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Everyone loves the David versus Goliath story where the underdog prevails against the powerful bully. Unfortunately, real life isn’t like that. In reality, the small guy usually loses against the big guy. In the world of video games, something similar happened recently. A couple of weeks ago a private emulated World of Warcraft Burning Crusade server called Felmyst was shut down after the developer Gummy received a letter from Blizzard lawyers threatening legal action. The server took four year to develop and was a labor of love for Gummy who is unemployed due to his battle with muscular dystrophy which is an extremely debilitating uncurable disease. Kyle Orland over at Arstechnica has a comprehensive write up about what happened. Given the legal issues with creating a legacy server, the creation of Felmyst was always a risky proposition. But Gummy felt he could operate under the radar because normally small private WoW servers do not reach the attention of Blizzard. But the … [Read more...] about Felmyst Server Shuts Down After Blizzard Sends Legal Letter to Disabled WoW Fan

Capping off the Great Star Wars Battlefront II Fiasco of November, Belgium’s Gambling Commission and the Dutch Gaming Authority both began investigating lootboxes/lockboxes to determine whether they constitute gambling and necessitate appropriate regulation. Now, the former has issued its ruling, and unlike the gaming-industry bodies ESRB and PEGI, it didn’t add to the BS smokescreen. Indeed, the Belgian Kanspel Committee has indeed ruled that the practice is a serious problem. “The mixing of money and addiction is gambling,” it declares. Belgian Minister of Justice Koen Greens told VTM that he aims to have gambling mechanics stricken from games entirely, banned outright, throughout Europe. “But that takes time.” The US state of Hawaii has joined in the fray too, as state representatives have lambasted EA’s “predatory behavior,” calling the game a “Star Wars-themed online casino, designed to lure kids into spending … [Read more...] about Belgium seeks to ban lockboxes as gambling, plus Hawaii and France weigh in

Unless you’ve been living under a rock lately, you probably know that Star Citizen and its creator Chris Roberts have been under siege from a certain indie game developer in recent months. The crowdfunded sci-fi sandbox has also had its legitimacy questioned in the gaming press, notably by The Escapist, which today published an antagonistic article sourced from anonymous, alleged Star Citizen employees and ex-employees. Roberts, apparently, has seen enough and broke his silence on the topic in a new post on the official site. He writes, I have, to date, attempted to stay above the internet drama currently surrounding Derek Smart and his claims about Star Citizen. My feeling has been that it is most important to speak with actions instead of words, and to date I feel that we have done that with the multi crew demo, the launch of the social module and everything else you see here in this space on a daily basis. However, with the publication of today’s article (I can only … [Read more...] about Star Citizen’s Chris Roberts responds to publication’s ‘long troll’, threatens legal action for defamation

With the recent revelation that Bethesda’s Fallout 76 is going to be an online multiplayer survival game, players who have been hoping for a Fallout MMO finally have something to anticipate. Sure, it’s not a proper MMORPG, but it’s all we could ask for in this day and age, right? Actually, Fallout 76 isn’t the first time that the Fallout series was heading for online shenanigans, nor is it the closest concept to a pure MMO. Years ago, an attempt was made by the original creators of the Fallout series to bring an online game to the community, but this effort was stymied by Bethesda and a mess of legal issues. For those who look back at the Interplay era of Fallout with deep fondness, the thought of the canceled Fallout Online project is a sore wound that continues to cause pain whenever prodded. Which is, I guess, what I’ll be doing today as we look at what Fallout Online was going to be — and why it never came to be. From Van Buren to Fallout Online … [Read more...] about The Game Archaeologist: The tangled legal history of Interplay’s canceled Fallout Online

Snail Games is the subject of legal action on two fronts, so for the sake of brevity let’s talk about both of them in one article, shall we? The first, former executive of Snail Games David Runyan is seeking damages from his employer alleging unlawful dismissal and racial discrimination. Runyan’s lawsuit specifically targets Snail Games founder Mr. Shi Hai, alleging racial discrimination against non-Chinese employees of the company. Shi Hai, according to the lawsuit, preferred Chinese employees to non-Chinese and would make disparaging comments about American customs and culture. Runyan was terminated following a back injury, and is alleging that his termination is due to his race, nationality, and necessity for disability leave. (Source: Gamesindustry.biz) Second, Blizzard is hot off the heels of their recent successful lawsuit against a copycat Hearthstone game, and the behemoth has set its sights on Snail Games. The latter recently launched a mobile game Taichi Panda in … [Read more...] about Snail Games Legal Double Feature