Black Desert Hits Xbox Game Pass This Month


April showers bring May video games, and May is looking to haul in quite the bag of goodies.

Microsoft has announced the games coming to Xbox Game Pass in May, and Black Desert is among the list. Black Desert joins Wolfenstein II, Wargroove, Lego Batman 3, The Surge, Tacoma, For the King, and Surviving Mars. The title will be available on May 9 and presumably offers what is available in the standard edition. Game pass users will be able to upgrade for a 20% discount on the standard, deluxe, or ultimate edition bundles as well as 10% on all consumables.

Source: Xbox

[Giveaway] MU Legend Item Pack


MMO Fallout has partnered up with Webzen to give away item codes for MU Legend in anticipation of the long-awaited Gates of Glory update this month. The event runs until June 4 at midnight, however the codes can be redeemed until June 11 at midnight (UTC). These coupons are working right now and can be redeemed right away. Coupon codes can only be used once per account, so we ask that you please not deprive others by trying to collect multiples.

(Editor’s note: We’d also like to remind viewers that MMO Fallout is hosted on a stale ham sandwich and as key giveaways require us to turn off the caching program, the website may experience intermittent difficulties. We thank you for your patience, and suggest that you slam that refresh button at a reasonable rate.)

The following items are included in each code:

  • Guardian of Balance (Blue) Chest (7 Days) x1
  • Wings of Balance (Blue) (7 Days) x1
  • 7-Day Platinum Service Ticket x1
  • Time Traveling Pet Box x1
  • Talisman Lucky Box x3
  • Growth Potion x3

How to redeem your code:

  1. Go to http://www.webzen.com/Coupon.
  2. Log in with your account.
  3. Select your server and character and enter the coupon code (without hyphens).
  4. Click “redeem coupon code”.

If you are new to WEBZEN, please see the following:

  1. Create a webzen.com account.
  2. Go to http://www.webzen.com/ to download your game client and install it.
  3. Choose a server.
  4. Create a new character.

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Marvel Future Fight Celebrates 4 Years, 100 Million Downloads


Today’s infographic comes to us from Marvel Future Fight, currently celebrating 100 million downloads worldwide. Future Fight is celebrating its fourth anniversary with a slew of events including an 8 week login event, comics cards, character voting events, and other miscellaneous activities. Check out the infographic below and check out Marvel’s Future Fight on iOS and Android.

Lods of Emone: Jagex Posts Record Financial Success


RuneScape is doing just fine, thank you.

This week Jagex released their 2018 financials and boasted a 9.3% increase in revenue to £92.8 million. 2018 saw RuneScape reaching its highest membership total ever with Old School RuneScape launching on mobile and seeing over five million downloads.

CEO Phil Mansell noted:

“This lets us accelerate Jagex’s transformation; we have strengthened our leadership team and will continue to build on the company’s talent base, we are funding new game development, building out our third-party live game publishing, investing in massive publishing platform upgrades, whilst continuing to expand our live RuneScape games.”

The last year has seen Jagex increase its team by more than 100 people with investments in research and development boosted by 69%. 2018 also marked the launch of the Jagex Partners Initiative which aims to deliver operational services tailored toward third party studios.

Source: Jagex Press Release

In Plain English: Epic Takes On Counterfeiters


Here’s a quick tip on counterfeiting merchandise from one of the most litigious companies in the gaming industry: Don’t.

Epic Games is back in court, because the company refuses to let its lawyers have an easy week. This time around, the company isn’t going after Fortnite cheat distributors. On April 25, 2019, Epic filed suit in the Northern District of Illinois for the sale of products in connection with the registered trademark of Fortnite. The lawsuit contends that the defendants are going to great lengths to hide the extent of their operations and are selling inferior quality products designed to look like authorized merchandise.

Who are the defendants? Good question. Epic lists them as individuals and businesses residing in China and other foreign jurisdictions.

Epic seeks relief on charges of counterfeiting and trademark infringement, false designation of origin, violation of the Illinois Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act, and has demanded an enjoinment from using the Fortnite brand, passing off counterfeit products as genuine, that all profits gained through the counterfeiting operation be handed to Epic or that statutory damages of $2 million USD for each use of the Fortnite trademark be awarded. They also seek reasonable attorney fees and any further damages the court might award.

Epic’s attorneys are meeting with the court today (April 30) to discuss a motion for temporary transfer of defendant’s domain names, temporary asset restraint (freezing assets), expedited discovery, service of process by email, among other motions.

MMO Fallout could not ascertain the identities of the defendants, as those documents have been sealed by the court, possibly to prevent potential defendants from transferring assets in anticipation of a restraint. Similarly, there are no exhibits of such merchandise available at this time for potentially the same reason.

As always, the court dockets have been provided at our expense to you, the reader, at the Google Drive linked below.

Source: Google Drive

IPE Update: Epic Games v. Sperry Ends


Another Epic Games lawsuit has come to a close.

Plaintiff Epic Games and defendant Joseph Sperry, a.k.a “Spoezy” in a lawsuit related to the creation and distribution of cheat software for the video game Fortnite. According to the lawsuit filed by Epic, Sperry promoted, marketed, and sold the cheats to third parties for financial gain, and engaged in acts of contributory copyright infringement as well as contributing substantially to infringement by others through the sale of his software.

Sperry was hit with a DMCA violation, and has been permanently enjoined and restrained from infringement of any Epic product, current or future, as well as having any relation to infringing software of any of Epic’s copyrights, cheating at any Epic’s games, interfering with their contracts or contractual relations, unfairly competing with Epic, or assisting in any way another party in infringing on Epic’s copyrights.

Both parties have accepted the terms of the judgment and neither party may appeal this ruling. If Sperry violates the terms of the ruling, the court holds the right to award Epic liquidated damages of five thousand dollars without regard to proof of actual damages, as well as possibly other relief including attorneys’ fees, costs, as determined by the court.

Epic filed suit in the North Carolina Eastern District Court, Western Division. Epic Games has filed ten lawsuits since October 10, 2017 against cheat creators/distributors for Fortnite with most of the cases ending in simple court-ordered injunctions. All but one of those lawsuits has since been closed.

As always, MMO Fallout has provided the documents on our Google Drive. The file is listed as “Sperry-Judgment”.

Source: Google Drive

MapleStory 2 Sums Up Project New Leaf


Who needs the old leaf? This week Nexon America announced the conclusion of improvement updates to MapleStory 2’s Project New Leaf. As stated by CEO Jungsoo Lee, Project New Leaf is just the beginning and will lead the way to further improvement for the game. The update precedes an upcoming major expansion set to launch in the summer, and the team at Nexon hopes that the updates can revive the game and make it feel as packed as it was on day one.

The massive list of updates includes:

  • Removed Fairfight from all Adventure Dungeons
  • Reduced World Boss HP by ~60%
  • Added Trader’s Ribbons to allow you to trade top-tier equipment that you don’t need to those that could use it
  • Added the Fragment inventory tab to help you reduce the clutter of the Misc tab
  • Improved Notifications to better protect Legendary Gear with Epic Bonus Stats
  • Improved the Available Quest Window
  • Increased penalties for illegally buying mesos
  • Added the Meso Market to improve the mobility of mesos
  • Made Epic Pets much more likely to drop
  • Greatly reduced the meso cost for changing Legendary Gear attributes
  • Greatly reduced the meso cost of fusing Accessory Fragments
  • Made Accessory Socket openings guaranteed and cheaper on average
  • Made Upgrading Gemstones guaranteed and much cheaper on average
  • Made Extracting Gemstones trivially inexpensive
  • Greatly reduced the cost of enchanting via Peachy, creating a competitive guaranteed path towards +15 equipment
  • Replaced Daily Missions with a Weekly Prestige Rank system that encourages you to play MapleStory 2 however you want
  • And more!

Source: Nexon

[Rant] Another Day, PUBG Tries To Claim Ownership of “Chicken Dinner”


It must be a day ending with Y, because PUBG Corp is once again trying to fraudulently claim ownership to something it definitely didn’t create.

If PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds has anything to tell us here at MMO Fallout about Brendan Greene, it’s a tale of a man deluded by his own creation. While nobody would argue the success of PUBG and that the game popularized the Battle Royale genre and made way for the titles that follow, it’s hard to get past the vast delusion of PUBG Corp. and its dreams of owning just about everything related to video games.

In its grandiose claims, PUBG Corp made bold-faced lies to the Korean courts and attempted to present a history that they were the first game to use a frying pan in a comedic fashion in a shooter (they weren’t). They go on in the lawsuit to claim ownership of everything from health bars to grenades, two story tall buildings, real-world weapons, and more. We’ve seen various thinly veiled claims from Greene and PUBG Corp. that would imply a belief that they deserve royalty payments from any game in the Battle Royale genre, as well as consultation from developers who might dare to create a title that PUBG Corp didn’t. All this despite PUBG Corp apparently having no problem plagiarizing from other sources.

Of course it should also be noted that of the parties present, only Bluehole has seen employees be criminally convicted and sentenced to prison for stealing from other developers.

But now PUBG is getting in a fight with the Chinese Intellectual Property Administration and once again it is over claims to something they didn’t create. PUBG Corp. is suing over the phrase “winner winner chicken dinner” which they are attempting to trademark. The trademark was rejected as it isn’t a formal business trademark, and now PUBG is taking the government to court. The phrase has been in existence since before 100% of the employees at PUBG Corp. have been alive, but that isn’t going to stop their lawyers from frivolously claiming ownership of what very clearly isn’t theirs.

I will follow up as soon as PUBG Corp. attempts to claim copyright ownership of the concept of people bleeding from gunshot wounds.

Other than that, I have no opinion on the matter.

Mobility: MapleStory M Releases New PvP Dungeon


MapleStory M has released its latest content update and introduced a new PvP dungeon.

The PvP dungeon includes two modes: Ranked and free. Ranked mode has players going head to head in 3v3 matches with tiers decided by seasonal ranking and rewards being distributed as ranked. Free mode will give you more leeway to create as unbalanced of a match as you would like.

The following events are also included:

  • Kemdi’s Dice Game – From April 24 to May 9, a one-of-a-kind board game experience will be available where players can earn dice through hunting. Players can then roll the special dice to advance their pieces on the board and earn rewards. Those who complete the quest will then unlock the mysterious Kemdi’s Gift Box.

  • Spring Wonder Wheel Event – Starting May 9, the Spring Wonder Wheel Event allows players the chance to win Emblem Potential Scrolls, Lucky Day Scroll, Unique Rank Up Stones, Royal Coupons, and other rare items. Maplers can earn chances to spin the wheel by finding special tickets hidden throughout the game.

Also accompanying today’s update are balances to the gold leaf shop, character classes, and the user interface.

Source: Nexon press release.

Quality Control: Valve Approves Obvious Attack on Titan Ripoff


Quality control: On Steam, it is virtually non-existent where Valve has a $100 interest in every game submitted. Between fraudware, malware, rape games, publishers heading over to Epic, and secret bitcoin miners being uploaded to the platform, Valve has had quite the PR nightmare on its hands. That being said, it’s been a while since Valve has had a genuinely embarrassing misstep.

Until today.

Twitter user Lekon brought attention to an Attack on Titan unlicensed game being approved by Valve titled none other than Attack on Titan The Game. The title is available in early access for $5 and appears to be a low quality endless runner hastily cobbled together and tossed on Steam.

Koei Tecmo America has provided an official response that the game was not approved to use the Attack on Titan property and that their legal team has already been notified. While this is hardly the most controversial thing to happen on Steam, it is another reminder on how little effort Valve puts to prevent the same troll/illegal games it promised to keep off the store.

Source: Twitter