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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.

Sources:

PC Gamer

Criminalizing Hacking

Hacking fines

Game Giants Podcast episode 5.5 : E3 2018 Review

In this podcast, Jairus and I talk about E3 and the conferences! That’s most of the podcast so I hope you enjoy it.

Game Giants:

Benjamin Le: Newsforgamers.net

Jairus Cambe: http://www.jairuscmusic.com Jairus C. Music

Nintendo brings the Ban Hammers on Hackers

Nintendo has always had their share of hackers and devices throughout their console releases. Everything from GameShark, R4’s, and homebrews have broken through Nintendo’s hardware. The Nintendo Switch is filled with hackers as well. Hacking ranges from playing pirated games, cheating in Splatoon 2, and adding pornography on Mario Odyssey. Fortunately, now that Nintendo has a stronger online game presence, they’ve been able to slam the ban hammer on hackers.

Anybody who plays pirated games online on the Switch are banned. An exploited hardware patch in April allowed hackers to play pirated Switch games. However, a recent patch allows Nintendo to detect players using the hacking software on their Switches. Each Nintendo Switch games has a unique token for the game and when you play online, the console submits a token. This counts for physical games. Downloaded games have an encrypted game ID tied to the Nintendo Switch console and the Nintendo ID. Pirated games don’t have the token or code and Nintendo will notice and ban you instantly from playing online.

Of course, there are complainers on forums such as GBAtemp and on r/SwitchHacks but they have high hopes of getting past Nintendo’s defense.

Examples of hacks:

In Splatoon 2, hackers are plaguing online multiplayer matches by being invisible, having more specials and rapid fire. While you can report them and they disconnect frequently, hackers appearing on ranked games have frustrated players. Super Mario Odyssey recently added Balloon World to allows players to create platforming time trials. When you’re playing, you can see other players Switch icons. Through homebrew hacking, players were able to add pornographic images throughout the game which would be difficult to explain to your parents.

Thanks to Jairus for the news suggestion!

Sources:

Gamenesia – Super Mario Odyssey Porn?

Gamasutra – Nintendo Switch Pirate game detection

Reddit: Original Source

[PSA] Strong anti-piracy measures implemented by Nintendo for online. from SwitchHacks