PUBG VS. Fortnite

            PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (A.K.A. PUBG) has become one of the most popular games since releasing last March.  I played the game while vacationing with family in Atlanta a few months back.  It’s a great online battle royale game where you drop from a plane onto an island; from there, you scavenge for weapons that would help eliminate the other players.  Each round consists of 100 people onto one island that quickly becomes smaller as more players are eliminated.  The goal is to become the last player standing by the end of the match.

Even after dying multiple times, I still enjoyed playing through each round.  Its full of action and prompts you to pay attention to where your enemies are.  One false move and you could be sniped instantly.  Every player is for themselves in this heated battle royale match.

Besides PUBG, another game I check out was Fortnite Battle Royale.  Oddly enough, Fortnite Battle Royale seemed a little too similar to PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.  In fact, Fortnite Battle Royale is known to be too familiar to the point that it is currently being sued.

PUBG Corporation is suing Epic Games (company behind Fortnite) over copyright infringement.  The studio asked a court in South Korea whether or not Epic Games copied its intellectual property.

Both PUBG and Fortnite have become wildly popular since they released.  PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds won multiple awards including Best Multiplayer Game (35^th Golden Joystick Awards), Action Game of the Year (D.I.C.E. Awards 2017), and even eSports game of the year (2018 SXSW Gaming Awards).  Ever since Epic Games created Fortnite Battle Royale, the game was bought more times than PUBG.

It’s no secret that PUBG and Fortnite have been in competition since last year.  The two games are so familiar to the point that PUBG Corporation is looking to sue for copyright infrigement.  Two popular battle royale games have become tangled into one PR nightmare.  Their audience won’t be turned off by the nightmare, being they have been discussing this inside joke around the internet for quite some time now.  Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see where the wind blows with this story.

While this PR nightmare may not cause as much damage for the games themselves, it will be intriguing to see what happens for both companies.  Who knows, this lawsuit could hurt both parties in the long run.  Ironically enough, it is as if PUBG Corporation and Epic Games have placed themselves in their own battle royale match.

Whatever the case may be, only one company will survive this video game PR nightmare.  Even with the nightmare happening, PUBG and Fortnite will continue to soar in popularity.

So who will survive this battle royale match – PUBG Corporation or Epic Games?  Only one company will make it out of this PR nightmare alive.

MA Recreational Cannabis Shop Update

So yesterday we dived into how NIMBY has been put into play in Massachusetts lately.  Various communities around the state are voting to prevent recreational cannabis shops from opening.  Even with cannabis being voted legal back in 2016, many people still oppose the idea of the shops opening in their community.  The whole ‘Not In My Backyard’ mindset is strong around the Bay State.

With July 1^st quickly approaching, one thing that is on many people’s mind is how many legal dispensaries will be open.  How many dispensaries are set to open in July?  The total count isn’t released yet; one thing is for certain – there could be fewer dispensaries opening than anticipated.  At this point, we are looking at about 12 or less dispensaries that will be ready to be open for business by July 1^st.

This definitely comes as a shock, especially to cannabis connoisseurs like me.  I’ll admit that I was baffled myself when I first heard of this news.  It truly is tough to grasp the fact that there won’t be as much dispensaries open as anticipated.

But just remember this – July 1^st marks as the STARTING point for the recreational dispensaries.  These dispensaries start launching on that date and many others will open up over time.  Very few will be offered to the community, but a small number is better than nothing.  The number of dispensaries will continue to grow over the next few years.  July 1^st is one of many important dates for the recreational cannabis industry.

At this point, it will be important to keep watch of the dispensaries that do open on time.  Any number of dispensaries opening, whether it be six or thirty, is better than none opening at all.  These leading dispensaries will set the stage for many businesses to come.

One thing to keep track of is what kind of competition comes into play.  Since no recreational dispensary has opened, there is zero competition happening within businesses.  No competition means no publicity is generated for the public (just remember — NO publicity is worse than bad publicity).

There are still some major hurdles that the industry is currently facing (Not In My Backyard being a major one!), so there is still a long way to go for the cannabis industry.  It is a long and sluggish process that is being rolled out here in Massachusetts.  Even still, we have come a long way since cannabis prohibition.

In the end, it isn’t all bad news for Massachusetts residents.  There are going to be recreational shops open, but fewer will operate by July 1^st.  For now, we will have to keep watch of the dispensaries that do open up this summer.  It is then that we will see some competition happening between businesses.

For now, all we can do is wait to see what this next chapter brings for the cannabis industry this summer.

Legal Pot Shop? Not In My Backyard!

A lot of excitement has been brewing around MA, what with recreational shops soon to be opening up this summer.  MA residents voted for legal recreational cannabis almost two years ago and the shops will be opening up before you know it.  However, there was a significantly lower amount that will be opening up than anticipated.

But we’ll cross that second part of this topic another day; right now, our focus is on an interesting turn of events that has been happening lately.  Within the state of Massachusetts, many towns and municipals have been voting to ban recreational shops from coming into their area.  Recreational cannabis shops are still being dampened by bad publicity even after being voted legal almost two years ago.

So what exactly is going on here?  How is it that recreational cannabis shops are being shooed away from many areas of Massachusetts?  What sort of trickery is this?

Well folks – this string of events just so happens to stem from a PR term called NIMBY.

NIMBY – formerly known as Not In My Back Yard – refers to an opposition of an undesirable development on a piece of land.  A resident (or residents) of an area reject a certain project due to the negative effects it could bring.  There are projects that could be for the environment (like a wind turbine or solar panels) or even for entertainment purposes (i.e. a shopping mall or porn shop).  Some reasoning that gets brought up include increase in crime, environmental pollution, harm to local small businesses, loss of the community’s ‘small-town’ feel, and other logical arguments.

Whatever the example may be, NIMBY happens in every type of community.  Towns, municipals, and even big cities all deal with the residents discussing what they want in their backyard.  And that kind of discussion is what’s happening all across MA these days.

The people may have spoken, but then the reality kicks in – recreational cannabis shops will be entering their neighborhood.  Legal cannabis shops will be opening up in THEIR community that they grew up in for so long.  A whole new change is coming and they must comprehend how to adapt to the new surroundings.

It seems as though we have ourselves a double-edged sword here.  On the one hand, the people voted for legalized cannabis almost two years ago.  And yet, those very same residents of MA now have to make the decision about having recreational shops in their community.  That right here is where things get interesting – the idea becomes more personal, hitting close to home for many folks.

To be honest, I expected to see NIMBY in action here in Massachusetts.  The same event happened years ago when states like Colorado and Oregon voted to legalize cannabis shops.  Recreational cannabis shops still opened up, but not without dealing with NIMBY.

This isn’t meant to highlight something good or bad; but rather, what kind of reality is happening here.  We are seeing NIMBY in action, with more towns and municipals deciding whether to open up cannabis shops.  Many residents are still holding discussions with their community to this day.

Even still, one thing remains clear – recreational cannabis shops WILL open up here in Massachusetts this summer.  There may not be as much operating at first, so we will just have to keep watch on the ones that are open.

5/28 Memorial Day Quote

Happy Memorial Day everyone!

It doesn’t take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle.

~ Norman Schwarzkopf

5/27 Sunday Funday Quote

Successful and fortunate crime is called virtue.

~ Seneca