I didn't trust Steam one iota when HL2 came out, so I enjoyed the pirated version for a few months. A friend ended up giving me his boxed copy of HL2 so, with nothing to lose, I tried Steam. I haven't had a single problem with it yet, and have purchased many great games at low prices (Episode One, $18; Psychonauts, $20; Uplink, $10) since.
Yesterday marked the end of my first customer service issue with Steam. I purchased Outrun 2006 which froze my machine every time I started a race. Because Steam acts merely as the distributor they directed me to Sega for technical support. I emailed a detailed report to Sega but they never got back to me. I explained my situation to Steam support who immediately refunded my money and revoked my rights to access the game from the Steam client. No fuss, no muss, and they're the only software retailer I've ever dealt with who issued a refund for a nonworking game.
And for the record, 3D Realms created a Steam-like distribution system, Triton, with the release of Prey. Before long they decided it wasn't working out so they ditched Prey and untethered the game from Triton (and now it's for sale on Steam). I expect Steam will do the same when their time comes, though Steam's EULA clearly indicates that customers may only access games while they are "subscribers." Still, Valve has proven itself to be a highly reputable company with high standards so I trust them completely with my investment.
I bought Office 2003 from school for a significant discount. My sister is still in college so maybe I can weasel a discounted copy through her. I'd like it for home use but can get by without. I never really considered spending $300 on something as frivolous as Office for home since I rarely use it, but I certainly do love 2007. I'm just disappointed that Microsoft would promise me a free copy and then not deliver. I drove 40KM to their media event and sat through their PR crap and went home with a t-shirt and DVD of trial software. I was expecting Vista and Office.
I've been using the betas for months and I'm really dreading having to go back to 2003. I can't afford 2007 and I didn't get the promised free copy of 2007 Office Pro when I went to MS's stupid "Ready for a New Day" launch event in Toronto so I guess I'm SOL. Real shame to because I absolutely adore Office 2007 but I would never spend so much money on an office suite. I'd sooner start using Google Docs.
Guild Wars recently sold their 3 millionth copy worldwide and released a Polish version in addition to the other 6 or 7 languages. Other localizations are pending. I believe that puts it at about 2/5 of WoW's population.
I had the exact same kneejerk reaction until I thought about it a little bit.
I have the utmost respect for Blizzard for continuing Battle.net after all these years. Free multiplayer is indeed an incredibly generous offering. However, as any Diablo player knows, Battle.net is utterly teeming with cheaters. I would be willing to pay a one-time fee (definitely not monthly) as I do for Guild Wars for corporate-hosted multiplayer as it is a controlled environment almost entirely free of cheaters. In games as loot-heavy as these an even playing field is of utmost importance.
I don't think that the SlamDance guys are bad for caving to the preasure (they do need corporate backers)
Slamdance invited SCRPG to participate in its event, voted it to be worthy of status as a finalist, and then kicked them out. That's irresponsible. Why pretend to host an objective contest when votes are for sale to the highest-paying sponsor?
And what of "America's Army" - an army recruitment game with no restrictions on who may play? The purpose of America's Army is to guide the player through basic training, siphon him into a regiment and specialty, give him a weapon and ship him out to hot zones. The game is as realistic as possible to best portray army tactics and day-to-day life. For all the games critics like Jack Thompson have dubbed "murder simulators", isn't America's Army the most literal definition? Where's the outrage from American taxpayers who fund continued development and distribution of this "game"?
The problem is that no one seems to like adventure games anymore. Why can't we have more games like Judgment Rites and Final Unity?
With adventure veterans like Al Lowe and Jane Jensen currently working on games, plus the resurgence of a more mature demographic with casual games, I think we'll be seeing some fantastic, intelligent adventure titles in the very near future!
I'm a big fan of video games. Video games get more realistic in terms of physics, graphics, and AI every year. I adore virtual representations of reality as they make me think harder about the real world. Therefore, I've begun wondering, having played many RPGs lately, just how free our free will really is.
For example, let's say you find yourself face to face with a person who has information you need but he is reluctant to tell you. You are fairly personable and charismatic, but you are not very physically intimidating (though moreso than the other guy) and don't have a large bank account. You only have one chance with this person. Do you try to coax him verbally? Do you break the bank and bribe him? Do you try to intimidate him physically? Do you take the safe road based on your "point spread" or do you roll the dice?
It's actually an amazing game (by any standard, not just vs. free games) that originates from France and is localized, fairly accurately, in about a dozen languages. Save your criticism for the copy protection.
The game Guild Wars comes with an offer to download extra music from a DirectPlay-enabled (crippled) host. The music is supposed to be listenable in-game and at the desktop. After downloading some kind of license I can play the songs with Windows Media Player, but they won't play in-game. I go to the Guild Wars audio properties and it informs me of some kind of DirectPlay problem with a clickable error code. I click the code and a web page opens up saying generically "This DirectPlay music cannot be played," and that I should install the latest version of WMP. I do so and I get the same error message, plus I have to re-download licenses for the local files.
As for DRM in general, I've had my share of nightmares. I put a newish CD into my computer the other day and it tried to install a proprietary music player. My girlfriend put a DVD movie (Warner Brothers) into her computer and a similar player began installing without even a prompt. I played Trackmania Nations a while back and, even though it is a completely free game, it installed the infamous and dangerous StarForce copy protection software without prompting me.
I can't trust anyone but pirates anymore, so that's who I'll patronize (for content post-2004). Sorry, big media, you've failed me too many times. Companies are too greedy and DRM is too iffy to chance putting on my computer. My PC is heftier than my television or stereo will ever be and I'm not risking infection so that the MAFIAA can snoop on my private information.
Historically, no one has better understood the needs and frustrations of digital media consumers than pirates. They provide easy-to-install cracks with detailed documentation. Pirate organizations like Razor 1911 and Reloaded provide a free "service" to the public and their only competition is other similar release groups. Why do non-profit organizations provide vastly better service than legitimate for-profit companies?
Look inward, Billy Gates. Your company is guilty of all the things you point your finger at in TFA. It's cute that you urge us to rip CDs instead of buying songs online, but it's patently obvious that you're just taking a pot shot at iTunes. Put up or shut up.
If it was some method of automated distribution he might have been able to plead ignorance, pretending he was infected with a trojan or something. Are.torrent files distributed on IRC? I thought people just nabbed the whole movie from XDCC.
"The setting is to be a war-torn post-9/11-like Trek universe 150 years after the time of Picard."
So there will be no liquids or gels allowed on starships? "Tea Earl Grey powdered"
I'm not even American and it still pains me to see how diluted 9/11 is becoming. Call it war-torn or whatever, but at least reference an event that occurred in a warzone.
Chan also advertised the movies, and the procedure for downloading the files, on an online chatroom.
So basically he confessed and bragged about his l33titude, just like a little script kiddie bragging about defacing a website on an IIS 3.0 server. Had he not done this, perhaps it would have been more difficult to prove that he was sharing this movie and not just random blocks of binary code that happened to be very similar to those found in one rendition of the AVI files.
If you're going to share something iffy on BitTorrent use a public tracker that doesn't require logins, and maybe use an anonymous proxy like TOR. This isn't a 100% safe solution but it's likely better than what this chap did.
I haven't tried for at least a year, but last time I checked the Knoppix HDD install was in beta and very buggy. Knoppix distros aren't good for much more than LiveCD boots.
Walmart sells bible games and Christian movies and Xmas decorations. I don't see anyone disputing those things. This particular video game has the player forcibly converting passers-by to Christianity and murdering others. Some people may be passively offended by the aforementioned items, but this game is actively offensive.
"This game seems to be, quite literally, preaching hatred."
I don't know much about the game content but I do have some insight on the motivation behind it. A few months ago I read (and blogged about) an article on religion and gaming. I found one of the quotes by Troy Lyndon, CEO of Left Behind Games, very hateful and disturbing:
"The world is set in the End Times, and in the single-player game you're fighting the forces of the Antichrist. But in multiplayer mode, you can play the other side; thus, we really have something for everyone."
You can play as a Christian or you can play as someone who is the very embodiment of evil. Apparently mankind can be split cleanly into these two groups. How diplomatic.
I agree with you entirely, mwvdlee. From concept to fruition this is a game that acknowledges one specific point of view and preaches hatred toward those who do not share it.
Very well said. It seems that blogs in general are Google's favourite subject matter because they are composed of full sentences and typically contain hyperlinks to popular sites. Many businesses use decade-old tricks like spamming meta tags or individual words in text the same colour as the background, and Google has evolved much since then. In other cases, corporate sites use gratuitous Flash elements, complex dynamic content, or session IDs which cannot be considered by Google whatsoever.
The blog author is correct when he says the litigious party's time would be better spent optimizing its web presence.
This reminds me of a similar occurrance last year when Dave Redl, owner of the "Familypants" brand, wrote a cease and desist letter to a website. This website had a discussion forum and one of the forum users named himself "Familypants". Message posts by that user appeared higher on Google than the Familypants website.
If anyone cares, I wrote a rather opinionated, juvenile, and scathing blog entry on this topic. The next day I felt bad about being such a meanie to Dave Redl so I wrote a follow-up article, but halfway through I realized that my wrath was justified.
Some consider Google too truthful for its own good, it seems.
Post-apocalyptic desert is definitely an undertapped setting for MMOs, but for a reason - they're depressing. I really like the Fallout games but the setting doesn't have the mass appeal of lush forested fantasy realms. I fear this game may go the way of Auto Assault - a rather good MMORPG in this setting. Hopefully the masses will be bored of swords and sorcery by 2010.
Slashdot Mirror
Thanks for saying this. I was just about to ask why they're not suing the IEEE for developing the Internet Protocol.
I didn't trust Steam one iota when HL2 came out, so I enjoyed the pirated version for a few months. A friend ended up giving me his boxed copy of HL2 so, with nothing to lose, I tried Steam. I haven't had a single problem with it yet, and have purchased many great games at low prices (Episode One, $18; Psychonauts, $20; Uplink, $10) since.
Yesterday marked the end of my first customer service issue with Steam. I purchased Outrun 2006 which froze my machine every time I started a race. Because Steam acts merely as the distributor they directed me to Sega for technical support. I emailed a detailed report to Sega but they never got back to me. I explained my situation to Steam support who immediately refunded my money and revoked my rights to access the game from the Steam client. No fuss, no muss, and they're the only software retailer I've ever dealt with who issued a refund for a nonworking game.
And for the record, 3D Realms created a Steam-like distribution system, Triton, with the release of Prey. Before long they decided it wasn't working out so they ditched Prey and untethered the game from Triton (and now it's for sale on Steam). I expect Steam will do the same when their time comes, though Steam's EULA clearly indicates that customers may only access games while they are "subscribers." Still, Valve has proven itself to be a highly reputable company with high standards so I trust them completely with my investment.
Thanks very much for the heads up! That'll be my solution!
I bought Office 2003 from school for a significant discount. My sister is still in college so maybe I can weasel a discounted copy through her. I'd like it for home use but can get by without. I never really considered spending $300 on something as frivolous as Office for home since I rarely use it, but I certainly do love 2007. I'm just disappointed that Microsoft would promise me a free copy and then not deliver. I drove 40KM to their media event and sat through their PR crap and went home with a t-shirt and DVD of trial software. I was expecting Vista and Office.
I've been using the betas for months and I'm really dreading having to go back to 2003. I can't afford 2007 and I didn't get the promised free copy of 2007 Office Pro when I went to MS's stupid "Ready for a New Day" launch event in Toronto so I guess I'm SOL. Real shame to because I absolutely adore Office 2007 but I would never spend so much money on an office suite. I'd sooner start using Google Docs.
Guild Wars recently sold their 3 millionth copy worldwide and released a Polish version in addition to the other 6 or 7 languages. Other localizations are pending. I believe that puts it at about 2/5 of WoW's population.
I had the exact same kneejerk reaction until I thought about it a little bit.
I have the utmost respect for Blizzard for continuing Battle.net after all these years. Free multiplayer is indeed an incredibly generous offering. However, as any Diablo player knows, Battle.net is utterly teeming with cheaters. I would be willing to pay a one-time fee (definitely not monthly) as I do for Guild Wars for corporate-hosted multiplayer as it is a controlled environment almost entirely free of cheaters. In games as loot-heavy as these an even playing field is of utmost importance.
I don't think that the SlamDance guys are bad for caving to the preasure (they do need corporate backers)
Slamdance invited SCRPG to participate in its event, voted it to be worthy of status as a finalist, and then kicked them out. That's irresponsible. Why pretend to host an objective contest when votes are for sale to the highest-paying sponsor?
And what of "America's Army" - an army recruitment game with no restrictions on who may play? The purpose of America's Army is to guide the player through basic training, siphon him into a regiment and specialty, give him a weapon and ship him out to hot zones. The game is as realistic as possible to best portray army tactics and day-to-day life. For all the games critics like Jack Thompson have dubbed "murder simulators", isn't America's Army the most literal definition? Where's the outrage from American taxpayers who fund continued development and distribution of this "game"?
The problem is that no one seems to like adventure games anymore. Why can't we have more games like Judgment Rites and Final Unity?
With adventure veterans like Al Lowe and Jane Jensen currently working on games, plus the resurgence of a more mature demographic with casual games, I think we'll be seeing some fantastic, intelligent adventure titles in the very near future!
if $abuse == "true" then $happiness == $happiness + 3
I'm a big fan of video games. Video games get more realistic in terms of physics, graphics, and AI every year. I adore virtual representations of reality as they make me think harder about the real world. Therefore, I've begun wondering, having played many RPGs lately, just how free our free will really is.
For example, let's say you find yourself face to face with a person who has information you need but he is reluctant to tell you. You are fairly personable and charismatic, but you are not very physically intimidating (though moreso than the other guy) and don't have a large bank account. You only have one chance with this person. Do you try to coax him verbally? Do you break the bank and bribe him? Do you try to intimidate him physically? Do you take the safe road based on your "point spread" or do you roll the dice?
It's actually an amazing game (by any standard, not just vs. free games) that originates from France and is localized, fairly accurately, in about a dozen languages. Save your criticism for the copy protection.
The game Guild Wars comes with an offer to download extra music from a DirectPlay-enabled (crippled) host. The music is supposed to be listenable in-game and at the desktop. After downloading some kind of license I can play the songs with Windows Media Player, but they won't play in-game. I go to the Guild Wars audio properties and it informs me of some kind of DirectPlay problem with a clickable error code. I click the code and a web page opens up saying generically "This DirectPlay music cannot be played," and that I should install the latest version of WMP. I do so and I get the same error message, plus I have to re-download licenses for the local files.
As for DRM in general, I've had my share of nightmares. I put a newish CD into my computer the other day and it tried to install a proprietary music player. My girlfriend put a DVD movie (Warner Brothers) into her computer and a similar player began installing without even a prompt. I played Trackmania Nations a while back and, even though it is a completely free game, it installed the infamous and dangerous StarForce copy protection software without prompting me.
I can't trust anyone but pirates anymore, so that's who I'll patronize (for content post-2004). Sorry, big media, you've failed me too many times. Companies are too greedy and DRM is too iffy to chance putting on my computer. My PC is heftier than my television or stereo will ever be and I'm not risking infection so that the MAFIAA can snoop on my private information.
Historically, no one has better understood the needs and frustrations of digital media consumers than pirates. They provide easy-to-install cracks with detailed documentation. Pirate organizations like Razor 1911 and Reloaded provide a free "service" to the public and their only competition is other similar release groups. Why do non-profit organizations provide vastly better service than legitimate for-profit companies?
Look inward, Billy Gates. Your company is guilty of all the things you point your finger at in TFA. It's cute that you urge us to rip CDs instead of buying songs online, but it's patently obvious that you're just taking a pot shot at iTunes. Put up or shut up.
If it was some method of automated distribution he might have been able to plead ignorance, pretending he was infected with a trojan or something. Are .torrent files distributed on IRC? I thought people just nabbed the whole movie from XDCC.
"The setting is to be a war-torn post-9/11-like Trek universe 150 years after the time of Picard."
So there will be no liquids or gels allowed on starships? "Tea Earl Grey powdered"
I'm not even American and it still pains me to see how diluted 9/11 is becoming. Call it war-torn or whatever, but at least reference an event that occurred in a warzone.
Chan also advertised the movies, and the procedure for downloading the files, on an online chatroom.
So basically he confessed and bragged about his l33titude, just like a little script kiddie bragging about defacing a website on an IIS 3.0 server. Had he not done this, perhaps it would have been more difficult to prove that he was sharing this movie and not just random blocks of binary code that happened to be very similar to those found in one rendition of the AVI files.
If you're going to share something iffy on BitTorrent use a public tracker that doesn't require logins, and maybe use an anonymous proxy like TOR. This isn't a 100% safe solution but it's likely better than what this chap did.
Shhhhh don't suggest more platforms for scrutiny. I don't need the feds outlawing Leisure Suit Larry.
I haven't tried for at least a year, but last time I checked the Knoppix HDD install was in beta and very buggy. Knoppix distros aren't good for much more than LiveCD boots.
Walmart sells bible games and Christian movies and Xmas decorations. I don't see anyone disputing those things. This particular video game has the player forcibly converting passers-by to Christianity and murdering others. Some people may be passively offended by the aforementioned items, but this game is actively offensive.
"This game seems to be, quite literally, preaching hatred."
I don't know much about the game content but I do have some insight on the motivation behind it. A few months ago I read (and blogged about) an article on religion and gaming. I found one of the quotes by Troy Lyndon, CEO of Left Behind Games, very hateful and disturbing:
"The world is set in the End Times, and in the single-player game you're fighting the forces of the Antichrist. But in multiplayer mode, you can play the other side; thus, we really have something for everyone."
You can play as a Christian or you can play as someone who is the very embodiment of evil. Apparently mankind can be split cleanly into these two groups. How diplomatic.
I agree with you entirely, mwvdlee. From concept to fruition this is a game that acknowledges one specific point of view and preaches hatred toward those who do not share it.
Let's just ban the polygon and we won't have to worry about computer generated smut ever again.
Google seems to reward restraint.
Very well said. It seems that blogs in general are Google's favourite subject matter because they are composed of full sentences and typically contain hyperlinks to popular sites. Many businesses use decade-old tricks like spamming meta tags or individual words in text the same colour as the background, and Google has evolved much since then. In other cases, corporate sites use gratuitous Flash elements, complex dynamic content, or session IDs which cannot be considered by Google whatsoever.
The blog author is correct when he says the litigious party's time would be better spent optimizing its web presence.
This reminds me of a similar occurrance last year when Dave Redl, owner of the "Familypants" brand, wrote a cease and desist letter to a website. This website had a discussion forum and one of the forum users named himself "Familypants". Message posts by that user appeared higher on Google than the Familypants website.
If anyone cares, I wrote a rather opinionated, juvenile, and scathing blog entry on this topic. The next day I felt bad about being such a meanie to Dave Redl so I wrote a follow-up article, but halfway through I realized that my wrath was justified.
Some consider Google too truthful for its own good, it seems.
Post-apocalyptic desert is definitely an undertapped setting for MMOs, but for a reason - they're depressing. I really like the Fallout games but the setting doesn't have the mass appeal of lush forested fantasy realms. I fear this game may go the way of Auto Assault - a rather good MMORPG in this setting. Hopefully the masses will be bored of swords and sorcery by 2010.