Netflix gets sued by Choose Your Own Adventure publisher over ‘Black Mirror: Bandersnatch’

Choose Your Own Adventure genre is back in the spotlight with the recently released Black Mirror: Bandersnatch movie. And the series’ original publisher isn’t happy with this. Chooseco is suing Netflix for infringement of its “Choose Your Own Adventure” trademark. According to the official complaint, Netflix has been negotiating with Chooseco over a license of the series since 2016, but the streaming service never got permission to use it. Chooseco is asking for US$25 million in damages as the movie is said to benefit from its association with the Choose Your Own Adventure series without the company getting trademark. According to the complaint, Chooseco has previously sent a cease-and-desist request to the streaming company over the same trademark. Now, whether this will result in an actual lawsuit or be settled out of court is something we don’t know yet.

Netflix settled a lawsuit with the Satanic Temple in 2018 after a copy of the church’s proprietary statue appeared in an episode of the service’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina TV show.

Source: Polygon

Season 5 of ‘Black Mirror’ gets pushed back because of ‘Bandersnatch’

With the amount of work it took to put out the choose-your-own-adventure film Bandersnatch, one of the creators of Black Mirror confirmed this pushed the timeline of season 5 of the show. According to executive producer and co-creator Annabel Jones, the fifth season is out due this year. What specific timeframe? She wouldn’t elaborate. Black Mirror seasons have come out on a yearly basis, and it stuck with the schedule even with Bandersnatch coming out in December 2018. The show doesn’t follow a strict episode number per season. It’s released everything from three episodes per season to six at one point and even has a one-off Christmas special on top of this new movie. So, perhaps the new season might arrive earlier with fewer or more episodes. For now, we’re waiting to hear any updates and we’ll report back when we do find out more.

Source: The Verge

You can play one of the ‘Black Mirror: Bandersnatch’ games

This isn’t the first time Netflix or even Black Mirror has hidden Easter eggs in its content. This time, it seems you can play one of the games featured in Bandersnatch, the first choose-your-own-adventure interactive film from the same universe. The movie features a fictional game development studio named Tuckersoft, which aims to become the “Motown of games.” And now one of the games, Nohzdyve, to be specific, is available to play right now. But you’ll need an emulator to play. There are a number to choose from, including Fuse, Qaop, and Speccy.

Nohzdyve was developed for the ZX Spectrum, a personal computer that was released in Britain in the early 1980s, which is the same time period in which the movie takes place. The time period is special to Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker, who started working as a video games journalist. If you’re curious about the game, the Tuckersoft describes it as: You’re falling fast through the sky! Collect eyeballs and avoid the buildings and other hazards. Perfection is key. This was truly a five star game by none other than Colin Ritman (played by Will Poulter).

Source: The Verge

Netflix brings ‘choose your own adventure’ style to ‘Black Mirror’

You’ve probably heard of Netflix’s latest attempt to enter or start a new genre for visual entertainment. Netflix is introducing the “choose your own adventure” format to its more adult content. The company has started playing around with this format with some of its kid’s offering but now it’s the parents’ turn to play as they watch. The Black Mirror universe seems to be an apt place to play around with this genre. The streaming service just put up the movie Bandersnatch, which follows a young programmer named Stefan. The movie is set in 1984 and has Stefan working on a game adaptation of a famous “choose your own adventure” book. This interactive film will require you to, well, interact with it. There is no linear version of the film—meaning you can’t just watch it without making choices for the character.

This also means it doesn’t work on all devices. Bandersnatch was written using proprietary technology. And this means not all machines can translate this experience. According to Netflix, you can’t watch (or experience) the movie on Chromecast, Apple TV, and “some legacy devices,” which no longer support Netflix software updates. These include the likes of the PlayStation Vita, Nintendo Wii U, and the like. It will, however, work on “most newer devices, including TVs, game console, web browsers, and Android and iOS devices running the latest version of the Netflix app.” A small icon will appear on top of the title card to let you know that you can stream Bandersnatch.

Source: The Verge