This week’s episode is abbreviated due to Paul’s move to California, and various Halloween delays. That’s not to say there’s no great stuff in the show, as there are some big debates about privacy and bugs.
The news this week includes:
- Electronic Arts insists that Origin is not spyware
- Rumor: Grand Theft Auto V to be download only?
- Dev: Sword of the Stars II is a “turnip“
All that, and Paul feels older thanks to the Reader Feedback.
Question of the Week this time is non-videogame related: What’s your favorite vacation spot?
Halloween is a scary time of year, no less when you’re posting a $310 million net loss. EA CEO John Riccitiello sees “weakness” at retail in October and we’re betting this isn’t the end of the road of sorrow for game publishers around the globe.
Who needs DRM when you’ve got battle.net? Blizzard believes they can authenticate legitimate users by stopping pirates from playing Diablo 3 online using their network service Battle.net. They’re saying the system is more like Steam than like EA’s solution of lock down methods using SecuROM.
@Origin is not spyware
Steam also collects hardware specs. They even build up this cool looking charts that help game developers learn what systems to target.
Paul, I use BitTorrent to “host” my game mod files.
@Grand Theft Auto V to be download only?
Jonah, I like having disks for my games. That doesn’t mean I’m not buying games on Steam, but, given a choice, I’ll go for the box.
@Sword of the Stars II is a “turnip“
I think the easiest fix is to remove parts of the game’s manual so that it aligns to the game itself, in terms of features 😀
@QOTW: erm, I’ll get back at this once I have something worthy of the name ‘vacation’.
Hey! I’m not 12 OR 8 -.-, I’m actually 15 =P. Yeah, no hard feelings, I’m sure you were just joking.
Anyway,
@Electronic Arts insists that Origin is not spyware: Oh Origin, how I instantly uninstalled you from my system when I found out it’s pretty much like Steam but worse. Also, I do agree that they shouldn’t be allowed to see what software I have on my computer and mind their own business. The only information they should be allowed to have is which games I have bought from Origin and how much I have played them.
@Rumor: Grand Theft Auto V to be download only?: I haven’t ever bought a digital game, because I like having a physical copy, as I have stated before. I don’t get this sudden want to just have everything digital. I hope I will one day be able to have a whole bookcase of games I love, to show off and feel nostalgic about.
@QOTW: I think that will be London, where I hope to be studying a few years in the future.
Side-note: Is working as a gaming programmer a viable job for an intelligent person who does very well in school?
Hi guys,
British don’t necessarily say “Priv a see” as opposed “Pri var see”. I actually say both. It varies depending on the flow of the conversation, and who you are speaking to. We also don’t use the word “Privy”, since that was Elizabethan era, and several hundred years ago. We say toilet. Even if we are using the one in the “bathroom”, we still refer to it as the toilet. Especially since a reasonable amount of houses have 2 or more toilets in them.
@Codes in games – I bought Uncharted 3 on release. I spent my Saturday playing straight through the entire game in around 14 hours, with breaks for food, rest, and because “You should take a 15 minute break every hour”. Once completed, I realised that with games like Battlefield 3 and the imminent release of Modern Warfare 3, the online aspect of Uncharted will likely get overlooked. This made me realise that I was unlikely to play the game again for several months, so I decided the next day to take it to a resale store, which was offering me 82% cash back for my original price. I pointed out I hadn’t used the online pass code to see if they would increase the offer. They didn’t, and it was marked as “No DLC” on the till. I had made a note of the online pass code before I went in to the store, because if I picked up the game 2nd hand myself in a year’s time, I wouldn’t want to pay for online access. If the store had offered me more, I was prepared to shred the code. They didn’t so I went home and registered the code. Now when I do go back to the game in a few months, I will still have online. I also picked up a sealed copy of Arkham City, so will find out later if my Catwoman code is both included, and unused.
My point in all of that is to demonstrate that if the game was going to be resold “as new” then I wouldn’t begrudge paying for the online content the next time I played it.
I think that the only way that distributors can escape any resistance to selling online passes is to not include one in the game itself, and just start charging everyone for online access after 1 hour’s use, like many demo games do. They do it where you can have the game, but can only play the first level / match before it says “go to the store to purchase the rest”.
Oh, and Batman box sleeve features under a screenshot “Activate your Batman: Arkham City pass to unlock Catwoman as an exclusive playable character!” It thenvstates in smallprint “single use code enclosed with retail purchase expires October 18, 2016. Blahblahblah. Online features are subject to change at any time.”
Just because I’m not sending you comments every week doesn’t mean I’ve stopped listening.
Feel free to not read the next bit out, as it is concerning mainly administrative things for the podcast which could do with addressing.
1. Downloading through iTunes, my screen always displays the authors as Derrick and Jennifer, rather than Paul, Jordan and Jonah.
2. Where has the music gone from the end of the show? It now feels like I am listening to a conversation over Skype and someone just closes the call, rather than a show which has come to an end.
3. Hate-mail time. Why is Paul one of those people who has to include his middle initial on his introductions? Its not as if there are 2 Pauls, let alone 2 Paul Novaks!
Cont….
4. The blog’s “About Us” section is massively out of date. If I recall it was updated when Derrick bought a PS3, but not since then. At the very least, you want to get your own names up there.
@QotW – Best holiday (I’m using that word because I’m British!) destination for me was the Mediterean region of Southern Europe. It’s hot without being too hot, and doesn’t take forever for me to get there. Nice food too, and lots of partying girls without parents who are looking for some fun.
GTA V Download Only – I don’t see that actually happening, most people that own consoles don’t have much HDD space as it is, and I can’t imagine a GTA game being small in file size. Maybe for the PC, but I think the console will get the physical copy, which I happen to like better. It feels like I actually own the game rather than the feeling of just being allowed to play it.
QOTW – So I’m going to say water parks as well. Honestly I don’t know why, if I were to list out all of the things that come with going to a water park, it sounds like a day in hell.