Best banner ad ever:
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This is the RSPOD ad currently running at the PA site.
EDIT: I’m not sure how I ended up writing about RSPOD this week. It was not my intention. I have several posts on Indigo Prophecy, to which we shall turn our attention as soon as this temporary mania abates.
Yesterday I scorned Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness because of the built-in DRM system. I’ve been following the forum threads both at Penny Arcade and at publisher Hothead games, and there are some really important differences between this and the Mass Effect / Bioshock stuff. While I do enjoy getting worked up and filled with indignation as much as anyone, I need to clarify what’s going on here. There are distinctions that need to be made between this and the other DRM systems I’ve lambasted over the past few months.
One is that the the demo is the full version of the game. All you need is a valid key and the demo unlocks the rest of the content. This, coupled with the fact that this is a digital delivery game with no physical media, pretty much requires some form of activation. Once you have (buy) a key, they will let you download the game all you want, thus letting you use Hothead as your backup. You don’t need to maintain a copy for yourself. This is akin to Steam, and in direct contrast to the stuff from 2kGames and EA, where you need both physical media and the online activation.
The Hothead guys and Robert Khoo (the responsible business guy behind Penny Arcade) are in there discussing this with fans. This is very different from the BioShock saga, where overworked temps insulated the higher-ups from public input. This is different from the Mass Effect story, where Bioware developers listened politely but had no power to move the mountain that is EA. The people in the forums are the people make these decisions, and they are taking it seriously.
The sticking point for me is, or perhaps was, the limited installs. Continue reading ⟩⟩ “RSPOD: DRM Distinctions”
From the comments of people who have gotten the game, it sounds like Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, the Penny Arcade game, has pretty much the same DRM scheme as is being used in Mass Effect: Online activation, limited to three different machines, with more being given on “a case by case basis”.
It’s slightly less risible here because the title is a digitally distributed budget title, but in the end you still have to ask Hothead games if you can play. I just assumed that there wouldn’t be any DRM. I mean this is Gabe and Tycho Mike and Jerry we’re talking about here. Being ex-PC gamers themselves,I would imagine they would recognize the futility of the system. Why go to all the trouble of developing their own digital distribution system if it’s just going to be another implementation of the same stupid thing everyone else is using?
(By “everyone else”, I mean everyone besides Stardock. Bless them. A few weeks ago, I bought Sins of a Solar Empire. They mailed me the game, but let me download it as well. An hour after I made my purchase I had the thing installed and ready to go. No DRM fuss, no mess. I did have to type in a CD key, but I can do that as many times as I like. It was beautiful. I still have Collector’s Edition box sitting here, unopened. Like a present I’m saving for later.)
I actually object to the activation less in this case. I consider RSPOD to be a more or less “disposable” game. Play it once, and forget about it. It’s a budget title, and probably not something I’ll want to repeat five years from now. But still, the principle of the thing is the same, and the very idea of asking permission just rubs me raw.
I don’t know if I’ll skip the game over this or not. I’m certainly not going to run out and buy it right away.
Sigh. My hope that publishers will come to their senses over this is waning fast.
EDIT: Thinking about this the next day, I don’t know why I was so eager to give them a break. I guess because they are “indie” and I have a soft spot for indies. But my soft spot for indies comes from the fact they they don’t act like the big publishers. If I’m going to miss out on Mass Effect and Spore then I’m sure not going to indulge Hothead games in the same scheme.
The quote, from their forums: (Thanks to DaveMc for finding this.)
To hell with them. They should know better.
As promised last week, I’ve posted my notes and the plot outline for the end of Chainmail Bikini. The comic stopped right about in the middle of the story, halfway through Act II.
Here is the rest of Act II.
The first half of Act III.
The second half of Act III.
I’m happy with how the story turned out, even though we never got to see it drawn. Anyway, that’s it. All done.
I have a recurring nightmare. It does not appear often. I can recall it happening only three times, but the memory is potent. Nothing takes its toll on my sanity quite as bad as the dream where I suddenly seem to have killed somebody.
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I bring this up because this is how Indigo Prophesy begins. Lucas Kane finds himself in a restaurant bathroom, draped over the bloody remains of a man he’s obviously just murdered. Lucas doesn’t know why he did it. Or what it means. His first thought is escape.
This was a powerful opening to the game, as I was immediately drawn into Lucas’ plight. The player is given an unprecedented degree of freedom in how they can react to this situation. The only thing you must do is wash off the blood before leaving the bathroom. Hide the body? The murder weapon? Clean up the blood? Look for clues? Go out and finish your meal? Dash out without paying? Go out the back?
These decisions matter, because the next stage of the game has you revisit the diner, this time as the detectives investigating the murder. That is, you will be investigating all the stuff you just did while controlling Lucas. The first act follows this revolving chessboard idea. You play as Lucas, and then you switch sides and play the cops chasing him.
A lot has been said about the failings of the plot later in the game, but the important thing to note here is that this is some of the most innovative gameplay I’ve seen in years. Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Indigo Prophecy:
First Impressions”
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It’s Christmas in May. I suppose it’s not going to stun anyone to learn that my kids enjoy playing the Wii.
I inherited the family Gamecube, for what it’s worth. I’m not sure it will get much use, but it’s there in case I get the desire to play a game designed for people with more patience and younger thumbs. The device has been added to the snarl, thus bringing the humming cluster of electronics one step closer to self-awareness, which will no doubt be followed by a murderous regard for fleshbags like me.
The Wii has usurped its predecessor and secured the coveted spot beneath the television in the living room. It’s a very attractive piece of technology, wonderfully sleek and capable of standing upright. This is not to say I wouldn’t like it better if the thing was uglier, but easier to stack with other objects. I didn’t like when televisions starting becoming aerodynamic, making them an unsuitable place to put things like VCRs, and (eventually) DVD players. What we’re ending up with is this sort of puzzle where you have a half dozen devices, none of which can be placed on top of each other or behind any other device, all of which must be plugged into each other and the wall. It’s hard for me not to look at this mess and think that somewhere in Japan is a very malicious engineer who is laughing at me, right now.
Jerk.
While I suppose it’s still true that money cannot buy happiness, it does seem to be possible for money to buy electronics which dispense happiness. We have two Wiimotes and three kids, so I’m not sure how long the happiness supplied will be able to maintain equilibrium with the injustice and misery of having to share and take turns. I am certain I will know when the scales tip, though. The sound will be unmistakable.
I haven’t even tried it and I’m enjoying the Wii already.
I haven’t mentioned this game yet, but I just wanted to point out that I know about it, it’s there, and I do plan on getting it as soon as my queue clears out a bit.
A game for $20. Clever writing. No DRM. The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, the Penny Arcade game:
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