piracy -

Episode 264: This Podcast is DRM-FreeEpisode 264: This Podcast is DRM-Free

May 23, 2012| Jonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 10:19 pm

This week is full of gaming goodness as E3 slowly creeps up like kudzu, but there’s still plenty to talk about this week. For one, the Gaming Flashback is the classic Infocom game Planetfall.

The news for the week:

DICE has Frostbite-powered titles for 2013 that “will require a 64-bit OS”
Actors confirm return to recording booth for Mass Effect 3
CD Projekt RED: The truth is DRM does not work
Potential $1 billion suit against EA by former student-athletes moves forward

All that and Reader Feedback. This week’s Question of the Week, “Have you ever wanted a game but didn’t buy it due to DRM?”

Episode 220: Professional Butt BitingEpisode 220: Professional Butt Biting

June 29, 2011| Jonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 7:08 pm

This week is a short podcast, since there’s no Gaming Flashback or Gaming History, but there was some important news in the past few days that caught our eyes. We’re also giving away a free copy of Duke Nukem Forever for the Xbox 360.

The news items include:

California videogame law ruled unconstitutional
LulzSec ends its hacking spree
Molyneux: We didn’t have enough time for Fable 3
Star Wars Galaxies shutting down in December
Duke Nukem will continue
Microsoft says Xbox 360 halfway through lifecycle, Kinect added adrenaline

How can you win a copy of Duke Nukem Forever for the Xbox 360? Answer the Question of the Week, What kind of food and drink to you eat while gaming? US residents eligible only.

Gaming Podcast 145: Best of Both WorldsGaming Podcast 145: Best of Both Worlds

October 27, 2009| schommer| 0 Comment| 10:12 pm

This week we’re flashing back to Metroid II for the Game Boy, something new and different from the normal arcade/console/pc flashbacks. We’re also tackling a good deal of community comments and hitting up the news wire:

Netflix coming to PS3.
Analysts think DJ Hero demand is below expectations
iPhone developers next victims of piracy
Nintendo releasing new bigger DSi in Japan
Players of Chinese MMO must play character of the same gender

We didn’t get to cover history this week because we had lots of back-and-forth arguing about Netflix and the PS3 and rants upon DJ Hero and its “obvious” low-demand. This weeks question of the week, are there any good sim games left that are simple?

Gears of War 2 For PC: No – Piracy is BadGears of War 2 For PC: No – Piracy is Bad

October 2, 2008| schommer| 0 Comment| 10:20 am

The last few weeks we’ve often brought up, on the gaming podcast, our reasons behind why Gears of War 2 wouldn’t be a PC title and only an Xbox 360. Our theory was more of a marketing tactic, assuming there would be no PC version because Microsoft wants to focus the attention of their big titles to the Xbox 360 as it’s a real gaming platform and they want more attention on it. We might have been wrong.

In a recent interview, IGN asked Epic’s Cliff Bleszinski some pointed questions about the PC release. Like us, everyone has been questioning the move to NOT release Gears of War 2 on the PC especially considering the first game made a PC debut and Epic has always been a big PC developer. Turns out, Epic is utilizing the Xbox 360 as a nice big can of DRM.

“Here’s the problem right now; the person who is savvy enough to want to have a good PC to upgrade their video card, is a person who is savvy enough to know bit torrent to know all the elements so they can pirate software.” (ign)

Following this answer he confirmed with a definitive no that we won’t see GoW2 on the PC. Of course, they also underscore the fact that the PC can have a wild array of hardware chipsets for video cards and catering to the masses with compatibility is pretty much a nightmare. A system with great DRM and a closed hardware platform is hard to pass up.

(more…)