For the first time in months, video game industry executives can exhale.
That's because, according to industry analyst The NPD Group, the video games business as a whole saw a 6 percent year-over-year increase in March, and turned in the third-best nonholiday period month on record. Industry sales had been down 14 percent and 13 percent, year-over-year, in February and January, respectively.
When I first heard about this, I wanted to believe it was about teeth.
Mine were still chattering from a piece of research performed by the University of Iowa that suggested that young gamers enjoyed more cavities. I experienced a severe attack of lockjaw, however, at the news that Korea--that's the nice Korea without the strange leader with dead Elvis' hair-- has imposed a nighttime ban on certain online games.
Today, Microsoft has rolled out a planned update that allows the use of USB Flash Drives to be configured as memory storage on the Xbox 360 console; this allows for profiles, gamesaves, downloadable content and even games to be installed on any compatible USB memory device. All Xbox Live users will have to apply the update whether they want this feature or not as it is a mandatory installation.
A Microsoft representative confirmed that a group of hackers gained temporary control of the Xbox Live Account owned by Larry Hryb, the Xbox Live programming director who goes by the online handle "Major Nelson."
The account hijacking was committed this past weekend by a three-member group alternatively going by the names "LiGHTzz" and "Fear™."
Ubisoft is trying to make amends to legitimate PC gamers that were blocked out of recent DRM-enabled titles due to a recent server outage. Hackers, angry at Ubisoft's draconian DRM protocol, which requires a persistent internet connection, even for single player games -- knocked out the publisher's authentication servers, preventing owners of games like Assassin's Creed II from being able to play at all.
If you fire up a game for the first time without checking your graphics settings beforehand, you're not getting the most out of your graphics board. Whether your PC runs a discrete graphics card in a PCI Express slot or integrated graphics, your video drivers come with a control panel that you can use to make your games look better--if you know what you're doing.
One of the most interesting developments in the video game world over the past year or two has been the Wii Homebrew community. A group of hackers figured out how to exploit a hole in the Wii’s software so that homebrewed games (games created by fans) could be installed and played. Since that time, thousands of games have been made, many of which are directly downloadable from the Wii. Most of them aren’t very good, but a few of them are quite intriguing. Here is a rundown of some Wii Homebrew games and apps you should definitely download.
Gamers have long known that patience is rewarded with cheaper, less-buggy games. But does that adage hold true for the inclusion of digital rights management as well? Not always, but history does show us that time makes even the strictest of DRM less sucky.
This could become especially important given the latest round of DRM implemented by both Ubisoft and EA, a system that requires players to have a constant connection to the Internet in order to play. Otherwise, they're simply kicked out to the main menu until a connection can be had again.
Valve officially revealed Monday that its Steam online gaming service, along with the Source engine that powers titles such as Half-Life 2 and Left 4 Dead 2, is coming to the Mac in April. Valve's library of games will be making the jump from Windows Machines, including Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike, Portal, and the Half-Life series.
"As we transition from entertainment as a product to entertainment as a service, customers and developers need open, high-quality Internet clients," said Gabe Newell, president of Valve. "The Mac is a great platform for entertainment services."
"It has been a long road. To be at the finish line is great."
So says developer Stig Asmussen, who has just put the final touches on what has been called the most eagerly awaited video game of 2010: the fantastic action-adventure sequel "God of War III."
