GamerNode: Latest PC News

EA cracks over Spore DRM protests. Makes changes

It seems that mighty EA is showing signs of cracking under the stress of the thousands of angry gamers who complained about placing the DRM, SecuROM, on Spore.

No, it isn't going to remove the DRM, but EA is going to make slight modifications.

Electronic Arts says that they will allow the game to be "de-authorized," or removed from a computer, which essentially gives you back an installation of the game. SecuROM only allows you three installations of Spore before you have to call EA and ask for more.

EA explained:

That will be changed... the current limit on the number of computers that can be associated with a single copy of "Spore" is "very similar to a solution that iTunes has. The difference is that with iTunes you can de-authorize a computer [that you no longer want associated with your...

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New tech: You can play while downloading the game

If you've ever downloaded large game files, the wait can be almost unbearable. But BitRaider, a new technology company, says they've developed a scheme where you can download just 10% of your game and start playing it immediately, while it finishes downloading.

Royal O'Brien, Founder and CEO of BitRaider says he knows what it feels like to wait for a big file to finish loading.

"As gamers ourselves we understand that just starting to play quickly isn't the only challenge. We want the experience to be the same as if it were already pre-installed without any hit in performance. For gamers, they just want to play, they really do not want to be involved with how the download is being performed. Building a technology that is virtually invisible, yet delivers a quality play experience, is what cha...

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Piracy rampant on Spore. DRM fails

Ironies of ironies. It seems that Spore has been downloaded, illegally, over an estimated 500,000 times on BitTorrent, which puts Spore on track as becoming the most illegally downloaded game in history.

We pause as everyone catches their breath from laughing and making rude noises.

EA decided to put SecuROM, an anti-pirating routine, on Spore in an attempt to prevent illegal copying. Immediate reaction from gamers was overwhelming at Amazon.com, where the game received 2,016 1-star ratings (the lowest score) out of 2,216 reviews. Among other things, gamers balked at the 3-limit installation of the game on their PCs.

Although the PC community has given a big two thumbs down on the DRM placed on Spore, EA is turning a deaf ear to the complaints. Mariam Sughayer, corporate communications mana...

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Hate Vista? HP is working on a new OS

Most of the civilized world has heard of Vista, and many of those who actually run it don't like it. Hewlett Packard understands this, and is trying to develop software that will actually bypass certain elements in Vista.

Phil McKinney, chief technology officer at HP, said the workaround software is being made so customers can watch movies or view photos without pulling out hair with the Vista operating system.

"Our customers are looking for insanely simple technology where they don't have to fight with the technology to get the task done."

But HP may be going a step further besides making software workarounds. HP is actually entertaining the idea of developing a full OS, although McKinney denies it.

"Is HP funding a huge R&D team to go off and create an operating system? [That] makes no sen...

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Crysis Warhead comes to Steam (and Crysis tags alo...

Remember Crysis? You know, that one game. It looked good, or something. I can't quite remember what it is, to be honest-I don't think they advertised it enough or talked about it enough in the media.

Anyway, the follow-up to this "Crysis," called Crysis Warhead, is due out sometime this month. (Or, if you want to get technical, Tuesday.) If that interests you at all, it may also interest you to know that the game will be appearing on Steam, and will be available for pre-purchase starting this weekend.

"The millions of gamers logging into Steam every week to play today's best PC games are going to love Crysis Warhead," said Avni Yerli, Managing Director at Crytek. "Crytek Hungary has done a terrific job creating this new experience while optimizing CryEngine 2, and we're looking forward to ...

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Buy Witcher: Enhanced Edition on Impulse, get 10% ...

Months ago, PC gamers groaned when the release of The Witcher: Enhanced Edition was delayed indefinitely. Now that the game is scheduled to release on September 16, CD Projekt is teaming up with Stardock to try and placate some of the fans by offering a 10% discount on the game between now and midnight on September 15 to people who pre-order it on Stardock's new Impulse distribution system.

"We're thrilled to release The Witcher: Enhanced Edition on Impulse," said Adam Kicinski, CEO of CD Projekt RED. "Stardock's values fit well in line with our own; keeping gamers happy is one of our main goals, and The Witcher: Enhanced Edition is the ultimate fan service. We took all of the fan feedback about the original game and used it to improve the game in a huge number of ways. We hope that this al...

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Incoming Left 4 Dead demo, woo-hoo!

I've been keeping a close eye on Left 4 Dead for quite some time; with its fast-paced FPS zombie-shooting gameplay combined with signature level designs by the ol' Valve Software folks will make this title an excellent multiplayer gaming frenzy.

Today, plans for an Xbox 360 and PC demo for Left 4 Dead were announced. The demo will include both single-player and multiplayer co-op gameplay. As for the level featured in the demo, Gabe Newell mentioned that it'll be a very early part in one of the campaigns.

"We will be releasing demos for both the Xbox and for the PC. I don't know what the date is for release on that, though. I think it's going to contain the first part of one of the campaigns. I think it'll probably be Hospital but I'm not sure. That's a decision that Doug Lombardi is making."

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Bioshock designer gets threats over copy protectio...

And you thought the Spore DRM was bad? Ken Levine, designer for Bioshock, revealed that he has received "f**king threats" over the copy protection scheme for the PC version of his game.

Bioshock requires a mandatory internet connection to play the game and is capped at only two installation, and also responded to criticism from gamers about the way he handled the ending of the game.

As far as the DRM issue on Bioshock, Levine was very angry.

"When we had the copy protection issues come out, I was out there talking about the product; I didn't run away from that. And frankly I got some nasty f**king threats."

In regards to the criticism by gamers about the ending of Bioshock, he said, "I think it's important that somebody takes responsibility, and at the end of the day my job as creative dir...

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No unleashing of The Force Unleashed for PC

If you are a PC gamer, have you been looking forward to Star Wars: The Force Unleashed being released on your $1000 rig?

Have you been saving a spot next to Half-Life and Command and Conquer to make way for the box? Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but your favorite gaming medium has been scratched off of the list of systems that The Force Unleashed will be released on.

The news came yesterday from a LucasArts PR representative, not a few hours after rumors began to circulate that the PC was going to house the game.

However, the Lucas rep said "I can tell you definitively that there is no PC version of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed planned." The rumor was, interestingly enough, started by the company that made the physics for the game, Pixelux Entertainment.

The game is set to come out...

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Lord of the Rings Online - Mines of Moria: The Fla...

Lord of the Rings Online didn't quite keep up at the pace it launched at, but compared to every other non-WoW MMO it's certainly been the biggest success in recent years. With constant smaller updates and a soon-to-be-released Mines of Moria expansion, LotRO gamers have plenty to do.

Below, you'll find the latest Mines of Moria preview video, titled The Flaming Deep.

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Gamers slam Spore for being "infected" with DRM

Spore's DRM scheme has unleashed the fury of some PC gamers. According to Amazon.com's review section, negative 1-star reviews tally 586 out of a total of 642, at the time of this writing. Amazon has a star product review rating of 1 to 5 stars with 1, being the lowest.

Media publishers will tell you that DRM, or digital rights management, is a non-offensive program to stop illegal copying and piracy. The receiving end of DRM, the users, will argue that it is nothing more than spyware or malware, which invades your computer in order to check what you have on it -- legal or otherwise.

Practically all the one-star reviews for Spore were aimed at the DRM, SecuROM, which only allows a maximum of three installations on PCs.

One user described his reaction about Spore this way:

"I was EXTREMELY exci...

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Chrome is hot but its EULA is not

In just over a day, Chrome has captured 2.5% of the browser market, at the time of this writing, according to statistics gathered by clicky.com, a web analytics company. Internet Explorer and Firefox, sit comfortably, and safely at 58% and 31% respectively.

While there is no need for the top two browsers to panic, a 2.5% market share in just one day is nothing to sneeze at either. Chrome is steadily creeping up on Safari, the third most used browser on the Internet, and it has already surpassed Opera and old-time users of Netscape.

No doubt, the "instant" success of Chrome has a great deal to do with its distribution strategy. Google is the biggest search engine on the planet and underneath the search page logo are these understated words:

"New! Download Chrome (BETA) - the new browser from ...

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Akella acquires Disciples brand

One of the most revered PC series has just switched hands. Today, Akella announced that they have signed an agreement with Strategy First to obtain full ownership of the Disciples brand. Created in 1999, Disciples was one of the first games to combine strategy and RPG elements, and was a huge step forward in the turn-based RPG/strategy genre according to most industry insiders.

Before they got the rights to the series flat-out, Akella was already working on the next installment in the series, Disciples III: Renaissance.

"Working on such a well known brand is big responsibility for us. We are confident that our new project, "Disciples III," will meet the expectations of the legendary series fans. We are going to develop the Disciples brand, invest in it heavily, and produce a really good ga...

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Analyst: Spore will sell 2 million copies in Sept

Will Wright's Spore has sprung forward and Lazard Capital Markets is forecasting that the galactic evolutionary adventure game from Electronic Arts will sell 2 million copies in the US during the month of September.

EA is hoping that Spore will infect the gaming masses and serve as a springboard for yet another franchise that will go on for years to come. Will Wright, for one, hopes that Spore will even be more massive in scope than The Sims.

"We're going to be much more intelligent about harvesting other market opportunities for Spore than we were with The Sims, which as big as it was in the game space, pretty much remains in the game space. Longer term, I think the brand of Spore potentially has a wider net to cast than The Sims did," he said.

Lazard Capital also expects Warhammer Online, E...

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Google releasing new shiny browser: Chrome

We're not totally certain if this is a good idea or not, but considering that Google is worth about $157 BILLION, we suppose entering the browser market won't affect them too much if their new Chrome doesn't make it.

Starting this week, Google is releasing its beta version of Chrome in over 100 countries. According to techmeme, the browser will feature:

* Open source code. * Include a JavaScript Virtual Machine built from scratch * Tabs will be movable. * Have auto completion in the address bar. * Privacy features * Will fend off phishing and malware attacks.

Well, so far, nothing really earthshaking about Chrome. But why did Google launch a new browser that will be hard pressed to find its niche in a world full of Internet Explorer and Firefox?

Google said, "On the surface,...

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Australia breaks Spore street date

After years of playing third fiddle to the rest of the world, finally Australia was going to be given first shot at a major title courtesy of EA and Maxis' Spore. Set to release on September 4 down under (and September 7 in most of the rest of the world), Australians were ecstatic... And, blew it.

Reports have been circulating all day from gamers in Australian naming several stores which have broken the street date, releasing Spore early. One obvious side effect? The Aussies have leaked Spore to the Internet. While it's impossible to get the full Spore experience (since you need to be online and no one can be online without being perma-banned before the game's release), I'm sure the issue has caused EA to question their decision to release Spore first in Australia.

I'm still waiting for a...

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Gold farming worth at least $500 million a year (a...

Everyone who has played an MMO knows who gold farmers are. They're those guys who work on MMOs all day, slaving away to make gold to sell on eBay or other sites; most of them come from China. What many people don't realize, though, is how widespread the issue is and how lucrative it is for the operators of the gold farming rings.

According to a recent Manchester University study by Richard Heeks, the gold farming industry is (on the records) worth roughly $500 million; when you count illegal operations and the such, the number more than doubles in possibility. In other words, gold farming is responsible for anywhere between $500 million to $1.5 billion in revenue each year.

The study not only showcases this fact, but also compares the low wages (roughly $150 a month for the average fulltim...

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Spore available for pre-load

Waiting anxiously for Spore? Are you, like several people in the world, dressing up as your favorite imaginary Spore creature? (Someone has to be doing that...)

If you, like many others, can't wait until arguably the biggest PC game of the year comes out, then go ahead and buy it online via EA's store because if you do, you can begin pre-loading it starting today.

Like Steam, pre-loading Spore with EA's service will allow you to download 99% of the final game, with the last 1% coming the day of launch. (September 7 in North America, September 5 in Europe and Asia.)

If you're a Mac owner, you guys will have to head over to Game Tree Online in order to pre-order Spore. Both EA and GameTree aren't very clear on whether or not Mac owners can pre-load the game, so until I hear otherwise from our...

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Blizzard clarifies World of Warcraft's future grap...

Last week, J. Allen Brack revealed that Blizzard had plans to update World of Warcraft's graphics more extensively in the future, in order to keep the game looking comparable to new releases. (Don't worry, WoW addicts, they won't change the art style and pull an Ultima Online on you.)

Now, Brack has clarified his announcement a little and shared with the press that the plan is to put out small graphical tweaks in future expansions and big patches. (Burning Crusade had a few tweaks, and Wrath of the Lich King will have some including the oft-requested shader, so it's no huge surprise.)

This obviously won't put WoW on equal footing with future MMO releases, but Blizzard's hoping it will keep the game looking competitive, something which both past MMO juggernauts Ultima Online and EverQuest f...

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New MMO on the "block." Lego Universe coming

World of Warcraft is the undisputed leader in MMOs, right?

Well perhaps so, but there is another MMO coming out that may capture a brand new audience and appeal to those who are intimidated by the vast landscape of witches, goblins and trolls in WoW.

What are we talking about? Why, an MMO called Lego Universe of course!

Lego Universe will allow players to build anything from within the game using Lego bricks. You buy the bricks by using a monetary system based on plastic. Cute, eh?

But if you're low on the coin of the realm, you can always find bricks in the world or earn them by defeating enemies or completing quests and challenges. If you are lucky enough, you may find a stash of them in hidden treasure.

Lego Universe is slated to arrive on the scene in 2009 for the PC. For a look at how ...

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