By daeyeth - Today, 11:02 AM
In a surprising move, THQ has ordered the shutdown of CoH-Stats.com through the Bureau of Statistics for the illegal reproduction of information. CoH-Stats is a fan-made site devoted to the archival of Company of Heroes statistics. The long-time resource was closed earlier today with a statement from the Department of Information, the new bureau that the Obama Administration launched last month. It's speculated that the move to start the new department was initiated after pressures from movie/music industry lobbyists and groups such as the RIAA and MPAA.
This is the first time anyone in the gaming industry has reported a website to the Department of Information. What does this mean for GameReplays? Or for any fan-made strategy guides anywhere? We contacted Relic and they were quick to point out that they had nothing to do the closing and that THQ had requested the services the bureau only in an effort to protect their intellectual property. Relic let us know that amateur strategy guides are perfectly fine, and encouraged, just not direct translations of information with no unique input from the author.
You have to start wondering where the line is for this Department of Information and what they will consider flagrant violations.
