Update: Persona 5 Streaming Restrictions Eased, Not Removed

As reported by Kotaku yesterday, ATLUS has finally started to get the idea that their recent restrictions on streaming for Persona 5 were not terribly well thought out.  They have not, however, completely removed those restrictions.  Instead, they have simply pushed the limit for how far into the game one can stream up to about the start of the final act.  As part of their press release regarding this change, ATLUS addressed the hostile tone of their previous restrictions:

"We also want to apologize to those of you who saw the previous guidelines blog post as threatening. We want to be transparent about what we do, and the reason we released the guidelines was to give streamers the right information up front. It was never our intention to threaten people with copyright strikes, but we clearly chose the wrong tone for how to communicate this."

This doesn't change much in the way of the larger problems pointed out in my earlier rant, but it is a vague sort of progress.

Rant: We Need The Jedi

I'm just going to say it: I'm gonna be that nerd.

Ben Kuchera over at Polygon put up a piece a few days back entitled "Luke is right: The Jedi SHOULD be abolished."  It was in response to the closing shot of the teaser trailer for Episode VIII, The Last Jedi, where Luke Skywalker stands stoically looking back (presumably at his latest apprentice) and tells them, "It's time for the Jedi to end."  Kuchera's piece then goes on to explain why it is a good thing, ending with a fine print disclaimer stating he firmly believes the political principles behind the piece, but still looks forward to plenty of buttkicking in a galaxy far, far away.

Allow me to poke holes in Kuchera's poorly described theses.

Rant: Persona Non Grata

You know that a developer or publisher has blown straight past "stupid" and gone to "potato" when they start dictating what people can and cannot talk about, write about, or (in these modern times) stream about with regards to a game.  Japanese publisher ATLUS has officially gone potato.  A note on their site about streaming restrictions for Persona 5 was mentioned on Kotaku very recently, indicating their willingness to use DMCA takedown notices and YouTube copyright strikes for any streamers who presented their playthrough past a certain point in the game.