Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010
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Jeff Green used to work at Games For Windows magazine before taking a sweet gig at EA , but that little fact won’t silence his criticism of the DRM found in Command and Conquer 4 . He tweeted white-hot rage when, as everyone on the Internet predicted, this “always-on” nonsense worked as intended, and prevented a law-abiding citizen from playing his game. Here are the tweets, hombres: It’s safe to say we’ve been fairly clear in, well, hating all this DRM. It’s very easy to say, “It’s 2010, who doesn’t have their computer constantly connected to the Internet?” You’d be correct, but that’s not the issue. The issue is that people’s Internet connections aren’t reliable enough to require gamers to be 100 percent online for the duration of a gaming session. Your Wi-Fi could go down. (Mine goes down like five times per day. Thanks, D-Link.) You could have Comcast . There could be cosmic rays . The point is, your Internet connection isn’t stable enough to work well with this particular form of DRM. Now, what Mr. Green brings up, that perhaps if we didn’t look at C&C 4 (or Assassin’s Creed II or whatever) as a “single-player game” we wouldn’t not expect to be online. After all, World of Warcraft is an online game, and the second you’re disconnected, you’re booted from the game. No one flips out over that, right? But the very idea that a fairly prominent EA man has publicly questioned the integrity of this type of DRM means all of our complaining is affecting the right people. Keep it up!
Posted by 010081
Tech
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010
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You know 3D TV is going to be big if Walmart is jumping on the party bus this early. Apparently select stores will start selling the sets before the 2010 holiday shopping madness starts and the company even sees itself as the savior of the format by driving down the premium cost and preception. This actually could be huge for 3D TV. Walmart has a massive consumer base. Bigger than any other retailer and so with the right marketing and in-store placement, it can make a product. MarketWatch points out that traditionally however the company doesn’t start selling electronics until it hits a 40% to 50% household penitration. Obviously 3D TV is no where close to that number right now and won’t be later this year, either. But the move could be part of a plan to ramp up its electronic department’s offering and public opinion. Walmart might even be the first place a large portion of Americans see 3D TV for the first time. Talk about a coup against traditional big box retailers who are just getting in the game themselves. It’s probably best that we don’t label 3D TV as a novelity or fade anymore. The format is probably here to stay thanks to Wally World.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Thursday, March 18th, 2010
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Let’s make one thing clear: I wouldn’t play Command and Conquer 4 if it was the game on Earth. It’s just not “me.” So pardon my blase attitude while I drop this bombshell : the game uses the same stupid DRM that Ubisoft now uses, which I complained about on CNN . Add this to your list of games not to buy, then. Yeah, so the game, which came out two days ago, requires a constant Internet connection in order to be played. EA claims this isn’t DRM, but if that’s the case I’d like to know what they call it. A rose by another name and such. Says EA: First thing to be clear about, Command & Conquer 4 has NO DRM. Zip, zero, zilch, none. We already made this clear. *** To play Command & Conquer 4, the computer needs to be connected to the internet. We’ve always made that clear as well. EA does try to get on your good side by saying you don’t need to have the disc in the drive at all times in order to play, you can install and re-install the game as many times as you like, etc. So there is progress being made in The War on DRM. So, we’ve just taken Toulon—let’s hope it doesn’t end at Waterloo. Yes, I’m still on a Napoleon kick . I don’t know, I’m pretty much a beaten man vis-à-vis fighting DRM. At this point I’m fully prepared to let the likes of Ubisoft send a man over every time I’d want to play one of their games. Not that I ever will again, but you know what I mean.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Thursday, March 18th, 2010
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Japanese video gaming powerhouse Square Enix has released a handful of hit titles for the iPhone already (including Final Fantasy I and II ), but the next one, an RPG named Chaos Rings, is poised to blow them all out of the water. Officially announced [JP] today, the game’s trailer shows absolutely amazing graphics. There will be five scenarios in the game, a turn-based battle system, boss fights, and “five 2-person teams that enter into a battle tournament to the death” (the game’s main storyline revolves around said tournament). Square Enix says Chaos Rings will be an original iPhone title with optimized touch controls. And it seems to have the best graphics seen on the iPhone so far. The company released the trailer for Chaos Rings just a few hours ago. It’s in Japanese, but that doesn’t matter too much in this case. Expect the title to hit the App Store “soon”, at the very least within this year (judging from the trailer, the game could be pretty much finished). Here it is: Via andriasang
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Thursday, March 18th, 2010
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The latest entry in the games-as-art argument, Heavy Rain is the spiritual secret to the controversial Indigo Prophecy , one of the rare “interactive storytelling” type games that has made a dent on the market since Phantasmagoria. Personally, I think I would enjoy the game, but since I don’t have a PS3, that’s not going to happen any time soon. Yahtzee is of two minds about it , understandably, calling it various names but admitting it gets much better later. Anyone check it out yet?
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Thursday, March 18th, 2010
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When Nintendo first unveiled Metroid Prime , fans were skeptical (if not downright apeshit). For a 2D adventure game based on exploration, how could it possibly work in first person? Long story short, Metroid Prime was pretty much universally loved upon release, and now that the Metroid Prime trilogy has gone on to become something of a classic series, all is forgiven. And when Nintendo announced that it had handed off development of the latest Metroid game, Metroid: Other M to Team Ninja, many fans were, once again, walking around with clenched fists. But it was working so well in first person! And early videos showed the game looking much more action oriented. And Samus actually talks in the game. Why would Nintendo let this happen! Thankfully, things have calmed down since Nintendo has shown off more of the game, and the Other M’s 2D to 3D gameplay, along with a weird-yet-interesting NES/pointer control scheme — sans Nunchuk — seems to be whetting appetites something fierce. (Mine, anyway.) In a talk with IGN , Metroid producer Yoshio Sakamoto talked more about the NES style control and lack of Nunchuk integration, saying that “…with the team I’ve been working with, we’ve been making the Metroid series in 2D up to this point. Even though we’ve been looking for a way to control Samus in 3D, we wanted to achieve the feeling that you had when Samus was in 2D. We decided that the traditional D-pad for movement plus jumping and shooting on buttons was the most appropriate control scheme for this direction. The second reason, and let me preface this by saying I don’t think bad games use the nunchuk because there are a lot of great games that do, there’s a certain image created with the nunchuk, it’s a bit of a barrier in accessibility because it’s a “different” control. The nunchuk I think is more appropriate for core audiences. At the same time, I feel that showing people a 3D game where you can control it using the remote really does stir the imagination, they’ll think “How’s it possible to control the character using the sideways remote in 3D?” I also think it’s attractive to those who grew up playing games using this kind of control.” In some ways, this does seem like the logical evolution of the series: blending its 2D roots with some of the innovations of the Prime saga. Hopefully, they can pull it off. But I have one request: Please, Metroid Other M, tell me mid-game if I haven’t done or explored enough to get a good ending. I can’t invest another 20 hours in a Metroid game just to see the back of Samus for 0.37 seconds and then watch the credits roll.
Posted by 010081
Tech
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010
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Since we’re your go-to source for complaining about DRM (now on CNN !), I figure we should mention the latest development regarding EA’s Battlefield: Bad Company 2 . Dice, the game’s developer’s, have removed SecuROM DRM from both the retail version of the game as well as the digitally distributed one (i.e. Steam). Why a Steam game even needs SecuROM in the first place (it’s merely a disc check, so…) is a question I cannot answer. It’s probably like a contractual thing or something. This comes by way of the game’s latest patch, which went live for the retail version—the Steam version is still on the way. Other things of note? Not really, just the average bug-fixes and UI fine tuning. In other news, yes, Inter beat Chelsea ! That made my day, for real.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010
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God of War III comes out today (YES!), and with all the hoopla surrounding it, I thought this would actually be a good time to recommend/pay tribute to the other God of War games. I’ll explain. I’ve always considered myself to be a hardcore gamer — up on the big new releases, aware of what’s going on in the industry — but for some reason, I completely missed out on God of War and God of War II . I have no idea why. I hadn’t really slacked off in my gaming at all. (Maybe I was still collecting all those dumb shards in The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker . That took forever.) Yet I didn’t buy them when they were first released, and I didn’t really know anything about them. Anyway, sometime in 2007, the Wii was my current system of choice, and I was making my way through Paper Mario . It was alright: It controlled well, it looked nice, and it was cute. But I’d continually be asking myself, “Am I having fun?” I really was becoming jaded and disinterested in games at that point, I’d realized. One day I found myself at a Best Buy, and saw God of War for PS2, now a Greatest Hits title, priced at $19.99. I still really had no idea what it was about or what type of game it was. I just knew the name. What the hell, I thought. Let’s do this. All hyperbole aside, I was truly blown away. I’d never seen anything like God of War — the music, the graphics, the scale, and the sheer fun of it all. The brilliance of Kratos’ weaponry, combos, and pace gaining new powers. I thought about Paper Mario — and not to throw Nintendo under the bus, because I truly love that company and its games — but this was way ahead of anything the competition was doing, especially something like Paper Mario. And I wasn’t impressed by just the game; the bonus making-of documentary was fascinating and, most importantly, brutally honest. Kudos to Sony for including it. Overall, the experience completely reinvigorated my love of gaming and led me to rethink the possibilities of the medium. I bought God of War II the day after finishing God of War . It was also quite excellent, if slightly weaker and sloppy in the story department, but was still a great entertainment. So yes, I’m excited for God of War III. But if you, like I once was, are unaware of the God of War franchise or what all the hubbub is about, trust me. Pick up the God of War Collection (an HD remastered package of the first two games) for PS3. It’s a great way to get up to speed, and you will be amazed; if you care about games or gaming history — or just want to experince Greek mythology on steroids — it’s essential.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Monday, March 15th, 2010
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First Steam and now StarCraft II . What more can Mac gamers want? Battlefield: Bad Company 2 ? Eh, it’s overrated. This was found on Battle.net forums . Q. Mac beta please! Any information? A. We are currently working on a Mac version of the beta and hope to release it sometime in April. Hang in there!! 
Of course we still don’t have a concert release date yet but at least Mac gamers can rest easy knowing that the game of long-anticipated sequel will work on their system without any dual-booting nonsense.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Monday, March 15th, 2010
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Were you one of the lucky few to score a graphic novel at an insanely low price thanks to Amazon’s pricing glitch last week? (If so, I kinda hate you, because I didn’t.) Well, enjoy it, because Amazon has stopped selling most graphic novels altogether while the problem continues to be sorted out. Comicbookresources.com recently spoke to some publishers about how the debacle, and Amazon’s halt to selling graphic novels, affected them. According to Dan Vado, Publisher of SLG Publishing, “A lot of sales will go to third party vendors. Those sales often are used books which have already been bought and paid for from us some time ago. On top of that a lot of third party people list books they do not have in stock at tremendous discounts. Or, in another example, some joker has listed Animal Crackers, the Gene Yang collection, at $72. Not sure why, but I do know it is impossible for them to have the book since it just left our warehouse on Monday. Not every third party vendor is on the up and up or on top of their game. Someone may have seen an opportunity to create a false sense of value in these books. I don’t know. But long term, if this does not get fixed soon I think the sales lost will be lost forever.” Vado also adds that neither Amazon or comic book distributor Diamond have said when things will return to normal at Amazon. Well, this sucks, but it’s also a good excuse to get out there and support your local comic shop. And then flip what you bought on Amazon for a nice profit. Yay, capitalism!