Hello, I want to make video from video games.I mean I'll play game on my computer, and I will make video from that game. Than I'll upload it on youtube, with my affiliate link. Is that illegal? Is it possible to have copyright problems? Thank you in advance.
Copyright infringement. Will the game makers bother to do anything about it? Who knows. Some have been very strict in the past. Some game makers seem to like it when people do just that.
Is this copyright infringement if I only give tips on how to play a game (without pics of the game)? I mean in my videos I'll make power point presentation with tips on how to play the game. Then I'll put my affiliate link. Am I OK? And if yes, so what if I put royalty-free images (of that game)? Thank you in advance.
Even if you use no images, you might run into trademark issues. A game guide is not like a news report that gets fair-use of trademarks. However, if you are not making any money off of the guides, you will probably be fine. You can use royalty free images as long as the place you bought them from had the right to sell them as such in the first place. Royalty free is not the same as free, you just pay a one time fee upfront.
No it's not a copyright issue. It's FAIR-USE. You can use clips of media in order to review the item. Screenshots and video are perfectly legal for that purpose. You can do cheat guides, reviews, and previews without worry. How else do you think game magazines and sites operate? btw..I published a gaming magazine for 2 years so I am 100% positive on this.
you wont get much with youtube... to answer your question. Your fine, just look at all these world of warcraft videos.
I was about to say this too, there's no way that this is illegal. Any review or parody is relatively free from these issues, but it depends on the context.
A gameguide is not the same as a scholarly review (though a judge might decide that it is technical, depends on the judge). Even though the video would be posted on YouTube, the primary purpose would be seen as advertisement for the affiliate link and thus would be seen as a commercial use. Atleast one of those two issues would fail the fair-use test in most courts. The one saving grace could be the settlement between Blizzard and Mr. Kopp. He was sued for his WoW game guide. However, Public Citizen took up his case and Blizzard decided to settle. Did they settle because they knew they would lose, most certainly not. They settled because it is possible they would lose (partially because you just never know until the judge renders a verdict and partially because they failed to follow DMCA rules before submitting DMCA takedown notices). Once the precedent is set then they are screwed in the future. But Mr. Kopp had to agree to certain terms as well. He must label his guide as unofficial, he must make clear there is no affiliation, and he cannot link to or discuss game cheats. This settlement, while promising for other game guide makers, does not prevent them from suing other makers. It only prevents Blizzard from suing Mr. Kopp for that guide (he can still be sued if he creates other guides). There really isn't much in the way of case law on game guides or how to books, so it would mostly be up to how the judge decides to interpret fair use. Lyrics and tab sites used to use the same reasoning for their sites (and many of them did not even have ads), yet they were found to be infringing when the issue was pressed in court (of course, in most of those cases they could not claim that the part of the work that was displayed was not substantial, though in the case of tabs the actual work was not displayed, rather what the tab author thought the work was).