July, 2013

News of the Week; July 31, 2013

1. Court of Appeals Rejects EA’s First Amendment Claim in NCAA Lawsuit

2. Why gaming’s latest take on war is so offensive to Russians

3. Activision Blizzard goes independent as Kotick leads $8.2 billion buyout

 Activision’s Deal Analyzed

4. Zynga loses half of its active users, drops plans for real money gambling

5. Xbox One will allow independent developers to self-publish titles

6. Largest space battle in history claims 2,900 ships, untold virtual lives

7. Phil Fish, Gamer Fury, and the awful price of progress

8. To Restart Mideast Peace Talks, John Kerry Should Look to Video Games

9. Court says skipping ads doesn’t violate copyright. That’s a big deal

+ Fox Broadcasting Company, Inc. v. Dish Network L.L.C.; USCA 9th Circuit Opinion

10. MIT denies targeting Aaron Swartz, but admits ‘neutral’ stance gave FBI the upper hand

11. Transferring social media accounts: legal and practical problems

12. Intel ditching controversial facial recognition features for its upcoming set-top box

13. Proposing a ‘Nutrition Label’ for Mobile Apps

14. The Rise of the Intangible Economy: U.S. GDP Counts R&D, Artistic Creation

jon

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News of the Week; July 24, 2013

1. Tropico 4 Developer Targeted by Treehouse Avatar Technologies

2. Delaware Supreme Court backs Harmonix in Viacom dispute

3. Robin Antonick wins Madden lawsuit

4. Diversity in Video Games – The Rise of Female Gamers (Learnist page)

5. Wargaming, Stardock, and Rebellion Score Big IP from Atari Auction

6. Vivendi in talks to raise $3b dividend from Activision-Blizzard – repor

7. Xbox One to allow indie self-publishing

8. Gamers: Your man cave is being monitored

9. Intellectual Property and the Value of an Open Internet

10. U.S. Government Can No Longer Be Trusted To Protect The Internet From International Power Grabs

11. Executives Are Biggest Risk for Copyright Infringement

12. Finland Writes History With Crowdsourced Copyright Law

13. No Ricard on Facebook: When intrusive advertising meets online regulation

jon

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News of the Week; July 17, 2013

1. Three More MMO Developers Receive Letters from Treehouse Attorneys

2. NCAA Will Not Renew Contract with EA in 2014

3.  THQ liquidation plan approved by court, ending bankruptcy case

4. Strong-female protagonist game jam kicks off in Vancouver to fight industry sexism

5. Every Misogynistic Argument You’ve Ever Heard About Video Games

6. Report: CDC Closer to Beginning Research on Gun Violence and Video Games

7. Why Nintendo can legally shut down any Smash Bros. tournament it wants

8. Playing With Life: Are Living Video Games Ethical?

9. Will the NSA use the Xbox One to spy on your family?

10. World of Warcraft opening in-game microtransaction store

11. Deus Ex: The Fall disables firing guns on jailbroken iOS devices

12. iPhone to EyePhone: The Next Gaming Frontier?

13. How Intellectual Property Reinforces Inequality by Joseph E. Stiglitz

14. Surveillance, sousveillance and PRISM – an op-ed by Ethan Zuckerman

15. Convicted Music Pirate Refuses to Work For The RIAA

16. Are fan translations an infringement of copyright?

jon

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News of the Week; July 10, 2013

1. Sega claiming $941,000 from THQ over Company of Heroes 2 preorders

2. Is Hacking Videogame Characters Legal?

3. Research: Violent Games Do Not Adversely Affect Prosocial Behavior

4. Microsoft patent filing attempts to lock down games with multiple engines running concurrently

5. Microsoft: Xbox One advertising will integrate with Kinect

6. Mattrick prepped Zynga buyout while at Microsoft – report

7. An EVE Revenant Supercarrier downed on combat is the most expensive ship destroyed to date

8. A Conversation with Paola Antonelli about MoMA’s Video Game Collection

9. Apple guilty of ebook price fixing, rules federal court

10. Secret Court’s Redefinition of ‘Relevant’ Empowered Vast NSA Data-Gathering

The Laws You Can’t See

Supreme Court asked to halt NSA phone surveillance

Is Switzerland turning into a cloud-haven in the wake of Prism scandal?

11. Author Resale rights in Canadian Copyright Law

12. Bitcoin tax time?

13. Did Florida Accidentally Ban All Computers and Smartphones?

And in the “too cute” category:

14. The Console Wars Become A Triumphant West Side Story-Style Musical

jon

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“i am a gamer” game-jam July 12-14 @ the CDM

This coming weekend my friend and colleague Dr. Kimberly Voll is unleashing the (first annual) “i am a gamer” Game-Jam on our world. The event is committed to creating games with strong female characters and was prompted by a number of industry comments doubting the viability of woman as lead characters in games.

If any of the many worlds theories promulgated by contemporary physicists are correct we might hope such sexist non-sense has long since disappeared in those alternate universes. But in our here and now confronting nonsense with truth must be the order of the day – or at least the order of this weekend.

The Jam is July 12-14 at the Centre for Digital Media. Sign up @ the website: http://iamagamer.ca/

jon

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News of the Week; July 3, 2013

1. Beyonce Settles $100M Lawsuit With Video Game Company

2. First Amendment trumps trademark in Call of Duty Case

3. Antonick v. Electronic Arts (Patent Arcade Update)

4. Texas Teen Could Face Eight Years in Prison for Comments Made in League of Legends

5. Blizzard Bans More Diablo III Players for ‘Cheating

6. 10 Business Lessons from the Battlefield

7. Consoles must offer self-publishing to attract indies, says Jackbox

8. How Important Are YouTube Game Videos To Game Companies?

9. Microsoft explains Xbox One’s new griefer-separating reputation system

10. Video Games: Seven More Building Blocks in MoMA’s Collection

11. Zynga Hires Xbox Boss to Initiate Turnaround

12. Ubisoft warns millions of video gamers of hack attack

13. Bushnell: Atari abused by shareholders

14. Research: Active Gaming Therapy Beneficial to Stroke Victim Recovery

15. Oracle v Google update: is refusing copyright protection to application programming interfaces (APIs) the only way to achieve interoperability?

16. Secret Court Declassifies Yahoo’s Role in Disclosure Fight

17. NSA surveillance may be legal — but it’s unconstitutional

18. Choice of Law for Online Copyright Infringement – A Proposal for the Law Applicable to Ubiquitous File Sharing by S.R. Blackman

jbf

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