EA Sports vs. Former NCAA Player

Once again the video game industry is coming under fire. This time the sport game giant EA Sports finds itself locked in a lawsuit with former NCAA football player Sam Keller. This lawsuit is over compensation that Keller believes he should have received for being featured in "NCAA Football 08".

EA Sports shares undisclosed royalties with the NCAA for use of college stadiums, team names and uniforms and the players' image. EA Sports protects the college players by not using their names in the games. Instead of names EA Sports simply uses the players numbers to differentiate the players from one another. The players used in these games do not receive any money because they are considered amateurs and to maintain amateur status one cannot receive money for playing. Keller believes that him and many other former players should receive a large amount of money for the use of their images in these games. In an interview about the lawsuit Keller said;

"When you are playing, you are kind of naive to the idea that you are being taken advantage of because you are so caught up in playing college football," Keller also said "They are making billions off of our images."

 This case gained power when the court ruled against EA Sports saying that the company did not do a good enough job of transforming the players image. Judge Wilken said that EA's argument that the players name was removed was not good enough. She explained that removing the players name was not enough because it was still obvious who the nameless player was. EA Sports and the NCAA are now teamed up with the Hollywood Studios and have appealed this ruling. (Here is a link to the story Appeals court hears argument,,,)

I understand Wilken's decision to rule against EA Sports and the NCAA but I do not agree with the ruling. EA Sports has the rights to use the player's images and should not have to change anything about these players. I also believe that Keller has no right to be suing EA Sports and the NCAA for them using his image while he was still in school because EA Sports has the an agreement with the NCAA that says they can use the images of players. I do understand that he is not receiving any money and that may seem unfair, but he was in college at the time and cannot receive any money based on his performance when he is playing for the NCAA.

I also do not understand why Keller has just now decided to file a lawsuit. The game he is suing over was released three years ago. If the ruling goes in favor of Keller the consequences will be felt throughout the entertainment world from Hollywood to the video game industry. I think if Keller wins this case EA Sports will no longer make games based on NCAA sports and that will be a huge hit to the profit of the company.

Games Going Too Far?

Once again video games are in the center of a very heated debate. Ubisoft's new game "Call of Juarez, The Cartel" is now under the microscope and under fire for basing the game on a current, very sensitive subject. The game is described by the game's website as a "bloody road trip from Los Angeles to Juarez, Mexico."  It is important to keep in mind that this game will not hit stores until the summer of 2011 and very little is known about this game at this point.All that is really known is that the game will be based off of the ongoing drug battle between Los Angeles and Mexico.
 
In a story released by Fox News Latino the game is under heavy fire. Dr. Kathleen Staudt is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Texas at El Paso and was interviewed in this story. Dr. Staudt is a researcher on topics including violence, immigration and the border. Here are a few quotes from Dr. Stuadt in the story for Fox News Latino:

“I think this should be taken very seriously considering the large scale demonization of Mexico and the Mexican people.” and also, “People who don’t understand the border and don’t know the border are now going to view it in a caricature game.” “The whole picture of the border is one in which people are suffering tragedies but also it’s about the resilience of the people.”

In response to Dr. Struadt's comments an Ubisoft spokesmen responded by saying,

“While 'Call of Juarez: The Cartel' touches on subjects relevant to current events in Juarez it does so in a fictional manner that makes the gaming experience feel more like being immersed in an action movie than in a real life situation.”

Screenshot from "Call of Juarez, The Cartel".

If the current trends in gaming continue, people will be constantly demanding new and more realistic plots. Even though "Call of Juarez, The Cartel" is third game in this series, I had never heard of any of the games until I wrote this post. As I researched "Call of Juarez," I found that the other two games are based in Western times which show that companies realize most people want to play games based in new settings.

Here is a link to a video that confirms the switch from Western to Modern!

To answer the question of are games going too far, I would say no. I answer no because I think that in order for companies to make money on gaming they will need to keep up with current events just live the movie industry does. I think that people just need to remember that video games are for entertainment and are not real.