Twenty Sided

By Shamus Posted Wednesday Nov 19, 2008

Filed under: Rants 71 comments

 John Riccitiello hates DRMPrevious Post

2D Boy – the team behind World of Goo – has reported that 82% to 90% of the people playing the game are playing pirated copies. (They actually get into the particulars of the numbers here, where they came from and how they arrived at these figures.) We’ve heard figures in this range before and some have cast doubt that it could possibly be that high, but I don’t doubt it now. In this case, it’s coming from two guys who deliberately put out an open game with no DRM. These guys have no reason to inflate the piracy rate. I count them among the good guys, and take them at their word.

That doesn’t make this news any less depressing, though. World of Goo is a fun, innovative game for all ages with no DRM and a low price tag. The people downloading this game aren’t “evaluating” it for purchase. (There is a robust demo available.) They aren’t protesting DRM. (There isn’t any.) They aren’t sticking it to some large publisher. (This was self-published by two guys.) They aren’t protesting “price-gouging”. (The game is $20.) The people pirating World of Goo are simply amoral assholes.

The guys from 2D Boy come to the same conclusion I’ve been fruitlessly evangelizing here for years: Pirates are multitude, but going after them with DRM is a waste of time and money. I think their reasoning is inescapable, and I long for a day when big publishers will grasp these simple concepts and we can go back to conducting commerce and playing games without this DRM business in the way.

I’ve bought the game twice, (once for PC and once for WiiWare) and don’t regret it for a moment. This is a deeply satisfying experience for gamers of all ages and backgrounds. Your mom will enjoy this game. Your kids will enjoy this game. Your Mountain Dew-amped, Halo-playing, tea-bagging, trash-talking college buddies will enjoy this game. (Even if they don’t pay for it.)

Check it out for yourself, if you’re curious.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

 John Riccitiello hates DRMPrevious Post

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71 comments

Fallout 3:
Questions Answered

By Shamus Posted Tuesday Nov 18, 2008

Filed under: Game Reviews 127 comments

 Silent Hill SeriesPrevious Post

Next PostFallout 3 Reviews 

In the aftermath of E3, when people were still nursing their post-convention hangovers and writing about how E3 was destined to be the BEST GAEM EVAR, I was a big mean spoilsport and fired off a few questions in the general direction of Bethesda.

Now I’ve sunk a weekend into the game and had a nice deep draught from the well of first-hand experience. So I want to go back and answer those questions with the help of my newfound knowledge.

Here are the original questions, along with my take on how well it turned out in the final product: Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Fallout 3:
Questions Answered”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

 Silent Hill SeriesPrevious Post

Next PostFallout 3 Reviews 

127 comments

Stolen Pixels #39:
Not a People Person

By Shamus Posted Tuesday Nov 18, 2008

Filed under: Column 9 comments

 Stolen Pixels #37:
Part One of InfinityPrevious Post

Next PostStolen Pixels #40:
I Know a Shortcut 

I neglected to link to Stolen Pixels #38 last Friday, which was about the classic “War Never Changes” intro to the Fallout games. Allow me to do so now. And no, I’d never seen that particular Perry Bible Fellowship and this was not a reference to that. I was just trying to throw in some quasi-50’s lingo, in keeping with the style of the game.

Now, moving on to current events: Today we have yet another Fallout comic. This is more fantasy than parody, I’m afraid.

Comments are open for this one. Knock yourselves out.

(Also, for what it’s worth: This is post #2000. Yay base ten.)

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

 Stolen Pixels #37:
Part One of InfinityPrevious Post

Next PostStolen Pixels #40:
I Know a Shortcut 

9 comments

Silent Hill Series

By Shamus Posted Monday Nov 17, 2008

Filed under: Game Reviews 45 comments

 World of GooPrevious Post

Next PostFallout 3:
Questions Answered 

I think one of the major mistakes they keep making with the Silent Hill series is that they keep trying to tell stories about the town itself and the cult that got things started. I don’t think the story of Silent Hill is what we’re here for. We’re here for the premise, which is a spooky town that can pull people into the otherword. Once we have that, we don’t need an ongoing tale. Grafting new people and events onto the established narrative doesn’t make the setting more interesting or compelling.

This graph depicts the highly accurate and scientific readings of several games in the Silent Hill franchise, using equipment to measure the freakishness (using the standard Lovecraft logarithmic scale) against the innate wackyness (as measured in kilostooges) of the content. All devices were calibrated against solitaire prior to measurements.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Silent Hill Series”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

 World of GooPrevious Post

Next PostFallout 3:
Questions Answered 

45 comments

Weezer Keep Fishin on Ukulele

By Shamus Posted Saturday Nov 15, 2008

Filed under: Movies 65 comments

 A Capella Tribute to John WilliamsPrevious Post

Next PostThe Escapist Film Festival: Unskippable 

It’s pretty hard to justify this as geek culture, but this kid has talent and I want to link her and this is my website so I will:

Link (YouTube)

This is Julia Nunes, a YouTube celebrity musician. Which means many of us have probably never heard of her. Internet fame is so strange because it’s so compartmentalized. What I like about this video is how she messes up the start but keeps going, instead of starting over or editing her mistake. There is a certain self-confidence in that. I suppose in this context we should call it showmanship.

She’s got a lot of videos, most of which are done using the format above: She plays ukulele and does multiple voice tracks so she can harmonize with herself, and sometimes she plays rhythm with her hands.

Also noteworthy is her cover of It’s The End Of The World As We Know It, which is an incredibly challenging song. She and a friend conquer it with skill and a dash of teenage silliness. That song was big when I was 16 and Julia was minus two. It’s nice to know our music is still hip enough for the young people. This is not always the case.

Additional trivia: She sometimes refers to her friend “Shamus” in her videos, (like in this one at the 4:20 mark) and it never fails to freak me the heck out. In my 37 years (I’m not old!) I’ve never heard that name spoken except in reference to me, and it’s really hard to get my brain to not think of it as me. Imagine if you bumped into a stranger on the street who blurted out your first, middle, and last name. That’s what this feels like. I imagine people named “John” and “Dave” get over this really early in life, but it’s just not something I ever encounter.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

 A Capella Tribute to John WilliamsPrevious Post

Next PostThe Escapist Film Festival: Unskippable 

65 comments

Stardock Admits Mistakes

By Shamus Posted Thursday Nov 13, 2008

Filed under: Video Games 42 comments

 Command & Conquer MisprinPrevious Post

Next PostTomb Raider Underworld Reviews 

A few weeks ago Stardock released their 2008 customer report (PDF) which discusses, among other things, the current state and future plans for their own content delivery platform, Impulse.

Impulse is the first serious rival to Steam. Not in size (at least not yet) but in functionality and intent. It offers many of the advantages of Steam while avoiding many of the annoyances. The PDF I linked above gives a peek at what they have planned. It’s a long read, but it’s not padded with a lot of touchy-feely PR speak. It is a vessel densely packed with information, and time spent reading it will not be squandered.

One of the most intriguing things about the report is that it looks at what went wrong with Impulse at launch, what’s been fixed, and what issues still need to be resolved. It reads like an internal memo, but it’s been sent out to all of us so we can see where the company is going with this. This is something I love about Stardock: The ability to appraise and address shortcomings in public. Compare this to how a company like EA or 2kGames approaches criticism:

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Stardock Admits Mistakes”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

 Command & Conquer MisprinPrevious Post

Next PostTomb Raider Underworld Reviews 

42 comments

Crpl tunnl is a btch

By Shamus Posted Wednesday Nov 12, 2008

Filed under: Personal 37 comments

 Wind StormPrevious Post

Next PostA Pet Project, Euthanized 

Ow. I’m not sure what the deal is, but my arms are going all carpal on me. This came about very abruptly. Monday I was fine. Tuesday I was flicking my wrists and massaging my forearms. I haven’t changed my workspace, and I haven’t increased my typing output, so I don’t know what’s causing this.

I’m going to forego the posts I’d had slated for today and engage in some premeditated slacking. Just so I don’t send you away empty handed, here is some stuff to read:

Alex reviews Bully.

Kaedrin talks about Anathem, the new Neal Stephenson book. Also good is this post on Blu-Ray, which suggests that Blu-Ray isn’t as important as Sony thinks it is.

Jay Barnson takes another look at the eternally slippery term “RPG”.

Ow again. Kind of sucks when your job, your second job, and your hobby all require lots of typing.

EDIT: I have no idea if this is true carpal tunnel or not. It’s an ache in the backs of my wrists and the front of my forearms which makes typing painful. Addendum: Ouch.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

 Wind StormPrevious Post

Next PostA Pet Project, Euthanized 

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