Mass Effect, Spore DRM Are a Step In the Right Direction

Electronic Arts let loose their new attempts at DRM (digital rights management), on the upcoming version of Mass Effect and Spore. And while the Internet community immediately castigated Electronic Arts for DRM, for once, I can at least see a positive step in the right direction, albeit with some caveats.

Basically, when you buy Mass Effect or Spore, they will initially want to validate your serial number at the time of install. They will again check the serial number by every 10th day via the Internet. This allows them to build a list of serial numbers that are posted to warez sites, or Usenet forums and ban them. The repeat serial checks, will validate against a constantly updating list. This will also allow for the games to be played without a disc in the drive, which is where protection schemes like SecuROM and Star Force have been known to cause problems.

Read the rest of this entry »

Don’t Bet On Celebrating New Year’s In Home

When Home was delayed until “Fall” I figured that was it for 2008, and statements today from Kaz Hirai are only further throwing cold water on the prospects for the launch of the 3D avatar-driven meet-up space this year. Hirai has gone on record today saying not to expect Home until the end of the year.

That picks up the wriggling software, carries it past the 1-year-late mark and throws its marketing effectiveness clear into 2009. That means no buzz to help spur PS3 sales in the holiday season. Once again the console will have to tread water with individual titles all doing their own thing for online play. This strategy didn’t work so well last year.

Our own Joe Haygood has mentioned before that there’s at least one big problem with Home: nobody asked for it. While important innovations can be a surprise, if Sony’s inability to execute on a design created to leapfrog the competition ends up in making them so late to market that nobody is listening anymore you have a serious problem. Being this late with home seriously blunts any perceived momentum the platform will have had this year.

All Sony had to do was sit down and take notes on the best feature sets from all online game lobby, matchmaking, and communications systems and create a common system for developers to build into their games. Bring in some highly paid UI talent and you’d still probably have come in below what Home has cost them so far not just in development dollars but lost mindshare and PR opportunities.

Even some Xbox 360 games haven’t done things perfectly based on comments our own George Walker has made on how poorly the matchmaking on Gears of War (or was it Halo 3?) in one of our earlier podcasts but just the core unified services developers can rely on are better than having next-to-nothing unified, you’d have to agree.

See also: You Can’t Go Home Until 2009.

Via: PSU.

CONFIRMED: Blu-ray Equipped Xbox 360

Just saw this on Slashdot.

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer had admitted that Microsoft had been working on support for Blu-ray under Windows during this year’s Mix08 conference. Rumors began to swirl and many began to expect Microsoft to announce a Blu-ray peripheral for the Xbox 360. However, Microsoft came out and denied all rumors, stating that they were not exploring any kind of Blu-ray add-on or in talks with Sony about integrating Blu-ray into the Xbox experience. After months of rumors and denials, the Xbox 360 with a Blu-ray disc drive is due to be manufactured soon and shipped in Q3 of 2008. Pegatron Technology, an OEM subsidiary of Asustek Computer, is reported to have received the winning order from Microsoft for a Blu-ray equipped Xbox 360.

I think we all expected Blu-ray support for the 360, but I was expecting a Blu-ray add-on, not an actual Blu-ray equipped console. Very interesting, indeed. Now, if Sony were really smart, they’d pull a Microsoft and include some compatibility bugs to handicap Blu-ray support on the 360.

For example, they could make the 360 version not upgradeable, so that as new versions of the Blu-ray standard are released, the 360 will not be able to keep up with the updates, as the PS3 is now able to do.

I know for myself, though, I can’t imagine buying another 360 just for Blu-ray support, so a PS3 would still be the way to go.

Now, if there WERE a Blu-ray addon, I would probably be more inclined to pick up the cheaper alternative.

Microsoft Bows To The Might Of Rockstar

Perhaps the most telling indicator of the power of Rockstar’s siganture franchise set to detonate at retail tomorrow isn’t so much the millions of dollars in anticipated sales or EA’s outstretched hand / approaching death grip, it’s what it can do to the mightiest of marketing marvels: Microsoft. The undisputed leader in console online gaming has decided to not publish anything new this week on Xbox Live Arcade.

Via Joystiq.

GTA IV DLC To Be Rather Large in Size

Computer And Video Games magazine has released their special edition magazine about the upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV.  Inside, the pages espout nothing more than the second coming of gaming greatness.  They also seem to be focusing on the 360 version in this publication more than any other version, possibly due to to a sponsorship of the special edition by Microsoft.

Some news of note has come out of the magazine, in regards to the DLC that will be coming in the fall, and it is sounding rather large in regards to the area that will be added to the game.

via playthree

Read the rest of this entry »

Halo 3 Legendary Map Video

Bungie pulls out a cool machinma video that gives you a tour of the new maps. There will be 3 maps out by the 15th.

Source: Gametrailers

What Microsoft Got Right

While the reliability of the Xbox 360 hardware is sub par, Microsoft should be applauded for the general stability of their online service when compared to the PS3 and the Wii. Upon reading the previous statement, Sony and Nintendo fanboys will instinctively reach for their, “yeah but at least the PS3/Wii online experience is free” argument. True enough, but in my experience with all three consoles, I’ve gotten what I’ve paid for.

Most recently with the Wii, I’ve been trying to play Super Smash Brothers Brawl online with strangers. This experience has been painful. More often than not, I’m left lingering in the lobby beating up a punching bag for several minutes only to get the following message:

As for the PS3, often times I’m signed in for no more than a minute or so before the service dumps me with the following error message:

And this happens almost every time I’m online. Thankfully, once I get into an online game on the PS3 it is usually pretty stable.

So is fifty dollars a year worth it to me to just be able to play games online without these headaches? Absolutely yes.

Xbox HD-DVD Fire Sale Imminent

Microsoft seems to have decided that instead of pulling the remaining HD-DVD drives from the shelves and taking a loss on them, they figure it might be wiser to unload them on the consumer base for a small sum. Rumor has it that the drives will be dropped in price to a lowly $50 starting this upcoming Sunday. Now I have not seen an advertisement for this, but the site below seems to have sources in high places.

Call me crazy, but it may be worth picking one up. The format may be on the way out, but the drive does come with King Kong on HD-DVD and a mailer for five free movies. And stores will be clearing out all their HD-DVD discs soon, so you may get some titles at a pittance of full price in the upcoming weeks. So keep an eye out on your sales ads this week and decide if the price is worth the return.

via XboxFamily

The Red Ring Shows Up At GDC 2008

The BBC were putting together a report at Microsoft’s booth when they came across a familiar site. They actually got video footage of a console in the XNA area that was affected by the Red Ring of Death. While this is not the first time that Microsoft has suffered from a miscue by a piece of equipment, it seems like they would make sure to have a better handle on their boxes that are being used for a public demo.

via the BBC

Mass Effect Accelerates Into the PC Market in May

Bioware has finally announced the inevitable today, officially saying that Mass Effect is coming to the PC in May 2008. Bioware has always been good about bringing their RPGs to the PC after they have spent some time on the console. Bioware is adding several features to the game for PC players, including higher resolutions, assignable hotkeys for biotics and skills, a new decryption mini-game and optimized controls for PC players. The game will also be published by Electronic Arts instead of Microsoft Games Studio. It make one wonder if that is the beginning of a change in regards to Mass Effect being locked to one platform.

While it is not strange for a Bioware RPG to go from the console world to the PC, it seems like Mass Effect is coming to the PC a lot sooner than past Bioware efforts. Could it have to do with the mixed reaction that the game got from the media and gamers, or maybe due to the lack of staying power at the cash register over a long period of time? It may be nothing, but I felt that it was worth noting.

The Press Release follows the jump, via Yahoo Business

Read the rest of this entry »