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Tag Archives: Coast
Wizards Of The Coast Raids YouTuber’s House To Take Back Magic: The Gathering Cards [Update] – Kotaku Australia
- Wizards Of The Coast Raids YouTuber’s House To Take Back Magic: The Gathering Cards [Update] Kotaku Australia
- Magic ‘Raid’: Wizards of the Coast and Pinkertons Update Gizmodo
- Wizards Of The Coast Has Reportedly Used Pinkertons Multiple Times TheGamer
- Card game makers sent private detectives to raid YouTuber’s house after he streamed unreleased version New York Post
- Wizards Of The Coast Reportedly Threatens Jail Time Against Player Who Was Accidentally But Legally Sold Upcoming Magic: The Gathering Set Ahead Of Official Street Date Bounding Into Comics
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Wizards of the Coast sends Pinkerton agents after YouTuber who unboxed a leaked Magic: The Gathering card set – Boing Boing
- Wizards of the Coast sends Pinkerton agents after YouTuber who unboxed a leaked Magic: The Gathering card set Boing Boing
- Magic ‘Raid’ Wasn’t the First Time Wizards of the Coast Hired Pinkertons Gizmodo
- Wizards Of The Coast Has Reportedly Used Pinkertons Multiple Times TheGamer
- Magic: The Gathering Fan: Pinkertons Threatened Jail Over Cards Kotaku
- Wizards Of The Coast Reportedly Threatens Jail Time Against Player Who Was Accidentally But Legally Sold Upcoming Magic: The Gathering Set Ahead Of Official Street Date Bounding Into Comics
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Cocaine Colombia: Colombian Navy seizes drug-smuggling submarine with 2 bodies, 3 tons of cocaine off Pacific coast – WLS-TV
- Cocaine Colombia: Colombian Navy seizes drug-smuggling submarine with 2 bodies, 3 tons of cocaine off Pacific coast WLS-TV
- Submarine with 2 bodies, 3 tons of cocaine seized in the Pacific Ocean off Colombia CBS News
- Ghost submarine with $87.7 million of cocaine and two bodies aboard seized off coast of Colombia New York Post
- Mystery as submarine with $87m worth of cocaine and two dead bodies found off coast of Colombia The Independent
- Watch: Narco submarine containing 3.6 tonnes of cocaine and two dead bodies seized The Telegraph
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Wizards of the Coast Breaks Their Silence on the Dungeons & Dragons Open Game License
Wizards of the Coast, the Hasbro subsidiary that publishes Dungeons & Dragons, revealed details of its new Open Game License on Friday and attempted to answer questions about the future of the D&D community that were raised after io9 broke the news about the contents of a draft of the document last week.
A leaked copy of an updated “OGL 1.1,” received and reported on by io9 last week, outlined restrictions on third-party publishers including a 25 percent royalty payout for revenues over $750,000, and a copyright clause that appeared to cede ownership of content over to Wizards of the Coast (WotC). All of these concerns were taken up online, as D&D fans, content creators, and third-party publishers responded to the report with concern. Several prominent game publishers announced plans to stop creating new licensed content to focus on their own systems.
The update from Wizards of the Coast says; “the next OGL will contain the provisions… [so that it] covers only content for TTRPGs. That means that other expressions, such as educational and charitable campaigns, livestreams, cosplay, VTT-uses, etc., will remain unaffected by any OGL update. Content already released under 1.0a will also remain unaffected.”
This seems to imply that the Fan Content License, which was previously mentioned in the OGL 1.1 draft as continuing under the new licensing agreement, will be used to protect Wizards from fan content like Actual Play podcasts and videos. The fact that they are also saying that VTTs will be unaffected is a significant change, as earlier editions stated that “non-static” media would be disallowed under the new OGL 1.1. This is likely a massive relief to numerous companies that are working on creating and innovating in the VTT space, but without the fully updated OGL, there are no rock-solid assurances yet.
Another announcement is the fact that any updated OGL “will not contain is any royalty structure.” This is a huge change from the previous iterations, which had a tiered royalty structure that required all commercial projects to report to Wizards of the Coast. One of the reasons for this change seems to be the response that people had to the language about copyright and ownership in the OGL 1.1. The update says, “any language we put down will be crystal clear and unequivocal on that point. The license back language was intended to protect us and our partners from creators who incorrectly allege that we steal their work simply because of coincidental similarities.”
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The announcement goes on to include the expansive IP projects that Wizards is taking on—a movie, a television series, and digital games. It’s clear that Wizards of the Coast cares much more about protecting the cultural currency of Dungeons & Dragons before they think about anything else—including fans, content creators, and third-party publishers.
While the updated OGL 2.0 isn’t going to be released today, it will be coming. There will be no backing down entirely for Wizards of the Coast. They’ve committed too much time, money, and effort into their IP to allow it to be written off totally under the OGL 1.0(a) and the suits in Hasbro will not allow everyone to make off with their name and numbers.
Additionally, the final thing to note about this update is that Wizards of the Coast is doing some incredible spin doctoring in order to lay the groundwork to try to salvage the situation that they find themselves in. The company would love for you to think that this is all part of the plan, but none of this was part of any plan.
The drafts that io9 received were not a thought experiment. They were intended to gauge a reaction, but from individual publishers that Wizards could silence with an NDA, not from the public at large. For all intents and purposes, the OGL 1.1 that was leaked to the press was supposed to go forward. Wizards has realized that they made a mistake and they are walking back numerous parts of the leaked OGL 1.1, saying that, “any change this major could only have been done well if we were willing to take that feedback, no matter how it was provided–so we are.”
However Wizards wants to spin it, the fact is that if hundreds of thousands of fans hadn’t said something on Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and Reddit, the current capitulation would have most likely happened after the OGL 1.1 was released. “Finally,” Wizards of the Coast ends their statement, “we’d appreciate the chance to make this right… We won’t let you down.” It may be too late for that.
[Editor’s Note: This article is a breaking news story, and the information cited on this page will change as the story unfolds. Our writers are updating this article as new information is released.]
Want more io9 news? Sign up for our newsletter to get the most up-to-date reporting on D&D and the OGL. Or check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
Move over polar bears, there’s another top predator along the Arctic coast
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In coastal ecosystems around the Arctic peninsula, polar bears have long been considered the top predators. But a new study suggests that sea stars could be surprising contenders to rival the famous white bears at the summit of the local food web.
A food web is a sprawling map of ecological connections that combines all the different food chains within an ecosystem. Individual food chains contain primary producers, which derive energy from the sun or by recycling dead organic material; primary consumers that graze upon the primary consumers; and then secondary or tertiary consumers that prey upon all the consumers beneath them. But the organisms in one food chain can also have a place in another, or multiple others, so the best way to see how an ecosystem functions is to link these chains together.
In marine food webs, researchers often focus on pelagic, or open water, food chains that contain tiny, surface-dwelling plankton all the way up to large predators such as polar bears (Ursus maritimus), which often sit at the top of multiple food chains. But the seafloor, or benthic, realm is often overlooked in marine food webs because scientists believed it has no real top predators of its own.
But in a new study, published Dec. 27, 2022, in the journal Ecology (opens in new tab), researchers took a more in-depth look at a coastal marine ecosystem in the Canadian Arctic and found that the benthic component of the region’s food web had been majorly underappreciated. The research team created a detailed map of the various food chains surrounding Southampton Island, in the mouth of Hudson Bay in Canada’s Nunavut territory, and found that the benthic part of the web had just as many connections as its pelagic counterpart, as well as its own equivalent of the polar bear — predatory sea stars.
Related: Swarm of rainbow-colored starfish devour sea lion corpse on seafloor
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“It’s a shift in our view of how the coastal Arctic marine food web works,” study lead author Rémi Amiraux (opens in new tab), a marine ecologist at Laval University in Canada who was with the University of Manitoba when the study was conducted, said in a statement (opens in new tab). “We proved that the wildlife inhabiting the seawater and those inhabiting the sediment form two distinct but interconnected subwebs.”
The researchers analyzed data on 1,580 individual animals living in the Southampton Island coastal ecosystem to create the new food web. They found that the benthic and pelagic components each had a similar number of steps, or trophic levels, in their respective food chains.
Sea stars were a key part of the benthic food web, occupying various trophic levels, but one family, Pterasteridae, was consistently at the top of most individual food chains. The researchers discovered that these sea stars feed on a range of secondary consumers including bivalves, a group of mollusks whose bodies are protected by a hinged shell, sea cucumbers and sponges. This means Pterastidae sea stars were hunting on an equivalent scale to polar bears, which preyed upon walruses, gulls, beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) and ringed seals (Pusa hispida). The key difference between the polar bears and sea stars was the size of their prey.
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In addition to being among the most successful predators in the entire ecosystem, the Pterasteridae sea stars and polar bears also shared the ability and willingness to scavenge, which researchers believe has enabled both groups to thrive in the Arctic.
The sea stars opportunistically fed on dead pelagic organisms that sank to the seafloor, meaning they had to hunt less often. Similarly, polar bears can scavenge on whales that wash up dead, which can sustain them for weeks or even months, researchers wrote in the study.
The team believes that the new findings highlight the importance of seafloor food chains in many other marine food webs. Pterasteridae sea stars are found in almost all marine ecosystems, and if they are as successful elsewhere as they are in the Arctic, they could turn out to be one of the ocean’s most successful predators, researchers wrote.
SpaceX set to launch Falcon Heavy rocket from Florida’s Space Coast this weekend
SpaceX is planning to launch a Falcon Heavy rocket this weekend.
The Kennedy Space Center is preparing for its next rocket launch on Saturday.
Watch: SpaceX Dragon seen burning through the sky over Central Florida before splashdown
SpaceX is set to launch around 5 p.m. from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
On board the rocket will be satellites and other equipment for the U.S. Space Force.
Watch: SpaceX launches Falcon Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
People in the area will hear two sonic booms after the launch as two of the rocket’s boosters are set to land near Cape Canaveral Space Force station.
Channel 9 will have live coverage of the launch on Eyewitness News.
Read: Russia will launch new capsule to return space station crew
Click here to download the free WFTV news and weather apps, click here to download the WFTV Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
Start-up fails first launch as rocket explodes off Alaska’s coast
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A rocket operated by a California-based start-up failed near the coast of Alaska Tuesday, marking yet another mishap for companies hoping to offer their services to launch scores of small satellites into orbit.
The privately held ABL Space Systems attempted to launch its RS1 rocket at 1:27 p.m. local time (5:27 p.m. ET) in Alaska. But the company confirmed shortly after that there was an “anomaly,” an aerospace term for an issue or misstep, and the rocket “shut down prematurely.”
“This is not the outcome we were hoping for today, but one that we prepared for. We’ll revert with additional information when available,” the company said in a tweet. “Thanks to all for the support.”
The mission was aiming to carry two small satellites to orbit for OmniTeq, which recently spun off its space division. The company signed an agreement for ABL’s first launch in 2021 when it was still operating under the name L2 Aerospace.
ABL’s launch attempt on Tuesday was the second failure in two days for a burgeoning new industry: ABL is one among a long list of companies pursuing the same market — offering relatively cheap and easy access to launch services for operators of small satellites, which in years past have had to wait for extra room to open up aboard larger rockets.
On Monday, Virgin Orbit, a direct competitor of ABL attempting to launch its first mission out of the United Kingdom, acknowledged that its air-launched rocket failed to reach orbit.
The core of the business model propped up by companies like ABL and Virgin Orbit is offering frequent rides to space and making the process more responsive to the needs of small satellite companies, including those that are essentially building massive constellations of satellites in low-Earth orbit for a variety of purposes, such as providing space-based internet or monitoring Earth’s climate and resources.
These small spacecraft include SmallSats, which are as big as a family-size kitchen fridge, and a popular subset of SmallSats called CubeSats, which are standardized, miniature satellites that can be smaller than a shoebox.
The start-ups build rockets that are much smaller than SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, for example. But so far, the new class of smaller rockets have not proven to be as reliable as their larger counterparts. Nearly every start-up in the industry has suffered at least one launch failure.
In a packed field, ABL was hoping to join a short list of US-based ventures that have notched at least one successful mission. The first, in 2018, was Rocket Lab, which so far has more than two dozen successful launches and three failures. Start-ups Astra and Firefly have also delivered satellites to orbit — as well as suffered setbacks.
Those companies may soon be joined by yet another start-up, Relativity, which currently has its first rocket poised at a launch site in Florida.
While all these rockets dedicated to launching small satellites are taking off, they do face competition from larger rockets that have started catering certain services to the same market. SpaceX, for example, started a SmallSat “rideshare” business in 2019 with its hefty Falcon 9 rocket, and the company so far has launched six missions dedicated to small satellites for various customers.
The failed ABL launch Monday comes after the first few attempts to get its RS1 rocket off the ground in December came up short. The company worked through several technical problems, including a faulty sensor and a couple pressurization issues, to get the RS1 ready for Tuesday’s flight attempt.
Wizards of the Coast OGL Change Draws Ire From Creators and Fans Alike: ‘It’s Not Right’
The tabletop industry looks to be undergoing a seismic shift based on leaked documents showing that Wizards of the Coast intends to implement a more restricted Open Gaming License (OGL) agreement.
According to a recent Gizmodo report, Hasbro subsidiary Wizards of the Coast is poised to revoke its longstanding OGL, which allows for third-party publishers and fans to create D&D content using their game rules. For over 20 years, this license has empowered countless creators to make and distribute their own D&D content using tools like Kickstarter, and has allowed large publishers like Paizo, creators of Pathfinder, to become titans of the tabletop space in their own right.
Reportedly, the new license, called OGL 1.1, makes numerous revisions to the D&D policy, including adding a requirement that all creators register any products they’re selling with Wizards of the Coast. The new agreement also introduces a new 20-25% royalty to be paid to Wizards by license-users making an excess of $750,000 in a year while giving Wizards a “non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, sub-licensable, royalty-free license” to use content created using OGL for any purpose. The new agreement would force all creators to adopt OGL 1.1 despite the current version’s explicit language that a move like that could never be forced upon creators.
Wizards of the Coast responds: “The OGL is not going away”
After rumors regarding these changes began appearing online last month, Wizards of the Coast responded to online backlash from fans by issuing a statement on their D&D forum.
“The OGL is not going away,” Wizards of the Coast wrote. “You will still be able to create new D&D content, publish it anywhere, and game with your friends and followers in all the ways that make this game and community so great. The thousands of creators publishing across Kickstarter, DMsGuild, and more are a critical part of the D&D experience, and we will continue to support and encourage them to do that through One D&D and beyond.”
But the leaked draft of OGL 1.1 seems to tell a very different story – one aimed at obstructing competitors like Green Ronin Games, which sells numerous products that utilize OGL.
If I publish under the OGL 1.1, by the letter of the agreement, WotC could republish all my writing at their discretion. It’s not right.
“
In OGL 1.1, Wizards states “the Open Game License was always intended to allow the community to help grow D&D and expand it creatively. It wasn’t intended to subsidize major competitors, especially now that PDF is by far the most common form of distribution.” With D&D alternatives like Pathfinder enjoying enormous popularity in recent years, Wizards is increasingly interested in reigning in the OGL.
The changes to WOTC’s OGL come amid increased pressure to increase revenue from parent company Hasbro. Just last month, CEO Cynthia Williams described D&D as being “really under monetized” during a digital event with investors, and expressed an interest in unlocking “the type of recurring spending you see in digital games.” These statements came immediately following a dip in Hasbro stock after analysts criticized their handling of Magic: The Gathering.
The leaked document gained additional credibility when Kickstarter Director of Games Jon Ritter, tweeted, “Kickstarter was contacted after WoTC decided to make OGL changes, so we felt the best move was to advocate for creators, which we did. Managed to get lower % plus more being discussed. No hidden benefits / no financial kickbacks for KS. This is their license, not ours, obviously.”
The lower percentage Ritter refers to is the perplexing 5% reduction in royalty payments offered to projects funded through the crowdsourcing platform, all but confirming the rumored OGL 1.1 changes.
Reached for comment by IGN, Wizards of the Coast declined to comment further and pointed toward its statement on D&D Beyond.
Kickstarter was contacted after WoTC decided to make OGL changes, so we felt the best move was to advocate for creators, which we did. Managed to get lower % plus more being discussed. No hidden benefits / no financial kickbacks for KS. This is their license, not ours, obviously. https://t.co/jHwX1JQKXM
— Jon Ritter (@jonritter) January 5, 2023
“It’s not right”
Now, with details of the draft of OGL 1.1 out in the open, fans and creators alike are sounding the alarm. Pat Mooney, the Lead Designer at Flagbearer Games told IGN, “The most painful part of the new OGL is the clause that gives WotC the right to use any of my content, in perpetuity, royalty-free. I’m planning to Kickstart a sourcebook on the American Revolution in the spring.”
He went on to write, “More than half of my book will be “fluff,” or worldbuilding, history, and other narrative content that has nothing to do with rolling a die. Yet if I publish under the OGL 1.1, by the letter of the agreement, WotC could republish all my writing at their discretion. It’s not right.”
Nerd Immersion, a YouTuber and creator of D&D content through use of OGL, told IGN, “If this continues I could see a rise in popularity of other non-D&D and non-OGL RPGs. I also wouldn’t be surprised if several of the creators who are frustrated by these changes end up designing a new, replacement RPG system…similar to how 4e and the Game System License lead to the creation of Pathfinder using the original OGL.”
Some publishers, like publisher MCDM which makes supplements for D&D, remain optimistic, saying to fans via Twitter, “Regarding the OGL 1.1, MCDM has taken advice from counsel and we don’t think it affects the development of Flee, Mortals! If/when other products are affected, we’ll let the community know.”
Tyler A. Thompson, an attorney who represents games publishers Sad Fishe Games and Prudence Holdings (both of which rely on OGL), wrote in a letter to Wizards that “creators are not going to be bullied,” and that if Wizards would not clarify the planned changes in OGL 1.1, his clients “will be forced to begin preparation for litigation to the fullest extent allowable by law, including to contact major and minor publishers to join in a potential claim against Wizards for anticipatory breach and other claims.”
Time will tell if the leaked draft of OGL 1.1 will see the light of day, as Wizards is apparently “open to being convinced we made a wrong decision.” After all, it wouldn’t be D&D without a DM asking “Are you sure?” before making a choice that completely upends the game.
Travis Northup is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @TieGuyTravis and read his games coverage here.
D&D maker Wizards of the Coast has reportedly canceled at least 5 games
Dungeons & Dragons publisher Wizards of the Coast has canceled at least five unannounced video game projects, according to a new report from Bloomberg.
The publisher, which also makes Magic: The Gathering and is part of the Hasbro toy conglomerate, has made no secret of its ambition to become a major player in video gaming in recent years, establishing and buying development studios, hiring creatives, and signing deals. It now seems that it’s scaling back on those plans somewhat.
In a statement to Bloomberg, a Wizards of the Coast spokesperson said it was still “committed to using digital games,” and had “made some changes to our long-term portfolio to focus on games which are strategically aligned with developing our existing brands and those which show promise in expanding or engaging our audience in new ways.” In other words, only those projects with the best chance of success have survived the cull.
Fewer than 15 people will lose their jobs at Wizards of the Coast, the company said — but Bloomberg said the cancellations could have a bigger impact at external studios working on games for the company.
It’s not clear exactly which projects have been canceled. Bloomberg mentions the external studios Otherside Entertainment and Hidden Path Entertainment, both working on games for Wizards of the Coast, plus two further external projects and one internal game that were early in development. However, Hidden Path narrative director Whitney ‘Strix’ Beltrán said in a tweet that the studio’s D&D game is still in development, and that it is actively hiring for the project.
Polygon has requested comment from Wizards of the Coast, Otherside, and Hidden Path.
Given the small scale of the layoffs, the cancellations won’t have a major effect on the internal studios Wizards of the Coast has been building to realize its ambitions in video games, some of them with top talent. In October 2022, the company announced that Tuque Games, the developer of its 2021 release Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance, was rebranding as Invoke Studios and working on a “AAA” D&D game.
In the last two years, Wizards of the Coast has also announced the foundation of two studios in Austin, Texas, both led by ex-BioWare talent: Skeleton Key and Archetype Entertainment.
Despite the scale of its investment in video games, Wizards of the Coast has made few releases and announcements. Aside from Dark Alliance, which met with a middling reception, and also Magic: The Gathering Online and Magic: The Gathering Arena, the only other game on the company’s public slate is Baldur’s Gate 3 from Larian Studios, developer of the Divinity games. Sequel to a pair of D&D-derived classics from the late 1990s and early 2000s, Baldur’s Gate 3 has been well received in early access, and is due to reach its full release version in August this year.
Update: This story now clarifies that both Magic: The Gathering Online and Arena are currently active.
Update (Jan. 6): The status of Hidden Path’s Dungeons & Dragons game remains unclear. On Thursday, the developer tweeted from its official account that “our epic D&D project with Wizards is still happening!” However, Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier responded, insisting that his reporting was accurate and that a Wizards of the Coast spokesman had confirmed that the project was canceled, both before and after the statement from Hidden Path.
This is a very unusual and very unfortunate situation, but we stand by our reporting. Both a source and a Wizards of the Coast spokesperson told Bloomberg on Tuesday that Hidden Path’s D&D game is cancelled. https://t.co/5RgFsXUrxU
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) January 6, 2023