News of the Week; July 17, 2019

DIGITAL

1. Facebook Embeds ‘Hidden Codes’ To Track Who Sees And Shares Your Photos
2. Facebook To Face Record $5 Billion FTC Settlement Related To Cambridge Analytica Scandal
3. Facebook’s FTC fine will be $5 billion—or one month’s worth of revenue: Fine will settle privacy investigation triggered by Cambridge Analytica scandal.
4. FTC Approves Record $5 Billion Settlement with Facebook 
5. FTC Approves $5 Billion Fine Against Facebook for Privacy Violations
6. The FTC And Facebook: Why The $5 Billion Fine Is Both Too Little And Too Much
7. Facebook denies allegations that you make friends on Facebook: Facebook responds with blanket denials to DC’s Cambridge Analytica suit.
8. Here’s What Facebook Says About Camera Privacy on Quest & Rift S
9. Germany Cashes Out, Hits Facebook With Fines For Failing To Comply With Its Ultra-Vague ‘Hate Speech’ Law
10. Laura Loomer Files Defamation Suit Against Facebook For Calling Her ‘Dangerous’ When Booting Her From The Platform
11. There’s a big problem with Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency
12. House Representatives Ask Facebook to Halt Moving Forward with its Cryptocurrency
13. Donald Trump blasts Facebook’s Libra, demands strict regulation
14. Donald Trump: Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies aren’t money – The US president said he’s not a fan of Facebook’s Libra, and demands digital coin companies seek a banking charter
15. Anti-money laundering rules for cryptocurrency dealers finalized by Canadian government
16. A Global Review of the Regulatory Considerations Relating to Crypto-Asset Trading Platforms 
17. By Clicking Continue…
18. Affirmed: President Trump Cannot Block Critics on Twitter
19. Second Circuit Affirms Judge Buchwald in Trump Twitter Case 
20. Second Circuit Holds That Blocking Users’ Access To Presidential Twitter Account Violates First Amendment 
21. Trump can’t block his critics from the @realDonaldTrump Twitter account, says the Second Circuit (and the First Amendment)
22. Right-wingers say Twitter’s “bias” against them should be illegal
23. Following Trump Ruling Against Twitter Blockade, AOC Sued For Her Blocks On Twitter
24. Comments on the Hikind v. Ocasio-Cortez Lawsuit Over AOC’s Twitter Blocks (Eric Goldman)
25. America’s Road to Reputational Ruin: The decline in U.S. soft power didn’t start with Trump, but he accelerated it this week with his racist tweets.
26. Twitter launches the ‘Hide Replies’ feature, in hopes of civilizing conversations
27. Twitter is changing Twitter.com to be more like mobile app
28. Microsoft warns 10,000 customers they’re targeted by nation-sponsored hackers: Hacking remains a tool of choice for influencing elections, company warns.
29. Ninth Circuit Upholds Arbitration Provision in Online Consumer Contract
30. Can an employer be vicariously liable for an employee’s racist Facebook post?
31. Censored Chinese search project is “terminated,” Google rep testifies
32. GOP Puts Google Search On Trial In DC
33. Why Is The Washington Post Publishing Blatantly False Propaganda About Section 230?
34. Former Content Moderator Explains How Josh Hawley’s Bill Would Grant Government Control Over Online Speech
35. 1H 2019 Quick Links, Part 4 (Section 230, Content Moderation) (Eric Goldman)
36. IBM’s Ridiculous Opportunism: Sells Out Section 230 To Sell More Filters
37. The Third Circuit Joins The Ninth In Excluding E-Commerce Platforms From Section 230’s Protection
38. Section 230 Is Not Exceptional, It Is Not Unique, It Is Not A Gift: It’s The Codification Of Common Law Liability Principles
39. Gab, Mastodon And The Challenges Of Content Moderation On A More Distributed Social Network
40. The Sixth Circuit Also Makes A Mess Of Section 230 And Good Internet Policy
41. Three Years Later: 1st Amendment Challenge Over DMCA’s Anti-Circumvention Provisions Can Move Forward
42. Large and Diverse Coalition Issues a Statement of Principles to Help Evaluate UGC Liability Reform Proposals (Eric Goldman)
43. ICO’s McDougall Warns Adtech Sector that Change Is Needed 
44. Senator Graham Spreads A Bunch Of Nonsense About ‘Protecting Digital Innocence’ Online
45. Netflix Removes Controversial Suicide Scene From ’13 Reasons Why,’ Citing Medical Experts
46. Netflix U.S. Subs Drop in Q2 After Price Hikes, Company Blames Global Forecast Miss on Content Slate
47. The Toxic Potential Of YouTube’s Feedback Loop
48. American kids would much rather be YouTubers than astronauts
49. YouTube stars wish YouTube had more competition from other platforms
50. Creators Say Competition Would Force YouTube To Be Better — But Right Now, There Are No Competitors
51. YouTube Megastar KondZilla, With 50 Million Subscribers, Drops Trailer For New Netflix Series
52. YouTuber Ray Diaz Arrested For Allegedly Assaulting His Underage Girlfriend
53. YouTube Finally Demands Specificity From Copyright Claimants
54. YouTube Begins Blocking Stream-Ripping Sites
55. At VidCon, YouTube Announces Addition Of Channel Membership Levels, ‘Super Stickers,’ More Merch Shelf Vendors
56. TikTok took over VidCon, and YouTube is next: YouTube offers what TikTok can’t – stability
57. YouTube is adding more ways for creators to make money: New merch, membership, and chat features
58. YouTube is launching educational playlists that won’t include algorithmic recommendations
59. The Dodo Launches Children’s-Focused YouTube Channel With 3 Original Series
60. Glad Challenges YouTube Vet Grace Helbig To Create An Instagram-Worthy Dish While Offroading
61. Creators Going Pro: For Musicmaking Duo NEFFEX, YouTube Opened All The Doors To A Full-Time Career
62. Kian And JC To Launch $25,000 ‘Big Brother’-Style Series With 13 YouTuber Contestants
63. Cracking The YouTube Algorithm In 2020
64. American kids would much rather be YouTubers than astronauts: Becoming an astronaut ranked last among five professions.
65. StyleHaul’s Former VP Of Accounting And Finance Indicted For Embezzling $22 Million
66. RTL Group Consolidates 3 European MCNs Under The Divimove Banner
67. BroadbandTV Corp. Partners with Snapchat to bring new Creator Shows to Life
68. These Brands Dominated Social Video Through The First Half of 2019 (Study)
69. James Charles, Emma Chamberlain Among 25 Most Influential People On The Internet, Per ‘Time’
70. Ryan Toys Review Scrubs Up With Colgate For Children’s Oral Care Collection
71. Joey Graceffa’s ‘Escape The Night’ Spawns Actual Escape Room In L.A. This August
72. You could be a celebrity without knowing it if you have 30,000 followers on social media 
73. New Study Points Out What A Boon Sports Streaming Piracy Could Be To Leagues
74. Netflix Hires BBC Studios’ Jackie Lee-Joe as Chief Marketing Officer
75. EFF Posts New White Paper On Stingray Device Capabilities
76. Doing the right thing: accessibility and OTT broadcasters 
77. Hulu To Get A Little More Delicious With 24 Shows From Tastemade
78. Disney Shutters FX Networks’ Nascent Streaming Service FX+ After Acquiring It In March
79. VidCon To Host Inaugural Asian Summit In Singapore, Will Return To London In February
80. FBE Launches Interactive Content Lab, Will Produce 12 TV Pilots Alongside Eko
81. Quibi Acquires Projects From ‘Glee’ Alum Darren Criss, WWE
82. NBC News to Produce Two Daily Shows for Jeffrey Katzenberg’s Quibi
83. Quibi Acquires First News Program In Reported 8-Figure Deal With NBC
84. Patreon Announces $60 Million Funding Round, With Participation From Creators Hannibal Buress, Serj Tankian
85. Microsoft Teams is now officially bigger than Slack
86. Microsoft opens first flagship store in Europe: Announcement of location on Oxford Circus comes alongside £1m grant to train young community members in digital skills
87. Gartner, IDC agree that PC sales are up—but they don’t agree what a PC is
88. EU Looking To Regulate Everything Online, And To Make Sites Proactively Remove Material
89. Amazon Teams With Colorado Police, US Postal Service On Sting That Catches Zero Package Thieves
90. 27 Top Twitch Streamers Host Amazon Prime Shopping Stream ‘Twitch Sells Out’
91. Amazon Music Unlimited is growing faster than Apple Music or Spotify, report says
92. Spotify Pacts With Disney to Launch Hub With Music From Movies, TV Shows
93. Spotify And Disney Partner To Bring Mouse House Magic With New ‘Disney Hub’ Playlists
94. International family law: is WhatsApp the future for serving court papers?
95. OurPact returns to App Store, reviving debates about Apple’s impartiality
96. Apple reportedly planning to fund creation of exclusive original podcasts
97. Apple is planning to buy up original podcasts with exclusivity in mind
98. Patchwork of digital taxes intensifies
99. US Trade Representative Initiates Section 301 Investigation of France’s Digital Services Tax
100. Lawmaking for the Internet of Things
101. The Failure Of Courts/Regulators To Understand The Difference Between Infrastructure Providers And Edge Providers Is Going To Be A Problem
102. WIPO Now Gets Into The Extrajudicial, Zero Due Process, Censorship Act Over Sites It Declares ‘Infringing’
103. Insights: As Our Cultural Lives Go Fully Digital, How Will We Signal What We Care About?
104. Tech journalism’s ‘on background’ scourge
105. Browse the Bookshelf of U.S. Case Law: Announcing the CAP Case Browser
106. Justice John Paul Stevens, dead at 99, promoted the Internet revolution

A.I.

1. Steam embraces machine learning with interactive recommendation tool
2. Steam launches Steam Labs to house feature experiments: First three test projects all involve new ways to discover games, including a machine learning recommendation feature
3. Steam uses machine learning for its new game recommendation engine
4. Devs express optimism, caution over Steam interactive recommender
5. Australian researchers just released the world’s first AI-developed vaccine and it could prevent another horror flu season
6. California’s BOT Disclosure Law, SB 1001, Now In Effect 
7. ‘Robot’ umpire calls first professional baseball game with one hitch and no controversy
8. Neuralink: Elon Musk’s Elusive Brain-Computer Firm Just Made a Big Reveal
9. Elon Musk’s Neuralink Takes Baby Steps to Wiring Brains to the Internet
10. Musk’s newest startup is venturing into a series of hard problems
11. Elon Musk announces another price hike for “full self-driving” package
12. Facebook and CMU’s ‘superhuman’ poker AI beats human pros: ‘It can bluff better than any human.’
13. Facebook AI Pluribus defeats top poker professionals in 6-player Texas Hold ’em
14. Ford-VW alliance means more EVs for Europe, joint Argo AI investment
15. Artificial intelligence (AI) designs metamaterials used in the invisibility cloak: The research team led by professor Rho of POSTECH developed a simultaneous inverse design of metamaterials via deep learning
16. MIT whiz kids got a robot to take on the viral #BottleCapChallenge
17. Atlantic League coach ejected for arguing over automated strike zone just one inning into robot umpire era
18. How GoldenEye 007 set a new standard for video game AI
19. How AI companies can avoid ethics washing
20. Blizzard unleashes Google’s DeepMind AI against European Starcraft II players: Experimental AlphaStar agent will play anonymously, but only against gamers who opt into test matches
21. Brains scale better than CPUs. So Intel is building brains

COMMUNICATIONS

1.  EFF Hits AT&T With Lawsuit Over Sale Of User Location Data
2. AT&T Breaks Another Merger Promise In Making ‘Friends’ Exclusive
3. AT&T Will Now Filter Robocall Spam, If You Pay Them Extra
4. ‘Smoking gun’: Huawei staff employment records link them to Chinese military agencies
5. The Drama Around Huawei: Can U.S. Companies Do Business with the Chinese Chipmaker?
6. Cheap as chips? Controversial judgment could have significant implications for the global wireless communications industry
7. HBO Communications Chief Quentin Schaffer to Exit After 39 Years
8. Google Joins Talks In Bid To Salvage T-Mobile Merger
9. Charter gets final approval to stay in NY despite breaking merger promise 
10. 5G’s Latest Problem: Summer Temps Are Causing 5G Phones To Overheat
11. The latest barrier to 5G speeds? The summer: Hands-on report says “persistent overheating” issues plague 5G hardware.
12. Last Woman Standing: Belittled by Viacom and CBS executives and insulted by her own father, Shari Redstone now sits atop a $30 billion media empire.
13. Fortune favours the bold broadcaster? 
14. The Impact of PDR Network LLC v. Carlton & Harris Chiropractic
15. Ajit Pai’s new gift to cable companies would kill local fees and rules
16. FCC Makes $100 Million Available for Telehealth Experiments
17. FCC Proposes a Three-Year Pilot Program to Fund “Connected Care” Telehealth Applications
18. FCC Set to Commercialize Educational Broadband Service Portion of 2.5 GHz Band to Enable 5G
19. FCC Considers Restrictions on Arrangements Between Building Owners and Broadband Providers
20. FCC gives ISPs another $563 million to build rural-broadband networks
21. West Virginia’s Biggest Telco Says Broadband Business ‘Unsustainable’ 
22. FCC Seeks Comment on Actions to Promote Broadband Deployment and Competition in Apartment and Office Buildings 
23. FCC Revises Broadcast Signal Carriage Election Notices for Cable, Satellite, and Other Multichannel Video Providers 
24. FCC Makes Significant Changes to Its Children’s Television (KidVid) Rules
25. Actions Taken at July Meeting – FCC Adopts Changes to Children’s Television Rules and to TV MVPD Carriage Election Notices Procedures  
26. FTC Announces Robocall Crackdown
27. FCC Chairman proposes rules addressing spoofed texts and international robocalls 
28. All Bark and No Bite? FCC Proposes Rule To Ban Spoofing of Text Messages and Foreign Robocalls 
29. FCC Holds Summit on Implementation of SHAKEN/STIR Call 
30. 2.5 GHz EBS Spectrum to Be Commercialized, Opened to TribalNations

PRIVACY

1. British Airways and Marriott Face Record-Breaking GDPR Fines
2. British Airways faces record-breaking GDPR fine after data breach: The ICO wants to fine the airline £183 million
3. GDPR Shows its Teeth – UK Pursuing Record Fines for Data Breaches, Emphasizes Accountability 
4. A Fine Mess: the U.K. Information Commissioner’s Office’s proposed GDPR fines
5. Russian Spy Discovers The Hard Way How Much His Smartphone’s Metadata Reveals About His Activities
6. How U.S. Tech Giants Are Helping To Build China’s Surveillance State
7. DEA tracked every opioid pill sold in the US. The data is out – and it’s horrific: Just three drug makers and six distributors were behind the flood.
8. Office 365 declared illegal in German schools due to privacy risks
9. German state bans Office 365 in schools, citing privacy concerns: Schools in Hesse will have to rely on non-cloud software
10. Revealed: This Is Palantir’s Top-Secret User Manual for Cops – Palantir user manual gives unprecedented insight into how the company logs and tracks individuals.
11. Former Content Moderator Explains How Josh Hawley’s Bill Would Grant Government Control Over Online Speech
12. Google workers listen to your “OK Google” queries—one of them leaked recordings
13. Can I buy a phone that doesn’t use anything from Google or Apple?: Steve does not like firms slurping up his data, so wants a device that respects his privacy
14. Eavesdropping flaw prompts Apple to suspend Walkie-Talkie app
15. Wiretap Report Says Courts Are Seeing Fewer Wiretap Requests, Fewer Convictions Linked To Wiretaps
16. Collecting employee data: Privacy and data protection concerns are gaining increasing prominence in the workplace
17. NAD Recommends Baby Monitor Improve Disclosure of Information Gathering
18. New UK ICO guidance on cookies and similar technologies 
19. Here’s How To Harness Facebook’s New Privacy Updates To (Sort Of) Control Who Has Your Personal Data
20. CCPA Privacy FAQs: If I post a “do not sell my personal information” link on my website, and opt those consumers that select it from receiving behavioral advertising cookies, have I complied with the CCPA?
21. Reducing the risk of ransomware attacks
22. Privacy concerns over viral photo apps are totally valid. But they’re also often overblown.: The panic about FaceApp’s old-person filter isn’t wrong, exactly. It’s just tinged with xenophobia and devoid of context.
23. A Recap of the Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Amending the California Consumer Privacy Act
24. No Shirt, No Shoes, No Facescan, No Service: Welcome To 21st Century Convenience Store Shopping

CREATIVITY

1. In Canada and elsewhere, freedom of speech is on the endangered list
2. Cameras should be welcomed in Canadian courtrooms: Forstner
3. Canada’s election advertising rules have changed – here’s what you need to know
4. Judge Castel: Plaintiffs Fail to State Claim Against Ja Rule for Fyre Festival 
5. Claims of False Advertising and Unfair Competition Are Not Disparagement or Defamation 
6. Danish court orders car dealer to compensate Chinese artist Ai Weiwei
7. Rights in sports data
8. NY AG settlement resolves deceptive practices action with ticket resale companies 
9. SPLC Asks Court To Toss Proud Boy Founder’s Defamation Lawsuit By Asking ‘Where’s The Lie?’
10. Congress Moving Forward With Copyright-For-Censorship ‘Small Claims’ Act
11. WIPO copyright treaty to be adopted in Uzbekistan
12. Branding and marketing clearance is the new punk rock
13. Alitalia Pulls Commercial Featuring Actor in Blackface
14. TD Bank N.A. v. Hill
15. Tackling the registration of copycat company names and domain names
16. California Student-Athletes Would Like to Remind You, “It’s My Name, Don’t You Forget!”
17. The helicopter team that films the Tour de France is one of a kind
18. Sound, Noise, Distinguish? The relationship between sound and intellectual property law (Shane Burke)
19. 1H 2019 Quick Links, Part 5 (Censorship, Defamation) (Eric Goldman)

GAMES

1. Former College Basketball Players Sue Fortnite Creators for Use of “Running Man” Dance
2. ESA Steps In With Amicus Brief In Support Of Activision Versus Humvee
3. Would freedom of speech beat loot box legislation? | Opinion: A look back at the Supreme Court’s 2011 ruling on video game violence suggests the First Amendment defense may not play out the same way a second time
4. German researchers propose treatment for gaming addiction: Clinical trial of 143 finds promising remission rate using cognitive behavioral therapy
5. Losing yourself in virtual worlds can have good as well as negative effects: Psychologist Pete Etchells chats with Ars about his first book, Lost in a Good Game.
6. Yogscast CEO Mark Turpin resigns following sexual harassment allegations: Turpin apologises for “error of judgement” as second sexual harassment case hits Yogscast in as many weeks
7. Ion Maiden becomes Ion Fury following Iron Maiden trademark lawsuit 
8. Battlegrounds has been banned in Jordan due to negative impact on players
9. Gears 5 to drop depictions of smoking after urging from Truth Initiative
10. The Coalition partners with Truth Initiative, cuts smoking from Gears 5: Rod Fergusson – “I’ve been against smoking from the beginning”
11. Why is there no smoking in Gears 5? It depends on who you ask: Either way, you won’t see cigars dangling from COG mouths any time soon.
12. Red Candle won’t be re-releasing Devotion (yet) following China controversy
13. Red Candle Games will not re-release Devotion “in the near term”: Developer apologizes again for artwork mocking Chinese president, but hopes to “rebuild trust”
14. Respawn will deal with Apex Legends cheaters by making them fight each other
15. Respawn working on matchmaking Apex Legends cheaters with other cheaters: Studio upping anti-cheat resources, working on spam and cheat detection using machine learning
16. Overwatch’s new cheat detection will end matches when cheats are used
17. Blizzard testing automatic shutdown for Overwatch matches where players are cheating: But game’s director Jeff Kaplan promises rule-abiding players will not be punished in any way
18. Ubisoft criticised for sourcing Watch Dogs Legion music through Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s HitRecord: Developers and composers decry use of audience compositions as ‘exploitative spec work’
19. Ubisoft Once Again Crowdsourcing Content For Video Game, Once Again Gets Unwarranted Backlash
20. Ubisoft defends Watch Dogs HitRecord partnership amid spec work criticism
21. Ubisoft puts kibosh on Assassin’s Creed XP-farming exploit
22. Ubisoft bans XP farming quests in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’s story creator: Coincidently, publisher continues to sell permanent XP boosts as in-game purchases
23. Ubisoft: “Nobody has dared do anything with a granny before” – EMEA Director Alain Corre on Watch Dogs, Tom Clancy, and the dream of creating a game with one billion players
24. Odyssey and Siege push Ubisoft to a better-than-expected quarter
25. Ubisoft sees PC, digital sales share increase in Q1: Publisher continues anticipating quieter first half as it preps for big releases, UPlay+ later this year
26. Ubisoft’s Uplay+ subscription library launches this fall with 100+ games
27. How to spot an exploitative mobile game publishing deal — from a former publishing CEO
28. Blog: Charting the record $9.6B games investment over the past 18 months
29. ‘Reality-focused’ game dev Surrogate secures $2 million in funding
30. UK publisher Merge Games creates $4 million indie game fund
31. Kickstarter suspends funding campaign for online gameRAW over honesty concerns
32. Ratio of successful Kickstarter projects at highest since Double Fine Adventure: ICO Partners breaks down ongoing maturation of crowdfunding projects with H1 2019 update
33. Kickstarter suspends over ambitious MMO inspired by GTA Online: “We require projects to be honest and clearly presented, and this project failed to meet that standard,” says Kickstarter
34. Blog: Crowdfunding and video games – A 2019 mid-year update
35. Blog: Crowdfunding and tabletop games – A 2019 mid-year update
36. Minecraft Earth’s closed beta: This augmented reality needs more augmenting
37. Want to be more creative? Playing Minecraft can help, new study finds
38. Video Games can Increase Creativity, but with Caveats (Jorge Blanco-Herrera, Douglas Gentile & Jeffrey Rokkum)
39. Jo Twist: Games industry needs to “step up” to fight cultural bias – UKIE CEO warns critics and publishers to be careful with their language, says games are “an easy target because we’re new”
40. Under fire from game devs, G2A proposes new ‘Key Blocker’ tool
41. G2A proposes key-blocking tool: But controversial marketplace wants at least 100 developers to register interest before it begins development
42. How does the games industry get rid of G2A? Eliminate game keys altogether: The only way to stop key resellers is to stop selling keys, but will the industry take such a radical step?
43. Wube Software takes up G2A on offer to pay back ten times its chargeback fees: Studio has racked up $6,600 in chargebacks for Factorio, also encourages players to pirate rather than buy via G2A
44. GOG puts Heaven’s Vault up for sale after declining to sell the game at launch
45. Jason Kingsley: Epic is “paying through the nose” to build its store – Rebellion founders discuss change of heart on Epic Store exclusivity
46. Epic awards Blender Foundation $1.2m grant: Epic MegaGrants-fueled support to help bolster Blender creation suite
47. RetroArch will be Steam’s biggest emulation launch yet, coming July 30
48. Steam Labs is Valve’s new home for experimental Steam features
49. Controversial freelance firm Fiverr opens game services store
50. Fiverr adds dedicated gaming store: Freelancer hiring platform includes sections for development and streaming services
51. Stadia’s dev partners program has received more than 4,000 applications 
52. Google’s Dead Wrong If It Thinks Broadband Caps Won’t Hurt Game Streaming
53. PlayStation’s former portfolio strategy head is now tackling game licensing at Disney
54. Disney hires former PlayStation portfolio boss to head up games licensing: John Drake says it’s an “amazing time” to bring the worlds of Star Wars, Marvel and Fox to video games
55. Video: The importance of finding your platform champions
56. RuneScape dev Jagex says sale is possible, but not set in stone
57. Jagex denies reports it has been sold: Suggested sale by owner Fukong “remains one of various possible outcomes”
58. Smartphone maker Rokit launches $50 million game development fund
59. Smartphone maker ROKiT announces $50m indie dev fund: Selection committee of industry veterans established, up to $500,000 per project on offer
60. Tencent launches app for streaming PC games to smartphones: League of Legends only game currently available, but more expected soon
61. Twitch growth dips as Fortnite viewership continues to decline: Riot Games surpasses Epic Games as most-watched publisher in Q2 2019
62. Fortnite streaming hours drop for fourth straight quarter: Biggest battle royale games all show declines but Epic’s hit remains most watched title on streaming platforms
63. Epic awards $1.2 million to Blender Foundation through Epic MegaGrants program
64. Don’t Miss: 20 difficult games worth revisiting and learning from
65. League of Legends dominates South Korean PC cafés: Riot Games’ hit accounted for almost 40% of hours played last month as Path of Exile made a strong first impression
66. Riot extends deadline for removal of Echo Fox shareholder following racist remarks: Esports organisation was instructed to oust shareholder two months ago or face “formal action” from LCS
67. Esports Upstart 100 Thieves Names Retail Vet Doug Barber VP Of Brand And Apparel
68. Don’t Miss: Memoirs of a video producer who put Madden in Madden
69. Nearly three-fourths of gamers prefer Netflix-style subscription for cloud games: Broadband Genie: 86% say they expect cloud purchases of games to be cheaper than digital or physical copies
70. Nintendo deletes popular Mario Maker 2 level for unexplained reasons
71. Dr Mario World is the lowest grossing Nintendo mobile launch so far: But Sensor Tower says puzzle game is on par with latest Candy Crush release
72. Nintendo reaffirms its toy-maker identity | Opinion: Ventures into mobile games and streaming might have clouded Nintendo’s self-image — but the company is still first and foremost a toy-maker
73. Switch owners say Joy-Con controllers are prone to drifting after just months
74. Evidence points to another Switch hardware revision on the horizon
75. Nintendo releasing new Switch with longer battery life: Tweaked model of flagship console will last up to nine hours – two more than Switch Lite
76. The Switch may be getting a new processor and flash storage
77. New standard Switch model will improve battery life 40 to 80 percent
78. Nintendo is boosting Switch battery life through a slight hardware refresh
79. The industry is still “developing games in a bubble”: FlavourWorks’ Jack Attridge says Conan O’Brien’s Clueless Gamer videos are proof of how inaccessible games have become
80. “In the past, YouTubers were very problematic… Suddenly they became our allies”: How streaming can benefit storytellers, and the “serious problem with people not even finishing our games”
81. CAA Signs Comedic Gaming Collective ‘Neebs Gaming’ (Exclusive)
82. Control, alt, degree: Trinity Western to launch game development program this fall
83. Big PC sales continue to rock EMEAA charts: GTA V back in the lead alongside resurgence of Borderlands games
84. UK digital charts: Sales and anticipation lift Borderlands 2, Pre-sequel once more – Crash Team Racing holds on for one more week, before being dethroned by GTA V
85. Gearbox wants crossplay in Borderlands 3, but it won’t launch with it
86. UK Charts: Super Mario Maker 2 scores third consecutive No.1 – But Crash is snapping at Nintendo’s heels
87. German consumers spent €4.4bn on video games in 2018: Mobile and consoles have overtaken PC as nation’s most popular games platforms
88. MTG has invested $11m in games companies this year: H1 deals include Dorian, Tonk Tonk Games and Sviper
89. Merge Games announces $4m indie publishing and marketing fund: UK publisher looking for multi-platform titles to support as it celebrates 10th anniversary
90. Indie publisher Private Division splits from Swedish dev The Outsiders
91. Video: Living the freelancing dream while avoiding the nightmare
92. NetEase acquires minority stake in Behaviour Interactive: Partnership to help enhance Chinese game giant’s research and development efforts
93. LuckyHammers shuts down: 70 employees affected by closure of Montreal-based studio
94. Private Division has parted ways with Darkborn developer, The Outsiders: Publisher confirms split at end of last year, but financially supported dev for “several months” afterwards
95. NetEase nabs minority stake in Dead by Daylight dev Behaviour Interactive
96. Terraforming Mars dev LuckyHammers has closed down
97. Outsourcing studio Pole to Win expands with Montreal office
98. Surrogate raises $2m in seed round: Funding will go toward development of “Surrogate Reality” portfolio of games
99. Sports Direct now owns 84% of GAME: Shares in UK games retailer will be removed from London Stock Exchange by August 12
100. GameStop taps design firm R/GA to help keep its stores relevant
101. GameStop plans to renovate stores, pilot new store concepts: Troubled retailer hopes to draw customers back in with local esports competitions and retro-only branches
102. Pixion Games raises $2m toward mobile esports development: Seed funding to focus on core PvP experiences, expansion of “lunchtime esports”
103. Spiritfarer wants to talk to you about death: Thunder Lotus CEO William Dubé and creative director Nicolas Guérin on the game’s conception and the personal stories that built it
104. Lego Star Wars: Rise of TT Games: Game director James McLoughlin talks us through the evolution of the Lego games as the studio comes full circle with The Skywalker Saga
105. Boom-shaka-laka: Call of Duty’s new “Gunfight” mode is like NBA Jam with guns
106. The aggressive resource management of Doom Eternal
107. Blog: The secrets of dynamic difficulty adjustment
108. Blog: Finding the fun in monetizing Archero – Part 3
109. ‘Things will go wrong’: The challenge of Dauntless’ day-one crossplay
110. Don’t Miss: Designing Baba is You’s delightfully innovative rule-writing system
111. Designing experimental game Cultist Simulator for commercial success
112. Rumor: Apple Reportedly Suspends Work on Consumer AR Headset
113. Overcooked 2 named Game of the Year at Develop:Star Awards: Sumo Digital, Playground Games take home multiple prizes in inaugural event
114. Pokemon Detective Pikachu is the second highest grossing video game movie ever
115. Blog: How music enhances virtual presence – Part 1
116. Detective Pikachu becomes the highest-grossing video game movie: Film has brought in over $436m worldwide as five remaining territories push it over record set by Warcraft
117. The Man in the High Castle creator to produce TV series based on Warhammer 40,000: Games Workshop, Big Light Productions partner for live action series, entitled Eisenhorn
118. Atari 2600 rarity Extra Terrestrials goes on sale for $90,000
119. U.S. Patent No. 5,805,784: Computer story generation system and method using network of re-usable substories 
120. Fashion in games: Why it matters
121. Pakistani Minister Congratulates Pilot For Miraculous Save In Retweet Of GTA V Video

Jon