The PC Spotlight 01.08.09
Posted by Chris Vicari on 01.08.2009
1UP under new management, DRM a topic at FTC convention, and a slew of other bits in this week’s PC Spotlight.
Welcome back to another Thursday with the PC Spotlight. With the holidays and breaks now for the most part over, it's time to gear back up for work and school, as depressing as that is. Now that 2009 is here, we can finally see what's in store for us in the coming months, and hopefully this year will prove better for PC gaming and be able to top last year's epicness. Thankfully, news is finally starting to roll back in and I can at last have a semi-regular column. Over the past few weeks I've been enjoying all the games I received for Christmas, but just yesterday I picked up Nvidia's brand new GeForce 280 GTX video card, and good God it is phenomenal. If you have the spare cash, I wholeheartedly urge you to pick it up. I paid $400 for it. With the pleasantries out of the way, let's get down to it and give you some worthwhile news. UGO acquires 1UP.com, Electronic Gaming Monthly is no more
The pinnacle of gaming journalism has finally met its end. As I'm sure we've all heard by now, UGO Entertainment recently acquired online publication 1UP.com. Along with the site's new ownership, the podcasts and their renowned publication Electronic Gaming Monthly, which has enjoyed circulation since 1989, is also getting the axe. According to Gamasutra, about 30 employees of Ziff Davis' Game Group, the original owners of the site, were laid off immediately following the announcement, including the entirety of EGM's staff.
In an attempt to put the grim news into a positive light, Sam Kennedy, the site's editorial director, wrote a blog post titled "1up is Now Part of UGO." In it he claimed that the new partnership between UGO and 1UP is "really good news." Of course, Kennedy can say such things because he still has a job. I doubt the 30 people who were just laid off would agree with him. He also went on to say that 1UP will not change much while under new ownership, even though a majority of the staff was fired and the podcasts are getting axed. It's tough to believe him. While Kennedy most likely experienced the hardest challenge in his professional career, but sometimes putting no spin on a situation is better than a good spin.
I hope for the best for everyone who lost their jobs at 1UP. I can't possibly imagine what it feels like to be laid off during the worst economic crisis this country has seen in decades. The gaming journalism industry truly has lost one of its best and most talented.
Sam Kennedy's Blog post Govt. protection from DRM on agenda at FTC Conference Story courtesy of gamepolitics.com
Digital rights management (DRM) has earned nothing but negative press since the whole Spore debacle last September, and it has certainly become a major issue between game publishers and consumers. Is the government finally stepping in to absolve the issue?
While tough to say, apparently the Federal Trade Commission is holding a town hall conference on DRM issues in Seattle on March 25. The event will be co-hosted by the Technology Law and Public Policy Clinic at the University of Washington School of Law.
Here's the preliminary agenda:
• Opening remarks
• Demonstrations of DRM-related technology
• Panel discussions regarding burdens on, and benefits for, consumers, and other market and legal issues involving DRM
• Review of industry best practices
• Consideration of the need for government involvement to better protect consumers.
According to Gamepolitics, the last bullet raises a particular red flag simply because the FTC's mission is the following: "The Federal Trade Commission works for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them."
Does that mean the government is siding against DRM?
The town hall meeting is free and open to the public. Pre-registration is not required. It will be webcast live on the FTC Web site. Championship Manager achieves 90% piracy rate. Still no DRM
Whoever said removing DRM on games will lower piracy couldn't be more wrong. In an computerandvideogames.com interview with Roy Meredith of Beautiful Game Studios, he explained the 90% piracy rate and his decision to not add DRM to the game.
[The 90% piracy figure is] not just a number in the air, we can measure it and we know that there are a huge amount of pirated copies. There's a real issue around DRM ... I'd love to defeat pirates, but actually, with all this mess on Spore and Football Manager, which I haven't been able to play this year... I spent about three hours trying to go through this registration process and I really want to play it but I've got other things to do with my life.
There are actually other ways of dealing with piracy too. One is to compete price-wise. We haven't got to pay [console licensing] royalties to Sony or Microsoft, so we can go into territories and price compete.
Sadly, I'm not as optimistic as Meredith. The only way to solve the piracy issue is to completely distribute games digitally through a service similar to Steam. Swedish Researchers Study File-Sharing Effects on Teens Story courtesy of Gamepolitics and Swedish news outlet The Local
Researchers at Sweden's Lund University are studying the ways in which interaction with file-sharing and social networking sites may affect how adolescents develop norms and values.
According to Swedish news outlet The Local, the controversial file-sharing BitTorrent site called The Pirate Bay is cooperating with researchers on the project. Måns Svensson of the University's department of sociology of law commented on the scope of the research, which will take around four years to complete:
We're going to try to see if there are social patterns which legislation and state powers normally don't see and don't address. We have a theory that there are processes for building norms on the internet which look different than those which take place in traditional society and that they are moving in a different direction than where the majority of society and legislation are headed.
This can be a problem for the law when you have a young, growing generation which creates its morals and norms through contact with these types of activities on the internet and a set of laws which doesn't really comprehend what's new and which risks heading off course in its attempt to regulate them.
I'd like to see the results of this study. Play Tribes 2 online again Story courtesy of IGN.com
With Sierra's Tribes 2 going offline last year, online service TribesNext has revitalized the multiplayer shooter by recreating the game's net code, similar to PlayMyth for Myth: The Fallen Lords. The service is free and is currently undergoing its open beta stage.
Tribes 2 was originally released in 2001 and made free in 2004; however, after it went free, Sierra stopped distributing CD keys for the game. TribesNext alleviates this problem by doing away with CD keys.
To get into the open beta, visit Tribesnext.com. Bioshock 5 in 2015? Story courtesy of IGN and MCV.com
In a story on MCV.com, 2K president Christoph Hartmann says of the BioShock franchise, "If we spin it the right way and get the right twist of innovation, we can make six parts of it, as Star Wars did." Thankfully he also said that the company promises not to "cash in" on the BioShock franchise.
The 2K boss went on to say, "For Bioshock, because it's so story driven, the question obviously arises: how long can you do it without turning into The Matrix? The first Matrix was great, the second one was weird and the third one, you thought: 'Who [making this] is on crack and who isn't?' "But, then again, look at Star Wars. It's a fight between good and evil, just like Bioshock."
A bit puzzling as Bioshock doesn't really need a sequel. You can find the rest of the interview at MCV.com.
Dawn of War II system requirements
Relic has revealed the system requirements for Dawn of War II, its highly-anticipated real-time strategy game, on the game's community web site. Posted below are the minimum and recommended technical specifications:
Minimum Requirements
* Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista SP1
* P4 3.2 GHz (single core) or any Dual Core processor
* 1 GB RAM (XP), 1.5 GB RAM (Vista)
* A 128MB Video Card (Shader Model 3) - Nvidia GeForce 6600 GT / ATI X1600, or equivalent
* 5.5 GB of Hard Drive space
Recommended
* Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista SP1
* AMD Athlon 64?2 4400+ or any Intel Core 2 Duo
* 2 GB RAM (XP and Vista)
* A 256MB Video Card (Shader Model 3) - Nvidia GeForce 7800 GT / ATI X1900, or equivalent
* 5.5 GB of Hard Drive space
Spotlight Briefs
EVE Online achieves new concurrent users records
Since EVE Online's release over five years ago, the game has been nothing short of an absolute success. Not once has its subscriber base been in decline and Icelandic developer CCP is looking to continue the trend. On Tuesday, CCP reported that their award-winning space-based MMO achieved a new milestone of 45,186 concurrent users. Since EVE Online houses all of its players in one universe, unlike a majority of MMOs out there, it truly is an excellent achievement. Congratulations to everyone over there at CCP, you have developed a marvelous product.
Saints Row 2 comes to the PC
THQ Inc. announced yesterday that Saints Row 2 for the PC is now available at retail outlets nationwide. Developed by renowned Volition, Inc., Saints Row 2 is an open-world action title featuring unrivalled customization, intense combat and both competitive and cooperative multiplayer modes. The game is now available for the PC in North America for $39.99. The game is expected to ship to retail outlets in Europe on January 23, 2009 and Australia on February 5, 2009.
"Saints Row 2's console release was met with heavy praise from press and consumers alike for delivering the kind of over-the-top, open-world gameplay gamers want," said Kevin Kraff, vice president, global brand management, THQ. "Saints Row 2's debut on Windows PC will introduce the truly unique, highly entertaining open-world experience to PC fans worldwide."
New Lego game coming in 2009, but not Harry Potter :( Story courtesy of Eurogamer
According to a story posted by Eurogamer this past Monday, a source told them there will be no Lego Harry Potter in the next twelve months. In an interview with BBC Radio 1, Traveller's Tale producer Nick Ricks said, "There will be a LEGO game in 2009. And I think it's okay to say that you'll be a bit surprised." Let's see what happens.
That's it for this week. Thanks for reading everyone!
