The Big M swung the banhammer fast and hard earlier this week, leaving as many as 1 million modded consoles without Xbox Live access, reports Information Week.
It should be noted that this action comes on the heels of the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, whose multiplayer functionality is expected to strain the online service substantially. The move may have been accelerated by the troubling number of pirated copies floating around the internet prior to its official launch on the 10th.
There’s an old saying in marketing that goes: “There’s no such thing as bad publicity.” That may or may not be true, but I suspect Activision and Infinity Ward have had their fingers crossed lately that it is. Their new game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, has possibly had more publicity in the past week than most games get in their entire development cycle; and most of it has been of the bad variety. From backlash over dropping dedicated server support for PC, to controversial leaked video footage, to the ill-recieved F.A.G.S. video, they haven’t had much good news of late; not that they seem too worried.
They do have one news piece to celebrate however. Yesterday, Venturebeat reported that the Miami-Dade police department, tipped off by private investigation firm IPCybercrime, arrested a hacker they suspect is at least partly responsible for thousands of illegal copies of Modern Warfare 2 showing up on torrent sites across the Net.
Torrents and Pirates and…Klingons? Oh my? But wait just a moment – we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
If you’re not already familiar with the Software Publishers Association’s 1992 video warning against the dangers of software piracy – the nigh-legendary “Don’t Copy That Floppy” – then hit this YouTube link and educate yourself. We’ll still be here when you get back.
Back? Good.
It seems that our buddy, MC Double Def DP, is making a return to the scene, according to a report at GamePolitics.com. The Software & Information Industry Association (made up in part of the former SPA) is apparently updating the cautionary rap for the modern age. Check out the teaser for “Don’t Copy That 2″
No, we’re not making this up. Housewives being roughed up by SWAT geared agents. Spilled pasta. Klingons. All because you bastards torrented games. I seriously hope you’re all happy with yourselves, because this is the damage you have caused.
The rest of this video will not arrive quickly enough to satisfy me.
“We don’t currently plan to support LAN play with StarCraft II, as we are building Battle.net to be the ideal destination for multiplayer gaming with StarCraft II and future Blizzard Entertainment games. While this was a difficult decision for us, we felt that moving away from LAN play and directing players to our upgraded Battle.net service was the best option to ensure a quality multiplayer experience with StarCraft II and safeguard against piracy.”
Anyone who attends LAN parties regularly must concede that piracy is quite common, with most participants sharing a single purchased game amongst each other, if not simply downloading the game illegally to begin with. Of course, limiting a hardcore PC gamer’s choices tends to result in interesting work-arounds, so we’ll see just how long StarCraft II stays LAN-free.
On a side note, it’s rather interesting to see several of PC’s most beloved companies under fire recently; first Valve, and now Blizzard. In fact, fans have already orchestrated a petition requesting that LAN play be reconsidered for the final product. What will become of these once-untouchable studios should they continue to move in opposition of the community’s wishes?
Despite leaking onto torrent sites a week plus before its launch date, with illegal downloads topping 180,000 before you could even lay hands on a legit copy of the game, The Sims 3 has steamrolled through retail. The third iteration of EA’s God-mode, life-simulation sandbox franchise clocked in with 1.4 million units sold in its first week alone.
What contributed to this becoming EA’s best PC title launch ever? Well, let’s take a look at some factors, shall we?
First, The Sims 3 was not saddled with burdensome DRM issues. We all know the hooplah that surrounded the release of Spore last year and the attendant poopstorm that followed because of SecuROM’s attachment to the product. Nothing but a simple disc check is required this time around.
“We feel like this is a good, time-proven solution that makes it easy for you to play the game without DRM methods that feel overly invasive or leave you concerned about authorization server access in the distant future,” read a statement from EA, in part.
Second, it’s the freakin’ Sims. You would somehow expect less? This franchise has always been a juggernaut and won’t be stopping anytime soon, based on their track record. If you knew how many hours I sunk into the first two, you’d just shake your head sadly and never be able to look me in the eyes again. I couldn’t help myself, though. It’s like a drug and I’m sure my 1.4 million former fellow addicts who just got their first hit again would concur.
Regardless, this is a step in the right direction for EA. Maybe they’ll see that consumers respond positively to DRM-free games and SecuROM will rapidly go the way of the Dodo. What do you all think?
I think I’ve evangelized enough about World of Goo on this site. If you didn’t pick it up when it was only $5 a few weeks back, there’ simply no hope for you. Another thing that there’s no hope for is trying to stay one step ahead of piracy. 2D Boy’s Ron Carmel has an interesting take on the issue: don’t bother trying.
In an interesting counterpoint to Microsoft just having announced better anti-piracy measures for their Games For Windows – LIVE platform, Carmel, speaking at GDC, took a bit more cynical, yet far more realistic angle on a subject he has a fair bit of experience with: World of Goo, despite it’s low entry cost, famously suffered from a 90% piracy rate upon it’s release.
“Don’t bother with DRM–it’s a waste of time. You just end up giving the DRM provider money. Anything that is of interest gets cracked, and the cracked version ends up having a better user experience than the legit version because you don’t have to input in some 32-character serial number,” he said.
In an attempt to clear up the rumors following the 
Piracy be damned!
I think I’ve evangelized enough about World of Goo on this site. If you didn’t pick it up 
Zuri Grimm
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