Blizzard Entertainment is suing a number of companies and individuals involved in the making of the free-to-play PC and mobile game, Glorious Saga. The Overwatch developer alleges that the game is a “massive infringement” of its Warcraft intellectual property, stating that “they created a game whose content is almost entirely copied from the Warcraft games and related products.”

Polygon reports that Blizzard is seeking a court order to stop the infringement and maximum damages for the “serious and irreparable harm to Blizzard and its business.

“Defendants did not just copy a few discrete elements from Blizzard’s Warcraft games,” the company claims in the suit. “Every character in the Infringing Game was copied from a character from the Warcraft games, and many even bear the names of popular characters from the Warcraft games such as Jaina Proudmoore, Gul’dan, and Malfurion.” Blizzard is seeking “$150,000 per infringed work.” The image below is taken from the lawsuit, showing side-by-side comparisons between the offending character designs.

“Every monster, creature, animal and vehicle in the Infringing Game was copied from the Warcraft Games. Weapons, amulets, and other objects were taken straight from the Warcraft games, without pretense. Audio cues and sound effects from the Warcraft games were reproduced for the Infringing Game.”

The suit claims that the defendants have “profited handsomely” from Glorious Saga and its alleged copyright infringement. Even the game’s mobile icon recreates the cover for World of Warcraft’s Battle of Azeroth expansion, depicting a human and orc locking eyes while snarling at each other. Blizzard alleges that the use of Warcraft material was “willful and intentional.”

Five companies and two individuals are named in the suit, including Glorious Saga developer InstantFuns, and Sina Games–a subsidiary of Chinese software and tech company Sina Corp. Blizzard alleges that this isn’t an isolated incident for the developer either, as it claims the company also advertises various unlicensed mobile games using the names and characters of well-known IP, such as Yu-Gi Oh!, Naruto, and Pokemon. Glorious Saga is just “among the latest” to have done so.

Blizzard believes many of the defendants are simply shell companies created “as part of an overarching scheme to deceive Blizzard or members of the public,” with the two individuals responsible for running them also named in the suit. Each of the defendants is based outside of the United States, but Blizzard has chosen to file the suit in the Central California US District Court as each company conducted its business through US- and California-based companies, using Google Play and Facebook to distribute and market Glorious Saga to US customers.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/blizzard-sues-chinese-devs-over-massive-infringeme/1100-6469479/

Pokemon Masters, the latest mobile spin-off of the popular franchise, is now available to download for free on iOS and Android devices. It features teams of three “Sync Pairs”–notable trainers with their partner Pokemon–doing battle in a new region called Pasio.

The game is free-to-play with microtransactions, ranging from $1 to $80 for various bundles of the in-game currency, gems. Those can purchase you a chance at unlocking new characters, in typical gacha-style. Based on our hands-on impressions, though, the story mode appears to have plenty of depth outside of that aspect.

• Pokemon Masters on iOS App Store
• Pokemon Masters on Android Store

The game features 65 trainers from across the games and anime series, but the battles work very differently than you may have come to expect from past Pokemon games. You control all three of your team’s trainers, and the types and weaknesses are displayed in battle. The combat is also real-time with cooldown timers for your moves. In co-op you can use special “unity attack.”

Meanwhile, fellow mobile game Pokemon Go is still go-ing strong. On November 15, the next main series games, Pokemon Sword and Shield, will be released for Nintendo Switch. Check out how these games are changing battling.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/pokemon-masters-is-out-how-to-download-on-ios-andr/1100-6469474/

(Content warning: sexual assault.)

Following serious allegations leveled against Night in the Woods co-developer Alec Holowka, the indie studio Infinite Fall has cut ties and changed its release plans for a physical edition of the game. In a series of tweets, developers Scott Benson and Bethany Hockenberry say they take the allegations very seriously and that they share their fans’ hurt and anger.

On August 27, developer Zoe Quinn detailed sexual abuse and assault allegations against Holowka on Twitter. Though the response from Benson and Hockenberry does not mention Quinn, it does reference “allegations of past abuse” that have come to light this week. Quinn’s statement came alongside a broad range of abuse accusations within the games industry.

“We take such allegations seriously as a team. As a result and after some agonizing consideration, we are cutting ties with Alec,” the studio stated. “We are cancelling a current project and postponing the Limited Run physical release. The iOS port is being handled by an outside company and supervised by Finji and will remain in development.”

The studio goes on to address how people may feel about the game itself, and that this shift in studio roles may impact their plans in other ways. The situation is in flux.

“Thousands of people have connected with Night In The Woods in a very personal way,” it stated. “We can’t tell you how to feel about any of this. Whatever you’re feeling is valid. Your experience with art is yours. What it means to you is yours, regardless of anything else. Going forward, Night In The Woods will be handled by Bethany and I [Scott]. We’re not sure what that all means yet. This stuff takes time.

“Thanks for your support over the years. We’re sorry to even have to say any of this. That’s all I can say at the moment. Thank you for your patience.”

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/night-in-the-woods-studio-cuts-ties-with-co-develo/1100-6469450/

Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove, the full Shovel Knight package including all of its planned expansions, is almost completed. But Yacht Club has now announced the character’s next game: Shovel Knight Dig, a vertical scrolling action game being made in partnership with UK studio Nitrome.

The brief trailer showed a more 16-bit inspired art style, as compared to the original game’s 8-bit incarnation. The action also appears to be largely vertical as Shovel Knight digs his way down into the earth, similar to the SteamWorld Dig games. The official site also states that the stages will be procedurally generated.

The presentation said the game has been in development for more than a year, but still has much longer to go. The first demo will be available at PAX West.

The announcement came as part of a Yacht Club Games Presents presentation, similar to a Nintendo Direct. In it, the indie studio announced more details on the upcoming King of Cards and Shovel Knight Showdown, a release window of December 2019 for those final updates, and it promoted a Shovel Knight board game on Kickstarter.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/shovel-knight-dig-announced-has-strong-steamworld-/1100-6469447/

The Gen 3 Legendary Rayquaza returned to Pokemon Go earlier this month, but it won’t be around for much longer. The Legendary Pokemon is leaving the game once again in a couple of days, making this your last chance to catch it and its Shiny form.

Rayquaza will appear in five-star Raid Battles until 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET / 9 PM BST on September 2, so you’ll have until then to add one to your collection for the foreseeable future. As usual, you’ll first need to team up with other players at a Gym where a Rayquaza Raid is taking place and battle the Legendary Pokemon before you can capture it.

Even if you’ve previously caught Rayquaza, you’ll want to check out some Rayquaza Raids while you can, as you’ll have a chance to encounter the Legendary’s Shiny form for the first time in Go. Unfortunately, you can’t tell in advance which Raid will produce a Shiny Rayquaza until you get to the catching phase, so if you’re hoping to get one, you’ll need to be persistent and participate in as many Raids as you can.

• Pokemon Go Guide: How To Catch And Purify Team Rocket’s Shadow Pokemon
• Pokemon Go Thousand-Year Slumber Research Guide – How To Catch Jirachi
• Pokemon Go Eevee Guide: How To Get Any Eevee Evolution

Rayquaza is a dual Dragon/Ice Pokemon, which gives it a 4x weakness to Ice Pokemon. If you’re planning on battling it, you best bet will be to bring along Pokemon like Mamoswine, Weavile, and Glaceon. Fairy- and Dragon-types are also super-effective against Rayquaza, although the Legendary can hit other Dragon Pokemon back for super-effective damage as well. You can read more tips in our Pokemon Go Rayquaza guide.

There’s a lot more happening in Pokemon Go right now. Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie are returning for a special Raid Hour today, August 28. Niantic is also rolling out Pokemon Go’s Ultra Bonuses soon, which include the first Gen 5 Pokemon and a new “Thousand-Year Slumber” Special Research quest that leads to the Mythical Pokemon Jirachi.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/pokemon-go-last-chance-to-catch-shiny-rayquaza/1100-6469444/