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noreply@blogger.com (faizconan) — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 08:57:00 +0000

Ubisoft chief claims PC game piracy rate as high as 95%

Assassin’s Creed publisher Ubisoft has a long and storied history combating game piracy on the PC, much to the chagrin of many gamers. Uibsoft’s head Yves Guillemot recently revealed in an interview that the company sees as much as 95% piracy on PC games, which may explain why several of the company’s upcoming titles are free-to-play.
By making some PC-exclusive games free-to-play, Ubisoft hopes to monetize these titles in a more reliable way. The free-to-play games include the likes of Silent Hunter Online, Anno Online, and The Settlers Online. Players would be able to download and play without paying, but additional content will be sold in the game.
Ubisoft has famously resorted to rather draconian DRM schemes that require legitimate gamers to be constantly connected to the internet in order to play. There have also been major security issues presented by Ubisoft’s form of invasive anti-piracy tools. The developer did end up loosening restrictions with Driver: San Francisco and From Dust, but players still had issues playing games during server moves.
Ubisoft representatives have said in the past that the company hopes to build gaming experiences that are more expansive, integrating social platforms, frequent updates, and mobile content to discourage piracy. It seems clear that anything Ubisoft does will be better for the piracy problem than its DRM scheme.
The company employs some truly annoying DRM, but where are the results? If locking down games like it has isn’t stopping 95% of games from being pirated, you have to wonder why resources are being spent on developing and maintaining the DRM systems. It’s also possible Guillemot was attempting to pull a large number out of thin air to justify the move into free-to-play games.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Review

Publisher: Valve
Platform: PC, Xbox 360, PS3
UK Price (as reviewed): £11.99 Incl. VAT
US Price (as reviewed): $15.99 Excl. Tax

It's Counter-Strike. It's back.

For the most part, that's all any of you will really need to know; that it's the exact same game you used to love but refashioned at a higher visual fidelity. There are a couple of additions and a couple of absences which we'll come to in time, but for the most part this is just Counter-Strike made prettier.

Proper Counter-Strike too. The game is available for consoles as well as PC, but Valve hasn't let the controller change the game hardly at all. If you're playing on PC then the only concession to thumbsticks that you'll even notice is that the Buy Menu has been refashioned as a radial selector, rather than a list. That's hardly worth stressing about, is it?

Meanwhile, the rest of the game is perfectly preserved. It's two teams, evenly matched and with opposing objectives thrown into tightly designed arenas which demand conflict. The speed and feel of the original game has been captured perfectly, but what's better than just that is that the formula has been distilled even further.

Click to enlarge

You see, Counter-Strike has always been about two things. In the short-term it's about the unrelenting speed of the violence and the enjoyable pressure that creates. Meanwhile, in the long-term it's about cultivating an intimate and strategic understanding of environments which are only superficially simple. Play enough of the old Counter-Strike and you'd naturally shift from one position to the other; what would start as twitch-shooting would eventually become strategic discussion.

The most fundamental improvement which Global Offensive makes is in increasing the level of granularity on this spectrum by presenting two flavours of experience; Casual and Competitive.

Casual modes are all about the short-game. When you start you're given Kevlar armour for free and you get only a few seconds to buy your weapons, with the implication being that you should stop planning and start fighting. Get out there and shoot that gun. When you die, you can watch the rest of the match from any position you want and soon enough you'll be funnelled on to the next map.

Click to enlarge

On the other hand, Competitive modes are all about the long-game. You get nothing for free and when you die you're limited to watching only your team-members from a first person viewpoint. Matches are balanced to go on much longer too, with the implication this time being on encouraging a meticulous attention to detail. Here, it's not about the fastest finger, it's about the perfect sightline.

These differences between Competitive and Casual might sound subtle, but examined closely they're indicative of so much, both in terms of how the game was made and how it's played. Drop into any random Casual server and you'll find people running around, shooting each other and jumping on to voice comms only to swear or yell jokes. A Competitive server, on the other hand, has a completely different atmosphere; expect rebukes if you're anything less than focused on the task at hand.

Whichever you favour, the fact that you have the ability to more finely tune Counter-Strike to suit your needs is no bad thing whatsoever, especially when it's build onto Valve's typically robust multiplayer framework.

Star Wars: The Old MMO Problem

Another month passes and another big MMO announces it's moving from a standard subscription model to free to play, with the publisher strenuously re-iterating that this is both A Good Thing and also What They Planned All Along. Nothing super interesting in that, except that the MMO in question is Star Wars: The Old Republic - the most expensive game ever made.

Not only was it the most expensive game ever made, but it was also developed by one of the best studios in the industry and based on one of the world's most popular franichses. And it's still unable to run on subscriptions after less than a year? Blimey.

Now, there are a lot of reasons why The Old Republic specifically has struggled since release and there'll doubtlessly be a lot of other critics pointing out the holes in EA's online strategy, the issues with Bioware's design and so on. Personally though, I don't think the issues we should be concerned with are exclusive to The Old Republic. I look at the other big MMOs which have faced the same transition - Age of Conan, Lord of the Rings, Star Trek Online - and wonder if there isn't a wider problem with MMO design.

Not even if you paid me.

Actually, strike that. I flat-out know that there's a problem with what we've come to accept as conventional MMO design. It's that that design rests on ideas which are explicitly manipulative of players, having been cynically created to trap them in a system that will never reward them enough to make them feel they can stop playing.

This is the dirty little secret of most MMOs. They are not designed to be fun, interesting or even social experiences. They are designed purely so that you keep playing. They are not entertainment; they are traps.

Now, there's a lot I could say on that point about developer responsibility and the evils of systems which promote and glorify these types of design, but those are other arguments for another time. What matters as far as the fiscal realities of SWTOR and its ilk go though is that there's only room a certain number of games that are this brazenly manipulative - and I think we've already reached that limit. Most gamers simply aren't interested in more games like that, while those that are have already got unbreakable bonds to existing games, such as World of Warcraft.

Who remembers Age of Conan? Anyone?

This doesn't mean that the MMO genre is dead, however - merely that developers need to look at new approaches and new ways to make the medium work. EVE: Online is a great example here, becoming successful for eschewing conventional design in favour of a pure sandbox model. Likewise, Second Life.

It still baffles me that there are so few games which are classified as 'Massively multiplayer' which offer genuinely social experiences. MMOs such as SWTOR and WoW may occasionally host social experiences, but these are by happy accident rather than design. In fact, a casual Twitter poll I just run (thanks to Kieron Gillen, Richard Cobbett and Joe Percy) only came up with one really likely looking possibility, called A Tale In The Desert. I'm going to dedicate some time this month to checking it out.

The rest of you can play The Old Republic, if you prefer.

No PS Vita price drops until 2013

When a new console comes out, we all know that the initial retail price can’t last forever. As manufacturing processes improve and economies of scale kick in, the cost has to come down. The PS Vita is still selling for around $249 in most places (real time price: ), and it’s looking like a price drop isn’t coming this year.
Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida told Eurogamer recently that Sony’s engineers are working hard to lower the manufacturing costs of the Vita. However, the planned revisions won’t happen until sometime in 2013. He said that this year, essentially this holiday season, was too soon for a price reduction.

At this point, Sony is concentrating on getting more content onto the Vita in the form of classic PS One titles, as well as new Vita games. The problem, of course, being that developers are wary of spending money making games for a platform without a large install base. And with the Vita still selling for $249, many casual gamers are steering clear. Sony needs content from those developers to get people to buy though so it’s a catch-22.

The Vita is a very capable gaming device with dual analog sticks, a touch screen, good resolution, and fast internals. With the prevalence of smartphone and tablet gaming, the Vita isn’t going to fly off shelves until that price drop comes. Bundle deals might be able to move a little hardware, but the platform is lacking in blockbuster titles. In order words, 2013 might be too late for anyone to care.

latest game

noreply@blogger.com (faizconan) — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 09:13:00 +0000

Report: PC gaming on the rise

by Steve Watts, Mar 07, 2012 8:15am PST

10 Best iPhone, iPad, Android and Windows Phone games this week

Bastion, The World Ends With You Solo Remix, Heroes Call, Activision Anthology, Splice and more

The World Ends With You Solo Remix for iPad

This is the fourth in our new series covering the best new smartphone and tablet games each week. This week's selection spans iOS, Android and Windows Phone:

Bastion

Bastion started life as a critically-acclaimed action-RPG for Xbox Live Arcade, before jumping to PC and Mac. Now it's available on the iPad, as you explore a lush hand-painted world battling monsters, upgrading weapons and marvelling at the landscape.
iPad

The World Ends With You Solo Remix

Another hotly-tipped roleplaying game making its way onto iOS this week is Square Enix's The World Ends With You Solo Remix. Set in Tokyo's Shibuya district, it blends battles, puzzles and exploration, as well as an online multiplayer mini-game called Tin Pan Slammer and other connected features. At £12.99 for iPhone and £13.99 for iPad – sorry, no universal version – it's pretty expensive by iOS standards.
iPhone / iPad

Heroes Call

Another action-RPG, but this time for Android. Heroes Call actually came out earlier in the summer, but only worked for Android devices with Tegra processors. Now it's available for all, with 30 dungeons to fight through, impressive 3D graphics and – in the absence of Game Center / iCloud on Android – canny use of Facebook to synchronise your game across multiple devices.
Android

Activision Anthology

Activision recently rebooted its classic game Pitfall as a Temple Run-esque game on iOS. Now you can play the original, as part of a 45-game retro compilation based on the versions for the Atari 2600 console. River Raid, Stampede, Enduro are also included. The basic app is free with one included game – Kaboom! – with the entire collection costing £4.99 via in-app purchase.
iPhone / iPad

Splice: Tree of Life

Developer Cipher Prime Studios has made a series of inventive music games for iOS. Splice is its latest game, and sees you rearranging cells into specific structures, figuring out how they will react to one another while mutating your way to the solutions.
iPad

Arcane Empires

Kabam is making a name for itself with hardcore social games. Its Kingdoms of Camelot game has been a mobile hit, and now it's been followed up with Arcane Empires. It's an empire-building strategy game played online against other people, offering a blend of battles, colonisation and diplomacy. It's a freemium game, with virtual gold sold in bundles for between £2.99 and £69.99. The link above is for iOS, but here's the Android version.
Android / iPhone / iPad

Split Decision

Mobile gaming is a broad church in 2012. Split Decision comes from an unusual source: magazine firm Dennis Publishing, of The Week, Viz and MacUser fame. This isn't about magazines though: it's a "nonsense vs knowledge" trivia game, asking you to assign things to their correct category – for example, is Breathe On Me a Sylvia Plath poem or a Britney Spears song? It's based on an existing board game, with new question packs sold in-app. The link above is for Android, but here's the iOS version.
Android / iPhone

Roll In The Hole

This week's Xbox Live-enabled game for Windows Phones – Microsoft tends to launch one a week – is EA's Roll In The Hole. It's a 72-level puzzle game starring a "chubby panda who just can't get enough ice cream", rolling through the game collecting his melty cones. Colourful casual fun.
Windows Phone

Oh! Edo Towns

If you've played one game by Japanese publisher Kairosoft, you'll feel at home with them all: the company's grippingly-addictive simulation mechanics have been rolled out across a range of subjects. Oh! Edo Towns is a port from iPhone to Android, and sees you building a town in Edo-period Japan. Combos, levelling up and cute pixel-art graphics all feature.
Android

Blast-A-Way

Developer Illusion Labs has plenty of fans from previous games like Touchgrind, Sway and Labyrinth. Its latest focuses on three robots' quest to save a bunch of hapless 'Boxies' characters from a series of 3D puzzle-levels, using bombs, teleporters and other items. 80 levels makes this a polished brain-twisting take on the adventure-puzzle genre.
iPhone / iPad
That's our selection – against stiff competition this week, with games like Fantasica, Granny Smith, McPixel and Eufloria just missing out, although they're all worth checking out.
What have you been playing on your smartphone or tablet? Leave your recommendations by posting a comment

Marvel Heroes Online

Over the last few years, Marvel superheroes have taken the mainstream by storm. The Iron Man and Avengers films alone have done incredible things for all of the Marvel Universe. With a SHIELD television show on the way and more movies in the pipeline, it’s clear that Marvel isn’t leaving the spotlight anytime soon. Traditionally, the video games that followed these movies has been less than great, but that isn’t going to stop Marvel from trying again. Earlier today Gazillion Entertainment has announced the closed beta registration for the new free to play MMO, Marvel Heroes.
Marvel Heroes seems to be set in its own corner of the Marvel Universe, in which Daredevil, Spiderman, Wolverine, The Punisher, and others are totally cool with teaming up to take down the bad guys. In the promo video, The Punisher is ready to clean up the mean streets of Hell’s Kitchen with a clear end goal of taking on Kingpin. The video shows off The Punisher and Daredevil taking out the bad guys together, with a special cameo from Deadpool as he runs up behind two armed thugs in suits with a rocket launcher.
The game looks like it would make those who closely study the Marvel Universes crazy, but it also looks like a lot of fun.

Marvel Heroes was designed by David Brevik, whose fingerprints can be found all over Diablo and Diablo II. The game is described as both an Action RPG and a Free to Play MMO, and obviously you’ll be able to pick your favorite bad guy and roam the streets cracking skulls and getting ready to take down Kingpin.
To sign up for the closed Beta, head over to the Marvel Heroes website and sign up. The beta is set to start on October 1 and is expected to run right up to release day.