The King.com “Saga” gets funnier and funnier

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 27, 2014

So you know how King.com was claiming that their efforts to trademark (and monopolize) the words “Candy” and “Saga”  for videogames were supposedly to protect themselves from evil cloners just trying to cash in on their IP rights? Well, they weren’t wrong. There are some unethical, despicable douchebags who will blatantly do that, and worse, […]

Filed Under: Biz, Politics - Comments: 8 Comments to Read

The Trademark Bullies Strike Again

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 22, 2014

When I heard that the Candy Crush Saga creators actually hired gambling industry experts as consultants to help them extract the maximum amount of money from their players, I thought they were real scumbuckets. Apparently, that comparison was completely unfair to actual scumbuckets. Now they have gone and trademarks words commonly used by games. Like […]

Filed Under: Biz, Indie Evangelism, Politics - Comments: 5 Comments to Read

Games And Guns

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 15, 2013

A friend of mine emailed me with the subject “Has the world has gone crazy?” It linked to an article about a good ol’ fashioned book-burning that included video games, and how violent arcade games were getting removed from public rest stops.  The latter one I could kind of understand (I have never seen an […]

Filed Under: Geek Life, Politics - Comments: 8 Comments to Read

Torn on Ratings

Posted by Rampant Coyote on October 26, 2012

I have two problems with ratings (of the parental guidance variety) for indie games: #1 – The industry standard ratings system was unreasonably painful and expensive for small, indie studios. In a field where the median iPhone game makes less than $1000, spending hundreds or thousands on a rating doesn’t make much sense. #2 – […]

Filed Under: Biz, Politics - Comments: 5 Comments to Read

History or Hate?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 25, 2012

So while I theoretically approve of the sentiment, there’s a problem with blanket policies preventing games from using real-world cultures, races, and governments as “enemies.” Like this one: App Store Rejects World War II Game Over Japanese Flags This is about a full step worse than banning games (and movies, etc.) on account of swastikas. […]

Filed Under: Politics - Comments: 15 Comments to Read

Stop Piracy, But Protect Liberty

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 18, 2012

Okay, so today’s a big black-out day for Wikipedia and Google and stuff.  I’m not going to be doing anything like that. As you’ve probably heard, there are a couple of bills in the U.S. Congress that are supposedly out there to protect the rights of copyright holders, like me, against rampant piracy on the […]

Filed Under: Politics - Comments: 4 Comments to Read

Game Designer Sentenced to Execution in Iran on Propoganda Charges

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 10, 2012

I  doubt that U.S. born Iranian-American Amir Mizra Hekmati had any idea that being a game designer would target him by the Iranians when he went to the country to visit his grandmother and other relatives (for the first time) last fall. His crime? As near as I can tell from the usual smokescreen of […]

Filed Under: Politics - Comments: 5 Comments to Read

Video Games: Protected Expression

Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 28, 2011

For those who follow video game news (and if you don’t, I don’t blame you) here in the United States, there was one piece of news that overwhelmed the rest on Monday: The Supreme Court finally weighed in, declaring in a 7:2 decision that California’s anti-video-game law was unconstitutional. In this decision, they declared that […]

Filed Under: Politics - Comments: 11 Comments to Read

How Government Regulation Exterminated Indie Gaming

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 7, 2010

Time for a rant! South Korea’s evidently decided to levy mandatory game ratings on all games, even free downloadable titles. Their mandatory government board, the GRB, has taken to enforcing its fees – a tax on all game-makers, big, small, commercial, or free. The end result? The hobbyist / beginner / non-commercial indie market has […]

Filed Under: Politics - Comments: 6 Comments to Read

Make a Game Too Fun, and Get Sued!

Posted by Rampant Coyote on August 21, 2010

Ah, America. Used to be the land of the free and the home of the brave. Now it’s the land of the entitled and the home of people who don’t want to take responsibility. So apparently, if you are a loser who can’t get a life and instead spend all your waking hours playing MMOs, […]

Filed Under: Politics - Comments: 9 Comments to Read

California’s Twice-Failed Anti-Videogame Law Goes to the Supreme Court

Posted by Rampant Coyote on July 13, 2010

Jeff Green, former editor-in-chief of Computer Gaming World and Games for Windows, and now designer at EA, puts aside his usual hyperbole and fart jokes to focus on a serious matter – the resurrection of California’s atrocious anti-videogame legislation to be taken to the Supreme Court. Why You Should Care About EMA v Schwarzenegger I […]

Filed Under: Politics - Comments: Read the First Comment

Anti-Videogame Legislation Goes to Supreme Court.

Posted by Rampant Coyote on April 26, 2010

I hope this one gets smacked down hard with the resounding THUD of finality: As Court Reviews California Violent Game Law, ESA Promises To Fight

Filed Under: Politics - Comments: Comments are off for this article

Games as Art? I Thought I Saw That Horse Twitch!

Posted by Rampant Coyote on April 22, 2010

An actual chat yesterday Me: I am surprised that Ebert jumped back to repeat himself on this subject. I guess he wanted the publicity it gave him last time. Friend: Can’t blame him, really. It’s an interesting discussion point and gets him all kinds of free publicity all at once. Me: I can blame him! […]

Filed Under: Art, Biz, Movies, Politics - Comments: 7 Comments to Read

The Sound of Silence

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 18, 2010

You know who we haven’t heard from in a long time? Our favorite paranoid EX-lawyer, Wacky Jack Thompson. Can’t say I miss him. Actually, it’s been nice not hearing much of anything on the whole nanny-state videogames-are-crime proposals. Too bad it’s taken two wars, an economic meltdown, massive unemployment not seen in 30 years, and […]

Filed Under: Politics - Comments: Read the First Comment



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