The PC Spotlight 10.02.08
Posted by Chris Vicari on 10.02.2008
Alan Wake resurfaces, Activision buying rights for bad games, new screens of Duke Nukem Forever and a whole slew of other bits. The world has gone mad!
Hey everyone, how's it going? You may not remember me, as I didn't write for very long here at 411 before I had to take a leave of absence, but I previously wrote the Forgotten PC Games column. I'm happy to say that I have the free time, once again, to write a column about my favorite pastime. Before I get down to it, let me reintroduce myself for those who have not seen my writing. My name is Chris Vicari and I attend college in New Jersey, which I hope, after six years of schooling, I'll be able to come away with my Masters in writing. When I'm not writing and having the urge to blow my brains out, I spend most of time playing games on my PC and reviewing them for 411.
For those already familiar with my previous column, you may be a tad disappointed since I've decided to take it in a different direction. Instead of writing a nostalgic column every week, which I thoroughly enjoyed doing, I've opted to cover the goings-on in the industry as well as give my take on a variety of topics. You might be offended, you might laugh (hopefully) or you may start hating me, but I just want to make one thing clear: after reading this column, you will come away with useful info about whatever is going on out there. Chris Evans writes an already phenomenal column, sadly though, PC gaming is an underserved market on 411 and another column certainly could not hurt.
Alan Wake resurfaces, game trailer before Max Payne movie!
After nearly two years of nothing and many believing the game was going the way of Duke Nukem Forever, the Finnish magazine Pelaaja reported just this morning that a new Alan Wake trailer will be showcased before the opening of the Max Payne film. The trailer will include never-before-seen gameplay footage. This was confirmed by the Forum Tech Director on the official Alan Wake forums who posted, "I'm not a Remedy Staff member but I can confirm this story." Max Payne's official premiere is Oct. 17th, but according to the mag, the trailer will be shown as early as the 15th with early film screenings.
Remedy Entertainment, who also developed the critically acclaimed Max Payne series, has kept a tight lid on all things Alan Wake. It's great to know the "psychological action-thriller" is still being developed.
And there was much rejoicing.
EA lawsuit over DRM
Electronic Arts is under the limelight yet again courtesy of a class action lawsuit against their unpopular SecuROM anti-pirating software. Filed by a Melissa Thomas, who in all her rage has decided to become the voice of angered Spore owners everywhere, the 36-page document contends that EA violated two California laws: the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act and the Unfair Competition Law by not informing owners that SecuROM was included with Spore.
In Thomas's favor, her law firm, KamberEdelson, has had a great deal of experience with class-action technology cases. It wasn't too long ago when a court battle raged over the Sony BMG rootkit case, in which the Federal Trade Commission ruled that a company could not install hidden software without user permission. Ironically, SecurROM is developed by Sony. Also in 2006, KamberEdelson won a suit against Ubisoft over its use of Starforce.
SecuROM has already received widespread criticism as I'm sure most gamers are aware of. Currently, any game using the software has been one-stared on a variety of retail Web sites. So what do gamers hope to gain out of this whole debacle? Hopefully EA wises up and removes their heads from their collective asses. EA has already taken small steps to alleviate the issue by raising maximum installs allowed on Spore and the like, but it isn't enough. No gamer should feel they have to pirate a game just to circumvent some BS software. SecuROM sure does have the knack for painting honest gamers as criminals. Although EA hasn't released what the company might do if it loses the suit, rumors claim they could end up picking up the tab for your Spore purchase. Not exactly cost effective though.
Out of all the suits made against EA, this one actually holds some water. How about that?
So what games are running SecuRom? To put it bluntly, a crap-ton: Linky
Dance Hero title registered. Prepare to be milked!
Lols were had this past Friday when Activision filed an application to register the name "Dance Hero" with the US Patent and Trademark Office. In a hilarious attempt to compete with Konami's mega-popular Dance Dance Revolution, the trademark, if granted, will give Activision the rights for "computer game software," "interactive video game programs," "computer game discs," and "downloadable computer game software".
On the flipside however, Activision could just be enacting one of those dirty business tactics where companies buy the rights to a game they will never create, just so their competition can't get their grubby little hands on it. The evidence points to this since in January of 07, Activison registered "Guitar Villain" and "Drum Villain" with no signs of development thus far. Rumors still swirl to this day as to what could possibly constitute a guitar or drum villain. I'm going with my gut on this and picking Lars Ulrich as the drum villain since he's overrated and then Yngwie Malmsteen, not due to his arrogance as he's one of the best guitar players in the world, but because his instructional videos are hilarious.
Getting back on track, the chance of a Dance Hero game means that any possibility of creativity and originality is thrown out the window. Just like Rock Band copying off of Guitar Hero and eventually Guitar Hero World Tour copying off of Rock Band, Dance Hero will undoubtedly be just as similar if not the same as DDR. What else could they do that DDR hasn't already done? As everybody knows, companies copying inspiration from one another is nothing new and is a fact of life in the business. The one thing that is getting really annoying though is companies milking their customer base. If it isn't monthly fees, paying to use console internet or microtransactions for stuff that should have been included in the game, it is expansions every two weeks with a healthy dose of monthly rehashes. When is it going to end? My wallet hurts.
Want my opinion? The game is going to blow ass, but I am eagerly awaiting Harpsichord Hero. What? The name rocks!
New DNF screenshots unveiled with Duke 3D XBLA release! I've got balls of steel!
I've decided to write the next news bit as a poem, for no apparent reason.
On a late Monday afternoon and out of the blue
the public was treated to something fantastically new
Brimming with muscles and sporting cool specs
the women looked on as he was flexing his pecks
For new screenshots of Duke Nukem arrived and everything was swell
And with them came a message that I simply must tell
This man here has balls, balls as hard as steel
So you better step back and you better kneel
Hail to the king baby and always bet on Duke!
And on this momentous occasion, since we have even more evidence that Duke Nukem Forever will be hitting shelves eventually, here is the original Duke Nukem theme song in all its glory.
It's small because it's just music and I've listened to it 40 tim… err I lost count.
Funcom consolidates Age of Conan servers. Uh oh.
It wasn't long ago when Funcom was boasting that their coveted Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures MMO was treated to "the biggest MMO launch since World of Warcraft". Times have changed since that statement was made in early June, and it's practically the only good news reported since. It would be a short two months later when subscriptions plummeted to 415,000, a number far less than the 1.2 million boxes shipped. Notice a trend? It keeps going.
Things would continue down the path of suckitude for Funcom as their game director, Gaute Godager, resigned earlier this month due to dissatisfaction with parts of the game. He wasn't very clear as to what he was so pissed about, and it would have been nice to find out. And now, this past Tuesday on the official AoC forums, Funcom announced that it would be consolidating servers to "ensure the best gameplay experience for [players], and more healthy populations on each and every server…"
It's never a good thing when an MMO closes up servers; it's a sure-sign that the game is failing. Hopefully things will improve for them.
Hopes for Renegade sequel dashed
Not to bash on EA even more than I already have, but I find it ironic that a game is canceled because they would "not be able to deliver this product to an appropriate level of quality". I mean, it's EA, the company that would release dog shit if it would turn them a profit. Has Hell frozen over?
In a memo released by EA Executive Producer Mike Verdu, their reason to cancel Tiberium, the second Command and Conquer first-person shooter, was simply that. "The game had fundamental design challenges from the start. We fought to correct the issues, but we were not successful; the game just isn't coming together well enough to meet our own quality expectations as well as those of our consumers," continued Verdu.
While it does suck that we miss out on another CnC FPS, I guess it's a good thing we didn't have to wait until 2010 to find out it sucked. For once, I applaud EA for doing the right thing. Now, if RA3 goes back to its CnC roots and looks nothing like Generals, I'll be a happy man. Generals can burn for all I care.
That's it for the news, now on to the extra bits
In light of recent events, such as last week's Max Payne Steam weekend, the upcoming film release and the news of Alan Wake, it's more than justified to talk about the film noir action classic that is Max Payne 2. Created by Remedy Entertainment and sequel to its award-winning predecessor, Max Payne 2 was met with critical acclaim for its visuals, film noir mood, stylistic cinematography, action and narration.
Set two years after the bloody events in the first game, Max Payne is back working the streets for the NYPD. After taking out "the cleaners" at Vladimir Lem's gun shop, whose owner was a character from the previous game, as well as saving Lem at his restaurant from a mob hit perpetrated by Vinnie Gognitti, also a character from the first game, Payne is ordered to investigate this three-way mob war. At first, he learns that Gognitti is moving into black market gun trade and killing off the competition, but Payne learns that it goes far deeper than that. Mona Sax, Payne's femme fatale who was thought to be killed in the original, makes her return and she along with Max ally together after they learn a hit was put on both their heads.
Max Payne 2 was a significant improvement over the first game in nearly every facet. It received a visual overhaul, teeming with extremely detailed environments comprised of photorealistic textures, highly enhanced radiosity lighting and extremely lifelike characters (including facial animations & lip synchronization), provide a visually staggering cinematic experience. Max Payne 2 was also one of the first games to use the Havok physics engine, which allowed for interactive environments creating incredible combat scenes. Ragdoll characters and physics in slow motion also created breath-taking action segments. Thanks to an increased budget, Remedy was able to obtain a motion picture stunt crew, professional talent for voice acting and graphic novels, and authentic digital source material from New York City, all of which provided a stellar experience.
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne raised the bar for action games everywhere in 2003, and it has yet to be topped.
Current Offers
Peggle Deluxe - $9.99, regular $19.99 (50%)
Sales on New Releases
City Life 2008 - $26.99, regular $29.99 (10%) Offer ends October 6th
Pre-purchase Opportunities
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway - $49.99 Free Gift: BiA: Road to Hill 30 Offer ends October 8th with release of Hell's Highway
Good Deals for Good Games
BioShock $19.99, regular $29.99 (North America only)
Team Fortress 2 - $19.99, regular $29.95
Prey - $19.95, regular $49.95 (North and South America only)
Earth 2160 - $4.95, regular $9.95
Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War: Soulstorm - $29.99, regular $39.99
And that's a wrap for the debut of the PC Spotlight. Stop by next week for even more news, information and opinionated drivel. Take care and thanks for reading.
