COMMUNICATIONS

1.  Altering the broadcasting landscape – Canada’s Broadcasting Act to be amended
2. Feds propose changes to Broadcasting Act that may raise $800 million from streamers: New regulations would ensure streaming platforms face same rules as traditional broadcasters
3. Broadcasting Act Amendments
4. The Government’s Internet Regulation Bill: Why Bill C-10 Will Mean a CRTC-Approved Netflix Service, Reduced Consumer Choice, and Less Investment in Canadian Culture (Michael Geist)
5. Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault’s “Get Money from Web Giants” Internet Regulation Bill: An Unauthorized Backgrounder (Michael Geist)
6. What’s Another Way Supporters of Mandated Facebook Media Payments Promote Their Position? Paid Facebook Advertising (Michael Geist)
7. The tech antitrust problem no one is talking about: Americans pay more for broadband, have fewer choices than consumers in other countries.
8. Monopolistic U.S. ISPs Take Full Advantage Of The Covid Crisis
9. “Stay Home” robocalls to voters prompt FBI, FCC investigations
10. FCC forces T-Mobile to pay $200 million fine for subsidiary Sprint’s fraud
11. Time to Treat Broadband Like the Essential Service It Is
12. The Enormous Cost Of Digital Inequality 
13. Cable TV Execs Move Past Denial Stage, Now Fully Expect A ‘Cord Cutting’ Bloodbath
14. FCC Approves All-Digital AM Radio Broadcasts
15. FCC Establishes $9 Billion Fund to Support 5G Services in Rural America
16. FCC to Lift Freeze on TV Station Technical Improvement Applications
17. More on the FCC Rule Changes on Public Notice of Broadcast Applications and Required New Link on Station Homepages
18. Comcast Tells Customers They May Lose Access To Comcast Channels If Comcast Can’t Agree With Comcast 
19. What’s New in 5G – November 2020 
20. Audiovisual Media Services Regulations 2020 Made

DIGITAL

1. Facebook Charged Biden a Higher Price Than Trump for Campaign Ads: In swing states, Biden paid average ad rates of $34 compared with Trump’s average of $17 in July and August
2. The Trump Camp Has Bought YouTube’s Masthead Ad 20 Times This Election—Including On Election Day
3. What Twitter Did After Trump Said Democrats Are Trying to “STEAL” the Election
4. Trump’s campaign and family boost bogus conspiracy theories in a bid to undermine vote count: Campaign sent estimated 9 million texts according to anti-robocall firm, some seeking money to launch voting challenges
5. Court tosses constitutional challenge to Trump order on social media
6. Facebook targeted in U.K. legal action over Cambridge Analytica
7. Facebook sued by UK group over Cambridge Analytica breach
8. Insights: Social Media Platforms’ Election-Protection Plans A Start, But Not Nearly Enough Change For Long-Term
9. What The Election Means For Tech
10. While Social Media Was Quick To Highlight And Limit The Spread Of False Claims Of Election Victory, Traditional Media Just Let It Flow
11. Another Court Rejects Trump’s Censorial Anti-TikTok EO–Marland v. Trump (Eric Goldman)
12. Judge: Trump Admin‘s TikTok ban would cause “irreparable harm” to creators
13. Three TikTok Influencers Influenced A Judge To Block Trump’s TikTok Ban
14. TikTok Countersues Triller, Says Its Tech Doesn’t Violate Patent
15. TikTok Re-Ups Licensing Deal With Sony, Adding Marketing, Artist Discovery Components
16. Nixon Scandal Resulted In A Law To Prevent The Politicization Of Antitrust Cases; Meanwhile Trump Uses His Politicized Antitrust Effort In Campaign Ad
17. As Trump falsely claims victory, Twitter and Facebook counter misinformation
18. How Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Reddit are handling the election
19. Turkish President Sues Dutch Lawmaker Over A Bunch Of ‘Insulting’ Tweets
20. U.S. Department of Justice Sues Google for Antitrust Violations
21. Google Kills Nest Secure, Can’t Be Bothered To Explain Support Roadmap
22. Senate hauls Zuckerberg, Dorsey into hearing to yell at them about tweets
23. The Senate Snowflake Grievance Committee Quizzes Tech CEOs On Tweets & Employee Viewpoints
24. A Digital Tech New Deal to break up Big Tech: Antitrust efforts in the US are not enough to counter the global power of Big Tech.
25. NZ Supreme Court Gives A Mixed Bag Extradition Ruling To Kim Dotcom; Extradition Still Alive, But He Can Raise Procedural Issues
26. Transparency Is Important; Mandated Transparency Is Dangerous And Will Stifle Innovation And Competition
27. Constitutional Challenge to Trump’s Anti-230 EO Fails–Rock the Vote v. Trump (Eric Goldman)
28. Free Market Advocate Switches Sides, Calls For Direct Government Interference In Online Moderation Decisions
29. Trump campaign out $2.3 million after hack of Wisconsin GOP
30. Changing Section 230 Won’t Fix Politicians’ Issues With Section 230
31. Twitter, Facebook, Google Heads Testify on Section 230 and Local Journalism
32. Your Problem Is Not With Section 230, But The 1st Amendment
33. Snapchat Isn’t Liable for Its Speed Filter (Even if Section 230 Doesn’t Apply)–Maynard v. Snapchat (Eric Goldman)
34. Creators Are Starting To Make A Lot Of Money On Facebook
35. Facebook’s Handy Identity Crisis: Publisher or bulletin board? Can it really give up news sharing? Why the tech giant works hard to resist definition.
36. Facebook Takes Aim at NYU Web Scrapers
37. This microscopic 3D-printed Star Trek Voyager can move on its own
38. Apple One, Apple’s answer to Amazon Prime, is finally launching
39. On The Podcast: All The Reasons Why Quibi Didn’t Work
40. A Quick Bite Post Mortem For For Quibi: Hollywood Still Doesn’t Get The Internet
41. BEN Group Acquires YouTube Channel-Optimizing Browser Extension ‘TubeBuddy’
42. YouTube Hits $5 Billion In Ad Revenue, 30 Million Premium And Music Subscribers In Q3
43. YouTube Soundtracking Service Epidemic Sound Launches ‘Music Recommender’ Tool For Creators
44. Ryan Kaji Becomes First YouTuber To Be Featured In Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade In Roughly A Century
45. “Baby Shark” Overtakes “Despacito” To Become YouTube’s Most-Watched Video Of All Time
46. Tati Westbrook Sued By Former Business Partner In Her Halo Beauty Vitamin Venture
47. David Dobrik Links Up With Leonardo DiCaprio For Second Voter Registration Contest
48. Google says it’s “committed” to Nest Secure but won’t ship any new features
49. Senate hauls Zuckerberg, Dorsey into hearing to yell at them about tweets
50. Netflix Raises Subscription Prices In The U.S., Causing Shares To Jump 4%
51. Spotify CEO Says ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ Is No. 1 English Podcast, Has “Outperformed Our Expectations”
52. Filtering feminisms: Emergent feminist visibilities on Instagra
53. Creator Community Standard Beefs Up In-House Video Production With Acquisition Of Studio Mighteor
54. The Ongoing Transformation of the Digital Public Sphere: Basic Considerations on a Moving Target
55. Decentralize the feedback infrastructure! (Pedro Garcia Lopez)
56. Revisiting the Black Box Society by rethinking the political economy of big data (Benedetta Brevini, Frank Pasquale)
57. Dark pools and data markets: an exploration of the regulatory challenges
58. The Janus faces of Silicon Valley
59. Freedom of Expression and Alternatives for Internet Governance: Prospects and Pitfalls (Emma Ricknell)
60. A Digital Tech New Deal: Digital Socialism, Decolonization, and Reparations for a Sustainable Global Economy (Michael Kwet)
61. California votes against granting Uber and Lyft drivers employee status
62. Who Needs to Tell the U.S. Internal Revenue Service About Their Cryptocurrency Activity?
63. US Bank Crypto Services Proceed, Crypto Debit Cards Launch in US and Mexico, Blockchain Enterprise Developments, and Crypto Enforcement Continues
64. Someone has transferred ~$1 billion from a bitcoin wallet quiet since 2015

A.I.

1. A new way to plug a human brain into a computer: Via veins
2. Acknowledging AI as an Inventor of IP – A Slippery Slope to Giving AI the Same Rights as Humans?
3. AI use in U.S. criminal justice reinforced racialized decision-making: Law Commission of Ontario
4. Racial Discrimination in Face Recognition Technology
5. Legal and Ethics Checklist for AI Systems
6. Draft Proposal for the Regulation of Ethical AI
7. Weak Ties: The Urban History of an Algorithm
8. Patent protection of machine learning and artificial intelligence inventions in Europe
9. “Oh Jeeeesus”: Drivers react to Tesla’s full self-driving beta release
10. Tesla raises “full self-driving” price from $8,000 to $10,000
11. Connected cars must be open to third parties, say Massachusetts voters
12. Content Moderation Case Study: Moderating An Anonymous Social Network (2015)
13. Content Moderation Case Studies: Using AI To Detect Problematic Edits On Wikipedia (2015)
14. Video: Character control with neural networks in Assassin’s Creed
15. More Than a Feeling: Emotion detection doesn’t work, but it will try to change your behavior anyway (Frank Pasquale)
16. No longer sci-fi: our bodies as computers 
17. Apply for UK Government funding for robotic AI by 20 November 2020 

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

1.  Use Your Illusion: Rights in posthumous holographic performance
2. Intellectual Property & Architecture – Copyright Protection in Focus
3. Tenth Circuit Breathes New Life into a Spooky Skeleton Copyright Dispute 
4. Protect Your Posts: New Group Copyright Registration Option for Online Blogs and Articles 
5. The US election: a vote on IP?
6. New Working Paper – Memes and Parasites: A discourse analysis of the Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive 
7. Canada: Official marks can lead to damages for infringement of regular trademarks, according to Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal 
8. Procedures and strategies for anti-counterfeiting: Canada
9. Ninth Circuit: Likelihood of Confusion Required to Sustain TM Counterfeiting Claim 
10. Hallmark Win in Greeting Card Trademark Dispute: Court Finds Unauthorized Sale of Cards Meant for Destruction Infringing
11. Neat infringement claim leaves whiskey competitor’s trade mark on the rocks
12. Counterfeit luxury goods 
13. Brand protection in the digital world 
14. Distilling the value of corporate trademarks 
15. Descriptive Use of a Registered Trademark is not Infringement
16. Slogans as marks: when does a slogan function as a mark 
17. Trademark Cancellation Is Appropriate Sanction for Misconduct
18. Cookie Trade Dress Infringement Case Crumbles in Face of Functionality Challenge
19. A Clear Need: To Allege Misappropriation, Identify Trade Secret 
20. CIPO’s Patentable Subject-Matter Guidance – Same Code, Different Syntax 
21. The Canadian Patent Office Releases New Guidelines: The Diagnostic’s Industry Should Be Cautiously Optimistic 
22. Canadian Patents: What to Keep in Mind One Year After the Coming into Force of the New Rules? 
23. The Intersection between Drop-Shipping and Patent Infringement 
24. The Changing Patent Landscape in the Semiconductor Space 
25. Size Matters in Obviousness Analysis 
26. Marathon musings – Patenting running watch algorithms in Europe
27. Five Patents You Should Know About for Halloween 2020
28. Courtrooms and the America’s Cup – Patent infringement set to be the latest out-of-water battle 
29. A “Bitterly Divided” Federal Circuit Declines to Stay Decision Invalidating Car Driveshaft Patent
30. Clearing the 5G Patent Forest! 
31. People With Silly Patents Would Really Like It If It Was Harder To Cancel Them
32. Final PMPRB guidelines released 
33. “Zombie” Privacy & IP Rights: Protecting the Rights to an Individual’s Image after Death: Part 1 of 2
34. “Zombie” Privacy & IP Rights: Protecting the Rights to an Individual’s Image after Death: Part 2 of 2
35. How Might New Supreme Court Justice Barrett Rule on IP Cases?

PRIVACY

1. Alberta Court of Appeal rules that searches of electronic devices at the border are unconstitutional
2. Cybersecurity Among Factors Driving Privacy Law Reform in Canada
3. Use of Facial Recognition Software for Customer Analytics
4. California Voters Approve New Data Privacy Law
5. California Voters Pass Proposition 24 – the California Privacy Rights Act
6. California Passes Proposition 24: California Privacy Rights Act to Become Law
7. California Voters Approve Reworking of Landmark Consumer Privacy Law – What CCPA 2.0 Will Mean for Businesses and Consumers
8. Clearview Resurfaces To Make Some Empty Promises About Keeping Cops From Abusing Its Tech
9. Portland, Maine has voted to ban facial recognition
10. Risks and Compliance Under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act: No Actual Harm Required for Private Cause of Action
11. One Clear Message From Voters This Election? More Privacy
12. Stanford Research Shows VR Users Can Be Identified Using Only 5 Minutes of Motion Data
13. How the Upcoming Election Could Change Privacy Law in the U.S.
14. Google’s Project Zero discloses Windows 0day that’s been under active exploit
15. EFF Asks Government To Dump DHS’s Plan To Massively Expand Its Biometric Collections
16. Senator Wyden Wants To Know If The NSA Is Still Demanding Tech Companies Build Backdoors Into Their Products
17. ICO fines Marriott 18.4 million pounds for failing to secure customer data 
18. A New Wave of Class Action Lawsuits is Targeting Online Customer Tracking
19. UK Privacy Regulator Dramatically Reduces Fine for British Airways’ GDPR Violations 
20. Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield Invalidated by Swiss Commissioner
21. Dr. Strangenet—or, how I stopped worrying and embraced the WFH IT apocalypse

CREATIVITY

1. Trump Appointee Removes ‘Firewall’ Preventing Administration From Meddling In VOA Reporting
2. President-For-Life Hopeful Donald Trump Issues Executive Order Mandating ‘Patriotic’ Education For Kids
3. Johnny Depp loses high-risk libel trial against NGN and Dan Wootton
4. To Prevent Free, Frictionless Access To Human Knowledge, Publishers Want Librarians To Be Afraid, Very Afraid

GAMES

1. Bandai Namco, AtGames resolve legal dispute: Judge dismisses lawsuit over Ms. Pac-Man rights, clearing way for re-release of AtGames’ Namco arcade microconsole
2. EA fined €10m over loot boxes as Dutch court sides with gambling authority: District court unmoved by FIFA publisher’s defenses, denies its bid to keep fines from being made public
3. Dutch judge rules that EA should be fined €500k every week until it removes FIFA loot boxes: FUT Had Been Deemed In Violation Of Gambling Rules
4. Opening Pandora’s Loot Box? Canadian Class Action Lawsuit Over Loot Boxes May Provide Guidance On The Legality of Loot Boxes in Canada
5. Sony legal threat compels PS5 faceplate company to cancel all orders: CustomizeMyPlates also had to rebrand from PlateStation5 following complaints from platform holder
6. Judge rejects Google’s attempt to push Epic case to October 2022: Fortnite firm has suggested February 2021 as judge tells both companies to “get moving”
7. Amazon patents method of grouping toxic players together online: Patent filing suggests gamers would be able to specify preferences for the behaviours they would accept
8. Ubisoft investigating after ransomware group claims to have leaked Watch Dogs source code: 560GB code for Legion reportedly available online, could endanger anti-piracy measures
9. Reports of Watch Dogs Legion source code leak prompts Ubisoft investigation 
10. Take-Two Finds Less Success with Second Take on Copyright and Tattoos
11. Randy Orton’s Tattoos Divide Courts as Gamers Prepare for PS5 and Xbox Series X
12. 2020 is already a record year for games investment: $5.2 billion in investment in Q3 alone brings the year’s total to $9.9 billion so far
13. Scopely raises $340 million at $3.3 billion valuation as mobile games thrive during pandemic
14. Newzoo raises its annual games industry forecast for 2020 once again: COVID-19’s impact on the market expected to bring industry revenue to $174.9 billion this year
15. Billy Mitchell’s Defamation Case Against Twin Galaxies Over ‘Donkey Kong’ High Score Can Go Forward
16. Opportunity for Game Publishers & Developers: Over a Quarter of Western Lapsed Gamers Are Looking to Play Again
17. Lab Zero founder Mike Zaimont suspended from work on Guilty Gear update
18. Standing on the shoulders of Riot Grrrl: Story Juice and punk feminism in games: “When you can’t see your stories and perspectives in an industry, then you have to put them there,” says studio founder Dr Hannah Wood
19. Game developers have too much job security | 10 Years Ago This Month
20. Biden/Harris Campaign Deploys Custom ‘Fortnite’ Map To Teach Voters About Key Policies
21. Old School Runescape breaks concurrent player record during Leagues II event
22. Is the games industry open to working class people?
23. Black representation in games | Podcast
24. Twitch Marketing Promo Over Golden Emoji Goes Horribly Wrong After DMCA Nuclear Strike
25. Hasan Piker’s Twitch Stream Is the Future of Election Night Coverage: Last night’s Twitch stream was so thoroughly modern that I was actually able to calm down.
26. Elastic Audio announces Intonal, a new audio programming language for games: CEO Andrew Beck says Intonal would allow game sound design to be as reactive and adaptive as graphic design
27. Pokémon Go’s 2020 revenues estimated at $1bn so far: Niantic game on course to record its best year ever, third biggest mobile game globally
28. Digital and catalog sales continue to drive growth at Capcom
29. Capcom’s games business rescues six-month results: Total revenue and profits increased despite the impact of COVID-19 on arcades and amusement centres
30. Frostpunk board game raises over €2m on Kickstarter
31. Guild Wars 2 pauses Steam plans to focus on expansion development
32. Steam rolls out built-in playtest invite and management tool beta for devs
33. The Lego Group helps Builder’s Journey dev Light Brick go independent 
34. PUBG Mobile has ceased operations in India due to government ban: Tencent statement defends protection of user data — “we deeply regret this outcome”
35. Tencent shutting down PUBG Mobile in India following government ban
36. Tencent leads $25 million investment in Avakin Life dev Lockwood Publishing
37. Tencent invests in Lockwood Publishing: Chinese tech giant leads a $25 million investment round in the Avakin Life creator
38. Tencent-owned Honor of Kings is recording 100 million average daily active users
39. Sega Sammy sells off arcade business as COVID takes its toll
40. Sega Sammy sells arcade business Sega Entertainment to Genda Inc: Company says arcades suffered due to COVID-19; expects “extraordinary losses” for fiscal year related to the sale
41. Gfinity cuts costs, seeks stability following another year of losses: Operating loss for the year was £5.5 million as company ponders acquisitions, partnerships, or sale
42. Zynga posts record quarterly revenues, bookings: Social publisher sees even more acquisitions in its future as revenue, engagement metrics grow, but net loss remains
43. Stillfront acquires collectible card game developer Everguild for $1.37 million
44. Stillfront Group acquires Everguild for £1.06m: Studio collective expands into the CCG genre with Madrid-based developer
45. Curve Digital acquires For the King developer IronOak Games
46. Curve Digital acquires IronOak Games: Canadian studio behind For the King becomes Curve’s second studio acquisition
47. UK startup Sugar closes £1.5m pre-seed round: Passion Capital leads investment in new firm offering finance to games studios wishin to avoid equity funding
48. Phil Spencer: “Our motivation is not to turn everybody into a subscriber” – The Xbox chief renewed his commitment to retail and said Game Pass is not here to “take options away from people”
49. Phil Spencer calls for more diverse leaders in games: Having “visible leaders” should be the industry’s focus, Xbox chief said, addressing the role Microsoft has to play against racial inequity
50. Bethesda exec says an Xbox-exclusive Elder Scrolls is “hard to imagine”
51. Bethesda, Microsoft Make Conflicting Statements About Game Exclusivity After Studio Purchase
52. Microsoft tightens Xbox security to prevent DDOS attacks: Xbox players were being targeted through “random party invites” in multiplayer titles
53. Xbox Party Chat security is being improved to protect IP addresses
54. PlayStation boss prefers organic studio growth over ‘frenzied’ spending
55. PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan on making PS5 more successful than PS4: “I’ve done them all, and this has easily been the most extraordinary PlayStation launch of any of them.”
56. Sony expects PS5 to exceed PS4’s 7.6m launch sales this fiscal year: But CFO Hiro Totoki says each unit will make a “negative contribution to earnings for the time being”
57. The big boost – PlayStation Plus & Fall Guys’ success?
58. Does PlayStation need to buy more games studios? | Opinion: With Microsoft snapping up major studios and publishers in recent years, we consider the implications for Sony
59. Sony reportedly puts a stop to third-party PS5 faceplate plans
60. War Stories: How Nintendo sold the NES to a skeptical country
61. Bringing more franchises to mobile is Activision Blizzard’s biggest opportunity, says COO
62. Activision-Blizzard needs to hire 2,000 people to meet production demands: Publisher to beef up for franchise-focused strategy a year and a half after laying off 800
63. Activision Blizzard reports $1.95 billion in revenue
64. Activision Blizzard beats forecasts with $1.95 billion in Q3 net revenue
65. Call of Duty drives Activision Blizzard revenues up 52% year-over-year: Modern Warfare reboot sets franchise record for first-year premium sales as engagement dips for Blizzard, King
66. Far Cry 6, Rainbow 6 Quarantine delayed: Ubisoft pushes upcoming games into next fiscal year as it reports record profits for first half of year
67. Live games keep cash flow steady as Ubisoft readies for big launches
68. Some current-gen Ubisoft games are forward compatible on Xbox but not PlayStation
69. Ubisoft ‘undertook profound actions’ to address studio culture concerns, says CEO
70. Ubisoft’s strong earnings benefit from live service games and back catalog sales during pandemic
71. Facebook’s cloud isn’t for the birds | Opinion
72. CD Projekt Red’s stock fell 25% in two months amid Cyberpunk uncertainty: Negative stories about the production and release of Cyberpunk 2077 coincided with €2.5b decline in market cap
73. CD Projekt attributes new Cyberpunk delay to working with current-gen consoles: Co-CEO Adam Kiciński apologizes to staff for “demeaning and harmful” comments about crunch during investor call
74. CD Projekt: Cyberpunk crunch ‘not that bad’, ‘mostly’ hits QA, engineers, programmers
75. Developer talent representation evolving alongside the industry: CAA head of games Derek Douglas discusses how Hollywood agencies have handled gaming over his 15-year career
76. Friday the 13th: The Game winds down with final patch, end of dedicated servers
77. Skate 3 returns to top three ten years after release | UK Digital Charts: But FIFA 21 remains at the top
78. Soft opening week for Watch Dogs Legion and Pikmin 3 | UK Physical Charts: New Dark Pictures game breaks Top Ten
79. What could game publishers be doing better?
80. Gears Pop! to shut down as long-term support becomes unfeasible
81. Light Brick Studio splitting off from Lego: Builder’s Journey developer goes indie with investment from Lego Ventures, will continue to work on Lego games
82. Caspar Lee-Founded Fund Invests In Spanish Creator Monetization Startup ‘Streamloots’
83. Oculus Quest 2 pre-orders were five times higher than Oculus Quest: Mark Zuckerberg sets a target of “ten million active units” to make Facebook’s VR platform self-sustaining
84. PlayStation boss suggests the ‘meaningful’ future of VR is still years away
85. Jim Ryan: “We’re more than a few minutes from the future of VR” – PlayStation’s CEO said VR will not be “meaningful component of interactive entertainment” until at least 2022
86. Sony to give away adapters to allow VR use on PlayStation 5: PSVR is not compatible with the PS5 out of the box, but Sony will start shipping adapters for free from the end of October
87. The PlayStation 5 only supports PlayStation VR for PS4 games right now
88. Saved by Morrowind, striving for Starfield: Todd Howard and the story of Bethesda
89. Blog: Breaking down the level design of Die Young: Prologue
90. Blog: A study on modern mobile design
91. Blog: What I learned after making an Among Us-like game in 10 days
92. Blog: What is the Unity Asset Store and how to make money on it?
93. Video: Designing the robot dinosaurs of Horizon Zero Dawn 
94. Video: Creating Michelangelo’s David in VR
95. Don’t Miss: The six year journey to Donut County
96. Don’t Miss: Game dev advice for creating terrifying and memorable 2D monsters
97. Don’t Miss: Building the PvE features in World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth
98. Don’t Miss: Building a light-hearted puzzle game around Friday the 13th 
99. Don’t Miss: 6 techniques to make game narratives more dynamic
100. Video: Building a writer’s room for Life is Strange: Before the Storm
101. Mobile game sales deep dive: Meteorfall: Krumit’s Tale
102. Thanks To Fair Use, One Man Is Trying To Preserve Old School Video Game Manuals

Jon

COMMUNICATIONS

1.  How Can Linking to an Article be Immoral When the Media Source Itself Does the Posting? (Michael Geist)
2. How Can Linking to an Article be Immoral When the Media Source Itself Does the Posting, Part 2: A Day in the Life of the Toronto Star on Facebook (Michael Geist)
3. Forget Link Licensing and Cross-Subsidies: When it Comes to Tech, Canada Should be Focused on Competition Law and Tax Policy (Michael Geist) 
4. Class dismissed: CRTC finds OneClass in violation of Canada’s anti-spam legislation
5. NASA and Nokia are putting a 4G network on the moon
6. AT&T plans thousands of layoffs at HBO, Warner Bros., rest of WarnerMedia
7. AT&T Is Taking An Absolute Bath On Its DirecTV Merger
8. AT&T Gives Up On DSL, Leaving Many Out Of Broadband’s Reach 
9. Comcast says gigabit downloads and uploads are now possible over cable
10. Verizon’s New ‘Nationwide’ 5G Isn’t Nationwide, Barely Faster Than 4G
11. Successful 5G implementation
12. Half Of Smartphone Users Incorrectly Think They Already Have 5G
13. FCC Adopts Final Rule Formalizing Team Telecom Foreign Ownership Review
14. FCC Adopts Rules Codifying Foreign Investment Process
15. The November Election and the FCC: Predictions for Five Key Policies
16. Wisconsin Gets Wise To Foxconn’s Grift, Blocks New Subsidies
17. Employees Say Foxconn & Donald Trump’s Wisconsin Factory Scam Was An Absurdist Hellscape 
18. Access to Infrastructure: using existing ducts and pipes to install new fibre broadband
19. Five Bar Owners Arrested In France For Not Logging Internet Use By Patrons Using Bars’ WiFi Connections

DIGITAL

1. Justice Dept. files long-awaited antitrust suit against Google
2. What we know about the DOJ’s antitrust case against Google so far
3. Bill Barr’s Google ‘Antitrust Inquiry’ Is A Weaponized Farce
4. Trademark Genericide And One Big Way The DOJ Admits That Its Antitrust Lawsuit Against Google Is Utter Garbage
5. Supporters Of Using Antitrust Against Big Tech Should Be Very Disappointed In How Weak The DOJ’s Case Is
6. AOC makes explosive Twitch debut with over 435,000 Among Us viewers
7. Facebook and the Group That Planned to Kidnap Gretchen Whitmer: Extremist groups and conspiracy theorists like to connect with each other just like everyone else.
8. Facebook Is So ‘Biased Against Conservatives’ That Mark Zuckerberg Personally Agreed To Diminish The Reach Of ‘Left-Leaning’ Sites
9. Cambridge Analytica’s Crime Was Not Violating Your Privacy Or Taking Data From Facebook, It Was A Massive Campaign Finance Scam
10. Facebook to pause all political advertising—after the election
11. Facebook Will Temporarily Ban All Political and Issue Advertising After the Presidential Election
12. Facebook Abuses Trademark To Give New Prominence To Group Of Facebook Critics Who Are Trying To Shame Company Into More Moderation
13. Facebook announces ban on anti-vaccination ads
14. Facebook Bans Ads That Discourage People From Getting Vaccinated
15. Facebook’s Oversight Board: what is it and will it make a difference?
16. Six Russians accused of the world’s most destructive hacks indicted
17. DOJ Says Trump’s Tweets Declassifying All Russia Investigation Docs Doesn’t Mean Anything; Judge Says They Better Go Ask Him
18. Twitter abruptly changes hacked-materials policy after blocking Biden story
19. Twitter Fixes Its Bad Policy On Blocking ‘Hacked’ Documents
20. How Not to Cover Voter Fraud Disinformation: Journalists should treat systematic disinformation campaigns from President Trump no differently than from Russian propagandists and Facebook clickbait artists (Yochai Benkler)
21. Court Says Trump Appointee Had No Authority To Fire Open Technology Fund Board; Says They Remain In Place
22. How Zello Became A Recruitment & Organizing Tool For The Far Right
23. CARU Says: Discord Is Not Directed At Children Under 13
24. How a Road Trip Through America’s Battlegrounds Revealed a Nation Plagued by Misinformation
25. Google search being searched for Anti-trust
26. China Micro-Censors The VP Debate In The Most Hamfisted Way
27. Mumbai Police Help Indian Prime Minister Modi Scrub BuzzFeed Of Images That Offended His Delicate Sensibilities
28. Democracy & Dragons
29. Against Platform Determinism
30. Trolling for Truth on Social Media
31. Global disinformation campaigns and legal challenges
32. Hacking democracy: managing influence campaigns and disinformation in the digital age
33. Global competition and the emerging challenge to open data
34. The Law and Political Economy of Workplace Technological Change (Brishen Rogers)
35. Where Platform Capitalism and Racial Capitalism Meet: The Sociology of Race and Racism in the Digital Society
36. Wired Norms: Inscription, resistance, and subversion in the governance of the Internet infrastructure (Niels ten Oever)
37. Replicating Silicon Valley? Law and Human Capital in the Making of China’s Tech Startups (Li-Wen Lin)
38. Forget TikTok. IRS Inquiry Shows The Continued Abuse Of Location Data Is The Real Scandal.
39. WeChat and TikTok Win Preliminary Injunctions Against Trump Administration’s Efforts to Ban the Apps
40. Pakistan Reverses TikTok Ban, But Has Stipulations
41. TikTok Unboxing Videos Are Driving Record Sales For Mini Brands, VIP Pets
42. LinkedIn Isn’t a State Actor–Perez v. LinkedIn (Eric Goldman)
43. DOJ Seizes Domains, Claiming They Pushed Iranian Disinformation; Should Raise 1st Amendment Concerns
44. The GOP’s Blisteringly Hypocritical Road From Whining About Net Neutrality To Supporting Trump’s Idiotic Attack On Social Media
45. While Trump Continues To Complain About 230, It’s Copyright Law That Once Again Actually Gets His Content Removed
46. League Of California Cities Want Congress To Change Section 230… To Let Cops Spy On Everyone Using Social Media
47. Section 230 Liability Shield Continues to Receive Scrutiny
48. Section 230 Basics: There Is No Such Thing As A Publisher-Or-Platform Distinction
49. Another Anti-Section 230 Bill? Sure, Why Not?
50. Justice Thomas Writes a Misguided Anti-Section 230 Statement “Without the Benefit of Briefing”–Enigma v. Malwarebytes (Eric Goldman)
51. Blatant Hypocrite Ajit Pai Decides To Move Forward With Bogus, Unconstitutional Rulemaking On Section 230
52. FCC Announces Section 230 Rulemaking
53. Chairman Pai: FCC to Address Social Media Immunity Under Section 230
54. Jeffrey Toobin’s Zoom Dick Incident Is The Perfect Example Of Why We Need Section 230
55. FCC trying to help Trump win election with Twitter crackdown, Democrats say
56. FCC cites Title II in defense of helping Trump’s attack on social media
57. FCC Too Afraid To Go On Record To Truly Support Trump’s Dumb Attack On Social Media
58. Ajit Pai says he’ll help Trump impose crackdown on Twitter and Facebook
59. Insights: With Zoom And Its Many Competitors, We’re All Livestreamers Now
60. Ted Cruz Once Insisted That Net Neutrality Was The Gov’t Takeover Of The Internet; Now Demands That Twitter Host All Nonsense
61. Republicans, Who Have Made Sure The Federal Election Commission Can’t Do Anything, File A Complaint About Twitter’s Moderation Practices
62. Content Moderation Case Study: Facebook’s Internal ‘Hate Speech’ Guidelines Appear To Leave Protected Groups Unprotected (June 2017)
63. Content Moderation Case Study: Apple Removes Games Containing Confederate Flags (June 2015)
64. Content Moderation Case Study: Handling Trolls Invading A Community (1993)
65. Assessment of the Code of Practice on Disinformation
66. Instagram Agrees To New Measures To Curb “Hidden” Influencer Advertising In The U.K.
67. Quibi Is Shutting Down
68. Quibi streaming service shutting down after less than 1 year
69. YouTube cracks down on QAnon conspiracists
70. YouTube Bans Content Endorsing QAnon, Pizzagate
71. YouTube Expands COVID Misinformation Policy To Ban Vaccine Conspiracies
72. New Google Nest Hub experiment nixes the “Hey Google” voice hotword
73. Google Chat goes free in 2021, while Hangouts loses features this month
74. Google wants to turn YouTube into QVC with new shopping features
75. Can You Avoid Creator Burnout By Working The YouTube Algorithm? Is More Actually Less? We Take A Look.
76. YouTube Unveils First 5 Originals Produced By Its $100 Million ‘Black Voices’ Fund
77. YouTube Gives Premium Subscribers Exclusive Access To Test New Features
78. YouTube Testing Ecommerce Tools That Turn Creator Videos Into Product Catalogs
79. Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 10/05/2020
80. Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 10/12/2020
81. Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 10/05/2020
82. Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 10/12/2020
83. Is The Creator-Owned “Smart YouTuber Mafia” A New Standard For Digital Content?
84. Blast off with Scott Manley as he discusses his top 1,000 YouTube comments
85. Google shuts down Trusted Contacts, its emergency location sharing app
86. Google kills the Nest Secure, its $500 home security system
87. David Dobrik, Emma Chamberlain, James Charles Lead This Year’s Pack Of Streamy Nominees
88. MrBeast’s ‘Creator Games’ Sequel Sets YouTube Record With 1 Million Concurrent Viewers
89. YouTube Exec Ryan Wyatt Says Valkyrae Is “The Fastest-Growing Livestreamer In The Entire World”
90. France Passes Law Giving Child Influencers Same Protections As Young Actors, Models
91. Snap Hits Record $50 Billion Valuation After Significant Q3 Growth In Revenue, DAUs
92. Snapchat Launches ‘Sounds’, Enabling Users To Orchestrate Snaps, Stories With Licensed Music
93. Teespring Will Now Let Creators Vend ‘Digital Products’, Like Photo Presets And Ebooks
94. Reels Rolls Out New Content Discovery, Sharing Features
95. Twitter Disables Core Functions To Prevent Spread Of Election Misinformation
96. Joe Biden Taps Portal A For #ImVotingFor Influencer Campaign On Instagram, Twitter
97. Twitter Will Turn Off Some Features to Fight Election Misinformation
98. QAnon/8chan sites back online after being ousted by DDoS-protection vendor
99. Google Music shuts down smart speaker support and music store
100. Logan Paul’s Pokemon Card Unboxing Stream Gets 300,000 Concurrent Viewers, Raises $130,000 For Charity
101. Facebook Unveils Free Tool Enabling Creators To Test Video Post Performance Before Publishing
102. Spotify Now Lets Podcasters Use Its Entire Music Library In Their Shows
103. Riot Games and Spotify team up
104. Brooklyn-Based Startup MSCHF Wants To Pay Influencers To Take Down “Evil” Brands
105. Stupid Use Of Profanity Filter Makes A Mess Of Virtual Paleontologist Conference
106. IBM to split into two companies by end of 2021
107. Insights: Could The Streaming Services Killing Movie Theaters Save Them Instead?
108. Netflix Nixes Free Trials In U.S.
109. ‘Ratched’ Hooks 48 Million Viewers In 28 Days, Becoming Netflix’s Most-Watched Debut Of 2020
110. Following Staff Exodus, Bon Appetit Relaunches YouTube Channel With 8 New And 3 Returning Hosts
111. Apple pays $288,000 to white-hat hackers who had run of company’s network
112. Microsoft thumbs its nose at Apple with new “app fairness” policy
113. Trickbot—the for-hire botnet Microsoft attacked—is scrambling to stay alive
114. 1980s MTV is back, sort of: Apple launches Apple Music TV channel
115. Coordinating office space: Digital technologies and the platformization of work
116. Targeting Ontological Security: Information Warfare in the Modern Age
117. We’re touching our smartphones more than ever. And it’s changing the ancient connection between the body and the brain
118. The pernicious contagion of misinformation: False statements – about Covid-19 and so much else – spread like a virus online. Scientists should study them like one.
119. The Internet is full of business cats: Dealing with the breakdown of the work/home divide
120. A giant cat picture was just discovered among the Nazca Lines: Archaeologists haven’t yet located an accompanying giant meme caption.
121. Another Significant Cryptocurrency Decision: SEC v. Kik Interactive Inc. and Token Offerings Under the Securities Laws
122. Unpacking the DOJ’s cryptocurrency guidance: Enforcement priorities and industry implications
123. DOJ’s Evolving Framework for Cryptocurrency Enforcement
124. The US Department of Justice issues Cryptocurrency Enforcement Framework forecasting increased scrutiny of activities involving cryptocurrency
125. Chinese City Issues Digital Currency in Pilot Program
126. A Map for the New World of Blockchain
127. New Export Controls: Emerging Technologies
128. New Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy launched at McGill University’s Max Bell School of Public Policy

A.I.

1. Waymo finally launches an actual public, driverless taxi service
2. The Unforeseen Benefits of Driverless Transport during a Pandemic
3. Trustworthy artificial intelligence 
4. Are we being too hard on HAL? Some thoughts on the legal need for “explainable” artificial intelligence. 
5. AI and Your Legal Analysis
6. Artificial Intelligence Licensing: What You Need to Know
7. The Losers of automation. How the introduction of robotics changed the European occupational class structure
8. To Surveil and Predict: A Human Rights Analysis of Algorithmic Policing in Canada
9. Expanding Biometric Class Actions Beyond Illinois 
10. AI and the fight for inventorship – DABUS patent knocked out in UK High Court
11. ‘Machines set loose to slaughter’: the dangerous rise of military AI 
12. Human Judgment in algorithmic loops: Individual justice and automated decision‐making
13. Algorithmic Censorship by Social Platforms: Power and Resistance
14. Is Facebook too big to know? The Markup has a plan (and a browser) to wrap its arms around it: The CBP will pay Americans to monitor the choices that tech company algorithms are making for them.
15. Artificial intelligence – from principles to practice
16. Doctor Alexa will see you now – regulating artificial intelligence in healthcare
17. USPTO Releases Report on Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property Policy
18. Government Data Practices as Necropolitics and Racial Arithmetic
19. Artificial Intelligence improves clinical trials
20. Legal industry ramping up adoption of artificial intelligence, says AI platform partner

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

1. Supreme Court of Canada to Hear York University/Access Copyright Appeals
2. Justice Luc Martineau is new chair of Copyright Board of Canada
3. Google gets mixed reception in Supreme Court clash with Oracle: Justices held a low-tech telephone session in one of the biggest software fights in American history on Wednesday
4. Google’s Supreme Court faceoff with Oracle was a disaster for Google 
5. IP Alert | Supreme Court Hears Arguments in “Copyright Case of the Century”
6. Supremes won’t review the morality of whitewashing graffiti art
7. Denial of Certiorari Leaves in Place Ninth Circuit En Banc Decision Finding No Infringement in “Stairway to Heaven”
8. hiQ Labs v. LinkedIn Corp., the Web Scraping Saga Continues
9. Music in Podcasts – As Podcasts Shut Down Following Infringement Notices, Looking at the Required Music Rights
10. 512(f) Claim Survives Motion to Dismiss–Brandyn Love v. Nuclear Blast America (Eric Goldman)
11. By the Book: Unauthorized Material Doesn’t Forfeit Training Guide’s Copyright Protection
12. Nicki Minaj’s Experimentation with Tracy Chapman’s Classic “Baby Can I Hold You” Qualifies as a Fair Use Under Copyright 
13. NY Art Disputes Highlight Fame’s Role In Copyright Suits 
14. “Can’t Hold Us” Liable: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Win Affirmance in Copyright Suit
15. We Interrupt This Hellscape With A Bit Of Good News On The Copyright Front 
16. DMCA Takedown Notices: A New Opponent for Twitch Streamers 
17. Twitch blasts streamers with vague, unhelpful DMCA takedown emails
18. Lessons from a pandemic: long-term impacts on Canadian trademark practice 
19. The Cousteau Society, Inc. v. Cousteau: Court holds granddaughter of Jacques-Yves Cousteau cannot escape trademark infringement based on unauthorized use of Cousteau’s trademarks in film projects and materials.
20. Microsoft Wields Its IP For Good, Cripples Botnet Via Trademark Litigation 
21. Will Disney’s newest Toy Story 4 character go ‘caboom’?
22. Boston University students launch “F*ck It Won’t Cut It” campaign, University files a Trademark application
23. Lehman Brothers is Gone but Not Abandoned 
24. EU: What does Brexit mean for EU trade marks and designs?
25. Comparative aspects of trademark dilution between the United States and China
26. Versace ripped off the Canucks’ spaghetti-skate logo 
27. Depreciation of goodwill with cannabis trademarks 
28. Determined not to tumble: British Gymnastics’ trade mark dispute and IP protections for sports properties
29. The Third Circuit Shares Some Food for Thought on the Bounds of Trade Dress Protection 
30. Court of Appeal Upholds Interim Injunction in Trade Secrets Case
31. How to Keep Trade Secrets Secret
32. New Trade Secret Protections in China
33. Protection of store layout under IP law
34. Protecting Recipes and Food as Intellectual Property
35. $644-million award for patent infringement upheld on appeal; Accounting of profits remedy removes “economic incentive to infringe”
36. IP monitor: Quebec Superior Court dismisses application for disavowal of a IP monitor – Quebec Superior Court dismisses application for disavowal of admissions of patent invalidity
37. Federal Court Freezes Out Motion to Vary Injunction in Patent Case
38. US Patent Boss Says No Evidence Of Patents Holding Back COVID Treatments, Days Before Pharma Firms Prove He’s Wrong
39. Federal Circuit Restores Induced Infringement Verdict Against Teva
40. Watch Out: The Patent Maximalists Are On The Warpath To Destroy Innovation And Empower Patent Trolls 
41. Applying the Broadest Reasonable Interpretation of the Claim in Light of the Specification, Federal Circuit Revives Claims in Heart Valve Patent
42. Why Is My Company Being Sued For Patent Infringement In Waco, Texas?
43. Beyond borders: Extraterritorial reach of Australian patents
44. Inadequate Translation of a Non-English Application Leads to US Patent Invalidation
45. Skinny Label Does Not Prevent Finding of Induced Infringement 
46. Expert Testimony Stricken Where Expert Did Not Show Non-Infringing Alternatives Were Available in the United States 
47. Worried about being sued for patent infringement in multiple jurisdictions? Three ways to gain control 
48. New Grape Varieties – Raisin Awareness of Plant Patents 
49. High Stakes: Protecting Your Cannabis Intellectual Property 
50. Nobel Prize 2020: A Chemistry Patent Attorney’s View 
51. Key IP Agreements for Startups
52. Blowing away the competition: design evolution, and what it’s like to be Head of IP at Dyson

PRIVACY

1. Canadian privacy and data protection basics for emerging companies
2. Sask. privacy commissioner finds clinic’s loss of Dictaphone with patient info was privacy breach
3. Location Data Obtained By CBP Comes From Phone Apps, Is Capable Of Tracking People On Both Sides Of The Border
4. H&M fined €35.3m under GDPR for ‘Return to Work’ practices
5. Fancy Bear imposters are on a hacking extortion spree
6. COVID-19 Is Driving The Uptake Of Chess — And Of Surveillance Tools To Stop Online Players Cheating
7. Adblockers installed 300,000 times are malicious and should be removed now
8. Privacy as an aggregate public good
9. United States: California Privacy Rights Act – what you need to know
10. Schrems II Series: United States Defence 
11. In wake of the Schrems II, CNIL challenges use of Microsoft cloud storage to host public health data lakes (the Health Data Hub case – Part 1)
12. Judge Shuts Down Vallejo PD’s Illegally-Obtained Stingray
13. SF Chronicle Op-Ed: “Prop. 24 is the Wrong Policy Approach, at the Wrong Time, via the Wrong Process” (Eric Goldman)
14. The Right to be Forgotten

CREATIVITY

1. Quebec court acquits fiction author of child pornography charges
2. DOJ Is Suing Melania Trump’s Ex-Friend Over Her Book, Despite Never Being A Government Employee
3. Administration Officials (Again) Break The Law By Investigating Voice Of America Journalist For ‘Anti-Trump Bias’
4. Devin Nunes Asks Appeals Court To Invalidate Bedrock Supreme Court 1st Amendment Ruling
5. ICE Spent Your Tax Dollars Dragging A Journalist Through The Internet Sewer Over A Mistake She Apologized For
6. Federal Judge Ridiculously Says That Holding A Sign Telling People Cops Are Ahead Is Not Free Speech

GAMES

1. Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against EA in Canada Over Loot Boxes
2. EA facing Canadian class action lawsuit over loot boxes: Two plaintiffs seeking damages as suit calls out “unlicensed, illegal gaming system” in over 60 titles
3. Mark Sutherland and Shawn Moore v. Electronic Arts Inc. (Notice of Civil Claim The Supreme Court of B.C., September 30, 2020)
4. Rune 2 lawsuit alleges deliberate sabotage from Bethesda, ZeniMax
5. ZeniMax, Bethesda, Roundhouse added to lawsuit over Rune 2: Ragnarok accuses companies involved in Human Head demise and Roundhouse formation of sabotaging Rune 2 and a game based on the Oblivion Song comic
6. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is running an Among Us stream to drive voter turnout
7. AOC makes explosive Twitch debut with over 435,000 Among Us viewers
8. AOC’s debut Twitch stream is one of the biggest ever: And she’s genuinely pretty good at Among Us
9. 439,000 People Watched Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Take On Top Content Creators In ‘Among Us’
10. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Storms Twitch: More than 400,000 people tuned into AOC’s stream of a marathon Among Us session with representative Ilhan Omar and Twitch luminaries.
11. US Rep Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez’s Twitch stream drew 439k peak viewers: Among Us stream with fellow Representative Ilhan Omar and popular Twitch streamers saw highest peak of any politician on Twitch
12. AOC’s record-breaking Twitch stream is the future of politics: Young, tech-savvy, meme-literate, and accessible
13. Twitch purges videos after “thousands” of requests from music labels: Streaming site offers content creators the ability to delete all videos as it issues “a one-time warning to learn about copyright law”
14. Women and gamers of color detail experiences with online harassment in games like Call of Duty
15. More allegations surface against Rooster Teeth’s Ryan Haywood: Former Achievement Hunter host described as “predatory,” allegedly taking advantage of power imbalance to solicit sexual favours from young women
16. A lawyer’s perspective on the industry’s abuse problem: Toxic family notions, favoritism and lack of regulation all lead to abuse, says legal expert Siobhán Crawford
17. Summer video game reveals showed record number of female protagonists: But Feminist Frenquency’s annual analysis warns this may be a “one-off statistical anomaly”
18. Liar Liar, Mobile Game Ads Under Fire — ASA Bans Misleading Ads for Mobile Games
19. Epic vs. Apple is losing PR steam | Opinion: Sensible rulings in Epic’s legal dispute with Apple have pared the case back to its core question — and shown just how disruptive Epic’s demand really is
20. Take-Two Opposes Trademark For An Entertainment Company Running An Axe-Throwing Facility
21. NBA 2K21 adds unskippable ads to loading screens: 2K Sports introduces new monetization method to latest basketball title weeks after launch
22. Players slam 2K after publisher inserts unskippable ads into NBA 2K21
23. Sega takes flak for releasing Golden Axe prototype made ‘under crunch conditions’
24. Sega criticised for launching Golden Axe prototype created “under crunch conditions”: Sega edited the Steam page and said in a statement that it “didn’t mean to dredge up painful memories”
25. Bungie cease and desist pulls Destiny 2 cheat tool offline
26. GameStop’s Microsoft partnership reportedly lands it a cut of digital Xbox revenue
27. Microsoft will give GameStop a share of Xbox’s digital revenues
28. Xbox’s GameStop deal: lifeline or table scraps?
29. Microsoft will share digital revenues with GameStop on every Xbox it sells: Investment advisor says retailer will even get a share of DLC sales if physical game was purchased from another company
30. Microsoft confirms Xbox Series X|S launch titles: 30 games will be “fully optimized” for next-gen system upon release, none exclusive to next-gen
31. Xbox Series X unleashed: Our unrestricted preview
32. Phil Spencer: Xbox could recoup Bethesda acquisition without PlayStation releases
33. Xbox head: Bethesda purchase wasn’t to keep games away from other platforms – While each game’s platforms will be decided case-by-case, Phil Spencer says Elder Scrolls doesn’t need to be on PlayStation to recoup costs
34. What happened with Microsoft’s Switch publishing experiments? 
35. Nintendo Nukes ‘Zelda’ Fan Game, As Per Usual
36. Switch game discovery – look on the bright side?
37. Nintendo Switch shines on Amazon’s Prime Day | UK Boxed Charts: 29 out of the Top 40 jumped in sales week-on-week
38. One-third of US gamers surveyed plan to buy a next-gen console this year: Baird finds purchase intent for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S roughly equal, Call of Duty expected to top holiday sales
39. The PlayStation 5 user interface is an instant hub that prioritizes gameplay
40. PlayStation 5 UI revealed: “Activity” shortcuts, picture-in-picture
41. PlayStation Store to drop PS3 content and Wishlists on desktop and mobile: PS Vita and PSP games will also be gone as part of incoming store revamp
42. PlayStation clarifies how its voice chat reporting tool will work on PS5
43. Future PS5 updates will optimize cooling based on data from individual games
44. PS5 will use downloadable updates to control game-by-game fan speed
45. Google Stadia’s free demos could prove the value of game streaming
46. Amazon Luna is live, and it’s already out-streaming Google Stadia
47. Luna, Amazon’s take on cloud-based gaming, launches in (limited) early access
48. Growth in UK games industry fastest ever recorded: Games development headcount is at an all-time high of 18,279 in the UK
49. Lessons in community building from EVE Online
50. YouTube: Among Us videos reached 4bn views in September – Video platform’s report shows US as largest audience, but viewers flooding in from around the world
51. Unity creates Social Impact Division to support non-profits
52. Unity launches Social Impact Division backed by $67m fund: New division will provide grants for work in education, sustainability, and health and well-being
53. FIFA download launch sales spike 31% over last year | UK Digital Charts: Overall sales down only slightly over last year’s entry
54. EA Motive boss: ‘player autonomy’ is key to studio’s future
55. Avengers assembles September sales chart heavy on new releases: Square Enix’s latest just one of seven games debuting in the top 20 as NPD’s total US game sales for the month rise 10% year-over-year
56. Marvel’s Avengers’ next-gen version delayed to 2021 to ensure product quality: Crystal Dynamics is taking its time after initial launch that “was not without turbulence”
57. Report: China-owned mobile studio Playtika is chasing an IPO in the U.S.
58. Mobile game publisher Playtika files to go public in window for game IPOs
59. Playtika files IPO draft: Publisher behind Best Fiends, June’s Journey has confidentially submitted preliminary paperwork to go public
60. MAG Interactive reports $25 million in sales: Revenue at the mobile games company also grew 28% from June to August 2020
61. Game rental shop GameFly acquired by Alliance Entertainment group
62. GameFly sold to distributor Alliance Entertainment: New owner says it will expand US rental-by-mail service’s selection of games, as well as hardware, accessories, and collectibles for sale
63. ‘Fortnite’ Taps J Balvin For Latest In-Game Concert In Honor Of Halloween
64. New nonprofit organisation Hit Save to support games preservation: The community-driven organisation is based in the US but will operate globally
65. Z Event raises €5.7m for Amnesty International: The live streaming event broke the record for the most money raised for charity on Twitch
66. Talent Firm Loaded Adds Pro Gamer Maria ‘Chica’ Lopez To Starry Roster
67. Facebook Gaming Streamer Avori Henderson Signs With Ford Models’ New Esports And Gaming Division
68. Blizzard winding down development on StarCraft II after over a decade
69. Blizzard no longer developing new content for StarCraft 2: Developer will continue to issue balance fixes and work with partners on esports
70. New ex-Blizzard game studio formed to pick up a fallen RTS mantle
71. Ex-Blizzard devs land $4.7m for new studio Frost Giant 
72. EVOS Esports closes $12m Series B round: Southeast Asia-focused esports firm has raised more than $16m in its lifetime
73. Devolver Digital acquires Serious Sam dev Croteam
74. Devolver Digital acquires Serious Sam developer Croteam: Publisher further cements partnership following decades of publishing deals
75. How the Nemesis system got an indie makeover in Star Renegades
76. Ubisoft Connect announced as a ‘refreshed’ replacement for Uplay and Ubisoft Club
77. Overcoming AR’s limitations with Mario Kart Live Home Circuit: Velan Studios president Guha Bala on reinventing Nintendo’s best-selling racing franchise for augmented reality
78. Sony Unveils ‘Spatial Reality Display’ with Eye-tracking for Glasses-free 3D Viewing: Priced at $5,000 and launching in November
79. PSVR Not Compatible With PS5 Camera, New Japanese Bundles Include Adapter for PS4 Camera
80. Oculus Quest 2 quietly drops support for Oculus Go games
81. Facebook Develops Hand Tracking Method to Touch Type in VR Without a Keyboard
82. Cliff Bleszinski may return to games development “slowly and cautiously”: Fall Guys and Among Us has given Gears of War designer hope as he reflects on the mistakes of Boss Key Productions
83. Devolver brings in head of licensing to put Fall Guys ‘on the licensing map’
84. Ken Williams doesn’t know how his design philosophy could work today: Sierra On-Line co-founder talks about his new book, disconnecting from the games industry, and what’s changed since he left nearly 25 years ago
85. Tides of Chaos: How Baldur’s Gate 3 tackles the pure RNG of D&D-inspired dice rolls
86. Learn how Supergiant brought Hades’ hand-painted characters to life
87. Rocket League’s appeal isn’t rocket science | Why I Love
88. Blog: Networking into the games industry as a new grad
89. Blog: The in-app purchase merchandising playbook – Part 1 
90. Video: How Criterion Games improved its studio leadership
91. Video: Why your game community is now a marketing asset
92. Video: The developers of Ghostrunner discuss the making a cyberpunk platformer
93. Don’t Miss: The undying allure of the Metroidvania
94. Don’t Miss: Crafting GoNNER’s modular abilities
95. Don’t Miss: How the developers of New Vegas took back Fallout
96. Don’t Miss: Crafting Danganronpa to surprise players
97. Don’t Miss: The designer is god–or the devil–in The Talos Principle
98. Q&A: Designing for seasons in bumbling platform royale Fall Guys
99. Data Deep Dive: Meteorfall: Krumit’s Tale on Steam
100. New non-profit Hit Save! wants to help preserve video games and their history
101. The Video Game History Foundation is working to save our source code
102. French charity steam Z Event raises $6.7 million for Amnesty International
103. U.S. Patent no. 9,492,740: Remote and/or distributed equipping of video game characters
104. U.S. Patent No. 10,625,156: Method and system for sharing video game content

Jon

COMMUNICATIONS

1. What Happened to Canada’s Innovation Agenda?: How Innovation Policy Has Been Sidelined By Cultural Policies and Misplaced Provincial Prioritization of Patents (Michael Geist)
2. Guide to Doing Business in Canada: CASL
3. Mississippi Says AT&T Took $283 Million For A Network It Never Fully Deployed
4. AT&T kills DSL, leaves tens of millions of homes without fiber Internet
5. AT&T offloading DirecTV could be a “fire sale” as company weighs low bids
6. Report Says 20 Million U.S. Broadband Complaints Went Unresolved Last Year 
7. The real risks of 5G
8. Buying Verizon 5G Home is even harder than finding a Verizon mobile 5G signal
9. Verizon Is Still Abusing The Hell Out Of The Word ‘Unlimited’
10. SpaceX has launched enough satellites for Starlink’s upcoming public beta
11. Order Responding to Net Neutrality Court Decision Circulated for Consideration at FCC’s October Meeting 
12. FCC Formalizes Foreign Investment Review Process

DIGITAL

1. US House committee says Amazon, Google, Apple, Facebook engaged in monopolistic behavior: Investigation recommends stronger antitrust actions, but requires Congressional approval for further action
2. House: Amazon, Facebook, Apple, Google have “monopoly power,” should be split
3. Congress Issues Antitrust Report on Large Tech Platforms
4. Should Big Tech Be Setting the Terms of Political Speech?
5. Step into My Parler: Suspected Russian Operation Targeted Far-Right American Users on Platforms Including Gab and Parler, Resembled Recent IRA-Linked Operation that Targeted Progressives
6. Shaking Up the Internet: An Update
7. Publishers worry as ebooks fly off libraries’ virtual shelves
8. 4th Circuit Finds Jurisdiction Over Foreign Website Operator Who Never Worked in or Visited the United States
9. US Commerce Department Identifies Prohibited Transactions with WeChat But Implementation Delayed
10. Trump Administration’s Bans on WeChat and TikTok Temporarily Enjoined by Federal Courts
11. Further TikTok Developments: D.C. District Court Blocks Commerce’s TikTok Ban
12. Coronavirus misinformation: quantifying sources and themes in the COVID-19‘infodemic’ (SarahEvanega, MarkLynas, JordanAdams, KarinneSmolenyak)
13. A new study shows how Trump and the RNC duped traditional media into covering mail-in voter fraud
14. New Study: Once Again, The Mainstream Media Is A Bigger Problem In Spreading Disinformation Than Social Media
15. Mail-In Voter Fraud: Paper Shows Disinformation Campaign Surrounding Risk Of Voter Fraud Associated With Mail-In Ballots Follows An Elite-Driven, Mass Media Model – Social Media Plays A Secondary Role
16. QAnon shows that the age of alternative facts will not end with Trump
17. Snapchat Has Registered 1 Million Voters, And 65% Of Them Are Gen Z
18. hiQ Labs, Inc. v. LinkedIn Corp.
19. US Labor Department investigates Microsoft’s efforts to improve diversity – Microsoft: “Our continued focus is to work hard to consider and develop the broadest range of qualified candidates for opportunities”
20. Megaupload Lawsuits Remain on Hold Until 2021, Or (Much) Later
21. Congressional Republicans With No Strategy On Pandemic, Healthcare, Societal Problems… Have Decided That The Internet Is The Real Problem
22. Why Are Senate Democrats Helping Move Forward Trump’s Strategy Of Attacking The Internet?
23. Donald Trump Now Wants To Repeal Section 230, Which Will Actually Make The Stuff He Complains About Worse
24. Because Congress Apparently Has NOTHING AT ALL IMPORTANT To Work On, It Introduced TWO MORE Section 230 Bills Yesterday
25. Jim Jordan Releases Yet ANOTHER Anti-230 Bill (Yes Another One)
26. Reps. Gabbard And Gosar Introduce Ridiculous House Companion To Ridiculous Anti-230 Senate Bill From Senator Kennedy
27. Section 230 Preempts Another Facebook Account Termination Case–Zimmerman v. Facebook (Eric Goldman)
28. Content Moderation Case Study: Sensitive Mental Health Information Is Also A Content Moderation Challenge (2020)
29. Content Moderation Case Study: Suppressing Content To Try To Stop Bullying (2019)
30. Thank you for posting: Smoking’s lessons for regulating social media: Former Facebook executives admit they used the tobacco industry’s playbook for addictive products. Perhaps it can also be used to undo the damage.
31. Hiding hate speech: political moderation on Facebook
32. Facebook and Fake News in the “Anglophone Crisis” in Cameroon
33. Facebook bans QAnon entirely, says previous crackdown wasn’t enough
34. Facebook Pulls Trump Ads Connecting COVID-19 to the Acceptance of Refugees
35. Facebook Expands Restrictions on Election-Related Advertising and Prohibits Ads Promoting Militarized Social Movements
36. Facebook’s latest “groups” disaster will only make it more toxic
37. Facebook Internal Memo Reveals Challenges Social Media Companies Face In Protecting Democracy
38. Internet Shutdown: Is It Violation of Fundamental Rights?
39. The (Potentially) Shifting Landscape of Online Marketplace Liability
40. John McAfee arrested, indicted on tax evasion charges, sued for fraud
41. Triller Has Inflated Active User Counts, Former Staffers Say
42. How Amazon hid its safety crisis: Robots. Prime Day. Holiday peak. Internal records show Amazon has deceived the public on rising injury rates among its warehouse workers.
43. If You’re Going To Sue YouTube For Infringement, Maybe First Don’t License Your Music To YouTube Or Setup Fake Accounts To Upload Your Own Works
44. YouTube Revamps Retention Analytics To Give Creators More Data About How Their Videos Perform With Viewers
45. YouTube Music Spins Up Global Charts Based On Video View Count
46. YouTube Music drops monthly fee for Chromecast support
47. 73% Of Brands Are Upping Their Influencer Marketing Spend (Report)
48. Snap Doubles Down On Docuseries, Unscripted Originals With New Shows From Kevin Hart, Loren Gray 
49. David Dobrik’s ‘Dispo’ Raises $4 Million Seed Round From Alexis Ohanian, Vlog Squad Members, More
50. Instagram Expands Shoppable Ads To IGTV—And, Later This Year, To TikTok Competitor Reels
51. How AMC Used Social Video To Keep ‘The Walking Dead’ Fans Living This Summer
52. Spotify Will Now Enable Podcasters To Generate Shareable ‘Promo Cards’ For Social Media
53. How Much Money Are Creators Making On TikTok’s $1 Billion Creator Fund?
54. From selling songs to engineering experiences: exploring the competitive strategies of music streaming platforms
55. Open Access Faces Many Problems; Here’s One That The Indispensable Internet Archive Is Helping To Solve
56. Trapped-ion quantum computer sets new mark for quantum volume
57. Sourcegraph: Devs are managing 100x more code now than they did in 2010
58. Our New Monetization Experiment: Coil & The Web Monetization Protocol
59. Can I keep my .eu domain name after the post-Brexit transition period?
60. Court holds $100 million Kin coin offering violated federal law
61. Form 1040 Cryptocurrency Question is New for 2020
62. Owner Of Bitcoin Exchange Convicted of international conspiracy to commit money laundering and racketeering
63. “Life Moves Pretty Fast”: a decade on from bitcoin, English law confronts cryptoassets
64. Court Rules That Sales of Digital Tokens Were Illegal Unregistered Securities Offerings

A.I.

1. High Court confirms that the class of inventions created by AI machines is not patentable
2. Patents Court Determines Machines Can’t be Inventors
3. High Court Holds that AI Machines Cannot Be Inventors, Further Paving Way for Legislative Phase of the DABUS Saga 
4. Focusing on Value: Viewing AI Through an IP Lens
5. Thaler v Comptroller-General: Part 2 – What now for AI inventions following Thaler?
6. Toyota’s ceiling-mounted robot is like GLaDOS for your kitchen
7. Palantir Presentations Show How The LAPD Is Able To Turn Tons Of Garbage Data Into Ineffective Policing
8. After Years Of Claiming It Doesn’t Use Facial Recognition Software, The LAPD Admits It Has Used It 30,000 Times Since 2009
9. SITREP: With “Skyborg,” Air Force hopes to give pilots a “loyal wingman”
10. The laughing policebot: automation and the end of policing
11. Getting into the engine room: a blueprint to investigate the shadowy steps of AI ethics
12. Artificial intelligence – machine or real contractual partner? 
13. Will AI replace humans? The GPT-3 Guardian op-ed shows the humans have a continuing, but evolving, role.
14. Advising AI Start-Ups 

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

1.  Fake News, Fake Views and the Parody Exception
2. Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc. (SCOTUS Oral Arguments Transcript, October 7, 2020)
3. Oracle Is Wrong About Having Permission To Reimplement Amazon’s API. But They Shouldn’t Need It.
4. The Supreme Court hears Oracle v. Google tomorrow—here’s what’s at stake
5. Copyright Owner Claims Ownership Over Depicting Emoji Symbols in Multiple Colors–Cub Club v. Apple (Eric Goldman)
6. Does Copyright Literally Protect Source Code Figuratively? 
7. Nikola issues copyright takedowns against critics who use rolling-truck clip
8. Nikola’s Plan To Combat Its No Good, Very Bad Month Appears To Be Using Copyright To Silence Critics 
9. Knowingly Removing Photographer’s Credit Costs Buzzfeed Under DMCA
10. Hugo Boss Opposes Artist’s ‘Be Boss, Be Kind’ Trademark For Merch 
11. Toy Story 4’s Duke Caboom Crashes into Evel Kneivel’s Son 
12. Breaking news: the queen monitors trade mark filings
13. David Dobrik Looks To Be Cooking Up ‘Doughbrik’s Pizza’ Business, Per Trademark Filings 
14. The Fit Kitchen Case and the value of trade marks
15. Supreme Court Settles Long-Standing Circuit Split on Trademark Damages: Willful Infringement Is Not a Prerequisite for Awarding a Trademark Infringer’s Profits
16. Spolar v. Discovery: Court refuses to restrain Discovery from broadcasting documentary about last photograph of Lincoln, finding prior restraint and that plaintiffs failed to establish claim for misappropriation of trade secrets. 
17. DOJ Indictment of Chinese Hackers for Break-Ins at 100 Companies Reinforces The Importance of Protecting Trade Secrets and Implementing Security Protections 
18. Revisiting Supreme Court Nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s Recent Trade Secret Opinion
19. Federal Court of Appeal affirms largest reported Canadian patent infringement award in history
20. Patentability of Computer-Implemented Inventions in Canada – The Amazon Saga Continues
21. Federal Court rejects problem-solution approach, opening field for computer-implemented inventions
22. Challenges for Extended Reality (XR) Companies in Patent Prosecution and Litigation 
23. Lithium-ion battery separators – crucial patent developments
24. GSK v. Teva – Induced Infringement Liability Despite Skinny Label 
25. GSK vs. Teva: Induced Infringement, Skinny Labels and Fat Damages
26. Skinny Labelling on Generic Drugs Does Not Avoid Induced Infringement of Patents Covering Non-Indicated Uses
27. Former Patent Litigator Becomes Federal Judge And Begins Advertising For Patent Trolls To Come To His Court (And They Have In Droves) 
28. US Patent Law Year in Review: October 2019 – September 2020
29. Guide to Doing Business in Canada: Intellectual property
30. Democratising Knowledge: Transforming Intellectual Property and Research and Development
31. Jim Murphy’s Article “5 Areas of Intellectual Property You Should Focus on Now,” Featured in Built In

PRIVACY

1. A decision by the Québec Access to Information Commissioner highlights the importance of compliance with both ‎federal and provincial privacy legislation
2. 40% of data breach records insufficient – Canadian Privacy Commissioner releases findings on data breach register inspections
3. Four Million Downloads and Counting: Everyone Should Install the COVID Alert App (Michael Geist)
4. European Court of Justice Invalidates EU-US Privacy Shield Framework 
5. Mass claims for data breaches: if Lloyd v Google doesn’t open the floodgates then perhaps the DCMS will?
6. Give up Google, don’t hit ‘accept all’: how to fight for your privacy – In Privacy Is Power, professor Carissa Véliz has made a shocking survey of how much intimate data we are surrendering. But she has a plan to fight back
7. Paying ransomware demands could land you in hot water with the feds
8. Biggest Ransomware Attack Yet Crippled U.S. Hospitals Last Weekend
9. U.S. Government Warns Companies of Legal Risk for Paying Ransom to Cybercriminals
10. Palantir, Big Data’s scariest, most secretive unicorn, is going public. But is its crystal ball just smoke and mirrors? 
11. U.S. Government Publishes White Paper Following Schrems II Decision 
12. In the Aftermath of Schrems II, an Irish Court Temporarily Allows Facebook’s Data Transfers to the US to Continue
13. US responds to Schrems II judgment 
14. The Privacy Shield Sunk, but Is There a Life Raft for the Standard Contractual Clauses? Strategies for Transferring Personal Data Across the Atlantic from a Post-Schrems II Europe 
15. Right to privacy: will reliance on WhatsApp messages in misconduct proceedings be a breach of the right to privacy? 
16. What Does the Legislature Have to Show for Its CCPA Amendments in 2020? Not Much 
17. Consumer Reports Study Shows California’s Privacy Law Is A Poorly-Enforced Mess
18. Over 50 Privacy Professionals & Experts Oppose Prop. 24 (Eric Goldman)
19. UK Tribunal To Decide Whether Gov’t Agencies Can Continue To Pretend There’s A Residency Requirement For FOI Requests

CREATIVITY

1. Judge Refuses To Dismiss Batch Of Nicholas Sandmann’s Media Lawsuits In The Laziest Defamation Ruling I’ve Ever Seen
2. Texas Grand Jury Indicts Netflix For ‘Lewd Exhibition’ Of Children In Its Movie ‘Cuties’
3. NY Times Editorial Pages Mess Up Again: Publishes Chinese Official’s Ridiculous Defense Of Stifling Freedom In Hong Kong
4. Court Gives Vanilla Ice Cream False Advertising Claims a Frosty Reception

GAMES

1. Nintendo wins $2m in lawsuit against Team Xecutor resellers: UberChips.com ordered to cease sale of Switch hack devices and destroy all remaining stock
2. Genuine Enabling Tech’s Lawsuit Alleging Patent Infringement by Nintendo Wii and Switch Products Dismissed
3. Mother and son seeking $5m in latest Joy-Con drift lawsuit against Nintendo: Plaintiff argues platform holder has not done enough to address Switch issue and does not warn about drift in marketing
4. Depicting Randy Orton’s Tattoos in a Video Game Could Be Copyright Infringement–Alexander v. WWE 2K (Eric Goldman)
5. Take-Two Going To Trial Over Yet Another Tattoo Artist Claiming Copyright On Athlete Bodies
6. Epic Games and Apple will head to trial in May 2021
7. What lessons can be learnt from Voodoo’s action against Rollic? | Opinion: Harbottle & Lewis’ Kostya Lobov looks at what the casual games giant’s victory means for fighting clones
8. 20% of Ubisoft staff don’t feel respected or safe at work, reveals internal survey
9. Designer accuses Ember Labs of underpayment, unfulfilled promises: Ember Labs spokesperson says studio has paid all invoices, “never promised a certain salary”
10. Nexus Mods bans political content until after next US presidential inauguration: “We have neither the time, the care or the wish to moderate such things”
11. UK Government launches consultation on loot boxes
12. WBIE head says Rowling is “entitled to express her personal opinion”: Hogwarts Legacy publisher’s David Haddad tells employees anti-trans Harry Potter author “has the right to hold her opinions”
13. The thing about trolls is they regenerate | 10 Years Ago This Month: It’s time to tell the scary story of Edge Games, Tim Langdell, and the trademark dispute that would not die
14. Burger King, Stevenage and my FIFA confusion
15. Rare, Playground Games and Ninja Theory unite for Women of Xbox UK: Rare’s Louise O’Connor discusses the new initiative, which kicks off with a video series that starts today
16. Aaron Greenberg: “Does the price of a game even matter, if it’s in Game Pass?”: Xbox games marketing GM responds to question over whether Microsoft will raise game prices
17. Apex Legends brings cross-play to PS4, Xbox One, and PC next week
18. Download-free demos via xCloud is (somewhere) on Xbox’s to-do list
19. Sony expects PS5 to sell more than 7m units by April: PlayStation president Jim Ryan says “the value is obvious” when it comes to $70 price point for games
20. PS5 will change Sony’s Japanese button standards: Next PlayStation switches menu confirmation button from O to X to bring Japan in line with other regions
21. Astro’s Playroom devs played a key part in the creation of the PS5’s DualSense
22. PlayStation 5 runs cool and quiet, according to initial hands-on reports
23. The first PlayStation 5 teardown reveals some hardware secrets
24. PlayStation 5 teardown offers an up-close look at the next-gen console
25. Has Xbox changed discoverability with its new store?
26. Hardware launches and pre-orders desperately need a shake-up | Opinion: Retailers and manufacturers have failed consumers with the botched, badly-managed launches of consoles and graphics cards in recent weeks
27. Chromecast with Google TV won’t support Stadia until 2021: Google’s new replacement for Stadia-compatible dongle won’t officially have game streaming for several months, but Stadia Android app can be sideloaded
28. Antstream can stream over 1,200 retro games for $10 a month
29. Blizzard delays World of Warcraft’s Shadowlands expansion: Release moved to later in the year for additional polish and balancing
30. Capcom tries again with Monster Hunter Stories 2 — but why?: Capcom slips another quarter into the machine and makes a play for Japan’s kids market
31. Sky: Children of the Light has topped 50 million installs worldwide
32. Starbreeze says Payday 3 development is underway, this time using Unreal Engine
33. Report: Roblox readies to go public in early 2021
34. Roblox’s user-generated game platform could go public at $8 billion valuation
35. Roblox reportedly is preparing to go public: Children’s gaming platform expects an $8 billion valuation
36. Rovio CEO Kati Levoranta will leave the company at the end of 2020
37. Thirdverse secures $8.5m in Series A funding: The Japanese studio, previously known as Yomuneco, is currently working as publisher on inXile’s Frostpoint VR
38. Riot Games shuts Sydney office and scraps OPL esports league
39. Riot Games closes Sydney office: Company confirms ten employees impacted by the closure
40. Report: Call of Duty publisher Actvision Blizzard to shut down French office
41. Activision Blizzard closing France office – Report: Publisher pulling the plug on marketing, customer service and localizing office that had hundreds of employees
42. Thunderful Group acquires UK developer Coatsink for $29.8 million
43. Tencent grabs ‘major stake’ in GTFO developer 10 Chambers
44. Tencent takes “a major stake” in GTFO studio 10 Chambers: Swedish dev from veterans of Payday needed “more muscle” to realise its ambitions for co-op shooter GTFO
45. Genshin Impact censors “Hong Kong” and “Taiwan” in in-game chat: But Niko Partners’ Daniel Ahmad explains why this is common to all Chinese-developed games
46. Genshin Impact becomes biggest international launch for a Chinese game: The free-to-play RPG is the second top-grossing app on iOS in China, only beaten by the Chinese version of TikTok
47. Genshin Impact hit 17m mobile downloads in four days
48. Genshin Impact made $60m in its first week on mobile alone: Sensor Tower MiHoYo’s open-world adventure was the second-highest grossing mobile title worldwide during its launch week
49. Mortal Kombat 11 has topped 8 million sales in under two years
50. I played 15 hours of Baldur’s Gate 3 early access, and I want them back
51. Star Wars Squadrons impressions: A heavy asterisk at launch for PC players
52. Mario’s early levels wear out their welcome in Super Mario Bros. 35
53. Interior Night’s mission to turn non-gamers into gamers: We speak to CEO Caroline Marchal about the nuanced narrative of upcoming Microsoft exclusive As Dusk Falls
54. Some Epic Games Store games can now be purchased through GOG Galaxy 2.0
55. GOG Galaxy 2.0 to sell Epic Games Store titles: The client will offer games that were previously exclusive to Epic’s platform
56. Chat Filtering exits Steam Labs testing, is now a bonafide Steam feature
57. Valve adds chat filter after successful Steam Labs test: The new tool hides hateful language from people you don’t know by default in Steam Chat
58. ‘Resident Evil’ Reboot: Kaya Scodelario, Robbie Amell, Hannah John-Kamen, Neal McDonough & More To Star In Origin Story Adaptation
59. Twitch Reinforces Guidelines Surrounding Terrorist, Violent Extremist Content
60. Facebook Gaming surpassed one billion hours watched in Q3: Twitch viewership cools somewhat after pandemic spike, while YouTube and Facebook continue stready rise
61. Twitch Launches ‘Soundtrack’, A Library Of 1 Million Licensed Songs For Streamers
62. Twitch signs exclusive deal with CohhCarnage: Variety streamer agrees to multi-year pact that will have him livestreaming full-time on the platform
63. Streamer Ben ‘CohhCarnage’ Cassell Re-Signs To Twitch In Exclusive, Multi-Year Deal
64. Activision Blizzard esports CEO Pete Vlastelica is stepping down
65. OWL Commissioner and Activision Blizzard Esports CEO Pete Vlastelica steps down: Vlastelica first took on the commissioner role last year following the departure of Nate Nanzer
66. G-Loot secures $56m in new investment for expansion plans: Swedish esports firm closes a huge round for its democratic esports tournament platform
67. Tilting Point acquires TerraGenesis from Edgeworks Entertainment
68. ‘Star Wars: Squadrons’ Review – The New Top Gun of VR Dogfighters
69. ‘Star Wars: Squadrons’ VR FAQ – Supported Headsets, Comfort Settings, Min Specs & More
70. Google officially ends support for Daydream VR
71. Going in-depth with Nintendo’s augmented reality Mario Kart RC car
72. Niantic launches new Pokemon Go initiative to help small businesses hit by COVID
73. The history of Galloping Ghost, the USA’s largest classic arcade
74. The player-focused design and development of battle royale breakout Spellbreak
75. Hades makes endless struggle entertaining | Why I Love: Lucid Tales co-founders dive into what elevates Supergiant Games’ underworld roguelike
76. The strange flexibility of boundaries in strategy games
77. Push and pull: How to build an in-game economy – Unity Technologies’ Julie Shumaker explains how to knit together the key components of a robust and engaging game economy
78. Blog: What to expect when you’re expecting (a content creator)
79. Blog: Using statistics to design balanced dice
80. Blog: Switch & Steam discount strategies? Here’s some good ones
81. Blog: Notes from the Q&A sessions with Steam
82. Blog: Estimating platform revenues – a discovery conundrum!
83. Blog: Tips and advice for pitching your game to a publisher 
84. Blog: Moving to 170 mini remote offices while maintaining your culture
85. Blog: Should game devs become YouTubers to get (more) successful?
86. Video: Maintaining your mental health while working in games
87. Video: Brenda Romero’s hidden histories of women in programming
88. Video: The data-driven game design of Rainbow Six Siege
89. Video: Working in games with chronic illness
90. Video: Best practices for accessible in-game communication
91. Don’t Miss: Interior Mapping – rendering real rooms without geometry
92. Don’t Miss: The buzzer-beating bug fix that saved Crash Bandicoot
93. Don’t Miss: Spilling data-driven indie marketing secrets with No More Robots’ Mike Rose
94. Don’t Miss: Double Fine’s in-depth postmortem of Costume Quest 2
95. U.S. Patent no. 9,498,706: System and method for providing an enhanced research game mechanic

Jon

COMMUNICATIONS

1.  Why It’s Time to Reboot Canada’s Failed Digital Agenda (Michael Geist) 
2. “Get Money From Web Giants”: Why Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault’s Top Legislative Priority is Risky Business (Michael Geist)
3. Trump Nominates Guy Who Wants To Police Speech Online To Be The Next FCC Commissioner
4. DOJ Continues Its Quest To Kill Net Neutrality (And Consumer Protection In General) In California 
5. FCC Releases Draft Order Formalizing “Team Telecom” Process
6. FCC Holds that Fax Broadcasters are Solely Responsible for TCPA Violations When They Deceive Advertisers 
7. Facebook and the United States Submit Briefs in Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid
8. Comcast shut off Internet to hundreds, saying they were illegally connected 
9. Verizon Buys Tracfone As U.S. Wireless Gets Even More Consolidated
10. AT&T Whines That The T-Mobile Merger Consolidated Too Much U.S. Spectrum In One Place
11. T-Mobile amassed “unprecedented concentration of spectrum,” AT&T complains
12. T-Mobile hits back at AT&T and Verizon after spectrum-hoarding accusations 
13. AT&T Says It’s Eyeing ‘Wireless Discounts For Ads.’ But It’s Not Going To Be What You Think.
14. The Geopolitics of 5G
15. Major overhaul of UK telecoms regulation to go ahead by the end of December 2020
16. Old TV set interfered with village’s DSL Internet each day for 18 months

DIGITAL

1. Facebook Has Been a Disaster for the World: How much longer are we going to allow its platform to foment hatred and undermine democracy?
2. StopHateForProfit Campaign Enlists Celebrities for 24 Hour Facebook and Instagram Freeze
3. Facebook vows to restrict users if US election descends into chaos
4. Facebook warns privacy rules could force it to exit European market
5. Google could face federal, state antitrust suits next week, reports say
6. Google Maps gets a COVID-19 layer
7. Companies can track your phone’s movements to target ads
8. Experts Say Internet Shutdowns Don’t Thwart Protests
9. The TikTok ‘Deal’ Was A Grift From The Start: Accomplishes None Of The Stated Goals; Just Helps Trump & Friends
10. Everything we know so far about Oracle not actually buying TikTok
11. Blowback Time: China Says TikTok Deal Is A Model For How It Should Deal With US Companies In China
12. China Calls TikTok Deal ‘Extortion’; Says It Will Not Approve
13. Judge Issues Preliminary Injunction Saying That The US Cannot Block WeChat, Says The Ban Raises 1st Amendment Concerns
14. Court blocks Trump’s WeChat ban from taking effect today
15. Executive Orders on Pause: WeChat and TikTok Bans Temporarily Suspended
16. Commerce Department’s Ban on WeChat and TikTok Mobile Applications Delayed on Eve of Implementation
17. WeChat Executive Order Enjoined Because (Of Course) It’s Unconstitutional–WeChat Users v. Trump (Eric Goldman)
18. Walmart and Oracle Deal with TikTok and WeChat Lawsuit Delay Commerce’s Ban on Transactions with WeChat and TikTok
19. Details Of Unconstitutional WeChat/TikTok Ban Actually Would Make Users Of Those Apps Less Secure, Not More
20. US Commerce Department Identifies Prohibited Transactions Involving WeChat and TikTok
21. US-EU-UK Export Controls and Sanctions Alert The Commerce Department Announces Prohibitions on TikTok and WeChat – September 2020
22. Department of Commerce Notices on Prohibited Transactions Relating to WeChat and TikTok
23. TikTok Bans Ads For Diet Pills And Fasting Apps, Restricts Other Weight-Related Ads To Users 18+
24. Impending WeChat ban won’t actually ban users from WeChat, DOJ says
25. WeChat Users Fighting To Block Trump’s Executive Order Banning The App In The US
26. Trump admin orders TikTok, WeChat gone from app stores on Sunday
27. On The Podcast: Snapchat Really Is Planning To Take On TikTok
28. Trump approves Oracle, TikTok deal “in concept”
29. Trump Tentatively Approves Oracle, Walmart Deal For 20% Of TikTok
30. Twitter Isn’t Liable for Defamatory Impersonation Account–Brikman v. Twitter (Eric Goldman)
31. Trump Still Hates The 1st Amendment: Meeting With State Attorneys General To Tell Them To Investigate Internet Companies For Bias
32. Facial Recognition Database Vendor May Not Qualify for Section 230–Vermont v. Clearview
33. Online Content Policy Modernization Act Duplicates Existing Senate Republican Proposal to Limit Section 230 Liability Protections
34. Justice Department sends its Section 230 rewrite to Congress
35. Authors Of CDA 230 Do Some Serious 230 Mythbusting In Response To Comments Submitted To The FCC
36. Court Rejects Clearview’s First Amendment, Section 230 Immunity Arguments
37. Senator Lindsey Graham Must Be Desperate For Donations; Announces Terrible Bill That Mashes Up Bad 230 Reform With Bad Copyright Reform
38. California Cities Voting On Ridiculous Resolution Asking Congress For Section 230 Reform… Because Of Violence At Protests?
39. Busting Still More Myths About Section 230, For You And The FCC
40. Content Moderation Case Study: Twitter Freezes Accounts Trying To Fact Check Misinformation (2020)
41. YouTube, Facebook, Twitter Agree To Adopt Shared Harmful Content, Brand Safety Policies
42. YouTube Facing $3 Billion Class Action Suit In The U.K. Alleging Collection Of Underage User Data
43. Former YouTube Content Moderator Sues Company After Developing Depression, PTSD Symptoms
44. FTC Signals Intent to Focus on Use of Social Media Bots in Advertising
45. Political Digital Ads: Disclosure, Free Speech, and Legislation
46. Who Done It?: Royal Seas Cruises to Face Bench Trial on Issue of Arbitrability After Plaintiff Denies Visiting Website
47. YouTube Bringing More Human Mods Back To Work After Coronavirus-Related Pause
48. Patient dies after ransomware attack reroutes her to remote hospital
49. $100,000 in bribes helped fraudulent Amazon sellers earn $100 million, DOJ says
50. User-generated video sharing platforms subject to new obligations
51. Content Moderation Case Study: Usenet Has To Figure Out How To Deal With Spam (April 1994)
52. Instagram Doubles Maximum ‘Reels’ Length To 30 Seconds
53. Wayback Machine and Cloudflare team up to archive more of the Web
54. Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 9/21/2020
55. Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 9/21/2020
56. YouTube Creators Are Taking A New Approach To Make Sure Their Fans Are ‘Good To Vote.’ And It’s Working.
57. YouTube Feeds K-pop Fervor With Next Original Series—An Inside Look At Weeklong Convention KCON:TACT
58. Mozilla Is Trying To Dissect YouTube’s Recommendation Algorithm Using Data Donated By Viewers
59. Facebook Extends 4-Year-Old ‘Rights Manager’ Video Copyright Tool To Still Photography
60. Quibi Reportedly Seeking A Buyer After Lackluster First Months
61. Cryptocurrency: Theft and Asset Recovery
62. Cryptocurrency Tax Laws & What to Know in 2020
63. The First Cryptocurrency Bank
64. UK Government Consultation on the Promotion of Cryptoassets
65. Blockchain and Digital Assets News and Trends Achieving Digital Transformation and Securing Digital Assets
66. OCC Issues Clarification on Stablecoin Custody Services
67. Lenovo begins selling OEM Ubuntu PCs to the general public

A.I.

1. The Cruel New Era of Data-Driven Deportation
2. YouTube Will Now Harness Machine Learning To Auto-Apply Video Age Restrictions 
3. Bridging the Gap: Automated Facial Recognition Technology in Police Surveillance
4. Cop arrests apparently sleeping Tesla driver going 93mph
5. How algorithms discern our mood from what we write online: Researchers and companies are harnessing computers to identify the emotions behind our written words.
6. Inventor or creator: How is AI’s rapid development influencing the evolution of IP protection?
7. Lessons in ‘Ethics by Design’ from Britain’s A Level algorithm 
8. UKIPO launches ‘AI and IP Call for Views’
9. AI inventors at the UKIPO and EPO
10. Patently Obvious? AI as an Inventor After DABUS
11. Artificial intelligences as extended minds. Why not? 
12. Artificial (un)intelligence and the U.S. military: Will they make better decisions than humans — or worse? 
13. Poverty Lawgorithms: A Poverty Lawyer’s Guide to Fighting Automated Decision-Making Harms on Low-Income Communities 
14. Current and future regulatory landscape for AI and machine learning in the investment management sector 
15. Are we being too hard on HAL? Some thoughts on the legal need for “explainable” artificial intelligence.
16. Artificial Intelligence and Telework: Security Measures to be Taken 

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

1.  Mandatory copyright tariffs – Uncharted territories
2. Nicki Minaj’s “Artistic Experimentation” with a Tracy Chapman Song “to Seek License Approval” Qualifies as a Fair Use Under Copyright
3. LEGO Blocks Out ZURU in Copyright Dispute Over Minifigures
4. Schwartzwald v. Oath Inc.: Court dismisses photographer’s copyright claim against HuffPost, finding media site’s altered reproduction of photographer’s viral “crotch shot” of Jon Hamm constituted fair use.
5. Corbello v. DeVito: Court rules musical Jersey Boys did not infringe biography, holding musical depicts historical facts not protectable by copyright law and author cannot claim work was fictional for copyright protection.
6. It’s September 21st And Demi Abejuyigbe Has Another Great September 21st Video For Charity, Marred By Copyright Takedowns
7. Should an Advertising Agency Display Client Work on its Website After the Relationship Ends?
8. Federal Court of Appeal does not disturb lower court’s finding of ‘use’ for hotel services
9. Company Owning ‘Evel Knievel’ Rights Sues Disney Over ‘Toy Story 4’ Amalgam Parody Character
10. Banksy’s “Flower Thrower”-n off the EUTM register
11. Banksy’s trade marks at risk as artist loses legal battle over registration of Flower Thrower mural
12. Controlling Black Lives Matter: the battle to trademark a movement
13. No love for XOXO application
14. Battle of the b(r)ands: Lady A vs Lady A 
15. USPTO Warns of Email Scam Targeting Trademark Owners
16. “Brands will be more and more resource-challenged”: five predictions for the future of IP practice 
17. Dior loses PRETTY SAVAGE trademark dispute in the United Kingdom 
18. Cannabis, BLM and FCUK — dealing with moral objections to UK trade marks
19. Economic link puts an end to lengthy dispute: Gugler France’s decade-long trade mark campaign
20. Who will reign Supreme in the battle for the trade marks? 
21. Seventh Circuit Upholds $140 Million Compensatory Damages Award and Caps Punitive Damages at $140 Million in Trade Secret Case
22. Guarding Trade Secrets and Rethinking IP Indemnity Risks in the New OSS/Open Source World 
23. Designer panel: is being copied ever good news? 
24. The Federal Court of Appeal Upholds $640 Million Accounting of Profits Award for Patent Infringement 
25. Federal Court finds a problem with problem-solution 
26. VirnetX v. Apple: Delay of Five Months Justifies Denial of Motion to Amend Judgment of More Than $400 Million 
27. Canadian Patent Office’s approach to computer-implemented inventions rejected by Federal Court
28. COVID-19 and the compulsory licensing of patents 
29. Publication of Part of Complex Invention Does Not Prevent Joint Inventorship 
30. Justice Ginsburg’s Dissents – in Patent Law 
31. The Impact of Intellectual Property on Virtual Reality 
32. WIPO’s Global Innovation Index breaks new ground as brand value included for first time
33. IP monitor: CIPO announces fee increases beginning January 1, 2021 
34. Blockchain & IPR a breakthrough collaboration

PRIVACY

1. B.C. Court of Appeal confirms there is no “federal common law” privacy tort, but suggests the existence of a provincial privacy tort is an “interesting question”
2. The Times They Are A Changin’ Canadian Privacy Law in the Private Sector
3. Canadian privacy law reform is coming – are you ready?
4. A tip from a kid helps detect iOS and Android scam apps’ 2.4 million downloads
5. The fight over the fight for California’s privacy future
6. The Uncertain “State” of US Data Protection Law: California Leads the Way
7. Government Warns of New Cyber Threats Targeting U.S. Businesses
8. USPS Regrets Its Transparency, Asks FOIA Requester To Remove 1,200 Pages It Forgot To Withhold
9. New York AG Announces Settlement with Dunkin’ Regarding Data Breach Lawsuit
10. House Passes Bill To Address The Internet Of Broken Things
11. Telegram messages are a focus in newly uncovered hack campaign from Iran
12. Portland Passes Ban On Facial Recognition Use By City Agencies And Private Businesses
13. Preparing for the Next Front in Biometric Class Actions: Portland’s Facial Recognition Ban
14. Californians: VOTE NO ON PROP. 24, The California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) (Eric Goldman)
15. OFAC sanctions Iranian cyber threat group
16. Fourth Circuit Appeals Court Seems Skeptical That Baltimore’s Aerial Surveillance System Violates The Fourth Amendment 
17. Irish Data Case Against Facebook Could Complicate All Data Transfers to the US 
18. Impact of Swiss Privacy Shield Inadequacy Decision 
19. GDPR Hot Issues: Cookies, Data Transfers, and Enforcement Trends

CREATIVITY

1. Human Rights Organization Issues Press Freedom Alert Over UK Government’s Refusal To Speak To Critical Journalists
2. Return to upward trend seen in 2017 of defamation claims taken in the Circuit Court
3. SDNY Relies on “Simple Reading” of Label to Dismiss False Advertising Claim
4. Alan Dershowitz Files SLAPP Suit Against CNN; Says Not Airing More Of What He Said Is Defamation
5. How do music festivals adapt to a pandemic? They Fest in Place, of course
6. How To Avoid Acquiring Fake Art

GAMES

1. Voodoo wins plagiarism lawsuit against Zynga-owned Rollic Games: Judge rules that Istanbul-based firm’s Wood Shop copies key elements of Voodoo carpentry game Woodturning
2. Supercell ordered to pay $8.5 million for infringing Gree’s patents: Texas jury found Clash Royale developer infringed four patents, fine could be increased by up to three times
3. Nintendo sued for planned obsolescence over Joy-Con drift: French organisation found controllers suffer from premature wear of the electronic circuits and an airtightness defect
4. UK Government launches call for evidence on loot boxes: Inquiry seeks to examine concerns over whether randomised monetisation mechanics can lead to problem gambling
5. FTC Group Up On Loot
6. Apple presses court to deny Epic’s request for lift on Fortnite ban: iPhone maker reiterates argument that this situation is of Epic’s own making, says Fortnite firm is “a saboteur, not a martyr”
7. Epic Games: Fortnite is doing fine, actually
8. Clash of Game Companies: Lessons learned from GREE and Supercell Dispute
9. Microsoft set to acquire Bethesda parent ZeniMax for $7.5B
10. Microsoft purchases Bethesda Softworks in industry-changing acquisition
11. Microsoft buys ZeniMax Media and The Elder Scrolls dev Bethesda for $7.5 billion
12. What happens to Bethesda’s multi-platform games under Microsoft?
13. Bethesda x Xbox – what does it mean for ‘regular’ game devs?
14. Xbox buys Bethesda parent ZeniMax for $7.5bn: Deathloop and Ghostwire Tokyo exclusivity agreements to be honored, future releases to be decided on a case-by-case basis
15. ZeniMax Media won’t be the last of Microsoft’s game dev acquisitions
16. Microsoft is open to still more games acquisitions – CEO Satya Nadella: “We will always look to grow inorganically where it makes sense”
17. Frictional Games’ Amnesia: The Dark Descent, A Machine for Pigs are now open source
18. Report: Trump admin looking into Tencent’s US gaming investments
19. Report: Riot Games, Epic Games come under US Gov’t scrutiny over Tencent ties
20. Trump administration reportedly questions Epic, Riot about Tencent investment: Both companies said to have received letters from Committee on Foreign Investment in the US following executive order against WeChat
21. Epic leads $15m funding round in Manticore Games: Core platform “exemplifies” the user-generated future of video games, Epic says
22. Epic is offering $10 coupons to Rocket League players that use the Epic Games Store
23. Activision says Call of Duty account hack reports are false: Publisher assures it investigates all privacy concerns, but reiterates that players should protect online accounts
24. Games industry a “prime target” for cyber attacks: Data shows there were 3,072 DDoS attacks in games over the course of one year
25. Ubisoft Bows To Monster Energy To Rename An Upcoming Game Horribly
26. Ubisoft apologises after male-only Assassin’s Creed promo video: Publisher has since re-edited and released a version showcasing the female protagonists of the best-selling series
27. Hammer drops on hackers accused of targeting game and software makers
28. BTS To Debut Exclusive “Dynamite” Music Video Inside ‘Fortnite’
29. Nintendo 3DS discontinued
30. Nintendo winds down 3DS production after almost a decade
31. The end of the 3DS marks an inflection point for portable gaming
32. A fond farewell to the weird and wonderful Nintendo DS
33. Super Mario 3D All-Stars beats Avengers to No.1 | UK Charts: Nintendo’s compilation celebrating Mario’s 35th anniversary is the third biggest launch of the year in the UK
34. You can now stream your Xbox One games to your Android phone for free: Microsoft opens up Xbox remote play streaming to everyone with new Android app beta
35. The new Xbox App for smartphones will create a ‘unified Xbox experience’
36. We are in possession of a working Xbox Series X
37. Xbox Game Pass has topped 15 million subscribers
38. Google debuts first Stadia Makers recipients in pitch for indie support
39. Microsoft still determined to get Xbox Game Pass on iOS: Xbox boss Phil Spencer also says the platform holder plans to “leave ZeniMax alone” following $7.5 billion acquisition
40. Microsoft’s Game Pass now has over 15m subscribers: That’s up from 10 million as of April 2020
41. Xbox chief Phil Spencer confident xCloud will gain iOS support
42. Microsoft wants to replenish more water than it consumes by 2030
43. Microsoft commits to becoming “water positive” by 2030: The company wants to replenish more water than it uses by the end of the decade
44. China is ready for the PS5 and Xbox, even if Sony and Microsoft aren’t ready for China | Opinion: Imported next-gen consoles are already available for pre-order in China, says Apptutti’s Daniel Camilo
45. Spider-Man Remastered won’t get physical PS5 release: PS4 save files from Marvel’s Spider-Man also won’t carry over to the PS5 version
46. PlayStation’s Jim Ryan: “We want to give gamers certainty that they’re buying a true next-generation console”
47. PlayStation 5 backwards compatible with most PS4 titles, but nothing older: System will not be able to play PS3, PS2, or PS1 games
48. Sony makes it official: PlayStation 5 won’t natively support PS1, PS2, PS3
49. PlayStation 5 already selling out at some retailers: Sony will open direct pre-orders by invitation tomorrow
50. PS5 retailers have many fewer Digital Edition systems for preorder
51. Sony promises more PS5 pre-order stock for retailers: Platform holder apologises for confusion after major stores sold out one day before pre-orders were supposed to begin
52. PlayStation 5 demand and miscommunication cause pre-order chaos
53. SIE has now successfully tested thousands of PlayStation 4 games on PS5
54. Sony sees another three to four years of life in the PlayStation 4
55. Amazon is telling those who pre-ordered PS5s they may not get them at launch: Cautionary email cites “high demand” as retailers, Sony sell out of pre-orders
56. Apparent prototype photos show Sony’s canned “PlayStation phone” followup
57. Editor roundtable: As next-gen heats up, which game console has the edge?
58. NPD analyst says higher next-gen prices shouldn’t hurt sales
59. Firing the starting pistol on the next generation | Opinion: The details of November’s launches are now in the wild — for once, this will be a console race with no clear winner from the start
60. Game streaming start-up Playco lands $100m in Series A funding: Zynga co-founder, ex-DeNA director, Game Closure co-founder and senior producer raise money for browser-based approach
61. CD Projekt “shortened” Cyberpunk’s campaign over length complaints: Too many players failed to reach the end of The Witcher 3’s story, so Cyberpunk 2077 will take less time to finish
62. The average cost to acquire a mobile game user plummeted this year: Liftoff – But the cost to convert that user into a paying player has been on the rise over the last two years
63. Metacore gets €25m investment from Supercell: Finnish studio has rebranded from Everywear Games, and launched its first game today
64. Unity valued at $13.7 billion following $1.3 billion IPO
65. Unity valued at $13.7bn after successful IPO: Engine provider raised $1.3 billion through sale of shares on New York Stock Exchange
66. Nanobit acquired by Stillfront in $100 million deal
67. Stillfront Group acquires Nanobit for at least $100 million: Acquisition expands Stillfront’s portfolio into narrative lifestyle RPGs
68. Keywords acquires development studio Heavy Iron for $13.3 million
69. Keywords splashes $13.3m on Heavy Iron Studios acquisition: Co-development studio most recently worked with Crystal Dynamics on Marvel’s Avengers
70. Bandai Namco acquires Unknown 9 developer Reflector Entertainment
71. Bandai Namco acquires Unknown 9 developer Reflector Entertainment: Purchase of Montreal developer continues publisher’s goal to produce 50% of its content outside of Japan
72. Core dev Manticore Games raises $15 million, thanks in part to Epic Games
73. Bunch raises $20m toward multiplayer social platform expansion: Investment led by General Catalyst, included Take-Two, Ubisoft, Supercell, EA, and Riot
74. Beyond COVID-19: Lessons from an unprecedented global challenge: EGDF president and ISFE chairman are encouraged by the industry’s response to crisis, but the way forward is far from certain
75. Football Manager 2020 sees 1 million players in first days of Epic Games Store free week
76. Free Football Manager scores 1m new players on Epic Games Store: The 2020 entry in Sports Interactive’s football management sim franchise is currently free on Epic’s shop
77. Hades has sold over 1 million copies in under two years
78. Spellbreak hits 5 million players in under three weeks
79. Super Mario 3D All-Stars | Critical Consensus
80. Luck is a failing strategy for developers | Opinion: Leverage Partnership’s David O’Connor shares a cautionary tale about indies whose first game was a smash hit
81. Digital Schoolhouse expands to Nigerian classrooms with Kucheza partnership: Kucheza Games will help UKIE-backed initiative deliver computer science lessons in Nigeria
82. Avatars and artists: Musical mash-ups in gaming
83. Riot signs deal for League of Legends toys: Multi-year agreement with Paw Patrol toy maker Spin Master should see action figures hit shelves in fall of 2021
84. Twitch Experiments With Intrusive Ads That Piss Off Its Most Important Asset, Its Talent
85. Twitch’s Most-Subscribed Streamer, ‘NickMercs’, Re-Ups With FaZe Clan For 3 More Years
86. Mobile Premier League raises $90m in funding: The esports mobile gaming platform is looking to expand outside of India
87. Legend of Grimrock leaves no stone unpressed | Why I Love: Worm Jazz developer Yu He explains how the 2012 dungeon crawler was designed to draw players in
88. Directing The Outer Worlds’ first narrative expansion The Peril on Gorgon
89. Q&A: Why Apex Legends players are so in love with Skull Town
90. Blog: Game composers and the importance of themes – Part 4
91. Blog: Why 2021 will be a landmark year for cloud gaming
92. Blog: What does cross-platform mean to you?
93. Blog: Rules for a future-proof 2D render order
94. Blog: Combating toxicity in online games
95. Blog: Designing a thrilling enjoyable arcade experience for VR
96. Blog: How to better represent older characters in your game
97. Don’t Miss: Inside the development of Supergiant Games’ Hades
98. Don’t Miss: The evolutionary process of building Rayman Origins
99. Don’t Miss: How Prey gives players space to tell their own stories
100. Don’t Miss: How Supergiant Games adds new deities to Hades’ pantheon
101. Don’t Miss: Ray Muzyka’s Baldur’s Gate II postmortem
102. Video: Everything you wanted to know about unionizing your workplace
103. Video: Preventing online harassment in games by studying social media’s failures
104. Video: Behind Riot Games’ Player Dynamics design philosophy
105. Video: How company leaders can tackle systemic inequality in the game industry
106. Video: How Pendragon went from side project to full Arthurian adventure
107. Video: How the Duolingo team balances profits and ethical design
108. NantWorks, LLC v. Niantic, Inc.
109. U.S. Patent no. 9,555,334: System and method for managing virtual worlds mapped to real locations in a mobile-enabled massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG)
110. U.S. Patent no. 9,561,433: Providing event rewards to players in an online game

Jon

COMMUNICATIONS

1.  Canadian Heritage Minister Guilbeault Says Social Media Sites Linking to News Content Without Payment is “Immoral” (Michael Geist)
2. As Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault Plans Link Taxes and Internet Content Regulation, Where Is Navdeep Bains? (Michael Geist) 
3. America Needs To Stop Pretending The Broadband ‘Digital Divide’ Isn’t The Direct Result Of Corruption
4. AT&T’s current 5G is slower than 4G in nearly every city tested by PCMag 
5. AT&T Is Astroturfing The FCC In Support Of Trump’s Dumb Attack On Social Media 
6. Ajit Pai touted false broadband data despite clear signs it wasn’t accurate
7. Pai FCC Ignored Falsely Inflated Broadband Numbers To Pat Itself On The Back
8. FCC identifies promising opportunities to expand spectrum resources for unmanned aircraft systems
9. FCC Dismisses Petition for Reconsideration of Reexamination of Noncommercial Licensing Policy – Next Step, Window for New Applications?
10. FCC Proposes $163,912 Fine Against BarrierFree for Overstating its Broadband Deployment
11. Top memory and display suppliers drop Huawei after new US restrictions
12. What’s New in 5G – September 2020
13. Taking 5G to work, in offices, and on the factory floor—will it help? 

DIGITAL

1. TikTok Employee Files Motion That Could Mark First Judicial Look At Trump’s Executive Order
2. White House Supposedly Blocked Walmart From Buying Tiktok Because It Would Prove Its Rationale For Forcing A Deal Was Bullshit
3. If We’re So Worried About TikTok, Why Aren’t We Just As Worried About AdTech And Location Data Sales?
4. Trump Gets Mad That Twitter Won’t Take Down A Parody Of Mitch McConnell; Demands Unconstitutional Laws
5. Bill Barr’s ‘Antitrust Crackdown’ Of Google Is Going To Be A Weaponized Farce
6. There’s a partisan schism over the timing of a Google antitrust lawsuit
7. Google Updates Ad Policies Related to “Sensitive Events”
8. Right-wing media thrives on Facebook. Whether it rules is more complicated: Untangling the influence of right-wing media is hard, especially with limited data.
9. Facebook Moves to Limit Election Chaos in November
10. Facebook Says it Will Limit Election Advertising in the Week Before the U.S. Election
11. Facebook Paying Users To Shut Down Their Accounts For Science Ahead Of The 2020 Election
12. Facebook Watch Hits 1.25 Billion Monthly Users, Company Says
13. Facebook complains, Apple responds: iOS 14’s big privacy change gets postponed
14. Facebook’s plan to prevent election misinformation: Allowing it, mostly
15. There Are Many Serious Concerns About Facebook. Why the Australia News Fight Isn’t One of Them (Michael Geist)
16. It’s Time To Regulate The Internet… But Thoughtfully
17. Pentagon’s review of controversial $10B contract was a sham, Amazon claims
18. E-commerce: Amazon held liable for damages caused by defective product sold on its online marketplace
19. Amazon Is Strictly Liable for Marketplace Items, Reinforcing That Online Marketplaces Are Doomed–Bolger v. Amazon (Eric Goldman)
20. In China, GitHub Is a Free Speech Zone for Covid Information: As COVID news was increasingly trapped behind the Great Firewall, the programming platform became a refuge from censorship. It may not last long.
21. China plans new data policy in response to Trump admin’s “bullying”
22. Court Denies TRO Seeking to Remove Facebook’s “Russia State-Controlled Media” Label–Maffick v. Facebook (Eric Goldman)
23. Another Roundup of Online Contract Formation Cases (Eric Goldman)
24. GOP Senators Release Latest Truly Stupid Section 230 Reform Bill; Would Remove ‘Otherwise Objectionable’; Enable Spamming
25. The Copia Institute’s Comment To The FCC Regarding The Ridiculous NTIA Petition To Reinterpret Section 230
26. 512(f) Claim Fails in the 11th Circuit–Johnson v. New Destiny Christian Center (Eric Goldman)
27. Twibel Lawsuit Fails–Ganske v. Mensch (Eric Goldman)
28. The User Always Loses: How did the Internet get so bad?
29. Content Moderation Case Studies: Stopping Malware In Search Leads To Unsupported Claims Of Bias (2007)
30. Intermediary Liability And Responsibilities Post-Brexit
31. E-Voting App Maker Voatz Asks The Supreme Court To Let It Punish Security Researchers For Exposing Its Flaws
32. UK government’s Digital Services Tax misses its target: Apple and others share the weight of 2% tax aimed at major tech firms with developers, sellers, and advertisers
33. Big tech companies want to help get you back in the office: They are offering services to track employees, arrange tests, and record results.
34. Legal Concerns With Influencers’ Tattoos On Social Media: The Ball Is Still In The Air, And The Ink Is Not Dry
35. Made-For-Kids YouTube Content Seeing Big Year-Over-Year Growth
36. YouTube TV Scores NFL Carriage, Launches New ‘Sports Plus’ Add-On
37. David Blaine’s ‘Ascension’ Soars To 770K Concurrent Viewers, Making It YouTube’s Most-Watched Live Original
38. YouTube To Produce Originals Supporting Indie Music Venues Affected By COVID
39. YouTube, ‘Glamour’ To Premiere Docuseries About Triumphs, Tragedies Of Women’s Gymnastics (Trailer)
40. In Latest Stunt, MrBeast Gifts Nascent YouTuber 1.7 Million Subscribers — And Counting
41. FTC Sues Celebrity Endorsers Over Their Role in Alleged Deceptive Advertising Campaign
42. Snapchat Launches Permanent Public Profiles, Audience Analytics (Exclusive)
43. Rooster Teeth’s Podcast Network ‘The Roost’ Inks Ad Sales, Merch, Distro Deal With CollegeHumor
44. Vimeo Revamps User Profiles To Help Video Professionals Nail Down Job Prospects
45. TikTok Competitor Triller Forms Advisory Board With Top Female Music Execs
46. TikTok Partners With 20 Tech Providers To Help Advertisers Create, Measure Their Campaigns
47. Former TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer Seems Like A Baller. Maybe He Left Because He Didn’t Want To Have A Boss.
48. Senate Banking Committee Shows Continued Interest in Cryptoassets
49. Academic Study Says Open Source Has Peaked: But Why?
50. Alternatives for the Internet: A Journey into Decentralised Network Architectures and Information Commons
51. The world to come: A digital dystopia – One of the few certainties of our time is that digital platforms will continue to thrive. The only question is quite how far their logic will penetrate our lives.
52. Augmented reality could be the geology classroom’s killer app
53. What If Technology Belonged to the People?: We need non-market, publicly-owned alternatives to big tech. Here’s how we get it.
54. A field comes of age: tracking research on the internet within communication studies, 1994 to 2018
55. Exclusion and inclusion in identification: regulation, displacement and data justice

A.I.

1. A Face-off: New Privacy Class Actions target facial recognition software
2. How to gather Data Legally for training AI Data Model?
3. Reliance on Machine Translations Warrants Denial of IPR Petitions 
4. Artificial Intelligence and Trends in Patenting
5. Students, Parents Figure Out School Is Using AI To Grade Exams And Immediately Game The System 
6. NIST Outlines a Set of Principles for Explainable AI
7. New Regulatory Guidance in the UK on AI and Data Protection
8. A Light Touch Regulatory Framework for AI
9. A Light Touch Regulatory Framework for AI – Part 2: Classification of AI Solutions

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

1.  Access Copyright and York U File Responses in SCC (Howard Knopf)
2. The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency(“Access Copyright”) And -York University: Response Of York University To Application For Leave To Appeal Of The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency
3. The Copyright Board’s New $757,548.50 (+?) Website – Finally an Apparently Functional Search Engine – but Otherwise Disappointing at Best and Problematic at Worst – And Still NO CANLII Presence (Howard Knopf)
4. Can’t “Shake It Off” Yet: Court Denies Taylor Swift’s Motion to Dismiss Copyright Infringement Lawsuit 
5. Music Choice v. Copyright Royalty Board: D.C. Circuit determines that Board erred in determination that services offered were categorically excluded from lower royalty rate for pre-existing service providers set forth in DMCA.
6. Not Your Grandfather’s Internet Royalties? DMCA Favorable Rates Might Apply to Internet Offerings 
7. Ninth Circuit: Under the “Asserted Truth Doctrine” (f/k/a “Copyright Estoppel”) Authors of Nonfiction Cannot Later Claim a Work is Fictional to Pursue a Copyright Case
8. Astor-White v. Strong: 9^th Cir. affirms that, after three amended complaints, plaintiff was still unable to plausibly allege defendants copied or appropriated protectable expression from TV series Empire.
9. Jackson v. Roberts: 2nd Cir. affirms that right of publicity claim brought by 50 Cent against Rick Ross, based on Ross’s sampling of 50 Cent’s hit song “In Da Club” in a promotional mixtape, is preempted by Copyright Act.
10. No Remix: Copyright Act Preempts Right of Publicity Claim
11. A Copyright Suit against Netflix’s Stranger Things 
12. Bain v. Film Independent, Inc.: Court dismisses claims against actress, finding her use of portions of film not yet widely released in her acting reel to be transformative fair use.
13. Michael Skidmore v. Led Zeppelin et al., Case No. 20-142 (S.Ct. 2020)
14. What 11th Circ. Guitar Ruling Means for Copyright Litigants 
15. Do Those Plans Infringe on My Plans? Depends Where You Are
16. The Next Register Of Copyrights Must Realize That Copyright Serves The Public 
17. Out of the Ordinary: Requirements for Describing Goods and Services in Canadian Trademark Applications 
18. “Terrible Towel” Lawsuit a Good Reminder to Consult a Trademark Lawyer
19. Honda and Microsoft caught in a trademark race 
20. Apples and Prepears: The perception of protective brands 
21. The Queen is not amused, The Royal Butler is refused (via Passle) 
22. Goodwill Hunting
23. Nike are successful in registering FOOTWARE (via Passle)
24. Tiffany v. Costco: Descriptive words over trademark exclusivity 
25. Competitive Keyword Advertising Still Isn’t Trademark Infringement, Unless…. –Adler v. Reyes & Adler v. McNeil (Eric Goldman) 
26. Influencer marketing and TM infringement
27. USPTO prioritises certain COVID-19-related trademark and service mark applications 
28. No trade secret protections for information discussed via open zoom call 
29. Playing Fair: Protect Trade Secrets from Business Partners
30. Don’t Play Chicken With Court Orders: COVID-19 Is No Excuse for a Terminated Franchisee to Continue Using the Franchisor’s Intellectual Property and Trade Secrets
31. Use of Infringing Product, Misappropriated Trade Secrets May Continue – for a Licensing Fee
32. A UDRP case involving a .CEO domain
33. Purposive test applies to construction of patent claims: Federal Court
34. A significant Federal Court decision supporting patent eligibility of software inventions in Canada
35. Second Kick at the Can: Post-Grant Proceedings Involving Canadian Patents
36. Judge Rakoff Refuses to “Ice” Diamond Patent Inequitable Conduct Allegations
37. Unwired Planet v Huawei and Huawei/ZTE v Conversant [2020] UKSC 37
38. Exclusion Orders: How an International Trade Commission Investigation Can Protect Patented Products from Infringing Imports
39. Spotlight: standard-essential patents in United Kingdom
40. The Federal Circuit Expressly Declares that Juries Determine the Standard-Essentiality of Patent Claims 
41. Trapped: insufficiency deals the final blow to Regeneron’s ground-breaking transgenic mouse patents 
42. Patent Office Issues Binding Memorandum Concerning Use Of Applicant Admitted Prior Art 
43. Using patents to establish alternative business models, built around licensing

PRIVACY

1. Saskatchewan Introduces New Legislation: The Fiduciaries Access to Digital Information Act
2. A New Privacy Law for Ontario? Towards a “Made-in-Ontario” Response to Global Developments
3. How Bill 64 Will Impact The Research Sector
4. Government’s ‘Reverse’ Warrant Rejected By Two Consecutive Federal Judges
5. The FBI botched its DNC hack warning in 2016—but says it won’t next time
6. FBI Horrified To Discover Ring Doorbells Can Tip Off Citizens To The Presence Of Federal Officers At Their Door
7. Online voting vendor Voatz urges Supreme Court to limit security research
8. UK Privacy Regulator Issues Code for Online Services Likely to be Used by Children
9. Eyes Everywhere: Amazon’s Surveillance Infrastructure and Revitalizing Worker Power
10. NSA spying exposed by Snowden was illegal and not very useful, court says
11. Ninth Circuit Says NSA’s Bulk Phone Records Collection Was Illegal, Most Likely Unconstitutional
12. Another Florida Appeals Court Says Compelled Passcode Production Violates The Fifth Amendment
13. Uber Criminal Complaint Raises the Stakes for Breach Response
14. Individual Criminal Liability for Failure to Disclose Data Breach Establishes a New Level of Risk for Companies and Executives 
15. Pandemic Surveillance and Racialized Subpopulations: Mitigating Vulnerabilities in COVID-19 Apps 
16. Unique Cyber Vishing Threat Emerges 
17. President Trump Signs Into Effect a Policy for Space Cybersecurity 
18. How Are Governments Reacting to the Invalidation of Privacy Shield?
19. Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield No Longer Considered Adequate by Swiss DPA 
20. What Is the Worst Type of Online Privacy Policy … and Why Does it Matter? 

CREATIVITY

1. Moritz v. Universal City Studios LLC: Denys arbitration of dispute concerning Fast & the Furious spinoff, Hobbs & Shaw, holding arbitration provisions in prior production contracts for franchise did not cover spinoff. 
2. Council of Europe issues media freedom alert over UK government blacklisting of investigative journalists: Formal warning comes as government claims environmental protesters are a threat to press freedom
3. Trump’s Paris art “shopping spree” caused staffers a headache and lessons to learn about checking provenance
4. California musicians rejoice as governor ratifies new legislation on employment classification
5. New California Law Makes it Easier for Certain Musicians, Writers, Photographers and Content Providers to Be Deemed Independent Contractors
6. French Government To Make Insulting Mayors A Criminal Offense

GAMES

1. Apple is now seeking damages from Epic Games over breach of contract
2. Apple goes on offensive in Epic Games lawsuit: Apple’s official login system will work with Fortnite “indefinitely” but users are encouraged to update Epic accounts
3. Apple pauses plans to end ‘Sign In with Apple’ support for Epic Games accounts
4. Apple says Epic’s Fortnite payment scheme “is theft, period.”
5. Epic is attempting to have Fortnite reinstated on the App Store
6. Epic asks court to force Fortnite back onto the iOS App Store
7. Epic Games wants court order to reinstate Fortnite on iOS: Unreal firm files another preliminary injunction to “stop Apple from retaliating” during antitrust case
8. Plaintiff Epic Games, Inc.’s Notice Of Motion And Motion For A Preliminary Injunction And Memorandum Of Points And Authorities In Support Thereof
9. Google distances itself from Epic versus Apple legal dispute
10. Google requests court not connect it to Apple vs Epic: Firm says it has yet to be officially served a complaint, but will challenge “based on circumstances unique to Android”
11. Epic Games commits to live concert series in Fortnite: Company has constructed a state-of-the-art soundstage in Los Angeles to host events
12. ‘Fortnite’ Spins Up ‘Spotlight’ Series Of Weekly In-Game Concerts
13. Data Transmission Patent Asserted Against Amazon and Blizzard is Partially Invalidated
14. Amazon imagines a genre-blended New World for MMOs: Scot Lane describes how action RPGs, survival titles, and Twitch influenced the PvP combat of Amazon’s upcoming foray into the MMO space
15. Abdin v CBS: Second Circuit affirms dismissal of copyright action alleging that Star Trek: Discovery series infringed Tardigrades video game, holding that parties’ works are not substantially similar as matter of law.
16. Paradox QA staff allege poor treatment: Company’s shutdown of publishing QA department last year leads to report of mismanagement, ignored concerns
17. EA removes intrusive ads from UFC 4 following fan complaints
18. EA removes new in-game ads from UFC 4 after player complaints: Publisher patched in promos that flashed on screen during action replays
19. Coffee Stain expands Levelling the Playing Field to fund racially diverse studios: Publisher also makes its third investment through the program, in Happy Broccoli Games
20. Indian dev unveils FAU:G in the wake of government’s PUBG Mobile ban: Ncore Games’ new title will feature current Chinese-Indian border dispute as a setting
21. PUBG responds to India’s ban on PUBG Mobile: PUBG Corp withdraws license to run PUBG Mobile in India from Tencent, will self-publish franchise instead
22. Cloud gaming revenue to reach $585m in 2020: Revenue generated by the cloud gaming market is expected to reach $4.8 billion by 2023
23. Sony May Just Be Loosening The Reins As Gaming Brings In A Plurality Of Its Revenue
24. Marvel’s Avengers shows how a “beta” can be a pitfall | Opinion: Early reviews express surprise at the full game being good after disappointing “beta” weekends — suggesting a gigantic failure on the publisher side
25. Marvel’s Avengers defeats Tony Hawk and NBA to claim No.1 | UK Charts: But it’s the biggest Tony Hawk’s game since its heyday
26. Game Creator Has His YouTube Video Of Game Demonetized Over Soundtrack He Also Created
27. What’s wrong with the games industry, and how to fix it: At Devcom, Kate Edwards highlighted the main issues affecting game creators, and what the industry can do to address them
28. Remaining Lab Zero staff laid off following dev exodus
29. Lab Zero Games lays off remaining employees: Skullgirls studio turns to redundancies following staff exodus over alleged behaviour of owner Mike Zaimont
30. Kotaku UK shutting down: Rights reverting to G/O Media as Future Publishing decides not to renew licensing deal
31. Duke Nukem throws a spanner in the Gearbox | 10 Years Ago This Month: Borderlands studio revives Duke Nukem Forever, dooming itself to a decade (and counting) of legal battles
32. Madden NFL 21 sells 20% more copies in first week than last year’s game: EA’s latest football sim tops early numbers of a predecessor that had produced “the most successful year in franchise history”
33. Colin Kaepernick returns to Madden NFL: EA Sports makes free-agent quarterback available for the first time since Madden 18
34. Colin Kaepernick hits the field in Madden NFL 21 without actual NFL deal
35. Microsoft Flight Simulator: 1 million pilots so far, flying 1 billion miles
36. Microsoft Flight Simulator attracts 1 million players in just over two weeks
37. Report: Nintendo boosting Switch production to meet consumer demand
38. Report: Nintendo increases Switch production targets again – Platform holder wants to make 30m units this year as it asks devs to get games 4K ready
39. Nintendo’s next Mario Kart title is a mixed reality racer set in your living room
40. Super Mario 3D All-Stars brings three high-res ports to Switch
41. Super Mario 3D All-Stars is already Amazon’s second biggest game of 2020: Nintendo release is behind only Animal Crossing on the US storefront less than a week since its announcement
42. Barrage of games coming for Super Mario Bros.’ 35th anniversary: Nintendo reveals limited time release of Super Mario 3D All-Stars with four more Mario products debuting by March
43. Nintendo eShop policy change gives shoppers more time to cancel pre-orders
44. With profit and revenue on the rise, CD Projekt heaps praise on The Witcher 3
45. The Witcher 3’s next-gen debut promises free upgrade for current-gen owners
46. CD Projekt Red confirms next-gen version of The Witcher 3: New version of the blockbuster RPG will be sold as a standalone product, but available as a free update to existing owners
47. Wargaming UK rebrands as DPS Games to reflect global growth
48. What can the games industry learn from Netflix and Spotify?: During our recent Changing Channels conference, experts discussed the impact of subscriptions on the world of entertainment
49. Cloud gaming not ready for disruption – Report: Juniper Research sees streaming game services as a subset of a subscription service market that will hit $8 billion in 2023
50. Can influencer-branded game stores work?
51. Game Discoverability Now: Are the ‘store wars’ really upon us?
52. Microsoft confirms next-gen pricing and launch dates, touts new financing options
53. The compact Xbox Series S launches Nov 10 with promises of ‘next-gen performance’
54. Xbox Series S confirmed by Microsoft after next-gen Xbox price leak
55. Xbox Series S finally announced, priced at $299: Official video shares specs, console will launch November 10 and is digital only
56. Microsoft confirms $499 Xbox Series X for Nov. 10
57. Xbox Series X will sell for $499: Console launches November 10 with pre-orders starting September 22; All Access subscription price is $35 monthly for two years
58. Xbox’s next-generation strategy threatens to disrupt the console business l Opinion: Xbox Series S and Game Pass could change console gaming forever. Maybe.
59. EA Play is being added to Game Pass Ultimate at no extra cost
60. EA Play added to Xbox Game Pass at no extra cost: Ultimate and PC subscribers will gain access to over 60 of the FIFA publisher’s titles
61. Xbox All Access seems like one of the best deals in gaming
62. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla bumps up release date to match next-gen Xbox launch
63. GameStop continues to post heavy losses amid pandemic, end of console cycle: Retailer saw an adjusted net loss of $92 million in Q2, though global e-commerce sales spiked
64. GameStop will close another 400 to 450 stores this fiscal year: It’s already closed 388 stores year-to-date
65. Despite pandemic and its reboot, GameStop says it’s ready for next-gen demand
66. CI Games opens internal studio Hexworks to develop Lords of the Fallen 2
67. Wasteland 3 | Critical Consensus: InXile’s warmly received new RPG is a sign that Microsoft’s run of studio acquisitions is starting to pay off
68. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 PC impressions: No pretending for this Superman
69. Marvel’s Avengers | Critical Consensus: The critics found much to like in Crystal Dynamics’ campaign, and rather less in Square Enix’s ambitions to make its own Destiny
70. Shenmue returns again—this time as a Crunchyroll, Adult Swim anime
71. The Soulcalibur still burns | Why I Love: Namco’s Dreamcast fighter ushered in the era of better-than-arcade ports and built friendships in competitive communities that last to this day
72. Masterpiece: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island
73. From Pong to Civilization: How I made “one more turn” work on consoles
74. Esports Milestone: Guild Esports Looks For London Stock Exchange Listing
75. David Beckham-backed Guild Esports sets sights on London IPO: Esports firm eyes £50m valuation when it floats on the London Stock Exchange later this year
76. Facebook Gaming Signs Esports Pro ‘King’ Richard Nelson (Exclusive)
77. Esports team brings University of Waterloo athletics into the digital age: UW will compete in Rocket League, Overwatch and League of Legends
78. Changing the game: women in esports
79. As Esports Go Mainstream, Some Important Lessons for Brands
80. Rocket League drops PS Plus and Switch Online services for online play: Psyonix’s game will remove paywall from multiplayer on PlayStation and Switch when it transitions to free-to-play
81. Facebook halts Oculus Quest sales in Germany amid privacy concerns
82. Blog: Dynamic map elements in RTS games
83. Blog: The hidden art of pacing – Part 2
84. Blog: Building Cogmind’s ambient soundscape
85. Blog: A Neon Climber postmortem
86. Blog: A launch postmortem of Dungeons of Edera
87. Video: Cultivating female talent in big-budget studios
88. Video: How a newbie solo dev landed their game on Xbox Game Pass
89. Video: Inside the physical animation of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
90. Video: Using project management to tame the chaos of game dev
91. Don’t Miss: Deaf accessibility in video games
92. Don’t Miss: What was it like developing for the Dreamcast?
93. U.S. Patent no. 9,582,147: Inserting game objects through contactless communication
94. In Major Blow To Sony’s Upcoming PlayStation 5, Microsoft Announces PlayStation 6
95. Gaming historian Curt Vendel dies at 53: Atari Museum founder, Atari Flashback designer, and “an unquestioned giant in computer history” died unexpectedly August 30

Jon