Rockstar Games Promises To Use Copyright To Delete Spoiler Cutscene Videos

from the spoiler-free dept

Rockstar Games has always struck me as sort of wishy-washy when it comes to how the company protects (or imagines it's protecting) its games. On the one hand, it comes up with fun little strategies to combat cheating, by placing all the cheaters in one place to cheat against other cheaters. On the other hand, the company has embraced DRM in the past, which is the kind of strategy you employ when you want to accomplish exactly nothing beyond pissing off your actual customers. But, hey, nobody's perfect. What's most frustrating when it comes to some of this over-protectionism stuff is when it is done with some truly pure intentions, but isn't thought through. And, the folks behind the newly-released Grand Theft Auto 5 have struck that exact chord with their legal policy on posting game videos.

Posting video showing the ending of the game, pure cutscenes or any other big reveal in the story. It's ok to show cutscenes as part of a larger play-through (or in a narrated ‘Let’s Play’ type video) but isolated videos of the game's cinematics will be removed. If you are unsure if what you want to post is considered a spoiler, please contact copyright@take2games.com and describe exactly what scene you are wondering about and in what context the scene would appear.

On the one hand, it isn't a terribly aggressive policy on posting game videos. There's clearly an embrace of the "Let's Play" style of vids that spread through YouTube and other sites and do so much to help promote the game itself to prospective customers. In a game like GTA, with its open world and insane amount of freedom, watching a video of the game being played by someone else almost certainly causes zero harm to sales, and likely spurs them forward. It's great to see a company embrace that kind of thing, especially when there have been examples of takedowns over those sort of videos.

On the other hand... why is Rockstar designating itself as the spoiler police? Because that's all this really is. The company is designating story-mission cutscene videos that don't do anything else for aggressive takedowns. What's the point of that? As I mentioned above, a game like GTA doesn't live only on its story. In fact, it probably doesn't even live primarily on its story. It's hard to see how many customers will be lost because, oh, now I know the lead character is going to kill some people and probably do some outrageous stuff. Nevermind that watchers could always... you know... just not watch the spoiler videos.

I guess Rockstar can handle its IP however it wants, but this seems both misguided and counter to the purpose of copyright to begin with.

Filed Under: abuse, copyright, cutscenes, dmca, grand theft auto 5, spoilers, video games
Companies: rockstar games

Interesting Strategy: Rockstar Games To Dump Cheaters Into A Game Where They Only Play Other Cheaters

from the trolls-with-trolls dept

Gamers who cheat are an issue that lots of online games have to deal with, though some are much more aggressive than others. In the past, we've argued that it's overkill to ban such players completely, especially when the "cheats" are really just exposing glitches or bugs in the game itself (i.e., fix the damn game, don't blame the players for your lousy coding). Either way, there's a legitimate concern that some people are getting an unfair advantage and harming the experience for everyone else. Well, now it appears that Rockstar Games has come up with a solution that's slightly more elegant than the sledgehammer of a complete ban. Instead, players caught cheating will be quarantined to a version of the game with each other. So, yes, you can keep playing, but only against other players who are cheating as well.

Anyone found to have used hacked saves, modded games, or other exploits to gain an unfair advantage in Max Payne 3 Multiplayer, or to circumvent the leaderboards will be quarantined from all other players into a "Cheaters Pool", where they'll only be able to compete in multiplayer matches with other confirmed miscreants. In the event we decide to absolve any of these cheaters for their past transgressions they may re-enter play with the general public, however a second offense will result in their indefinite banishment. In either case, we will be removing invalid leaderboard entries to ensure that the players at the top of the charts have earned their spots fairly.

I am a little curious about the appeals process (it would be awesome if they built an in-game courtroom...), but overall, the solution seems a lot more sensible than outright bans. While some are wondering if some players may prefer this "Cheaters Pool," I don't see how that's a problem. It basically allows Rockstar to offer two different versions of the game, in which the skills required are slightly different.

Filed Under: ban, cheating, games
Companies: rockstar games

Cypress Hill Backup Singer Sues Take Two For $250 Million; Says GTA Character Based On His Life

from the insane-in-the-brain dept

Apparently, a backup singer from the group Cypress Hill, Michael "Shagg" Washington, is suing Rockstar Games and Take Two Interactive, claiming that he was the model for the main character in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and that they now owe him a cool 25% of the total revenue from the game (which would be $250 million of the $1 billion it supposedly made). He apparently met with the game designers and answered a bunch of questions about his life and they said thank you and never spoke to him again. He claims they promised to notify him if he was to be used in the game. His name is apparently listed in the credits under "talent," but that hardly seems like it's worth $250 million. He's claiming "fraud, misappropriation of likeness and copyright infringement." I haven't seen the actual complaint, but all three seem like pretty weak cases from what's been said. Perhaps there's a misappropriation of likeness issue if the guy really looks the same, but even that might be a stretch. I can't see how there's any copyright issue at all. Is he claiming copyright on his life story?

Filed Under: copyright, cypress hill, fraud, grand theft auto, likeness
Companies: rockstar games, take two interactive

Rockstar To Use SecuROM DRM On Grand Theft Auto

from the not-smart dept

Given the incredibly negative reaction that many video gamers have been giving any video game that uses the rather draconian SecuROM DRM system, you would think that most video game companies would think twice about using it. Yet, apparently, Rockstar has decided to move forward in using it on the PC release of Grand Theft Auto IV. It won't be quite as draconian as Spore in that there won't be a limit on the number of installs, but the whole thing makes very little sense. The DRM won't stop the game from being pirated -- and once a single copy is available, it will be available everywhere. While Rockstar also claims that cracked copies will have some hidden easter eggs that make the game somewhat unplayable, it's quite likely that folks will figure out ways around those changes as well. In other words, it's not actually going to stop any piracy, but it may serve to annoy legitimate purchasers. So why bother?

Filed Under: drm, grand theft auto, securom
Companies: rockstar games

Virtual Strip Club In GTA Doesn't Violate Trademarks Of Real Strip Club

from the has-rockstar-opened-a-strip-club dept

Against Monopoly points us to a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in a trademark lawsuit that is worth the read, not just for the absurdity of the case, but also for the court's reasoning. The lawsuit involves a strip club in Los Angeles, called The Play Pen, that apparently got pissed off over a strip club found in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. As players of recent GTA's well know, the designers of the game try to make the cities in the game look somewhat realistic (in an extreme manner) compared to the real cities they're supposed to be portraying. They usually change up names just slightly to highlight that it's fictional. Thus, Los Angeles becomes Los Santos and The Play Pen becomes The Pig Pen.

It's already surprising enough that the strip club owners would be upset by this. After all, I would think that being known as the strip club found in GTA might actually drive more business to the club. However, the court reasonably found no trademark infringement and no "unfair competition" as the strip club owners' charged. Beyond the fact that the strip club in the game looks pretty different from the one in real life, the court found the likelihood of confusion to be quite limited:

The San Andreas Game is not complementary to the Play Pen; video games and strip clubs do not go together like a horse and carriage or, perish the thought, love and marriage. Nothing indicates that the buying public would reasonably have believed that ESS produced the video game or, for that matter, that Rockstar operated a strip club. A player can enter the virtual strip club in Los Santos, but ESS has provided no evidence that the setting is anything but generic. It also seems far-fetched that someone playing San Andreas would think ESS had provided whatever expertise, support, or unique strip-club knowledge it possesses to the production of the game. After all, the Game does not revolve around running or patronizing a strip club. Whatever one can do at the Pig Pen seems quite incidental to the overall story of the Game. A reasonable consumer would not think a company that owns one strip club in East Los Angeles, which is not well known to the public at large, also produces a technologically sophisticated video game like San Andreas.

Undeterred, ESS also argues that, because players are free to ignore the storyline and spend as much time as they want at the Pig Pen, the Pig Pen can be considered a significant part of the Game, leading to confusion. But fans can spend all nine innings of a baseball game at the hot dog stand; that hardly makes Dodger Stadium a butcher's shop. In other words, the chance to attend a virtual strip club is unambiguously not the main selling point of the Game.

That butcher shop line is a classic. If you want to read the entire lawsuit, you can see it here:

Filed Under: grand thef auto, pig pen, strip clubs, trademark
Companies: rockstar games