This is a classic hostage situation and as such, the question isn’t “what is the man in the middle supposed to do” but rather “how far can a hostage go in the assistance of their captor before it becomes aiding and abetting?”

Your argument relies on the idea that spending a lot of money on advantageous marketing has no impact on earnings, something that a whole industry exists to prove you wrong about. It’s not a complicated idea:

That actually wouldn’t change anything. The issue isn’t whether they rotoscoped him or not, but rather that he choreographed most of the dance they used and Japanese copyright history includes successful lawsuits over the use of choreography. As recent as last year, a case involving hula choreography found in favor of…

I’m sorry, good sir. You’ve overlooked my friend Winnie the Pooh who would very much enjoy being put in the running.

When those political views involve the cause of her death in a pretty direct and detrimental way, I think you’d be surprised. This wasn’t someone grasping at how “games are killing folks.” This was direct commentary on how the device used to kill her, intended to be lethal when used, is still not the central part of…

Boycotting Amazon for being shitty is just making you a hypocrite. Every company is shitty and exploitative. Unless you’re going to completely disengage from society, you’re just making arbitrary choices about what exploitation deserves your attention.

While I’m not at all surprised or upset to hear they are endorsing him, I find Warren to be a much more grounded candidate. Sanders has always struck me as chronically incapable of managing a compromise with anyone who doesn’t generally align with his democratic socialist perspective. It’s a shame, because most of…

I hate to break it to you, but accomplished doesn’t actually imply skill or training, only literal ability to have many accomplishments. That’s why it’s possible to be an accomplished idiot. You can debate her skills and training, but her accomplishments (as musicians are currently measured) are pretty unassailable.

You’re right. LeBron James has to worry that is current net worth of ~$450 million earned in a country that has generally given him greater latitude to speak his peace than any other in the world might be harmed if he failed to take a stance supporting an oppressive regime that have done serious injury to their own…

Please do not perpetuate that. Those of us who felt called to teach hate this trite phase more than almost anything else.

Let’s be clear: Being an idol is not simply “being a celebrity.” Porn stars are also “celebrities” but they understand that their fans are buying products based upon their sexual attraction to the porn star. Idols are in many ways a more wholesome take on porn. They are the “girlfriend experience” meets geisha. The gir…

I mean... yes but also that’s a major part of what being an idol is? I have opinions about if idols should exist at all (I don’t like them, I’d prefer they didn’t) but when you step into an established role... it is what it is. Feel free to work to change it, but don’t complain it wasn’t an understood part of the role…

Look, I don’t know her, her work, or her views. I’m not going to try and cast any aspersions on any of that. What I can say is that her use of race as a costume is problematic regardless of how she saw it because (A) At this point it’s well understood and respected to cosplay without trying to emulate the skin color…

Choosing to object to an American country with core values enshrining the importance of giving everyone a voice bending knee to a foreign power by stifling political dissidence is not a failure to address the issues inherent. Your whataboutery is not a call to arms, it’s just a dillution of the actionable stance…

Except that I imagine they’re about to have a fun time explaining to a court how this isn’t an unfair restraint of trade relying on an abuse of the trust implicit to the original contract for a new competitor (and therefore violating the Sherman Act). I’m assuming it’s bureaucratic nonsense that will resolve before it…

That’s correct, but sale pricing (to get a little economics heavy here) is largely a response to trying to capitalize on the supply/demand pricing curve... and the supply for a digital good is effectively infinite, meaning that normal sales principles do not apply to it correctly as it fails one of the most basic…

The problem is that physical stores have a clearly defined minimum price thanks to supplier costs, maintenance costs, facility costs, employee costs, and transporation. You can calculate that quite easily in most cases. Digital goods are an initial major investment followed by a recoup period with a good that can be…

We didn’t see 1-2 dollar games littering mobile for about two years after the real race began.

The truth is that there are whole businesses in Asia who developers may pay to purchase and review content positively for them. You can find them fairly easily with a bit of searching. When your success and visibility depends upon reviews, you’re often stuck in a Catch-22 system of “I’m only visible if people review…

Steam actually hasn’t had much in the way of rules since the removal of Steam Greenlight — pay $100, avoid anything that causes them public embarrassment or legal issues, and Steam largely leaves you alone. That’s a major part of why you hear so many complaints about the increase in shovelware and how the problem of…