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Notes from GDC, Wednesday

Some brief notes from the Game Developers Conference two weeks ago in California. Apologies for how late these are, and for the formatting.

Microsoft keynote

mashups mods machinima, Sean Kane

mashup mario/doom
mashup issues are mostly copyright so they should be done only w permission
most mashups cannot be used for commercial purposes
mods- sw & hw
sw mod = add or change data content
hw mod = chips, avoid region codes
some games embrace mods
sw mods are derivative works
mod chips are anti-dmca criminal devices
mmovie trailer awesome!
Red vs blue machinima
look up neverwinternights movie
but be careful w fair use and too much derivation
for copyrighted works, try to get permission
voice talent is copyrightable
license your machinima music
if you have cleared voice, music and rights to produce machinima movie, then you can copyright your movie
copyright easy to invoke, lasts long (life +70yrs) and with big penalties; exists when you set something in form
$45 to register (c)
look of a building is copyrightable
but buildings in public or viewable by public are not (c)
but bldgs can be trademarked
no such thing as intl (c)
can you afford to infringe? Can cost 500k-1m+ for litigation; may last yrs
disney fair use video on youtube
you have to protect your (c) rights, trademarks, etc
watch viacom/youtube suit for any mods to dmca
bldg has case law to let u use look of a bldg in public
only affects new bldgs in last 10 yrs
often bldg names are the trademark, not the design
spider man movie times sq billboard case - was ok to change billboards

Sid Meier

game mechanics are still the core; production values are just a nice bonus
games are a series of interesting decisions
make game around the fun part of a topic
playable within a couple of weeks
imaginations are still around today
players are more interested in their own stories than in other people’s stories
units etc are really well balanced in civ so that every unit could be interesting
taking bad stuff out is as important as putting good stuff in
didnt expect civ to be so addictive
now is golden age of gaming