The Giant Beastcast: Episode 77

I'm guessing someone's already written in informing them that Jefferson Starship is part of the Star Wars canon, right?

Fuckin' Holiday Special.

You know what? Just keep smoking those death sticks, buddy.

Hey, can we talk about Wayne's World for a second, in response to that marketing doc?

Like, first of all, who in the world pictures Wayne and Garth when they think about stereotypical "geeks". Like, Garth, MAYBE. But that's super weird.

Secondly, is "Game on" a phrase people only know from that movie? Is it just because I'm Canadian and it was already a part of my greater culture? Also, it's associated with hockey, not video games. They are playing Hockey in that movie.

IN FACT, the "Game on, game off" in reference to that scene just makes me think about repeatedly starting and stopping something. Which is the exact OPPOSITE of what an energy drink is supposed to make you think of! You should be NEVER stopping!

I think I'm going insane.

Nice

Look, I'm a European, so I'm an outsider, but American presidential elections have a huge knock-off effect on the rest of the world. And I do have something against Trump being President - he has courted white supremacists, which will work as a clarion call to the extreme right uprisings we already were seeing in Europe. It will embolden them. Europe was already weakened by Brexit, and this will weaken it even further, especially towards Putin's Russia. We're moving towards a real possibility of war in Europe again, and war means something completely different now than in the 1940s.

And I'm sure most of the people who voted for Trump aren't racists, but I do think he is, and most of his proposed administration are. The effect is the same.

(Sorry, this is very political, and just my opinion as an outsider.. ;) )

Thank you! Feelin' better.

Isn't it a little unfair to ask left wing people to be inclusive towards a side of politics whose entire campaign was based on shitting on minority groups? I don't think it's really on the left to try and make peace.

GB is always pretty shy about talking about politics because it can only serve to alienate segments of the audience, though. Also getting too political can make comment sections pretty nasty.

So happy to hear Mama Bakalar is doing better. Best way to start a new Beastcast.

Those marketing pitches were exactly what I needed to get through this week.

Ah so good to hear them talk about copyright and get it right! So I am an intellectual property lawyer and I can say that they are completely correct in that if you don't prosecute people using your trademarks or copyrights you loose the right to do so. The defense is called laches and it can be a pain. May end up being changed as the Supreme Court is looking at it currently. Now I think they could buy it or hire the people and have them design something - that would just happen to look exactly look like what they already made. (Law is great you think YOU split hairs....let me tell you about splitting hairs)..

@zaldar: Any chance that it could fall under the "commentary/transformative work" clause (that LPers rely on) as long as they don't charge anything for the game?

@bivvle: I hope you play Mass Effect until you die.

@alistercat: http://www.earglasses.com/

Copyright does not expire because you failed to protect it. It's damn near impossible in the US to get copyright to expire, thanks to Disney's attempts to keep Mickey Mouse. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Term_Extension_Act) You CAN lose trademarks by having them become generic terms, and Wikipedia has a list of cases where that happened.(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generic_and_genericized_trademarks) I'm not sure how the trademark issue applies to media but I would like to point out that SEGA doesn't take down sonic the hedgehog fangames and is even working with people in that community on Sonic Mania and that's still a SEGA property.

Amazing how close I feel to these guys. I care about both of them. I guess I care about all the guys and Austin and Patrick in a way that surprises me a little.

I realize I know more about Jeff's Mom and Alex's mom than I do some of my friend's parents.Glad to know Jeffs Mom is improving and that she has so much love and support. Knowing Alex's mom was a dancer explains a lot about his career path in the arts, that his parents were supportive for that and not just making him go to college and a career he didn't want.

I'm going to rectify my lack of knowledge about my friends by asking them more about their family life growing up. I haven't thought of that much before.

My mom was a lawyer at a huge firm before we were born. She randomly drops stuff about Supreme Court cases she helped litigate over the years. It's always a surprise. Not the same asTommy and The Who but who can compare.

@skanker: Thats why I believe that a Trump presidency may be an OK thing. Hes not in the position he wanted to place himself in and saw the Race more about an boost of his Ego more so than everything else. Now hes all about beating around the Bush (heh) he has to do in order to not fuck up like the last GOP Pres did financially. I even doubt that he believes that stuff like his "Build dat Wall" promise even holds any sort of merit anymore. I believe it when I see it.

I do have quite a lot of worries about random assholes feeling validated that Pres Trump means something to push back against blacks, other minorities or just people who have a less hostile opinion about the matter, though. Its time for everyone to make a push against those assholes, People here do that all the time. The worst thing the Left did is rediculing them, I'd say people should take every form of hate very, very seriously.

@alex: @vinny: I'll write this in as a correction as well, because copyright law is misunderstood nearly 100% of the time on the internet, and clearing that up for more people will be helpful.

To start: No, copyrights do not need to be defended. You own that copyright for the entire length that the copyright is active. It can't be hijacked under any circumstances. The only thing that can happen is if you do not litigate against copyright violations, is you may be awarded lesser damages than if you vigorously defended every violation.

So as a business you have to weigh the cost of defending every infringement and getting more money, or defending few and getting less. Most find it to be a wash.

Another thing you mentioned in regards to the gentleman that brought up the "Why not grant permission" email was that you need to litigate in lieu of granting consent. That is again not the case. Giving consent is a way to defend your copyright without the need to litigate. By acknowledging the creation, and giving formal, legal consent is as good as spending $5m defending it in court. It is recognized in most circuits as a defense, so you don't have to worry about losing potential damages in future efforts of litigation.

The thing that is mostly required to defend at every turn is trademarks. Those can be hijacked by the more well known party if they are using it regularly.

Here is where Nintendo (and others) sending C&Ds to fan remakes is just them being a bully: If Nintendo wants damages from someone creating a remake, they need to prove in civil court that the remake is creating competition, consumers are being confused, the creator is making money off of trademark infringement, that Nintendo has been damaged by the infringing property, and that the infringement is intentional.

Obviously the infringement is intentional, but proving all of the others on the limited reach that fan remakes have, is basically impossible. Especially when the fan remakes are being released for free. You straight up can not prove the infringement was done to make money when zero money is being made.

Again, consent is an option, and quite frankly, the best option for situations like this. Small, one off fan remakes, even if terrible, can't damage the brand to any measurable amount. Nintendo knows this. They are bullying those creators because like Alex said, they have to be kings of their castle. But they don't realize that a king needs his court, and disenfranchising people over simple things like fan remakes is a good way to get the populace to turn against you.

So, again: Consent is good, in all facets of life.

It's on both sides to be inclusive and not go to extremes in their reactions.

It's the greatest time to be American.

Alex's reaction nailed it! 'just why the f**k would you do that!!!'

Loved it!

Special thanks to Jeff Bakalar who defends my rights to buttstomp Goomba's on this site.

Ah, Nuprin. Little. Yellow. Different.

Great episode this week. Once again, thanks GB family for helping us get through difficult times.

Del Taco is great, goddammit!

(at least here in Metro Detroit, I can't speak for the ones on the West Coast)

Del Taco is great, goddammit!

(at least here in Metro Detroit, I can't speak for the ones on the West Coast)

Can you really name 10 Wii U games absolutely worth playing/owning?

I've got:

1. Bayonetta
2. Mario Kart 8
3. Wind Waker HD
4. Pikmin 3
5. Super Mario Land 3D (does anyone feel that strongly about this?)
6. Mario Maker (which I personally find highly subjective based on reverence for those games)
7. Splatoon (except what's the MP population like at this point; is it worth it SP only?)
8. Smash Bros (again, considering this as SP only, is it really worth it?)

Three of these are fairly conditional on either fellow players or an operating network infrastructure (Mario Maker). To be honest, I'd really only universally recommend the first 3.

That marketing email was...something else.

I love when any form of metal music gets brought up on this show.

I think Mikael Akerfeldt (lead dude of Opeth) is an amazing example of someone who has been able to do the deep, growling vocals while also have a soothing, clean voice - and he's been doing it for many years now.

@sweetz: Xenoblade Chronicles X, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, New Super Mario Bros. U, Pokkén Tournament, Pushmo World, FAST Racing Neo

That marketing segment made me curl up in to a cringing fetal position so tightly that I may never come out of it.

I wish Minnesota would get them... i love me some Del Taco.

I'm not sure how much good it does to say "we won't say which convenience store so you don't get in any trouble", when only ONE convenience store is carrying the drink you guys read the name of several times since it was reintroduced....

Alex has the coolest mom ever.