TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics » video games

We Goofed! Nintendo story accidentally appeared as ours

Dan Eldridge — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:38:33 +0000

Yesterday evening, we posted as our final story of the day a fascinating article about a new Nintendo video game titled Tomodachi Collection: New Life, which has been described as not unlike a Japanese version of The Sims. The crux of the article was that Nintendo had unintentionally made it possible for the male characters in the game [...]

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Weekend Roundup: How I overcame snobbery to self-publish an e-book

Dan Eldridge — Sun, 05 May 2013 13:00:23 +0000

StoryBundle Launches Video Game-Themed E-Book Campaign (Good e-Reader) Is Nigeria Ready for the E-Book Revolution? (This Day Live) How I overcame snobbery to self-publish an e-book (The Telegraph) Samsung filed for e-book page-turning patent (Slash Gear) The Progressive Opens E-Book Line (GalleyCat) E-Book Deal: Self-Improvement E-Book Bundle

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The SimCity Debacle: Another lesson in why DRM is a bad idea

Joanna Cabot — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 15:00:14 +0000

For anyone who is still not convinced that DRM, as a concept, is a terrible idea, the recent Sim City debacle illustrates why. The short version is, software publisher EA so feared ‘piracy’ of the latest Sim City incarnation that they crippled the game to require a live Internet connection (to its authentication servers) at [...]

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Paid vs. Free Entertainment: A Case Study

Joanna Cabot — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 17:28:33 +0000

Techdirt has a great write-up about a British children’s author, Terry Deary, who is on a misguided campaign against libraries. Deary believes libraries are giving away entertainment for free; he also believes they are severely damaging the book publishing industry. Techdirt’s Tim Cushing argues that, notwithstanding some of the fallacies the author is operating under, [...]

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The Byook is a unique combination of graphic novel, movie and game

Dan Eldridge — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 01:05:46 +0000

Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like I’ve been hearing about more and more companies lately—some of them new, and some that have been around for awhile—that are putting together large and (presumably) expensive teams of designers and developers to create digitally-enhanced “electronic reading experiences,” as they’re often called. The latest such organization I’ve [...]

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Turning the Page to Cinematic and Game-Like E-Books: Introducing Scotland’s Digital Adaptations

Aggregated Content — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 16:32:57 +0000

We’ve carried posts before that posited that e-books had not yet reached the watershed moment where they became more than an attempt to reproduce one medium in another. (The way that television was originally “radio with pictures,” for instance.) At the moment, they’re just “printed books on digital screens.” And while that’s fine for [...]

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Supreme Court strikes down video game restriction law, makes future a little safer for e-books

Chris Meadows — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 15:13:18 +0000

A few days ago, the Supreme Court struck down a controversial California law requiring restriction of violent video games to minors. Without going too deeply into analysis, the court found dubious the claims that violent games were somehow more harmful to minors than other violent media—and since California wasn’t trying to regulate those other media, [...]

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Video game developer prompts Amazon review retaliation against one-star game reviewer

Chris Meadows — Sat, 21 May 2011 16:08:52 +0000

I ran across a story the other day that made me think about the way that parts of our online activities can affect other parts, and the risk that you take doing anything that could draw negative attention to you if you’ve also got a book on Amazon. Published writer T. Michael Murdock also reviews [...]

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Supreme Court ruling on anti-video-game legislation vital to the future of media in the 21st century

Chris Meadows — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 16:34:00 +0000

Ars Technica’s Ben Kuchera has a piece looking at why the Supreme Court hearing on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s anti-video game law is important. According to Entertainment Software Association President and CEO Mike Gallagher, the decision concerns nothing less than “the future of media in the 21st century.” Over 182 briefs have been filed in opposition to [...]

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Used game controversy continues; e-book vendors could stand to learn from Valve (again)

Chris Meadows — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 14:15:00 +0000

Video and computer games share a bit of an odd similarity to books and e-books. Like books, they can be an example of intellectual property encapsulated in an object, which can be bought and sold new or used—but like e-books, they can also be delivered purely digitally, and equipped with restrictive DRM. And as with [...]

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Game industry conference suggests possibilities for books’ future

Chris Meadows — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 18:40:51 +0000

In some of my previous posts, I have looked at the computer game industry (especially Valve, with its “Steam” digital distribution service and focus on customer service that can even turn pirates into paying customers) with an eye to the examples it sets for the e-book and publishing trades. It turns out I’m not the [...]

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Indie game developer on when it’s all right to pirate his games

Chris Meadows — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:15:00 +0000

Reaching into the world of video games again for another point that could apply equally to e-books. (At least it’s not about Valve this time.) Jeff Vogel is the developer behind a number of independent games (perhaps the equivalent of self-published e-books in the video game world) including the Avernum series and Nethergate: Resurrection. And, [...]

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Obama opines iPad turns information into ‘distraction’

Chris Meadows — Sun, 09 May 2010 23:23:37 +0000

In his commencement address at Hampton University, a historically black college founded in 1861 to teach escaped slaves, President Obama had some harsh words about the iPad, as well as iPods and video game consoles: "You’re coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us [...]

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Tim Carmody: E-books may have bright future on iPad

Chris Meadows — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 17:54:49 +0000

Where the iPhone conquered your pocket, the iPad will conquer your backpack. So says Tim Carmody on the Snarkmarket blog, where he puts down his thoughts about why e-books on the iPad will be more successful than some people think. Carmody starts with five common reasons skeptics give that e-books won’t take off on the [...]

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Next-generation Nintendo DS to feature high resolution, accelerometer—great for e-book reading?

Chris Meadows — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 21:33:18 +0000

New information has come to light about the next generation of Nintendo hand-held game console, to be unveiled at E3 in June. Most interestingly for e-book readers, the screens are going to have much higher resolution than the current generation and will be essentially contiguous, with no space in-between, so that they can be used [...]

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