The judge says no to put “Fortnite” back in Apple’s App...

Welcome to new and hopefully improved iteration, WIRED’s bi-monthly column, where we round up some of the most interesting news in the world of video games. This time around we have details about Nintendo’s clash with a TikTok developer, Epic Games’ battle against Apple, and a modder’s search for a 60fps version of Born in blood. Let’s start.

The judge says no to putting Fourteen days Back on Apple’s App Store during Epic’s lawsuit

As reported by our friends at Ars Technica, a federal judge has denied a request from Epic Games ordering Apple to allow it Fourteen days to return to the iOS App Store while the two companies await the outcome of their lawsuit. It’s the latest in a major litigation between the two companies that depends on Epic’s in-app direct payment purchase system for the game, and it essentially means that Epic won’t be able to offer anything Fourteen days initially on one of the Apple platforms. In her ruling, Judge Yvonne Gonzales Rogers said that any damage Epic has suffered during this period is her own fault because “he caused this situation”. However, the ruling allows products related to the Unreal Engine to remain on the App Store, as Gonzales argues that removing these products would significantly affect the health of the development ecosystem and the market on the iOS platform.

The dispute between Apple and Epic began when Epic introduced its direct payment option in the iOS version of Fourteen daysA move that violates the standards of the App Store for providers. When Apple removed the game for the violation, Epic sued on the grounds that Apple’s control of the iOS market was “unreasonable and illegal”. The case is still ongoing, and Rogers said in its ruling that it was too early to make a significant judgment on Epic’s arguments regarding possible antitrust violations.

In an obvious response to the ruling, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney https://twitter.com/TimSweeneyEpic/status/1315778561693933569 sad lyrics from the Eagles song “Hotel California”. The move straight out of a teen’s instant messaging playbook proves once and for all that video games are not for adults.

Nintendo verklagt TikTok Creator Over Pokémon References

In other legal news, we now turn to a story that will sound familiar to long-time readers: Nintendo is contentious when it comes to the work of a little creator. This time around, as Kotaku reports, the creator is the TikTok influencer Digitalprincxss, known until recently as Pokeprincxss. Due to the use of Pokémon images in their merchandise and content, Nintendo recently sent Digitalprincxss an injunction requesting it to change its name and return any proceeds for the use of its intellectual property to Nintendo.

In particular, Digitalprincxss also creates content for adults on an OnlyFans account. In their view, this is closely related to Nintendo’s decision to take legal action against them. “Nintendo doesn’t want people to think that I am or am related to them in any way, or that I am in a partnership with them, and it all comes back to being a grown entertainer,” she said in a recent video. And while it’s hard to guess Nintendo’s motives, the company is certainly cautious about its image, so it doesn’t seem entirely impossible.

Born in blood Modder promises to release 60 fps mod if Sony doesn’t do it first

Lance McDonald, a prolific modder of FromSoftware games like that one villain with the beautiful jaw in that one Marvel movie, looked deep into his heart, found a need there, and decided to take care of it himself. In this case you have to play Born in bloodwho have favourited PlayStation 4 FromSoft exclusive, something better. For months McDonald has been working on and showing a mod that will allow the game to run on PS4 and PS4 Pro consoles at 60 frames per second. This is a major improvement over the game’s standard 30-fps, and a modification that works on at least the Pro, works remarkably well for unintended function.