Posted 10/26/2008 at 11:47:29am

I am a Star Wars fanboy but I just don't think the audience is as large as everyone thinks. Just because the license is huge it doesn't guaranatee success. LOTR is stable but can't touch WoW's numbers. It can't just be Star Wars. It has to be the gameplay and the community. Not every girlfriend is going to want to jump ship from WoW and move to KOTR when thier bf does. When was the last time you even heard of gfs getting into an MMO? The next game that has a chance at surpassing WoW will have to have that kind of mass appeal. It will also have to run on 14 million users pcs. Look at the specs for Mass Effect. If this game is anything like that or even takes a few baby steps forward it will be cutting out users. If it doesn't then the hardcore will whine about the weak WoW graphics. This game could surpass WoW someday just because of the huge audience and the kids who will be turning old enough to play that are watching the movies but it will take a long time to get there. Anyone entering the MMO market should be happy just to be making a profit. Even Blizzards next big MMO will have a hard time overtaking WoW. It won't have the mass market appeal without being a WoW clone.

Posted 10/20/2008 at 12:12:05pm

"or they want to play it 10 years later."

Great! I guess I just rented Spore not bought it. I don't have a problem with installing it on a limited number of machines. Doing an uninstall usually gives back an activation but Wright makes is sound like after a set amount of years we shouldn't be playing Spore. I am not a game developer but if I was I would be honored and proud of my game if people were still playing it after ten years. Look at all the people playing through Fallout 1 and 2 right now. They are pretty rough around the edges but the story still holds up. It may be five to ten years before Spore 2 or Wright's next project is released. It would take me ten years just to accomplish all the achievments in Spore.  My wife enjoys the Sims but she doesn't want me to spend any money upgrading to Sims 2 or 3. She is comfortable with the Sims, doesn't care about graphics, and doesn't want to spend any time learning a new or different game. This is an eight year old game and the best selling game ever. Imagine the backlash if it was suddenly "turned off." I am sure people will be playing both the sims and Spore in ten years. I all of my games work down the road or I will quit buying and switch to pirating. If not at launch then once my game stops working. After all, the pirates can play anything. Anytime. Including pre launch sometimes so why should I, a loyal consumer, get the screw?

Posted 09/12/2008 at 08:24:50pm

Face it. The pirates who actually crack these games, build installers, and all the other stuff involved are pretty talented. They do it for the challenge, to stand up to the man, and probably just for bragging rights. What if there was no more DRM? Would pirate groups disband? Would they still want to be the first group to post a torrent of an iso? Because isos are all that would need to be uploaded. No more need for cracks. No more need to "virtually punch" publishers in the face. If publishers dropped drm completely and just put games out there the only people left pirating games are pure A*holes who are too cheap to go out and pay for content. There would be no excuse for piracy. No justification. Would it stop piracy? No. People download music and movies without drm. Without drm the crackers would have nothing to do. I can't imagine that piracy would increase. I don't imagine it can increase anymore than when you have the internet masses pirating just to spite people because "it is the right thing to do." Without DRM consumers might actually go out and buy more games. It may not happen right away. It may take a little while to build faith in publishers but eventually I think the pc might become the gaming platform it is meant to be. Stardocks gamer's bill of rights is a step in the right direction. I won't pretend that sites like the pirate bay weren't popular a year or two ago but I can only imagine press like this increases traffic greatly which is only bad for the gaming industry.

Posted 09/03/2008 at 11:39:07am

I think these guys have some great ideas. Obviously if we want to see them stick around or even adopted by any other companies we need to see a drop in piracy. Hopefully the Comcast bandwidth cap will fix it but if not people need to do the right thing and support the devs who make great products. I hate do sound like your grandma but if a game is worth stealing it is worth buying. There is so much content out there that if you have a little patience you can pick up quality titles for less than half price about six months after release.

Posted 08/30/2008 at 01:10:02pm

If Comcast had launched with this cap no one except pirates would be complaing. A few small home businesses may have to upgrade to business accounts but your average consumer doesn't even come close to this cap. I have 3 pcs and an xbox. Stream Netflix movies all the time, play games online, and download my fair share of large legal files(demos, videos, iTunes, podcasts). I don't come close. This will help curb piracy.

 Comcast should have been doing this from the start rather than overselling thier bandwidth. Anyone who lives next to one of these cap poppers will see a nice increase in bandwidth at the end of the month. I don't think Comcast forsaw how much content there would be to consume. Even the people complaing that 125 moviesper month in a house of 2-3 people isn't enough probably don't actually watch 4 movies per day. 

 I just feel bad for the grandmas with unsecured wi fi who get a letter telling them to curb thier usage or face a fee.

Posted 08/25/2008 at 09:56:39am

During my college years I spent a week housesitting for some people who had an ISP with a strong filter that would provide only family appropriate content. I was writing a paper for a philosophy class but I wasn't allowed acess to websites about Hitler or Mein Kampf. This stuff is actual history not pornography. I know this government isp would just filter porno but who decides what is what and what goes too far. What if the censorship extends beyond pornography? Who will have access to what people access or what they try to access? I guess as long as we still have other ISP choices we can avoid the censorship that China enjoys but this may be the first step in that direction.

Posted 07/03/2008 at 11:30:59am

So I am supposed to believe that I can buy one of these players, pop in my DVD, and I can download the HD version of my movie for free? I'll believe it when I see it! Don't the movie studios have to be on board? Won't they lose out on all the $$$ they make by selling consumers movies they have already bought? Example:I have the Indiana Jones Trilogy on DVD from 2003. I didn't buy then new set with "Never Before Seen Additional Content" that studios are pushing in 2008. I won't buy the 4 movie set that will no doubt be coming in 2009 when the 4th movie hits stores. I might buy the 4 movie HD set that probably won't be released until 2010 or beyond. Don't believe me? How many copies of Star Wars have you bought? Rambo? Blade Runner?

Posted 07/01/2008 at 10:22:38pm

I just want more classic Diablo action. I don't need them to change the genre or think "outside of the box." The world already has one Hellgate London.

I am glad the Spore CC is toping the charts. It is posted on the torrent sites but I guess if stuff is cheap enough people would rather buy it. I hope all the online content offered by Spore when it comes out is enough to get people to spring for it. I think it is safe to say $50 for a game is too much for some losers to pay. What is the price that makes the pirates go legit?