T w e n t y S i d e d
Here we have the last of the slightly disjointed Assassin’s Creed series. I thought I killed this game a few strips ago, but the dang thing just won’t shut up.
Treacherous Computing
Earlier I linked to an article talking about the rise of the Trusted Platform Module. At first I thought it was just another doomed DRM scheme, but I have since been smacked in the head with the brick of enlightenment. Several people pointed out that not only is it not a joke, it’s already partly implemented.
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Its advocates are calling it “uncrackable“, but we know better than that. Still, let us agree that it is very difficult to break. It operates at the hardware level, the operating system level, and the application level. The machine, the operating system and the program you’re trying to run all need to agree that you have the right to do whatever it is that you’re trying to do. Hacking around such a thing is non-trivial, because your machine is not on your side. Your machine does not trust you, or even itself to a certain extent. This article maps out the performance cost and absurdity of Vista’s current content protection, which is doubtless just a small part of their eventual overall TPM scheme.
At the heart of the thing is the assumption that the user is not to be trusted, and therefore control of the machine should be shifted away from the user and to a remote entity. Such an entity can decide what programs you can use, what documents you can read, and who you may share them with.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Treacherous Computing”
Spore: Rejected
Of the current 158 customer reviews of Spore on Amazon.com, 134 are single-star reviews, most of which fault the game for its DRM.
See also here and here – apparently there have been problems with the activation servers.
I don’t fault folks like Strangeite, who picked up the game in spite of this idiocy. There are so few new ideas coming to us these days that it’s exceedingly difficult to just let something like this pass you by.
While a game with this much hype behind it can’t really flop, it can sell less than expected. But if that happens EA might just conclude that people don’t want new things and that they should go back to making more cookie-cutter graphics demos. Or they’ll just blame pirates. If the game sells they will either learn that we accept this sort of DRM, and if it doesn’t they’ll learn that we fear new ideas. Buy the game or don’t: There is no way your choice can push EA in a positive direction. No matter how things go, they are going to take home all the wrong lessons from this.
I take no joy in any of this. It’s such a massive, stupid waste of potential.
DMotR B-day
Has it really been a year since my first webcomic ended? (Which was exactly a year after it started.) Apparently it has.
Note that Darths & Droids is running like clockwork. To my knowledge, they haven’t missed a single installment. (I think I missed six or so during the run of DMotR.) My comic covered 3 movies and ran for 144 episodes. By episode 144 of Darths & Droids they were only mid-way through the first of six movies. Whew.
To the Comic Irregulars: I hope you guys love making these things, because according to the navicomputer you’re going to make over 1,700 of them before Darths & Droids ends its twelve-year run!
I love the internet.
Royksopp: Remind Me
One of the best music videos I’ve ever experienced came to me as a completely random YouTube find:
I’ve watched it several times, and I know there are many details I’m still missing. I wish there was a higher resolution version available.
The Golden Age of PC Gaming
In my earlier rant against the current-gen Frankenstein graphics cards, a couple of people were quick to point out that while modern-day system-specs are indeed impenetrable to most people, the good old days of PC gaming weren’t much better. In the early 90’s, we had to fiddle around with config.sys and autoexec.bat to get games to work, make special boot disks, and know what freaking port and IRQ thingjigger our soundcard was hooked into. It was appalling.
She's not a 10,000 polygon bump-mapped model, but Cate Archer of No One Lives Forever 2 manages to look pretty dang good. Okay, her outfit is over-the-top, but that's the fault of the 60's spy movie heroines she's sending up, not the graphics engine.
Those were the rough and tumble years before the new technology settled into place and was packaged and distilled for the average consumer. PC Gaming was a niche back then. And as much as I hate to say it, I think Windows was good for PC Gaming. It handled that stupid memory management / soundcard nonsense and gave developers a “stable” platform on which to build. Once you’ve paid the overhead in memory and performance, having an operating system there is actually pretty nice. It eventually made it possible for non-technical people to play some PC games.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “The Golden Age of PC Gaming”
Stolen Pixels #18:Diving Bored
I didn’t really give Assassin’s Creed the attention it deserves the last time, so we’ve come back to it. Go ye therefore and read it.
From The Archives:
PC Gaming Golden Age
It's not a legend. It was real. There was a time before DLC. Before DRM. Before crappy ports. It was glorious.
Why I Hated Resident Evil 4
Ever wonder how seemingly sane people can hate popular games? It can happen!
Starcraft 2: Rush Analysis
I write a program to simulate different strategies in Starcraft 2, to see how they compare.
Crysis 2
Crysis 2 has basically the same plot as Half-Life 2. So why is one a classic and the other simply obnoxious and tiresome?
Who Broke the In-Game Economy?
Why are RPG economies so bad? Why are shopkeepers so mercenary, why are the prices so crazy, and why do you always end up a gazillionaire by the end of the game? Can't we just have a sensible balanced economy?
Are Lootboxes Gambling?
Obviously they are. Right? Actually, is this another one of those sneaky hard-to-define things?
The Best of 2012
My picks for what was important, awesome, or worth talking about in 2012.
Stop Asking Me to Play Dark Souls!
An unhinged rant where I maybe slightly over-reacted to the water torture of Souls evangelism.
Why The Christmas Shopping Season is Worse Every Year
Everyone hates Black Friday sales. Even retailers! So why does it exist?
How to Forum
Dear people of the internet: Please stop doing these horrible idiotic things when you talk to each other.