Monday, May 11, 2020

Can you believe it?

Last week a leak concerning The Last of Us 2 caused a a major controversy. The highly anticipated sequel to the 2013 hit by studio Naughty Dog and publisher Sony has been eagerly awaited, but now people are angry and rightly so.

I can't say with any certainty who the leaker is, whether it's a disgruntled employee or a hacker or someone else, but the content leak instantly became a hot topic. Naughty Dog and Sony however did the worst thing possible: they started abusing the Youtube copyright system and striking down channels left and right, even ones just talking about the leak without showing any footage.
In case you don't know, if your Youtube channel gets three copyright strikes in a short period, your channel is terminated and for someone who is depending on the ad revenue to survive, this is very serious.
Yes, the channels can protest and they will get their videos back, but this kind of misuse of the Digital Millennium Protection Act is not exactly legal. Legality aside, it is absolutely reprehensible for a company to act in this way not to mention ineffective. It's a perfect example of the Streisand Effect in play.
I for one am getting pretty sick of gaming companies who bully and intimidate people as if they are some kind of mafia. I could say something about boycotting the game here, but in all honesty I wasn't about to buy a Playstation anyway... Still a really sick thing to do though.

The above mentioned story as well as recent rumors and leaks about a new Batman game (debunked) got me thinking. As a side effect of the Covid-19 crisis, practically every game studio has had to delay their upcoming games. All the gaming conventions like E3 and PAX are canceled and in this vacuum of information, the stage is set for click-baiters and rumor-mongers to profit on false and misleading information. It is up to us to keep a cool head and not trust rumors. Unless it is a statement by the companies themselves, there is no reason to believe it, no matter how tantalizing and exciting it may seem. You will only be disappointed in the end.

There was talk that E3 would host an online convention, but this too has been canceled. However, despair not, as Game Awards host Geoff Keighley has apparently organized a Summer Game Fest with most of the big publishers and they will stream their trailers and other info across the summer of 2020. There is a techradar.com article here:


So were are going to get some news soon and that's good. Until then, keep a cool head, wash your hands and join me again next time for more Eccentric Spheres! Have a great week!

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