News of the Week; November 15, 2017

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

  1. Canada’s Billion Dollar Wireless Cash Grab: CRTC Data Shows Overage Fees Now Exceed Roaming Revenues (Michael Geist)
  2. FIFA Trial: Fox Sports Accused of Playing Role in Bribing Officials
  3. The NBA’s Vision For The Broadcast Of The Future
  4. Colorado Voters Shoot Down Comcast’s Protectionist State Broadband Law
  5. Google Fiber now sells $55-per-month gigabit Internet (in one city): $55 gigabit available in San Antonio while people in other cities pay $70.
  6. Lawmakers demand investigation into FCC Chairman Ajit Pai: Pai accused of evading questions about FCC helping Sinclair expand media empire.
  7. The FCC is having a terrible month, and consumers will pay the price
  8. Is Trump’s AT&T Merger Roadblock A Return To Sensible Antitrust, Or Just More Cronyism?
  9. AT&T says it’s “prepared to litigate” if US tries to block Time Warner deal: Trump’s DOJ reportedly wants AT&T to sell either CNN or DirecTV.
  10. AT&T Promises Your Broadband Will Suck Less…But Only If It Gets Another Massive Tax Cut 
  11. FCC’s latest gift to telcos could leave Americans with worse Internet access: FCC will let carriers abandon copper lines without offering adequate replacements.
  12. Net neutrality rules should apply to ISPs and websites, senator says: Franken – Google, Facebook, and others are a “new kind” of Internet gatekeeper.
  13. Pressure grows on FCC to kill state consumer protection laws: Mobile lobby says FCC should enforce “non-regulation” policy throughout nation.
  14. Philo, Funded By Five Major Media Companies, Offers $16-Per-Month Skinny Bundle With Limited Channels 

DIGITAL

  1. Court Rejects Gossip Site’s Fair Use Defense–Barcroft v. Coed Media
  2. Cable Providers “Cut the Cord”: Audio/Video Streaming Patents Fail Both Alice Steps
  3. Playboy Sues BoingBoing For Linking To Collection Of Centerfold Pictures
  4. Google LLC v. Equustek Solutions Inc.: On Google’s motion for preliminary injunction, district court enjoins enforcement of Canadian court order requiring Google to delist search results worldwide, finding that Google had established likelihood of success on merits of its argument that order undermined safe harbor protection afforded by Communications Decency Act to Google as interactive service provider, and threatens free speech.
  5. Why Google should be afraid of a Missouri Republican’s Google probe: Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley is probing Google’s business practices.
  6. Shady Anti-Spyware Developer Loses Lawsuit Against Competitor Who Flagged Its Software As Malicious
  7. California Appeals Court Issues A Ruling That Manages To Both Protect And Undermine Online Speech
  8. Should we still doubt about the legality of Copyleft?
  9. Julian Assange’s Secret DMs to Donald Trump Jr. Are Somehow Dumber, Sadder Than You’d Think
  10. Twitter’s Authentication Policy Is A Verified Mess
  11. Unusual experiment reveals the power of non-mainstream media: Scholars found that small media outlets have a big effect on Twitter discussions.
  12. Facebook Live Is The New QVC
  13. The Latest Social Media Trend in Government: It’s hard to get people to follow their local government on Facebook or Twitter. A few cities are using their employees’ personal accounts to connect with more residents.
  14. Instagram CEO Positions His Company as Safer Alternative to Controversial Rivals
  15. How A Russian Troll Fooled America: Reconstructing the life of a covert Kremlin influence account
  16. Very Tired-Sounding John Kelly: Yeah, I Just Ignore Donald Trump’s Tweets
  17. University could lose millions from “unethical” research backed by Peter Thiel: With nudge from federal regulators, an internal investigation found big problems.
  18. Canada Revenue Agency Obtains Broad Court Order for Years of PayPal Data (Michael Geist)
  19. For nearly a year, WikiLeaks was DMing with Donald Trump Jr.: “if your father ‘loses’ we think it is much more interesting if he DOES NOT conceed”
  20. WikiLeaks Hitting Up Donald Trump Jr. Shouldn’t Surprise You
  21. UK Gov’t Destroys Key Emails From Julian Assange Case, Shrugs About It
  22. Trump’s Data Gurus Are Now Turning Their Attention To Your TV: Cambridge Analytica is eyeing targeted TV ads and mobile apps alongside some surprising allies.
  23. Paradise Papers: Royalties from thousands of song classics tucked away tax-free – Music catalogue based in Jersey collected millions from songs by Duke Ellington, Sheryl Crow, The Trammps
  24. Logitech Once Again Shows That In The Modern Era, You Don’t Really Own What You Buy
  25. After online outrage, Logitech will now replace Harmony Link devices for free: You’ll have a new device no matter your warranty status.
  26. After Backlash, Logitech Will Upgrade All Harmony Link Owners For Free
  27. YouTube Red Climbs the List of Top Ten OTT Platforms
  28. Don’t Let YouTube Babysit Your Children
  29. Algorithmic Videos Are Making YouTube Unsuitable For Young Children, And Google’s ‘Revenue Architecture’ Is To Blame
  30. Encore+ a new YouTube channel for retro CanCon: TV shows and films include Degrassi High, The Littlest Hobo, Mr. Dressup and Due South
  31. Google broadens takedown of extremist YouTube videos
  32. YouTube Will Remove More Extremist Videos With The Aid Of Government Lists
  33. YouTube Vows To Crack Down On Inappropriate Videos Aimed At Children
  34. YouTube Pacts With Ticketmaster To Help Musicians Boost Concert Sales
  35. YouTube partners with Ticketmaster to sell concert tickets on artists’ video pages
  36. YouTube Says World Series Ad Campaign Drove “Double Digit” Lift In YouTube TV Brand Awareness
  37. YouTube To Discontinue In-Video Notifications As It Continues To Transition To Card-Based System
  38. Online Video Star Matthias Declines Invite To Yearly Rewind Video In Protest Against YouTube’s Policies
  39. Fullscreen Shutting Down Subscription VOD Service, Will Lay Off 25 Employees
  40. Fullscreen To Shutter SVOD Service In January, Will Lay Off Roughly 25 Staffers
  41. Disney Streaming Service May Signal End Of Marvel-Netflix Shows
  42. Netflix Study Finds Stigmas Surrounding Public Binge-Viewing Have Dwindled
  43. Offering Good Legal Options Works: Interest In Netflix Outpaces Pirate Options In Brazil
  44. Sports Illustrated TV: Time Inc.’s First Subscription VOD Is $5 Monthly on Amazon Channels
  45. Amazon Paid A Reported $250 Million For Rights To ‘Lord Of The Rings’ Prequel Series
  46. Amazon launches Alexa, Echo, and Prime Music in Canada today: Alexa has a new Canadian English accent.
  47. Amazon Music app for Android quietly gets Chromecast support: Casting gets a little easier for Android users who get their tunes from Amazon.
  48. WhatsApp: inside the secret world of group chat – When WhatsApp launched it quickly became the main messaging service for groups of friends and family. More recently it’s become a useful platform for activists and politicians, fuelling a ‘whisper network’ of alliances and playing a crucial role in the recent revelation of the sexual abuse scandal
  49. Facebook Defeats Lawsuit By User Suspended Over ‘Bowling Green Massacre’–Shulman v. Facebook (Eric Goldman)
  50. Facebook, show us your secret recipe
  51. Sean Parker unloads on Facebook “exploiting” human psychology
  52. Facebook can’t cope with the world it’s created
  53. Facebook Local Might Be The Only Facebook App You Need
  54. Huge media companies like CBS and ESPN are banding together to fight Google and Facebook — but it may not be enough
  55. Why Google should be afraid of a Missouri Republican’s Google probe: Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley is probing Google’s business practices.
  56. Fashion, Maslow and Facebook’s control of social
  57. ESPN Launches a New Version of ‘SportsCenter’ to Snapchat
  58. The Facts: Non-Consensual Intimate Image Pilot
  59. How One Woman’s Digital Life Was Weaponized Against Her
  60. Online harassment of women journalists and international law: not “just” a gender issue, but a threat to democracy
  61. And Another Thing: Those Dumb Social Media Guidelines For Journalists Are Going To Paint A Target On Their Backs
  62. Breitbart’s Coming Exploitation Of The Believe Women Movement
  63. Section 230(c)(2) Protects Anti-Malware Vendor–Enigma v. Malwarebytes  (Eric Goldman)
  64. 230 bars false advertising claim against antimalware provider (Rebecca Tushnet)
  65. Celebrate The 20th Anniversary Of A Seminal Section 230 Case Upholding It With This Series Of Essays
  66. Commemorating the 20th Anniversary of Internet Law’s Most Important Judicial Decision
  67. Copyright Infringement and the DMCA’s Safe Harbor Provisions 
  68. The UK’s Broad Rejection of the §230 Model
  69. UK Government promises more visas, more investment for tech sector
  70. Sex, Scandal and Intermediary Liability: Imagining Life Without ‘Zeran v. AOL’: The Bazee.com legal saga highlights what could happen without a strong third-party liability protection standard for Internet businesses.
  71. Wikipedia Warns That SESTA Could Destroy Wikipedia
  72. Monkey Selfie Photographer Says He’s Now Going To Sue Wikipedia
  73. China’s Bytedance Buying Social-Video App Musical.ly
  74. U.S. Employs Rarely Used Tool to Probe China IP Practices
  75. What My Personal Chat Bot Is Teaching Me About AI’s Future
  76. The Robots Are Coming: For our jobs. Our military. And our current way of life. That is, unless a handful of local AI wizards can stop them
  77. Ray Kurzweil On Turing Tests, Brain Extenders, And Ai Ethics
  78. The real danger of Artificial Intelligence it’s not what you think
  79. A Great Use For Artificial Intelligence: Scamming Scammers By Wasting Their Time
  80. Welcome To The Era Of The Ai Coworker
  81. Today, World Leaders Will Meet to Decide the Future of “Killer Robots”
  82. Boston Dynamics CEO Believes Robotics Will Become “Bigger Than the Internet”
  83. Could Software Stop School Shootings?: Panic button apps and AI could keep kids safer from shootings, but there are many non-technological problems to solve first.
  84. Bitcoin compromise collapses, leaving future growth in doubt: Bitcoiners don’t trust elites—even Bitcoin elites.
  85. Bitcoin rival doubles in price in four days as Bitcoin price slumps: With Bitcoin mired in controversy, a rival called Bitcoin Cash is gaining ground.
  86. CEO who presided over Mt. Gox’s collapse could end up with massive profits: Creditors to be paid out at April 2014’s ~$440 per Bitcoin, not Nov. 2017’s ~$6,500.
  87. Bitcoin Gold, the latest Bitcoin fork, explained
  88. Covert Cryptocurrency Miners Quickly Become A Major Problem
  89. Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain | How will these impact IP law?
  90. 17-Qubit Chips Have Officially Arrived, and So Begins the Quantum Revolution
  91. ESPN Streaming Service Set to Launch in Spring of 2018
  92. North Korea’s Apple Obsession Brings New Meaning to the Phrase ‘Walled Garden’
  93. HTC Announces Multi-million Dollar Vive Art Initiative, Bringing VR to Museums Worldwide
  94. Hashtag History
  95. CompuServe Forums, RIP: More than two decades of discussion and bad advice about to be deleted.

CREATIVITY

  1.  Maybe the Canadian Copyright Bar and the Copyright Board Should Try Some PMNOC Remedies Instead of Rearranging the Deck Chairs? (Howard Knopf)
  2. With The US Out, Canada Gets Copyright Out Of TPP And Moves Closer To Agreement
  3. Creator Of Arguably The World’s Worst Film Loses Injunction Against Unflattering Documentary
  4. Taylor Swift Using Dubious Trademark Registrations To Shut Down Sales Of Fan-Made Goods
  5. Playboy Sues BoingBoing For Linking To Collection Of Centerfold Pictures
  6. Professor Says Threats Of Retaliation By China Stopped Publication Of His Book Revealing Chinese Influence In Australia
  7. Florida Supreme Court Denies Copyright Protection for Sound Recordings Predating Coverage Under the Federal Copyright Act 
  8. Lawsuit Brought By Cosby Show Production Company Against Documentary Is The Reason We Have Fair Use
  9. Not All Pirates are in the Caribbean
  10. When Music You Wrote Becomes A Hate Speech Soundtrack
  11. The Fans Made Louis C.K. – Now They Might Undo Him
  12. Gal Gadot Will Not Play Wonder Woman Again Unless Brett Ratner Is Gone 
  13. Ellen Page alleges director Brett Ratner outed her as a teen on ‘X-Men’ set
  14. Brett Ratner and Russell Simmons were investigated by police in 2001 after alleged sexual battery
  15. Six women accuse filmmaker Brett Ratner of sexual harassment or misconduct
  16. Actress Roundtable: Jennifer Lawrence, Emma Stone and Top Stars on Harassment in Hollywood and Ideas for Industry Change
  17. New York Ballot Selfie Ban Upheld… For Now 
  18. Pricing access to the Trump White House: the strange case of the Times social media policy: “Any semblance of a political opinion must be squashed, with the appearance of neutrality and balance preserved at all costs.”
  19. Repeated Unwanted Emails to Politician’s Personal Email Address Can be Harassment–Hagedorn v. Cattani
  20. Coachella, Trademark Lawyers Want “Filmchella” Organizer Held in Contempt
  21. No One Knows What Omarosa Is Doing in the White House—Even Omarosa: The ‘Apprentice’ star has a top salary and a high-ranking job. But when we spent time with her, it was her wedding she was planning.
  22. Mapping Media Coverage Of Mass Shootings, Hurricanes And More
  23. FTC Fills Up With Trump Nominations
  24. FTC Speaks Out on Children’s Voice Recordings: In a new Enforcement Policy Statement, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) decreased the burden for operators with regard to the collection of certain audio voice recordings of children under the age of 13.
  25. The Superior Court of Québec analyses the exception allowing the use of a work protected by copyright for the purpose of news reporting
  26. Presentation on the First 18 Months of the Defend Trade Secrets Act
  27. Logitech Once Again Shows That In The Modern Era, You Don’t Really Own What You Buy
  28. Disney is planning a live-action Star Wars TV show for its streaming service: The long-rumored live-action Star Wars series might finally actually happen
  29. Glamorizing the Nightmare Trade: How a TV show is making a drug criminal way too cool.

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

  1. Canada Revenue Agency Obtains Broad Court Order for Years of PayPal Data (Michael Geist)
  2. First Ever En Banc FISA Court Review Gives Plaintiffs Standing To Challenge Surveillance Program Secrecy
  3. Anonymous Speech Online Dealt a Blow in US v. Glassdoor Opinion
  4. Ninth Circuit Lets Us See Its Glassdoor Ruling, And It’s Terrible
  5. Hackers Say They’ve Broken Face ID A Week After iPhone X Release
  6. Hackers say they broke Apple’s Face ID. Here’s why we’re not convinced: Key questions persist about $150 mask hackers used to unlock Face-protected iPhone X.
  7. Watch A 10-Year-Old’s Face Unlock His Mom’s iPhone X
  8. Should We Teach Facial Recognition Technology About Race?
  9. Trump’s Taxes Have Probably Already Been Hacked
  10. He Perfected A Password-Hacking Tool—Then The Russians Came Calling
  11. Security Breach and Spilled Secrets Have Shaken the N.S.A. to Its Core: A serial leak of the agency’s cyberweapons has damaged morale, slowed intelligence operations, and resulted in hacking attacks on businesses and civilians worldwide.
  12. DOJ Still Demanding Identity Of Twitter Users Because Someone They Shouldn’t Have Arrested Tweeted A Smiley Emoji
  13. Texas National Guard Latest Agency To Be Discovered Operating Flying Cell Tower Spoofers
  14. The Pentagon Opened Up To Hackers—And Fixed Thousands Of Bugs
  15. DOJ: Strong encryption that we don’t have access to is “unreasonable” – Rod Rosenstein – We should weigh “law enforcement equities” against security.
  16. Latest DOJ WTFness: Encryption Is Like A Locked House That Won’t Let Its Owners Back Inside
  17. How Journalists Fought Back Against Crippling Email Bombs
  18. How AV can open you to attacks that otherwise wouldn’t be possible: New AVGater flaw provided key ingredient for hacker to hijack computer.
  19. Recent Intel Chipsets Have A Built-In Hidden Computer, Running Minix With A Networking Stack And A Web Server
  20. Survey of bug bounty hunters shows who pans for pwns: Bug hunters are educated, young, looking for challenge—and cash to feed security habit.
  21. No boundaries: Exfiltration of personal data by session-replay scripts
  22. Hack Brief: OnePlus Phones Have An Unfortunate Backdoor Built In
  23. Netflix Knows Some Very Strange Things About Public Viewing Habits

GAMES

  1. Humvee maker sues Activision over trademark infringement in Call of Duty
  2. Humvee maker suing Activision over trademark infringement in Call of Duty: Automotive firm says series success came “only at the expense of AM General”
  3. Complaint: Call of Duty Video Game Infringes Trademarks by Pervasively Featuring Humvees 
  4. Staffers stage walkout at IGN over mismanagement of sexual harassment claims
  5. IGN promises change following allegations of sexual harassment against former editor: Content staff release statement declaring solidarity with victims, some employees stop work in protest against harassment
  6. Russian military cites game screenshot as “evidence” of US ISIS support: Image from mobile AC-130 Gunship Simulator apparently came from a YouTube trailer.
  7. Behind the addictive psychology and seductive art of loot boxes: How gambling principles and seductive animation compel players to drop cash on card packs and weapon crates.
  8. From loot tables to loot boxes, how do we manage an addiction to addiction?
  9. Compulsion Loops & Dopamine in Games and Gamification
  10. Battlefront II dev: ‘It’s up to us to make sure that grind is fun and not overwhelming’: “I think crates can be a fun addition as long as you don’t feel forced to engage with them in order to progress. I feel that’s where the issue is with our game right now and that’s where we’ll look to solve as quickly as we can.”
  11. EA could replace annual sports games with live services: CEO Andrew Wilson says approach to Korean and Chinese markets could be extended globally, publisher is looking at subscription model for mobile games
  12. EA CEO: It’s only a matter of time before games embrace subscription services – “The notion that [subscription streaming services] wouldn’t impact our industry, I think, is naive. Will it take a little bit longer? Yes, for a whole bunch of reasons [like] file size, level of interactivity, and design.”
  13. EA: Live services plus subscriptions equals “uncapped” monetization – CFO Blake Jorgensen discusses how publisher is becoming less dependent on new titles, growing a more stable business
  14. Unlocking a Hero in ‘Star Wars Battlefront II’ Takes Almost Two Days of Gameplay
  15. Can EA fix what’s broken with Star Wars: Battlefront II’s economy? – Rant: Loot boxes are just the beginning of EA’s worst-ever dive into pay-to-win.
  16. Fans Worry Star Wars Battlefront 2’s ‘Free’ DLC Heroes Are Going To Take Eons To Grind For
  17. Star Wars: Battlefront 2 Players Won’t Be Able To Finish Campaign Until Nearly A Month After Launch
  18. Congratulations to EA for Posting the Most Hated Comment in Reddit History 
  19. EA Defense Of Star Wars Battlefront II Becomes Most Downvoted Reddit Comment Ever
  20. EA promises “constant adjustments” to Battlefront II monetization: Users estimate it will take 40 hours to unlock iconic characters, prompting more backlash against the multiplayer shooter
  21. Battlefront II devs cut cost of in-game unlocks 75% in response to fan outcry
  22. Star Wars Battlefront 2 Developer Confirms That They Will Continue Tweaking The Loot Boxes In Response To Community Feedback: “We’re not somehow trying to bite the hand that feeds us.”
  23. The Curious Case Of The ‘EA Game Dev’ Who Said He Received Death Threats
  24. Battlefront II, Overwatch under scrutiny by Belgian gambling regulator
  25. Need for Speed: Payback can’t avoid its own bankruptcy – Poor driving and awful writing don’t justify a tremendous loot-drop grind.
  26. EA buys out a game studio after shutting another one down 3 weeks ago: Studio behind Titanfall, unnamed Star Wars game stays with EA to tune of up to $455M.
  27. EA buys Titanfall dev Respawn Entertainment for as much as $455M
  28. Electronic Arts to acquire Titanfall maker Respawn for as much as $455 million
  29. Reviews vs. revenues: Mixed messages for Take-Two – NBA 2K18 players say they hate virtual currency, but sales figures say they’re spending more than ever; Take-Two listens to the latter at its peril
  30. Ex-BioWare dev traces loot boxes back to Mass Effect 3and FIFA
  31. The Real Problem With ‘Games As Service’ Isn’t The Microtransactions
  32. From loot tables to loot boxes, how do we manage an addiction to addiction?
  33. Publishers argue mandated ESRB ratings puts physical indie releases at risk
  34. Indies feel the pinch from Sony’s new ESRB mandate: Special edition physical versions of online titles have to be rated, and it’s not going over well with some small studios
  35. Guillemot: “PlayStation 5 and fourth Xbox to launch 2019 at the earliest” – Ubisoft CEO does not expect new consoles any time soon thanks to launch of PS4 Pro and Xbox One X
  36. Softly, softly: The Xbox One X Launch
  37. GameStop aborts the launch of its unlimited game rental program
  38. GameStop suspends its unlimited used games program: The PowerPass program has been “temporarily paused” – customers who purchased a pass will get refunds
  39. Wolfenstein 2 Reminds Us What Heroes Look Like
  40. Bury me, my Love: Using video games to push back far-right rhetoric – Developer Florent Maurin on how we perceive refugees and the role of games in the debate
  41. Now you see me: Representation as innovation – Broader representation of gender, race and sexuality can lead to new stories, says Kim Belair, and new stories can enlighten and excite
  42. Victoria state government creates opportunities for women in games with $140,000 pledge: Funding opens up positions in seven Australian studios
  43. UK government pledges 2,000 visas, £61m investment to Tech sector: Number of visas doubled to bring in more talent, with three £20m schemes planned to grow Britain’s digital industries
  44. Pulling back the curtain on Overwatch’s development process
  45. More than 6,000 games released on Steam in 2017 so far: Almost ten years’ worth of new games are already on the marketplace – and there’s still a month to go
  46. Ark dev: “Retail was not something we had planned to do” – Studio Wildcard’s Jesse Rapczak on the benefits of retail in a digital era, Ark getting enhanced for Xbox One X, and possibly targeting Switch
  47. Disney severs ties with Marvel Heroes dev Gazillion Entertainment
  48. Kickstarter Launches a Patreon Competitor Called Drip
  49. Kickstarter Looks To Compete With Patreon, Launches New Platform Called Drip
  50. Kickstarter launches Patreon rival Drip: New crowdfunding platform allows creators to offer subscriptions for ongoing content, will integrate with Kickstarter
  51. ‘Pokémon GO’ Makers Announce Harry Potter AR Game, Releasing 2018
  52. Where is VR’s Nintendo Switch?: Cloudhead Games CEO Denny Unger says that developers need a device that offers both mobility and a high-powered VR experience
  53. More third-party publishers ‘aggressively’ ramp up Nintendo Switch support: Square Enix and Ubisoft are the latest to pledge additional products
  54. Doom definitely works on the Switch, but it looks noticeably worse: Reboot looks pretty good in portable mode, pretty fuzzy on the big screen.
  55. Report: Nintendo boosting Switch production, could make 30M consoles next year
  56. Nintendo takes a gamble with record-setting Switch production plans: Reported bump to 25 to 30 million units per year carries its share of risk.
  57. Nintendo to ship almost 50 million Switch units by April 2019: Platform holder plans to produce up to 30 million consoles in next fiscal year
  58. Nintendo Switch Has Added Its First Video Streaming App: Hulu
  59. Open-world games are broken, and Nintendo spent 2017 trying to fix them
  60. Porting classic games to smartphones isn’t the way to go, says Nintendo
  61. Report suggests Nintendo close to deal for a new Mario movie: Miyamoto would be a producer on possible Illumination Entertainment film.
  62. Minions studio close to deal for Mario movie – Report: Universal’s Illumination Entertainment and Nintendo nearly ready to move forward with animated feature film
  63. IO Interactive has cut a deal to make a Hitman TV series
  64. Hitman series in the works at streaming platform Hulu: John Wick creator Derek Kolstad on board to write pilot
  65. Game Developers Conference announces the inaugural GDC Film Festival
  66. GDC rolling out its own film festival: Event organizers open submissions for documentaries and other game-focused films to screen during annual conference
  67. National Videogame Arcade launching music festival in 2018: Masaya Matsura, Jessica Curry and Rob Hubbard to headline new event
  68. CCP dev: “Virtual reality doesn’t need a killer app” – Eve Valkyrie lead game designer Andrew Whillans also shares how to account for low install bases with VR multiplayer games
  69. Latest Figures Suggest ‘Resident Evil 7’ Could Have Some 475,000 PSVR Players
  70. Sony ramping up Move production for PSVR push: Platform holder also reports virtual reality attach rate highest on PS4 Pro, five games sold per headset
  71. ‘Haptic Shape Illusion’ Allows VR Controllers to Simulate Feel of Physically Larger Objects
  72. Tencent still eyes acquisition of PUBG developer Bluehole – report: Tencent working with firm to deliver PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds in China, says Korean Times
  73. Tencent to help establish Snapchat as games platform: Chinese behemoth believes mobile games will help social media firm meet growth expectations
  74. Tencent online gaming revenue exceeds $4bn in latest quarterly financials: Company-wide profit up to $2.7 billion, year-on-year increase of 67%
  75. Marvel Heroes Shut Down By Disney
  76. New Counter-Strike Matchmaking System Analyses Your Behavior In Other Steam Games
  77. Studio founded to develop bespoke esports title: Former US talent agency esports head looks to build competitive game from the ground-up
  78. Konami partners with eSports outfit to launch a new PES league
  79. Esports Industry Awards winners announced: Eefje “Sjokz” Depoortere and Megan “RheingoldRiver” Cutrofello first women to be recognised at awards
  80. The Game Awards adds new honors, including an award for ‘live games’
  81. Nominees revealed for The Game Awards 2017
  82. DRM Strikes Again: Sonic Forces Just Plain Broken Thanks To Denuvo
  83. Warner Bros.’s Machinima Launches 24-Hour Channel on Twitch
  84. Razer raises $500 million with Hong Kong IPO: Successful floatation drives stock up 40%, sells just over one billion shares
  85. What do players want from DLC? Obsidian survey attempts to find out
  86. The Digital Ruins of a Forgotten Future: Second Life was supposed to be the future of the internet, but then Facebook came along. Yet many people still spend hours each day inhabiting this virtual realm. Their stories—and the world they’ve built—illuminate the promise and limitations of online life.

Jon