Though the ESA continues to support the SOPA and PIPA bills, there are still many independent gaming organizations — websites and developers — speaking out.
Among the blackouts today (primarily influenced by Wikipedia and other larger internet organizations) is popular gaming site Destructoid.com, which urges followers to take immediate action by contacting Congress to assure that SOPA — in its current form — remain shelved. Readers are also encouraged to send in black and white photos of “how SOPA makes you feel.”
Penny Arcade, one of the most popular organizations in the industry today, released an episode of Extra Credits devoted to stopping the ESA’s support of both SOPA and PIPA by protesting E3 2012. Among other content creators in the video is Mark Kern, CEO of Red 5 Studios and creator of the game Firefall. And of course, their personal developers website is also down in protest.
As for most major gaming outlets, they currently remain active, but claim to not support SOPA/PIPA. Among them are sites like 1UP.com and Kotaku, believing it’s in the best interest of everyone to continue updating content. Joystiq also seems to be functioning today, though they’ve made it very clear that they and their parent company, AOL, are against SOPA.
The continuing SOPA blackouts are expected to last until tomorrow, with Wikipedia being the closest to an official representative in this online protest. Additional updates regarding what’s been done and what Wikipedia hopes to further accomplish can be found here.
