Cell is making its way into other consumer electronics this year. The first Cell-powered 3DTVs are coming this fall; the interface is going to be impressive. Not making a case for anything, I just thought folks might be interested.
Threepio on
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Ninja Snarl PMy helmet is my burden.Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered Userregular
edited March 2010
Blech, 3D TVs. I won't even watch the 3D versions of movies because of the inevitable "look at thiiIIIIiiis!" stupid 3D moments. Who the hell wants to go home and put on extra glasses to watch TV?
Blech, 3D TVs. I won't even watch the 3D versions of movies because of the inevitable "look at thiiIIIIiiis!" stupid 3D moments. Who the hell wants to go home and put on extra glasses to watch TV?
Yeah, the PS3 is extremely difficult to hack, it will likely take years to be hacked.
hypervisor and strong encryption
The 360 had essentially the same setup, only they fucked up in one spot with the DVD drive firmware.
Security isn't about how many whiz-bang features you have, it's about the one place you fuck it up.
Yeah, that's true. Unfortunately the PS3 has been pretty much impenetrable so far. I'd actually like to see what programmers could do with the Cell.
Buy any game to see what programmers can do with the CELL. The Cell is also available in Linux form on the PS3 fat (not the GPU though).
And why is it unfortunate that the piracy locks on the PS3 has not been broken?
You know, this is almost certainly most of the reason why the PS3 hasn't been hacked yet. Recent consoles generally get hacked first by people who just want to run their own stuff, and then the pirates take that work and use it to pirate. It's really clearly what happened with the Xbox, the Wii, the DS, and the PSP, and it's arguable that it's what happened with the X360, Gamecube, and Dreamcast as well. Letting the homebrew community have a little leeway goes a long way. Of course, the PS3's Linux mode uses the hypervisor to lock down the GPU, which is annoying as hell, but it's better than nothing and it's why the Linux crowd didn't have a lot of people hacking the console's security features, whereas by contrast the Xbox had people taking it apart to attack the crypto at the goddamn MIT Hardware Lab.
Blech, 3D TVs. I won't even watch the 3D versions of movies because of the inevitable "look at thiiIIIIiiis!" stupid 3D moments. Who the hell wants to go home and put on extra glasses to watch TV?
But now that the poor companies have run their HD gimmick into the ground, they need a new way to sell new TVs to the gullible consumer.
Yeah, the PS3 is extremely difficult to hack, it will likely take years to be hacked.
hypervisor and strong encryption
The 360 had essentially the same setup, only they fucked up in one spot with the DVD drive firmware.
Security isn't about how many whiz-bang features you have, it's about the one place you fuck it up.
Yeah, that's true. Unfortunately the PS3 has been pretty much impenetrable so far. I'd actually like to see what programmers could do with the Cell.
Buy any game to see what programmers can do with the CELL. The Cell is also available in Linux form on the PS3 fat (not the GPU though).
And why is it unfortunate that the piracy locks on the PS3 has not been broken?
You know, this is almost certainly most of the reason why the PS3 hasn't been hacked yet. Recent consoles generally get hacked first by people who just want to run their own stuff, and then the pirates take that work and use it to pirate. It's really clearly what happened with the Xbox, the Wii, the DS, and the PSP, and it's arguable that it's what happened with the X360, Gamecube, and Dreamcast as well. Letting the homebrew community have a little leeway goes a long way. Of course, the PS3's Linux mode uses the hypervisor to lock down the GPU, which is annoying as hell, but it's better than nothing and it's why the Linux crowd didn't have a lot of people hacking the console's security features, whereas by contrast the Xbox had people taking it apart to attack the crypto at the goddamn MIT Hardware Lab.
I salute this misappropriation of government research spending!
Blech, 3D TVs. I won't even watch the 3D versions of movies because of the inevitable "look at thiiIIIIiiis!" stupid 3D moments. Who the hell wants to go home and put on extra glasses to watch TV?
"Guys! Come round and watch the game on my new 3d TV! Fuck yeah!"
"Oh sorry Bill, I only have 4 pairs of glasses for it. Guess you're watching it in blurry vision."
Blech, 3D TVs. I won't even watch the 3D versions of movies because of the inevitable "look at thiiIIIIiiis!" stupid 3D moments. Who the hell wants to go home and put on extra glasses to watch TV?
"Guys! Come round and watch the game on my new 3d TV! Fuck yeah!"
"Oh sorry Bill, I only have 4 pairs of glasses for it. Guess you're watching it in blurry vision."
This is the scenario that is my biggest annoynace with 3-D TV
Yeah, the PS3 is extremely difficult to hack, it will likely take years to be hacked.
hypervisor and strong encryption
The 360 had essentially the same setup, only they fucked up in one spot with the DVD drive firmware.
Security isn't about how many whiz-bang features you have, it's about the one place you fuck it up.
Yeah, that's true. Unfortunately the PS3 has been pretty much impenetrable so far. I'd actually like to see what programmers could do with the Cell.
Buy any game to see what programmers can do with the CELL. The Cell is also available in Linux form on the PS3 fat (not the GPU though).
And why is it unfortunate that the piracy locks on the PS3 has not been broken?
You know, this is almost certainly most of the reason why the PS3 hasn't been hacked yet. Recent consoles generally get hacked first by people who just want to run their own stuff, and then the pirates take that work and use it to pirate. It's really clearly what happened with the Xbox, the Wii, the DS, and the PSP, and it's arguable that it's what happened with the X360, Gamecube, and Dreamcast as well. Letting the homebrew community have a little leeway goes a long way. Of course, the PS3's Linux mode uses the hypervisor to lock down the GPU, which is annoying as hell, but it's better than nothing and it's why the Linux crowd didn't have a lot of people hacking the console's security features, whereas by contrast the Xbox had people taking it apart to attack the crypto at the goddamn MIT Hardware Lab.
I salute this misappropriation of government research spending!
MIT is a private university.
(And I've seen dumber graduate research projects.)
You guys also need to think about China, Southeast Asia, and Middle Eastern areas., when I was there in China it was super easy to get any digital media pirated. DVD stores, sure, here's $.80 for a new release (cam quality though, which sucked at times) or $1.50 for a real dvd rip. This is how everyone gets movies in China, been in multiple stores with soldiers and police browsing while in uniform, shoot I even got asked by a few of them if such and so movie was good if they had some English ability.
Game stores you just walk in, open the binder, point at the cover art you want, they pull it out for you, generally $.75 a game and all consoles are pre-modded (though hardware cost about 33% more then the US).
Now you can rant and rave, but China isn't marketed too so its not like they have any choice in the matter, and they get no online play except from the PS3 since that hasn't been hacked yet (though games for it range from $60-100 for imports, which is stupid expensive for all but the upper upper middle class).
With a market like that though, its not easy for any company to do normal business like its done in the west, you have to have an on-line only strategy that works through small priced sales. Hence why WoW is huge there, it cost 1/10th or so the price for a monthly account compared to the US, but with the time limitations imposed by the government (4 hours until character becomes weaker) most players I knew had multiple accounts. There are free servers there, but most are just there to try and mine passwords/get you to download viruses.
But yea, piracy in America is a drop in the bucket compared to Asia and the Middle East. Local authorities also have no interest in stopping it because taking away entertainment because some other country full of rich people says so doesn't go over well with your populace. Any time you see news of "China cracking down on pirates" its merely for show and means zilch.
Insn't everything after the sentence "you guys also need to think about China, Southeast Asia, and Middle Eastern areas" a testament to the fact that we don't need to think about those areas when discussing DRM?
I'm not meaning to be a dick to residents of those areas, just wondering what the point is here.
Darlan on
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Ninja Snarl PMy helmet is my burden.Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered Userregular
edited March 2010
The PS3's security not being broken yet isn't because Sony gave homebrew users leeway, it's because they used a relatively unknown architecture plus a hyper-restrictive security system. Why would anyone crack the PS3 when the 360 is so much easier? Hackers aren't going to look at the PS3 and, out of sheer gratitude to Sony, just decide not to hack the system.
Ninja Snarl PMy helmet is my burden.Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered Userregular
edited March 2010
But at the same time, why would they really bother? The 360 is child's play in comparison since it's still following the classical PC architecture and pirating 360 games will still get them more stuff than they could likely play in any reasonable amount of time.
Not to mention the available resources for cracking the 360 would be enormous compared to cracking the virtually unheard-of Cell architecture.
You guys also need to think about China, Southeast Asia, and Middle Eastern areas., when I was there in China it was super easy to get any digital media pirated. DVD stores, sure, here's $.80 for a new release (cam quality though, which sucked at times) or $1.50 for a real dvd rip. This is how everyone gets movies in China, been in multiple stores with soldiers and police browsing while in uniform, shoot I even got asked by a few of them if such and so movie was good if they had some English ability.
Game stores you just walk in, open the binder, point at the cover art you want, they pull it out for you, generally $.75 a game and all consoles are pre-modded (though hardware cost about 33% more then the US).
Now you can rant and rave, but China isn't marketed too so its not like they have any choice in the matter, and they get no online play except from the PS3 since that hasn't been hacked yet (though games for it range from $60-100 for imports, which is stupid expensive for all but the upper upper middle class).
With a market like that though, its not easy for any company to do normal business like its done in the west, you have to have an on-line only strategy that works through small priced sales. Hence why WoW is huge there, it cost 1/10th or so the price for a monthly account compared to the US, but with the time limitations imposed by the government (4 hours until character becomes weaker) most players I knew had multiple accounts. There are free servers there, but most are just there to try and mine passwords/get you to download viruses.
But yea, piracy in America is a drop in the bucket compared to Asia and the Middle East. Local authorities also have no interest in stopping it because taking away entertainment because some other country full of rich people says so doesn't go over well with your populace. Any time you see news of "China cracking down on pirates" its merely for show and means zilch.
Insn't everything after the sentence "you guys also need to think about China, Southeast Asia, and Middle Eastern areas" a testament to the fact that we don't need to think about those areas when discussing DRM?
I'm not meaning to be a dick to residents of those areas, just wondering what the point is here.
Because to put it simply, DRM isn't really aimed at us anymore, multiplayer has been effectively locked out with most modern games unless you buy the game, especially now that personal servers aren't possible in most games and you have to rent from a third party. We are also affluent enough to afford a $50 game.
I think the game companies are still trying to figure out a sure fire way to lock things down so they can effectively enter markets like China and not watch as people sell their stuff for 1/50th the store price. Companies want places like China, its a huge market with A LOT of gamers. They just don't have anyway to protect their investment.
PS3 could be killing in China, except that its priced WAY out of line with the market and the hardware alone would need to be cut in half while software would have to drop by 1/3rd at least to be considered. There's also the issue of translation work to be figured out, not many of us want to play games in Japanese no matter how fun they are unless they are fairly simple.
I'd love to see some stats on sales of games in Asia and the middle east, but they don't exactly have a centralized distribution database for all the places selling pirated software. But I bet it would be far greater then even the software companies think.
PS3 could be killing in China, except that its priced WAY out of line with the market and the hardware alone would need to be cut in half while software would have to drop by 1/3rd at least to be considered.
So in other words, we're back at the games are overpriced thing?
The thing about the Asian markets, from a publishers stand point (especially Microsoft) is that they never really had a market there to begin with. Not only due to piracy but also because of the moving target that is their legislation (which typically only acts once they're formally compensated). Various hardware based DRM schemes on the motherboard were essentially dreamed up and developed to not just combat piracy in those regions, but to effectively try to make a platform that would allow for some kind of market to be formed. Then the Chinese government developed their own ugly distro of Linux and made threatening gestures, and then Microsoft and Intel countered, and I just eventually stopped caring and forgot about it.
Anyways, I doubt any game publisher that's not pushing an MMO is concerned with piracy in that market (because they're paid in other ways). Lost cause. Blizzard maybe? I would figure they've long adapted to that market.
Teth on
#1
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surrealitychecklonely, but not unloveddreaming of faulty keys and latchesRegistered Userregular
edited March 2010
Bonus jaw-dropping stupidity; AC2 not available through steam in the UK. NICE WORK UBISOFT
For sales, if you align the two launches, the PS3 has been outselling the 360 very slightly worldwide. Very slightly. If you assume consistent sales rates, it would take ~4.8 more years for the PS3 to catch up to the 360 worldwide.
For attach rate, if you align launches, the attach rates over the span of time have been very comparable across all three platforms.
As far as the USA, there are a heck of a lot more 360s than PS3. There are about 22 million 360s in the US and about 13 million PS3s.
If you talk about sales of Modern Warfare 2 on the two consoles, it is weighted in favor of the 360. 4.2 million copies of MW2 sold in its first month for the 360, versus 1.87 million on the PS3. Just from that launch month, that would mean 19% of 360 owners in the USA have Modern Warfare 2, and about 14% of PS3 owners have the game.
Not sure what all this has to do with the topic but I thought I'd put some input.
You should rename yourself stats000. Or even better, stat000... that way everyone can chant "statto!" whenever you make a post.
GrimReaper on
PSN | Steam
---
I've got a spare copy of Portal, if anyone wants it message me.
The PS3's security not being broken yet isn't because Sony gave homebrew users leeway, it's because they used a relatively unknown architecture plus a hyper-restrictive security system. Why would anyone crack the PS3 when the 360 is so much easier? Hackers aren't going to look at the PS3 and, out of sheer gratitude to Sony, just decide not to hack the system.
That and there's much more hype about what you can do with the PS3 by turning it into a worker node in a linux grid computer since it has the capacity of ~25-30 traditional x86 cores (although the limited physical memory does restrict the types of work it can do). Products that have a "safety valve" that allows non-theft hacking tend to take a bit of steam out of the black hats by giving the gray hats something else to do other then help the black hats.
Oh man, this is great. Even game reviewers, infamous amongst DRM haters for never mentioning jack about DRM are up about this.
Ubisoft might not care about what any of us have to say, but I'm sure they'll take note of reviewers basically going "don't get it, its a good game but not remotely worth the hassle".
Bonus jaw-dropping stupidity; AC2 not available through steam in the UK. NICE WORK UBISOFT
The interesting thing about this is that it was available, and was their number one seller for a while. It has since been pulled, and apparently a mod on the forums claimed he will simply delete any topics asking why.
Which is a pity, as I would be very interested to know if this was related in any way to the DRM, or more generic dickery by Ubisoft behind the scenes...
Nohman on
0
DrakeEdgelord TrashBelow the ecliptic plane.Registered Userregular
Bonus jaw-dropping stupidity; AC2 not available through steam in the UK. NICE WORK UBISOFT
The interesting thing about this is that it was available, and was their number one seller for a while. It has since been pulled, and apparently a mod on the forums claimed he will simply delete any topics asking why.
Which is a pity, as I would be very interested to know if this was related in any way to the DRM, or more generic dickery by Ubisoft behind the scenes...
Bonus jaw-dropping stupidity; AC2 not available through steam in the UK. NICE WORK UBISOFT
The interesting thing about this is that it was available, and was their number one seller for a while. It has since been pulled, and apparently a mod on the forums claimed he will simply delete any topics asking why.
Which is a pity, as I would be very interested to know if this was related in any way to the DRM, or more generic dickery by Ubisoft behind the scenes...
Well, in the civilised parts of Africa (read: the south bits) you can buy pirated copies of games with the crack included on the day after the US release for 1/5th of the price from asian flea markets. Which kinda makes me think...if DRM is just to stop zero day piracy, why bother staggering releases across the globe? Shit that gets released in europe 2 weeks after the US release might as well not bother putting DRM on the european release. By the time the legit copy reaches those shores 0 day is over, the DRM has been cracked and the game has been torrented.
Lanrutcon on
Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
0
surrealitychecklonely, but not unloveddreaming of faulty keys and latchesRegistered Userregular
edited March 2010
Well, in the civilised parts of Africa (read: the south bits) you can buy pirated copies of games with the crack included on the day after the US release for 1/5th of the price from asian flea markets. Which kinda makes me think...if DRM is just to stop zero day piracy, why bother staggering releases across the globe? Shit that gets released in europe 2 weeks after the US release might as well not bother putting DRM on the european release. By the time the legit copy reaches those shores 0 day is over, the DRM has been cracked and the game has been torrented.
Yep, staggered game releases need to (and probably shall) die.
Well he certainly didn't mince words at the start of his review.
And it still scores a 9.0, while Gamespot reviewed the PC version a full point lower than the console versions. Which begs an interesting question: should external factors not directly related to the quality of the actual game affect its score? Yeah, yeah, I know, scores don't matter, read the actual review, but still. It just seems a tad incongruous when you're outright telling the reader not to buy this game for such-and-such reason, but still award it a glowing numeric score. Though, I can agree that more reviews need more teeth like this.
Well he certainly didn't mince words at the start of his review.
And it still scores a 9.0, while Gamespot reviewed the PC version a full point lower than the console versions. Which begs an interesting question: should external factors not directly related to the quality of the actual game affect its score? Yeah, yeah, I know, scores don't matter, read the actual review, but still. It just seems a tad incongruous when you're outright telling the reader not to buy this game for such-and-such reason, but still award it a glowing numeric score. Though, I can agree that more reviews need more teeth like this.
It does explicitly state though that it's only scoring the game and allowing the reader to decide how much they hate the DRM.
Makes sense, one day the DRM might be gone but the game will always be essentially the same.
Well, in the civilised parts of Africa (read: the south bits) you can buy pirated copies of games with the crack included on the day after the US release for 1/5th of the price from asian flea markets. Which kinda makes me think...if DRM is just to stop zero day piracy, why bother staggering releases across the globe? Shit that gets released in europe 2 weeks after the US release might as well not bother putting DRM on the european release. By the time the legit copy reaches those shores 0 day is over, the DRM has been cracked and the game has been torrented.
Yep, staggered game releases need to (and probably shall) die.
For downloadable games, at least, if the pricing isn't the same in every region, people on this very board have a hissy cow about how it's their right to buy keys from wherever they're available, so if it wasn't staggered there wouldn't be any point in releasing it at anything other than the going price in Southeast Asia, Africa or wherever games go for $5 on release. And once you reach that logical level, there's no point for developers to make the game in the first place, because they won't recoup their costs at $5 or $10 a copy.
In some parts of the US (the parts I'm familiar with, anyway), running a pirated games storefront is a lot trickier than it is in, say, Taiwan or Hong Kong. I don't think these sorts of storefronts in regions where the developer/publisher have no intention of making significant sales are really relevant.
Well he certainly didn't mince words at the start of his review.
And it still scores a 9.0, while Gamespot reviewed the PC version a full point lower than the console versions. Which begs an interesting question: should external factors not directly related to the quality of the actual game affect its score? Yeah, yeah, I know, scores don't matter, read the actual review, but still. It just seems a tad incongruous when you're outright telling the reader not to buy this game for such-and-such reason, but still award it a glowing numeric score. Though, I can agree that more reviews need more teeth like this.
It does explicitly state though that it's only scoring the game and allowing the reader to decide how much they hate the DRM.
Makes sense, one day the DRM might be gone but the game will always be essentially the same.
Or one day the servers shut down/they cut support for it (one or the other will happen), and you can never play the game on the PC again.
Well he certainly didn't mince words at the start of his review.
And it still scores a 9.0, while Gamespot reviewed the PC version a full point lower than the console versions. Which begs an interesting question: should external factors not directly related to the quality of the actual game affect its score? Yeah, yeah, I know, scores don't matter, read the actual review, but still. It just seems a tad incongruous when you're outright telling the reader not to buy this game for such-and-such reason, but still award it a glowing numeric score. Though, I can agree that more reviews need more teeth like this.
It does explicitly state though that it's only scoring the game and allowing the reader to decide how much they hate the DRM.
Makes sense, one day the DRM might be gone but the game will always be essentially the same.
Or it could be the reverse. Two years down the line Ubisoft managers are saying "Why are we maintaining servers for a game nobody's buying anymore and few are even playing?" *YOINK*
I'm still on the fence about whether reviews should take this into account when scoring. I mean technically they're just scoring the product, but you can't do that in a vacuum. You're scoring it as a PC game as well, how does it compare to the console version and what issues affect its usage? If a game has bugs, you make mention of them even if those bugs might be patched out later.
I mean, I just glanced at the subsim forums and people are still having issues trying to connect to Ubi's servers. The DRM is part of the package, and it affects usage, just as much as a bad server browser or shoddy interface. The core game might be fine, but that's not the only thing people will be making use of when they buy the product.
"Due to Ubisoft's servers being down I was unable to play the game I legitimately purchased. 0/10"
Let's not go crazy here, I can't play WoW right now because it's maintenance day. Imagine if today was the first day I bought it.
"WTF Blizz, once a week I am unable to play this game I legitimately bought, what am I paying you for? 0/10"
Yes, this is a single player game and unprecedented, awful DRM. But no, it does not deserve a poor review because the one time you tried to play it, you couldn't.
"Due to Ubisoft's servers being down I was unable to play the game I legitimately purchased. 0/10"
Let's not go crazy here, I can't play WoW right now because it's maintenance day. Imagine if today was the first day I bought it.
"WTF Blizz, once a week I am unable to play this game I legitimately bought, what am I paying you for? 0/10"
Yes, this is a single player game and unprecedented, awful DRM. But no, it does not deserve a poor review because the one time you tried to play it, you couldn't.
How about for three days, and in particular, over the weekend?
Reviewers have knocked scores for unstable games before, I don't see what the big difference is here. Functionally, DRM servers being fixed = patch being released. Except at least with patches they don't potentially uninstall themselves in the future. 0/10 is going too far, but so is claiming that your (in)ability to play the game is completely separate from its score- who cares if it's the best game ever when no one can play it.
Posts
Dr. Tongue?
EDIT:
(Possibly NSFW)
You know, this is almost certainly most of the reason why the PS3 hasn't been hacked yet. Recent consoles generally get hacked first by people who just want to run their own stuff, and then the pirates take that work and use it to pirate. It's really clearly what happened with the Xbox, the Wii, the DS, and the PSP, and it's arguable that it's what happened with the X360, Gamecube, and Dreamcast as well. Letting the homebrew community have a little leeway goes a long way. Of course, the PS3's Linux mode uses the hypervisor to lock down the GPU, which is annoying as hell, but it's better than nothing and it's why the Linux crowd didn't have a lot of people hacking the console's security features, whereas by contrast the Xbox had people taking it apart to attack the crypto at the goddamn MIT Hardware Lab.
But now that the poor companies have run their HD gimmick into the ground, they need a new way to sell new TVs to the gullible consumer.
3D: It works well this time! We swear!
Old PA forum lookalike style for the new forums | My ko-fi donation thing.
I salute this misappropriation of government research spending!
"Guys! Come round and watch the game on my new 3d TV! Fuck yeah!"
"Oh sorry Bill, I only have 4 pairs of glasses for it. Guess you're watching it in blurry vision."
This is the scenario that is my biggest annoynace with 3-D TV
MIT is a private university.
(And I've seen dumber graduate research projects.)
I'm not meaning to be a dick to residents of those areas, just wondering what the point is here.
3DS Friend Code: 2165-6448-8348 www.Twitch.TV/cooljammer00
Battle.Net: JohnDarc#1203 Origin/UPlay: CoolJammer00
Not to mention the available resources for cracking the 360 would be enormous compared to cracking the virtually unheard-of Cell architecture.
3DS Friend Code: 2165-6448-8348 www.Twitch.TV/cooljammer00
Battle.Net: JohnDarc#1203 Origin/UPlay: CoolJammer00
Because to put it simply, DRM isn't really aimed at us anymore, multiplayer has been effectively locked out with most modern games unless you buy the game, especially now that personal servers aren't possible in most games and you have to rent from a third party. We are also affluent enough to afford a $50 game.
I think the game companies are still trying to figure out a sure fire way to lock things down so they can effectively enter markets like China and not watch as people sell their stuff for 1/50th the store price. Companies want places like China, its a huge market with A LOT of gamers. They just don't have anyway to protect their investment.
PS3 could be killing in China, except that its priced WAY out of line with the market and the hardware alone would need to be cut in half while software would have to drop by 1/3rd at least to be considered. There's also the issue of translation work to be figured out, not many of us want to play games in Japanese no matter how fun they are unless they are fairly simple.
I'd love to see some stats on sales of games in Asia and the middle east, but they don't exactly have a centralized distribution database for all the places selling pirated software. But I bet it would be far greater then even the software companies think.
My Let's Play Channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UC2go70QLfwGq-hW4nvUqmog
Nothing.
Game Piracy is high on developing countries.
Every Game Pirated in a Developing Country != A Game lost in Sales.
Anyways, I doubt any game publisher that's not pushing an MMO is concerned with piracy in that market (because they're paid in other ways). Lost cause. Blizzard maybe? I would figure they've long adapted to that market.
You should rename yourself stats000. Or even better, stat000... that way everyone can chant "statto!" whenever you make a post.
---
I've got a spare copy of Portal, if anyone wants it message me.
That and there's much more hype about what you can do with the PS3 by turning it into a worker node in a linux grid computer since it has the capacity of ~25-30 traditional x86 cores (although the limited physical memory does restrict the types of work it can do). Products that have a "safety valve" that allows non-theft hacking tend to take a bit of steam out of the black hats by giving the gray hats something else to do other then help the black hats.
http://www.gamesradar.com/pc/assassins-creed-ii/review/assassins-creed-ii/a-20100304165650968088/g-200908201068558056
Oh man, this is great. Even game reviewers, infamous amongst DRM haters for never mentioning jack about DRM are up about this.
Ubisoft might not care about what any of us have to say, but I'm sure they'll take note of reviewers basically going "don't get it, its a good game but not remotely worth the hassle".
Well he certainly didn't mince words at the start of his review.
The interesting thing about this is that it was available, and was their number one seller for a while. It has since been pulled, and apparently a mod on the forums claimed he will simply delete any topics asking why.
Which is a pity, as I would be very interested to know if this was related in any way to the DRM, or more generic dickery by Ubisoft behind the scenes...
*BzzzZZRRRrttt*
_=-NOTHING TO SEE HERE.-=_
_=-MOVE ALONG CITIZEN.-=_
*CLANGCLANGCLANG*
Well that's peculiar.
Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
Yep, staggered game releases need to (and probably shall) die.
And it still scores a 9.0, while Gamespot reviewed the PC version a full point lower than the console versions. Which begs an interesting question: should external factors not directly related to the quality of the actual game affect its score? Yeah, yeah, I know, scores don't matter, read the actual review, but still. It just seems a tad incongruous when you're outright telling the reader not to buy this game for such-and-such reason, but still award it a glowing numeric score. Though, I can agree that more reviews need more teeth like this.
It does explicitly state though that it's only scoring the game and allowing the reader to decide how much they hate the DRM.
Makes sense, one day the DRM might be gone but the game will always be essentially the same.
For downloadable games, at least, if the pricing isn't the same in every region, people on this very board have a hissy cow about how it's their right to buy keys from wherever they're available, so if it wasn't staggered there wouldn't be any point in releasing it at anything other than the going price in Southeast Asia, Africa or wherever games go for $5 on release. And once you reach that logical level, there's no point for developers to make the game in the first place, because they won't recoup their costs at $5 or $10 a copy.
In some parts of the US (the parts I'm familiar with, anyway), running a pirated games storefront is a lot trickier than it is in, say, Taiwan or Hong Kong. I don't think these sorts of storefronts in regions where the developer/publisher have no intention of making significant sales are really relevant.
Or one day the servers shut down/they cut support for it (one or the other will happen), and you can never play the game on the PC again.
Or it could be the reverse. Two years down the line Ubisoft managers are saying "Why are we maintaining servers for a game nobody's buying anymore and few are even playing?" *YOINK*
I'm still on the fence about whether reviews should take this into account when scoring. I mean technically they're just scoring the product, but you can't do that in a vacuum. You're scoring it as a PC game as well, how does it compare to the console version and what issues affect its usage? If a game has bugs, you make mention of them even if those bugs might be patched out later.
I mean, I just glanced at the subsim forums and people are still having issues trying to connect to Ubi's servers. The DRM is part of the package, and it affects usage, just as much as a bad server browser or shoddy interface. The core game might be fine, but that's not the only thing people will be making use of when they buy the product.
"Due to Ubisoft's servers being down I was unable to play the game I legitimately purchased. 0/10"
Let's not go crazy here, I can't play WoW right now because it's maintenance day. Imagine if today was the first day I bought it.
"WTF Blizz, once a week I am unable to play this game I legitimately bought, what am I paying you for? 0/10"
Yes, this is a single player game and unprecedented, awful DRM. But no, it does not deserve a poor review because the one time you tried to play it, you couldn't.
How about for three days, and in particular, over the weekend?