News of the Week; February 7, 2018

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

  1. Hail Mary Pass to Supreme Court Missed Its Mark: Application to Stay CRTC Order Prohibiting Simultaneous Substitution during the Super Bowl Dismissed
  2. Broadcasting Procedural Letter Addressed to Netflix (CRTC)
  3. No Panic: Canadian TV and Film Production Posts Biggest Year Ever Raising Doubts About the Need for Site Blocking and Netflix Regulation (Michael Geist)
  4. Anti-piracy group under fire for website-blocking proposal
  5. Does Canada Even Have a Huge Piracy Problem?: A coalition of powerful organizations wants to block piracy websites in Canada.
  6. Thousands Slam Bell Coalition’s Website Blocking Proposal in Submissions to the CRTC (Michael Geist)
  7. Canada’s SOPA Moment: Why the CRTC Should Reject the Bell Coalition’s Dangerous Internet Blocking Plan (Michael Geist)
  8. Russia Blocks 500 ‘Pirate’ Sites in Four Months, Without a Single Court Order
  9. Bell offers free phone unlocking for all following protests: Telecom had declined requests from non-customers but has changed its policy 
  10. How Bell Let’s Talk became a triple win for BCE, consumers and the mental health cause: In an era of donor fatigue and one-hit wonder online campaigns, BCE’s annual corporate social responsibility effort continues to succeed despite criticism from skeptic
  11. Here’s Ajit Pai’s “proof” that killing net neutrality created more broadband: Pai’s FCC takes credit for broadband deployments that began under Obama.
  12. There are Ajit Pai “Verizon puppet” jokes that the FCC doesn’t want you to read: FCC won’t release emails about joke “collusion” video, says they would harm agency.
  13. Trump’s FCC Pats Itself On The Back For A Historically Stupid Year
  14. FCC Report Falsely Claims Killing Net Neutrality Already Helping Broadband Competition 
  15. ISPs must follow net neutrality in New Jersey, governor declares: ISPs can’t block or throttle traffic if they sell broadband to state agencies.
  16. California’s Net Neutrality Law Takes Another Step Forward
  17. New Jersey The Latest State To Protect Net Neutrality By Executive Order
  18. San Francisco seeks universal fiber broadband with net neutrality and privacy: Affordable broadband and consumer protections for all—that’s the plan at least.
  19. FCC Reaches Consent Decree with Noncommercial Broadcaster Imposing Largest Fine Ever Issued for Underwriting Violations – $115,000
  20. FTC issues comments on FCC’s robocall blocking rules 
  21. Trump Administration Proposes Construction of Federal 5G Wireless Network
  22. A New Frequency Range Could Open Up More Wireless Tech
  23. Comcast accused of demanding $3.5 million “punitive ransom” from rival: Wave Broadband says it had to pay big bucks to avoid losing sports networks.

DIGITAL

  1. As Outlets Like Russia Today Influence Viewers, YouTube Will Add Notices To State-Sponsored Content
  2. YouTube will put disclaimers on state-funded broadcasts to fight propaganda: In efforts to educate viewers on where their news comes from.
  3. Appeals court: Twitter can’t be sued for “material support” of terrorism – 9th Circuit – “We conclude that Twitter has the better of the argument.” 
  4. Court Dismisses — For A Second Time — Lawsuit Seeking To Hold Facebook Responsible For Acts Of Terrorism 
  5. How Twitter Bots and Trump Fans Made #ReleaseTheMemo Go Viral: Russian bots and their American allies gamed social media to put a flawed intelligence document atop the political agenda. That should alarm us.
  6. ‘Fiction is outperforming reality’: how YouTube’s algorithm distorts truth – An ex-YouTube insider reveals how its recommendation algorithm promotes divisive clips and conspiracy videos. Did they harm Hillary Clinton’s bid for the presidency? 
  7. Ich Bin Ein Tweeter: I had enough of the trolling and toxic taunts on Twitter. So I reset my location and “moved” to Germany, the safest social media state in the world. 
  8. Learning The Politics Of “Digital Dissensus” 
  9. Policing the internet – “fake news” and social media offence update 
  10. China launches salvo against “network navy” of trolls who spread fake news: More than 200 arrests, thousands of accounts and websites seized for “illegal speculation.”
  11. Small Creator Sues YouTube Over Faulty DMCA Takedown Procedure
  12. Socioeconomic group classification based on user features / Facebook, Inc.
  13. Facebook Patents Tech To Bucket Users Into Different Social Classes
  14. Telegram iOS app removed from App Store last week due to child pornography: The app was restored only after Telegram removed the content.
  15. Theresa May Again Demands Tech Companies Do More To Right The World’s Social Media Wrongs
  16. It’s Time For A Serious Talk About The Science Of Tech “Addiction”
  17. Push Resumes For An EU Google Tax, With The Bulgarian Government Leading The Way
  18. Nest is done as a standalone Alphabet company, merges with Google: Google plans to “combine hardware, software, and services” between the two companies 
  19. Live Stream Of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy Rocket Test Peaks At 2.3 Million Concurrent Views
  20. Americans staying home, streaming video, and using less energy because of it – Decouple economic growth from energy consumption: Tell your boss you want to work from home.
  21. Kian Lawley Out At Fox Film ‘The Hate U Give’ After Clip With Racist Remarks Surfaces
  22. On The Internet, Everyone Is A Creator
  23. Logan Paul Discusses “The Hardest Time Of My Life” In ‘Good Morning America’ Interview
  24. Logan Paul Returns to YouTube With ‘Comeback’ Video: ‘I Will Never Forget Who I Am at My Core’
  25. Logan Paul Is Back To Old Antics In First Comeback Vlog After Suicide Scandal
  26. Data-Saving YouTube Go App Arrives In 130 More Countries (But Not The US) 
  27. YouTube “tightening and enforcing” policies toward content creators: “We realise we have a serious social responsibility to get these emerging policy issues right,” says CEO 
  28. YouTube Announces 3 Potential Punishments For Top Creators Who Harm The Broader Community
  29. YouTube CEO Shares 5 Goals With Creators For 2018: “Addressing Your Concerns About Demonetization Is A Top Priority”
  30. Kylie Jenner Chooses YouTube For Baby Reveal, Nabs 28 Million Views In 24 Hours
  31. YouTube On ‘Play Button’ Awards: “Not All Creators Who Apply Will Receive Awards”
  32. YouTube TV subscribers can now watch live TV on Apple TV, Roku devices: Announcement comes after the rollout was delayed at the end of 2017.
  33. As The Winter Olympics Approach, YouTube Shares Data And Prepares To Host Highlights 
  34. YouTube Uses Its Version Of Snapchat’s Stories For Black History Month Campaign
  35. Snapchat Uses Live Streaming To Highlight Top Moments From 2018 Winter Olympics
  36. Patreon Introduces Exclusive Snapchat-Like Content For Donors, By Creators
  37. How Snapchat Is Sending #Metoo Down The Memory Hole: Disappearing-messaging apps may keep snoopers away—but they can also prevent us from preserving the past and finding justice in the future.
  38. BuzzFeed And NBCUniversal’s Latest Project Targets Millennial Parents
  39. Putting Pinners First: How Pinterest Is Building Partnerships For Compassionate Content Moderation
  40. Implementing Transparency About Content Moderation
  41. Tosca Musk Launches Streaming Service That Celebrates The Female Gaze 
  42. Hulu’s Super Bowl stream fails during final moments of game: Some customers lost video right before the end
  43. Hulu and Vue fumbled during the Super Bowl (but so did NBC): Two of the big streaming TV services cut out at critical moments in the game.
  44. Warner Music Hits $1 Billion in First Quarter, Digital Revenue Up 20%
  45. Study Suggests Shutting Down Filesharing Sites Would Hurt Music Industry, New Artists
  46. Appeals Court Makes A Mess Of Copyright Law Concerning ISPs And Safe Harbors
  47. BMG V. Cox is Major Copyright Victory for Music Industry
  48. Cox Not Entitled to DMCA Protection Given Lax Infringer Policy
  49. Fourth Circuit Raises Bar for DMCA Safe Harbor Defense 
  50. The Gig Economy’s Tipping Point
  51. Alexa, print money: Even Bezos stunned by Q4 Amazon income – Exceeds operating income estimate by 69%; hints at exactly how well Echo is doing.
  52. Inside Amazon’s Artificial Intelligence Flywheel: How deep learning came to power Alexa, Amazon Web Services, and nearly every other division of the company.
  53. What Amazon Does to Poor Cities: The debate over Amazon’s HQ2 obscures the company’s rapid expansion of warehouses in low-income areas.
  54. Don’t Make AI Artificially Stupid In The Name Of Transparency
  55. AI Just Learned How To Boost The Brain’s Memory
  56. Half of Americans Want Universal Income, but Expect AI Companies to Pay It 
  57. Greedy, Brittle, Opaque, And Shallow: The Downsides To Deep Learning – We’ve been promised a revolution in how and why nearly everything happens. But the limits of modern artificial intelligence are closer than we think.
  58. Photo Algorithms ID White Men Fine—Black Women, Not So Much
  59. Line-Drawing Exercises: Autonomy and Automation – An existential worry lies beneath concerns about the future of AI. We as humans fear that we will lose our autonomy as we pursue automation with such abandon. (John Palfrey)
  60. The Expansion Of Algorithmic Governance: From Code is Law to Law is Code (Samer Hassan & Primavera De Filippi)
  61. Irony Alert? Tech Insiders Form Organization to Combat the Dangers of Technology
  62. The End Of Data Without Borders: The storage and transmission of data around the world involves a constant clash of competing local, regional, and national regulations. But why does anyone care where data is physically located?
  63. Our Hackable Political Future
  64. The Big ICO Swindle: Many cryptocurrency speculators are banking on the theory that someone dumber than them will buy their tokens for more than they paid. That’s a pretty good bet … until it isn’t.
  65. A Classic Scam Finds New Life Stealing Bitcoin On Twitter
  66. Decrypting Taxation of Cryptocurrency
  67. Why experts are worried about Tether, a dollar-pegged cryptocurrency: Markets treat a tether as though it’s worth $1. But what if it’s not?
  68. Cryptocurrency botnets are rendering some companies unable to operate: Smominru botnet has infected 526,000 machines, generated as much as $3.6 million.
  69. Crypto Utopia In Puerto Rico: Digital Evangelism Or Disaster Capitalism? (Andres Guadamuz)
  70. A Video Platform That Wants To Be YouTube For Cryptocurrency Users Has Raised $20 Million
  71. Cryptocurrency in Small Bytes: Who’s in Charge Here Anyway? The U.S. Regulatory Landscape for Token Offerings
  72. The Wired Guide To The Blockchain: It’s super secure and slightly hard to understand, but the idea of creating tamper-proof databases has captured the attention of everyone from anarchist techies to staid bankers. 
  73. Feds Take Down A Half-Billion Dollar Cybercrime Forum After 7 Years Online
  74. No “Bright Line” In Influencer Marketing No-Nos, Tubefilter And SAG-AFTRA FTC Panel Shows
  75. ‘Catalog Of Missing Devices’ Compiles The Useful Tech Products DRM Is Preventing Us From Owning
  76. Viacom Will Reportedly Acquire Online Video Gathering VidCon
  77. It’s Official: Viacom Announces Its Acquisition Of VidCon
  78. Mitú, NFL Announce Partnership To Engage Latino Football Fans
  79. This Pastor Is Putting His Faith In A Virtual Reality Church: D.J. Soto believes Christianity can be renewed through worship in virtual space. His VR mega-church is even attracting atheists.
  80. Uber doesn’t want jury to see report, but judge says Uber is “stuck” with it: Former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick may take the stand today.
  81. Waymo presents damning internal messages from Uber, which responds in kind
  82. Kalanick agrees: Google was and is “in the lead” in autonomous vehicles – According to a colleague’s notes, Uber’s co-founder sought “pound of flesh.”
  83. Uber: We had “no justification” for covering up data breach – Republican senator – data breach incident “raises red flags within this committee.”
  84. Waymo v. Uberkicks Off With Travis Kalanick In The Crosshairs
  85. Waymo v. Uber’s big Question: What On Earth Is A Trade Secret, Anyway?
  86. Google joins “universal stylus” group, hopes for cross-device compatibility: Can you build a universal stylus standard without Apple, Microsoft, and Samsung?
  87. Push Resumes For An EU Google Tax, With The Bulgarian Government Leading The Way
  88. Samsung leader walks from prison after bribery charges “suspended”: “Samsung is above the law and the court” says national assembly member.
  89. iPhone X Damage Report: Two Months Later
  90. How will new iPhones manage power? Apple’s response to senator raises questions: Apple is also exploring options for those who paid full price for new batteries.
  91. Op-ed: Apple was right to throttle iPhones, but some things still need to change – Prioritizing battery life and stability over speed was the best move for users.
  92. Apple sets quarterly revenue record following iPhone X launch
  93. Apple, Verizon Continue to Lobby Against The Right To Repair Your Own Devices
  94. It’s Time For A Serious Talk About The Science Of Tech “Addiction”
  95. The Formula For Phone Addiction Might Double As A Cure
  96. The Secret To Breaking Up With Your Phone? Remember That You Will Die.
  97. Comprehensive US cell phone safety study inches toward publication: In this study, being in one of the control groups was fatal.
  98. Relatively few LG customers will see any money from “bootloop” lawsuit: Chamberlain v. LG was sent to arbitration in June 2017; now LG has quietly settled.
  99. Toronto lawyer serves claim with Instagram
  100. IP monitor – Government is reviewing Copyright Act for currency with digital technology
  101. Moderation Is The Commodity
  102. 5 Takeaways From Tech Leaders’ Content Moderation Conference: Tech companies’ legal leaders and policy experts gathered at Santa Clara University School of Law on Feb. 2 for a day of panels on content moderation and removal.
  103. Behold, the 157 new emoji for 2018: New smileys, animals, hair colors, and lots more arrive in Unicode Emoji 11.0.
  104. Rebalancing Regulation of Speech: Hyper-Local Content on Global Web-Based Platforms (Chinmayi Arun)
  105. Co-founder of EFF, John Perry Barlow, dead at 70: “The Internet we all know and love today exists and thrives because of Barlow’s vision.”
  106. Mourning John Perry Barlow, The Bard Of The Internet

CREATIVITY

  1.  Ed Sheeran Among the Latest Musicians Accused of Copying Australian Artists
  2. Insights: After Music’s Massive Week, Can People Finally Make Money From It Again?
  3. Tarnishing The History Of Martin Luther King Jr.: Copyright Enforcement Edition
  4. Director Of Thor: Ragnarok Pirated Clips For His Sizzle Reel
  5. International Inconsistencies In Copyright: Why It’s Hard To Know What’s Really Available To The Public
  6. Israeli Music Fans Sue Two New Zealanders For Convincing Lorde To Cancel Her Israeli Concert 
  7. Public School Board Member Threatens Boss Of Woman Who Spoke Out Against School Book Banning
  8. Come Witness The Commentators That Help The NFL Fool The Public About Its ‘Super Bowl’ Trademark Rights
  9. BrewDog Beats Back Trademark Action From The Elvis Presley Estate
  10. Moosehead Breweries Cuts And Runs From Trademark Suit Against Hop ‘N Moose Brewing
  11. Best Buy Will No Longer Sell CDs and Target May Be Next
  12. Online Talent Search Company Settles FTC Allegations it Collected Children’s Information without Consent and Misled Consumers
  13. Understanding the Consumer Review Fairness Act of 2016 (Eric Goldman)

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

  1. Right to be Forgotten, eh? Canada’s Privacy Commissioner Says Law Requires Search Engine De-indexing
  2. Canadian Privacy Commissioner Report Says Existing Law Already Gives Canadians A Right To Be Forgotten
  3. It is time to overhaul Canada’s data protection—your rights are at stake – Opinion: A draft position by Canada’s privacy commissioner on the right to be forgotten shows how our inadequate laws are being overstretched
  4. Here’s what you need to know about Canada’s ‘extraordinarily permissive’ new spying laws
  5. China Exporting Its Surveillance Tech And Philosophy To Other Countries, Helped By Equipment Donations
  6. Devin Nunes Releases Memo That Doesn’t Show The Surveillance Abuses He Hypocritically ‘Cares’ About
  7. Missouri Governor Sued Over His Office’s Use Of Self-Destructing Communications
  8. Judge should order governor to stop using ephemeral messaging app, lawyers say – Missouri governor’s lawyer: Use of Confide is protected under the First Amendment.
  9. Single-Pixel Tracker Leads Paranoid Turkish Authorities To Wrongly Accuse Over 10,000 People Of Treason
  10. Digital insecurity of journalists in Pakistan: DRF report
  11. IBM’s New AI Can Predict Psychosis in Your Speech
  12. The Equifax “Lock & Alert” app works, but what does it do?: Equifax’s new free phone app can “lock” your Equifax credit report. Just beware of typos.
  13. Hacker Lauri Love Wins Extradition Appeal; Won’t Be Shipped Off To The US
  14. In just 24 hours, 5,000 Android devices are conscripted into mining botnet: Worm-like infection targets devices that have seldom-used port 5555 open.
  15. Why cops won’t need a warrant to pull the data off your autonomous car: “It’s like instant replay in the NFL; I can tell what happened.”
  16. Facial Recognition in Retail: “Attention all Shoppers: We Already Know Everything about You”
  17. The House That Spied on Me
  18. Mind The Gap: This Researcher Steals Data With Noise, Light, And Magnets
  19. GDPR: The Most Frequently Asked Questions: Is a Service Provider’s Privacy Shield Certification Good Enough?
  20. Children and the GDPR
  21. Data is power: Towards additional guidance on profiling and automated decision-making in the GDPR (Frederike Kaltheuner, Elettra Bietti)

GAMES

  1. Valve suspends Counter-Strike co-creator after arrest for sexual exploitation of a child
  2. Valve Suspends Counter-Strike Co-Creator Following Disturbing Allegations: Cliffe has been suspended “until we know more,” says Valve.
  3. Counter-Strike’s Jess Cliffe arrested for sexual exploitation of a child: Co-creator of classic first-person shooter suspended by Valve until more is known of charges
  4. Counter-Strike Co-Creator Charged With Paying 16-Year-Old For Sex
  5. Charges filed, details emerge for arrest of Counter-Strike’s co-creator: Charged with commercial sexual abuse of a minor.
  6. “A risk to the community”—Counter-Strike co-creator faces $150K bail post-arrest: Defense acknowledges sexual contact, says client “had no idea” witness was a minor.
  7. Subnautica developer fired over “many hateful statements”: Sound designer Simon Chylinski dropped from underwater survival game after history of insensitive tweets
  8. Is it right to classify excessive video game play as a health disorder?: “Once we say games are also an activity that pulls for that compulsiveness, the question is why aren’t more people then getting pulled into it?”
  9. ‘Dangerous gaming’: is the WHO right to class excessive video game play as a health disorder?: Industry figures question research that ‘pathologises’ compulsive gaming, while scientist involved defends move to address addiction
  10. Germany is considering a ban on loot boxes
  11. German Youth Protection Commission investigates loot boxes: It’s “conceivable” that loot boxes violate existing regulation, says commission chairman
  12. Quantic Dream labels claims of toxic conditions as “smear campaign”: Council of Paris investigating public funds awarded to studio, and considering tighter regulations for companies that do not care for staff
  13. EA stock reaches all-time high ahead of Battlefront II loot box return: Company’s stock rose 7%, peaking at $131 following recent financial results
  14. Take-Two swings to profit, has high hopes for Red Dead Redemption 2
  15. The Myth of Metacritocracy: 10 Years Ago This Month: EA learns a costly lesson about striving for excellence and Take-Two tells it to take a hike
  16. Take-Two’s usual performers carry company to solid quarter: Record quarters for Grand Theft Auto Online and NBA 2K continue to tide publisher over during a light year of major releases
  17. Over 1M Battlegrounds cheaters were banned in January alone
  18. PUBG Corp prepares to introduce new anti-cheat solution as total bans exceeds 2.5m: PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds bans one million cheaters in January alone
  19. Donkey Kong scoreboard strips Billy Mitchell’s high score claims 
  20. Indiegogo threatens to recoup Spectrum Vega+ funds, new release date promised: Former managing director of Retro Computers Ltd refutes allegations made by company’s current directors
  21. Kickstarter and games in 2017
  22. Atari Gets The Settlement It Was Surely Fishing For Over An Homage To ‘Breakout’ In KitKat Commercial
  23. Amid furor over past sexism, Atari co-founder loses prestigious award: Bushnell apologizes for behavior, “applauds” GDC for promoting awareness.
  24. Twitch Ended 2017 With 15 Million Daily Visitors, 27K Partnered Streamers
  25. Konami apologizes for announcing nuclear disarmament (in Metal Gear Solid V): Server-wide cutscene event seems to have been activated prematurely by a glitch.
  26. Capcom’s hunt for a global audience: Monster Hunter was perhaps the best example of a “big in Japan” game – until Capcom’s persistence and confidence finally paid off this week
  27. Capcom lays off workers at Dead Rising studio
  28. Layoffs at Capcom Vancouver: 30% of studio laid off as Dead Rising developer reportedly sees one project cancelled, another has scope reduced
  29. Report: Gameloft closes New Orleans studio, layoffs at Gameloft Madrid
  30. Sales and profits slip at Sega despite bump in physical sales
  31. Jump in physical game sales can’t save Sega from sales and income drops: Games success not enough to overcome slumping arcade and smartphone performance
  32. Sonic 3D Blast dev releases director’s cut after 25 years
  33. Mojang is shutting down Scrolls’ online servers
  34. Existing titles drive profits at Square Enix as sales fall flat
  35. Smartphone success boosts Square Enix after a quiet nine months on consoles: Online titles Final Fantasy XIV and Dragon Quest X boost sales and subscriber numbers
  36. The 8 Ways Nintendo Can Double Down On Switch’s Success
  37. I’m A Nintendo Switch N00b Who Just Got A Hands-On With Labo
  38. The Switch’s premium online service is launching this September
  39. Nintendo to continue mobile push with Mario Kart Tour
  40. Nintendo will release a Mario Kart mobile game by March 2019: Mario Kart Tour will launch in the next financial year, the publisher said today
  41. Nintendo announces Super Mario movie in partnership with Illumination: Animation studio behind Despicable Me and Minions franchises to co-produce with Shigeru Miyamoto
  42. Why isn’t Nintendo Switch breaking records in the UK?: It’s the fastest-selling games console in almost every market it’s been released in, but not Britain
  43. Nintendo working on Mario movie with Minions creator Illumination
  44. Super Mario Odyssey producer settles the debate over Toad’s head: Is it a hat, or part of his anatomy?
  45. Why Nintendo Switch needs to find a new model of discovery: The family-friendly platform must learn from Steam’s cautionary tale
  46. After a rocky launch, Failbetter Games ends indie fund and lays off some staff
  47. NCsoft posts another year of record-breaking growth: Slight declines in mobile aren’t enough to ruin the show as online PC games enjoy a strong quarter
  48. Steam Winter Sale Data and the Effects of a Front Page Feature
  49. Report: Google considering streaming service for games
  50. Google prepping game streaming service – Report
  51. Google’s “Yeti” is reportedly a gaming hardware, streaming service beast: According to The Information, Google has been working on this for the past two years.
  52. How mobile game devs are evolving test and launch strategies: Google Play biz dev manager Emily Putze tracks how the traditional launch playbook for mobile games is changing
  53. Sony’s software strength offsets flat hardware sales: Sony shipped 9 million units of the PlayStation 4 in Q3, down 700k over last year
  54. Has the PS4 peaked? Annual console shipments are flat for 2017: This is about the age when Sony systems start their long, slow decline.
  55. Kaz Hirai steps down as president and CEO of Sony Corp.: Hirai hands leadership to CFO Kenichiro Yoshida after six years at the helm
  56. Sony financials: PlayStation software shines as hardware slows
  57. As Sony CEO Kaz Hirai steps down, the future of some products is in question: His successor has built a reputation for making tough cuts to get in the black.
  58. Sony Interactive Entertainment files Inter Partes Review of 3D Video Patent
  59. Upcoming PlayStation 4 update includes playtime management 
  60. Microsoft responds to indie retail backlash over Xbox Game Pass: Platform holder “pleasantly surprised” by store demand, considering broadening its distribution plans
  61. Always Be Pitching: How to find and talk to publishers to survive as an indie
  62. Layoffs at Nexon America after company restructuring
  63. Jobs lost as Nexon America restructures: But publisher insists there’s no significant impact to overall workforce, layoffs unrelated to struggling Lawbreakers
  64. UK game dev sector grows more than four times the rate of the economy in 2017: Games development sector contributes nearly £1.5 billion to the UK’s GDP, says TIGA report
  65. Pillars of Eternity II director on Obsidian’s shift from studio-for-hire to building its own IP: Working on your own IP is “less about the freedom and more about the institutional knowledge to understand what the IP is”
  66. New studio Lunar Great Wall will also teach games development: Italian start-up’s Claudio Giacopazzi tells us how the team will balance creation and education
  67. Encouraging charity with Don-Ay, the first ‘donation game’: Italian developer Affinity Project talks us through its mobile endless runner that enables players to help save real-world animals
  68. Gamevil and Com2us merge in the US: Mobile companies combine to focus efforts in North America
  69. Keywords expects $186m in revenues after 11 acquisitions in 2017: Service empire’s studio count has grown eightfold in the last five years
  70. Examining the role outsourcing plays in modern game development
  71. Tamatem nets $2.5M to localize mobile games for Arabic-speaking markets
  72. Q&A: Translating the humor & tone of Yakuza games for the West
  73. Trailmix aims to reinvent casual games – with a little help from Supercell: Backed by $4.2m from Supercell, King veterans Carolin Krenzer and Tristan Clark will push toward a richer and more meaningful take on casual gaming
  74. Human: Fall Flat dev credits community feedback for success
  75. “It’s hard to put in words how life-changing blockchain technology will be”: EverdreamSoft plans to demonstrate the new tech’s power by enabling players to sell – and more importantly own – in-game cards
  76. Blog: Can week-one Steam sales predict first-year sales?
  77. Latest Steam survey puts Oculus Rift and HTC Vive with equal market share
  78. Pokemon Go developer Niantic scoops up AR API maker Escher Reality
  79. Open-source game dev tool Godot Engine adds VR support
  80. Blog: The next surprise billion dollar game will be on Alexa
  81. Game dev in Oceania: A hands-off Aussie gov’t, and a Kiwi PM’s visit
  82. Blog: Are casual games maturing? 
  83. How Tetris was discovered in America
  84. Smithsonian American Art Museum puts out call for indie devs
  85. Applications open for Smithsonian American Art Museum exhibition: Smithsonian puts out call for indie devs to explore this year’s theme of “game spaces”
  86. Machinima founder and VR developer Hugh Hancock has passed away

Jon

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