We live in a world where games can be taken to court for their graphics not being good enough, and Killzone: Shadow Fall is one such release. Those of you with sharp memories may recall the Guerrilla Games developed PlayStation 4 exclusive being sued to the tune of $5 million because its multiplayer employed a "temporal upscale" solution. This meant that its advertised "native 1080p" image actually dropped to 960x1080 – although it even took sites like Digital Foundry a little while to notice.
True, you could argue that Sony was being misleading here – but we reckon that taking the company to court is a touch harsh, especially seeing as the game looks great across the board. It's fortunate, then, that Courthouse News is reporting that Judge Edward Chen "signed a joint stipulation that dismisses lead plaintiff Douglas Ladore's lawsuit with prejudice". Both parties will have to pay their own legal costs, and there are no details pertaining to the exact nature of the settlement, but this is the end of the story.
The consequence of all this is that you're now going to hear terminology like "targeting native 1080p" a lot more than you used to. Trust us: listen to official broadcasts such as the PlayStation Blogcast, where that phrase has become increasingly more common since all of this nonsense started.
[source courthousenews.com, via eurogamer.net]
Comments 10
The people involved in this legal action seriously need to take a look at their priorities in life. I mean, there's so many things to get on your high horse and campaign about - slightly under specced graphics in a computer game really should be very low on that list...
First world problems
@professorhat that's not what Yoda would say
The pathetic nerds who try to sue game companies over this kind of petty stuff make all of us look like the closeted, basement-dwelling, ultra-losers that deserve to be mocked. Sony should counter-sue for having their time and money wasted getting this dismissed.
Silly...it didnt actually state "native 1080p" on the game box, only 1080p which it kinda was(single player was, mp almost was but it had to fill in the missing pixels) Sony didn't lie...just kinda misled people..a bit. A lot of gamers have been applauding Ladore for standing up to an "evil" corporation but in reality just a bit of a loser with a half baked idea trying to have his 15mins and get rich quick..wish Sony could counter sue...lol it wouldn't have even made it to court in UK, he would have been laughed at.
And let's be honest, can anyone think of a big company that doesn't lie/mislead people...very very few and far between
I'm going to go home and play Killzone now and enjoy the game for the piece of art that it is.
Joke from day one, Killzone's a great game (the only game I have a physical copy of). With all the suffering in the world it's amazing this loser wasn't laughed outta court in the first place, total waste of money.
The sad thing is, the parties almost certainly agreed to a settlement, and the plaintiff will get some money to just go away. A dismissal with prejudice means that the lawsuit can never be refiled, and a stipulation means that both parties agreed to it. This is standard language for a negotiated settlement. The defense probably just offered less than it would have cost them to take it to trial, even it they had won. Source: I practiced law for 7 years as an insurance defense litigator.
I didn't want the guy to win but I hope this encourages more honesty in game publishing/development even if only to avoid future frivolous cases.
Microsoft are always misleading people(just look at their last UK X1 TV advert) but seem to always get away with it :-/
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