A Bit Eclectic » Entertainment

Are Video Games Heading in the Wrong Direction?

Shawn — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 22:14:52 +0000

There is a growing problem in the gaming industry. The game developers and hardware creators are trying to protect their future profits and as a result are putting an extra burden on their customers. This isn’t new, but it seems to be getting worse.

One recent example is Spore from EA. EA is so concerned about protecting their “intellectual property” that they have an extremely restrictive DRM on the game. The DRM limits the buyer to 3 installs of the game. They can put it on three different computers, three times on one computer, or any other combination. This may not seem like a big deal, but there are other things that would take up one of these installs. If you uninstall the game and want to reinstall it later on, that would take up one. You also have to re-authenticate the game (using another one) if you change a piece of hardware. If you go beyond your alloted three, you have to call EA and ask for permission to install a game you paid for. It is ludicrous to think that I can be locked out of a game that I spent money on. Also, EA only allows you to create one account per purchase. This means a family would have to purchase multiple copies if multiple people want accounts. The most ironic part of this is that this didn’t stop pirating. In fact, some people say it actually increased the number of pirated copies. If you don’t believe that people are upset by this, then take a look at the game’s 1 star Amazon.com rating. Most of the reviews complain about the DRM.

All that this DRM accomplished was burdening those who purchased the game. My guess is it didn’t guarantee more profits for EA.

Now I am reading more reports of this stupid crap. Nintendo’s new Wii Speak is being shipped with similar insane restrictions. According to Ars Technica:

The package came with a surprise: a 16-character code is needed to download the Wii Speak channel from Nintendo. The fine print is clear: the code will not be replaced if lost. There is no other way to download the channel. Without the channel, the Wii Speak hardware is just a useless microphone.

The main difference from EA’s approach is that this could actually work. It is much easier to pirate Spore than hack the Wii Speak.

This still presents issues that could affect those who are honest and purchase it legally. If Nintendo won’t reissue the code, what happens if you buy a new Wii or get a refurbished unit under warranty? It is unclear if there will be any exceptions, but as of now it doesn’t look like it.

The Ars Technica article points out that Nintendo’s motive is to reduce the used game market. I feel that too much time and energy is being spent creating ways to lock in users and not enough is put into creating good games. The best way to make money is to create an outstanding product.

Photo by Ian Muttoo

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Google’s Incentive with Chrome

Sympathy on New Year’s Eve

Shawn — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 15:27:23 +0000

When I was a young lad, on New Year’s Eve I would watch cartoons on Cartoon Network. The whole family would be over. The kids were in the basement watching TV and the parents upstairs enjoying some tasty beverages. It was a blast, especially the cartoon part.

The one year that comes to mind, Cartoon Network was previewing a number of shows that were being considered for full time. Among them were (if my memory serves) Power Puff Girls, Johnny Bravo, and Dexter’s Lab. Throughout the night you could call in and vote for the one that you thought was the best. I never called, mostly because I thought it was silly and didn’t make a difference. In hindsight I was most likely right.

That year as I sat and watched these shows I started to get a little down. You see, I didn’t have the knowledge I do now and had some interesting thoughts about the TV studios. In my mind there was a single man in the studio who had to put in the tape (this was back when my family owned a VCR) to start the next show. He would manually load all the shows and commercials and take all the calls. I started to feel bad for this person and wonder why I was so lucky. I imagined that he was sitting there in this dark room all sad that he had to do this while his family was having a party at home. I wondered what he did to pass the time. He must have already seen these new shows since he worked for Cartoon Network. I could only guess that he sat there staring into space with a bottle of juice. I really wished we could invent a robot to switch the tapes so he can go home with his family.

I now know that it is mostly automated and there is no one manually changing tapes in a VCR. There probably is someone who is working there during New Year’s Eve, but I don’t think it is anything like the scenario I imagined. Looking back, I find it interesting that I never felt this way on Christmas.

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What Is Your Power?

Shawn — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 21:51:16 +0000

I realized something when watching this weeks episode of Heroes (Season 3 Episode 5). I get really frustrated that the characters never ask what powers someone has. It will get mentioned in a conversation that (insert character name) had powers and everyone just kind of leaves it at that. If I were in the room, I would want to know what the powers were before I let the conversation continue.

I understand that discovering the powers is part of the suspense and I wouldn’t expect the writers to reveal it at that time. It just feels like it is the elephant in the room that no one addresses. I think it would be just as effective to have someone ask and then cut to the others face, which could possibly have a look of horror, and then cut to another scene.

This is just one of the things that frustrates me about the storytelling in this show. There is a bag full of others, but that is for another time.

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Dr. Horrible

Shawn — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 01:48:25 +0000

I just finished watching Act 1 of “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” and had an absolute blast. Dr. Horrible is one of the latest projects by Joss Whedon, who you may know from Buffy, Angle, and Firefly (one of my favorites).

“Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” is a web based mini series starring Neil Patrick Harris as Dr. Horrible and Nathan Fillion as his arch nemesis Captain Hammer. You can view Act 1 (of 3) now with the others releasing on July 17th and 19th.

So far this is an excellent light hearted series. I hope this sparks some interest so we see more like this in the future.

Teaser from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog on Vimeo.

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Youtube Memes From “Pork and Beans”

Shawn — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:30:02 +0000

A couple weeks ago I posted about the new Weezer video Pork and Beans. I really liked the video since it brought back memories related to the various internet memes.

This week I stumbled upon a site that has conveniently gathered most of the YouTube videos that influenced the music video. This is a great chance to see some of these for the first time, or even just re-watch them for old times sake.

Photo by the stella on flickr

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Website: Garfield Minus Garfield

Shawn — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:30:43 +0000

Garfield Minus Garfield is this great comic in which Garfield has been completely removed. The result is this interesting look at the character Jon Arbuckle.

Removing Garfield creates a more amusing comic with a lonely single male who has a slew of mental disorders. The site is updated regularly and adds a little humor to each day.

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“Pork and Beans”

Shawn — Tue, 27 May 2008 15:30:26 +0000

Weezer posted this great music video for their new song Pork and Beans (iTunes, Amazon). It has been a long time since I watched a music video, but if more were as well done as this one I might tune in more often.

I am not sure how I feel about recognizing most of these videos. Apparently I spend way to much time on the Internet. Oh and putting a face on the gopher really creeps me out.

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Website: Stuff White People Like

Shawn — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:30:48 +0000

I promise I am working on some new posts, but in the meantime enjoy this website recommendation.

The site is Stuff White People Like. It is this great blog about, none other than, stuff white people like. I find it extremely funny and mostly dead on. The posts are very well written and make some amusing points. Head over to the site and see what you think.

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Mix Tapes

Shawn — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 20:00:54 +0000

Back in the day there were mix tapes. You would take a set of songs that you liked and made a tape for your friends or yourself. Then CDs came along and started to change the game. It was faster and easier to make. Plus, you had way more room to write the names of the songs. The name also changed. No longer did we have mix tapes, instead the mixes took over. People started making these all the time. It was one of the best ways to share your favorite songs. Everyone could enjoy a piece of your world.

I have taken it one step further. CDs don’t hold nearly enough music in this world full of iPods. So I moved over to an iPod, the iPod shuffle that is. My girlfriend and I both have shuffles. Each of us has a playlist full of songs we love. Whenever we visit each other we fill our shuffles with a random selection from these playlists. Now we can rock out to the other’s musical taste.

I have always thought of the iPod as my personal music cocoon. It wraps me up and takes me to my own place. Now with the shuffle, I can choose to be encompassed in either my great musical taste or my girlfriends. The lack of display isn’t really a problem. The only button you need is the one that takes you to the next song. This helps on those songs where your musical tastes don’t quite mesh or if you don’t want to hear that Ted Leo song for the 20th time.

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Price Those Shows

Shawn — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 03:13:00 +0000

About a month ago, there was news that NBC and Apple were having trouble agreeing on terms for the renewal of their contract to distribute NBC shows on the iTunes Store. It seemed that the one main snag had to do with pricing. Apple wanted to keep it the same, NBC wanted variable pricing.

Currently, TV shows on the iTunes store cost $1.99 across the board. They can be half an hour or an hour, popular or obscure, comedy or drama. Either way, they cost $1.99. Variable pricing would allow the TV network to set the price how they see fit.

Shortly after rumors leaked that the contract would not be renewed, Apple issued a press release stating that the reason for not renewing the contract was:

“Apple declined to pay more than double the wholesale price for each NBC TV episode, which would have resulted in the retail price to consumers increasing to $4.99 per episode from the current $1.99.”

NBC came back to say that the reason was that they wanted more flexibility with pricing and the ability to have variable pricing. (Couldn’t find the press release)

From this perspective, NBC clearly looks like the bad guy to consumers. How dare they raise prices, don’t they know we can get this stuff for free over the air (cable) and on the internet (torrents). Apple clearly loves us little guys (although the consumer base can by no means be considered little) and is willing to fight for us. Right?

Let me paint you another picture. Apple is hurting us as consumers. They are taking away our power and at the same time making it look good. If Apple were to allow NBC use variable pricing, the consumers could then have an influence on setting the price. Will NBC set crazy high prices like $5 per episode of Heroes, you bet. At the same time they will lower the price of some less popular shows to $1.

If consumers are really so upset about the price at $5, hopefully they won’t buy, and at the same time they might check out that mediocre show for $1. By using variable pricing, NBC can judge the market to see what people are willing to pay for the TV shows. Their results could show that people are willing to pay $4 for an episode, but they could also show that sales will triple if they cut the price to $1. If NBC were able to judge this correctly, it could greatly benefit us consumers. As it currently stands, NBC has no way to tell if they could make more money by lowering prices because Apple wields the power. Sure consumers could get hurt by this, but I would rather have the power to influence price then have no power or choice at all.

My idea would work great, except there is one glaring problem. The media distribution agencies (MPAA, RIAA, TV Networks) are very cautious when it comes to internet distribution. They assume that all of their customers are thieves and thus interpret any bad result as a failure of the distribution channel rather than high prices. This means that they might price the episode at $5 and justify the declining sales as the falut of the internet. This is one major problem with the industry, if they could get over this and realize the benefits of internet distribution they could rake in the cash. Until then, Apple may end up being the good guy that sticks up for the consumer. As good as that sounds, it is unlikely. Remember that Apple is in business to make a profit, not help out everyone.

In the end, would you rather have a chance to influence prices or have no shows on iTunes. I vote for variable pricing.