News of the Week; July 30, 2014

GAMES

1. Rovio Files Trademark Lawsuit Against Young Star Toys & Gifts

2. Federal Judge Approves Settlements in NCAA Video Game Lawsuit

3. Sony to pay up to $17.75 million in 2011 PSN hacking settlement: PSN users get free games and PS Plus, ID theft victims get up to $2,500.

4. Report: EA Snuck SecuROM DRM in Free ‘The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection’

5. Should thieves in World of Warcraft be sent to real prisons?: Tory MP Mike Weatherley wants those who swipe valuable items in video games to get the same sentences as burglars

Should virtual theft be treated like real world theft? A UK MP says yes.

Should Stealing in Video Games Be Punishable in the Real World?

6. Square Enix Nixes 3 Years Of Fan Translation Work On PSP, Despite Not Releasing English Version For PSP

7. No skin thick enough: The daily harassment of women in the game industry

The Most Sexist Video Game of All Time?: It’s called Catherine, and it reveals a lot about misogynist gaming culture.

8. Pink and Blue Pixel$: Gender and Economic Disparity in Two Massive Online Games (Lehdonvirta, Ratan, Kennedy & Williams)

9. The world of bizarre Japanese dating sims is invading America

10. GaymerX founder says NIS America backed out of sponsorship 

NIS America and GaymerX Kiss and Make Up

Nintendo’s Quest for Inclusivity: Nintendo’s Animal Crossing team speaks about the drive for diversity in its games — even if the company falls short of its goals from time to time.

Nintendo records quarterly loss of nearly 10bn Yen

11. Game developers, watch out! German data protection authorities publish guidelines for mobile apps

12. Surveillance & Society Vol. 12, No. 3 (2014): Special Issue on Surveillance Gaming and Play

Including – 1. “Surveillant Assemblages of Governance in Massively Multiplayer Online Games: A Comparative Analysis”; 2. “Surveillance and Community: Language Policing and Empowerment in a World of Warcraft Guild”; 3. “Getting Played: Gamification and the Rise of Algorithmic Surveillance”; 4. “Games of Drones: The Uneasy Future of the Soldier-Hero in Call of Duty: Black Ops II”; 5. “Creative Misuse as Resistance: Surveillance, Mobile Technologies, and Locative Games”; 6. “The Gift that Keeps on Giving: Google, Ingress, and the Gift of Surveillance”; 7. “’I had no credit to ring you back’: Children’s strategies of negotiation and resistance to parental surveillance via mobile phones”; 8. “Gaming Privacy: a Canadian case study of a children’s co-created privacy literacy game”; 9. “Enclosures at Play: Surveillance in the Code and Culture of Videogames”; 10. “Reporting From the Snooping Trenches: Changes in Attitudes and Perceptions Towards Behavior Tracking in Digital Games”; 11. “Watching Us Play: Postures and Platforms of Live Streaming”; 12. “Diverting and diverted glances at cameras: playful and tactical approaches to surveillance studies”; 13. “Playdates with Big Brother: Playfully Repurposing Surveillance Cameras to Build Communities”; 14. “Surveillance Chess”.

13. Kobra Studios Attacks YouTubers and Deletes Negative Comments, Has Game Taken Down From Steam Greenlight

14. No Man’s Sky: A Vast Game Crafted by Algorithms

15. EA improves revenues and profit in Q1, delays Dragon Age

16. Sony: EA Access wouldn’t provide “value” for PlayStation owners

17. PS4 to get 3D Blu-Ray support

18. Gamer discovers his deceased father’s ghost on an old Xbox game, challenges it to a race

19. Learn how to copy, and know when to steal

20. Gaming Tax Credits: A Developer’s Guide to Free Money

DIGITAL

21. Yet Another Court Rules That Digital Data Is Not Property

22. What Is Public?: It’s so simple, right? (by Anil Dash)

23. UK Government Report Recommends Ending Online Anonymity

24. Plagiarism in the Internet age: The issue isn’t copying, it’s attribution

25. Does Internet Addiction Excuse the Death of an Infant?

26. EU regulators to Google: “Right to forget” needs to go worldwide

27. French blogger owes $2,000 in damages for review ‘too prominent’ on Google

28. The Evidence Is In: Patent Trolls Do Hurt Innovation (HBR Blog)

29. USPTO Alice Corp. guidelines provide concrete guidance on abstract ideas

30. Time for digital emancipation (Doc Searls)

31. What’s New in Digital and Social Media Research: What makes commenters less civil, and the rise of digital longform (Nieman Journalism Lab)

32. How Informed Consent Has Failed

33. Data privacy isn’t political — it’s personal

34. We Experiment On Human Beings!

OkCupid reveals it’s been lying to some of its users. Just to see what’ll happen.

35. The internet is a politically and culturally loaded tool, particularly when it comes to censorship

36. FISA Court Judges Keep Buying Verizon Stock; Wonder What They Know…

37. An epic battle in streaming music is about to begin, and only a few will survive

38. Uncovering Algorithms: Looking inside the Facebook news feed

39. Google ordered by BC court to block websites: Equustek Solutions Inc. v. Jack (Updated)

40. Instagram’s Forthcoming Photo Messaging App Bolt Could Face Legal Trouble

41. Unlocking Your Cell Phone Is Still Illegal, But Probably Not For Long

42. Microsoft still doesn’t get why the iPhone succeeded

43. Experience James Joyce’s Ulysses in Virtual Reality, Using the Oculus Rift Headset 

CONSTRAINTS

44. Rhyme and Punishment: Prosecutors are using rap lyrics as evidence in criminal trials. That needs to stop.

45. Artist sues after TV show films Montreal building that he had tagged with graffiti

jon