Epic Games General Thread - Its time to talk about what the AAA gaming industry does not understand about the PC console.

[AnOminous]

This is very specifically a thing about software, not trade secrets in general. There is nothing protecting any programming legally as it's impossible to prove, and someone else might've just used the exact same methodology before.

That's an evidence problem, not a law problem.

You could prove it if there actually were evidence they somehow unlawfully obtained it.

If it's software released to the public, though, even if your source code is a "trade secret" there is absolutely nothing stopping anyone from reverse engineering it (using a "clean room design" process or not) and using whatever means are at your disposal to replicate it. Any exceptions to that would be patent and not copyright, and patents for processes can be tricky to enforce (and require you actually disclose the process so it could not be a trade secret).

The reason for clean room design is so that your actual coders are insulated from ever seeing the original source code, so if they somehow come up with exactly the same process, you can prove they didn't steal it, and couldn't have stolen it, because they never saw the original code anyway.

Again, it's still legal to do with or without clean room, but that makes it a lot more legally defensible because you can actually prove noninfringement as a defendant.

 

[ZehnBoat]

fyi there's a new free game on epic
gnog
it's a fun virtual toy/puzzle thing

 

[A.Shitposter]

I heard the reason Take Two sent the PI's was because he opened a discord and charged people to come in to talk about the BL3 leaks.

 

[CreamyHerman’s]

fyi there's a new free game on epic
gnog
it's a fun virtual toy/puzzle thing

Epic sucks, I don't care if they have big titty bitches there.

 

[BR55]

Has the entire game industry just collectively decided to become stupid, because anyone with even an Iota of a brain cell could see that basically torching some semi popular YouTuber over some video would be extremely bad PR.

Hating your customers and acting like an entitled shithead is in vogue now in the entertainment industry.
Just another lovely thing about Current Year+4.

 

[KanaPostsonKiwi]

You could prove it if there actually were evidence they somehow unlawfully obtained it.

Even then, that's tried as hacking/digital break & enter(yes, this term exists in some countries) or in some cases, bizarrely, theft. I remember a case where the theft term was applicable, but i cannot remember the details other than it was tried as theft for the reason that they wiped the system they accessed illegally after taking the desired data.

Software as itself isn't patentable for a plethora of reasons. So many have tried, but like you said that does (in most cases at the very least) undo the trade secret status. I remember in the early cases of programming becoming more commonplace. A time when people were wholesale trying to patent code, the case of the 10NES Lock chip which' source code Atari less-than-legally obtained from the patent office by claiming they had to use it in a court case (which didn't exist). The law said they did not violate copyright in taking or for that matter replicating the code, even if done so illegally, but in a bizarre twist also stated that the tiny bits of the code that didn't communicate with the NES were propietary, until proven they just existed in another, unrelated patent. That case eventually ended in a settlement.

The main issue with patentability is the infeasibility of it all. Let's say you're writing a high-level scripting language. It is then interpreted by a lower level language and turned into code that is, essentially, unknown to the person writing the script. In some cases this can be spread into two to three more layers down of separate machine instructions. Any of these layers may, upon examination, be a perfect replication of an existing software patent. Most of the programming languages have been around 60's and 70's to boot.

Essentially this means that even as a concept the patentability of coding methods is completely infeasible, and so is any kind of legal protection status, such as officially recognized "trade secret" status.

 

[ZehnBoat]

Epic sucks, I don't care if they have big titty bitches there.

oh they do suck
but i'm grabbing all the free shit i can
not giving them a dime

Hating your customers and acting like an entitled shithead is in vogue now in the entertainment industry.
Just another lovely thing about Current Year+4.

not only is acting toxic and entitled the in thing
but also turning around and calling other people toxic and entitled too

 

[AnOminous]

Even then, that's tried as hacking/digital break & enter(yes, this term exists in some countries) or in some cases, bizarrely, theft. I remember a case where the theft term was applicable, but i cannot remember the details other than it was tried as theft for the reason that they wiped the system they accessed illegally after taking the desired data.

There have actually been a lot of trade secret theft prosecutions under 18 U.S. § 1832 lately, many related to theft by agents of Chinese companies.

Software as itself isn't patentable for a plethora of reasons.

It is much less likely to be upheld now, but software patents still do exist and are occasionally upheld.

 

[CheezzyMach]

Hating your customers and acting like an entitled shithead is in vogue now in the entertainment industry.
Just another lovely thing about Current Year+4.

And then these same idiots will wonder why no one's buying their shit anymore.

 

[WhoBusTank69]

The dumpsterfire rises.

Epic hit with class-action suit over hacked Fortnite accounts
The suit was brought on behalf of those affected by a security gap in Epic’s log-in system
Epic Games is being sued over security breaches that allowed hackers to access the personal information of Epic Games accounts.
The class-action lawsuit, filed by Franklin D. Azar & Associates in U.S. District Court in North Carolina, alleges Epic’s “failure to maintain adequate security measures and notify users of the security breach in a timely manner.” The lawsuit states that “there are more than 100 class members.”
In January, Epic acknowledged that a bug in Fortnite may have exposed personal information for millions of user accounts. Check Point Researchers originally reported how the attacks were carried out:

By discovering a vulnerability found in some of Epic Games’ sub-domains, an XSS attack was permissible with the user merely needing to click on a link sent to them by the attacker. Once clicked, with no need even for them to enter any login credentials, their Fortnite username and password could immediately be captured the attacker.

Epic Games acknowledged and fixed the issue, but the suit alleges that the company has failed to notify affected users. “Epic Games has not yet directly informed or notified individual Fortnite users that their [personally identifiable information] may be compromised as a result of the breach,” the lawsuit says.
According to the filing, the plaintiff and anyone else affected by the breaches “have an ongoing interest in ensuring that their [personally identifiable information] is protected from past and future cybersecurity threats.”
Polygon reached out to Franklin D. Azar & Associates and Epic Games; the law firm has yet to respond and Epic Games declined to comment on the suit.

Epic hit with class-action suit over hacked Fortnite accounts - Polyg…

archived 10 Aug 2019 03:07:46 UTC

archive.fo

 

[vertexwindi]

The suit was brought on behalf of those affected by a security gap in Epic’s log-in system

Yeah, trust these guys with your passwords and financial details.

 

[Secret Asshole]

Yong Yea tried to equal this out with Steam's issues like, 3-4 years ago and it was pretty pathetic to see him try. I mean the nigger compared it to the error where you could accidentally see other people's purchase history and their e-mail on their account but not actually do anything malicious. And it was only for a short time. Epic's security has known to be shit for years. Ever since Fortnite was PvE. It hasn't changed.

The thing is you have to prove damages, so I don't think it will go anywhere. But Tim Sweeny is a faggot so I don't really care what happens to him and his shit company. Spending massive amounts of money on lawyers is fine with me.

Yeah, trust these guys with your passwords and financial details.

I've had Fortnite fishing attempts, had my Epic password changed on me by Epic because of breaches. Suspicious log-ins. Most of it ends up in my junk since I'm not installing that piece of shit, have no financial data on it, and have never played the non-PvE Fortnite.

Steam I haven't had a problem with except its two-factor is a pain in the dick. But its security is miles better than Epic.

 

[AnOminous]

The thing is you have to prove damages, so I don't think it will go anywhere.

It's a class action. All they have to do is get it certified as a class action and then beat on the defendant until they settle for a million zillion dollars for class action counsel and a few boxes of Cracker Jacks for the class members.

 

[Slap47]

The dumpsterfire rises.

Epic hit with class-action suit over hacked Fortnite accounts - Polyg…

archived 10 Aug 2019 03:07:46 UTC

archive.fo

Turns out that not having multi-factor authentication is retarded.

 

[Oh Shit I'm Sorry]

https://twitter.com/TimSweeneyEpic/status/1160763032236187654

lmao

 

[ZehnBoat]

View attachment 887637

https://twitter.com/TimSweeneyEpic/status/1160763032236187654

lmao

can't even do what valve was doing in 2004

 

[Tanner Glass]

View attachment 887637

https://twitter.com/TimSweeneyEpic/status/1160763032236187654

lmao

I can only imagine how long it would take to download Borderlands 3 at the same time as every other person who buys it on EGS.

Borderlands 2 and Pre Sequel are 10GB each, but considering that Borderlands 3 is a "new" game, the install should be a fair amount bigger - I'd put it at 20GB. Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen on release day.

I hope the bandwidth drain is so severe it starts fucking up Fortnite games.

 

[BrunoMattei]

I can only imagine how long it would take to download Borderlands 3 at the same time as every other person who buys it on EGS.

Borderlands 2 and Pre Sequel are 10GB each, but considering that Borderlands 3 is a "new" game, the install should be a fair amount bigger - I'd put it at 20GB. Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen on release day.

I hope the bandwidth drain is so severe it starts fucking up Fortnite games.

It'll effect dozens of downloads I'm sure.

 

[OmnipotentStupidity]

View attachment 887637

https://twitter.com/TimSweeneyEpic/status/1160763032236187654

lmao

Classic deal with the devil: you earn mountains of free money to complete your game, yet millions despise and lose access to ever playing your game upon its release.

(Seriously: did none of these fucks ever read "Something Wicked This Way Comes"?)

 

[CricketyCrikes]

I honestly don't get why people are so ass mad about EGS. If you don't like it, don't use it. Simple.
Even with the exclusivity deals, they're all temporary. Are people that autistic and lack that much discipline that they simply must buy a game the milisecond it comes out?

Maybe i'm just used to waiting for sales but i can't help but feel that the people getting super ass blasted about this are either autistic kids with no patience or complete sheep who religious follow every word of [insert generic gaming news channel here] .