.S. soft power didn’t start with Trump, but he accelerated it this week with his racist tweets.
- Twitter launches the ‘Hide Replies’ feature, in hopes of civilizing conversations
- Twitter is changing Twitter.com to be more like mobile app
- Microsoft warns 10,000 customers they’re targeted by nation-sponsored hackers: Hacking remains a tool of choice for influencing elections, company warns.
- Ninth Circuit Upholds Arbitration Provision in Online Consumer Contract
- Can an employer be vicariously liable for an employee’s racist Facebook post?
- Censored Chinese search project is “terminated,” Google rep testifies
- GOP Puts Google Search On Trial In DC
- Why Is The Washington Post Publishing Blatantly False Propaganda About Section 230?
- Former Content Moderator Explains How Josh Hawley’s Bill Would Grant Government Control Over Online Speech
- 1H 2019 Quick Links, Part 4 (Section 230, Content Moderation) (Eric Goldman)
- IBM’s Ridiculous Opportunism: Sells Out Section 230 To Sell More Filters
- The Third Circuit Joins The Ninth In Excluding E-Commerce Platforms From Section 230’s Protection
- Section 230 Is Not Exceptional, It Is Not Unique, It Is Not A Gift: It’s The Codification Of Common Law Liability Principles
- Gab, Mastodon And The Challenges Of Content Moderation On A More Distributed Social Network
- The Sixth Circuit Also Makes A Mess Of Section 230 And Good Internet Policy
- Three Years Later: 1st Amendment Challenge Over DMCA’s Anti-Circumvention Provisions Can Move Forward
- Large and Diverse Coalition Issues a Statement of Principles to Help Evaluate UGC Liability Reform Proposals (Eric Goldman)
- ICO’s McDougall Warns Adtech Sector that Change Is Needed
- Senator Graham Spreads A Bunch Of Nonsense About ‘Protecting Digital Innocence’ Online
- Netflix Removes Controversial Suicide Scene From ’13 Reasons Why,’ Citing Medical Experts
- Netflix U.S. Subs Drop in Q2 After Price Hikes, Company Blames Global Forecast Miss on Content Slate
- The Toxic Potential Of YouTube’s Feedback Loop
- American kids would much rather be YouTubers than astronauts
- YouTube stars wish YouTube had more competition from other platforms
- Creators Say Competition Would Force YouTube To Be Better — But Right Now, There Are No Competitors
- YouTube Megastar KondZilla, With 50 Million Subscribers, Drops Trailer For New Netflix Series
- YouTuber Ray Diaz Arrested For Allegedly Assaulting His Underage Girlfriend
- YouTube Finally Demands Specificity From Copyright Claimants
- YouTube Begins Blocking Stream-Ripping Sites
- At VidCon, YouTube Announces Addition Of Channel Membership Levels, ‘Super Stickers,’ More Merch Shelf Vendors
- TikTok took over VidCon, and YouTube is next: YouTube offers what TikTok can’t – stability
- YouTube is adding more ways for creators to make money: New merch, membership, and chat features
- YouTube is launching educational playlists that won’t include algorithmic recommendations
- The Dodo Launches Children’s-Focused YouTube Channel With 3 Original Series
- Glad Challenges YouTube Vet Grace Helbig To Create An Instagram-Worthy Dish While Offroading
- Creators Going Pro: For Musicmaking Duo NEFFEX, YouTube Opened All The Doors To A Full-Time Career
- Kian And JC To Launch $25,000 ‘Big Brother’-Style Series With 13 YouTuber Contestants
- Cracking The YouTube Algorithm In 2020
- American kids would much rather be YouTubers than astronauts: Becoming an astronaut ranked last among five professions.
- StyleHaul’s Former VP Of Accounting And Finance Indicted For Embezzling $22 Million
- RTL Group Consolidates 3 European MCNs Under The Divimove Banner
- BroadbandTV Corp. Partners with Snapchat to bring new Creator Shows to Life
- These Brands Dominated Social Video Through The First Half of 2019 (Study)
- James Charles, Emma Chamberlain Among 25 Most Influential People On The Internet, Per ‘Time’
- Ryan Toys Review Scrubs Up With Colgate For Children’s Oral Care Collection
- Joey Graceffa’s ‘Escape The Night’ Spawns Actual Escape Room In L.A. This August
- You could be a celebrity without knowing it if you have 30,000 followers on social media
- New Study Points Out What A Boon Sports Streaming Piracy Could Be To Leagues
- Netflix Hires BBC Studios’ Jackie Lee-Joe as Chief Marketing Officer
- EFF Posts New White Paper On Stingray Device Capabilities
- Doing the right thing: accessibility and OTT broadcasters
- Hulu To Get A Little More Delicious With 24 Shows From Tastemade
- Disney Shutters FX Networks’ Nascent Streaming Service FX+ After Acquiring It In March
- VidCon To Host Inaugural Asian Summit In Singapore, Will Return To London In February
- FBE Launches Interactive Content Lab, Will Produce 12 TV Pilots Alongside Eko
- Quibi Acquires Projects From ‘Glee’ Alum Darren Criss, WWE
- NBC News to Produce Two Daily Shows for Jeffrey Katzenberg’s Quibi
- Quibi Acquires First News Program In Reported 8-Figure Deal With NBC
- Patreon Announces $60 Million Funding Round, With Participation From Creators Hannibal Buress, Serj Tankian
- Microsoft Teams is now officially bigger than Slack
- Microsoft opens first flagship store in Europe: Announcement of location on Oxford Circus comes alongside £1m grant to train young community members in digital skills
- Gartner, IDC agree that PC sales are up—but they don’t agree what a PC is
- EU Looking To Regulate Everything Online, And To Make Sites Proactively Remove Material
- Amazon Teams With Colorado Police, US Postal Service On Sting That Catches Zero Package Thieves
- 27 Top Twitch Streamers Host Amazon Prime Shopping Stream ‘Twitch Sells Out’
- Amazon Music Unlimited is growing faster than Apple Music or Spotify, report says
- Spotify Pacts With Disney to Launch Hub With Music From Movies, TV Shows
- Spotify And Disney Partner To Bring Mouse House Magic With New ‘Disney Hub’ Playlists
- International family law: is WhatsApp the future for serving court papers?
- OurPact returns to App Store, reviving debates about Apple’s impartiality
- Apple reportedly planning to fund creation of exclusive original podcasts
- Apple is planning to buy up original podcasts with exclusivity in mind
- Patchwork of digital taxes intensifies
- US Trade Representative Initiates Section 301 Investigation of France’s Digital Services Tax
- Lawmaking for the Internet of Things
- The Failure Of Courts/Regulators To Understand The Difference Between Infrastructure Providers And Edge Providers Is Going To Be A Problem
- WIPO Now Gets Into The Extrajudicial, Zero Due Process, Censorship Act Over Sites It Declares ‘Infringing’
- Insights: As Our Cultural Lives Go Fully Digital, How Will We Signal What We Care About?
- Tech journalism’s ‘on background’ scourge
- Browse the Bookshelf of U.S. Case Law: Announcing the CAP Case Browser
- Justice John Paul Stevens, dead at 99, promoted the Internet revolution
A.I.
- Steam embraces machine learning with interactive recommendation tool
- Steam launches Steam Labs to house feature experiments: First three test projects all involve new ways to discover games, including a machine learning recommendation feature
- Steam uses machine learning for its new game recommendation engine
- Devs express optimism, caution over Steam interactive recommender
- Australian researchers just released the world’s first AI-developed vaccine and it could prevent another horror flu season
- California’s BOT Disclosure Law, SB 1001, Now In Effect
- ‘Robot’ umpire calls first professional baseball game with one hitch and no controversy
- Neuralink: Elon Musk’s Elusive Brain-Computer Firm Just Made a Big Reveal
- Elon Musk’s Neuralink Takes Baby Steps to Wiring Brains to the Internet
- Musk’s newest startup is venturing into a series of hard problems
- Elon Musk announces another price hike for “full self-driving” package
- Facebook and CMU’s ‘superhuman’ poker AI beats human pros: ‘It can bluff better than any human.’
- Facebook AI Pluribus defeats top poker professionals in 6-player Texas Hold ’em
- Ford-VW alliance means more EVs for Europe, joint Argo AI investment
- Artificial intelligence (AI) designs metamaterials used in the invisibility cloak: The research team led by professor Rho of POSTECH developed a simultaneous inverse design of metamaterials via deep learning
- MIT whiz kids got a robot to take on the viral #BottleCapChallenge
- Atlantic League coach ejected for arguing over automated strike zone just one inning into robot umpire era
- How GoldenEye 007 set a new standard for video game AI
- How AI companies can avoid ethics washing
- Blizzard unleashes Google’s DeepMind AI against European Starcraft II players: Experimental AlphaStar agent will play anonymously, but only against gamers who opt into test matches
- Brains scale better than CPUs. So Intel is building brains
COMMUNICATIONS
- EFF Hits AT&T With Lawsuit Over Sale Of User Location Data
- AT&T Breaks Another Merger Promise In Making ‘Friends’ Exclusive
- AT&T Will Now Filter Robocall Spam, If You Pay Them Extra
- ‘Smoking gun’: Huawei staff employment records link them to Chinese military agencies
- The Drama Around Huawei: Can U.S. Companies Do Business with the Chinese Chipmaker?
- Cheap as chips? Controversial judgment could have significant implications for the global wireless communications industry
- HBO Communications Chief Quentin Schaffer to Exit After 39 Years
- Google Joins Talks In Bid To Salvage T-Mobile Merger
- Charter gets final approval to stay in NY despite breaking merger promise
- 5G’s Latest Problem: Summer Temps Are Causing 5G Phones To Overheat
- The latest barrier to 5G speeds? The summer: Hands-on report says “persistent overheating” issues plague 5G hardware.
- Last Woman Standing: Belittled by Viacom and CBS executives and insulted by her own father, Shari Redstone now sits atop a $30 billion media empire.
- Fortune favours the bold broadcaster?
- The Impact of PDR Network LLC v. Carlton & Harris Chiropractic
- Ajit Pai’s new gift to cable companies would kill local fees and rules
- FCC Makes $100 Million Available for Telehealth Experiments
- FCC Proposes a Three-Year Pilot Program to Fund “Connected Care” Telehealth Applications
- FCC Set to Commercialize Educational Broadband Service Portion of 2.5 GHz Band to Enable 5G
- FCC Considers Restrictions on Arrangements Between Building Owners and Broadband Providers
- FCC gives ISPs another $563 million to build rural-broadband networks
- West Virginia’s Biggest Telco Says Broadband Business ‘Unsustainable’
- FCC Seeks Comment on Actions to Promote Broadband Deployment and Competition in Apartment and Office Buildings
- FCC Revises Broadcast Signal Carriage Election Notices for Cable, Satellite, and Other Multichannel Video Providers
- FCC Makes Significant Changes to Its Children’s Television (KidVid) Rules
- Actions Taken at July Meeting – FCC Adopts Changes to Children’s Television Rules and to TV MVPD Carriage Election Notices Procedures
- FTC Announces Robocall Crackdown
- FCC Chairman proposes rules addressing spoofed texts and international robocalls
- All Bark and No Bite? FCC Proposes Rule To Ban Spoofing of Text Messages and Foreign Robocalls
- FCC Holds Summit on Implementation of SHAKEN/STIR Call
- 2.5 GHz EBS Spectrum to Be Commercialized, Opened to TribalNations
PRIVACY
- British Airways and Marriott Face Record-Breaking GDPR Fines
- British Airways faces record-breaking GDPR fine after data breach: The ICO wants to fine the airline £183 million
- GDPR Shows its Teeth – UK Pursuing Record Fines for Data Breaches, Emphasizes Accountability
- A Fine Mess: the U.K. Information Commissioner’s Office’s proposed GDPR fines
- Russian Spy Discovers The Hard Way How Much His Smartphone’s Metadata Reveals About His Activities
- How U.S. Tech Giants Are Helping To Build China’s Surveillance State
- DEA tracked every opioid pill sold in the US. The data is out – and it’s horrific: Just three drug makers and six distributors were behind the flood.
- Office 365 declared illegal in German schools due to privacy risks
- German state bans Office 365 in schools, citing privacy concerns: Schools in Hesse will have to rely on non-cloud software
- Revealed: This Is Palantir’s Top-Secret User Manual for Cops – Palantir user manual gives unprecedented insight into how the company logs and tracks individuals.
- Former Content Moderator Explains How Josh Hawley’s Bill Would Grant Government Control Over Online Speech
- Google workers listen to your “OK Google” queries—one of them leaked recordings
- Can I buy a phone that doesn’t use anything from Google or Apple?: Steve does not like firms slurping up his data, so wants a device that respects his privacy
- Eavesdropping flaw prompts Apple to suspend Walkie-Talkie app
- Wiretap Report Says Courts Are Seeing Fewer Wiretap Requests, Fewer Convictions Linked To Wiretaps
- Collecting employee data: Privacy and data protection concerns are gaining increasing prominence in the workplace
- NAD Recommends Baby Monitor Improve Disclosure of Information Gathering
- New UK ICO guidance on cookies and similar technologies
- Here’s How To Harness Facebook’s New Privacy Updates To (Sort Of) Control Who Has Your Personal Data
- CCPA Privacy FAQs: If I post a “do not sell my personal information” link on my website, and opt those consumers that select it from receiving behavioral advertising cookies, have I complied with the CCPA?
- Reducing the risk of ransomware attacks
- Privacy concerns over viral photo apps are totally valid. But they’re also often overblown.: The panic about FaceApp’s old-person filter isn’t wrong, exactly. It’s just tinged with xenophobia and devoid of context.
- A Recap of the Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Amending the California Consumer Privacy Act
- No Shirt, No Shoes, No Facescan, No Service: Welcome To 21st Century Convenience Store Shopping
CREATIVITY
- In Canada and elsewhere, freedom of speech is on the endangered list
- Cameras should be welcomed in Canadian courtrooms: Forstner
- Canada’s election advertising rules have changed – here’s what you need to know
- Judge Castel: Plaintiffs Fail to State Claim Against Ja Rule for Fyre Festival
- Claims of False Advertising and Unfair Competition Are Not Disparagement or Defamation
- Danish court orders car dealer to compensate Chinese artist Ai Weiwei
- Rights in sports data
- NY AG settlement resolves deceptive practices action with ticket resale companies
- SPLC Asks Court To Toss Proud Boy Founder’s Defamation Lawsuit By Asking ‘Where’s The Lie?’
- Congress Moving Forward With Copyright-For-Censorship ‘Small Claims’ Act
- WIPO copyright treaty to be adopted in Uzbekistan
- Branding and marketing clearance is the new punk rock
- Alitalia Pulls Commercial Featuring Actor in Blackface
- TD Bank N.A. v. Hill
- Tackling the registration of copycat company names and domain names
- California Student-Athletes Would Like to Remind You, “It’s My Name, Don’t You Forget!”
- The helicopter team that films the Tour de France is one of a kind
- Sound, Noise, Distinguish? The relationship between sound and intellectual property law (Shane Burke)
- 1H 2019 Quick Links, Part 5 (Censorship, Defamation) (Eric Goldman)
Jon
News of the Week; July 10, 2019
GAMES
- Sensor Tower: Gaming accounted for 75% of total mobile revenue so far in 2019 – Game spending reaches nearly $30 billion this year
- Developers and G2A clash over the impact of grey market keys on indies
- No More Robots petition demands G2A drop all indie games: Mike Rose claims retailer is “lying” about his lack of contact, and low sales of Descenders via its marketplace “isn’t the fucking point”
- G2A: “We want to finally stop the accusations” – Divisive marketplace addresses developer complaints after indies called for players to pirate games rather than purchase from G2A
- G2A: “It’s a good thing that people can re-sell keys” – Marketplace says it aims to present a solution to current controversy later this week
- G2A image rehabilitation effort backfires: Platform says employee approached 10 sites to run undisclosed sponsored post, says it was unauthorized, “absolutely unacceptable”
- Indie Publishers Tell Gamers To Pirate Instead Of Buying Keys Through Reseller G2A
- GameStop: “As new subscription services evolve, we’ll evolve along with them” – US retail giant talks about surviving the digital transition by turning stores into experiences
- Take This rounds up data on crunch and mental health in the game industry
- For Warframe, live support means seeing development as a marathon, not a sprint
- New executive directors named for both the IGDA and the IGDA Foundation
- China’s biggest game devs join forces to create new age rating system
- Microsoft and Sony reportedly scaling back console production in China: President Trump’s trade war causing further disruption in tech sector manufacturing
- Report: Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo consider moving manufacturing out of China
- Nintendo will move parts of Switch production from China to Vietnam
- Nintendo moves some Switch production to Vietnam: Japanese publisher confirms the move is to diversify its manufacturing locations, and is unrelated to proposed tariffs
- “Xbox Game Pass is the first time subscription is fair for developers”: At Gamelab 2019, a panel of developers debated the breakthrough Microsoft has made with its subscription service
- Research lessons from the making (and near-breaking) ofHalo 2
- French government launches ‘Join the Game’ campaign to recruit game devs
- French government launches campaign to attract UK talent post-Brexit: UKIE CEO responds to Join the Game, which boasts tax breaks and funding for studios that relocate
- UK trade association asks government to counter France’s seduction of game devs
- TIGA calls for Video Game Investment Fund for UK devs to prevent post-Brexit exodus: “Governments in other jurisdictions will continue to seek to attract our successful studios and talented development staff”
- Yogscast cuts ties with Matthew ‘Caff’ Meredith after sexual harassment allegations: Meredith’s entire mod team abandons him as eight victims come forward in three days
- Obsidian has been “very careful” not to “lecture” players with politics in Outer Worlds: “I don’t want people to think this is a really hard, politically-charged game,” says co-director Leonard Boyarsky
- Google speaks to fuzzy game-ownership question in new Stadia FAQ
- tinyBuild CEO clears confusion on DRM stance after one rep says it’s “not smart business”: Alex Nichiporchik claims comments were result of not properly training community managers on the issue
- Hello Games: Positive No Man’s Sky stories “don’t do as well — and that’s a problem” – Sean Murray discussed his decision to stop talking to the press after the launch of No Man’s Sky
- League of Legends leads Fortnite as Twitch’s most viewed game of 2019
- League of Legends reclaims top spot on Twitch: Riot’s MOBA on track to exceed one billion hours viewed in 2019, as Fortnite begins to flag
- Former Riot and EA devs form new multiplayer studio, Vela Games
- Konami PES rebrand will help the series in Europe: “Talking about Pro Evolution Soccer — in Europe, it was always a tricky one”
- Former Paradox CEO defends studio’s continuous DLC model as ‘fair and balanced’
- Paradox’s Fredrik Wester defends company’s DLC policy:
- Former CEO says business model isn’t flawless but funds ongoing development and allows for experimentation
- The GamesIndustry.biz Podcast: Why people see EA as the “bad guys”
- Tencent, Chinese gaming companies push new age rating system: Proposed system would have four categories, spearheaded by publishers and developers
- Official StarCraft mod makes the game look like a Saturday morning cartoon
- Don’t Miss: Devs measure the enduring influence ofStarCraft
- When will Disney get back into video games? | Opinion: Suggesting Disney should buy Activision Blizzard is half correct; its gaming strategy needs re-evaluation, but that’s the wrong acquisition
- Artifact designer says game is salvageable, but isn’t interested in damage control: “Valve is a smart company with lots of smart people working there, I think that it’s possible they can do that,” says Richard Garfield
- Layoffs at Endless Entertainment: Mobile studios behind Series Your Story Universe dismisses seven staff due to slowdown in development cycle
- RuneScape dev Jagex sold by parent company for $530 million
- Glass Bottom Games on taking “the biggest possible swing” with Skatebird
- How Zachtronics makes its games so GIFable: Studio founder Zach Barth discusses why screenshots are more important for indies than trailers
- Zachtronics offers free educational licenses for all of its games: SpaceChem and Opus Magnum dev advises educators to “understand” the games before showing them to students
- Blog: Why Academia: School Simulator hasn’t done as well as similar games
- Nintendo is ‘investigating’ 5G and streaming tech, but refuses to ‘chase trends’
- Shigeru Miyamoto: Games will still be fun without streaming: Legendary Nintendo designer says “it may look like we’re falling behind” but platform holder is still keeping up with new tech like VR
- Nintendo Switch Online now has over 10 million subscribers
- Bethesda: “We are bringing some people to Nintendo Switch” – Pete Hines discusses building new IP, the potential of streaming, and its recent love for Nintendo
- Super Mario Maker 2 holds UK No.1 in strong week for Nintendo Switch: Handheld game sales rise as summer months roll on
- The compact Switch Lite is Nintendo’s newest dedicated handheld
- Nintendo confirms portable-only, $200 “Switch Lite” for September [Updated]
- Nintendo: The 3DS isn’t about to be replaced by the Switch Lite
- Crash Team Racing nitro-boosts to stay at the top of EMEAA charts
- Beat Saber dev Beat Games shuffles leadership as CEO steps down
- Report: Facebook Signs Deal for ‘Assassin’s Creed’ & ‘Splinter Cell’ VR Games
- Grab the new XRDC Healthcare Report and see how AR/VR is changing medicine!
- Play as Keanu Reeves’ Johnny Silverhand in Metal Gear Solid 5
- Gaming Luminary DanTDM Concludes Arena-Only U.K. Tour Dubbed ‘The Contest’
- DrLupo, Who Raised $920,000 In 4 Hours For St. Jude, Honored As Hospital’s First ‘Creator Of The Year’
- Cuphead has sold 4 million copies and has a Netflix adaptation on the way
- Cuphead the game is becoming Cuphead the animated Netflix series
- Cuphead getting Netflix series: Syndication company behind Betty Boop and Popeye helping adapt vintage cartoon-styled game that has now sold more than 4 million
- U.S. Patent No. 8,858,328: Storage medium having game program stored therein, hand-held game apparatus, game system, and game method
- Shovel Knight has surpassed 2.5 million sales
- Mobile dev Million Victories raises $1.4 million
- Smite and Paladins developer Hi-Rez has opened its first UK studio
- Former Panic Button development director opens new studio Enduring Games
- My Friend Pedro’s journey from Flash cult hit to indie success
- Fall Guys developer Mediatonic cuts the ribbon on new Madrid studio
- Don’t Miss: How to design for coziness
- Don’t Miss: 50 common game camera mistakes — and how to fix them
- Don’t Miss: Monsters from the id: The making of the original Doom
- Blog: Generating world maps for Unexplored 2
- Watch Children of Morta’s lead dev explain its family-focused game design
- Video: Game design tools beyond spreadsheets and flowcharts
- Exploring special game modes in a roguelike context
- Keywords Studios opens recording studio for game localization in Brazil
- Behind the 12-year-old Wii Sports hoax that briefly fooled the Internet
- Fixing the past: The art of collecting pinball machines
DIGITAL
- Once Again, Russian Internet Propaganda Efforts Shown To Be Much Bigger Than Originally Believed
- Report: Russian intel started the Seth Rich rumor to cover for DNC hack – Yahoo News’ Michael Isikoff claims SVR was the source of story in “ConspiracyLand” podcast.
- Appeals Court Affirms: Trump Can’t Block Followers On Social Media
- Pres. Trump Violates the Constitution By Blocking @RealDonaldTrump Followers–Knight First Amendment v. Trump
- Trump’s Twitter blocks violate First Amendment rights, appeals court affirms
- Prenda Law porn-troll saga ends with prison for founder
- Prenda’s John Steele Gets 5 Years In Prison; Insists He’s Really, Really, Really Sorry
- CBP Agents Flocked To Closed Facebook Groups To Post Bigoted Memes And Insult Detainees
- If You Want To Kill Google And Facebook, Leaving Section 230 Alone Is Your Best Hope
- France wants to fine Facebook over hate speech: The measure would force companies to remove content within 24 hours, and was approved by the lower house of the French Parliament Thursday
- Governor Cuomo Calls For Investigation Into Facebook’s Advertising Practices
- Wellness startup’s generic Viagra ads flout Facebook rules
- Facebook Unveils New Monetization Tools, Including More Creator Control Over ‘Ad Breaks’
- Facebook says it will launch experimental apps under NPE Team name: Facebook experiments… what could go wrong?
- Facebook Announces Libra Cryptocurrency and Calibra Wallet
- Why Libra Needs A Humanitarian Fig Leaf
- SEC Sues Social Media Co. Over $100 Million ICO
- Computer from NASA’s Apollo program reprogrammed to mine bitcoin
- Web Scraping Decisions Consider Contract Cause of Action
- Comments on Sen. Hawley’s “[Ending] Support for Internet Censorship Act” (Eric Goldman)
- Politicians Queue Up To Make France’s Proposed Law Against ‘Hateful Content’ Far, Far Worse
- Could ‘fake text’ be the next global political threat?: An AI fake text generator that can write paragraphs in a style based on just a sentence has raised concerns about its potential to spread false information
- Amazon Workers Plan Prime Day Strike at Minnesota Warehouse
- Court rules Amazon can be held responsible for defective third-party goods
- Amazon May Be Liable for Marketplace Items–Oberdorf v. Amazon (Eric Golman)
- “Close to 10%” of Autopilot software team reportedly departs after shakeup
- ‘Deep Fake’ Legislation Is On The Way, Threatening Free Speech Protections
- The UK’s Entire Approach To ‘Online Harms’ Is Backwards… And No One Cares
- UK ISPs Vilify Mozilla For Trying To Secure The Internet
- FTC Reportedly Considering Asking YouTubers To Turn Off Ads In The Name Of Child Privacy
- YouTube’s Cleanup Efforts Are Driving Business Opportunities for Creators, Says Product Chief Neal Mohan
- YouTube Updates Video Editing Tools, Allowing Creators To Automatically Release Manual Copyright Claims
- YouTube is making it much easier for creators to deal with copyright claims
- Content Moderation At Scale Is Impossible: The Case Of YouTube And ‘Hacking’ Videos
- Studio71 Signs Jacksepticeye, Joey Graceffa and Other YouTubers to Multichannel Network Roster
- Having 30,000 followers makes you a celebrity, UK advertising watchdog rules: The one time it might be ok to obsess over your follower count
- What Actually Counts As Good Engagement For Influencer Marketing?
- RTL Consolidates Digital Operations, Sets Ambitious Revenue Target
- Report: Struggling HQ Trivia developer cuts workforce by 20 percent
- Layoffs at HQ Trivia as downloads continue to fall: Troubled mobile company streamlines as it shifts towards subscriptions
- Report: TikTok was installed 344m times in first half of 2019
- TikTok Is A Mostly Untapped Space For Western Ecommerce — But Chinese Companies Are Using It To Make Millions
- Russell Simmons-Founded All Def Digital Lays Off Staff in Reorg; CEO Claims Company Isn’t Shutting Down
- Mobile Content Vs. Short-Form – It’s Not the Same Thing
- Beauty Brand Il Makiage Re-Launches Website With Micro Influencers To Solve Makeup’s Ecommerce Conundrum
- Arnold Schwarzenegger, Serena Williams to Create Shows for Snapchat
- Snapchat snaps up shows from Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maddie Ziegler
- Snapchat Launches ‘Creator Shows’ From Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kevin Hart, Serena Williams and Others – With Ad-Revenue Sharing Deals
- Snapchat Introduces New ‘Creator Shows’ Format With Emma Chamberlain, Rickey Thompson, FaZe Banks
- Snapchat is launching Creator Shows featuring stars and influencers: They’ll be five-minute shorts with around 10 episodes
- BuzzFeed Debuts First Snapchat Original, Weekday Trendy News Roundup ‘BTW’
- BBC Studios Invests in Short-Form Platform Quibi
- BBC Studios Invests In Quibi, Will Produce Original Nature Series ‘Fierce Queens’
- Why Jeffrey Katzenberg’s Quibi Is Luring A-List Talent
- AT&T takes some Time Warner shows off Netflix, makes them exclusive to HBO Max
- Sony Pictures Buys Nurulize, a Virtual Production Software Startup
- IBM Patents a Watch That Unfolds Into a Full Tablet
- The computer conundrum: New technologies force the profession to deal with new ethical debates
- Raspberry Pi admits to faulty USB-C design on the Pi 4
- Behold, the most (intentionally) poorly designed website ever created
- Penetration testing takes on new meaning when cyber meets Harlequin
- The DMCA bell did not toll for a beloved musician—thus, I could grieve him
- Third parties confirm AMD’s outstanding Ryzen 3000 numbers: AMD has pulled ahead of Intel for the first time in 20 years.
- Microsoft releases Windows 1.11 throwback app as a Stranger Things tie-in
A.I.
- Lennon or McCartney? Machine learning tries to crack disputed Beatles authorship: Researchers at Harvard analysed 8 songs to find out which Beatle wrote them
- AI made from a sheet of glass can recognise numbers just by looking
- Training a single AI model can emit as much carbon as five cars in their lifetimes: Deep learning has a terrible carbon footprint.
- Tiny robot leaps around carrying its own battery, electronics
COMMUNICATIONS
- What we Heard – The Report of the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review (BTLR) Panel
- Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review: What We Heard Report
- ‘Smoking gun’: Huawei staff employment records link them to Chinese military agencies
- “This is crazy”: FCC kills part of San Francisco’s broadband-competition law
- Killing Net Neutrality Rules Did Far More Harm Than You Probably Realize
- Amazon plans nationwide broadband—with both home and mobile service
- Amazon Jumps Into The Satellite Broadband Game
- AT&T’s robocall-blocking expansion won’t block spam calls unless you pay extra
- Coop Leader Testifies Regarding Inaccurate FCC Broadband Data
- T-Mobile says it can’t be sued by users because of forced-arbitration clause
- Last Woman Standing: Belittled by Viacom and CBS executives and insulted by her own father, Shari Redstone now sits atop a $30 billion media empire.
PRIVACY
- Court: It’s Cool If The (Federal) Government Searches A Phone The (Local) Government Seized Illegally
- Breaching the GDPR won’t fly with the ICO
- British airways to be fined a record £183m for data breach
- British Airways faces record-breaking GDPR fine after data breach: The ICO wants to fine the airline £183 million
- New UK ICO guidance on cookies and similar technologies
- GDPR: One Year On
- Can I buy a phone that doesn’t use anything from Google or Apple?: Steve does not like firms slurping up his data, so wants a device that respects his privacy
- Zoom for Mac made it too easy for hackers to access webcams. Here’s what to do [Updated]
- Silent Mac update nukes dangerous webserver installed by Zoom
- D-Link Settles With FTC, Agrees To Fix Its Shoddy Router Security
- Whitehats use DoS attack to score key victory against ransomware crooks
- Starter for five on Legislating the Internet of Things
- Months After The Law’s Enactment, California Law Enforcement Agencies Are Still Blowing Off Public Records Requests
- Voting Machine Makers Claim The Names Of The Entities That Own Them Are Trade Secrets
- Thinking Of Privacy As A Property Right Will End Badly
CREATIVITY
- In Canada and elsewhere, freedom of speech is on the endangered list
- Cameras should be welcomed in Canadian courtrooms: Forstner
- Health Canada’s new draft Guidance on Advertising versus Other Activities is now available
- New rules banning harmful gender stereotyping in advertising
- Indonesian Court Convicts Woman Of Criminal Defamation For Recording Her Boss Trying To Harass Her Into An Affair With Him
- Big Fair Use Win Concerning Andy Warhol’s Paintings Of Prince
- Whose Game is on? Carrie Underwood and NBC sued over SNF song
- Pirates of the Caribbean Copyright Suit Must Walk The Plank
- Copyright Infringement Claims Precluded by Plaintiff’s Own Patent Lawsuit
- Supreme Court to consider Abrogation of Sovereign Immunity under Copyright Law
- Supreme Court to address Whether Copyright Protection available for Annotated State Code
- Breach of confidence, copyright and database rights: live sports data
- International trademarks: Is the Madrid System right for you?
- Vegan Food Manufacturers Sue State Over Unconstitutional Law Banning Them From Using Meat Words
- Sound, Noise, Distinguish? The relationship between sound and intellectual property law (Shane Burke)
- 1H 2019 Quick Links, Part 2 (Keyword Advertising) (Eric Goldman)
- 1H 2019 Quick Links, Part 3 (Trademarks) (Eric Goldman)
Jon
News of the Week; July 3, 2019
GAMES
- Bots and Cheaters Lose as League of Legends is awarded a $10 Million Payout
- Esports contract dispute: Seeking to set an industry standard
- Industry tells UK lawmakers it wants more research into gaming disorder: Commons committee not left reassured following latest immersive and addictive technologies inquiry hearing
- Adolescents and loot boxes: links with problem gambling and motivations for purchase (David Zendle, Rachel Meyer & Harriet Over)
- Digital Minister Margot James defends loot boxes: But MP calls for more research into link between gaming and gambling, and says firms with aggressive monetisation should be “brought into line”
- Man sentenced to 2 years in prison for 2013 DDoS attack against Daybreak
- Man behind Daybreak Games DDoS sentenced to two years in prison: Series of attacks against formerly-Sony Online Entertainment, Battle.net, Dota 2, others also asked to pay $95,000 in damages
- “The games industry has some maturation to do in understanding data protection law”: Information Commissioner tells Parliament it will audit publishers and developers as it works on Age Appropriate Design Code
- Chinese government revokes business license of Devotionpublisher Indievent
- Chinese government reportedly revokes Indievent’s business license: Devotion publisher previously cut ties with developer Red Candle Games following discovery of in-game art mocking Chinese president
- DrDisrespect returns to Twitch after ban over E3 livestream: Guy Beahm was widely criticised for streaming from a public bathroom during E3 2019
- Guy “Dr Disrespect” Beahm offers statement after E3 bathroom filming fiasco: Beahm says “laws/repercussions of filming in the bathroom” simply didn’t occur to him
- Dr DisRespect Apologizes For Public Bathroom Stream, Teases Twitch Return Next Week
- Mordhau developer denies plans for gender/diversity toggle after describing plans for said toggle
- Mordhau developer denies it was planning a “toggle” for diversity [Updated]
- Wolfenstein: Youngblood will not be altered for German release – International version of the game will be available in Germany, complete with Nazi imagery
- Indie Developers Change Game Name Over Bethesda Trademark Dispute
- Epic pledges to cover refund costs for crowdfunded Epic Games Store exclusives
- The Gaming Platform Wars Are Beginning To Screw Up Crowdfunding Games
- The Game Outcomes Project isn’t returning for its 2018-19 edition
- Don’t Miss: The Game Outcomes Project: Learning how teams succeed and fail
- Super Mario Maker 2: Critical Consensus – A complete and well-rounded experience universally praised by critics
- Nintendo Does The Nintendo: ‘Mario Royale’ Fan Game Becomes ‘DMCA Royale’… And Is Now Dead
- Dear Nintendo: Here Are Some Ways You Could Be A Little More Cool, Man
- Miyamoto: Costs and dwindling appeal make new adventure games a hard sell
- Steam works wonders for the retail PC market – 10 Years Ago This Month: Valve buddies up with GameStop, BioWare talks industry maturity, and the expensive peripheral trend cools off
- Indie developers suggest Steam Summer Sale confusion is hurting their games: Misreading of “Grand Prix” promotion seems to be causing spike in wishlist removals.
- Paradox exec: Steam’s 30% fee is “outrageous”
- Devs hit by Steam promo confusion as games are pulled from Wishlists 10
- Valve clarifies Steam Sale event after devs chart declining wishlists
- Epic Games will foot refund bill for Shenmue III, future crowdfunded exclusives
- Shenmue 3 dev to offer backer refunds over Epic Games Store exclusivity
- Angry Shenmue III backers can get refunds after Epic Game Store move
- Shenmue 3 PC backers will get refunds over Epic exclusivity: Ys Net and Deep Silver will reimburse backers who expected a Steam key for the game
- Video: Darkest Dungeon’s ‘camp counselor’ approach to community management
- Maybe Epic’s Claims For Exclusivity Strategy To Benefit The Gaming Industry Isn’t Entirely Crazy
- Developers call for players to pirate their games rather than buy from G2A: Studio and publisher behind Descenders decry controversial retailer’s sponsored ads, Rami Ismail backs them up
- Editor Roundtable: What’s up with game subscription services?
- EA: “I struggle with the perception that we’re just a bunch of bad guys” – Behind the big blockbusters, EA is offering very friendly deals for indie developers — EVP Matt Bilbey tells us why
- Antonick v. Electronic Arts, Inc.
- EVE players are plotting revenge after alien invasion mostly just annoyed everyone: Though initially terrifying, the Drifter Invasion of EVE Online quickly became tedious and boring.
- Street Fighter characters to be used in Osaka police recruitment ads: Capcom consents to have iconic characters used to recruit “cyber-crime” investigators
- Google Stadia exec isn’t worried about data caps—but he probably should be
- Stadia purchases and saves will remain accessible, even if a publisher pulls support
- Stadia head: Devs, publishers, and players aren’t ready for a subscription-only platform
- PlayStation Vue applies a $5-a-month increase to all live TV plans
- Sony considers turning to studio acquisitions as competition rises
- Jim Ryan says Sony is looking at studio acquisitions: “Companies new to the games industry looking at the market with hope is something we definitely welcome”
- Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo Say Trump Tariffs Will Make Game Consoles Hugely More Expensive
- Gumi lays off 32 with closure of Gumi Europe
- Free-to-play studio Redhill Games secures $11.4 million investment
- Square Enix: “We always look out for new IP” – President Yosuke Matsuda on Avengers, Final Fantasy VII, game streaming and its commitment to new projects
- This GTA 6 ‘leak’ is detailed, but almost certainly fake
- Farming Simulator 19 sold over two million copies
- Focus Home reports record year as Farming Simulator 19passes 2 million sold
- Age of Empires series still attracts more than a million players each month: “And the numbers keep going up,” almost 15 years after the last full game
- Call of Duty League adds LA, Minnesota slots: LA’s Immortals Gaming Club to compete under OpTic Gaming brand
- Riot Games teams up with Nielsen to measure brand exposure for esports sponsors: “We have the opportunity to help monetise Riot Games’ platform and validate this growing market”
- YouTube Millionaires: ‘QJB,’ One Of YouTube’s Longest-Running Gaming Channels, Says Staying Consistent Is The Key To Keeping Fans
- Nexon becomes majority owner of fledgling Swedish studio Embark
- Age of Empires series brings in over 1 million players each month
- Weather Factory on the advantages of being “weird and divisive”: Co-founder Lottie Bevan talks about scrapping the studio’s plans based on a single tweet, and how open development keeps experimental games on track
- Remedy obtains publishing rights to Alan Wake: Remedy talks up possibility of multiplatform release for the cult Xbox 360 favourite
- Report: Microsoft still planning a low-cost, streaming-focused Xbox
- Remedy has acquired the publishing rights to Alan Wakefrom Microsoft
- Village Roadshow has acquired the television and film rights to Myst
- id Software’s origin story set to become USA Network TV series
- Guidemaster: Is Valve Index the best virtual reality system to buy in 2019?
- Valve is exploring ‘several ways’ of doing untethered Index VR
- Valve is already exploring “untethered” Index VR hardware: Gabe Newell placed new headset alongside Half-Life and Steam as a “milestone” for the company
- Valve to release Index 3D models to aid VR headset and controller mods
- Valve Index makes VR prettier, but it’s the controllers that steal the show
- Valve releases CAD files for Index headset: Modeling, design files aim to encourage mod-ability, including “frunk” accessories
- Digital Minister wants UK Games Fund to continue: James declares £5m financing initiative a success but extension depends on next government spending review
- South East, London, North West, and Scotland are largest UK dev centres, TIGA reveals: Over half of UK industry based outside London and South East
- Series: Your Story Universe developer Endless Entertainment lays off 7 staff
- Entrepreneurs educate by gamifying the law
- U.S. Patent No. 4,738,451: Multi-player, multi-character cooperative play video game with independent player entry and departure
- Why Clint Hocking wanted every NPC in Watch Dogs: Legion to be playable
- Tilting Point promises more than $20 million for UA costs in CookApps publishing deal
- Artifact’s pricing and value didn’t quite line up, says consulting designer
- Zachtronics games are now free for public schools and educational nonprofits
- The complicated process of porting Graveyard Keeper to consoles and mobile
- Blog: Charting the pacing of Uncharted 2 – Part 2
- Blog: Historians discuss Total War: Three Kingdoms
- Blog: How game developers can get the most out of Discord
- Blog: MVP like Nintendo in 1980
- Summer Games Done Quick closes 2019 event with $3 million raised for MSF
DIGITAL
- Twitter Will Now Hide, Suppress Spread Of Government Officials’ Tweets That Violate Its Guidelines
- Twitter clarifies special rules for tweets by world leaders like Trump
- Boris Johnson, UK’s Answer To Trump, Offers A Masterclass In How To Use The Dead Cat Strategy Combined With A Google Bomb
- Chinese Border Agents Now Installing Malware On Foreigners’ Cellphones
- Deceptive marketing in the spotlight: Ticketmaster to pay Competition Bureau penalty of $4.5 million
- Retailers all but beg FTC to take action against Google, Amazon
- D-Link agrees to new security monitoring to settle FTC charges
- Amazon confirms it keeps your Alexa recordings basically forever
- Amazon can be held liable for defective third-party products on its platform, court rules: A potentially damaging precedent for the company
- Amazon Might Be Liable for Defective Marketplace Items (But Only When It Tries to Warn Consumers)–Fox v. Amazon (Eric Goldman)
- Taylor Swift To Headline Amazon’s Prime Day Concert Livestream
- It’s not that we’ve failed to rein in Facebook and Google. We’ve not even tried: The tech giants use our data not only to predict our behaviour but to change it. But we can resist this attack on democracy (Shoshana Zuboff)
- Researchers crack open Facebook campaign that pushed malware for years: Facebook removes pages following discovery of a campaign that hid in plain sight.
- Facebook Defeats Alabama Injunction for Lack of Jurisdiction–Facebook v. KGS (Eric Goldman)
- Ninth Circuit Rejects Facial Recognition Claim Against Facebook
- Facebook To Start Handing User Info To French Government So It Can Start Punishing People For Being Stupid
- Facebook’s new terms of service explains how ads get targeted: There are also new details on user rights to uploaded content and when you can appeal a ban
- As Facebook cracks down on hate speech, it’s also re-evaluating another policy: Nipples
- Libra: A centralised wolf in decentralised sheep’s clothes
- Facebook gets more official pushback on Libra
- BuzzFeed’s ‘Good Advice Cupcake Show’ To Be Facebook Watch’s First Animated Series
- Senator Lindsey Graham To Host Special ‘But Think Of The Children Online!’ Moral Panic Hearing
- We Should Probably Stop Blaming Technology For The Failings Of Human Beings
- Google announces new subsea cable ‘Equiano’, connecting Africa and Europe
- Gmail’s API lockdown will kill some third-party app access, starting July 15
- The End Of The Open Internet: Cory Doctorow’s Op-Ed From The Future
- CNIL Publishes Action Plan Regarding Online Targeted Advertising
- Bringing competition to the digital age: Commissioner Matthew Boswell intends that the Competition Bureau be a leading enforcement agency in the digital economy
- Is ‘This Time Different’ Concerning Big Internet Dominance?
- State Judge Prefers Prior Restraint To The First Amendment, Orders Blogger To Delete Supposedly Defamatory Posts
- Crazy Copyright Suit Over Gigi Hadid Posting A Photo Of Herself To Instagram Shows Absurdity Inherent In Photo Copyrights
- Gigi Hadid “Obliterates” copyrights with fair-use bazooka
- “But It’s on the Internet!” You Still Need a License to Use that Photo!
- Are GIFs Subject to Copyright?
- Trump Thinks That The Government Can And Should Sue Internet Companies Because He Doesn’t Like The People Who Work There
- Inside Story On The War On Backpage Raises All Sorts Of Legal Questions
- California’s Bot Transparency Law Goes into Effect on July 1, 2019
- Will California’s New Bot Law Strengthen Democracy?
- California Court Finds Section 230 Protects Decision to Suspend and Ban Twitter Account
- Section 230 Protects Snapchat from Liability for Cyberbullying–Grossman v. Rockaway Township (Eric Goldman)
- WSJ Op Ed Warns: Killing Section 230, Kills The Internet
- Yes, The EU Copyright Directive Does Have A Few Good Ideas — But They Need To Be Implemented Properly
- Latest Linkwrap on FOSTA’s Aftermath (Eric Goldman)
- Reddit ‘Quarantines’ Pro-Trump Subreddit Over Anti-Police Threats: Users allegedly threatened law enforcement ordered to find Republican senators
- The Trump Campaign Spent Hundreds Of Thousands To Take Over YouTube’s Masthead
- YouTube promises users more control over recommendations
- YouTube Vet Philip DeFranco Hits Play On ‘Rogue Rocket’ Channel With New Correspondents, Deeper Dives
- 30,000 followers makes you an Internet “celebrity,” says UK ad regulator
- The Internet broke today: Facebook, Verizon, and more see major outages
- FTC, FDA Caution E-Cig Companies About Influencer Marketing
- FTC Continues Enforcement of Unfair and Deceptive Online Activities
- FTC Announces First Actions Enforcing The Consumer Review Fairness Act
- Netflix Pledges to Cut Back Smoking Depictions in Original Productions After Group Blasts ‘Stranger Things’
- Gabby Douglas, Dashawn Jordan, Giannis Antetokounmpo To Attend VidCon As Part Of First Nike Sponsorship
- Jony Ive will depart Apple to start his own company
- Apple Design Guru Jony Ive to Depart to Form Independent Firm
- iPhone and iPad designer Jony Ive is leaving Apple after 27 years
- Report describing Jony Ive’s Apple exit gains a sharp response from Tim Cook
- Apple Music Tops 60 Million Subscribers, Including Users on Free Trials
- Samsung CEO calls Galaxy Fold launch failure “embarrassing”
- Russell Simmons’ All Def Digital Is Shutting Down, According To Sources
- Spotify Shuts Down Ability for Independent Artists to Upload Music Directly
- Spotify Signs Deal To Get Footloose With Kevin Bacon In Upcoming Comedy Podcast
- Tidal Launches Enhanced Credits Feature
- Instagram Will Integrate Ads Into ‘Explore’ Tab Over Coming Months
- The Streaming TV Sector Still Doesn’t Realize Exclusives Will Drive Users Back To Piracy
- Quibi Snags ‘Hunger Games’ Alum Liam Hemsworth For Thriller Amid $1 Billion Content Push
- Patenting Trends in Blockchain Innovations
- You too could now 3D print a Lamborghini Aventador at home: If you had some impressive STEAM physics, engineering and manufacturing skills, that is
- ICANN eliminates .org domain price caps despite lopsided opposition
- eSignature and ePayment News and Trends
- Tech competence should be required
- Batten Down the Hatches: Digital Tax Nor’easter Coming This Fall
- Microsoft is teasing Windows 1.0 and other 1980s software
- You Don’t Own What You’ve Bought: Microsoft’s Books ‘Will Stop Working’
A.I.
- When it comes to AI regulation, Canada can do better: Countries are considering the guiding philosophies
- Are You Talking To A Bot? – New CA Law Makes Disclosure the Best Option
- Is There Anybody Behind That Bot?
- Schools Are Using ‘Aggression Detecting’ Mics That Are Set Off By Coughing, Slamming Locker Doors To Head Off The Next School Shooting
- The first AI capable of simulating the universe works so well it’s scary
- FaceTime feature in iOS 13 feigns eye contact during video calls
- Mini neural networks mimic the human cerebrum
- I Welcomed Our New Robot Overlords At Amazon’s First AI Conference
- Signs from above: Drone with projector successfully trolls car AI
- AI Isn’t Making The Criminal Justice System Any Smarter
- Endless AI-generated spam risks clogging up Google’s search results: A ‘tsunami’ of cheap AI content could cause problems for search engines
- The future of AI research is in Africa: In the last few years, the machine-learning community has blossomed, applying the technology to challenges like food security and health care.
- The hidden labor supporting algorithms: “Ghost Work” reveals labor structures masked by technology
- Blog: Creating the the AI of Sea of Thieves – Part 4
COMMUNICATIONS
- What is the Point of the Broadcast and Telecom Legislative Review if the Government Has Already Decided What It Intends To Do? (Michael Geist)
- Canadian CEO Penalized for His Company’s CASL Breaches
- Sinclair Faces Expanded Probe For Shady Behavior During Tribune Merger
- Supreme Court Declines to Decide whether FCC Orders Bind District Courts
- House votes to block Ajit Pai’s plan to kill San Francisco broadband law
- Former Head Of Ajit Pai’s Broadband Advisory Council Is Headed To Prison For Fraud
- Pai’s FCC Crushes Rules That Brought More Broadband Competition To San Francisco
- T-Mobile enemy Dish could help save the T-Mobile/Sprint merger: Dish could resell T-Mobile/Sprint network access in deal to save merger.
- Frontier customer bought his own router—but has to pay $10 rental fee anyway
- NASA, NOAA, and the Navy Tell The FCC Its 5G Plan Will Harm Weather Forecasting
- The Press Needs An Intervention When It Comes To Over-Hyping 5G
PRIVACY
- Now TikTok is facing a UK investigation over children’s data
- SCHREMS 2.0 – the demise of Standard Contractual Clauses and Privacy Shield?
- Superhuman says it will disable email read receipts by default after privacy controversy: Pixel tracking is still an option, but it’ll be limited
- Taser maker says it won’t use facial recognition in bodycams
- Axon Ethics Board Pulls Plug On Facial Recognition Tech Being Added To Its Body Cameras
- Deepfake revenge porn distribution now a crime in Virginia
- Deepfakes and Other Disinformation Pose Growing Business Threats, Say WilmerHale Lawyers
- Author pulls software that used deep learning to virtually undress women
- Somerville, Massachusetts Becomes The Second US City To Ban Facial Recognition Tech
- These are a few of our favorite IoT: NIST finalizes Internet of Things cyber guidance
- Watching Me, Watching You – IoT Camera Hacks Surge
- Another Report Shows The GDPR Benefited Google And Facebook, And Hurt Everyone Else
- New York Data Privacy Law
- New York Senate Considers Sweeping New Privacy Bill That Would Create a Fiduciary Duty to Consumers
- Maine Enacts Broadband Privacy Law
- Hackers Have Been Stealing User Data From Global Cell Networks Since 2012
- Benefit of the but-for bargain: Assessing economic tools for data privacy litigation
- Ryuk, Ryuk, Ryuk: Georgia’s courts hit by ransomware
- Georgia courts (mostly) shrug off ransomware attack
- Florida LAN: Someone clicks link, again, giving Key Biscayne ransomware
- New ransomware infections are the worst drive-by attacks in recent memory
- “We need to up our game”—DHS cybersecurity director on Iran and ransomware
- Documents Show The NSA’s Abuse Of Its Phone Records Collection Continued Right Up Until Its Decision To Pull The Plug
- Department of State Requests Social Media Profile Identifiers
- Smile, Your City Is Watching You: Local governments must protect your privacy as they turn to “smart city” technology.
- Here We Go Again: Trump Administration Considers Outlawing Encryption
- Standard Contractual Clauses and EU-US Privacy Shield – Under scrutiny
- Cookie consent – What “good” compliance looks like according to the ICO
CREATIVITY
- SCOTUS: Lanham Act’s Ban on Registration of “Immoral or Scandalous” Marks Unconstitutional
- Why the U.S. Supreme Court’s Decision to Allow Federal Registration of FUCT Impacts Every Day Businesses
- UMG Tries To Block O-Town’s Trademark Application Over Its Motown Record Label
- Gibson Guitar Declares Shift In IP Enforcement After Most Recent Public Backlash
- NBC and Carrie Underwood Face Lawsuit Over NFL Sunday Night Football Theme Song
- Banning harmful gender stereotypes in advertising – what you should know
- Brazilian court bans subway performers
- College Forgets How The First Amendment Works; Targets Its Own Student Newspaper With A Public Records Request
- The Root weeds out ebony’s Lanham Suit
- Zion Williamson’s Legal Battle with His Former Marketing Agency
- Andy Warhol’s “Prince Series” Ruled Fair Use
- Second Circuit Holds New York’s Met Museum Can Keep Picasso’s The Actor
- Who Owns the Law? Supreme Court to Decide if State Governments Can Copyright Legal Texts
- U.S. Supreme Court to Review Copyrightability of Privately-Produced Annotated State Statutory Compilations
- Inaccurate Copyright Application, Without a Plausible Excuse from the Copyright Owner, Leads to Invalidation of Registration
- Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreements and the Harmonisation of Copyright Law at International Level: Lessons to be Learned from the TTIP (Christophe Geiger)
- 1H 2019 Quick Links, Part 1 (Copyright & More) (Eric Goldman)
Jon
News of the Week; June 26, 2019
GAMES
- Rovio files trademark lawsuit against hot chicken restaurant ‘Angry Birdz’
- Rovio sues California chicken restaurant over Angry Birds trademark: Finnish developer alleges Angry Birdz Nashville Hot Chicken violating trademark on both name and logo
- Law against account boosting goes into effect in South Korea
- Cease-and-desist transforms Mario Royale into DMCA Royale
- Don’t Miss: Dissecting the revolutionary game design ofSuper Mario Kart
- Super Mario Maker 2 review: A great sequel, playable on a better console
- Epic and EA execs squirm under scrutiny from British MPs: Testimonies arouse suspicion and dismay from members of immersive and addictive technology inquiry
- British technology inquiry chair says industry is only “paying lip service” to gaming addiction: King Digital, UKIE, TIGA, others struggle to convince MPs that games industry is taking issues like loot boxes seriously
- At U.K. Parliament Hearing, Electronic Arts Says Its Loot Boxes Aren’t Loot Boxes
- EA: Loot boxes actually “surprise mechanics” that are “ethical and fun” – Gaming reps at UK parliamentary panel also answer charges of addictive game design.
- Gimme the loot – United States proposes ban on loot boxes
- Anthem’s rocky launch hasn’t dissuaded EA, says CEO
- EA sees Bioware’s Anthem on “seven to ten year cycle”: CEO Andrew Wilson admits the publisher “might not invest further” if players were not compelled by the experience
- Jedi: Fallen Order hands-on: Finally, a solid EA Star Wars game—is that enough?
- Patrick Söderlund’s $20m retention bonus didn’t leave EA with him: Stock grant reportedly returned to company pool used for initiatives including new hires
- Security firms demonstrate subdomain hijack exploit vs. EA/Origin
- Twitch takes action against trolls amid artifact’s downfall
- Twitch introduces Subscriber Streams: New feature allows Partners and Affiliates to set some streams as only for paid channel subscribers
- YouTuber JacksFilms Accuses ‘Fortnite’ Of Stealing, Selling His Deep Dab
- Desmond ‘Etika’ Amofah found dead at 29: Nintendo-focused YouTuber had been missing since last week after video threatening self-harm
- YouTuber And Twitch Streamer Desmond ‘Etika’ Amofah Found Dead At Age 29
- Razer cuts ties with streamer following Twitter remarks about men: Brazilian streamer removed from company’s influencer program after tweeting that “men are trash”
- Popular Gamers Mini Ladd And BigJigglyPanda To Embark On 27-City ‘Demonetized’ Tour
- Saving Fallout 76: Bethesda’s Pete Hines on using the lessons from The Elder Scrolls Online to fix a rare misstep for Bethesda Game Studios
- The U.S. Government has blocked League of Legends in Iran and Syria
- League of Legends reportedly blocked in Iran: Riot Games’ message to Iranian users attributed block to “US laws and regulations
- Just 15% of European gamers are interested in Google Stadia and xCloud: According to the latest survey results from GameTrack for UK, France, Spain and Germany
- Teamfight Tactics is a super fun Auto Chess variant, despite frustrating RNG: League of Legends’ take on the mod is a winner.
- Square Enix “Ethics Department” advised changes on Final Fantasy VII character: Alterations to Tifa’s character model centred around wardrobe, not breast size, and were guided by internal ethics group
- Square Enix partners with Gary Sinise Foundation to raise cash for first responders
- Project Babel dev Colopl says employees inflated sales to boost app rankings
- CD Projekt Red: “Everyone is feeling the pressure on Cyberpunk 2077” – But the studio’s new crunch stance has been a boost to staff morale, says quest director
- QA bears the brunt of Treyarch’s crunch and culture issues, say staff
- Stories of crunch, neglect for QA at Treyarch: Call of Duty Black Ops 4 employees and contractors describe unfair treatment, disregard for contractor work force
- Bungie pushes back Destiny 2 fix to maintain dev work-life balance
- Bungie delays Destiny 2 patch to avoid crunch: Community asked to wait in the name of “preserving work-life balance”
- The GamesIndustry.biz Podcast: Why do we need unions?
- The subtle art of crisis management: From epic crunch to 8chan AMAs, the games industry is never far from a scandal — but PR professionals face many challenges when reacting to calamity
- Console makers seek to avoid 25% price bump driven by Trump’s trade war
- Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony pen letter against Trump’s game console tariff
- Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo: 25% tariff on consoles would cause “disproportionate harm”: Letter from leading hardware manufacturers says tariff on hardware made in China would hurt economy, jobs, innovation
- “Iwata Asks” developer interviews will become a book: Earthbound creator’s company to publish collection of discussions between late Nintendo president and developers
- Nintendo chooses Israel for its second official store: First new outlet in 14 years now open, Tokyo stored planned for later this year
- Tel Aviv is now home to Nintendo’s second official store
- Sega sees streaming’s potential to reach new audiences
- How id built Wolfenstein 3D using Commander Keen tech
- Ninja To Release How-To Gaming Guide, Graphic Novel As Part Of Three-Book Deal
- Alpha Protocol removed from Steam as music rights expire: Sega says it still owns the IP, but nine-year-old game contains songs that would need re-licensing
- Steam now has an official LGBTQ+ tag, hub page: Category appears following Nepenthe developer’s request on Steam forums
- Steam and Ubuntu clash over 32-bit libs
- Steam ending support for Ubuntu over 32-bit compatibility
- Don’t Miss: 20 essential real-world games to study (and play!)
- Subscription services unlikely to replace traditional game sales, says WBIE
- Microsoft’s Strategy to Become the ‘Netflix for Games’
- Report: The rumored second next-gen Xbox model likely won’t see the light of day
- Microsoft reportedly cuts internal content teams at Inside Xbox and Mixer: Change in strategy prompts layoffs and potential contract cancellation as company’s fiscal year nears end
- Report: Microsoft has laid off content creation staff at Mixer and Inside Xbox
- Minecraft: Education Edition is getting an Immersive Reader and new educator resources
- Commodore 64 gets retro re-release: Full-sized version of the 80’s gaming goliath set to launch December 5
- Charity livestream raises $3.7m for children’s hospital: Fortnite streamer Dr.Lupo breaks records, raising $1 million in four hours
- Bungie raises over $400,000 for children’s hospital during charity livestream
- Bungie raises over $400k for St Jude Children’s Research Hospital: Developer’s block on Guardian Con Charity Marathon Stream was largest block in event’s history
- Humble has raised $150M for charity through bundles and storefront
- Ubisoft: Watch Dogs Legion will encourage players “to think differently” – But the E3 hit will still allow players to “make their own minds up” about depiction of surveillance state Britain
- Ubisoft sees high acceptance for opt-out subtitles: Even in games that ship with subtitles off by default, publisher sees more than half of players turn them on
- Crystal Dynamics: The Avengers is the biggest thing we’ve ever done – The Square Enix studio on its transformation beyond Tomb Raider
- F1 2019 simulates the highs and lows of motorsport, on and off the track
- Square Enix launches charity fundraising campaign for first responders: Publisher will match donations made to Gary Sinise Foundation up to $50,000
- Sean Murray on No Man’s Sky: “I thought we were making a niche game” – Hello Games’ founder on the difficulties of transforming a live game, and pushing past a divisive launch
- Cory Barlog: “We’re now able to give actors meaty performances, as opposed to just doing voice” – God of War’s director expects more actors like Keanu Reeves to star in games
- Building interesting emergence in Dying Light 2
- Sea of Thieves is the game it is today because of Game Pass, says Xbox head
- Blog: Creating the the AI of Sea of Thieves – Part 3
- Blog: Consoles are resilient for now, but cloud gaming poses new challenges
- Blog: On narrative from a cognitive perspective – Part 4
- Blog: An archaeologist considers Heaven’s Vault
- Blog: Creating natural looking geometry in Unexplored 2: The Wayfarer’s Legacy
- Blog: The love-hate relationship between marketeers and social media
- Blog: Localizing your game without making it suck
- Video: Learning from the doomed launch of Brigador
- Video: Rapid-fire animation insights from the GDC 2019 Animation Microtalks
- Keeping up with the surprise success of Mordhau
- Cultist Simulator mobile: The all-singing, all-dancing data dump
- Amazon’s struggle is a reminder that content is still king | Opinion: Every tech giant wants a slice of the games business, but the difficulty of creating great games and valuable IP hasn’t changed
- GAME recommends shareholders accept Sports Direct offer: Company says 30 pence per share is a fair value considering industry challenges
- Valve launches first mobile game: Dota Underlords is company’s take on Dota Auto Chess, will also be available on PC, Mac, and Linux
- Dota Underlords has topped 170,000 concurrent users in 24 hours
- World War Z has topped 700,000 sales on the Epic Games Store
- Tim Sweeney: Epic Games Store exclusives will help devs everywhere earn more
- Tim Sweeney: “Unpopular” Epic Game Store exclusives are working – Epic CEO argues that the divisive strategy will benefit gamers in the long term
- Harry Potter: Wizards Unite generated $1.7m less than Pokémon Go on day one – Sensor Tower data shows more than 400,000 installs, $300,000 in revenue across the US and UK, but launch is flagging behind Niantic’s best
- Forge of Empires reaches €500m in lifetime revenue: InnoGames’ strategy title brought in over €250m in the last two years
- This brilliant GTA 5 zombie RP mod is a DayZ-esque nightmare: RottenV adds purpose and structure to GTA 5’s often unpredictable roleplay scene.
- It’s possible to build a Turing machine within Magic: The Gathering
- Azerion has purchased Spil Games’ mobile game division
- Spil Games sells mobile division to Azerion: Founders remain owners of Spil’s web portals, will work in partnership with Azerion
- Esports Star Tfue Sues To Void His Contract With FaZe Clan
- Lessons from the Lawsuit That Could Shake Up the Esports Industry
- Global esports director Kim Phan departs Blizzard
- Blizzard loses global esports director Kim Phan: Phan is the second high ranking departure from Blizzard’s esports department in recent weeks
- Trust Esport invests €1.5m in smartVR: French investment fund supports development of VR arcades and related esports services
- Valve launches VR Portal spinoff Aperture Hand Lab
- Magic Leap suing ex-employee for stealing tech to make his own XR headset: Florida start-up claims former engineer’s Nreal Light headset bears a “striking similarity” to confidential company tech
- Seven years on from Oculus Rift’s launch, how far have we come? | Opinion: Game Dragons’ Andrew Oliver ponders the current state of virtual reality, and how it might benefit from 5G and streaming
- Superdata: PUBG sells 4.7m digital units year-to-date – Fortnite still leader in digital earnings on console last month, though revenue remains down YOY
- Insights: Never Mind Peak TV, Are We Headed To Peak Game Service?
- Making the most of a digital office space: Sonderlust’s Lyndsey Gallant explains how the remote working studio’s all-day video conferences have helped the team
- Time to Chain Up: Is Blockchain About to Change the Gaming Industry?
- 28 years later, a no-disc version of the Sega CD finally exists—and it works
- 22 of the worst PC games of all time
- Myst to be adapted for TV and film: Village Roadshow Entertainment acquires rights to game’s mythology for “multiplatform universe”
- Fed. Cir. Spots Weak Claim Construction Arguments
- A Single Prior Art Reference Can Render a Patent Obvious
- Game and Tech. Co. v. Activision Blizzard (U.S.C.A. Fed. Circuit, June 21, 2019)
DIGITAL
- Once Again: It’s Not Clear The Internet Needs Creepy Targeted Ads
- Facebook usage falling after privacy scandals, data suggests: Actions such as shares and likes down nearly 20%, though user numbers still growing
- Facebook adds new limits to address the spread of hate speech in Sri Lanka and Myanmar
- Facebook to identify French hate speech suspects
- Exclusive: In a world first, Facebook to give data on hate speech suspects to French courts
- Australia Says Media Companies Can Be Sued Over User Comments On Facebook
- Court Declines to Dismiss Data Breach Claims Against Facebook Based on Access Token Incident–Bass v. Facebook
- Your Periodic Reminder That Facebook Isn’t a State Actor–Williby v. Zuckerberg
- If Facebook or Google create their own currency, they can control our lives
- Facebook Rolls Out Political Advertising Tools Globally
- After Months of Rumors, Facebook Officially Announces New Libra Cryptocurrency
- Facebook’s New Currency Has Big Claims and Bad Ideas: Libra is an ideological project, not a practical one.
- Why Facebook’s Libra Cryptocurrency Is Both More Interesting Than Expected And Less Interesting Than I Hoped
- Quadriga Founder Spent Client Money, Bankruptcy Monitor Says: Ernst & Young says Gerald Cotten, late founder of defunct Canadian cryptocurrency exchange, funneled client money into fraudulent accounts
- New crypto-currency rules come as enforcement ramps up
- Instagram will start putting ads within the Explore page: Ads everywhere
- Facebook makes another push to shape and define its own oversight
- District Court Finds Use of Third-Party Hashtags Created Implied Association
- Fake news game confers psychological resistance against online misinformation
- Sudan court orders company to end military-ordered internet blackout: lawyer
- Indian Gov’t Uses National Security Law, Bad Information To Block Twitter Accounts All Over The World
- Russian Government Demands All Foreign Press Outlets Register For The Privilege Of Delivering News To Russia
- FedEx sues US government over export controls after Huawei problems
- After Decades Of Demanding China ‘Respect’ US Patent Law, Senator Rubio Pushes Law That Says US Can Ignore Huawei Enforcing Patents
- If China Is A Glimpse Of Our Future Surveillance Nightmare, Maybe Hong Kong Shows How To Fight It
- Trump Ponders Banning All Chinese-Made Gear From US 5G Networks
- The LawBytes Podcast, Episode 17: What To Do About Huawei? – Christopher Parsons Unpacks One of Canada’s Most Challenging Policy Issues (Michael Geist)
- YouTube Reportedly In Late Stages Of Federal Investigation For Violating Children’s Privacy Laws
- YouTube reportedly under investigation over alleged child protection breaches: “An FTC investigation into YouTube’s treatment of children online is long overdue,” says US lawmaker
- YouTube spreads ‘misleading information’ about experimental stem cell treatments: Health Canada has warned unlicensed clinics are offering unauthorized cell therapies and making unproven, outsized claims
- LGBTQ+ YouTube Employees Could Face Consequences If They Protest Steven Crowder Decision At Pride (Report)
- Meghan Trainor To Headline VidCon Kickoff Concert ‘YouTube Onstage’
- In The Ever More Crowded Streaming Space, YouTube Is “Zigging Where Other People Are Zagging,” Susanne Daniels Says
- YouTube Rolls Out 3 Tools To Give Viewers More Control Over Suggested Videos
- YouTube Music Can Now Auto-Save 500 Suggested Songs For Offline Consumption
- Top 50 Most Viewed U.S. YouTube Channels • Week Of 6/23/2019
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 6/23/2019
- Google CEO Admits That It’s Impossible To Moderate YouTube Perfectly; CNBC Blasts Him
- YouTube Confirms Test Of Feature That Hides Comments By Default On Android App
- Google Hardware quits the tablet business, again
- Google is killing YouTube’s “Hangouts on Air” this year
- Kingsley Returns To YouTube After Yearlong Absence, Says #YouTubeBlack “Changed My Life”
- Firefighters Used YouTube Videos To Rescue Ducklings Trapped In Storm Drain
- ‘Siphoning off the crap’: Agencies prioritize buying premium content directly on YouTube
- Yoga Influencers’ Disclosures Show Limits of Flexibility
- Andy Signore Settles Lawsuit Against Defy Media, Is “Looking Forward To Exposing The Truth”
- Cameo raises $50m for its celebrity-shoutouts app
- Cameo Raises $50 Million In Series B, Has Hosted 275,000 Video Shoutouts In 2 Years
- BBTV Signs Kwebbelkop, Family Fun Pack, And Athletes Anthony Adams And Tristan Jass
- UK May Have Finally Ditched Its Absurd Porn Filter Plan
- Before Demanding Internet Companies ‘Hire More Moderators,’ Perhaps We Should Look At How Awful The Job Is
- Review: Google Chrome has become surveillance software. It’s time to switch. – Our latest privacy experiment found Chrome ushered more than 11,000 tracker cookies into our browser – in a single week.
- Insights: The Young Turks Will Intertwine Their Values With Their Ad Dollars, But Can Other Media Sites Afford To Follow?
- After Teaming With Emma Chamberlain, Louis Vuitton Invites The Dolan Twins To Paris Fashion Week
- With new leadership, Snapchat makes friends among marketers and publishers in Cannes
- Sorry, ads are coming to TikTok
- Vice Media to shut down operations in Montreal
- Wattpad strikes Mediaset agreement
- BET’s Upcoming Streaming Service To Be Joint Venture With Tyler Perry
- Netflix Is Testing A Pop-Out Player On Desktops So You Can Multitask While You Watch
- The Obamas’ First Netflix Feature, ‘American Factory,’ Is Headed To Theaters
- Implications from New Hampshire Lottery Commission v. Barr
- Hulu Is Already The SVOD Growth Story of 2019
- Disney Is Saying All the Right Things About the Hulu-Disney+ Relationship: The company will work to keep its divided streaming offerings on the same page.
- Disney Pushing To “Significantly” Expand Hulu’s Original Programming, Says CEO Randy Freer
- The New Takedown Obligations in the EU for Online Content-Sharing Service Providers
- EU Intellectual Property Office Produces Dumbest Propaganda Film Ever, Pretending Without IP There Is No Creativity
- The Paywall Conundrum: Even Those Who Like Paying For News Don’t Pay For Much News
- The Raspberry Pi 4 launch site runs on a Pi 4 cluster
- Proposed Law Would Force Big Tech to Reveal Value of Consumer Data
- Explainer: How Letting Platforms Decide What Content To Facilitate Is What Makes Section 230 Work
- Legislators Propose Narrowing § 230’s Protections
- Supposedly Disadvantaged Conservatives Not Exactly Rushing To Support Josh Hawley’s Anti-Section 230 Bill
- Self-Made Millionaire Loses Lawsuit Over Facebook’s Removal Of Videos Of People Urinating
- The Plaintiff Is Probably Pissed About Section 230–Fyk v. Facebook (Eric Goldman)
- Don’t Shoot The Message Board: A Data Driven Look At The Impact Of Section 230 On Innovation And The Economy
- Locksmiths Locked Out: Court Affirms Immunity for Use of Tools That Portray Third-Party Content Pictorially or as an Aggregate Metric
- Concerns about misinformation could lead to limits on key media freedoms
- Guy Pushing Hawley’s ‘Viewpoint Neutrality’ Concept In The Media Used To Write For White Supremacist Site
- States Limit Employer Access to Employee Social Media and Other Internet Accounts
- Amazon takes on TCL’s Roku TV with low-cost HDR Fire TV
- Amazon patents ‘surveillance as a service’ tech for its delivery drones: Including technology that cuts out footage of your neighbors house
- Amazon got clearance to build drones that can carry out surveillance on customers’ homes between deliveries
- Nicosia v. Amazon (U.S. District Ct., Eastern District of New York, Memorandum & Order June 14, 2019)
- Hackers, farmers, and doctors unite! Support for Right to Repair laws slowly grows
- Bill Gates calls failure to fight Android his “greatest mistake”
- Researchers develop ‘vaccine’ against attacks on machine learning
- Ontario Human Rights Commission looking at AI impact on racial profiling: OHRC to create policy guidance on artificial intelligence in policing
- Who’s that bot? California requires clear disclosure starting 7/1/2019
- McCormick’s concept grill plays music based on what you’re cooking: The SUMR HITS 5000 has a built-in DJ to (kind of) spice up your BBQs.
- How Machine Learning Turned Major Lazer’s ‘Make It Hot’ Into Vertical Video
- The trick to saving human factory jobs might be teaming up with the machines
- Queen’s Law partners with European business school for AI project: Collaboration could lead to breakthrough in IP law on both sides of the Atlantic
- Artificial Intelligence and Copyright Protection
- Report from AI Decoding IP: Day 1
- The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence
- Is Artificial Intelligence Set to Transform Private Equity Dealmaking?
- Oxford Business Blog highlights Prof. Dignam’s work on AI
- Artificial Intelligence: The Very Human Dangers of Dysfunctional Design and Autocratic Corporate Governance (Alan Dignam)
- The company that owns TikTok now has one billion users and many are outside China
- German regulator says it discovered new illegal software on Daimler diesels
- A History of IP in 50 Objects: Internet (Jonathan Zittrain)
- A paper towel dispenser with an end-user license agreement is a special kind of hell
- Modern Courts and the Need for Judicial Technological Competence
- Major League Baseball’s Obsession With Cashing In On Everything Has Harmed The Game’s Popularity Online
COMMUNICATIONS
- A Spectrum of Opportunities and Challenges: Canada’s 5G Future
- Ex-chair of FCC broadband committee gets five years in prison for fraud
- Robocalls Swamp Hospitals As The Trump FCC Pretends To Fix The Problem
- FCC Tees Up Mid- and High-Band Spectrum Auctions to Support 5G at July Open Meeting
- FCC Releases Draft Order on Changes to Children’s Television Rules – Action Expected July 10
- Ajit Pai tries to kill San Francisco’s attempt to spur broadband competition
- FCC battles meteorologists again over plan to help wireless industry
- FCC lets Verizon lock cell phones to network for 60 days after activation
- Verizon Now Pretending That 5G Will Help Cure Cancer
- AT&T sued over hidden fee that raises mobile prices above advertised rate
- AT&T Ratchets Up The Content Wars
- States Flex Their Muscles and Antitrust Skills to Block Sprint/T-Mobile Merger
- Dish To Buy Parts of T-Mobile To Save Sprint Merger, But It’s Not Likely To Help
- No, Your Kid Isn’t Growing Horns Because Of Cellphone Use
- Another EEO Audit Released – Looking at the FCC’s Current EEO Obligations
- House subcommittee approves bipartisan robocall bill
- Deference to Agency Jurisdiction Still Unanswered: SCOTUS Fails to Resolve Whether an FCC Order Interpreting the TCPA is Binding on Federal District Courts
- Private Publishers Aren’t State Actors–Manhattan Community Access v. Halleck
PRIVACY
- Why data ownership is the wrong approach to protecting privacy (Cameron Kerry & John Morris)
- “Gonna stand my ground; And I won’t back down”¹ – The OPC charges forward with its controversial consultation on transborder dataflows/transfers for processing
- Nation-sponsored hackers likely carried out hostile takeover of rival group’s servers: Like an episode of Spy vs. Spy, Russian-speaking Turla appears to hijack OilRig’s network.
- As The DOJ Continues To Complain About Encryption, Cellebrite (Again) Announces It Can Crack Any IPhone
- Australian Home Affairs Minister Says Government Still Considering Spying On Its Own Citizens
- DHS cyber director warns of surge in Iranian “wiper” hack attacks
- Iranian state hackers reload their domains, release off-the-shelf RAT malware
- A rogue Raspberry Pi helped hackers access NASA JPL systems
- Potent Firefox 0-day used to install undetected backdoors on Macs: So far, attacks are known only to target Mac users involved in cryptocurrency.
- A tale of two cities: Why ransomware will just get worse
- Can’t Have Copyright Enforcement Without Destroying Privacy Protections
- Canadian global leadership on data protection
- Data compliance goes global: Vivek Narayanadas, in-house counsel for Shopify, has his hands full navigating privacy and data protection laws around the world.
- Privacy FAQs: If a company receives a right to be forgotten request, is it required to delete records that show whether an individual opted-in or opted-out from marketing?
- Privacy Report: Three Dating Apps Removed from App Store After Potential COPPA Violations
- Maine and Nevada’s New Data Privacy Laws and the California Consumer Privacy Act Compared
- Want Companies to Comply with the CCPA? Delay Its Effective Date
- State Privacy Laws Continue to Proliferate
- Sshh: Alexa can hear you
- Top 5 ways GDPR impacted digital banking in its first year
- Interior Department Putting Even More Effort Into Dodging FOIA Request
CREATIVITY
- The Copyright Board Game (Howard Knopf)
- Unbalanced Witness List: Why the Copyright Review Was Right To Ignore the Canadian Heritage Committee Study, Part Three (Michael Geist)
- Limited Views: Why the Copyright Review Was Right To Ignore the Canadian Heritage Committee Study, Part Two (Michael Geist)
- Ignoring the Evidence: Why the Copyright Review Was Right To Ignore the Canadian Heritage Committee Study, Part Four (Michael Geist)
- Better Data, Better Results: Comparing the Gap Between the Copyright Review and Heritage Study on the Music Industry’s Policy Proposals (Michael Geist)
- Universal Music Cashed In On Insurance After It Let Thousands Of Master Recordings Burn… And Didn’t Give Any To Artists
- Just Don’t Infringe Copyright, Kawhi Leonard Tells Nike
- Kawhi Leonard v. Nike Inc.: How copyrights can trump trademarks?
- Raptors Win but Trademark still under Claw
- Stephen Curry’s “Holey Moley” Faces Trademark Complaint in California Court
- Appellate Court leaves open question of good faith in copyright litigation
- Supreme Court to Decide Whether States Can Copyright Annotated State Law
- Supreme Court To Review Whether Or Not You Can Copyright State Laws
- Supreme Court to Rule on Whether Sovereign Immunity Protects States from Copyright Infringement Claims
- Have We Learned Anything from Pepe the Frog About Copyright Law?
- US Supreme Court Strikes Down Ban of ‘Scandalous’ Trademarks
- Supreme Court Now Says That The Trademark Office Can’t Reject ‘Immoral Or Scandalous’ Trademarks
- SCOTUS: Ban on “FUCT” trademark registration violates First Amendment
- F-*-C-T- U.S. Supreme Court strikes down ban on registration of immoral or scandalous marks
- Supreme Court Says “Scandalous” Trademarks May be Registered
- Caterpillar Now Going After All The Cats For Trademark Cancellations
- Surge in Defamation Claims: What is Causing the Increase?
- French Museum filled with fakes still questioning how it happened a year on
Jon
News of the Week; June 19, 2019
GAMES
- The creator of ‘Pokémon Go’ is suing an ‘association of hackers’ that it says helps players cheat at its games
- Niantic is suing Global++ over modified Pokemon Go,Ingress apps
- Niantic files lawsuit against “hacker” group: Global ++ has allegedly created derivative apps based on Ingress, Pokémon Go and Harry Potter Wizards Unite
- From Pokémon to Harry Potter: Niantic’s hopes for Wizards Unite
- Niantic has acquired Beasts of Balance developer Sensible Object
- Twitch Sues Troll Streamers Over Violent Videos, Pornography
- Twitch sues users who posted porn, racism, and more to Artifact stream page
- Twitch Suing 100 Users Who Spammed ‘Artifact’ Game Category With Pornographic And Violent Content
- Twitch sues unknown parties over flood of explicit videos on Artifact streams
- EA praises its own ‘ethical, fun, and enjoyable’ loot box use in FIFA
- CARU Takes Action Against Two Mobile Apps
- State of California investigates Riot for systematic gender discrimination
- Riot Games accused of non-compliance with gender discrimination investigation: State of California turns to the courts for help, but Riot insists it has cooperated since the beginning
- Women accounted for 21% of E3 stage presenters, just 5% of game protagonists: But annual Feminist Frequency gender breakdown shows number of games with multiple choice is at a five-year high
- Devs deserve the benefits of a union, says US presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders
- Bernie Sanders endorses game industry unionisation: Presidential candidate says game workers “deserve to collectively bargain”
- Only 17% of E3 games are non-violent: GamesIndustry.biz study found major publishers are behind less than half of all combat-free titles in Los Angeles
- Mobile games are losing to video in the battle for users’ time: Games still earn the majority of revenue, but App Annie report shows video apps streaking ahead in terms of hours spent
- NPD: May 2019 was the worst May for new releases since 1998 – Mortal Kombat 11 overtakes Kingdom Hearts III as best-selling software title year-to-date; hardware and software sales see overall declines
- Tfue’s Lawyer Reveals Shocking New Info on FaZe Clan Lawsuit
- Did FaZe Clan break any laws with the H1ghsky1 signing?
- ZeniMax shuts down fan remake of Doom: Modder pulls the project after legal warning, is forbidden to infringe on Bethesda trademarks again
- Sweeney: Sony enabling cross-play was “one of the greatest moments in Epic’s history” – Meanwhile, Epic founder dismisses the notion of Fortnite addiction
- Steam Remote Play now supports game streaming across different networks
- Steam update changes In-Home Streaming to Remote Play: Games from your Steam client can now be streamed to PCs and devices across different networks
- Alpha Protocol delisted from Steam due to publishing rights expiration
- Twitter data shows Nintendo as the winner of E3 2019: Nintendo Direct E3 generated more Twitter activity than Keanu Reeves
- Avengers, Nintendo Owned The E3 Video Conversation
- Don’t Miss: Captain Toad and the core of Nintendo game design
- Xbox and Cyberpunk 2077 won the battle for media coverage at E3 2019: ICO Partners’ annual report indicates strong coverage for the absent Sony, and finds Square Enix was the most talked about publisher
- Cyberpunk designer says CDPR is working on transgender character options
- Cyberpunk 2077, Final Fantasy VII Remake lead online pre-orders post-E3: Amazon and GameStop data show Collectors, Ultimate Editions top gift card sales following press events
- From The Witcher 3 to Cyberpunk: The evolution of CD Projekt’s quest design
- Next-gen expectations overshadowed E3 | Opinion: Rather than being a final hurrah for the current generation, E3 highlighted expectations that most upcoming titles will bridge next year’s hardware transition
- Opinion: Cloud gaming for both Microsoft and Google remains a horseless carriage
- 83% of gamers potentially interested in streaming services: But 20% of people surveyed have broadband that would struggle to meet Stadia’s minimum requirements
- Google Stadia Is About To Show Everyone Why Broadband Usage Caps Are B.S.
- Stadia’s E3 Doom Eternal demo made me a cloud gaming believer
- Nintendo is ‘evaluating’ game streaming technology
- Nintendo “evaluating” streaming, but focused on physical and downloads: Don’t expect Switch to have its own Stadia-style service any time soon
- Nintendo pledges continued support for the 3DS: “We believe it’s a great entry point for young gamers,” says NOA president Doug Bowser
- NPD: Nintendo likely to end the year as best-selling publisher – With no looming major end-of-year releases, Call of Duty, NBA 2K, and Madden predicted to top 2019 software charts
- Minecraft: Story Mode relisted on Xbox 360, but for $100 to deter new buyers
- Minecraft Story Mode for Xbox 360 gets massive price hike: Episodes temporarily selling for $99.99 each to give existing owners a window to download the game while discouraging new sales
- Square Enix working to preserve and release entire game library
- Square Enix is considering its own subscription service
- Square Enix subscription service would focus on classic titles
- Square Enix eyes its own subscription service: Company currently understanding the model via working with Xbox Game Pass
- How is Game Pass adding so many indie titles at launch?: ID@Xbox director Chris Charla talks about independent developers’ concerns around subscription plans and streaming services
- Video: How the ‘indiepocalypse’ changed the shape of indie success
- Keanu Reeves: “Games don’t need legitimising” – Cyberpunk star praises the impact of games on performance capture, dismisses the notion that they need celebrity endorsement
- Playtonic: “We are never using the term spiritual successor again” – The Yooka-Laylee studio on avoiding the comparisons to Donkey Kong Country
- Forza Horizon 4 reaches 10m players: Best-selling game in Playground’s racing series achieves milestone eight months after launch
- Sea of Thieves reaches 8.4m lifetime players: Since its anniversary update in late April, Rare’s pirate adventure has seen 2m users
- The Witcher 3 has passed 20m lifetime sales: CD Projekt Red’s celebrated game has contributed more than half of the series’ 40m sales
- Zynga-owned Empires & Puzzles has surpassed 34 million downloads
- Fallout Shelter reaches $100m lifetime revenue: US accounts for roughly 60% of global revenue, followed by UK at 9%
- Fallout Shelter is coming to Tesla cars: Mobile management sim to join Cuphead, Atari classics on electric cars
- Final Fantasy VII Remakehands-on: Already feels like the one for jaded JRPG fans
- Live, die, repeat: How Outer Wilds piques curiosity in an ambivalent solar system
- Atari’s new VCS isn’t a console, but it isn’t quite a computer either
- EA pledges new reporting tools, periodic Community Reports to combat toxicity
- EA holds Building Healthy Communities Summit, pledges to fight toxicity: Publisher looking at new tools and features to improve community management and reporting in its games
- PUBG Mobile daily users pass 50m, downloads pass 400m: Figures have more than doubled in seven months — even without a Chinese release
- Niko Partners: Game for Peace expected to bring in nearly $1b by year’s end – PUBG Mobile clone anticipated to be one of Tencent’s biggest games; meanwhile, PUBG Mobile has brought in $400m overseas
- Konami rebrands PES as eFootball PES: New name for long-running sports series designed to underline the company’s commitment to esports
- Twitch acquires Bebo to bolster esports offerings
- Twitch acquires Bebo to bolster esports push: Deal for amateur esports brand is worth a reported $25 million
- Twitch Launches Teespring Integration, Enabling Creators To Sell Subscriber-Only Merch
- Amazon Game Studios lays off ‘dozens’ of staff
- Amazon laid off ‘dozens’ of game developers amid reorganization: The company has reportedly canceled several unannounced games as well
- Amazon Game Studios lays off “dozens”: Multiple unannounced projects cancelled; employees given 60 days to find new internal positions
- D3T details first ever Wellbeing Week: Studio’s new initiative will cover physical, emotional and financial health across five days of activities
- Stardock reveals Cider Cloud engine – CEO Brad Wardell: “Our goal is to be able to design games that just aren’t possible today”
- How Media Molecule designed a fun and robust toolset forDreams
- In-depth: A tool for game accessibility and depth analysis
- Blog: A tool for game accessibility and depth analysis – Part 2
- Blog: A tool for game accessibility and depth analysis – Part 3
- Blog: So you want to have a kick-ass Steam page?
- Blog: Design insights we learned at Dreamhack Dallas 20192
- Blog: The importance of definitions in game design
- Blog: Tips and tricks for managing open game development
- Blog: Creating the the AI of Sea of Thieves – Part 2
- Blog: Four decades of advergames
- Blog: Watch the first Library of Congress lecture given by a game composer
- Don’t Miss: Rethinking the RPG to make it fun to be the bad guy in Tyranny
- Video: 9 takeaways of Duelyst’s journey from tabletop to digital game
- Designing Monster Hunter: World around the conflict of empathy and violence
- Q&A: Writing new characters, new worlds in Obsidian’s The Outer Worlds
- Brenda and John Romero’s Empire of Sin is an emergent narrative gangster flick
- Elite Dangerous dev Frontier signs first third-party publishing deal
- How do you improve a great racing game? Just add Lego bricks
- The Oculus Quest saw $5 million in content sales in first two weeks
- Oculus: Quest’s potential to make VR a ‘viable medium’ means store curation is a must
- Against Gravity raises $24m for VR development: Rec Room studio continues working on ways to connect users in shared VR spaces
- Former Magic Leap employee accused of stealing tech to launch own AR glasses
- GameStop closing down ThinkGeek’s standalone online store
- ThinkGeek closes site, moves in with GameStop: Over 40 US physical locations to remain open, online sales to close July 2
- Elon Musk: ‘The Simulation, The Simulation, The Simulation’: “We could be somebody’s video game right now. Whose avatar are you?”
- Tesla is turning its showrooms into arcades
- The best games, demos, and tech of E3 2019
- E3 2019 in photos: Gooigi, crazy arcade machines, and a DOOM museum
- E3 2019 saw fewer attendees than last year
- E3 attendance drops slightly for 2019: Next year’s show set for Los Angeles Convention Centre between June 9th and 11th
- Blog: Does Sony’s absence mean game over for E3?
- Don’t let ego kill E3 | Opinion: E3 is a silly, special week in the games industry calendar — and maybe it doesn’t need to change that much to survive
- The GamesIndustry.biz E3 Award Winners
- The biggest disappointments of E3
- Call of Duty, Pokemon dominate GameStop pre-orders in wake of E3: Pre-orders up 63% on newly-announced titles last week for gaming retailer
- Assassin’s Creed Discovery Tour honoured at Games for Change Awards: Ubisoft picked up three awards last night, while Nintendo Labo was named Game of the Year
- Nintendo and Ubisoft honored at the 2019 Games for Change Awards
- U.S. Patent No. 7,887,403: Method and system for controlling a game involving battles
- Check out Opus Magnum dev Zachtronics’ entire game design history for free
DIGITAL
- UK makes ‘first’ conviction over 3-D printed gun
- Browsewrap Terms Enforced Due to Customer Knowledge of Existence of Terms
- New Zealand judge sends neo-Nazi to prison for sharing mosque shooting video: Sharing the video is illegal in NZ and “encourages mass murder,” judge says.
- New Zealand Man Gets 21 Months In Prison For Sharing Footage Of The Christchurch Shooting
- FBI Serves Incredibly Broad Warrant To 8chan, Demanding Info On All Users Who Responded To A Shooter’s Post
- Supreme Court Signals Loud And Clear That Social Media Sites Are Not Public Forums That Have To Allow All Speech
- 60% of British adults and 80% of young teenagers suffered harm online in the last 12 months – the UK debate about the need to regulate the internet continues apace
- Douez v Facebook gives existing class actions green light to grow under new opt-out rules
- Bodies In Seats: At Facebook’s worst-performing content moderation site in North America, one contractor has died, and others say they fear for their lives
- Inside the German antitrust plan to destroy Facebook’s data monopoly: Quietly but effectively, the Bundeskartellamt is landing some serious blows against big tech
- With cryptocurrency launch, Facebook sets its path toward becoming an independent nation
- Facebook launches cryptocurrency with Visa, MasterCard, Uber, and others
- Regulating UK digital services – the British government shares its thoughts
- The Online Harms White Paper: Who will regulate the internet, and how?
- The Online Harms White Paper: Is technology the answer?
- Russia warns of “cyberwar” following report the US attacked its power grid
- Russia To Ban VPN Providers That Refuse To Aid Censorship
- Congress, Regulators, and Justice Department Gear Up to Investigate “Big Tech,” But Focus and Scope Under Current Law Remains Unclear
- Investigating Big Tech!
- There Are Lots Of Ways To Punish Big Tech Companies, But Only A Few Will Actually Help Improve The Internet
- Co-opting digital companies into tax law enforcement
- Content Moderation Is Impossible: You Can’t Expect Moderators To Understand Satire Or Irony
- Once More With Feeling: There Is No Legal Distinction Between A ‘Platform’ And A ‘Publisher’
- Site-Blocking In Australia Expanded Again To Include 105 More Sites, Including A Search Engine
- The Flipside To Figuring Out What Content Do You Block: Cloudflare’s Project Galileo Focuses On Who It Should Protect
- Cloudflare aims to make HTTPS certificates safe from BGP hijacking attacks
- Blockchain company and CEO to pay over $1M for misleading investors
- Facebook Just Blindfolded War Crimes Investigators | Opinion
- Facebook backs social commerce startup Meesho in first India investment
- Facebook confirms it will launch a cryptocurrency called Libra in 2020: The effort is supported by Mastercard and Visa, among dozens of other partners
- Facebook announces Libra cryptocurrency: All you need to know: The use cases, technology and motive behind the new digital money
- Facebook’s cryptocurrency to debut next week backed by Visa, Mastercard, Uber, and others: WSJ – An unveiling is expected next week, with a launch to follow in 2020
- Report claims Spotify is backing Facebook’s new cryptocurrency
- Locksmiths locked out of lawsuit against search engines
- J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot may sign an exclusive deal with AT&T’s WarnerMedia for $500 million: A massive deal for WarnerMedia heading into the streaming wars
- The Tor Browser Afforded CDA Immunity for Dark Web Transactions
- Court Says Section 230 Shields Twitter From Revenge Porn Bro’s Stupid Lawsuit
- Twitter Gets Another Significant Section 230 Win in Lawsuit by Suspended User–Murphy v. Twitter (Eric Goldman)
- Congress Now Creating A Moral Panic Around Deepfakes In Order To Change CDA 230
- How 13 Became the Internet’s Age of Adulthood: The inside story of COPPA, a law from the early days of e-commerce that is shaping a generation and creating a parental minefield
- Anonymous Online Speech: Considerations for Victims and Speakers
- Google CEO Apologizes To LGBTQ+ Staffers After YouTube Firestorm: “You Are A Source Of Pride For Us”
- YouTube weighs changes to how it handles children’s content
- YouTube Considering Moving All Children’s Content To ‘Kids’ App As Sundar Pichai Becomes More Involved In Day-To-Day Decision-Making (Report)
- Former Clevver Hosts Joslyn Davis And Lily Marston Launch Female-Centric YouTube Upstart
- YouTuber Elijah Daniel Rents, Renames Michigan Town “Gay Hell” In Protest Of Trump
- YouTube’s AR ads let you try on virtual makeup alongside beauty vloggers
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 6/17/2019
- YouTube’s Kirsten Dunst Series ‘On Becoming A God In Central Florida’ Moves To Showtime
- YouTube Teams With Universal Music To Remaster Hundreds Of Iconic Music Videos
- After Busy One-Month Hiatus, James Charles Makes Grand Return To YouTube
- Kim Kardashian Deep Fake Video Removed By Copyright Claim
- PewDiePie Mulls The Relative Decline Of His Channel, Says Taking A Break Could “Kill” It
- Even Yoginis Must Comply with the Endorsement Guides
- NAD Not Influenced by Verification Platform’s Claims
- Kayla Itsines, Jeffree Star, Eugene Lee Yang Named Most Influential Influencers (Study)
- Writer-Director And Trans Activist Janet Mock Inks Multimillion-Dollar Netflix Deal
- Netflix is going to get ads sooner or later, say executives from Hulu and NBC
- Cinematographer-Influencer Hunter Moreno Launches Merch Line At Urban Outfitters
- VidCon Will Venture To Mexico For First Latin American Convention In 2020
- Vice Media Digital Makeover Triggers Traffic Slide: April free fall follows closure of partner-traffic program, but company attributes drop to temporary lull in content output
- Vevo Ups Music Video Consumption 140%
- Hannah Hart, Todrick Hall Among LGBTQ+ Celebs In Taylor Swift’s “You Need To Calm Down” Video
- Spotify now allows advertisers to specifically target podcast listeners: The podcast ad targeting begins
- Pandora now has its own ‘audio consultancy’ for advertisers
- Lyrics Site Accuses Google of Lifting Its Content: Genius says it can prove lyrics from its site are appearing in Google search information panels—by examining the apostrophes
- Dumbest ‘Gotcha’ Story Of The Week: Google, Genius And The Copying Of Licensed Lyrics
- Genius hid a Morse code message in song lyrics to prove Google was copying them
- Genius/Google Dispute Gets Even Dumber: Microsoft And Amazon Show Same ‘Coded’ Lyrics, But Genius Doesn’t Care
- Google is ending the integration between Drive and Photos
- Google’s ninth attempt at a messaging service will be based on RCS
- Eugene Lee Yang’s Coming Out Video Has Raised $60,000 For The Trevor Project
- Jaclyn Hill Refutes Accusations That Her New Brand Is Vending Moldy Lipsticks
- Quibi Has Sold $100 Million In Upfront Ads To P&G, Pepsi, Walmart
- Quibi Taps Tyra Banks For Docuseries Dissecting Global Beauty Standards
- Snapchat Renews Two Originals From Vertical Networks, Overtime (Exclusive)
- Distributor DistroKid steps up its fight against fake uploaders
- Target’s same-day deliveries might break my Amazon Prime addiction
- Shopify going head-to-head with Amazon, spending $1 billion on fulfilment network: Fulfilment network aims to provide two-day shipping within 99% of United States
- Domino’s Petitions Supreme Court for Review of Unfavorable Website Accessibility Decision
- DSM Directive Series #6: ‘hyperlinking’ in the press publishers’ right (Eleonora Rosati)
- Polish Government’s Legal Challenge To EU Copyright Directive’s Article 13/17 Remains Shrouded In Mystery, But Details May Not Matter
- Prenda Mastermind Gets 14 Years In Prison, Told To Pay Back Just $1.5 Million
- Legal Aspects of Cloud Computing: Cloud Contracting
- Illinois Regulates the Use of AI in Video Interviews
- Experts: Spy used AI-generated face to connect with targets
- This Marketing Blog Does Not Exist: An AI Generated Marketing Blog by Fractl
- The fourth Industrial revolution emerges from AI and the Internet of Things
- We won’t be listening to music in a decade according to Vinod Khosla
- AI Can Thrive in Open Societies: The belief that China’s surveillance gives it an advantage is misleading – and dangerous.
- Forget About Fake News, How About Fake People? California Starts Regulating Bots as of July 1, 2019
- China‘s Social Credit System: Seeing Like an Authoritarian State (Cristie Ford)
- Huawei bracing for a 40% to 60% drop in international smartphone shipments
- Huawei export ban claims another victim: Huawei’s $2,600 foldable smartphone
- Huawei Now Using Patent Claims To Demand $1 Billion From Verizon, As The US Tries To Chase Huawei Out Of The US Market
- The north face’s wikipedia stunt goes south
COMMUNICATIONS
- Bell and Telus beef up data plans after Rogers sparks ‘unlimited’ price war
- Message Received: Why Unlimited Wireless Plans Show Government’s Emphasis on New Competition is Being Heard (Michael Geist)
- Shockingly, Cable TV and Broadband Customer Satisfaction Is Still The Worst In America
- None Of The Claimed Benefits Of Killing Net Neutrality Ever Arrived
- AT&T cuts another 1,800 jobs as it finishes fiber-Internet buildout
- AT&T Lays Off Thousands After Nabbing Billions In Tax Breaks And Regulatory Favors
- No state action in administering public-access cable channels
- Supreme Court Holds that Private Entity Operating Public-Access Television Channel Is Not A Government Actor Subject to the First Amendment
- US Attorneys and FCC Combine to Shut Down Pirate Radio Station
- Starry aims to bring its $50, 200Mbps broadband to 25 more US states
- FCC Pats Itself On The Back For ‘New’ Robocall Plan That Isn’t New, Has No Real Teeth
- Ajit Pai says NOAA and NASA are wrong about 5G harming weather forecasts
- The 2.5 GHz Band: No Longer Just for Education
- Study finds that a GPS outage would cost $1 billion per day
- Comcast Forgets To Delete Evidence It’s Using Evil Fansubs In Its Streaming Service
- Cable companies can save money now that DOCSIS 3.1 upgrade is mostly done
- TCPA Class Action Update: Dish Network on the Hook for $61 Million for Third-Party Agent’s TCPA Violation
- TCPA Legislative Update: Senate Passes TRACED Act and Works on More Robocall Legislation
- Preparing for the 2020 Elections – Our Updated Political Broadcasting Guide
- Doing Business in Canada 2019: Information and Communications Technology
PRIVACY
- Florida city pays $600,000 ransom to save computer records
- Oracle issues emergency update to patch actively exploited WebLogic flaw
- Apple Accused of Unlawfully Disclosing Users’ iTunes Data
- Canada’s New Digital Charter and What this Means for PIPEDA
- Combatting cyber threats: CSE releases new baseline cybersecurity controls
- La Liga Fined 250K Euros For Using Mobile App To Try To Catch 3rd Party Pirates
- Privacy Shield: If You Got It – Flaunt It; If Not – Don’t
- Samsung’s security reminder makes the case for not owning a Samsung smart TV: Run a virus scan ‘every few weeks,’ it says
- Samsung asks users to please virus-scan their TVs
- We’re Apparently Scanning Our TVs For Viruses Now
- For the industrial Internet of Things, defense in depth is a requirement
- Radiohead Responds To Extortionate Hacker By Releasing Hacked Recordings For Charity
- Hackers behind dangerous oil and gas intrusions are probing US power grids
- Securing The Nation With Insecure Databases: CBP Vendor Hacked, Exposing Thousands Of License Plate, Car Passenger Photos
- Privacy Matters: A Website Privacy Policy is Good Governance
- Internet of Things – A Fast Forward to the Future
- Maine’s New Internet Privacy Law: What You Need to Know
- Nevada Passes Online Consumer Privacy Legislation
- Conduct business in Nevada? If so, be aware that a new Nevada law gives consumers the right to opt-out of the sale of their personal information
- Recent Developments in Consumer Privacy Legislation and Cybersecurity Practices
- Data protection in investigations
- Doing Business in Canada 2019: Privacy and Anti-Spam Laws
CREATIVITY
- The LawBytes Podcast, Episode 16: The Copyright Review Report – Carys Craig on the Roadmap for the Future of Canadian Copyright Law (Michael Geist)
- Appeals Court To Rehear Case On ‘Stairway To Heaven’ Copyright Infringement Questions
- Pepe The Frog Creator, Infowars Both Claim Victory After $15k Copyright Settlement
- Wedding photographers and copyright – what’s your position?
- Retailers: beware the ban on gender stereotyping
- No pictures, please: Scotland v England as a forum for defamation cases
- ‘Star Trek’ Logo Spotted on Mars
- Copyright First Sale Doctrine & Patent Exhaustion Prevent Equitable Estoppel Defenses
- Canada’s trademark changes mean higher fees, more complexities in filing: Amendments are intended to modernize Canada’s intellectual property framework
- Adidas loses EU bid to extend three-stripe trademark
- Adidas loses three-stripe trademark battle in European court: Logo first registered on a football boot in 1949 was not ‘distinctive’ enough, says court
- adidas AG & Marques v. EUIPO (Judgment Of The General Court, 19 June 2019)
- Domain Name Law
Jon
News of the Week; June 12, 2019
GAMES
- Report: Global gaming software spend hits $132bn
- Lawsuit alleges Unity CEO sexually harassed former VP
- Unity faces lawsuit as John Riccitiello accused of sexual harassment: Former VP of recruitment claims CEO made several advances before she was unfairly dismissed
- Unity faces lawsuit as John Riccitiello accused of sexual harassment
- Star Control creators no longer opposing Stardock’s Star Control trademark
- Stardock and Star Control creators settle lawsuits—with mead and honey: A surprising – and surprisingly amicable – conclusion to the multi-year legal saga.
- Star Control creators settle legal battle with Stardock:
- Fred Ford and Paul Reiche III say dispute was settled “amicably and in a way where the fans are the biggest winners”
- Blog: What can devs learn from the Ion Maiden trademark lawsuit?
- Activision Shouts ‘First Amendment’ Over Humvee’s Trademark Lawsuit For Call Of Duty Depictions
- Report: Tariffs prompt Nintendo to move some Switch production out of China
- New Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser speaks against crunch
- Nintendo is working on a direct Breath of the Wild sequel
- Breath of the Wild sequel partially inspired by Red Dead Redemption 2
- Don’t Miss: Designing Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s unconventional mechanics
- Nintendo’s E3 Direct had nothing new for the 3DS
- Inside the work to get Doom on the Super Nintendo
- Streamer Dr Disrespect has E3 badge revoked after filming in public bathroom: Twitch channel also taken down after multiple “IRL” livestreams that included bystanders using restrooms
- Ubisoft: Watch Dogs Legion “has a message for sure”: Creative director Clint Hocking says the new game is about “fighting back against things that are obviously wrong”
- Ubisoft says avoiding messages is part of making “more mature games”: VP of editorial Tommy Francois talks about publisher’s stance on politics in games, says “Nothing is simple in life”
- New Ubisoft tool lets Assassin’s Creed Odyssey players create custom quests
- Ubisoft’s new Uplay+ subscription launches for PC this year, Stadia in 2020
- Ubisoft fills E3 hour with Tom Clancy games and Watch Dogs Legion gameplay: Publisher also announces multiple new IP and a new subscription service, UPlay+
- Ubisoft enters subscription battleground with Uplay Plus: PC and Google Stadia service to include over 100 Ubisoft PC games
- Google Stadia will let publishers offer their own subscription plans
- Anita Sarkeesian: “No more excuses for the lack of women at E3” – The Feminist Frequency founder on the need for better representation, both with games characters and on-stage presenters
- Pole to Win CEO: Building a team that will retire with you: Deborah Kirkham on the importance of company culture, and how she landed her current executive role by asking for it
- Epic collaborates with dance creator on Fortnite emote: Developer changes tact after series of lawsuits over alleged copyright infringement dominate headlines
- ‘Fortnite’ Still Leads Views For Gaming Titles On Social Video. By A Lot.
- Game over for loot boxes in new proposed legislation
- After 8Chan-gate, THQN unveils stirring anti-Nazi game set in 1930s Germany
- Xseed Games’ controversial credits policy only names current staff members: Publisher says it “appreciates the hard work of everyone who contributes” but removes them from game credits if they leave
- Are we witnessing the end of the console wars? | Opinion: Sony and Microsoft’s controllers appearing onstage at an Apple keynote speaks to a new landscape where former rivals are working together
- Sony trialing new PlayStation voice chat transcription feature
- Sony chief: ‘There’s no scenario where the PlayStation and Xbox platforms combine’
- Sony: There is “no scenario where the PlayStation and Xbox platforms combine” – PlayStation’s Jim Ryan insists that Sony’s new partnership with Microsoft will only go so far
- Xbox One successor Project Scarlett slated for Holiday 2020
- Microsoft reveals first details on “Project Scarlett” game console for 2020
- Microsoft’s next-gen Project Scarlett console will still have a disc drive
- Microsoft working to get “every single Xbox One game” working on Scarlett
- Microsoft ending Xbox One backwards compatibility efforts to focus on next-gen
- Microsoft will launch new Xbox console next year: Halo Infinite will be a launch title for the new hardware, codenamed Project Scarlett
- Phil Spencer on Project Scarlett: “We want to be compatible across all generations” – Xbox head nods toward backward compatibility on next-gen console with emphasis on Xbox Live
- Microsoft ends Xbox One backwards compatibility efforts to focus on Project Scarlett: Reveals final titles to be added as it aims to make four generations of games work with next console
- Xbox at E3: Halo Infinite leads massive first-party deluge of Xbox, PC games – Microsoft moves on Sony’s E3 absence with a smorgasbord of Xbox Game Studios fare.
- Phil Spencer: “It would be nice to buy a Japanese studio” – The head of Xbox on Game Pass, the impact of streaming, and why he’s not afraid of Google
- Microsoft revamping Xbox Live gamertags so users can share the same name
- “There is no downside to Game Pass,” says Playground Games: Forza Horizon studio tells us how the Xbox subscription service has taken its series to even greater heights
- Microsoft announces PC Game Pass pricing, adds to Ultimate bundle
- UPlay+ subscription lets you play every Ubisoft game on PC and Stadia: $14.99/month service includes all DLC, “earliest access” to new Ubisoft titles.
- Project Xcloud demo of Halo 5 nearly indistinguishable from local play
- Xbox’s Phil Spencer: Our next console will have a disc drive – Microsoft gaming boss says that millions of people still love physical
- Xbox adding Remote Play-style console streaming, xCloud preview launches this October – Platform holder’s streaming strategy will centre around two pillars: Project xCloud and user’s own consoles
- Xbox head: xCloud aims to complement video game hardware, not replace it
- Microsoft xCloud console streaming service goes live in October
- Microsoft acquires Double Fine Productions
- Microsoft picks up Psychonauts 2 publishing rights from Starbreeze
- Double Fine Productions is Microsoft’s latest Xbox acquisition: Crowdfunders will still get Psychonauts 2 on their chosen platform.
- Microsoft buys Double Fine Productions: Xbox paid Starbreeze $13.2 million for publishing rights to Psychonauts 2
- Ooblets to self-publish after Double Fine joins Microsoft
- Struggling Starbreeze granted extended reconstruction period until September
- Double Fine: Xbox deal won’t change multi-platform Psychonauts 2 release – Tim Schafer describes relief at no longer having to pitch ideas “to every publisher that exists”
- Double Fine confirms no layoffs to publishing team after Xbox acquisition: Plans for Double Fine Presents are still “evolving,” but it is committed to spotlighting original developers
- Microsoft has quietly established a new Age of Empiresstudio
- Microsoft forms dedicated Age of Empires studio
- Xbox now has 15 standalone studios follow past year’s high-profile acquisitions
- Microsoft confirms no Forza Motorsport 8 in 2019: Next entry in the series is “in concept” as Turn 10 Studios focuses on building community
- Google Stadia’s paid subscription service launches in November: Stadia Pro to cost $9.99/month for 4K streaming, occasional free games; free version ‘Stadia Base’ coming next year
- Google Stadia requires $130 upfront, $10 per month at November launch
- Stadia ‘Founder’s Edition’ launches in November, base version in 2020
- Despite “revolutionary” promises, Stadia’s biz model is pure establishment
- “Big exclusive games win the day, and Stadia does not have any”: Industry analysts are questioning the value that Google Stadia will offer to its paying subscribers
- YouTube can’t be trusted with Google Stadia | Opinion: Years of lax content policy has permitted bigotry, hate groups, and harassment to flourish on YouTube. Now Google wants to use it to sell games directly
- Publishers can put their own separate subscriptions on Google Stadia – Phil Harrison: Publishers with “bigger catalogs and more significant lineups” could put other subscriptions on top of Stadia Pro
- Google Stadia in 4K might push you past your home-Internet data cap
- Larian Studios will not “participate in the exclusivity game” with Baldur’s Gate III: The long awaited RPG sequel will not be exclusive to Google Stadia or any other platform
- Divinity: Original Sin developer Larian Studios is behindBaldur’s Gate 3
- Baldur’s Gate III is finally official, coming to PC and Stadia
- Atari’s throwback Atari VCS console up for pre-order, starting at $250
- Hatch partners with Samsung to bring 5G game streaming to the U.S.
- EA signs fresh indie publishing deals with Zoink, Glowmade and Hazelight: Meanwhile, more studios join EA’s Origin Access subscription service
- UK Charts: Sony’s Days of Play campaign puts FIFA 19 back at No.1 – PlayStation exclusives account for almost half the top ten best-selling games of the week
- Konami announces plug-and-play TurboGrafx-16 Mini
- Super Mario Maker 2’s online mode will get a “friends” patch after launch [Updated]
- Fallout 76 updates promise turnaround after “well-deserved criticism”: Battle royale mode, human NPCs, and free trial among coming changes.
- Bethesda unveils Orion to offer engine-level enhancements for streaming games
- Bethesda unveils Orion game streaming tech: Robert Duffy and James Altman discuss the details of the company’s new engine optimization SDK that works with any streaming service
- Bethesda says its Orion tech can make all cloud gaming better, faster
- Bethesda’s E3 revealed new IP from Tango Gameworks, Arkane Lyon
- The Elder Scrolls Online has reached 13.5m players: Zenimax’s MMORPG has gained 2.5m new players in the last year
- Destiny goes free-to-play as Destiny 2: New Light
- Destiny 2 will become free-to-play later this year, cross-platform [Updated]
- FFVII and Avengers bookend Square Enix’s hour of announcements, commercials: Multiple retro remasters also announced, and a new title from Square Enix Collective
- Bungie to launch free-to-play Destiny 2 in September –
- Destiny 2: New Light will launch on the same day as transition to Steam, the “new home for the Destiny PC community”
- Shenmue 3 is an Epic Games Store exclusive on PC
- Shenmue III is an Epic Games store exclusive on PC: It appears Ys Net will not be issuing refunds for those upset at the game’s removal from Steam
- Steam developers can start uploading assets for new library layout
- Epic Games Store exclusive Satisfactory has topped 500,000 sales
- Epic Games store offering a free game every week for 2019: Storefront to continue Epic Mega Sale offer for the rest of the year
- Epic launches its overhauled Unreal Online Learning portal
- Epic Games has acquired group video chat platform Houseparty
- Playground Games: “Crunch has no place in modern development” – The Forza Horizon developer on its new studio, and the transition to running a game as a live service
- Report: Blizzard began making, then canceled, a StarCraftfirst-person shooter
- Report: Blizzard cancels StarCraft spinoff to double down on new Diablo, Overwatch games
- Blizzard reportedly cancels StarCraft FPS to focus on Overwatch, Diablo: No layoffs from StarCraft project or other cancelled mobile game, resources allocated to upcoming major IP sequels
- Naughty Dog is shutting down PS3 servers for Uncharted 2,3, and The Last of Us
- Minecraft Dungeons hands-on: A shameless Diablo clone—and better for it
- Blog: Admiring the design in hyper-casual games
- Video: Efficient texture streaming in Titanfall 2
- Video: Inside the theme-oriented design of Phantom Doctrine
- Video: How cheating and making player life easier helpedDead Cells shine
- Video: Why fashion in (most) games sucks, and why you should care
- Don’t Miss: A look at the data-driven AI framework behindDestroy All Humans 2
- Don’t Miss: How bad crediting hurts the game industry and muddles history
- Opinion: Observation’s AI is a brilliant narrative device
- What Massive has learned making live content for The Division 2
- Next Games is making a location-based Stranger Things mobile game
- Zynga launches Snap Games-exclusive battle royale game
- Zynga proposes $600m convertible note sale: If successful, it would add to the $600m raised from the sale of its San Francisco headquarters
- Novaquark secures $11.2 million in funding to continueDual Universe development
- Novaquark raises additional $11.2 million for Dual Universe: Including Kickstarter funds, the French developer has brought in $22.6 million toward the game
- Rec Room dev Against Gravity secures $24 million in funding
- Tencent sells a quarter of its Glu Mobile shares for $56 million
- Tencent sells a quarter of its stake in Glu Mobile: Online giant still owns nearly 15% of mobile publisher after unloading about 5% for more than $56 million
- Intellivision opening European office: Hires Computec CEO ahead of new Amico console launch in 2020
- SuperData: US millennials spend $112 a month on gaming – Report finds 71% of millennial gamers watch gaming video content online
- AAA game downloads on the brink of overtaking physical in Europe: Exclusive figures reveal rapid digitisation as consumers drop physical in favour or digital
- Sports Direct offers to buy UK retailer Game Digital for $66 million
- Can Sports Direct halt the gradual demise of GAME?: Expect more store closures, but hopefully a future for the specialist UK retailer
- Immortals Gaming Club acquires Infinite Esports & Entertainment: Deal brings OpTic Gaming and Houston Outlaws under same umbrella as MIBR and the LA Valiant
- Esports Global Fund launches next month backed by British Esports Association: Esports and gaming investment venture secures €30m in total investment with goal of €100m in three years
- Esports: an untapped market for both brands and law firms
- ReKTGlobal acquires Greenlit Content: Esports company takes on portfolio including GameDaily.biz, Prima Games, and Shacknews
- FaZe Clan’s Youngest Member, 12-Year-Old H1ghSky1, Gets Twitch Account Deactivated After Lying About His Age
- Imagine Dragons Become First Major-Label Band With a ‘Beat Saber’ Music Pack
- VR app Virtual Desktop dropping VR streaming feature at Oculus’ behest
- Oculus is Forcing the Removal of SteamVR Streaming from Quest App, Dev Says
- Facebook: $5m in Oculus Quest software sold since launch: VP of AR and VR Andrew Bosworth indicates size of the software market in Oculus Quest’s first two weeks
- Analysis: Monthly-connected VR Headsets on Steam Pass 1 Million Milestone – Monthly-connected headsets on Steam are up 80% year-over-year
- Sony sets December 2020 release date for Uncharted movie: Spider-Man’s Tom Holland will play Nathan Drake in the long in development adaptation
- EverQuest’s long, strange 20-year trip still has no end in sight
- Vanessa Gill and Damon Packwood named Global Gaming Citizens
DIGITAL
- Huawei’s PR Campaign Comes Straight From the Party’s Playbook: The trade war is showing how deep Beijing’s global influence runs.
- Canada’s economic future could be ‘difficult’ if it fails to ban Huawei: expert
- Report: Google argues the Huawei ban would hurt its Android monopoly
- Huawei’s export ban is wider in scope than most people imagine
- Huawei cancels MateBook laptop launch because of US export ban
- New York AG Declares War on Fake Followers, Likes, and Online Deception
- The Catch-22 that broke the Internet
- BGP event sends European mobile traffic through China Telecom for 2 hours
- Facebook’s Triple Woes Over Cambridge Analytica Data Harvesting Scandal
- Facebook is stopping Huawei from pre-installing its apps: From bad to worse for Huawei
- Will this deepfake of a power-hungry Zuckerberg make Facebook rethink fake news?
- Facebook’s AI system can speak with Bill Gates’s voice
- Facebook launches searchable database, identity verification for political ads ahead of federal election
- Facebook Watch grows to more than 720 million monthly users Users are also spending more time in the social network’s video hub.
- Facebook, ProSiebenSat.1 Sign First Content Pact for Watch Platform in Europe
- Facebook bans health and conspiracy site Natural News
- Facebook Tested With Deepfake Of Mark Zuckerberg: Company Leaves It Up
- Facebook lets deepfake Zuckerberg video stay on Instagram
- Delaware Court Of Chancery Grants Books And Records Request Arising From Caremark Claims Related To Facebook User Privacy
- District of Columbia v. Facebook: General Consumer Protection Statute can serve as vehicle for state attorney general seeking redress for data privacy violations
- Researchers discover “Fishwrap” influence campaign recycling old terror news
- Facebook’s Radical Bitcoin-Beating Cryptocurrency Plans Revealed
- Draft law proposes 10-year jail term for dealing in cryptocurrency: Besides making it completely illegal, the bill makes holding of cryptos a non-bailable offence.
- Blockchain Remittance Platform ZED Network Receives First Prospectus Exemption for Distributing Crypto Tokens
- New SEC lawsuit could decide the fate of dozens of blockchain projects: The SEC says Kik’s initial coin offering was an unregistered sale of securities.
- UBC launches Canada’s first graduate blockchain training path
- Tinder and the Russian Intelligence Services: It’s a Match! – Will Facebook and Twitter be next?
- FTC: Consumer Gag Clauses a No-Go
- Senator Blumenthal Calls for FTC Investigation of Detox Teas Promoted on Social Media
- Lawyers post social media videos on legal aid cuts: Videos target provincial budget, #GotBeerNeedJustice hashtag used
- Another One Bytes the Dust: Court Dismisses Flash Drive False Advertising Suit Based On Back-Of-Package Clarifying Disclosures
- Republicans Blame CDA 230 For Letting Platforms Censor Too Much; Democrats Blame CDA 230 For Platforms Not Censoring Enough
- Appeals Court Issues Strong CDA 230 Ruling, But It Will Be Misleadingly Quoted By Those Misrepresenting CDA 230
- DC Circuit Holds that Section 230 Protects Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo! Against Locksmiths’ Claims but Warns that Immunity Is Not ‘Limitless’
- D.C. Circuit Issues Sweeping Pro-Section 230 Opinion–Marshall’s Locksmith v. Google (Eric Goldman)
- Once Again, Section 230 Protects Twitter’s Account Suspension Decisions–Brittain v. Twitter (Eric Goldman)
- Historical Documentation Of Key Section 230 Cases
- Contract Breach Claims Against Google Survive First Amendment Defense–Dreamstime v. Google (Eric Goldman)
- Google CEO Sundar Pichai says tackling hate speech on YouTube is hard: YouTube is under fire for hosting channels and videos that foster hate speech and fake news.
- Susan Wojcicki Apologizes For Hurting LGBTQ Community, But Defends Decision To Let Steven Crowder Videos Stand
- The Impossibility Of Content Moderation Plays Out, Once Again, On YouTube
- Looking for the elusive Goldilocks standard of online content moderation (Andres Guadamuz)
- The Impossibility Of Content Moderation: YouTube’s New Ban On Nazis Hits Reporter Who Documents Extremism, Professor Teaching About Hitler
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 6/9/2019
- Creators Can’t Always Take Risks With Their Content. That’s Why YouTuber Community Standard Built Nebula — A Platform For Its Creators To Experiment.
- Activists Lobby For Google’s Removal From San Francisco Pride Festivities At Board Meeting
- This week’s dead Google product is Google Trips, may it rest in peace
- NY Times Publishes Laughable Propaganda To Argue Google Owes Newspapers Like Itself Free Money
- As Google Ponders Making Ad Blockers Less Useful, Mozilla Ramps Up Tracker Blocking
- Too much sweetener in your grande: ariana grande follows a long line of celebrities being sued for copyright infringement
- YouTube Creators Who Document Extremism Caught In Crossfire Of Site’s Evolving Policies
- YouTube’s anti-extremism crackdown targets journalist who documents extremism
- Bowing to pressure, YouTube will reconsider its harassment policies: ‘One particular challenge we face more and more these days is creator-on-creator harassment.’
- YouTube Adds Notification Settings For Users, Metrics For Creators To Clarify When Subscribers Are Alerted
- Livestreamers Are Changing The World With Their Generosity — And Last Month They Raised A Record $2.1 Million For St. Jude
- Emma Chamberlain Says She Spends Up To 30 Hours Editing Each Of Her Weekly Vlogs
- Fullscreen Signs 9 Creators, Including MindOfRez, Lexy Panterra, And Kellie Sweet
- Sway Calloway, Omarion, and MindofRez Sign With Fullscreen
- Influencer Marketing Platform CreatorIQ Raises $12 Million At $40 To $50 Million Valuation
- Canadian Digital Network BroadbandTV Surpasses 575 Million Monthly Viewers
- Vancouver-based BroadbandTV’s videos clock over 46.9 billion minutes of watch-time every month
- BroadbandTV Corp. is Now Viewed by More Than 575 Million Unique Viewers Each Month and Achieves 46.9 Billion Minutes of Watchtime
- Snapchat Testing In-App Shops For Top Influencers Like The Kardashians, Bhad Bhabie, Spencer Pratt
- Snapchat is experimenting with an events feature of its own: Time for Snapchat to start copying Facebook?
- Student Uses Snapchat’s ‘Gender Switch’ Filter to Nab Cop Allegedly Looking to Hook Up With Teen Girl: Police
- Lionsgate Pacts With Hulu, FX for Two-Year Output Deal
- Insights: Quibbling About Quibi – Too Big To Fail Or Too Expensive To Succeed?
- Quibi’s Steven Spielberg Horror Series Can Only Be Watched When It’s Dark Outside
- Having an ethical framework is the best way to mitigate risks in autonomous technology
- Devs hit Apple with class action lawsuit: Tech giant accused of anti-competitive practices and “profit killing” commissions
- Apple wants to acquire Intel’s 5G business to build its own modems, sources claim
- Michigan Senator Proposes Bill That Would Force YouTube To Stop Recommending Videos Featuring Kids
- Public Metrics Were Never Designed To Be As Important As They Are
- Jeffrey Katzenberg’s Quibi To Revive Iconic MTV Series ‘Singled Out’ And ‘Punk’d’
- The Obamas Ink Exclusive Deal With Spotify For Original Podcast Slate
- Barack and Michelle Obama Sign Spotify Deal to Produce Exclusive Podcasts
- Spotify’s ‘Sound Up’ Boot Camp Returns To Support Women Of Color In Podcasting
- Instagram one-ups TikTok with karaoke lyrics
- Instagram Adds New Custom Gender Options For User Profiles In Honor Of Pride
- Vox Media staff stages one-day walkout over union contract
- Amazon, reeling from recent regulatory hurdles, pumps $404M into its India business
- Amazon Scores U.K. Rights to Women’s Tennis
- HBO Cancels ‘Vice News Tonight’, As Vice’s News EVP Josh Tyrangiel Departs Company
- Mailchimp Created an In-House Entertainment Studio That’s Working With WME, Vice and Others
- Mailchimp Is Making Original Content Now, Because Why Not?
- Netflix’s ‘Love, Death & Robots’ Gets Second Season Helmed By Jennifer Yuh Nelson
- Introducing the Principled Artificial Intelligence Project
- The Other Half of the Truth: Staying human in an algorithmic world
- Artificial intelligence: Is your data well protected across borders?
- Artificial intelligence: Is your data well protected across borders?
- When Employees Are Using Software That IT Hasn’t Approved
COMMUNICATIONS
- Rogers Calls for Expansion of Media Bailout to Cover Broadcast Organizations…and Thinks Netflix Should Pay For It (Michael Geist)
- Netflix, Indigenous cultural groups partnering to develop talent in Canada
- Super-Secret Submissions: Corus and SaskTel Block Disclosure of Their BTLR Submissions Claiming Prejudice to Their Competitive Position (Michael Geist)
- Comcast broke law 445,000 times in scheme to inflate bills, judge finds
- Comcast’s fight against racial-bias lawsuit is taken up by Supreme Court: Comcast seeks dismissal of suit claiming refusal to carry TV channels was racist.
- Comcast Gets $9 Million Fine For Tricking Customers With ‘Worthless’ Protection Plans
- Here’s Why Net Neutrality Still Matters One Year After Repeal
- T-Mobile/Sprint merger faces big test as nine states sue to block it
- 10 State AGs Join Forces, Will Sue To Stop T-Mobile Sprint Merger
- FCC Rules to Permit Default Robocall Blocking by Telephone Companies
- FCC “Passes the Baton” on Stopping Robocalls to Carriers: Final Declaratory Ruling on Default Call Blocking Adopted – Caller Redress Mechanism Part of the Final Ruling
- FCC Announces Results of 5G Millimeter Wave Auctions; AT&T, Verizon Rank at Top of Winner List
- Spam robocalls are a growing problem, but now carriers are allowed to automatically block them: Big questions about how well the technology will work and who will end up paying are still on the table.
- Phone companies can block robocalls by default starting today, FCC says
- Microsoft Again Slams America’s Shaky Broadband Maps
- Small Idaho City Shows The Benefits Of Open Access Broadband Networks
- If You Think The Reason Internet Companies Snarf Up Your Data Is Because Their Services Are Free, Allow Me To Introduce You To The Telcos
PRIVACY
- Get All of Your Bots in a Row: 2018 California Bot Disclosure Law Comes Online Soon
- Spanish soccer league’s app caught eavesdropping on users in anti-piracy push
- We Read 150 Privacy Policies. They Were an Incomprehensible Disaster.
- Majority of poll respondents express support for extending privacy laws to political parties
- AG William Barr Doesn’t Want The Government Spying On The President But Thinks It’s OK If It Spies On Everyone Else
- Released Warrant Shows SFPD Started Monitoring Journalist’s Phone Weeks Before Officers Raided His Home
- Australian Federal Police Raid Even More Journalists Over Leaked Documents
- From face to DNA: New method aims to improve match between DNA sample and face database
- Oversight Says FBI’s Facial Recognition System Has Gotten Bigger, But Not Better
- Whining About Big Tech Doesn’t Protect Journalism
- Amazon, Law Enforcement Joining Forces To Turn Your Front Door Into An Integral Part Of The Surveillance State
- Google confirms that advanced backdoor came preinstalled on Android devices
- China Based Company is Believed to be Behind HiddenWasp Malware
- Is the GDPR fulfilling its real purposes in the age of fake news?
- Does Privacy Shield Provide Adequate Protections?
- The Future Of School Safety Includes Round-The-Clock Surveillance Of Students
- The clever cryptography behind Apple’s “Find My” feature
- Client Alert: Privacy law update: Nevada and Maine Pass Laws Restricting the Sale of Personal Information
- Maine Passes Broadband Privacy Bill
- Maine Enacts Nation’s Strictest Data Privacy Restrictions on Internet Service Providers
- New York State’s Privacy Law Would Be Among The Toughest In The US
- Nevada’s New Privacy Law Has Data Sale Opt-Out Rights
- Oregon Latest State to Require Reasonable Security for IoT Devices
- More States Move to Restrict Companies’ Use or Sale of Personal Information
- The International Encryption Debate: Privacy Versus Big Brother
CREATIVITY
- Pepe the Frog’s Creator Obtains Monetary Settlement from Infowars
- U.S. – District Court reversed: No fair use defense for Adams Morgan neighborhood photo
- Artist takes on Frida Kahlo Corporation in copyright spat
- Rolling Over: Bitter Sweet Symphony copyright dispute between Jagger, Richards and Ashcroft finally resolved
- Copyright Office Urges Federal Publicity Rights for Moral Rights Protection
- The end of political cartoons at The New York Times
- New Canadian Report Offers Balanced Recommendations for Progressive Copyright Reform
- Radiohead Dropped 18 Hours Of Unreleased Music To Screw Pirates
- Radiohead release hours of hacked MiniDiscs to benefit Extinction Rebellion: Climate activists thank the band for ‘unprecedented support’
- The U.S. entertainment industry should know about the astounding contractual protections the EU just guaranteed for authors and performers.
- Kawhi Leonard Accuses Nike Of Trying To Steal His Logo Via Trademark
- The King of the North v. Nike: A Clash Over Valuable IP Rights
- Tom Brady Attempts To Trademark The Nickname He Doesn’t Even Want, That’s Already Used By A Famous NY Met With Dementia
- [Statute of] Queen Anne’s Revenge? Supreme Court Grants Certiorari in Allen v. Cooper
- The LawBytes Podcast, Episode 15: Cows, Cars, and Copyright – A Conversation With Myra Tawfik on the IP Concerns With Implementing the USMCA (Michael Geist)
- Canadian Copyright Mid-Year Update – Looking Back Through 2018 and Ahead In 2019
Jon
News of the Week; June 5, 2019
GAMES
- Mario Kart-themed go-kart company loses against Nintendo in court, again
- Iron Maiden is suing Ion Maiden dev 3D Realms for trademark infringement
- Iron Maiden sue 3D Realms over Early Access title Ion Maiden: Metal band accuses developer of “incredibly blatant” infringement
- Mobile developer DoubleJump accused of cloning: Cannon Brawl creator Theresa Duringer claims Canadian studio copied her competition entry
- Blog: FAQ on The Protecting Children from Abusive Games Act
- United States Senator Proposes Law to Regulate Microtransactions and Loot Boxes
- Games on the Google Play Store now required to disclose loot box odds
- Google Play mandates odds disclosure for loot boxes: Android storefront also tweaks rules regarding hate speech and sexual content
- Google Play Now Requires Disclosure of Loot Box Odds
- Google’s New Play Store Policies Make Developers Disclose The Odds Of Getting Good Items In Loot Boxes
- Google introduces stricter Families policies to protect younger players: Android developers will now need to declare their target audience and ensure their title does not unintentionally attract children
- Google to reveal Stadia pricing information this week: More details on the streaming service’s launch and games will arrive on Thursday
- Report: Destiny 2 is coming to Google Stadia
- 238 Google Play apps with >440 million installs made phones nearly unusable
- Don’t Miss: How Dicey Dungeons balances chance and predictability
- Cloud platform Coherence wants to ‘democratize’ online game development
- Sony: Microsoft cloud partnership was a response to Google Stadia – PlayStation’s Jim Ryan says new thinking is required to avoid, “having events around us overtake us”
- Sony could use ‘cross-generational play’ to soften next-gen transition
- PlayStation Plus prices to rise in Asia and Europe: Price increases take effect in August, will vary by country and type of subscription
- Online gaming disorder test calls for volunteers: Academics plan to use the data to further study the impact of newly-classified condition
- Researchers pit DeepMind AI against human Quake IIIplayers
- Did Fallout 76 launch too early or just in time to be saved?
- Niantic is ending Apple Watch support for Pokemon Go
- tvOS 13 and iOS 13 will support PlayStation 4 and Xbox One controllers
- Minecraft Earth gets first live demo, coming to iOS “this summer”
- Support for Telltale’s Minecraft: Story Mode will end this month: “As you might have heard, its publisher is no longer in business,” Mojang said
- Apple expands tvOS gaming with PS4, Xbox One S controller support: Say goodbye to fiddly third-party MFi controllers.
- Missed Kinect-tions – E3 in the time of motion controls – 10 Years Ago This Month: Microsoft unveils Project Natal, Sony debuts the Move controller, and optimism runs unchecked
- Who really won E3 2018?: With another E3 fast approaching, we look back at the big games of last year that went on to become commercial hits
- First UK digital chart: Total War: Three Kingdoms was last week’s true No.1 – Team Sonic Racing would have had to settle for No.2
- Three Kingdoms breaks Total War records with 1m sold: Strength in the Chinese market pushed Creative Assembly’s game to a new launch week record
- War Stories: How This War of Mine manipulates your emotions
- Next-gen consoles must not “segregate” Rainbow Six community: Ubisoft’s Alexandre Remy wants to maintain one community for Rainbow Six Siege
- Microsoft rebrands Windows 10 Xbox app as the Xbox Console Companion
- Gears 5 to launch on Steam as Xbox opens up to other PC stores: Xbox Game Studios titles will now launch on multiple PC stores to provide, “choice in where you buy your PC games”
- BlueStacks Inside aims to give mobile devs a painless way to launch on Steam
- Blog: Marketing an upcoming Steam game
- To Infinite and beyond: Attracting new Halo fans without a new game – 343 Industries’ Kiki Wolfkill explains how the studio’s transmedia efforts will prepare the world for Master Chief’s return
- Two of Korea’s largest gaming firms bid for Nexon parent company: Netmarble and Kakao joined by three equity firms in bid for NXC
- Mail.ru plans to enter digital distribution space with launch of new gaming brand: My.Games will continue work of parent company’s gaming division in developing, publishing, and funding new titles
- Hardware and software sales on the decline at GameStop
- GameStop share price hits 16-year low after Q1 results
- GameStop shares plummet nearly 39%: VSpecialty retailer trading at lowest price since 2003 after reporting sinking sales and halting shareholder dividends
- GameStop quarterlies show slumping sales: Collectibles and new Switch hardware sales are up, but nearly everything else is down as retailer eliminates quarterly shareholder dividends
- GameStop COO and CFO Rob Lloyd steps down amid executive shuffle
- Sports Direct makes £51.9m offer for GAME: Retail giant triggers cash offer for full GAME retail business after acquiring another 10%
- Coherence: “Lowering the barrier to entry has always proved to be a game changer” – Dino Patti on joining forces with David Helgason and Peter Björklund to democratise online game development
- Microsoft is bringing Xbox Game Pass to Windows PC
- Microsoft to launch Xbox Game Pass on PC: Custom version of the service will have 100+ games, including day-and-date launches of first-party titles
- Xbox Game Pass is coming to Windows 10, but many questions remain
- Esports Upstart 100 Thieves Signs Gaming Luminary Jack ‘CouRage’ Dunlop
- Take-Two CEO: “Fortnite never affected the industry” – Strauss Zelnick explains why free-to-play games won’t change premium business models, and why platform revenue share splits may soon change
- ‘Fortnite’ Champ Nick ‘Nickmercs’ Kolcheff Joins FaZe Clan After Abrupt Departure From 100 Thieves
- Audience Growth For ‘Fortnite’ Gamers Ninja And KittyPlays Stays Strong Ahead of E3
- FaZe Clan Is Being Sued For “Ransacking” The Office It Shared With Former Partner Company Hubrick
- Riot Games launches premium viewing service for LoL esports: Pro View will be available for this summer’s esports competitions, with prices starting at $14.99
- Tencent reportedly gives up on Arena of Valor: Tencent spokesman denies reports overseas marketing and sales team were disbanded
- Zynga launches Tiny Royale on Snapchat
- Zynga launches Snap Games-exclusive battle royale game
- Quake III Arena is the latest game to see AI top humans
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare brings cross-platform play to the series
- In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’s campaign you’ll play both as soldiers and ‘freedom fighters’ – As special forces you’ll have high-tech gear, but as a rebel you’ll have to make do with improvised weapons and guerrilla tactics.
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare reveal: Old name, new campaign, new brutality
- Apple’s ARKit 3 offers real-time people occlusion and motion capture
- Dragon Quest Walk is a Pokemon Go-style AR game from Square Enix
- UK Charts: Blood & Truth is the first VR game to claim No.1: In a tight boxed chart, the PlayStation VR critical hit storms to the top
- Nintendo brings Labo VR support to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
- Report: VR/AR company Leap Motion sold to UltraHaptics for $30 million
- The clash between storytelling and selling in Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery – Jam City president Josh Yguado on the challenge of monetising the world famous franchise responsibly
- The balance between fact and fantasy when building game worlds: Croteam’s Nika Dvoravic shares how studying architecture has – and hasn’t – helped her work on Serious Sam
- Failbetter Games’ quest to eradicate crunch: Adam Myers and Hannah Flynn talk about making Sunless Skies with a dedication to ethical development practices
- Bossa Studios to close Worlds Adrift in July: Ambitious MMO made with SpatialOS lasted one year in Early Access, but didn’t find a big enough audience
- Bulletstorm and Gears of War developer People Can Fly opens New York studio
- Stillfront acquires War Commander dev Kixeye for $90 million
- Stillfront Group acquires Kixeye for $90m: Global studio group continues to grow portfolio with four live titles from mobile RTS developer
- Discovery launches Discovery Game Studios for licensing, distribution: Label has 12 games launched and more on the way in partnership with Ubisoft, Jam City, and others
- Starbreeze is laying off a quarter of its entire workforce
- Starbreeze lays off a quarter of its staff in further efforts to cut costs: Struggling Swedish publisher makes organisational changes that will save £310,000 per month
- Starbreeze applies for second extension on reconstruction period: Troubled Swedish publisher wants another three months to get itself back on track
- YoYo Games shuts down publishing division after struggling to ‘add value’
- YoYo Games closes publishing division: Also halves mobile licence cost in hopes of attracting more developers
- Quantic Dream pushes into third-party publishing with new hire: Microsoft veteran Sebastian Motte will be director of third-party studios at the French company
- Zynga sells San Francisco headquarters for $600m
- Tesla’s next big feature is… a port of Cuphead?
- Cuphead is launching for Tesla cars
- Cuphead arriving on Tesla dashboards later this year: Punishing bullet hell platformer joins Atari classics on in-car systems
- GameBender console merges video games with kid-friendly programming
- (Religious Game) Developer or Religious (Game Developer)?
- Indie publisher Raw Fury has acquired the rights to theKingdom franchise
- Blog: On narrative from a cognitive perspective
- Blog: On narrative from a cognitive perspective – Part 2
- Don’t Miss: Ray Muzyka’s Baldur’s Gate II postmortem
- Don’t Miss: Why are so many devs employing a retro ’90s aesthetic?
- Don’t Miss: 9 things we can learn about game design fromDark Souls
- Video: Using empathy as a game mechanic in Unravel
- Video: The things I wish I knew before becoming an art director
- Video: How Blizzard brought Orphea to Heroes of the Storm
- Video: Building interactive worlds the Walt Disney Imagineering way
- Game Design Deep Dive: Frenetic local multiplayer inEmergency Water Landing
- Eight ways your games can inspire climate action: “I want to see games trade material growth for social growth,” says Fe designer and climate activist Hugo Bille
- MAME for the masses? “Legends” arcade cabinet could thread that needle
- Gearbox names Borderlands 3 gun after fan with terminal cancer: Trevor Eastman was also able to play a section of the game ahead of its September launch
- The Institute of Play is winding down after 11 years
- Institute of Play shutting down: New York non-profit focused on integrating game design with education closes after 11 years
- Control pre-E3 hands-on: The modern-day X-Men video game we’ve always wanted
- Post-End Game, Russo Brothers to adapt Magic: The Gatheringfor Netflix
- Netflix and Avengers Endgame directors working on a Magic The Gathering TV show: Wizards of the Coast is bringing its 25 year-old IP to the screen
- RPG Time: The Legend of Wright, The Missing, and more awarded at BitSummit
- Detroit: Become Human, Nintendo Labo among Games for Change Awards finalists
- Thumper: Pocket Edition and Ordia among 2019 Apple Design Award winners
DIGITAL
- The New Commissioner of Competition Requests Changes to Address Digital Economy Challenges
- Fixing Fair Dealing for the Digital Age: What Lies Behind the Copyright Review’s Most Important Recommendation (Michael Geist)
- The Authoritative Canadian Copyright Review: Industry Committee Issues Balanced, Forward-Looking Report on the Future of Canadian Copyright Law (Michael Geist)
- This Is Why We Can’t Have Fun Things: The Copyright Dispute Over Lord Buckethead’s UK Political Career
- Federal Court Issues A Very Good Very Bad Decision Where Copyright And Free Speech Meet
- European Court Of Justice Suggests Maybe The Entire Internet Should Be Censored And Filtered
- Facebook Investors Voted in Support of Proposals to Fire Mark Zuckerberg as Chairman, but Zuckerberg Still Holds Power
- Congressional hearings signal growing antitrust problems for big tech
- House starts antitrust probe of Facebook, Google, other tech giants: It’s meant to be a sweeping investigation of Silicon Valley companies.
- Facebook, Google stocks fall on imminent antitrust probes
- Killing News Comments Only Solidified Google, Facebook Dominance
- Facebook Screws Up a Critical Piece of Its Anti-Revenge Porn Tech
- This is Silly: Pelosi Says Facebook Is A ‘Willing Enabler’ Of Russian Election Meddling. It Is Not
- Shallow Fakes: Why Facebook Was Right Not To Delete The Doctored Video Of Nancy Pelosi
- Sheriff’s Deputy Sued After Arresting Man For Criticizing Him On Facebook
- Facebook Fails To Block EU Court Case That Could Rule Against Most Transatlantic Data Flows
- Twitter acquires AI startup to help it fight fake news: Its technology has a 93 percent success rate in detecting fake news, according to ‘TechCrunch.’
- Twitter And Liz Mair Explain Why Devin Nunes’ Lawsuit Doesn’t Belong In Virginia
- We Found The Guy Behind the Viral ‘Drunk Pelosi’ Video: The video was uploaded by a sports blogger from the Bronx, currently on probation for domestic battery.
- The 2020 campaigns aren’t ready for deepfakes
- On YouTube’s Digital Playground: YouTube’s Recommendation Algorithm Is Under Scrutiny For Surfacing Harmful Content
- On YouTube’s Digital Playground, an Open Gate for Pedophiles
- YouTube’s “Wormhole” Of Videos And Comments Fetishizing Young Children Is Still Thriving
- An update on our efforts to protect minors and families
- YouTube bans neo-Nazi and Holocaust-denial videos in push against hate speech
- YouTube Bans Supremacist Content, Including Neo-Nazi and Holocaust Denial Videos
- YouTube To Remove Thousands Of Extremist Videos, But Rules Steven Crowder’s Harassment Of Carlos Maza Can Stay
- YouTube harassment of gay journalist “doesn’t violate our policies”: Video platform appears to demonetize YouTuber Stephen Crowder, conditions of reinstatement unclear
- YouTube Bans Kids From Live-Streaming Video Unless Accompanied by an Adult
- YouTube Pivots Physical ‘Spaces’ Strategy To Emphasize Region-Specific Pop-Ups
- YouTube Integrates Ticket Vendor AXS To Help Artists Bolster Concert Sales
- YouTube Will Debut Augmented Reality Ads That Let Users Virtually Try On Lipsticks
- How T-Series took over YouTube
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 6/2/2019
- Montreal-Based YouTube Giant WatchMojo Taps Bank As It Seeks Potential Sale
- German Political Leader Questions YouTubers’ Right To Tell Fans Not To Vote For Her Party, Urgently Summons Her Advisers In Response — By Fax
- Patrick Starrr Launches Influencer Incubator And Management Agency ‘The Beauty Coop’
- Influencer Marketing Council Releases “Fraud Best Practices and Guidelines”
- Influencer Marketing Council Provides Tips on Influencer Fraud
- Insights: Beating Burnout, The Biggest Threat To Influencers Everywhere
- Beware of the “influencer”
- The Florida Bar Regulates, But Doesn’t Ban, Competitive Keyword Ads (Eric Goldman)
- ‘They have you in a cultish grip’: the women losing thousands to online beauty schemes
- KSI’s Video Response To Deji Gets Demonetized After Copyright Claim From Logan Paul
- Supreme Court Opens Door to Antitrust Claims Against Online Platforms in Apple Inc. v. Pepper
- Apple CEO Denies the Tech Giant Is a Monopoly but Says U.S. ‘Scrutiny Is Fair’
- Apple will soon kill off iTunes and, with it, an entire era of music history
- Insights: Apple Dumps The Web, And iTunes, In An App-Driven Privacy Push
- Apple Is Officially Killing iTunes for Mac, Replacing It With Three Dedicated Media Apps
- Apple is being sued by iOS devs over ‘profit-killing’ App Store fees
- Answers to some of your iTunes questions: Old libraries, Windows, and more
- Apple’s Hire of a Disney+ Video Executive Highlights Talent Rivalry
- Disney+ ‘to lead’ doubling of western Europe SVOD base
- U.S. Now Requiring Visa Applicants to List Social-Media Names
- Justice Department Is Preparing Antitrust Investigation of Google: Probe would closely examine Google’s practices related to search, other businesses
- Tubular Labs Global Video Measurement Alliance expands with first focus on social video
- Systemic Algorithmic Harms: Theories of “bias” alone will not enable us to engage in critiques of broader socio-technical systems.
- Ai-Da, the humanoid robot artist, gears up for first solo exhibition
- AI may help with alternative dispute resolution: Won’t replace humans
- This Clothing Line Was Designed By AI: ‘Glitch’ is a new company that sells dresses generated by machine learning algorithms.
- Watching AI Slowly Forget a Human Face Is Incredibly Creepy
- New Study Shows That All This Ad Targeting Doesn’t Work That Well
- Vine Successor ‘Byte’ Has A Live Beta, Tech Review Creator Sam Sheffer Calls It “Very Promising”
- Snap Sells Its User Location Data Company ‘Placed’ To Competitor Foursquare
- Foursquare buys Placed from Snap Inc. on the heels of $150M in new funding
- ESPN Will Test NBA Game Stream Aimed Just at Teens
- Netflix Unveils Trailer For First Awesomeness TV Series, Teen Shoplifting Drama ‘Trinkets’
- Netflix Is Piloting An Instagram-Like, In-App Feed To Promote Its Series, Films
- Netflix Is Nearing Subscriber Peak in the U.S., PwC Says
- Netflix, Which Has Previously Touted Its Ability To Compete With Piracy, Joins Australian Antipiracy Efforts
- Chinese Tech Giant Alibaba Invests $100 Million Into TikTok Competitor ‘VMate’
- Alibaba pumps $100 million into Vmate to grow its video app in India
- 91% of Hulu Subscribers Still Have Cable
- Israeli Court Rules Bitcoin is Not a Form of Currency Exempted From Tax
- Virtual Currency Gets Real Social Media Ads
- Cryptocurrency firms renew push to break free from SEC rules
- A Legal Fight Against The SEC May Represent Our Last Hope For An Open, Distributed Internet
- German Politicians Seek To Regulate ‘Legal Tech’ Companies
- Massachusetts AG’s Lawsuit Against E-Cigarette Retailer Provides Guidance On How Not to Market to Kids
- “WHAT HAPPENED????” How a remote tech writing gig proved to be an old-school scam
- FTC Reminds Crowdfunders: Deliver on Your Promises or Refund
- FTC Launches Two More Actions under the Consumer Review Fairness Act, Requires Companies to Stop Restricting Reviews through Form Contracts
- eSignature and ePayment News and Trends
- No Vicarious Liability Absent Financial Benefit, Even in Context of Contributory Infringement
- Good Faith Belief that Content isn’t Copyrighted is Bad Infringement Defense
COMMUNICATIONS
- SCC decision highlights tension between access to justice and party autonomy: Gives clarity around arbitration clauses
- Cogeco Warns Against Online Video Services Undermining Canadian Sovereignty in BTLR Submission (Michael Geist)
- The Trouble with Trebles: Fourth Circuit Upholds Record $61 Million Vendor Liability Verdict in TCPA Class Action
- If ‘Big Tech’ Is a Huge Antitrust Problem, Why Are We Ignoring Telecom?
- For 5G, AT&T and T-Mobile buy $1.8 billion worth of 24GHz spectrum across US
- Trump Whines About AT&T, Ignores His FCC Has Spent Two Years Kissing The Company’s Ass
- What if Amazon took Sprint’s place as the US’s fourth wireless carrier?
- DOJ Floats A Truly Stupid Idea To Salvage The Sprint, T-Mobile Merger
- Now I Get It! FCC’s Potentially Forthcoming Call Blocking Rule Explained- Carriers May Soon Be Able to Auto-Enroll You Into Call Blocking Features By Default
- Ajit Pai works to cap funding for rural and poor people, gets GOP backing
- FCC Broadband Report: What Broadband Competition Problem?
- US Telcos Are Giving Up On Residential Broadband And Nobody Seems To Have Noticed
- Verizon avoided a decade’s worth of taxes—a new law could make it pay up
- Investors Slam Comcast For Lack Of Lobbying Transparency
- Qualcomm Used Patent Monopolies To Shake Down The Entire Mobile Phone Industry For Decades
- Techdirt Podcast Episode 214: Blame Fox News Before Facebook
PRIVACY
- Surreptitious Recordings Offend a Student’s Right to Privacy at School
- Privacy commissioner suspends consultation following Equifax data breach, say lawyers
- Privacy Commissioner Consults on Cross-Border Data Flows
- Organizations Can Expect Increased Canadian Regulation for Privacy Violations
- Nude Video Chats Are Voyeurism
- Nearly 50 million Instagram users’ data exposed, adding to Facebook’s privacy woes
- Moscow to create large-scale facial recognition system, mayor says
- Army’s Next Infantry Weapon Could Have Facial-Recognition Technology
- Data Governance Best Practices: How to Oversee Your Content
- Microsoft practically begs Windows users to fix wormable BlueKeep flaw
- Microsoft says mandatory password changing is “ancient and obsolete”
- Baltimore ransomware perp pinky-swears he didn’t use NSA exploit
- Baltimore’s bill for ransomware: Over $18 million, so far
- San Francisco Police Union Steps Up To Criticize Police Chief Over His Handling Of The Leak Investigation
- Internal Report Says DOJ Did Nothing Wrong Targeting Journalists’ Communications To Hunt Down Leakers
- Australian Federal Police Raid Journalist’s Home Over Publication Of Leaked Documents
- “WHAT HAPPENED????” How a remote tech writing gig proved to be an old-school scam
- Happy Birthday GDPR. At one year on, what have we learned?
CREATIVITY
- CNN harassed while reporting on Tiananmen Square
- China’s Rebel Cartoonist Unmasks: Badiucao’s work has brought him praise from critics – and threats from Beijing.
- Which Way with Huawei?
- Singapore’s Fake News Law Is Also An Internet Surveillance Law
- Canada Introduces USMCA Implementation Bill…Without a General Copyright Term Extension Provision (Michael Geist)
- Judge Rules that Documentary’s Use of “Super Bowl Shuffle” Didn’t Violate Copyright
- Red Label Music Publishing v. Chila Productions
- Australian police raid public broadcaster over coffee and sandwiches
- AFEX Deplores Massive Crackdown on Free Expression Rights by Sudanese Army
- Canadian Copyright Law Updates
- Paradigm Shift 2: More recommended changes to Canadian copyright law announced
- Heffel Gallery Limited: The National Importance of Foreign Art in Canada
- Federal Court of Appeal Weighs in on Cultural Property: A Win For Canadian Museums and Art Galleries
- Settlement In Tom Brady Photo Case Leaves Issue Of Copyright On Embedded Images Unsettled
- Salvator Mundi painting pulled out of upcoming Louvre exhibition
- Forget Geoffrey Rush: most defamation cases are petty and incredibly local
Jon
News of the Week; May 29, 2019
GAMES
- Sony Europe taken to court for alleged consumer rights violations: ACCC alleges PlayStation Store refund policy does not reflect the consumer rights protected under Australian law
- Zenimax settles ‘Redfall’ trademark dispute with book publisher
- Bethesda And Zenimax Settle ‘Redfall’ Trademark Dispute With Trollish Book Publisher
- ‘Gaming disorder’ officially recognized as a disease despite industry protests
- World Health Organization makes ‘gaming disorder’ a recognised illness: Classification to come into effect January 1, 2022
- Trade groups decry gaming disorder classification: Six industry associations from around the world say evidence of the condition is not “sufficiently robust”
- South Korean government split on gaming disorder: Ministry of Culture argues diagnosis violates right to cultural freedom while Ministry of Welfare supports the WHO classification
- Senators Hawley, Markey, And Blumenthal File Legislation To Stop Manipulative Video Game Practices Aimed At Children
- US loot box bill receives bipartisan support: Republican senator’s ban on loot boxes pay-to-win mechanics for children has been co-sponsored by two Democrats
- GOP, Dem Senators officially introduce loot box, “pay-to-win” legislation
- A BILL To regulate certain pay-to-win microtransactions and sales of loot boxes in interactive digital entertainment products, and for other purposes.
- Games industry being “dragged through the mud” by Belgian loot box ruling: Flemish Games Association questions the motives of Belgian Gaming Commission report on loot boxes
- Proposed anti-loot box bill has big implications for devs and publishers
- Shocking U.S. “Loot Box” Bill Should Surprise No One: The Video Game Industry Under Attack (Ryan Black, Tyson Gratton)
- The Relationship of Loot Box Purchases to Problem Video Gaming and Problem Gambling (Wen Li Anthony, Devin Mills & Lisa Nower)
- Rage 2 Drops Denuvo In Record Time After Customer Outcry
- FaZe Clan’s Contract With Tfue Leaks, FaZe Banks Acknowledges Its Terms Are “Horrible” For Gamers
- Tfue Lawsuit Sparks Scrutiny of Gamer Agreements and Esports Agency Activity
- Riot forms governing body for scholastic esports: Riot Scholastic Association of America to oversee high school and collegiate League of Legends competitions
- Overwatch League commissioner joins Epic’s Fortnite esports push
- Overwatch League commissioner Nate Nanzer leaving Blizzard for Epic Games
- Gearbox didn’t file a grievance against former legal counsel: Wade Callender confirms that the Borderlands studio has not followed through on its threat
- The Epic Games Store exceeded THQ Nordic’s expectations, says CEO
- ZeniMax amicably resolves “Redfall” trademark dispute: Contested trademark is thought by fans to be a possible title for the next Elder Scrolls game
- US considers 25% tariff on game consoles: Trump administration proposes tax on “essentially all products” coming from China as part of escalating trade dispute
- Roblox targets China with Tencent education partnership: Joint venture will run educational programmes at first, with Chinese launch of Roblox “the ultimate goal”
- Report: Tencent backs away from Arena of Valor after it fails to take off in the West
- Tencent reportedly gives up on Arena of Valor: Honor of Kings’ Western revamp has been left to “live or die on its own course” after rift with Riot Games
- Bossa shutting down Worlds Adrift, says game is ‘no longer commercially viable’
- The Playdate is a new crank-clad handheld from Firewatchpublisher Panic
- Firewatch publisher unveils Playdate gaming handheld: New hardware from Panic will include a game each week from a different designer — and a hand crank
- Playdate handheld pressured Playdate event to change name, says organizer: Nathalie Lawhead criticizes Panic rep for “bullying” people building the culture the handheld is marketed toward
- Razer signals the end of Ouya with online store closure: The microconsole brand had survived as part of the Forge TV service, but that will close in June
- Telltale Games titles are being delisted from GOG
- All Telltale Games to be pulled from GOG next week: Eight more series to be removed, but 2K is working on getting Tales from the Borderlands reinstated to digital storefronts
- Patrice Désilets’ Ancestors will be exclusive to Epic Games Store for three months: Staggered console release means Panache Digital’s first game will be exclusive to EGS when it launches in August
- From Rockstar Lincoln studio head to anti-crunch advocate: Mark Lloyd shares how he embraced crunch culture, how he got out of it, and how he’s dealing with the lingering guilt and regret
- Blog: Why crunch will break the best and brightest in the industry
- Four new Pokemon projects have been unveiled, including cross-platform trading hub
- Pokémon Home adds cloud service to series: The Pokémon Company also announced new mobile titles, including one that tracks sleeping patterns, and more plans for China
- Pokémon is a masterclass in brand management | Opinion: Last night’s reveals offered more evidence of The Pokémon Company’s masterful 23 year strategy
- Super Mario Maker 2’s paid online mode won’t let you matchmake with friends
- Dauntless saw 500,000 new players within 24 hours of its cross-platform launch
- Dead Cells has surpassed 2 million copies sold
- Subway Surfers surpasses 2.5 billion lifetime downloads
- These were the best-selling new releases on Steam in April
- 13 data centers in key game dev areas now support xCloud, testing open for some devs
- Don’t Miss: The blessing and the curse of early buzz forRime
- How everything has fallen into place for Tetris: The classic puzzle game is making headlines once again, just in time for its 35th birthday celebrations
- GitHub launches Patreon-like crowdfunding program GitHub Sponsors
- Zynga sells headquarters for $600 million to help finance acquisitions
- Blog: Understanding the impact of the creative gaming revolution
- Blog: 7 essential ingredients for building tension in horror games
- Blog: The double-edged sword of live service games
- Blog: A technical approach to Titan’s environment inAfterlight
- Blog: Design trajectories in Let’s Play: Ancient Greek Punishment: Chess Edition
- A composer’s insight to making music for games: Workflow, creativity, and tech
- Opinion: How Draugen lets down its characters
- Don’t Miss: The making of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
- Don’t Miss: 7 classic arcade games that can still teach developers lessons today
- Video: Cultivating and caring for great AI behavior trees
- Video: The grind behind Boyfriend Dungeon’s $272K funding success
- Sonic the Hedgehog film delayed: Paramount Pictures pushes back Sega mascot’s live-action film as it overhauls character design
- TIGA: UK industry now contributes record £1.8b to GDP – New report shows UK headcount at an all-time high of 16,532 full-time staff
- Superhot passes two million lifetime sales: VR accounts for around 40% of game’s total sales
- VR and AR must converge, says Unity XR lead: Timoni West foresees a future where VR/AR/mixed reality technology outpaces consoles, replaces PCs entirely
- Unity announces support for Labo VR goggles
- Augmented reality changes how people interact and communicate, study finds
- Superdata: Apex Legends digital revenue down 74% in two months – EA’s battle royale title shows second month of steep digital revenue decline, falls out of PC and console top ten
- EA exec lays out a vision of the future: Chief Studios Officer Laura Miele shares her optimism, predicts a machine-learning powered metaverse of gaming within 10 years
- Quake II gets free real-time raytracing updates on June 6
- Leigh Alexander: “Power fantasies are boring”: The award-winning narrative designer is tired of games giving players whatever they want — it’s time we explored “disempowerment fantasies” instead
- Total War: Three Kingdoms is a massive hit in China
- How Total War conquered China to break franchise records: The latest Total War game has got off to the best start in the franchise’s history as Three Kingdoms rules in China
- Sony CEO: Consoles a ‘niche market’ within the games industry
- Putting PlayStation on the silver screen: Efforts to adapt games to TV and film have generally been poorly received – but the cultural and business climate we’re in may be perfect for Sony’s new venture
- Sony: Next PlayStation’s success will depend on backwards compatibility and streaming – Both Remote Play and PlayStation Now will be key pillars for Sony’s next generation offering
- Kojima’s Death Stranding gets November 8 release date, wackadoo trailer: If the glowing “bridge baby” isn’t enough for you, there’s now a tentacle-boss tease.
- UK charts: Team Sonic Racing laps the competition -Sega’s kart racer is first Sonic game to top charts in 11 years as Rage 2 slides a few spots in its second week
- Sonic the Hedgehog film delayed: Paramount Pictures pushes back Sega mascot’s live-action film as it overhauls character design
- Bossa shutting down Worlds Adrift, says game is ‘no longer commercially viable’
- WeQ acquires and rebrands Booster Studios to branch into publishing
- Video: A Dream Daddy dev’s survival guide for terminally online indies
- The YouTube Gaming app is shutting down this week
- YouTube Will Permanently Shutter Standalone Gaming App On May 30
- Google Play’s new dev policies aim to improve child privacy and safety
- Google kills its Twitch killer—the YouTube Gaming app shuts down this week
- Google investing €600m into Finnish data centre ahead of Stadia
- Why the quirky Playdate portable could succeed where Ouya failed
- GDPR: One year in | Opinion: Too many games businesses remain complacent about complying with GDPR, says Keywords Studios’ Andrew Brown
- ‘If You’re Playing EVE Online You Basically Already Have An MBA,’ Says Player Who Built His Own Company
- A Way Out picks up Game of the Year at Nordic Game Awards: Hazelight Studios’ game beat Supercell and EA DICE to the prize
- In praise of ultra-short games
DIGITAL
- Zuckerberg and Sandberg ignore Canadian subpoena, face possible contempt vote
- Facebook Took Down 2.2 Billion Fake Accounts in Q1
- Conservative Bias? Twitter Bans Famous ‘Resistance’ Heroes
- Distorted Videos of Nancy Pelosi Spread on Facebook and Twitter, Helped by Trump
- Trump allies spread distorted videos of Pelosi
- Facebook on fake Pelosi video: Being ‘false’ isn’t enough for removal
- Backlash after Facebook agrees Nancy Pelosi video is fake but declines to delete it: ‘We don’t have a policy that stipulates that the information you post on Facebook must be true,’ the company said
- Why it took Facebook so long to act against the doctored Pelosi video
- Pelosi says altered videos show Facebook leaders were ‘willing enablers’ of Russian election interference
- Deepfakes are getting better—but they’re still easy to spot
- Shady Political Ads Are Pouring Into Facebook. We Still Can’t Track Them.
- Section 230 Doesn’t End Lawsuit Claiming Facebook Facilitated Sex Trafficking–Doe v. Facebook (Eric Goldman)
- Section 230 Helps Facebook Easily Defeat Claims Over a User’s Post–Richard v. Facebook (Eric Goldman)
- Dear Kara Swisher: Don’t Let Your Hatred Of Facebook Destroy Free Speech Online
- New Assange indictment adds 17 espionage charges
- Federal Prosecutors Questioned The Assange Prosecution, But Their Concerns Were Ignored By The DOJ
- The Wikimedia Foundation Asks The European Court Of Human Rights To Rule Against Turkey’s Two-Year Block Of All Wikipedia Versions
- Jim Balsillie : ‘Data is not the new oil – it’s the new plutonium’: Lawmakers told technology is disrupting governance and if left unchecked could render liberal democracy obsolete
- Civil society, industry and government must join hands to protect free speech, curb extreme speech: Our next challenge is to find the mix of tools and approaches that strengthen public discourse that work in the digital age.
- Forget ‘Breaking Up’ Internet Companies, Senator Josh Hawley Says They Should All Die Because They’re Too Popular
- Want to fix big tech? Change what classes are required for a computer science degree: When people learn to code, they should also learn about ethics, humanities, and equity.
- Social Media Companies Seek Government Content Regulation?
- Regulating social media
- Is Fake News spam?
- Several Pro And College Sports Teams Suspended From Twitter Over Mystery DMCA Notices
- Donald Trump’s Wikipedia Entry Is a War Zone: It’s one of the most popular pages on the internet. But behind the scenes, editors are fighting a brutal, petty battle over every word.
- Canada Digital Charter Announced
- Canada Introduces a Digital Charter to Better Protect Privacy
- Canada proposes to increase penalties for tech giants in its Digital Charter
- Feds call on Competition Bureau to address Big Data
- Youth and Artificial Intelligence: Where We Stand (Alexa Hasse, Sandra Cortesi, Andres Lombana-Bermudez, Urs Gasser)
- Robots conduct daily health inspections of schoolchildren in China
- When algorithms mess up, the nearest human gets the blame: A look at historical case studies shows us how we handle the liability of automated systems.
- Hollywood Is Quietly Using Ai To Help Decide Which Movies To Make: AI will tell you who to cast and predict how much money you’ll make
- Poland has filed a complaint against the European Union’s copyright directive: The directive was approved in April, and goes into force in June
- Internet Regulation: Endgame (Andres Guadamuz)
- Kentucky to Begin Taxing Video Streaming Services under Telecom Tax
- Streaming Services Far Exceed Traditional Cable in Customer Satisfaction
- HuffPost Gets 512(c) Defense for Contributor-Uploaded Photo–Downs v. Oath (Eric Goldman)
- Dark Web Provider Escapes Wrongful Death Drug Case
- Filtering Actions by Anti-Malware Software Provider Protected by CDA “Good Samaritan” Immunity
- Here’s How Many Views YouTubers Need To Make It Onto The ‘Trending’ Tab (Study)
- YouTube’s Trending section puts creators at a huge disadvantage over big brands: Study collected data on more than 40,000 videos
- T-Series’ YouTube Channel Becomes First-Ever To Net 100 Million Subscribers
- T-Series Becomes First YouTube Channel To Pass 100 Million Subscribers
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 5/26/2019
- Youtubers And Record Labels Are Fighting, And Record Labels Keep Winning: The battle over copyright continues
- Meet the man with an impossible job: cleaning up YouTube
- Friday essay: YouTube apologies and reality TV revelations – the rise of the public confession
- New Collab Study Finds YouTube Viewership Has Dramatically Shifted Toward TV Screens
- YouTube Millionaires: ‘The Mean Kitty’ Is YouTube’s Most Beloved Cat
- Grumpy Cat – legal lessons from the ultimate sourpuss
- Rudy Mancuso To Direct ‘Black Mirror’ Promo Series With Lele Pons, Jeff Wittek, Others
- Insights: Remaking Education To Inspire And Engage An Influencer-Fueled World
- StyleHaul Scraps Plans To Shift Operations To U.K., Confirms Total Shutdown (Exclusive)
- Sephora Takes Crowdsourced Approach To Influencer Marketing With New Beauty ‘Squad’
- High School Students Are Making College Decision Reaction Videos (And They’re Good)
- ‘Believe in the brand’: Kellogg’s is now using influencers like creative agencies
- KSI Loses 100,000 Subscribers After Brother Deji Posts Video Accusing Him Of Abusive Behavior
- Logan And Jake Paul To Chat YouTube Drama On New Joint Channel
- Snap in Talks to License Music to Let Snapchat Users Embed Songs in Posts
- Snap Hires Google Exec Oona King as First VP of Diversity and Inclusion
- Snap Poaches Google, YouTube Vet Oona King To Serve As VP Of Diversity And Inclusion
- Remember the iPod? Apple just released the first new one in four years
- No chill: Google just banned marijuana delivery apps from the Play Store
- TikTok parent Bytedance is reportedly working on its own smartphone
- The Music-Making Site That Can Get You a Global Hit (Or a Lawsuit): Lil Nas X bought the beat for “Old Town Road” for $30 from a website called BeatStars.
- Nielsen Using Patent Monopolies To Act Like A Monopolist
- Netflix Says It Will “Rethink Our Entire Investment In Georgia” If Anti-Abortion Law Is Enacted
- Netflix the Only Hollywood Studio to Speak Out in Attack Against Abortion Rights
- Rudy Mancuso To Direct ‘Black Mirror’ Promo Series With Lele Pons, Jeff Wittek, Others
- Hulu Says 70% of Its 82 Million Viewers Are on Ad-Supported Plan
- 70% Of Hulu’s 28 Million Subscribers Are On Its Ad-Supported Tier — And Hulu’s Innovating Ads To Keep Them There
- Why CBS, Viacom and others are open to making shows for streaming and TV rivals
- BuzzFeed’s Viral Tasty Brand Dives Deeper Into Long-Form Shows With ‘Making It Big’
- Instagram Adds Horizontal Video Support For IGTV 1 Year After Launch
- Chrissy Teigen Will Reign In Quibi’s ‘Judge Judy’-Esque Reality Series ‘Chrissy’s Court’
- Jay-Z and Tidal to Host Release Events for Prince’s ‘Originals’ Album
- It’s Ok That Amazon Will (Likely) Get The .Amazon Domain
- Amazon avoids liability for defective product
- Amazon Is Poised to Unleash a Long-Feared Purge of Small Suppliers
- MacKenzie Bezos Signs ‘Giving Pledge’ to Donate Half Her $37 Billion Amazon Fortune to Charity
- Amazon Isn’t Liable for Defective Marketplace Sale (No Thanks to Section 230)–Erie Insurance v. Amazon
- Porter Gale Becomes Reddit’s First Female Board Member
- Who owns the Bitcoin white paper? (Andres Guadamuz)
- Copyright Office Weighs In After Wannabe Satoshi Craig Wright Registers Copyright On Original Bitcoin Paper
- How blockchain and smart contracts will change the face of insurance in the U.S.
- Modi’s Indian election win clears way for cryptocurrency ban
- Proposed Amendments to the GST/HST Treatment of Cryptocurrencies
- Fake cryptocurrency apps on Google Play try to profit on bitcoin price surge
- Website for storing digital currencies hosted code with a sneaky backdoor
- Blockchain, Hype or Hope?
- Salesforce’s Success Rides on One Man’s Gut: Marc Benioff’s acquisitions have kept the software giant growing at an incredible rate.
- A technology blueprint for personalization at scale
- The internet is changing Africa, mostly for the better: Cheap smartphones are flooding Africa, giving many of its citizens access to the internet for the very first time.
- 30-plus years of HyperCard, the missing link to the Web
- Before Netscape: The forgotten Web browsers of the early 1990s
- The unlikely origins of USB, the port that changed everything
COMMUNICATIONS
- No Mandated Netflix Cancon Payments: Shaw Argues Success Lies in More Regulatory Flexibility in BTLR Submission (Michael Geist)
- Self-Serving in the Extreme: Bell’s Broadcast and Telecom Submission to the BTLR Revealed (Michael Geist)
- Ajit Pai May Have Lied To Congress About FCC’s Failure To Address Wireless Location Data Scandals
- If Facebook’s Privacy Practices Anger You, AT&T Shouldn’t Get A Free Pass
- FCC Starts Accepting ATSC 3.0 Applications – The Next Generation of TV Transmission
- Federal Communications Commission Plans to Combat Robocalls with Carrier-Initiated Blocking
- U.S. Adds Chinese Giant Huawei and Non-U.S. Affiliates to Entity List; Grants Limited Reprieve
- Huawei in Hot Water: Trump Declares National Emergency
- Is Huawei in retreat?
- Microsoft pulls Huawei laptops from its online store
- Research in UBC-Huawei partnership proceeds as pressure builds to exclude giant Chinese firm
- Huawei argues congressional ban on its equipment is unconstitutional
- House Dems Start To Wimp Out On Net Neutrality
- 47 Democrats cave on net neutrality after GOP calls bill “dead on arrival”
- Report Says EU ISPs Are Happily Ignoring Net Neutrality Rules
- Comcast does so much lobbying that it says disclosing it all is too hard
- Directors and Officers May Be Found Personally Liable Under CASL
PRIVACY
- Proposed digital charter could bring sweeping changes to Canadian privacy laws
- Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada Suspends Consultation on Transborder Data Flows
- Apple promises privacy, but iPhone apps share your data with trackers, ad companies and research firms
- Nearly 50 million Instagram users’ data exposed, adding to Facebook’s privacy woes
- Government Prosecutor Caught Sending Emails With Tracking Software To Reporters And Defense Attorneys
- Google bots shut down Baltimore officials’ ransomware-workaround Gmail accounts
- Eternally Blue: Baltimore City leaders blame NSA for ransomware attack
- Dating App Maker Gets COPPA Warning Letter from the Commish
- Why a Windows flaw patched nine days ago is still spooking the Internet
- FTC, App Stores Break Up With Dating Apps
- Pennsylvania Superior Court holds county where reputational harm occurs is proper venue for Internet defamation suits, confirming 50-year-old inquiry applies to website-based claims
- Amazon now lets you tell Alexa to delete your voice recordings
- Why We Should Stop Fetishizing Privacy
- Mending (Geo)fencing Concerns
- Why Privacy Is an Antitrust Issue
- SFPD Finally Admits The Search Of A Journalist’s Home Over A Leaked Document Was Probably Illegal
- San Francisco Bans Facial Recognition Technology Amidst Wave of Government Scrutiny
- Law Firm Domain Names Spoofed to Launch Phishing Scams
- Can Employers Request Social Media Account Information?
- Germany mulls giving end-to-end chat app encryption das boot: Law requiring decrypted plain-text is in the works – Officials want to upgrade rules from device searching to message interception
- Ship Your Enemies GDPR
- One Year Into The GDPR: Can We Declare It A Total Failure Yet?
- FTC Toughening Stance on Data Security – Five Key Takeaways from Recent Consent Orders
- Privacy Unravelled: what do Facebook and Google know about us?
- Connected devices: Challenges for both technology providers and consumers
CREATIVITY
- New Assange Indictment Makes Insane, Unprecedented Use Of Espionage Act On Things Journalists Do All The Time
- The indictment of Assange is a blueprint for making journalists into felons: The First Amendment is meaningless if it only protects people the government recognizes as journalists
- Under DOJ’s Own Theory For Prosecuting Julian Assange, Donald Trump Probably Violated The Espionage Act
- SFPD Earning Universal Condemnation For Raiding A Journalist’s Home During Its Internal Leak Investigation
- San Francisco police chief concedes raid on journalist was wrong – ‘I’m sorry’
- San Francisco police union wants chief out over raid on freelance reporter
- ‘Gimme the prize’: the author dysfunction (Johanna Gibson)
- The Books of College Libraries Are Turning Into Wallpaper: University libraries around the world are seeing precipitous declines in the use of the books on their shelves.
- Portland Trailblazers Streisand Stupid Local Article Into National Spotlight For No Reason At All
- Countdown To Canada’s New Trademarks Act
- PR Firm Not Covered by Privilege Umbrella in Trademark Row
- ITC to Investigate Infringing Uses of Trademarks and Copyrights to Sell Counterfeits
- Peppa Pig: Copyright infringement by the former licensee
- Jenni Rivera Enterprises LLC v. Univision Communications Inc.
- A “Boost” for copyright protection in the fashion industry: Kanye’s Yeezy sneakers to receive copyright registrations
- NCAA Athletes Move Closer to Receiving Pay from Their Names, Images, and Likeness
- Publishing Law Insight – The Perils of Mimicking a Famous Advertising Slogan
- Chris Brown’s “Wobble Up” Video Allegedly Copied Visual Artists’ Work
- Double trouble: the fight to be the real Lord Buckethead:
- When the political candidate stood against Theresa May in the 2017 general election, he became a viral star. But not all is well
- Bittersweet no more: Rolling Stones pass Verve royalties to Richard Ashcroft – Acrimonious dispute meant Ashcroft gave up royalties but ‘kind and magnanimous gesture from Mick and Keith’ passes rights to him
- A True Story Of ‘Copyright Piracy’: Why The Verve Will Only Start Getting Royalties Now For Bittersweet Symphony
- Why Is Congress Moving Forward With Its Plan To Encourage Copyright Trolling?
- Brooke Shields Hits Charlotte Tilbury with Eyebrow Suit
- Profit Motive Does Not Magically Transform Data Request Fax Into Unsolicited Advertisement
- How One Hollywood Producer Is Trying to Change the Boys’ Club From Within
- NAD Washes Out Superiority Claims in Tide Pods Commercial
- Meredith Sells Sports Illustrated to Authentic Brands Group for $110 Million
- Jeff Koons becomes world’s most expensive living artist
- Aaron Sorkin read Breitbart for inspiration as he wrote “To Kill a Mockingbird” script
- By Censoring Arthur’s Same-Sex Wedding, Alabama Public Television Betrayed Mr. Rogers’ Legacy
- How Berlin Became an Unlikely Home for China’s Artists: The German capital not only offers freedom, but also invites people to provoke and challenge orthodoxy.
- The 25 Best High School Movies
Jon
News of the Week; May 22, 2019
GAMES
- N.Y. Supreme Court Dismisses Right of Publicity Claims against Take-Two Based on a Character from NBA 2K18
- Nintendo is pulling two mobile games from Belgium over loot box laws
- Belgian loot box decision takes down some of Nintendo’s mobile games
- Nintendo to halt service of two mobile games in Belgium amid loot box debacle – Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and Fire Emblem Heroes to be taken offline in Belgium on August 27
- Nintendo offers Switch Online voucher to serve up digital discounts
- Mario Kart Tour beta hands-on: Microtransactions land like a nasty blue shell: The actual gameplay has some polish. Everything else in this Android beta stinks.
- Why we’re headed toward loot box legislation | Opinion: The games industry is poorly positioned to defend itself on this front, and the fallout could impact a lot more than just loot box mechanisms
- Who is responsible for loot boxes?: Voices from around the industry share their thoughts on what’s at stake and who should be doing what
- Access to Red Dead Online’s poker restricted by regional gambling laws
- Red Dead Online’s in-game poker unavailable in certain regions: Despite no connection with real-world money, players in countries with strict gambling laws may not be able to access minigame
- Unity slammed over engine features supporting the gambling industry: Developer removes posts detailing “especially helpful” real-money gaming features
- Zynga on licensing and addiction: Bernard Kim explains the strategy on deals for Star Wars and Game of Thrones Slots Casino, then ties addiction debate to Garth Brooks
- Riot ignores calls to scrap mandatory arbitration for all employees
- Riot Games stands firm against walkout employees’ demands
- Report: Tencent and Riot working on a mobile version ofLeague of Legends
- The Subtle Economics Of Private World Of Warcraft Servers: Anarchy, Order And Who Gets The Loot
- Xbox head commits to building a safe and inclusive game community
- Xbox: “We have a huge responsibility to a healthy gaming lifestyle” – The platform holder discusses addiction, aggressive monetisation and its role in protecting gamers
- Windows 10 now offers a game-focused Xbox Game Bar overlay
- Sega’s Judgement will be available in Japan again in July: A new character model and voice will replace that of actor Pierre Taki, who was arrested on drug charges
- Esports Pro Sues Gaming Organization FaZe Clan Over “Oppressive” Contract
- Streamer Tfue sues esports organization for illegal operation as a talent agency: Turner Tenney claims Faze Clan did not act in his best interests, withheld 80% of his earnings from streaming
- Esports Pro Tfue Sues FaZe Clan, Alleging Unpaid Sponsorship Earnings And Restrictive Contract
- Faze Clan and Tfue’s legal dispute could reshape e-sports and YouTube contracts forever: The lawsuit could be a turning point for e-sports organizations
- A New Lawsuit Could Transform How the Influencer Industry Is Regulated: Filing says “the time is now for content creators, gamers and streamers to stop being taken advantage of through oppressive, unfair and illegal agreements.”
- Some publishers pay streamers as much as $50k an hour to play new games
- Game Publishers Pay Top Streamers Like Ninja $50,000+ Per Hour To Play Their New Games (Report)
- Sega to resume sales of Judgment in Japan following drugs scandal
- Disney and Sega join $7.8m Series A funding round for Tyffon: Location-based VR company plans third Tokyo venue and US expansion
- The Ouya’s game store will close for good in June
- Crowdfunded gaming console Ouya will shut down for good on June 25th: Only games downloaded directly to console will be playable.
- Don’t Miss: A retrospective on the Ouya
- LCS directs Echo Fox to separate from shareholder over racist remarks: Esports organized instructed to take action within 60 days or risk participation in League of Legends Championship Series
- Legal Issues in Esports
- Valve is making Dota 2 players pay to avoid toxic gamers
- Valve lets players avoid toxic people in DOTA 2, charges for the privilege: Experimental Avoid Player feature included in $9.99 battle pass
- Valve making its own version of popular Dota 2 mod: After talks for a collaboration are abandoned, Valve will make a competing version of Dota Auto Chess “with Drodo’s blessing”
- Valve wasn’t ‘really sure what to do’ following Assassin’s Creed Unity review surge
- CD Projekt Red talks Cyberpunk 2077 crunch, vows to be ‘more humane’ to devs
- CD Projekt Red wants to be “known for treating developers with respect”: Company is pushing “non-obligatory crunch policy” for development of Cyberpunk 2077, asking workers to push back if hours are too much
- Kickstarter won’t recognize employee union without an election: Interim CEO acknowledges problems but believes the company is “better set up to be successful without the framework of a union”
- Apple ruling opens a can of worms for digital storefronts | Opinion: The Supreme Court ruling could open the floodgate to consumer lawsuits for digital stores – including the content of developer agreements
- Esports to add $8bn to Chinese domestic games revenue by 2023: Niko Partners report shows mobile esports game revenue doubling by 2023, when Chinese domestic market will top $41 billion
- Tencent games business remains steady in lingering effects of license freeze: Q1 growth mostly came from other sources, but company looks to more new releases in Q2
- Alibaba is the ‘better stock’ compared to Tencent, analyst says
- Tencent has acquired Swedish game developer Sharkmob
- Tencent acquires Sharkmob: Chinese tech giant buys nascent Swedish online game developer before it’s announced its first game
- NetEase pushed Minecraft to 200m registered Chinese users in Q1: Milestone achieved against a backdrop of rising revenue and profits from online games
- NetEase reveals game deals with Pokémon and Marvel: Pokémon Quest will be the first mobile game in the series to launch in China
- God of War has sold 10 million copies
- God of War reaches ten million lifetime sales: Meanwhile, streaming be part of Sony’s “mainstream business model” with its next-gen console
- Sony launches PlayStation Productions to turn games into movies and TV shows
- Sony announces PlayStation Productions to bring gaming IP to film and TV: Production studio to be headed by Asad Qizilbash, already working on first round of projects
- Shawn Layden stresses importance of diverse teams: PlayStation boss says teams need to represent a global fanbase, warns that “sameness is the death of innovation and creativity”
- PlayStation boss: “We believe the streaming era is upon us.”
- Backwards compatibility and streaming key to Sony’s next-gen strategy
- Sony hardware demo showcases speedy next-gen load times and rendering
- See how much faster Sony’s next PlayStation can load Spider-Man
- Sony and Microsoft teaming up to develop cloud and AI tech
- Sony and Microsoft partner for cloud, AI innovations: Rival platform holders to collaborate on projects using Microsoft Azure for competitive cloud technology
- Report: PlayStation staff were in the dark about the Sony and Microsoft team-up
- Report: Sony employees caught off guard by Microsoft cloud partnership
- Microsoft: Gaming should be for everyone, shouldn’t be toxic stew
- Xbox’s Gaming for Everyone: “Diversity has always been here”
- What Microsoft and Sony’s streaming partnership means for gaming’s future
- Xbox, PC get a little bit closer with the latest Xbox updates
- Minecraft Earth gives franchise a Pokémon Go twist: Microsoft launching free-to-play augmented reality mobile game in closed beta this summer
- Inside Minecraft Earth, Microsoft’s huge augmented reality gamble: Microsoft is taking the world’s second-best-selling game of all time into augmented reality. But will the push to net even more players stretch the game’s DNA past breaking point?
- Minecraft Earth Goes A Step Beyond Pokémon Go To Cover The World In Blocks – Microsoft’s ambitious goal: holograms that persist everywhere
- Minecraft has sold 176 million copies worldwide: Latest figure makes Mojang’s sandbox adventure the best-selling game of all time based on known game unit sales
- Marvel, The Pokemon Company partner with NetEase to launch games in China
- Mortal Kombat 11 is the second best-selling game of 2019 in the US: NPD data shows NetherRealm’s game beating Days Gone as the biggest game in April
- World War Z has sold almost 2 million copies in one month
- World War Z closes first month with almost 2m sold: Saber Interactive’s sleeper hit has doubled sales since its launch week
- Metro Exodus recoups all costs, boosts Q1 revenue at THQ Nordic: Net sales spiked 158% at the publisher thanks to 4A Games’ shooter and Coffee Stain’s Satisfactory
- THQ Nordic acquires Gothic and Risen developer Piranha Bytes
- THQ Nordic acquires Gothic developer Piranha Bytes: German studio’s entire team and the rights to Risen and Elex were also part of the deal
- Ubisoft: The Division 2 missed sales goals on consoles due to crowded market
- Inside Station F: The grander ambitions of Ubisoft – Ubisoft’s focus on emerging technology, from blockchain to VR, points to something bigger for the French games giant
- Video: Writing and designing Star Trek: Bridge Crew for VR
- An exhaustive look at Oculus Quest’s first day of great, wireless VR software
- Oculus Rift S Review – A Good Choice for VR Newcomers, a Difficult Choice for VR Vets
- Magic Leap acquires Mimesys to boost spatial computing offerings
- This robot hits you in real life when you get hit in VR
- Pre-E3 2019: Oculus wants you to paddle a stealth VR kayak—and it’s awesome
- New Minecraft Earth AR game takes a cue from Pokemon Go
- Minecraft has sold 176 million copies in 10 years
- Uplay boost fails to prevent The Division 2 missing sales targets: PC gamers choose Ubisoft’s own marketplace over Epic Game Store as sequel sells ten times more than original
- Re-Logic won’t “sell our souls” with Epic Games Store exclusivity: VP Whitney Spinks assures Terraria developer’s audience that it won’t follow trend for PC exclusives
- Epic discounts entire Game Store library in storewide “Mega Sale“ [Updated]
- Teething pains for Epic Games Store as publishers opt out of debut ‘Mega Sale’
- Borderlands 3, other games temporarily removed from Epic Games Store sale [Updated]
- Gaming Platform War Update: Epic Games Store Suspends Accounts… For Buying Too Many Games
- Epic footing the bill for some discounts in the Epic Games Store’s first sale
- Steam Link streaming app launches on iOS a year after Apple rejection
- Steam Link finally available for iOS: Valve’s streaming up launches a year after Apple rejected it
- Steam Link comes to iOS without Steam Store functionality [Updated]
- GOG Galaxy 2.0 aims to bridge the platform gap in game communities
- Nippon Ichi Software reportedly unable to pay staff after Disgaea RPG teething problems: Japanese developer issues warrant to sell stock at reduced price
- Defiant Studios axed as Lords of the Fallen 2 developer
- Defiant Studios dropped as developer of Lords of the Fallen 2: CI Games terminates contract after one year, calls Defiant’s work on the game “inadequate”
- Epic Games store eats cost of site-wide sale: Company takes $10 off everything over $15 at no cost to publisher or devs, giving refunds for preorders, recent purchases
- Paradox pulls Bloodlines 2 from Epic Store during Mega Sale: Klei Entertainment follows suit with Oxygen Not Included as Epic offers $10 off basically everything
- 2K cuts off Borderlands 3 pre-orders on PC during Epic Mega Sale
- 2K halts Borderlands 3 pre-orders during Epic Games Store Mega Sale: Publisher says decision is temporary, and pre-orders made during sale will be honoured
- World of Warcraft Classic beta testers are reporting vanilla WoW features as bugs
- Dauntless launches on consoles with full, day-one crossplay
- Playtika launches casual games division
- The state of singleplayer games in 2019 so far: In 2017, we worried singleplayer games were dying. 2019 tells a different story.
- Making the player the AI in outer space thriller Observation
- Don’t Miss: The world design of Diablo III
- Game Design Deep Dive: Environmental storytelling inGeneration Zero
- Blog: Peeping under the hood of a rhythm game in Unity
- Blog: Was it worth quitting my job to go indie?
- Blog: Successfully launching a game with a near-zero marketing budget
- Video: Slime Rancher dev’s guide to making games that stand out and survive
- Blog: Picking a platform – Bottom-up vs top-down thinking
- Blog: Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2019
- Blog: The contradiction between hard fun and accessibility
- Blog: The ‘how’ of bittersweet game design
- Behind the enthralling dystopian student game, Burning Daylight
- Video: Designing Path of Exile to be played forever
- Video: The care and feeding of live narrative game Fallen London
- Don’t Miss: Looking back at the development of the originalRage
- Video: How RimWorld found success through ridiculous, contrarian design
- Metro Exodus made back its dev and marketing costs in under 2 months
- Don’t Miss: Effectively marketing Chasm in a crowded Metroidvania market
- No show floor booth for Activision at E3: E3 floor plans reveal another big player has left the LACC show floor; EA returns with private meeting room
- Gaming Advertising Fines and Bans: How Might Recent Increases in Restrictions on Gaming Advertisements Across the Globe Impact Gaming Advertising in North America?
- Top 5 takeaways from the Games Industry Law Summit
- U.S. Patent No. 8,882,590: Touch-controlled game character motion providing dynamically-positioned virtual control pad
- Required gamer viewing: The history of M2’s Japanese retro-port empire
DIGITAL
- Federal government proposes sweeping digital charter
- Canada’s Digital Charter: Trust in a digital world
- The Foundation of Canada’s Digital Charter: Privacy Law Reform Focused on a Data-Driven Economy (Michael Geist)
- The World Wants to Fight Online Hate. Why Doesn’t President Trump?: The White House foolishly rejected an international effort to stop the spread of extremism and violence on the internet.
- White House unveils new tool to report censorship by social media giants
- White House Sets Up Echo Chamber For Complaints About Social Media Bias Against Conservatives
- Governments And Internet Companies Agree On Questionable Voluntary Pact On Extremist Content Online
- Combating online hate could mean legal change
- Why Facebook shareholders want Mark Zuckerberg out
- Facebook and Google pressured EU experts to soften fake news regulations, say insiders: On the eve of European elections, the tech giants stand accused of sabotaging the European Union’s fight against disinformation.
- Flip Side To ‘Stopping’ Terrorist Content Online: Facebook Is Deleting Evidence Of War Crimes
- And Now The Prime Minister Of Canada Is Threatening To Fine Social Media Companies Over ‘Fake News’
- Huge New Study Finds Almost No Evidence That Social Media Makes Kids Unhappy
- AT&T denies that selling phone location data was illegal as FCC investigates
- AT&T Has Become a New Kind of Media Giant: Bellhead CEO Randall Stephenson is taking on Netflix and Comcast simultaneously. It won’t be easy.
- AT&T outclassed Verizon in hurricane response, and it wasn’t close, union says
- Trump tries to shut Huawei out of US market with executive order
- President Trump Issues Executive Order on Information Security; Huawei Technologies to Be Placed on “Entity List”
- Trump issues Executive Order on securing information and communications technology and services – key points
- Telecom trade restrictions when dealing with Huawei and its non-U.S. affiliates
- Chinese Telecom Companies Under Fire: Commerce Moves to Cut Off Huawei From U.S. Technology, With More Restrictions Coming
- Trump Administration Limits US Purchase and Use of Certain Technology From Foreign Adversaries, Sale of US Technology to Huawei
- US Adds Huawei and Affiliates to the Department of Commerce Entity List – What to Expect From the Final Rule
- ARM cuts ties with Huawei, threatening future chip designs: A major blow to Huawei
- ARM is the latest partner to shun Huawei, so how will it design chips?
- Sanctions on Steroids: Huawei is a Prohibited ‘Entity,’ Foreign Adversaries Are Lurking in Information and Communications Services, What Does It All Mean?
- Google Joins The Evidence-Optional Assault On Huawei
- Google reportedly ends business with Huawei, will cut it off from Play Store [Updated]
- Huawei a small part of an ‘insurmountably hard problem’ of cybersecurity
- Foxconn Still Trying To Tap Dance Around Its Ever-Shrinking Wisconsin Promises
- Hobbling Huawei: Inside the U.S. war on China’s tech giant
- Our Way or the Huawei: Are Your Fintech Contracts Ready for a National Emergency?
- Huawei’s US ban: A look at the hardware (and software) supply problems
- The US DOC gives Huawei a 90-day window to support existing devices
- Creator claims Lenovo stole foldable Moto Razr video it played at a press event
- Forget Huawei, The Internet Of Things Is The Real Security Threat
- Section 230 Protects Tor Project from Liability for Tragic Drug Overdose–Seaver v. Estate of Cazes (Eric Goldman)
- A Recap of My Recent Section 230 Papers (Eric Goldman)
- EFF Highlights Stories Of Bad Content Moderation With New TOSsed Out Site
- 3D-printed guns are back, and this time they are unstoppable: A decentralised network of gun-printing advocates is mobilising online, they’re anonymously sharing blueprints, advice and building a community.
- Malaysian Teen Commits Suicide After Instagram Users Voted For Her Death In Poll
- Instagram’s IGTV copies TikTok’s AI, Snapchat’s design
- Snapchat Bans Adult Entertainment Company’s X-Rated Lenses
- Alarming Lessons From Facebook’s Push to Stop Fake News in India
- Facebook’s A.I. Whiz Now Faces the Task of Cleaning It Up. Sometimes That Brings Him to Tears.
- Facebook has finally revealed what its secretive robotics division is working on, and it could spark competition with rivals like Google and Apple
- Should digital platforms be treated as publishers? Key elements of Digital Copyright Directive
- Killer Apps: The Real Dangers of an AI Arms Race
- Unboxing Artificial Intelligence: 10 steps to protect Human Rights (Council of Europe Commissioner For Human Rights)
- US to endorse new OECD principles on artificial intelligence
- ICO focuses on AI and biometric data
- How Tech Companies Are Shaping The Rules Governing AI
- Can Machines be Authors? (Daniel Gervais)
- Human rights concerns about AI hit lawyers in immigration, criminal law and trusts
- I listened to a Massive Attack record remixed by a neural network
- Is AI-generated music worth anything?
- DARPA Funds Ambitious Brain-Machine Interface Program: The N3 program aims to develop wearable devices that let soldiers to communicate directly with machines.
- Tesla’s Navigate on Autopilot Requires Significant Driver Intervention: CR finds that latest version of Tesla’s automatic lane-changing feature is far less competent than a human driver
- Talk Dirty With Machine: The future is robots, and they’re teaching us how to flirt.
- Amazon’s AI improves emotion detection in voices
- Court Rejects Service of Process Via Amazon Messaging–Noco v. Chang (Eric Goldman)
- Amazon made video games for its workers to reduce tedium of warehouse jobs
- Grindr and Armslist Cases Reaffirm Core Protections for User-Generated Content
- DMCA Damages are Based Upon Defendant’s Acts, Not its Customers
- US Magistrate Judge Provides The Template To End Copyright Trolling With Ruling Against Strike 3
- Virtual kidnappings are rattling families across the US
- We Are Tenants On Our Own Devices
- The Dark Forest Theory of the Internet: Why the dark forests of the internet – podcasts, newsletters, and other private channels - are growing, and why might that pose a problem
- Inside Google’s Civil War: Some employees say Google is losing touch with its “Don’t be evil” motto. What happens when an empowered tech workforce rebels?
- Google Updates Ad Policies on Abortion-Related Advertising
- Anti-abortion clinics that try to trick women face new Google ad policy
- You Don’t Own What You’ve Bought: Google Nest Edition
- Google Glass still exists: Meet Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2
- Google’s Duplex Uses A.I. to Mimic Humans (Sometimes): In a free service, bots call restaurants and make reservations. The technology is impressive, except for when the caller is actually a person.
- Songza Co-Founders Have Left YouTube Music Ahead of Google Play Music Shut-Down
- Terminated AdSense Publishers Can’t Get Their Accrued Earnings–eOnline v. Google (Eric Goldman)
- Prince And Bigi Jackson Launch Movie Review Series On YouTube
- YouTube Opens Applications For VR Creator Lab In London, Announces Oculus Quest App
- YouTube Convenes ‘DTC Council’ To Fortify Relations With Direct-To-Consumer Brands
- ‘Games Of Thrones’ Grey Worm Actor Sees Massive YouTube Spike This Season
- Twitter Bans Members Of Popular YouTube Music Group For Posting Covers Of Elton John Songs
- YouTube Cracks Down On Videos Instructing Viewers To Ingest Bleach As ‘Miracle’ Medical Cure
- YouTube’s Controversy-Ridden Beauty Community Reaches Detente. But Is That What Viewers Want?
- YouTube Will Soon Only Display Abbreviated — And Not Exact — Subscriber Counts
- YouTube is changing how subscriber counts are displayed, possibly shifting its culture: Sites like Social Blade may be impacted
- How Tea Accounts Are Fueling Influencer Feuds: As James Charles and Tati Westbrook battle it out, drama channels are raking in subscribers.
- YouTube Sets Sights On Primetime Emmy Nods For Will Smith, ‘Cobra Kai’, ‘Wayne’
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 5/19/2019
- TikTok tops the iOS App Store for the fifth quarter in a row
- TikTok Owner Preparing Streaming Service to Rival Spotify
- TikTok Parent Company Bytedance Will Launch Paid Music Streaming Service This Fall (Report)
- With 156% growth in 2018, Vice Media focuses on programmatic guaranteed deals
- VidCon Hires First Content Director, Enters Original Programming Fray With Inaugural Series
- Digital Talent Agency Gleam Futures Launches Creator-Brand Marketing Firm Gleam Solutions
- How Amazon turned its darkest time into runaway riches: When Amazon was in trouble back in 2001, Jeff Bezos called professor and Good to Great author Jim Collins — and became his best student ever.
- Amazon targets Uber Eats with Deliveroo investment: The online retailer is the largest investor in new $575 million funding round
- Amazon Sellers Hit With Phishing Scheme
- Amazon Taps ‘Game Of Thrones’ EP Bryan Cogman For ‘Lord Of The Rings’ Prequel
- ‘MissionRacer’: How Amazon turned the tedium of warehouse work into a game
- Yes, Quora still exists, and it’s now worth $2 billion: According to some, the financing round for the question-and-answer platform speaks to the high valuation for virtually everything these days in the tech sector.
- Former US Attorney Preet Bharara says good journalism may have undermined the Mueller report: “The ‘fake news’ that Donald Trump decried, I think there’s an argument that it sort of saved him.”
- The CW Ends Netflix Distro Deal, But Streamer Won’t Necessarily Lose Hits Like ‘Riverdale’
- The CW is ending its Netflix deal, but that doesn’t mean Riverdale is disappearing
- Netflix Again Blows Past HBO, Others as No. 1 Pick for ‘Best Original Programming,’ Survey Finds
- Hulu Buys U.S. Distribution Rights For Weinstein Exposé Documentary ‘Untouchable’
- Retailers Should Consider Whether Behavioral Advertising Is Sale of Information Under CCPA
- BBTV Founder Shahrzad Rafati Named Vice Chair Of Canadian Federal Investment Agency
- Rob Glaser 2.0: RealNetworks Reinvents Itself As Facial Recognition Security Platform
- Wyoming Affords “Money” Status to Certain Virtual Currencies
- The Blockchain Paradox
- New Blockchain Solutions Debut Amid Enforcement Actions, New FinCEN Guidance and Warnings of ‘Blockchain Fatigue’
- Fuming Craig Wright Demands Podcaster Tell Court He Created Bitcoin
- Tech billionaires who donate millions are just “bribing society at large,” Anand Giridharadas says
- Genetic self-experimenting “biohacker” under investigation by health officials
- Biohacker Josiah Zayner accused of being an unlicensed practitioner: He says he’s under investigation by the California Medical Board.
- Viral Star Grumpy Cat Passes Away, Is Memorialized In Memes
- Grumpy Cat’s death marks the end of the joyful Internet
- A Computer Afflicted With 6 Infamous Viruses Has Passed $1 Million at Auction: The art project can be yours for a mere seven figures.
- Downs v. Oath
- Laying Out All The Evidence: Shiva Ayyadurai Did Not Invent Email
COMMUNICATIONS
- Cable TV customer satisfaction falls even further behind streaming video: Pay-TV again ranks last in customer satisfaction among all US industries.
- US Targets Telecommunications Transactions Involving the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain
- Chairman Pai, Commissioner Carr Issue Formal Statements Supporting T-Mobile/Sprint Merger; Commissioner O’Rielly Also “Inclined” to Support Merger
- Ajit Pai OKs T-Mobile/Sprint merger, “requires” 5G rollout that’ll happen anyway
- Unsurprisingly, Ajit Pai’s FCC Thinks The T-Mobile Sprint Merger Will Be Wonderful
- Consensus Quietly Builds That 5G Was Overhyped, Rushed To Market
- T-Mobile/Sprint merger faces big trouble at DOJ despite FCC approval
- DOJ Staffers Think T-Mobile’s Merger Benefit Claims Are Nonsense
- Man who threatened to kill Ajit Pai’s children gets 20 months in prison
- FCC Adopts Sweeping Changes to FM Translator Interference Rules
PRIVACY
- The Government Is Expanding Its Social Media Surveillance Capabilities: But social media monitoring programs and the algorithms that power them aren’t effective – and may be discriminatory.
- Should we ban facial recognition? From companies to cities, debate over privacy rages on
- Police facial recognition surveillance court case starts
- Some US Cities Are Moving Into Real-Time Facial Surveillance
- City Of San Francisco Bans Use Of Facial Recognition Tech By Government Agencies
- San Francisco Is The First City In The World To Restrict Government Use Of Facial Recognition Technology. Hopefully It’s Not The Last.
- As San Francisco Bans Facial Recognition Tech By Local Cops, New York City’s Legislators Stall On Transparency Reforms
- No Reasonable Expectation of Privacy in Case of Online Child Luring
- Data breach lawyer confirms thousands more TalkTalk customers could have claims for compensation
- >20,000 Linksys routers leak historic record of every device ever connected
- Federal Court Says Warrants Are Needed To Grab GPS Data From Third-Party Tracking Services
- Another Federal Magistrate Says Compelled Production Of Passwords/Biometrics Violates The Fifth Amendment
- ‘Privacy horse is sort of out of the barn’: Congress circles closer to federal privacy law
- Privacy Perils: The Downside of Pop-Ups
- Ransomware Cyberattacks Knock Baltimore’s City Services Offline
- Baltimore ransomware nightmare could last weeks more, with big consequences
- FBI Tells The Governor Of Florida About Election Hacking, But Says He Can’t Tell Anyone Else
- Hackers abuse ASUS cloud service to install backdoor on users’ PCs: Computer-maker’s WebStorage software tied to malware attack from the BlackTech Group
- FTC Commissioners discuss state privacy preemption
- GDPR Turns One, eh? Current Impact on Canadian Businesses and the Road Ahead
- Prince Harry Uses GDPR To Obtain Payout From Photographer Who Shot Photos Of His Rental Home
- These firms promise high-tech ransomware solutions—but typically just pay hackers
- WannaCry? Hundreds of US schools still haven’t patched servers [Updated]
CREATIVITY
- In San Francisco, an attack on press freedoms and echoes of autocracy
- San Francisco District Attorney Condemns Raid On Journalist’s Home: City police raided reporter’s home in probe of leaked information about Public Defender death.
- A step forward or new concerns? Examining the proposed Trade-marks Act
- Paradigm shift: Recommended changes to Canadian copyright law announced
- Canadian Committee Publishes Ludicrous Fantasy Pretending To Be Copyright Reform Analysis
- A Catfight Over Copyright
- Adidas Gets a Boost in Yeezy Copyright Battle
- Insights on Gen Z’s Perceptions of Brands & Counterfeits
- EU Blocks ‘Brexit Beer’ Trademark, First As ‘Offensive’, Then As Non-Distinctive
- Judge Alsup Slams Patent Troll For Basically Everything
- Disney accused of being real pirate in Pirates of the Caribbean
- Disney Wins ‘Pirates Of The Caribbean’ Copyright Suit As Court Declares You Cannot Copyright Pirate Life
- When the Music Biz Had It That Way: The Backstreet Boys’ ‘Millennium’ album, which turns 20 this week, was a diamond-selling mainstay in the pre-Napster era. It also may have helped bring about the bad times that followed.
- Trump won’t stop coining nasty nicknames for his foes — but the media must stop amplifying them.
- Trump vs. New York Times: the executive editor’s perspective
- Is it illegal to lie to voters in political ads?
- How Vince McMahon’s WWE Seized on TV Disruption to Become a Wall Street Champ
- Caesars, ESPN Reach Media Partnership Deal
- ESPN President Jimmy Pitaro is fighting the cord-cutting wave
- “Varsity Blues”: Don’t Let Morals Clauses Leave Talent in the Red
- Unearthing the Black newspaper that sold the California dream to freed slaves
- Kazakhstan Cops Protect Citizens’ Free Speech Rights By Arresting A Protester Holding A Blank Sign
- Scientists ‘paint’ Mona Lisa on a quantum canvas
Jon