General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article

The Game Boy: Headcrabs, Deathclaws, and Bears – Oh My

Posted: 01 Feb 2012 03:24 PM PST

Gordon Freeman is a coward. Or at least, he is when I play him. It's those damn poison headcrabs. As soon as they start hissing – shrouded in darkness, probably fresh off the assembly line from some Nightmare Factory – I turn into an orange-and-black blur and beeline for the nearest corner to cry in. When Alyx is around, I push her into the poison headcrab's Terror Lair and hide until she makes the bad things that can kill me in two hits go away. Meanwhile, in real life,  I lean away from the screen until my spine feels like it's recently been on the receiving end of a Mortal Kombat Fatality. If you haven't gotten the picture yet, I really, really don't like poison headcrabs.  

I love, however, that they exist. Half-Life 2's enemies in general are some of the most memorable I've ever encountered. In fact, I haven't experienced such a visceral reaction to any game enemy since. 

And that's a problem. 

Iconic enemies can define a whole level – or even an entire game. The headcrab's a perfect example. Sure, it may (head) crib a few attack strategies from Alien's facehugger, but excellent art/audiovisual design and level placement elevated it far beyond a mere face-munching me-too. Among gamers, the cuddly-as-it-is-horrifying jumping bean from hell is basically a cultural phenomenon. 

Meanwhile, what's our hyper-advanced modern gaming scene bringing to the figurative dog show? Well, let's see: We've got the generic terrorist from Modern Warfare 3, the generic terrorist from Battlefield 3, the generic steroid-addled thug from Arkham City, generic zombies from everything, and inferior headcrab rip-offs from Gears of War, Halo, Resistance, etc. Remember that one guy from that one level of Homefront? Hey, me neither!

So, what's the deal? Why have enemies suddenly taken a tumble in the whitewashing machine? And – more importantly – what aren't they doing that older-school baddies nailed so perfectly? Well, there are a few factors to consider. First off, there's the matter of mentality. Many of the enemies in today's big-name games are basically cannon fodder – and nothing more. They pop up, you wallop them with your whack-a-mole hammer (or multi-barreled rocket shotgun that also fires reminders that the Smurfs movie exists, as it were), and then you move on. 

Games like Half-Life 2 and BioShock, meanwhile, are so memorable because of the multifaceted manner in which they present their most frightening foes. For instance, Half-Life 2 initially flings you crowbar-first into a world ruled by the Combine. I mean, if you ask me what my first memory of the basic Combine soldier is, it's not even a difficult question. And no, the answer isn't "shooting one in the face." Instead, it's a simple line: "Pick it up." And when I refused to drop that tiny tin can in the garbage out of sheer, I'm-Gordon-goddam-Freeman defiance, he smacked me in the face. That moment – and not when I was facing down a small army of gun-toting space oddities – was when I understood how bad things had gotten in Gordon's absence.  

It's the little moments that count biggest. Similarly, there was also Lamarr the friendly headcrab and controllable Ant Lions to offset the sheer otherworldly terror of Ravenholm's special brand of headcrab zombies or retch-worthy clusters of ceiling-dwelling barnacles. They showed other sides to Half-Life 2's enemies. Somewhat paradoxically, I felt an attachment to the very things I was blasting.

BioShock, meanwhile, designed an entire ecology around Big Daddies, making them far more than diving-suit-clad foils for the business end of your shotgun. Over the course of the game, you discovered their origins, purposes, and – eventually – became one yourself. (Admittedly, however, it wasn't until BioShock 2 that the franchise really perfected that concept.) Sure, having a giant drill for a hand definitely gave the Big Daddy an upper hand... drill... thing in the memorability category, but a gradual trickle of information turned Big Daddy from a giant target into a crucial part of Rapture's existence.

There's also the matter of smart, measured build up and the air of mystique it creates. Wasteland denizens in Fallout 3, for example, whispered of Deathclaws in frightened tones long before I ever met one face-to-face. And when I finally saw one loping toward me, gangly limbs flying like vital-organ-seeking missiles? I turned tail  and fled for dear life while attempting to write out my last will and testament. Lamentably, I didn't exactly make it far. 

Indie horror hit Amnesia, however, really steals the show in that category. It's so terrifying not because boogie men pop out and shout "boo!" around every corner, but for the exact opposite reason: they don't. Instead, there's a constant sickening dread lurking in the darkness. Slight sights, unsettling sounds, perfectly placed shadows. Together, they create a mystique that other survival horror games simply can't match. And your character, of course, is hopelessly helpless, rendering the classic "fight or flight" multiple choice test fairly easy. The answer is D) Wet Yourself.   

There's another factor, though, that I think has played a major role in the shift away from interesting, well-designed enemies: graphical fidelity. Madness, you say? Well, consider this: The more realistic graphics are, the easier it is to design enemies that look and move like people. However, as humans, we naturally fear difference. My poison headcrab phobia? I bet it wouldn't be nearly as bad if I wasn't also violently afraid of spiders. Point is, we're pre-programmed to fear things that are unlike us, because nature's creepy crawlies have a tendency to, you know, murder us with poison.  

Earlier games, though, were perfectly positioned to take advantage of that. A lack of detail became creepy,  inhuman abstraction. Awkward animations became herky-jerky, unnatural movements. Enemies like Legend of Zelda's life-sapping Re-Deads and dungeon-crawling (literally) Wallmasters were – on some level – a product of necessity. Technology was limited, so developers had to be creative. 

Ever played SkiFree? Yes, that SkiFree. Same idea. The yeti didn't trigger minor heart attacks just because it signaled insta-death. Its rapid, oddly terrifying movements gave Child-Me many a pixelated nightmare because it ambled ever forward in a manner that was downright wrong. Happily, Minecraft's enemies – Creepers, especially – carry that torch today to some extent today, but they're the exception, not the rule. 

By and large, it's all hyper-realistic terrorists this, hyper-realistic zombies that. Oh, and there's the occasional hyper-realistic giant spider in there – just to make me feel frightened in spite of myself. I want more than that, though. Give me a love-hate, life-death relationship for the ages – not another shooting gallery. Press start. Find me a new challenger.

Facebook Files for Its Long-Awaited IPO

Posted: 01 Feb 2012 02:44 PM PST

fbIt's finally happened — the Facebook IPO is a real thing. No more speculation, no more guess-work. Facebook filed its S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission this afternoon indicating its intention to go public with an eye toward raising $5 billion from sales of stock based on a $100 billion valuation. 

When a company makes the call to go public, they are required to share financial data. As such, this is the first time we've gotten a peek at Facebook's balance sheet. According to the S-1, Facebook pulled in $3.71 billion last year, with net income of $1 billion. When Google filed for its IPO in 2004, the S-1 revealed that it only earned $105 million in profit the previous year. 

Obviously, Facebook has held back longer as the secondary market for private shares has allowed investors to get a taste of the social network. When the stock goes live, it's probably going to be the biggest buy since Google itself, and will make thousands of Facebook employees really stinking rich. Zuckerberg himself owns about 28% of the company, and will thus be worth $28 billion if the valuation holds up.

Apple Denied Sales Ban on Galaxy Tab and Nexus in Germany

Posted: 01 Feb 2012 02:25 PM PST

tabOne of the hotbeds in Apple's ongoing patent war with Samsung has been Germany, but a German court just handed Apple a bit of a smackdown. A Munich court has found that Apple does not have the right to ban Samsung's Galaxy Tab and Galaxy Nexus from Germany. The case came after Apple revoked a licence previously granted to Samsung relating to touchscreen technology.

This is a case of "prior art" as it is often called in the U.S.. According to the judge on the case, Samsung successfully showed that the suit would fail because the technology in question, "was already on the market before the intellectual property had been filed for protection." This win for Samsung comes on the heels of a case in which Apple successfully argued that the Galaxy Tab looked too much like an iPad, forcing Samsung to redesign the device. It then released the Galaxy Tab 10.1N. 

The patent at issue described the bounce effect that gives users a visual clue when they have reached the scrolling limit of a page. The patent is not technically invalidated, but considering the language used in the decision, it is unlikely Apple will strongly assert ownership of this behavior going forward.

Seven Ways to Stop Piracy WITHOUT DRM

Posted: 01 Feb 2012 12:35 PM PST

It's a fact of life: Pirates be pirating. Last year, UK Interactive Entertainment estimated a 4:1 ratio of pirated games against those that were legally purchased. What do those numbers mean? A lot, when you're talking about loss revenue. In interview with our own Nathan Grayson, CEO Marek Španěl of Bohemia Interactive admitted that for every legitimate player rocking a rocket launcher in ARMA 2, another 100 players with pirated copies of the game are turned away. That's a whole lot of unrealized realized cash that should have wound up in Bohemia Interactive's coffers. As most of our readers will be quick to point out, Bohemia Interactive's not the only company to have their timbers shivered by digital piracy. As a defence against having their intellectual properties swiped, cracked and traded online like so many baseball cards, a lot of companies have turned to Digital Right Management; a move that seldom does more than temporarily slow pirates and enrage paying customers. Fortunately, there's a growing number of non-DRM related options out there for developers and software vendors to explore that'll stymy piracy while respect the rights of their paying users.

Bake in Deterrents 

Instead of being Insidious, why not be hilarious when it comes to defending your wares from piracy? That's what Serious Sam 3 developer Croteam did when faced with the problem of how to discourage the piracy of their creation without saddling their legitimate users with the frustrations that can stem from a healthy dose of DRM. Instead of crippling illegally obtained copies of the game, Croteam opted to make Serious Sam 3 a miserable experience for pirates by inserting an indestructible pink scorpion hellbent on destroying them into the mix. No matter where the players runs or tries to hide, the game's hilariously powerful enforcer tracks them down and kills them, making it impossible to play the first-person shooter in peace. 

 

Provide Higher Levels of Support & Quality Control

Rage, Fallout New Vegas, Skyrim and Battlefield 3 all have one thing in common: They were all a hot, glitchy mess when they were launched.  A lot of pirates justify their pillaging of digital goods by saying that they refuse to pay for a product that doesn't perform as it was intended to. While release schedules and industry pressures will always be a factor that decides upon when a piece of software made available to consumers, software developers would do well to consider adopting Blizzard's "it's done when it's done" mentality and sit on their products until they're able to vouch for their performance. If that's not possible, then employing a robust system for error reporting and resolution is a must: After all, no one wants to pay for something that's broken right out of the box, and if they do, they want to know what can be done to fix it as quickly as possible. 

 

Perks

In an effort to quell the second-hand sale of their software, a growing number of developers have been offering consumers premium downloadable content perks tied to a single-use code. The Catwoman missions in Batman Arkham Asylum and the cross-game weapons and armour offered by Electronic Arts in a number of the games from their catalog over the past few years are great examples of this. We're betting gamers would like to see more of this sort of thing—with tastier options than a few cosmetic items for our in-game characters. By routinely doling out fresh in game content to paying customers, development houses would be providing consumers with a compelling reason to pay for their wares. It might not stop piracy dead in its tracks, but it'd definitely boost sales. 

 

Standardize International/Regional Releases

There's plenty of excellent reasons to stagger the release of a new piece of software on an international scale: Doing so keeps servers from melting into pools of unusable silicon, and preserves the sanity of help desk agents, if only for a little while. That said, if a game's not available in the states, even though the Italians have had it for a week, you know that someone, somewhere is going to be pirating that bad boy.  By giving consumers what they want simultaneously on an international level, developers could strike another reason for illegally downloading an application from the the litany of excuses pirates have been employing for years. 

 

Lower the Cost of Digitally Distributed Software

Placing a software product in a physical marketplace is a costly undertaking, matter how you cut it. Product production, art and marketing, shipping—they all cost a goodly sum of dollars that wind up getting factored into the retail cost of a piece of boxed software, thus forcing consumers to decide between buying groceries for the rest of the month or investing in a new application. For some reason—let's call it crazed avarice—digitally distributed iterations of the same software often costs the same as their boxed up, marked up cousins. Were software developers to dramatically lower the price of their digitally distributed wares, it'd be an uphill slog for pirates to complain about the market value cost of what they're swiping. Sure, lower prices for digitally distributed wares means a less robust bottom line, but some cash is better than none, and where piracy is concerned, no cash gleaned from the sweat of your programer's brows is likely exactly what you'll wind up with. 

 

Make an Effort to Actively Engage Your Community

Friends don't steal from friends. Friends have your back. Whenever possible, you want your customers to be your friends. It doesn't pay to get locked into an adversarial relationship with the people responsible for giving you money. Developers would do well to get to know and understand the concerns of their market. Insomuch as it's possible, uncover the reasons why your market base feels compelled to pirate your products and do your best to address them. Listen to your customer's frustrations and concerns, and whenever possible, provide them with the help they need and deserve. As the old adage suggests: Respect earns respect. While you might not be able to obliterate the piracy of your products entirely, a modicum of concern for your customers could help to reduce it.

 

Nuke Them From Orbit (It's the Only Way to Be Sure)

You've tried lowering your prices. You've opted to forgo Digital Rights Management measures in favour of introducing downloadable incentives to paying customers and tormenting pirates with a frustrating in-app nemesis. Simultaneously releasing your software across all regions? Been there, done that. Hell, in an attempt to curb pirating, you've even gone so far as to drastically reduce the online price of your software. Sadly, none of it has managed to make a dent in your company's shrinkage you'd been hoping for. At this point, you can keep on keeping on and hope that your non-DRM related anti-piracy measures and hope that they eventually gain traction, or sue the bejeezus out of anything that moves. Sadly, neither solution will be the cure-all you're looking for. DRM is, well it's DRM. Hated by the masses and viewed as a challenge by dedicated hackers, it's only a matter of time until any Digital Rights Management solution is circumvented. 

What about lawsuits, you ask hopefully? 

As with most legal matters, suing the individuals who pirate your products is more of a marathon than a sprint. Take CD Projekt Red, the development house behind  The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings, for example. Since it's release in 2011, over 4.5 million copies of the PC game were illegally downloaded, putting CD Projekt Red in an ugly fiscal position, to say the least. In response to the rampant piracy they were being subjected to, the Polish development studio tracked down a large number of alleged pirates of the game and demanded they be paid for the the use of the software, or face legal prosecution. Great idea, right? Not so much: In the first few weeks of January, the development house announced that they would be discontinuing their legal crusade against those that would dare to pirate their game, chiefly due to the fact that the only thing that seems to enrage gamers more than DRM is the prospect of a shaky, difficult to support lawsuit based on the art—not science, mind you—of IP tracking. 

If there's a final, definitive solution to online piracy that doesn't in some way involve Digital Rights Management, it has yet to be found. We can only hop that when such a solution is implemented, it's one that's as just to a product's paying end users as it is to the companies that designed it.

 

Stolen Online Game Items Leads to Offline Conviction in the Netherlands

Posted: 01 Feb 2012 11:59 AM PST

The Dutch Supreme Court denied an appeal by a 19-year-old who was convicted of stealing a 13-year-old boy's virtual goods in the online game Runescape and ordered to serve 144 hours of community service. It probably didn't help that the suspect roughed up the 13-year-old and threatened him with a knife until he logged into Runescape and handed over an amulet and a mask, but this case was just as much about the value of virtual goods as it was the violence that took place offline.

The offender's lawyer argued the stolen virtual goods "were neither tangible nor material and, unlike for example electricity, had no economic value," according to an AP report. However, the high court shot down his argument and said the amulet and mask had intrinsic value to the 13-year-old based on "the time and energy" he expended procuring them in Runescape.

This was a two-man operation that involved one of the thieves beating up the 13-year-old Runescape player while another suspect waited online to retrieve the goods he was forced to drop. They were convicted in 2009, though only one of them decided to appeal.

Nvidia GeForce 295.51 Beta Drivers Fix Annoying Fan Issue, Beefs Up 3D Vision Support

Posted: 01 Feb 2012 11:33 AM PST

Nvidia has made available for download its GeForce 295.51 GPU drivers in beta form, and while beta code typically isn't for the faint of heart, this release could help you rest easy if you're an owner of a GeForce GTX 590 videocard that insists on spinning its fan full bore all the time. In addition to address the annoying fan issue, Nvidia crammed the new driver full of 3D Vision profile updates.

Nvidia added or updated 31 3D Vision profile updates in all, including DotA 2 (rating upgraded to Fair), Fractal (rated Excellent), and Tropico 4 (rated Good). Other notable tweaks include:

  • Fixes instances of driver timeouts while simultaneously watching multiple videos
  • Adds edit/delte option for custom resolutions
  • Supports multiple languages and APIs for GPU comptuing: CUDA C, CUDA C++, CUDA Fortran, Open CL, DirectCompute, and Microsoft C++ AMP
  • Supports single GPU and NVIDIA SLI technology on DirectX 9, DirectX 10, DirectX 11, and OpenGL, including 3-way SLI, Quad SLI, and SLI support on SLI-certified Intel and AMD motherboards

You can download the beta driver here.

Pirate Bay Operators Maneuver To Avoid Jail Time, Domain Seizure

Posted: 01 Feb 2012 11:19 AM PST

By all accounts, 2012 hasn't been very nice to the torrent freaks over at Pirate Bay. Megaupload's takedown has them worried, and today, the Swedish Supreme Court ruled that Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm and Carl Lundström -- the original operators of the site -- will have to pay fines and serve jail time for copyright infringement. Is the ship going down? Nah -- the site says it has things in the bag.

As soon as they learned about the Swedish Supreme Court's decision, the group switched its domain from .org to the Swedish .se, TorrentFreak reports. The change is already in effect. Why? Because the U.S. government can seize .com, .net and .org domains. Someone from Pirate Bay told TorrentFreak they made the switch "just in case ICE has been waiting for the court case to be over." ICE is the Immigration and Customs Enforcement wing of the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security and has been seizing domains of alleged copyright infringers left and right over the past couple of years.

But wait: why should the Pirate Bay's owners care? Aren't they about to be thrown in the clink? Not so fast, the Pirate Bay says in a blog post.

With this said, we hear news from our old admins that they have received a verdict in Sweden. Our 3 friends and blood brothers have been sentenced to prison. This might sound worse than it is. Since no one of them no longer lives in Sweden, they won't go to jail. They are as free today as they were yesterday.

So there you have it: the Pirate Bay just gave the middle finger to the governments of both the U.S. and Sweden. It'll be interesting to see where this goes.

Redbox Renews Agreement with Walmart, Cuts Ties with Warner Bros.

Posted: 01 Feb 2012 11:16 AM PST

Warner Bros. decided to play hardball with Netflix, Blockbuster, and Redbox by demanding they each wait 56 days after a title is released before making it available for rent, which is twice is long as the 28-day waiting period film studios typically impose. While Netflix and Blockbuster begrudgingly accepted WB's terms, Redbox decided it can do better on its own and decided not to renew its contract, which expired on January 31, 2012.

It's not a total loss for Redbox customers, however. Redbox plans to continue offering Warner Bros. flicks obtained through alternative sources, a move that not only eliminates the 56-day window, but could potentially make WB films available the day of release.

"Redbox will continue to provide our consumers with affordable access to new release movies from all major studios including Warner Brothers at our more than 28,000 locations nationwide. We will work to provide Warner Brothers' movies through alternative means. Redbox maintains direct working relationships with every other major studio," said Gary Cohen, senior vice president of marketing and customer experience at Redbox.

That's all Redbox was willing to say on the matter, though its actions speak louder than words, and you can bet it resonated with other studios that might be thinking about imposing the same elongated waiting period. It's in nobody's best interest to cut Redbox off, directly or indirectly, and the message has been sent that it doesn't bluff during negotiations.

In semi-related news, Redbox announced it renewed its agreement with Walmart to continue plopping kiosks at more than 3,700 Wallyworld locations nationwide. You can expect to see more Redbox kiosks at Walmart stores in the future, Redbox said.

Microsoft Calls Out Google's Privacy Changes In Newspaper Ads

Posted: 01 Feb 2012 10:53 AM PST

Microsoft's never been one to shy away from a fight with Google; when Microsoft recently signed LG to an Android licensing deal, several Redmond bigwigs taunted Google with a series of mocking Tweets. Now, Microsoft's sending yet another attack dog into the fight: ads running in several major U.S. newspapers that attempts to stir up feelings of resentment over Google's recent privacy policy changes.

You can see a full image of the ad here on Microsoft's TechNet website, but here's a choice excerpt:

Google is in the process of making some unpopular changes to some of their most popular products. Those changes, cloaked in language like "transparency," "simplicity" and "consistency" are really about one thing: making it easier for Google to connect the dots between everything you search, send, say or stream while using one of their services.

But, the way they're doing it is making it harder for you to maintain control of your personal information. Why are they so interested in doing this that they would risk that kind of backlash? One logical reason: EVERY DATA POINT THEY COLLECT AND CONNECT TO YOU INCREASES HOW VALUABLE YOU ARE TO AN ADVERTISER.

It goes on, but we think you get the gist. Microsoft's solution to the Google privacy problem is one you probably expected: why not try switching to Bing, Hotmail, IE or Microsoft Office 365?

How do Google's privacy changes sit with you? Will you jump ship at Microsoft's suggestion, or do you consider the hubbub much ado about nothing?

Image credit: AndroidShine.com

Seagate: HDD Shortage Will Be A Year-Long Problem

Posted: 01 Feb 2012 10:28 AM PST

A new year means a fresh start, and a fresh start entails putting 2011's skyrocketing HDD prices behind us, right? Not quite. Seagate released its quarterly financial results yesterday, and although the report left investors cheering -- Seagate pocketed $3.2 billion in revenue despite last year's catastrophic floods -- things are looking a bit bleaker for end users. Seagate fully expects the hard drive shortage to continue until the end of 2012 as manufacturers struggle to catch up to consumer demand.

Seagate says that the hard drive industry will probably end up around 150 million HDDs short of the demand for them by the end of the year. As far as last quarter goes, the company says the entire hard drive industry made around 110 million HDDs, shipped 119 million, and had demand for 175 million -- so it came far short of meeting customer wants.

Seagate's facilities weren't damaged in the Thailand floods, but it is still facing problems securing components from washed-out suppliers. PC World reports that seven of Seagate's top 10 suppliers suffered manufacturing damages during the floods. Things are looking even worse at Western Digital; WD did get smacked by the rising waters and doesn't expect to return to full manufacturing capacity until the third quarter. 

Bottom line: things will get better eventually, but be ready to pay through the nose for a HDD for the forseeable future. For more info about HDDpocalypse, check out the lead QuickStart story in the print issue on stands now.
Posted by Shri Krishna

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