Random News not worthy of own thread

[Vertigo 7]

"If a product looks like gambling and feels like gambling, it should be regulated as gambling,"

So that's the quote of the day, can you guess what they are talking about. If you didn't manage that they are talking about loot boxes in video games, and it's not just some random Joe either that made the statement, it's a quote from the UK's house of lords, so it is a statement with clout and probably means the end of loot boxes here in the UK. I suspect this will have a knock on effect with other countries following suit. But it's not just loot boxes, as they also mention the likes of Fifa player packs, so it is also not looking good for the likes of those either. Something I would also like to see the back of is game currency, you know where you have to buy the game currency to buy cosmetic items but where the item may cost 1 buck but the cheapest game currency cost 5 bucks, meaning to buy something at 1 buck costs you 5 bucks. There is no mention of that but I suspect it is only a mater of time. The likes of EA, Ubisoft, Activision|Blizzard and take two to name a few, knew this was coming and it couldn't happen soon enough.

That's a very interesting discussion and I agree loot box mechanism is, in a way, gambling.
Personally, I kinda like loot boxes (random loot, to be precise, like the wheel of fortune mechanism in Forza Horizon), even if I never buy them: I only "buy" them with in game money, the one you get playing and not buying it. If I want a cosmetic of some kind (e.g. Elite ship skins), I buy the one I want (I don't think there was the option to buy a "random skin", though).

On the other hand, in some (all, maybe?) countries (like Italy), you have to declare what you win in gambling (over a certain amount, of course) and pay taxes on it. For this reason I think it's a fiscal matter.

Well there's 2 very important laws that almost every country/locale has in one form or the other, beyond tax implications, and thats age restrictions on gambling or outright bans on gambling. And when governments start classifying loot boxes as gambling, then the developers suddenly find themselves in violation of laws.

And the bottom line is that trading real currency for virtual currency and using that to attempt to win a random prize of some sort is no different than walking into a casino, trading cash for casino chips and sitting down at a game table to play.

If they wanted to keep loot boxes in the game and remove any real money trade, replacing that with in game methods of earning that currency, awesome. If they remove the random mechanics and allow direct purchase of items, awesome (so long as it doesn't get into pay-to-win, imo). I would endorse either scenario with preference being on the former.

[BrasatoAlBarolo]

Oh, right, I forgot about age restrictions. Does it mean I'm too old or too young?

Anyway, that's a big problem for like 90% of mobile apps.

[felter]

So Ghislaine Maxwell daughter of Robert Maxwell and fiend of Jeffrey Epstien has been arrested in America not sure what the charges are at this moment but they are related to the Jeffrey Epstien case. As far as what has been alleged, she was as dirty as Epstien was and if so she deserves some jail time.

[birdtable]

What a miserable load of Off Topics .. Misery, Despair and Righteous condemnation.. This section (Off Topic English) should be called The Doomsayers Delight...

[felter]

A follow up on Ghislaine Maxwell. She has been charged on 6 counts, the list of charges are:

• Conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts

• Enticing a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts

• Conspiracy to transport minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity

• Transporting a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity

Up to 5 years in jail for 5 of them, while the sixth id up to 10 years, so that a possible 35 years in total. Her Daddy would have been so proud.

[Vertigo 7]

Thought about putting this in the TV thread but I don't know if I'm going to be watching this or not so, meh, w/e.

The creators of West World are partnering with Bethesda to create a Fallout TV series for Amazon video.

I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I love West World. On the other hand, Bethesda ain't what it used to be and I somehow expect they'll incorporate loot boxes into the TV show. And on the third hand(!?) tv shows/movies based on video games have historically blown chunks. The odds are against this being something decent.

At best, I expect this will be another zombie show with iconic 'things' from the Fallout series just happening to be there.

[pjknibbs]

The creators of West World are partnering with Bethesda to create a Fallout TV series for Amazon video.

I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I love West World. On the other hand, Bethesda ain't what it used to be and I somehow expect they'll incorporate loot boxes into the TV show. And on the third hand(!?) tv shows/movies based on video games have historically blown chunks. The odds are against this being something decent.

One can hope that the creators get a clean slate to do what they like and the only reason Bethesda is involved is because they own the Fallout rights.

[Vertigo 7]

The creators of West World are partnering with Bethesda to create a Fallout TV series for Amazon video.

I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I love West World. On the other hand, Bethesda ain't what it used to be and I somehow expect they'll incorporate loot boxes into the TV show. And on the third hand(!?) tv shows/movies based on video games have historically blown chunks. The odds are against this being something decent.

One can hope that the creators get a clean slate to do what they like and the only reason Bethesda is involved is because they own the Fallout rights.

Maybe if they lock Tod Howard in a closet until it's released. lol

[clakclak]

The creators of West World are partnering with Bethesda to create a Fallout TV series for Amazon video.

I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I love West World. On the other hand, Bethesda ain't what it used to be and I somehow expect they'll incorporate loot boxes into the TV show. And on the third hand(!?) tv shows/movies based on video games have historically blown chunks. The odds are against this being something decent.

One can hope that the creators get a clean slate to do what they like and the only reason Bethesda is involved is because they own the Fallout rights.

Maybe if they lock Tod Howard in a closet until it's released. lol

Todd (yes that is actually how his name is writien, I too was suprised) will play the main role obviously! It will just work! But if you want to watch more than the first 5 minutes of the show you will have to pay extra and than again for episode 2.

[Golden_Gonads]

The creators of West World are partnering with Bethesda to create a Fallout TV series for Amazon video.

I'm intrigued. Pessimistic, but intrigued. Now if they basically remade Fallout 1 as a series, I think it'd work well... For a strictly limited run, tell the story over a single season and that'd be it...
But they won't. It'll be another Vaultdweller in some random locale, spread over as many seasons as it gets sufficient viewers. Still, if nothing else the 50's based post-apocalypse will be nifty to see in live-action.

[fiksal]

This is when I am trying to remember a really good movie or TV series based on video game alone.

[pjknibbs]

This is when I am trying to remember a really good movie or TV series based on video game alone.

The highest scoring video-game based movie I can find on IMDB is Warcraft: The Beginning, which scores 6.8 out of 10. Given the way the IMDB scoring system works I'd call that strictly average, not "really good", but it's not terrible either. For comparison, the 2005 Doom movie gets 5.2.

[clakclak]

Germany has finished a new law that will make a few things illegal in the near future.

1. First it will illegal for people to take upskirt pictures without consent of the person who is being photographed. Previously holding your camera under someone elses skirt in public to take picutrues of their sex and or underwear was not a crime. Taking close up pictures of someone elses cleavage without their consent will also be illegal. So far doing either was just an "administrative offence" (Ordnungswidrigkeit) which is somewhat similar to a misdemeanor in the US, but usually punished less harshly. An example for another administrative offence would for example be crossing a red light while on foot.
2. It will be illegal to take pictures of victims of accidents. This probably has to do with a growing trend where people on the Highway system where slowly driving by victims of car accidents to take pictures, making it harder for rescuers to reach the spot. Not helping victims of an accident is already illegal in Germany.
3. Pictures that "display a dead person in a grossly offensive way" will also be banned, however I would strongly assume that there is some execptions for the purposes of journalism and science in there as if there aren't this law will most likely be struck down by the constitutional (supreme) court.

Related english language articel: https://www.thelocal.de/20200703/german ... -penalties

[fiksal]

Interesting, and make sense.
The last one for medical field does seem questionable.

BTW, are there nude beaches in Germany? I assume photography without consent is also illegal there? And come to think about it, also not legal on regular beaches?

This is when I am trying to remember a really good movie or TV series based on video game alone.

The highest scoring video-game based movie I can find on IMDB is Warcraft: The Beginning, which scores 6.8 out of 10. Given the way the IMDB scoring system works I'd call that strictly average, not "really good", but it's not terrible either. For comparison, the 2005 Doom movie gets 5.2.

Not a good track record. For some reason the game industry can't pull that off yet.

The one movie I personally liked that was vaguely based on the game - Resident Evil, and only the first one

[Vertigo 7]

Those movies fail so frequently because they take an IP that has no real story and the folks that write the scripts have little to no familiarity with the games. The end result is little more than a title and some scenery or props that bear a passing resemblance to the games themselves. They often don't even incorporate the iconic music present in the games, which I've never really understood.

Some of the closest screen adaptations I've seen would be like Forward Unto Dawn, based on Halo, with Nightfall being a close 2nd, and Final Fantasy 7 Advent Children.

But these things also tend to have small budget, so I imagine that would make things difficult on the producers to bring in more elements from the games to make it more inline with what we're used to from those IPs. Still, that doesn't excuse crappy story writing =p

[fiksal]

Those movies fail so frequently because they take an IP that has no real story and the folks that write the scripts have little to no familiarity with the games.

For sure people making them aren't fans or that familiar with the material.

Games often have stories but movie script writers feel they need to write new ones for a movie, rather than adapt.

Also I think there's lack of budget, which means less talent, more hasty production.

[clakclak]

Interesting, and make sense.
The last one for medical field does seem questionable.

BTW, are there nude beaches in Germany? I assume photography without consent is also illegal there? And come to think about it, also not legal on regular beaches?[...]

Photography in public is always a touchy subject in Germany. Generally speaking you can usually take picture of the entire beach without focusing on specific people sitting there, but you are not allowed to publish the pictures anywhere. With nude beaches there are probably specific other rules put in place by the people operating/owning the beach.

[BrasatoAlBarolo]

I'm not a Fallout fan, but there are so many tv shows on the "post apocalyptic survival" genre (some good, some bad) that I don't see how it can work, if not trying to get the fans on the hype train. And then suiciding with some crap choice.

Recently, I kinda liked The Witcher, even if you can argue is based more on novels that on a game. Not a masterpiece, but I found it pleasant to watch.

I agree with IMDB on the fact Warcraft is probably the best movie inspired on a videogame. But it was made by Blizzard, entirely. It's not like they asked somebody to write a script, somebody who doesn't even know what an orc is, possibly.

[Golden_Gonads]

This is when I am trying to remember a really good movie or TV series based on video game alone.

The only two good adaptations I can think of, are Mortal Kombat and Resident Evil. They don't clear the 'really good' bar though... Nothing else springs to mind.

[Alan Phipps]

I can think of several really, really bad video games based on films or TV series (and ultimately back to book series probably) though ...