June 2018 – The Gaming News Corner

No Single-Player Star Wars Game – Amy Henning leaves EA

Many Star Wars games fans have been critical over Electronic Art’s handling of the series. Electronic Arts have produced and published more multiplayer focus Star Wars games like Battlefield 2 and The Old Republic MMO series. Fans have been looking forward to a story focused Star Wars game similar to the Knights of the Old Republic Series. Unfortunately, fans will have to keep waiting as Amy Hennig, the former Uncharted creator who moved the EA to work on a story based Star Wars Game, has left the company.

Amy Hennig had left EA in January but only recently announced it. She joined Visceral (EA’s subsidiary gaming company) in 2014 to work on a new Star Wars game. Visceral was closed by EA in October 2017 and the project was moved to another studio. During an interview with Eurogamer, she stated she has moved on to start her new independent studio.

“So yeah, I’m not doing anything Star Wars. And, who knows what the future may hold, but that project is on the shelf now.

The game and concept were not moved to any part of EA’s studios throughout the world and “the Vancouver studio is working on something pretty different,” stated Hennig. Perhaps Respawn Entertainment will restart Henning’s project considering their purchase from EA last year.

Source

Eurogamer

PUBG drops Copyright Lawsuit against Fortnite

It’s a common trend for big tech companies to sue others for copyright infringement. For examples, Apple vs Samsung for smartphone designs or Gamevice suing Nintendo for the Switch’s design. Every company wants to own the technology and make a lot of money. Recently, for the gaming industry, the biggest copyright battle was PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) versus Fortnite which ended today with a draw.

PUBG Corp. sued Epic for copying their Battle Royal- style gameplay. While the concept of Battle Royal isn’t new in media, PUBG and Fortnite have greatly popularized the game mode. The lawsuit started in January in Korea.

Why did PUBG Corp drop the Lawsuit?

While PUBG Corp. hasn’t stated why they dropped the lawsuit, there are speculations it was dropped due to Tencent. Both are part-owned by social media and gaming giant. It would a conflict of interest for Tencent to have the games they invested in sue each other. Epic created the Unreal Engine which is used to make PUBG so that may have also caused complications in the lawsuit.

Regardless, it’s ridiculous for PUBG Corp to sue Epic for mimicking the battle royal gameplay style. The game plays differently but just has similar genres. If PUBG had won the lawsuit, imagine the rest of the gaming companies to sue one another that used similar gameplay.

Bloomberg – PUBG Corp drops lawsuit

History of Apple vs Samsung

CNBC – Nintendo sued over Switch Design

Overwatch Hacker sent to Jail

Throughout the world, people are arguing about whether playing video games are an addiction. In South Korea, they tackle real gaming problems like hackers online. A man is being sent to jail for 12 months for creating an Overwatch hack. The main reason for going to jail is because he made a profit of $180,000 from hacking. That violates South Korea’s Game Industry Promotion Law and the Information and Communication Technology Protection Law.

Overwatch hack creators face a probation period and a fine but earning a profit will earn you jail time. They will also receive a two-year probation. In 2016, Korea criminalized creation and distribution of aimbots, wall hacks, and more cheating services. Over 13 cheaters were arrested in 2017. Korea takes gaming and competitive gaming incredibly serious as professional gamers are treated as celebrities. Even Chinese players face huge fines and jail time for hacking. 15 people were fined $5.1 million for creating and selling hacks for PUBG.

As gaming becomes more popular throughout the world, expect laws to be enabled similar to Asia. In most regions, hackers and spam creators are banned but rarely face any harsh punishments or fines. However, it requires the government to take a serious look at gaming and not treat it as a toy.