70°

Video Games and Patents: A Worrying Trend?

KeenGamer: "Let's discuss whether patenting video game mechanics could be bad for development, and gaming as a whole. It could become a big issue in game development. With how greedy some developers and publishers can be, what's to stop them from snapping up all the great ideas that make our games so enjoyable? Whether it's for money or power, it should be a concern for many gamers."

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keengamer.com
Christopher1171d ago

As they're concepts without technical backing and aren't real-world implements, I'm not sure they can legally be patented as far as enforcement goes and would be likely thrown out in court pretty quickly.

TechRaptor1171d ago

Nope. They've won in court before on video game patents. It's also not a new thing.

Christopher1170d ago

Not the same. This is conception of a virtual element, not the tech or code behind it.

Example of what they're talking about: patenting platforming as a concept.

What has happened: patenting hardware components, hardware design, or network architectures.

GreenDragonCVR1170d ago

It seems this way doesn't it? How do you possibly copyright a mechanic any more than a genre of literature or movie trope? How would infringement even be demonstrated?

If it was possible it would definitely be bad for the medium though.

Vanfernal1170d ago

You'd be surprised about how much stupid stuff can be patented. Some guy had patented the word "Edge" for video games (the reason Soul Edge on PS1 was renamed Soul Blade) and would just sue any game company that had the word Edge on their game titles. Eventually a court decided that you can't just patent a common word like that and revoked his patent.

Christopher1170d ago

You just proved my point... USPTO has evolved to prevent spurious attempts at patenting things with the evolution of tech and media expansion.

TechRaptor1170d ago

Trademarks are not patents. They are VERY different things and serve different purposes.

Nodoze1170d ago

VERY VERY BAD IDEA!!!! You cannot and should not patent fun. Imagine a world in which every game 'mechanic' patent is owned by EA.

60°

5 Of The Best Narrative Twists In Video Games

GL compiles a list of some of the most mind-blowing video game narrative twists in recent memory, from The Last of Us to Outer Wilds

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gameluster.com
Rebel_Scum9h ago

With articles like these cant you tag the games mentioned so that we can know ahead of time if there’s a spoiler to avoid?

Not clicking on your article otherwise.

50°

The 5 best video game adaptations of popular board games

Discover our top video game adaptations of popular board games, from Bloodbowl to Wingspan & get your board game friends into video games!

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spawningpoint.com
100°

EKWB reportedly plagued with financial disarray many gaming pc's left without parts

EK Cooling allegedly has slipped itself into a hot soup of seemingly endless financial woes, where it has not paid its staff, suppliers, and contractors for many months as the company is facing liquidity problems and a surplus of inventory left unsold, stuck in the warehouse for a more extended period. Gamers Nexus investigated these claims made by former and current personnel, where he found trails of unpaid bills lasting as long as three to four months and unpaid raises that accumulated for almost a year.

EK Water Blocks has two entities—a Slovenian-based headquarters and a US-based subsidiary, EK Cooling Solutions. Steve narrated the series of events in detail, stating that the company was reportedly irresponsible and negligent regarding payment. Consequently, partners and employees are forced to share the burden of alleged mismanagement. It all begins with its extensive range of products, leading to a surplus of goods. EK has over 230 water blocks, 40 liquid cooling kits, 85 reservoirs, 40 pumps, 73 radiators, and 212 miscellaneous accessories.

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tomshardware.com
just_looken4d ago (Edited 4d ago )

Yes this is not about video games directly but indirectly this will impact the pc gaming/workstation space hard.

This company is massive one of two in the water cool space so if it goes poof then thousands out there have no spare parts or half built computers.

SO yeah i know not about a video game but think of it as amd leaving the pc space but this is ekwb that could be leaving water cooling in the pc space

Jayz2cents a supporter of there products also has issues
https://www.youtube.com/wat...

Giblet_Head2d ago (Edited 2d ago )

As someone that has built a watercooling rig. EK is big, but there's so many numerous watercooling part companies out there. EK's stuff isn't exactly amazing quality for the price compared to others either, it's just ok. Much like Corsair. The impact would be negligible long term. For perspective the majority of my parts are XSPC, at most I use EK for my gpu waterblocks and fittings. Both easily replaceable.