Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft officially join the US Copyright Office to endorse the Hollywood-backed SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) anti-piracy bill.
Also joining them is the entire ESA which has about 34 gaming companies as members.
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If you haven’t heard of SOPA, it’s essentially a bill that aims to curb piracy by allowing the US government to censor sites with any links that they deem questionable via a number of methods.
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In terms of the effects on gaming, the bill will make it illegal to stream any type of game content without the permission of the owners of the game while also possibly attaching stricter fines and/or jail terms. This would make the popular "Let's Play" and parody/comedic series which use in-game footage to become illegal streams even though recent online stats for Youtube and other video services revealed gaming-related media as the #1 popular topic both in terms of content uploaded and viewed.
This would be done due to a "questionable" links clause giving power to companies to shut down any website or content if they feel it doesn't benefit them either financially or intellectually. It would also give the companies more power to go after individuals than just primarily relying on threats or requests to Youtube and other media sites to remove the content.
In terms of overall effects, the bill itself contains a lot of provisions making general censorship easier for companies regardless of the actual intent of the content or individual and could end up becoming the stepping stone to get rid of Net Neutrality.
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SOPA, which was introduced last month in the House to the applause of lobbyists for Hollywood and other large content holders, is designed to make allegedly copyright-infringing Web sites, sometimes called "rogue" Web sites, virtually disappear from the Internet.
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http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57...i-piracy-bill/
http://geek.pikimal.com/2011/11/18/n...nsorship-bill/
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Daily Recap:
1) The upcoming firmware update for the 3DS will allow DLC content to be available in the eShop although Nintendo is still concerned developers will keep taking stuff out of games and not provide a "complete" experience.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/nintendo-allow-dlc-3ds
2) Dan Houser, Vice President Of Rockstar, hints the company might be making a sequel to Bully in the near future but also hints no actual decision will be revealed until after Max Payne 3 is finished.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/...-bully-sequel/
3) Another Motral Kombat game or something related could be on the way after Ed Boon hints on Twitter an "unexpected surprise" is on its way soon.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/...cted-surprise/
4) The Nintendo Gamecube celebrates its 10th anniversary today.
http://kotaku.com/5860977/nintendo-g...good-character