Category: News

IPE: Romine V Sterling Lawsuit Dismissed With Prejudice


The lawsuit by ex-Steam developer James Romine against Youtube personality James Stanton (Jim Sterling) looks like it is officially over, as Romine has presented stipulation for dismissal. The lawsuit, which started more than a year ago, has been dismissed with prejudice, meaning Romine cannot bring the same charges by the same evidence back into court again, ever. As part of the dismissal, Romine has also agreed to stop filing frivolous DMCA takedown notices against Sterling’s videos without first considering fair use.

Plaintiff agrees to forever refrain from directly or indirectly filing against Defendant any cause of action arising from the same facts or circumstances alleged in the Amended Complaint. Plaintiff also agrees to refrain from taking action against Defendant’s business, such as sending DMCA takedown notices, without first considering whether Defendant is engaged in fair use of a copyright under 17 U.S.C. § 107, as required under federal law and Lenz v. Universal Music Corp., 801 F.3d 1126 (9th Cir. 2015).

(Source: Court files)

Pay to Win: The Exiled Has No Time For That


The Exiled is an upcoming MMORPG hitting ground February 23, and the development team over at Fairytale Distillery want you to know that their game has no place for pay to win tactics. For starters, everyone access to a seven day free trial which can be extended indefinitely with a simple one time payment of $19.99 minimum.

Your payment allows you to reserve one character name forever, one character slot per season, a cosmetic title, avatar picture, frame, and background, and unique skins for tier 0 equipment. Higher tiers reward various skins and pets, and even the soundtrack and art book, but you won’t be able to buy in-game power. The top purchase tiers do reward a higher fame gain (unlocking account ranks) and extra daily challenge slots.

Fairytale Distillery’s latest press release also notes that certain regions including Russia and Brazil will have lower local prices.

(Source: The Exiled)

Old School RuneScape Celebrates Four Year Anniversary


It’s been four years since Jagex unveiled Old School RuneScape, the retro spinoff of the popular MMORPG that brought gamers back to the days of 2007, complete with graphics, combat system, and all. Since then, the game has seen countless updates, all dictated and voted on by a majority of the community. The mode itself has spun off into the hardcore Deadman Mode which plowed head first into the eSports scene with successful tournaments, rewarding thousands of dollars in real cash to its winners.

“This year is a double anniversary for Old School RuneScape; not only does the game celebrate its fourth birthday, but it’s also the 10th anniversary of the ‘snapshot’ server we used to bring Old School to life,” said Mathew Kemp, producer, Old School RuneScape. “Old School’s growing player base and its impact in the competitive sector is an impressive testament to the remarkable appeal of the game and shows it’s come a long way in the last decade. But however far Old School has come, it’ll always be rooted in 2007 for us.”

To celebrate, Jagex is rolling out presents in the form of new servers and a birthday bash with exclusive items. Other updates rolled out with the festivities include 12 new servers and several quality of life improvements (see link below).

(Source: RuneScape)

Double Experience Weekend Coming To Neverwinter


RuneScape isn’t the only game feeling generous with the experience this weekend. Adventurers in Neverwinter will once again have the opportunity to level up those companions at half the effort, as Perfect World Entertainment is running another double experience weekend. Starting Thursday at 7:30am PST and running through Monday February 20th at 7:30am PST, both player characters and their companions will receive 100% bonus experience.

This bonus applies to kills, professions, quests, and invocation. Your companions will level up at double the rate as well, making this weekend handy for bringing those stragglers up to speed.

(Source: Perfect World Entertainment)

Reminder: RuneScape Double Experience Weekend Coming


Mark your calendars, cancel your weekend appointments, and tell that significant other that you need some alone time, because it’s that time again. No, not half price appetizers, you can get that just about every Wednesday. I’m talking about double experience in RuneScape.

But this year it’s not just about getting you in on the weekend and telling everyone else to go shove off. The actual event runs from Friday February 17th through Monday February 20th. Afterward, you’ll still be able to get your hands on some extra experience over the course of the week, with the bonus decreasing every fifty thousand experience.

(Source: RuneScape)

Esports Betting Figures: League of Legends Comes Out On Top


Recent betting figures have revealed that League of Legends is the most popular game by betting turnover. LoL takes 69% of the esports betting market, followed by Counter Strike (15%), DOTA 2 (10%) and Starcraft 2 (6%).

Our research also shows those countries keenest on E-Sports betting, with most of the money bwin made on the matter coming from Germany. Their place atop the rankings is a commanding one, with over a third of the punters (41.36%) stationed there.

Austria (15%), the Netherlands (13%), Switzerland (6%) and Belgium (6%) complete the top five of the most prolific E-Sports bettors on the planet. Canada (1%) are the highest ranking non-European nation, suggesting there’s plenty more growth for the game to make on a global scale.

Source: bwin

Elder Scrolls Online: Grab The Black Cat Pet Until Monday


Whoever said black cats were a source of bad luck was probably some sort of cat racist. For Elder Scrolls Online players, it’s another reason to reach into their crown coffers. For a limited time, you can get your hands on a black cat pet.

The cat costs 700 crowns, or roughly $7 USD, or less than half of your monthly stipend if you’re a plus member. The cat is only available until 10am EST on Monday, February 20th. After that you’ll be stuck walking under ladders to try and summon one.

(Source: Elder Scrolls Online email)

[Video] Nano-Boosted Bastion Is Nearly Indestructible


Who says using the test server can’t be fun? Blizzard’s latest test patch for Overwatch is up for players to enjoy, take advantage of, and suss out potential game breaking issues not unlike the one you see in the video above. Among the various changes to heroes are a variety of tweaks meant to make Bastion more viable. While Bastion’s deployment time has been reduced by a third and his magazine size buffed from 200 to 300, bullet spread has increased and both critical hits and head shot multipliers have been removed. Bastion can now heal while moving, however this is tied to a limited resource that refreshes while not being used. Oh and he also gains a passive defensive buff reducing damage by 35% while in sentry mode.

That last bit is important, because as players are finding out on the server, that buff stacks with Ana’s Nano Boost ultimate, which reduces damage by 50%. Nano boosted Bastion may be one of the best things to come out of the Overwatch test realm, but if you want to check it out for yourself you’ll need to do so before Blizzard patches it out.

Valve Kills Steam Greenlight, Implementing Steam Direct


Steam Greenlight, has been both applauded and derided, as a method for small developers to find a platform to make money and as an easily gamed portal through which Steam has turned into a dumping ground for Unity asset flips and actual money laundering schemes. On one hand, the change seems to be mostly cosmetic, a new name attached to an old machine. On the other hand, Valve seems intent on stemming the virtual avalanche of low quality titles, and has announced a per-title application fee for Steam Direct.

While we have invested heavily in our content pipeline and personalized store, we’re still debating the publishing fee for Steam Direct. We talked to several developers and studios about an appropriate fee, and they gave us a range of responses from as low as $100 to as high as $5,000. There are pros and cons at either end of the spectrum, so we’d like to gather more feedback before settling on a number.

Currently Steam Greenlight asks for a $100 one-time fee, which is donated to charity, in order for developers to show their determination. As it turned out, $100 wasn’t much to deter developers like Digital Homicide from flooding the platform with dozens upon dozens of low quality shovelware titles. Valve has stated hopes that Steam Greenlight would one day have no curation on their part.

More information on Steam Direct as it is revealed.

(Source: Steam)

Future Of Conan Exiles Coming To GDC And PAX East


Conan Exiles launched on PC Early Access last week, selling 320,000 copies and recouping all of its investments. Rather than pack up and call the day a success, Funcom is pushing forward with continued content development. Budding content creators have access to the developer kit, allowing for the creation and distribution of mods, quality of life improvements, and total conversions on Steam Workshop.

“We are deeply humbled and very grateful for the initial success of Conan Exiles,” says Funcom CEO Rui Casais. “Funcom has gone through some challenging times in recent years and seeing the game we have poured so much time and effort into gain this amount of traction so quickly is very invigorating for everyone who works here. This is just the start of the Early Access adventure and we will do whatever it takes to make sure Conan Exiles turns into a fully-fledged game that has something to offer new and old fans of both Conan and survival games.”

Funcom will be present at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco to show off future content coming to Conan Exiles, and the studio will have presence at PAX East in Boston, Massachusetts.

(Source: Funcom)