2013-03-18: Copyright is such a hassle. I've been contending with the music copyrights for sometime simply by replacing the audio. Now the likes of Square Enix, Nintendo, Tecmo and other big names are enforcing the "right" I have no desire to post. 6,800+ YouTube videos deleted. No more spending half my time preparing them and my computer spending all night uploading them, eeking out bandwidth restraints... What can I fill my time with? Playing second-hand main stream games and first-hand decent indie game purchases, of course!

2013-01-01: New year, some progress. YouTube postings resumed overnight from Christmas Eve to Day. My test environment has moved along significantly now that the storage processes have been completed. It feels like just the dynamic page creation remains but I'm bound to find something that is missing.


2012-06-26: Copyright both irks me and, at times, the enforcers of copyright confuse me. Yesterday, I was slapped with sanctions on YouTube from Zumba Fitness LLC (makers of Zumba Rush which I had posted two videos on my attempts). OK, they hold the copyright, no contest. OK, they wish to prevent mis-representation of their product.

I've had a sanction before courtesy of Cass County Music (I forget which song but it was on a Guitar Hero) and that was because I failed to remove the audio within a time period (early days of experiencing copyright issues through YouTube). YouTube gave me warning, I failed. Sanction deserved, no contest. Since then, any audio copyright placed against a posting of mine is soon altered (saves headaches in the long run) with a brief excerpt of Ludwig Van (film reference alert! Hint: fruity time keeping).

I've received a few visual copyright notifications from video game companies (Square Enix primarily but also two spurious ones from "Crispy Gamer" on House of the Dead: Overkill footage that I need to look into - doesn't seem right) and the notification requires me to do nothing but adverts may appear. Acknowledged, accepted, no contest.

So here's my acceptance of the current state of affairs, audio-wise: if audio is produced via YouTube, the likelihood is the entire IP is in that YouTube video and can be downloaded and ripped very easily (though because it is [b]so[/b] simple and prevalent I really don't understand why the music industry fights it [i]plus[/i] I don't agree with music copyright as they're all ripping each other off cushioned by a web of legality which ultimately leads to them all having just re-marketing music already in the public domain through classic composers long-dead). Anyway, as I was saying, I understand the entire audio IP can be obtained through such postings and so their defence of such is understandable.

Video-wise, however, I can understand FMV sequences being pursued (à la Square Enix's notifications I've received) in a similar vein as audio. However, when it comes to footage of video game play, I really struggle to understand how they have copyright over my performance of a legally-owned piece of software. Have I obtained written broadcast permissions? No but I'm sure fair use comes very much into play here (which, BTW, doesn't exist in the UK [b]but[/b] YouTube is governed by US policy, ergo US law applies). That's where I struggle but reluctantly accept.

Now here's where I take umbrage: Zumba Fitness LLC didn't slap a Copyright notice on me, they went straight for the Sanction. No pleasantries observed, videos removed immediately. If this had gone to court, I'd at least have been given a cease & desist before the content had disappeared.

Fair warning: don't post anything on YouTube that is either from Zumba Fitness LLC or Cass County Music. I'm now serving a self-imposed six month hiatus posting gaming footage on YouTube (which probably means no footage at all).

Oh, well, got some time to progress on writing this web site instead of dicing video footage. :D


2012-04-18: Progress! No, you won't see any but I have made some. This is what comes from writing your own non-SQL database engine. :) Over the top? Of course - I like a challenge.
2011-10-19: I'm fundamentally lazy and easily distracted by games... I've averaged probably about an hour each month on the site, so it's a little slow progressing, but progressing it is. :)
2011-03-29: OK, so I'm working on something... Probably won't see the light of day for another 6 months.
2011-03-20: I'm not entirely sure I can be bothered anymore. ;)