Earlier this week it was reported that casual games developer MumboJumbo had succeeded in its legal action in Texas against fellow casual games developer Popcap Games, with the jury awarding MumboJumbo damages of $4.6m. More on the case below… FYI, MumboJumbo is the creator of “such popular games as ‘Midnight Mysteries: The Edgar Allan Poe… Continue reading Legal MumboJumbo and Popcap Games
Month: January 2010
Games developer fails in court claim over copying himself
You’d think the last thing a games developer should be worried about is copying his own work, right? Wrong. Last week, the High Court published its judgment of a claim brought by a games developer against his employer over a games concept which the developer had created when he was freelance but which later he… Continue reading Games developer fails in court claim over copying himself
Thoughts on the Westminster eForum
The Westminster eForum discussion in London on 20 January 2010 went over a lot of ground, from digital distribution to games education to tax breaks. UK games classification got a special mention, with Keith Ramsdale of EA Northern Europe making a special plea to the government to “just hurry up and make PEGI law” (the… Continue reading Thoughts on the Westminster eForum
UK games tax break not Tories’ top priority
At the Westminster eForum meeting in London yesterday on the state of the UK games industry (which I attended), Ed Vaizey, Conservative shadow minister for culture and the creative industries, made it quite clear that if a Conservative government comes into power this year the UK games industry is unlikely to see any movement towards a UK games… Continue reading UK games tax break not Tories’ top priority
Is selling your Steam account illegal?
Earlier this week, Destructoid reported that a Steam account holder by the handle of “dave311freak” sold his Steam account for $1,000 on eBay. With the account came all the games attached to it, including Grand Theft Auto IV, Modern Warfare 1 and 2, and Borderlands (more background detail at Kotaku). This has got us thinking… Continue reading Is selling your Steam account illegal?
Bethesda vs Interplay: Bethesda appeals over Fallout litigation
The Fallout litigation continues with Bethesda reportedly going to the US Court of Appeal over its claim for a preliminary injunction to restrain Interplay using the Fallout IP, including developing ‘Project V13’, Interplay’s rumoured Fallout MMO. Bethesda’s original claim for a preliminary injunction was rejected in December 2009 (our summary of the dispute is here).… Continue reading Bethesda vs Interplay: Bethesda appeals over Fallout litigation
Are modchips illegal?
[This article was first posted on Gamaustra here] This article is about modchips: is their sale/use illegal or not? We look at three recent cases in England, Spain and France – which show an interesting divergence of European opinion as to the legality of modchips: not every country thinks that modchips are a bad thing. … Continue reading Are modchips illegal?
Games censorship and classification in 2009
2009 has seen a fair deal of controversy regarding games censorship and classification. Here’s some of the highlights: Left 4 Dead 2: The general release version of Left 4 Dead 2 was refused classification by the Australian Classification Board, despite Valve’s attempts to appeal that ruling. In a nutshell: L4D2 is a pretty…intense game in… Continue reading Games censorship and classification in 2009