Activision sued
First up, Activision has been sued by the family of Angolan rebel leader Jonas Savimbi after their portrayal of the character in Black Ops 2.
Three of Savimbi's children filed a €1 million lawsuit after Activision's use of their father in the campaign mode of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. Activison portrayed Savimbi as a 'barbarian' and a 'big halfwit'.
"[He's portrayed as] a big halfwit who wants to kill everybody," prosecution lawyer Carole Enfert explained. In reality, she continued, Savimbi had actually been a political leader and strategist".
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| That's a big grenade launcher you have there... |
Savimbi was the leader of a rebel movement against Angola's communist-backed goverenment during the country's civil war, which lasted over 26 years and left over 500,000 civilians dead.
Savimbi appears in the campaign level 'Pyhrric Victory' where he appears as a friend of the player on the assualt of the government opposition. He encourages his troops to, and I quote "FIGHT, MY BROTHERS! FIGHT!" At least he know what he wants...
As expected, Activision have disagreed with the claims and claimed that Savimbi was portrayed as a 'good guy'.
Activision have been sued for their portrayal of a character before. Again, in Black Ops 2, ex-Panama dictator Manuel Noriega himself complained that he was depicted as the "culprit of numerous fictional heinous crimes". He obviously wanted damages, and the lawsuit was dismissed.
If you think about it, using a real life person in a video game without their permission is always going to cause problems, especially if you portray this character as a 'big halfwit'. Use your heads Activision!
Homefront finally gets a release date
Next up, Homefront: The Revolution finally has release date, and they are a little late to say the least...
Do you remember waaayyyyyyy back last year, specifically last March, where I listed the games I was most excited for in 2015? No? Well I'll leave a link here.
Anyway, Homefront: The Revolution was one of them. The first Homefront was a fantastic game, with a great campaign mode and multiplayer mode that easily rivalled the Call of Duty and Battlefield games that were out at the time. Based on what the first Homefront gave us, the second is looking to impress...
...until it fell off of the face of the Earth, with no news being heard about the game for months.
Finally, yes finally, we have a release date! Developer Deep Silver came out earlier this week with a release date set for the 20th May for Xbox One, PS4 and PC.
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| Must be hot on that burning car? |
They also announced that Xbox users will be able to take part in an exclusive multiplayer beta, which launches in February. To gain access to the beta, you will need to secure a 'Xbox One Beta Token', which are to be given out via promotions closer to the time.
Along with the announcement of the release date and beta, a new trailer was released. Titled 'This is Philadelphia', the trailer shows off some of the new open-world FPS shooters Philadelphia setting, and I must say, it looks epic!
The use of the open-world will definitely be a huge factor in conquering the 'Yellow Zone' as it is called in the trailer. You can see the use of phone bombs, explosive RC cars, as well as a hacking mini-game by the looks of it. All I'm saying is, I'm ready for May!
Here's the trailer if you haven't already seen it:
Sony trademark fail
Finally, it turns out Sony tried to trademark a very familiar term last October, and they failed miserably.
Many of who you are fans of video games, whether it be reading about them, playing them or watching them online, you have probably heard of the term 'Let's Play'. Yes, I know this sounds ridiculous, but Sony to trademark the term 'Let's Play'.
Now this was never going to go down well with anyone. The term Let's Play is no longer just a term, it has turned into a whole new category of entertainment. Gaming YouTubers, small (like myself) or large (PewDiePie, Achievement Hunter, etc) all create gaming videos in the 'Let's Play' format. Record the gameplay alongside the commentary, mash it all together, and behold, you have a Let's Play vdieo. Sony didn't try and trademark a term, they tried to trademark a whole category.
It still remains unclear why Sony tried to trademark the term, could it be for a new service for the PS4? Or could it be a service that could rival Twitch in the near future? Who knows. Who really cares
for that matter. All I'm happy about is that Sony failed... for now.
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| Come on Sony, what are you playing at? |
Now the trademark attempt didn't fail due to the fact that Let's Play is such a widely used and common term. The attempt was turned down because there is a trademark already out there, the trademarking(??) the term Let's Play +could be confused with the already existing trademark.
Let'z Play of America, a company based in Georgia filed to trademark the term 'Let'z Play' in 2013. The attempt was obviously successful, and because of that, Sony's attempt was dismissed because 'Let's Play' is too similar to 'Let'z Play'. I mean, there's only one letter different between the two.
Although Sony's attempt was rejected, they still have six months to appeal the decision, Whether they will or not is another matter. But for now, we are safe. For now...
Anyyyway, that's it for this week! What story stood out for you this week? Are you surprised that Activision were sued again? Will you be pre-ordering Homefront? Do you care that Sony tried to trademark Let's Play? Let me know in the comments down below!
As always, thanks for reading!
Connor :)
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