Tag: publisher
Classic game publisher Sunsoft will try again
Publisher of Blaster Master, Batman, and others is reviving its retro back catalog
Australia’s top court rules Google isn’t a publisher
Google has prevailed in its long-running battle over potentially defamatory web links. Australia’s High Court has ruled Google wasn’t the publisher of a link to a 2004 story in The Age that allegedly tarnished state lawyer George Defteros, who represented people implicated in the Melbourne gangland killings and briefly faced charges himself. As The Guardianreports, five of seven court justices found that the search result link “merely facilitated access” to the story — Google didn’t play a part in writing or distributing the content.
The High Court also rebuffed Defteros’ claim that search results encouraged users to visit a story. Someone who found that link was already searching for relevant content, the justices said. Some of the justices said the case might have been different if it had been a sponsored link, but that Google’s appeal didn’t require an answer on the subject.
Defteros sued Google in 2016, accusing the company of defaming him. Google pulled the link in December that year, and lost its initial court fight, but tried to overturn the ruling by arguing that it could have been held liable for the content of any page it linked to — it was worried it would have to “act as censor” for the internet at large. The company didn’t succeed with that first appeal, and in 2020 a Victorian supreme court ordered that Defteros receive $40,000 in damages. Google asked the High Court to intervene in January.
The decision could a wide-ranging impact on internet firms operating in Australia. They might not have to worry that search queries or other automatically-generated links could get them into legal trouble. A complainant would have to show there was a deliberate attempt to promote an unflattering piece.
Catch up with news from THQ Nordic’s 2022 Digital Showcase and Publisher Sale
Yes, it’s getting towards the middle of August, but that doesn’t mean the big summer of game announcements is over yet – last night (August 12) we saw THQ Nordic take to the airwaves to show off a selection of new games, including a brand new Alone in the Dark reboot.
Founded in 2011, THQ Nordic is an Austrian video game publisher and developer that has been snapping up the rights to game properties and IP across the world, as well as funding its own studios to create new series. Developers like Black Forest Games, Bugbear Entertainment, Gunfire Games, HandyGames, Piranha Bytes, Purple Lamp Studios, Rainbow Studios and many more besides fit under the THQ Nordic umbrella, working on internationally renowned series like Wreckfest, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Destory All Humans!
The publisher is known for not just sticking to one style, too – whether you’re into motorsport, action-adventure, RPGs, or whatever else, there’s likely something you’ll be interested in coming from THQ Nordic. The publisher said itself that it wanted to “land a massive punch” with this showcase – and with Wreckreation and Alone in the Dark, it seems that mission was accomplished.