On the one hand I suppose I should be impressed that Electronic Arts bothered to respond to all the complaints about the SecuROM DRM at all, but the responses they gave to MTV Multiplayer show they still don’t get it:

Complaint: A legitimately bought copy of “Spore” can’t be activated on more than three different computers — ever.

EA Response: That will be changed, according to the EA spokesperson, who told Multiplayer that the current limit on the number of computers that can be associated with a single copy of “Spore” is “very similar to a solution that iTunes has. The difference is that with iTunes you can de-authorize a computer [that you no longer want associated with your iTunes content]. Right now, with our solution, you can’t. But there is a patch coming for that.” The official timeframe for that patch is “near future.”

*Some stats regarding this issue — EA provided Multiplayer with updated information indicating that it is rare for consumers to perform installations of recent EA PC games on more than one PC, let alone three

They then go on to show that the vast majority of purchases of Mass Effect, Spore Creature Creator, and Spore are only authenticated on one PC and very few ever do three PCs. However this completely misses the point. Very few of us are worried about being able to use Spore, or any other SecuROM protected title, on more than one PC as much as what happens after the third restage or upgrade causes us to hit the three install limit. Yes we can call EA and request a new license and perhaps it’s as easy as pie to do, but we shouldn’t have to do that. I don’t have to do it with Red Alert 2, but I will if I buy Red Alert 3 and there’s no valid justification as to why. It doesn’t stop the pirates in any way as they had Spore five days before it was available in stores.

If your restrictions don’t actually prevent piracy then all they do is inconvenience legitimate customers. If you continue to insist on them after a game has already been broken then I can only assume there is an unstated ulterior motive for requiring the online activation and install limit. My guess would be A) to gather usage information and B) try to squeeze extra sales out of gamer families. The latter of which is likely to purchase multiple copies of the game anyway.

Complaint: Consumers fear there is spyware being installed by the SecurROM copy-protection software incorporated into the game.

EA Response: “There’s no viruses, no spyware and no malware…We have located a download off of one of the Torrent sites that is a virus. The thing I would say to the consumer audience is that, if you’re concerned with a virus on your computer, the chances of that are infinitely higher when you’re downloading off of a hacked version than it would be downloading the authentic game. We would never put any spyware on anyone’s computers. That’s not going to happen.”

This falls to address exactly what it is SecuROM is phoning home about, which it is known to do. Exactly what information is it gathering and sending off across the net? If you refuse to tell us then it’s exactly like Spyware in terms of spying on us without revealing what info it’s communicating. If SecuROM interferes with the operation of legitimate software and hardware, which it has also been known to do, then it also fits the definition of Malware.

Pretty much everyone knows that downloading a hacked copy is risky, but there’s plenty of virus-free hacked copies that don’t spy on folks out there for the taking. The response also assumes that people who don’t buy the legit version will turn to the hacked copy and that’s not necessarily the case. A lot of us will just refuse to buy the game costing you sales because we don’t appreciate being treated like criminals.

Complaint: The “Spore” instruction manual claims that a purchaser of “Spore” can allow multiple users to create online accounts with a single copy of the game. The game does not allow this.

EA Response: The company has already stated this is a misprint in the manual and referred Multiplayer back to a statement issued by “Spore” executive producer Lucy Bradshaw apologizing for “the confusion.” But EA has not replied to Multiplayer follow-up questions regarding why the company implemented this restriction and what EA makes of complaints from households that include multiple people who want to have separate “Spore” accounts associated with a single copy of the game.

Of all the issues raised, this one is probably the lowest concern of most of the complainers, but I can see how it would affect households who only have one PC. It’s telling that EA would choose to address this over some of the more substantial complaints. It also says a lot about the restrictive nature of SecuROM that they had to drop this feature as a result.

Complaint: The requirement for a “Spore” user to have their ownership of the game automatically authenticated every time they access the game’s online features threatens to render the game useless if EA someday turns the “Spore” servers off.

EA Response: “If we were to ever turn off the servers on the game, we would put through a patch before that to basically make the DRM null and void. We’re never walking away from the game and making it into a situation where people aren’t going to be able to play it.”

At last they finally address one of the more meatier complaints. It’s great to hear that they’ll patch the game to remove the DRM if they should ever decide to walk away from it, but the pirates don’t have to worry about that right now. My response to EA is this: Good. Call me when you decide to release that patch and I’ll consider picking up a copy of the game. It’ll probably be quite cheap by that point in time and you’ll likely never see the revenue because it’ll probably be a second-hand sale so you still lose out on getting my money.

Here’s the part, however, that shows just how much Electronic Arts doesn’t get it:

The bottom line shared to me by EA spokesperson Mariam Sughayer today is that “EA has no intentions — nor will they ever — to make it easier for people to play a pirated game… than to play an authentic retail copy.”

You’ve already lost that battle. Legit purchasers of Spore must authenticate the game online at least once before they can play it, the cracked copy doesn’t require authentication, legit owners have an install limit of three PCs max, the cracked copy doesn’t, legit customers may lose the use of legitimate and legal software and hardware on their PCs thanks to SecuROM, the cracked copy doesn’t interfere, legit owners will have to run a special application to “de-authorize” their PCs when they hit the three install limit or they have to call EA and be interrogated by a helpful customer service rep, the cracked copy doesn’t require that, legit customers have to hope EA keeps their promise to release a patch to remove the DRM should they decide to no longer support the game, the cracked copy doesn’t have any such concerns.

Explain to me how it’s not easier to play a pirated game than an authentic retail copy? Better yet, explain to me why I should pay $50 to be treated like a criminal when your DRM doesn’t stop the pirates from getting the game five days before it was officially released?

Yes I’m writing about video games again because the news about the economy (Wall Street went to hell on Sunday) and the upcoming presidential elections (McCain/Palin are polling well) makes me reluctant to deal with reality at the moment. I thought I’d write something positive about something fun and that brings me to the folks at Criterion Games who are responsible for the very excellent Burnout Paradise.

Despite not being a huge racing game fan I bought Burnout 3 for the PS2 back in the day and fell in love with it for its over-the-top crashes which were part of the strategy in the game. I bought Burnout Paradise with birthday money after it was re-released as a PS3 Classic for $30 and it is an amazing update for the next-gen systems and has provided me with many hours of car smashing fun already. If that isn’t enough reason alone to buy it if you haven’t already then the fact that Criterion are about to release a third FREE update to the game should be. There’s already been two updates that added all sorts of stuff to the game and the third, due to be released this Thursday, adds motorcycles for the first time in the history of the franchise along with a bunch of other cool additions:

I was worried when the PS3 and Xbox 360 came out with their ability to download additional content that game companies would end up nickel and dime-ing us to death and, in some cases, that’s just what they’ve tried to do. That just makes the fact that Criterion is updating BP with major content at no charge some 10 months after its release all the more praise worthy. It’s a great game to begin with and the updates have only made it better. I’m sure at some point they’ll stop putting out free updates and move on to a new game, but word has it there’s a couple more updates yet to come. So here’s a big Thank You to Criterion Games for all the work you’re doing on BP. It’s one of the most heavily played titles I own at the moment.

The official release date for the next expansion to World of Warcraft has been announced:

Anne and I have been playing in the beta for awhile now and I can say that it’s going to be a major change to the game. Not just in new content, but in how long-standing features and various class spells work. For example there’s been a lot of effort put into reducing how much stuff uses up bag space. It used to be that if you wanted to collect non-combat pets, of which there’s already a stunning number in the game, you ended up devoting a lot of bank slots to store them and bag slots if you wanted to actually carry them around with you. The same is true for mounts. Balfour, my level 70 dwarven hunter, has three epic riding mounts and three epic flying mounts that I keep on him at all time using up six bag slots in the process. I only need one of each, but I keep three of each so I can randomly chose which of the three I want to use. There’s no advantage to one over any other other than it’s nice to have some variety, but I have to give up four more bag slots to do it. However, in WotLK I won’t have to give up any bag slots as all mounts and non-combat pets become spells I can learn. This will come in very handy when I’m grouped with people who don’t have their epic mounts yet as I’ll be able to use my non-epic mounts to match their speeds. I still have the non-epics, I just don’t tend to carry them with me all the time.

Plus Death Knights will finally be available on the live realms. We’ve been having a blast playing the DKs in the beta. In particular the storyline you go through after character creation has been done remarkably well. When you first created a DK it starts at level 55 with a full set of decent gear and you’re still enslaved to the Lich King, Arthus. You’ll go through a series of quests that teaches you how to use your abilities, slowly gives you all your talent points for the level you’re at, and upgrades your equipment to a decent set of blues. The cool part is that the quests are phased so that the environment changes as you make your way through them in a manner similar to the phased quests in Lord of the Rings Online. There’s been lots of updates to the user interface as well that’ll eliminate at least a few of the mods I regularly use. A built in calendering system for scheduling events and raids as well as keep tracking of in-game events such as the holidays, a built-in threat meter, and a whole bunch of other improvements. 

Going to have to start saving our pennies now if we hope to pick it up on launch day.

It appears the folks at Electronic Arts are doing everything they can to ensure I never purchase one of their PC games again. Word over on the official support forums for Command and Conquer says that the upcoming Red Alert 3, a sequel to my all-time favorite RTS, will use a slightly more lenient SecuROM DRM scheme:

Hi guys—

I’ve been hearing your concerns about the DRM situation and wanted to get back to you with some information about our plans. In the case of Red Alert 3 (and all PC titles coming out of EA), we will use SecuROM – the same copy protection that the EALA RTS group has used on our last three titles. This time around, however, the copy protection will be configured to be more lenient than we’ve supported in the past.

I know this can be somewhat of a polarizing topic, and I thought it would be best to open the lines of communication with some facts:

- We will authenticate your game online when you install and launch it the first time.

- We will never re-authenticate an installation online after the first launch. In other words, no reaching out to a central server post-install to see if you’re “allowed” to play.

- You will be able to install and play on up to five computers.

- This system means you don’t have to play with the disc in your computer. Personally, I think this is a huge improvement over our previous copy protection requirements, which have always required a disk to play.

- Life happens. I know it’s unlikely, but for those unlucky few who install the game and have their machines nuked (virus, OS reinstall, major hardware upgrade, etc.) five times, EA Customer Service will be on hand to supply any additional authorizations that are warranted. This will be done on a case-by-case basis by contacting customer support.

-You can, of course, play offline without impediment or penalty.

Red Alert 3 is shaping up to be a world-class RTS game that will give you many hours of enjoyment. I think it would be a shame if people decided to not play a great game simply because it came with DRM, but I understand that this is a very personal decision for many of you and I respect that. As you might imagine, I’m a lot less respectful of those people who take the position that they will illegally download a game simply because it has DRM.

Either way, we’ re very proud of the hard work our team has put into this game and we hope you will all enjoy it when it launches.

I’m so not happy. So not happy that I took the time to leave the following comment on that thread:

I’m a 41 year old gamer who has bought numerous titles from Electronic Arts all the way back to the original Archon on the Commodore Amiga back when EA was just a small company run by Trip Hawkins. That was back in 1982 and I was 15 at the time. In the 26 years since I’ve spent countless thousands of dollars on EA games for the Amiga, PC, and various consoles. I’ve watched over the years as the copy protection became more and more intrusive while doing nothing to actually stop the pirates, but the games were good and the copy protection not much more than an annoyance so I spent the money and enjoyed myself. It’s safe to say that I’m a long-standing fan of EA and many of the titles they’ve put out. Red Alert and its sequel remain two of my all-time favorite RTS games and I was eagerly looking forward to playing the latest installment when it is released. Electronic Arts, however, has decided to reward my (literally) decades-long loyalty by making use of one of the more problematic DRM systems available. These days I make my living as a PC support specialist and there are various legitimate programs, such as Process Explorer, which may or may not run properly if I have SecuROM installed on my systems. SecuROM said this was an attempt to stop people from hacking their DRM system, but considering that Spore was cracked and on the Bittorrent sites almost a week before its release it doesn’t seem to be stopping the hackers. In fact the only people being inconvenienced by this DRM system are legitimate customers who have paid for the software. You’ve already admitted that even if it works fine without conflict for the vast majority of your customers there’s still likely to be a subsection who run into problems. I believe you called that “Life Happens” in your original post. What a great attitude to take with your paying customers. It was enough to get me to take the time to register an account just so I could let you know how I feel about it. I’m done being treated like a criminal in order to use the software I’ve paid for. I did not purchase Bioshock despite being a fan of the original System Shocks because of SecuROM, I did not purchase Mass Effect for the same reason, I also haven’t purchase Spore in spite of following its development since its announcement, and I won’t be purchasing Red Alert 3 for the same reasons. I don’t care how many copies you allow me to install before I need to call your support line. I’m testing software and OS installs all the time which means I’m restaging my PC on a regular basis which means it won’t be long before I have to start calling and explaining why I need a 5th, 6th, 7th… 20th reinstall to some poor sap on the phone. Meanwhile Joe Pirate Boy is able to enjoy his copy as much as he wants and reinstall it as much as he wants without having to call anyone. There are three of us in my family who were dieing to play Spore so much so that we would’ve spent $150 for three copies of the game just so we wouldn’t have to wait for one person to stop playing before someone else could start, but now its not going to happen. I still play my copy of Red Alert 2 some eight years after it was released and it still installs just fine without any need for an Internet connection or calling someone up on the phone. Will I be able to do that with Red Alert 3 in 8 years? Will you still have registration servers running for it and someone sitting by a phone ready to grant me my 130th install? Will you release a patch at some point that removes the DRM so that nonsense won’t be necessary? In summary: Explain to me why I should spend $50 just so I can be treated like a criminal?

Every now and then some PC developer goes on a rant about how piracy is destroying PC gaming. I say what’s destroying PC gaming is the bullshit DRM schemes. While they whine about how some game they just released has been cracked and downloaded some 10,000 times being the loss of 10,000 sales (which isn’t entirely true) they manage to overlook the loss of sales from people like me who are sick of the pirates having the hassle free version of the game. If the reaction to Spore is any indication then people are starting to get fed up and the publishers risk alienating the few people who are buying their software.

The Large Hadron Collider at CERN has been attracting a lot of nutcases worried about it destroying the world by creating mini-black holes or some other Thing Man Was Not Meant To Know when it goes online. There’s been legal challenges trying to stop it and several people at CERN have even received death threats over it.

It’s all nonsense of course… or is it? Say, is that Half-Life‘s Gordon Freeman in the picture below?

Click to embiggen!

Guess it may be time to buy a shotgun and stock up on anti-alien anal probe ass shields.

Found over at Popgive.com.

Out of the (currently) 230 reviews for Spore at Amazon.com some 199 of them are 1 star and the comments make it clear this is due entirely to the SecuROM DRM. Some of the comments include insights such as:

This type of DRM with not stand, man

Do not treat your customers as “Criminals First”. The DRM has already been cracked and is online anyway, so what was the point, seriously? The only people who are being punished is those of us who actually pay for quality games.

NO DRM! - Jason C. Roskam

A sentiment I agree with completely.

DRM is a no go

Their DRM copy protection is outrageous. Limiting to 3 installs for a full price PC game is not going to cut it. They are inconveniencing their customers for a game many have anticipated for many years. To prove the folly of gimping their official disc, I think I’ll pass for now. My pirated copy will keep me busy in the interim.

NO THANK YOU EA!

You’d think someone at EA would take note of the fact that their DRM has actually driven at least one person to the pirated game, but chances are they’ll just use it as an excuse for why they need DRM.

Personally I’m torn once again. I really was looking forward to this game as was everyone in my family to the extent that we were seriously considering buying three copies at some point because we’re all going to want to play it at the same time. That’d be a total of $150 from one household alone, but the presence of SecuROM and the three install limit bugs the shit out of me. I’ve only played a small amount of Bioshock because I refused to buy it for the PC due to the SecuROM and was limited to trying it at a friend’s house. It’s finally coming out for the PS3, but I don’t tend to care for playing FPS games on a console (much prefer keyboard and mouse) so Ken Levine will probably never see a dime from me for his excellent game. Now I’m seriously thinking I won’t be buying Spore either because of the DRM and that’s seriously disappointing. I doubt EA will get the message as it’ll probably still sell well enough for them to consider it a success, but badly enough that they can jump up and down about the problem of piracy. For legit customers it’s a no-win situation.

Found via Twenty Sided.

In a rare Sunday release you can now pick up Spore from a retailer near you. It seems to be netting scores in the 8 - 9 range and a lot of people are wondering why it’s not getting 10’s considering all the lavish pre-release hype it got. The folks over at MTV Multiplayer did an interview with Will Wright to get his reaction to the reviews:

I read Wright that Times paragraph and this is what he said:

“I haven’t read that, but it’s interesting. The feedback we’re getting from people is that everyone has some level they like and some level they don’t like. A lot of the reviews I’ve read have said that the Space Stage was far and away the best and they were disappointed by the earlier stages because they were too simple. Other people have said the Creature Stage is their favorite and that the Space Stage seems too complicated. We knew, since we were using different genres with every level, that everyone would have ones they really clicked with and ones they didn’t. We’ve pretty much seen that. There hasn’t been any consistent feedback. Some people have said the Civ phase is the best.”

When I talked to Wright, I had played deep into the Space Stage, which I was enjoying. But I had seen complaints from hardcore game reviewers and message board posters that all of the stages have less complex gameplay than many gamers had hoped. As wonderful as the content creation and sharing options are, the one consistent complaint I’ve seen is that the gameplay seems to have been “dumbed down” for the sake of appealing to a more casual audience. Was it?

“I’d say that’s quite accurate,” Wright told me. “We were very focused, if anything, on making a game for more casual players. “Spore” has more depth than, let’s say, “The Sims” did. But we looked at the Metacritic scores for “Sims 2″, which was around 90, and something like “Half-Life“, which was 97, and we decided — quite a while back — that we would rather have the Metacritic and sales of “Sims 2″ than the Metacritic and sales of “Half-Life.”

Considering the fact that The Sims and The Sims 2 are two of the best selling titles of all time I can’t say that his approach is a bad one to take with Spore. I won’t be writing a review of it anytime soon as it’ll be awhile before I can swing a copy. Anne’s still looking for a job since the move so we’re living on a shoestring budget, but we hope to pick the game up as soon as money isn’t quite so tight. We’ve had great fun with the creature creator so far and I can’t wait to put some of them through their paces in the actual game.

It seems there’s never enough time or money to play every great game that is released. There’s plenty of titles that have sat on my Amazon Wish List until they were no longer available so I never got around to playing them. If you’re like me and prefer to buy your games rather than just download them off of Bittorrent then you may be interested in a new service called Good Old Games. They make available the best games of the past at affordable prices and, best of all, NO DRM. From their website:

1. We’ve got games your 10-year-old won’t be better at.

GOG.com offers you critically acclaimed games from major publishers in every genre. Don’t let your kids mock the graphics; remind them that the classics never go out of style, unlike their totally wicked haircut.

2. So you’re cheap. It’s okay – we are, too.

We sell games for $5.99 and $9.99. For less than the cost of a lunch at some lousy diner you can own some of the greatest games of all time. No matter how big the file is and how successful the game was, you’ll leave the table satisfied that you got a great deal for your money. As an added bonus, our house specialities won’t make you sick.

3. You buy it, you keep it.

Don’t let your DRMs turn into nightmares (clever, eh?). You won’t find any intrusive copy protection in our games; we hate draconian DRM schemes just as much as you do, so at GOG.com you don’t just buy the game, you actually own it. Once you download a game, you can install it on any PC and even re-download it whenever you want, as many times as you need, and you can play it without an internet connection.

4. All games are Vista and XP compatible.

Thanks to our handsome programming team, the classics are now Windows Vista and Windows XP compatible. Now you can use your lightning-fast PC to unleash the full potential of those games you just couldn’t play properly on that busted old 386.

5. Extend the experience with tons of cool and exclusive add-ons.

Buying the game is just the beginning. With a purchase of any game at GOG.com you’ll also get some great additional materials for free, including game guides, walkthroughs, wallpapers and more. No joke.

6. We’re bringing together classic games and a classy community.

Dive into the GOG.com community, share your love for the games and meet other gamers with the same passion for the Good Old Games as you. Rate and review every single game, discuss your favorite titles on message boards, get support for your games and help others. Who knows, maybe you’ll find that special someone.

7. It’s so easy, your gramma’s probably already playing.

GOG.com is so easy to use. Just a few clicks will get you on your way to playing some of the best PC games of all time.

• easy account setup
• simple, fast and hassle-free downloads
• game installers as user-friendly as can be
• DRM-free games make it easy to re-download, install on any computer or even back them up on a CD.

Early Access Beta is Coming! Beware.

On Monday, September 8, anyone who signed up for the GOG.com beta will start receiving access keys to the site. We’re saying goodbye to the press beta and gearing up for the next phase: Early Access Beta. Everyone who signs up at http://www.gog.com before Sunday September 7 at midnight (EDT), during the next week will receive an access key, which will allow them to dive into the GOG.com site. If you don’t receive your access key on Monday, don’t worry as we’re sending them out in stages. The Early Access Beta will offer all the main features of the site, including buying DRM-free games, joining the community and writing reviews. Apart from just getting access, everyone buys a game from GOG.com during the Early Access Beta will receive a bonus code to get one game from GOG.com’s Interplay catalogue for free! So what are you waiting for? If you haven’t signed up yet, be sure to enter your email address and get in on the action.

Yep, I’m basically giving them some free advertising, but I think it’s a cool idea and I’m hoping it’s a success. I’ve never gotten around to playing the original two Fallout games and I keep hearing about how awesome they are so this is a chance to go back and try them out. They had a short interview with Shacknews on what they’re shooting for:

Shack:  If there’s isn’t any copy protection, aren’t you concerned about piracy? How do you ensure this will be a profitable and long-lasting enterprise?

Tom Ohle: Realistically, it’s probably out of our hands. What we wanted to do is kind of, provide that unique value in terms of—it’s something that other competitors don’t offer. Separate just from the games catalog itself, every other digital distribution platform basically requires some kind of online authentication, some sort of copy protection in there.

For us, it’s basically log into your account and download any game [you’ve bought], any time. The concern about piracy is something that we’ve gotten from publishers, who kinda go, “We’ll give you these games, you sell them, and then they’ll just be out on torrents immediately.”

We’re hoping that with the low price point—we’re also adding a bunch of added value features. For some of the key games, we’re gonna have really in-depth game guides. And just trying to have that low price point, plus the no DRM, sort of working on a bit of an honor system.

The gamers that we’re targeting are going to end up being a more mature audience anyways, because they’re these hardcore, old-school PC gamers. For $5.99 or $9.99, it’s pretty cheap. Hopefully people won’t be too tempted to copy it and give it to their buddies, because it’s pretty cheap. And hopefully the more sales we get, obviously, the more likely we are to bring on additional publishers and different titles. If everyone’s pirating games right off the bat, then I guess we’d be in a bit of trouble.

It’s likely they’d be pirated even if they had DRM on them (Spore comes to mind), but with the price being so low and the titles being older perhaps it’ll be less of a temptation. Either way it sounds like a good opportunity to catch up on titles you’ve missed along the way.

The folks over at Game Viper are reporting that Spore has already been cracked:

After news of Spore breaking the street date in Australia, we hear that Spore has already been cracked by a group called “RELOADED” despite it’s use of SecuROM, the anti-pirating software. (the same one used in BioShock) There are currently over 10,000 people downloading the game on just one public torrent tracker. All this 4 days before the game even comes out in North America.

Fat lot of good that copy protection is going to do EA now, but will they remove it? Not on your life. This also shows just how ineffective SecuROM really is. The only people it punishes are legitimate customers.

Stardock is one of the few game publishers out there that seem to understand their market. Their games generally don’t have any DRM systems mucking up your system or other forms of copyright protection and yet they tend to sell pretty well despite the fact that they’re pirated just as much as any other title. They’ve also been at the forefront of arguing against the use of such systems for quite awhile now.

Now at the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) they’ve put out what they consider to be a Gamer’s Bill of Rights:

...a statement of principles that it hopes will encourage the PC game industry to adopt standards that are more supportive of PC gamers. The document contains 10 specific “rights” that video game enthusiasts can expect from Stardock as an independent developer and publisher that it hopes that other publishers will embrace…

...the objective of the Gamer’s Bill of Rights is to increase the confidence of consumers of the quality of PC games which in turn will lead to more sales and a better gaming experience.

Chris Taylor, CEO and founder of Gas Powered Games, expressed support for the Bill of Rights, which Stardock enumerates as:

• Gamers shall have the right to return games that don’t work with their computers for a full refund.
• Gamers shall have the right to demand that games be released in a finished state.
• Gamers shall have the right to expect meaningful updates after a game’s release.
• Gamers shall have the right to demand that download managers and updaters not force themselves to run or be forced to load in order to play a game.
• Gamers shall have the right to expect that the minimum requirements for a game will mean that the game will play adequately on that computer.
• Gamers shall have the right to expect that games won’t install hidden drivers or other potentially harmful software without their consent.
• Gamers shall have the right to re-download the latest versions of the games they own at any time.
• Gamers shall have the right to not be treated as potential criminals by developers or publishers.
• Gamers shall have the right to demand that a single-player game not force them to be connected to the Internet every time they wish to play.
• Gamers shall have the right that games which are installed to the hard drive shall not require a CD/DVD to remain in the drive to play.

It would be wonderful if more publishers were to take this seriously, but I doubt it’ll happen. With any luck most of the independent developers will jump on it as a means of drawing attention to their products. I currently own Sins of a Solar Empire by Stardock and I have to say it’s damned refreshing to be able to start it up without having to find the damned CD or worry about if my Net connection is down. The game is pretty damn good too.

Yes I realize I’ve been posting a lot of videos on video games lately, but the news coming out of Leipzig has been so much better than what came out of E3 so bear with me.

Next up: is the official opening cinematic for the next World of Warcraft expansion:

At some point I plan to sit down and write up some of my impressions on the beta so far. Let’s just say that the fears of Azeroth being overrun by Death Knights are probably well founded as they are fun to play.

Apparently there was a small bug in the Tiger Woods ‘08 golf simulation which allowed Tiger Woods to walk on water. Someone using the nick Levinator25 filmed the glitch and posted it to YouTube as the “Jesus Shot.” EA noticed the video and responded with one of their own:

Gotta admit, that’s pretty funny.

There’s a new trailer out for the next iteration of the Price of Persia games and it looks great. The best part is your female companion in this one looks to actually be useful instead of standing around and whining most of the time. It’s especially impressive in high def. Check it:

Yep, gonna have to put that one on my Wish List.

I have to give Sony credit for doing some amazing stuff with the PlaystationEye accessory for the PS3. The original EyeToy for the PS2 had a few games for it that attempted to allow you to interact with on screen objects, but most of them were collections of simple mini-games that were only amusing for a short while. The most ambitious EyeToy game was AntiGrav which had you using your whole body to control a dude on a hover board. It wasn’t terrible, but it never really lived up to the promise.

Shortly after the PS3 came out Sony released the PlaystationEye which was an enhanced version of the EyeToy. Right off the bat it was clear things were going to be quite different with the release of the game The Eye of Judgement which was essentially a trading card game that used the PS3 and the PlaystationEye to bring the cards to life in a fashion reminiscent of the animated chess scene in Star Wars. When the game came out it worked just as advertised and has been relatively popular.

Now Sony is kicking it up a notch with the announcement of EyePet. A disgustingly cute virtual pet that will interact with you via the PlaystationEye camera. Check out this trailer for it:

If it works half as well as the trailer suggests then it’ll be very impressive. Based on the footage it’s hard to say just how long it’d remain an interesting plaything, but for younger kids it could be very popular. I’m just impressed with the level of interaction that appears to be possible.

Sony seems to be falling into a pattern with how they market the PS3. Since the beginning they’ve offered two models of the console and as time goes on they drop the low-end model and make the high-end the new low-end and introduce a new high-end version.  Originally it was the 20GB and 60GB models and there were significant hardware differences between the two. Then came the 40GB and 80GB models with the primary difference being the lack of PS2 backwards compatibility on the 40GB version. Then they changed the 80GB model so it was the same as the 40GB just with a bigger HD, but added value by including a game as a pack-in (Metal Gear Solid 4). Now they’ve dropped the 40GB model altogether and reduced the 80GB model down to $399 without MGS4 so what’s the new high-end model to be?

It’ll be a 160GB model with Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune and a voucher for the PSN game Pain packed in for $499:

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune PS3 Bundle with 160GB PS3 System

The 160GB PS3 system announced at the GC will be available here as part of a new limited-edition bundle that includes the hardware, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune game, a PLAYSTATION Network voucher for PAIN, and a DUALSHOCK 3 wireless controller.  We’re hearing from a lot of you that more PS3 storage space is important, particularly since the launch of our video delivery service, and this new model delivers more memory and a whole lot of content packed-in. The 160GB PS3 has all of the same functionality as the new 80GB PS3 that’s popping up on retailer shelves now, but obviously has twice the HDD space, so you can build levels to your heart’s content in LittleBigPlanet, download a ton of videos, and still have room for your entire music collection. The Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune 160GB PS3 bundle launches in November for $499.99 (MSRP).

Double the disk space and two games for an extra $100 isn’t too bad of a deal and Uncharted is easily one of the better titles available for the PS3 right now. I’ve played the hell out of the demo as I’ve not been able to squeeze out the money to pick it up myself yet, but it’s gotten pretty good reviews.

The other big PS3 announcement is for a new wireless keypad that attaches to the PS3 controller to make entering text a bit easier:

Lastly, we’ve announced a new Wireless Keypad for PS3 that will make text communications and Web browsing much easier. The Wireless Keypad snaps onto the top of a SIXAXIS or DUALSHOCK 3 wireless controller and comes with some cool features, including a mode that turns the main key area into a touch pad (similar to a touch pad on a Laptop computer). Once in this mode, you can slide your finger on this area to move the cursor on the screen and tap to enter. There will be two short cut buttons on the Keypad that will enable users to jump directly to the XMB’s “Friends” icon and the “Message Box” during gameplay. The Wireless Keypad will launch in late November.

Last but not least, the Wireless Keypad is a Bluetooth device that can not only be used with the PS3 system but with any other Bluetooth enabled device that has Keyboard functionality. You will be able to use it with your smart phones and other portable devices that are equipped with Bluetooth. With the PS3 system, it can be paired and charged seamlessly just by connecting them with a USB cable.

With it sitting on top of the controller it may be awkward to use so I doubt you’d use it during the heat of battle, but it should still beat the hell out of using the on-screen keyboard to enter text into games. Considering it’s designed to snap onto a PS3 I’m not sure how you’d use it with a smart phone other than perhaps just holding it in your hand to type on.