Well hi there.

I originally posted the following elsewhere:

So the company that cloned Bejeweled 3, slapped a coat of Candy Land on top, and earns 6 figures a day through what some (including myself) would call player exploitation has trademarked the word "candy" and are already vigorously defending said trademark. Yes, you read that correctly. King, the makers of Candy Crush Saga, are well on their way to becoming more hated than Zynga (which is quite the task, I assure you).

For those that don't follow the games industry (which, I would guess, is most of you), I ask that you spend a few minutes, Google "candy crush saga trademark" and read up on this mess. And if you're looking for games to replace Candy Crush Saga, please let me know and I'd be happy to suggest titles NOT developed by a company that is a cancer on the games industry.

King is a horrible, horrible company that found success in cloning games and launching off the work of others and is now abusing the horribly broken US trademark system to ensure others don't launch off their success. (But in reality, they're mostly bullying legitimate developers, like Stoic Studio, developers of The Banner Saga.)

It's like someone making a clone of Pac-Man called Eat Those Candy Dots, trademarking the word "candy," and then seeking to block a developer from naming their game I Love Candy (disregarding the fact that the gameplay centers around a dinosaur chasing small dogs through a candy factory).

Trademark bullying is terrible under any circumstances, but trademark bullying by a completely unoriginal clone factory like King would be comic if it weren't so sad, pathetic, and enraging.

Candy Crush Saga is a clone of Bejeweled 3, Bubble Witch Saga is a clone of Puzzle Bobble, Papa Pear Saga is a clone of Peggle, Farm Heroes Saga is another Bejeweled clone, Pet Rescue Saga is a clone of SameGame.

I'm not opposed to clones that iterate on game design, even if said iterations are minor, but cloning a game and THEN tacking on a free-to-play pay model (which is, more often than not, obnoxious at best and exploitative at worst) is rotten enough. Sending lawyers to then harass legitimate studios is infuriating.

Related links:

http://www.joystiq.com/2014/01/20/candy-crush-devs-candy-trademark-approved-for-publication/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2014/01/23/candy-crush-saga-tries-to-crush-the-banner-saga-in-bizarre-trademark-saga/

http://www.idigitaltimes.com/articles/21579/20140121/candy-crush-saga-maker-trademarks-king-taken.htm

http://www.businessinsider.com/king-on-pac-avoid-and-scamperghost-2014-1

And you can find a hundred more related articles with enough spare time and Google.

Until Valve fixes the "Click here" link for the Awesomenauts free weekend on Steam, you can use the following link to install the game:

steam://install/204300/

Let’s see if it still works…

I’ve nuked everything the Brainstorm Warning web site, installed a fresh copy of WordPress, and imported all posts. User accounts did not carry over, but please hold off on registering again until I can confirm that the root cause of the malware infections has been resolved.

I’ll post updates as they become available.

I’ve discovered that Google has blacklisted Brainstorm Warning as infected by malware. I have reviewed the site code, found no evidence of malware, and requested a review from Google using their Webmaster Tools.

I’m guessing that my previous battles with SQL injection attacks (involving base64_decode  and several hours of cleanup) landed me on the blacklist.

I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. I will post again after I receive word back from Google that Brainstorm Warning has been cleared.