Piracy: Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself

Cracked.com has a great piece posted called "5 Reasons It's Still Not Cool to Admit You're a Gamer." It's a funny article, but the number one point the author makes is actually an important and eloquently stated one regarding the way gamers' entitlement issues are preventing the industry from flourishing as much as it should. Here is the link to the article; I highly urge you to read it in its entirety as David Wong has managed to put to writing everything I believe about game pirates.

Censorship Alert: StarCraft 2 Edited for South Korea

In case anyone is not yet aware, South Korea is easily the biggest individual market for the original StarCraft, with about half of the roughly 10 million copies sold in the Korean market. Gamers have continued to play and join competitions to this day despite the game having been released in 1998. The obsession with this game was so all-encompassing that the government had to step in and implement forced gaming curfews in order to get residents to sleep instead of staying up all night playing StarCraft. All that said, it is easy to imagine the level of insane drooling excitement going on in South Korea right now in regards to the impending release of StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty on July 27. In that light, it was perhaps a smart move by Blizzard to remove some adult themes from the Korean version of the game, such as references to smoking and vulgar language, in order to release the game with an Age 12 rating. This will enable the game to reach a far larger audience than if the aforementioned parts were left in, and therefore pretty much the whole country can take part in the second installment of their national pastime. I am generally against any form of censorship, but in this case, the edits are small, they don't appear to affect the overall theme of the game, and if they didn't happen, the combined screams of thousands of teenage Koreans would haunt our dreams forever. Good thinking, Blizzard.

Creator of Counter-Strike Developing New FPS

Minh Le, the creator of Counter-Strike, is currently developing a new FPS called Tactical Intervention. Considering all the upheaval in the world of FPSes lately what with Halo developer Bungie signing with EA and ousted Infinity Ward developers coming together under new studio Respawn (also funded by EA), now would seem to be an opportune time to come out with an all-new title from a trusted developer. Closed beta testing is planned for May through June. Tactical Intervention could spawn a whole new line of FPSes focusing not just on reflexes but also on adapting to dynamic environments in a team setting. The genre could really use this game to move forward in a new direction as the stream of solid but predictable sequels keeps getting churned out.

EA Sports Disabling Multiplayer on Games Bought Used

I don't know why I am still amazed at the way game companies keep finding new ways to nickel and dime customers, but this latest effort from EA is simply baffling. Try to follow with me the new lifecycle of a game purchased new and then used:

1. Gamer 1 buys new EA Sports game. Game comes with one-time registration code called an Online Pass that allows Gamer 1 to access assorted online modes including multiplayer.
2. Gamer 1 sells game to, say, GameStop.
3. Gamer 2 buys used game from GameStop and has the option to pay an additional $10 to EA for an Online Pass to access various online features. This version of the pass, however, does not allow even basic multiplayer online play.

So... Even with the extra fee paid to EA, which in theory should make up for some of the revenue going to GameStop instead of the publisher when a title sells used, gamers still cannot access the full game? If this is the way EA wants to go, why not just add say another $5 fee to enable multiplayer online play? I am finding it difficult to believe that EA is truly putting its foot down when it comes to online multiplayer access instead of just using the opportunity to charge a little more (on top of the little more they are already charging for "features" that don't include the only one I care about online - multiplayer). Based on the popularity of EA Sports games, I'd say this move will be initially financially successful, but if I were EA I'd be wary of pirates and defectors to other sports publishers.

EA Trademarks "Darkspore"

Following the success of Spore, it looks like EA will be taking the franchise in a dark new direction. They have made three separate trademark filings for "Darkspore" covering many media including video games, online games, movies, playing cards, and others. According to their financial report, a TBA Spore title will be released by March 2011, so I think we can deduce that Darkspore is it. I am excited for this new iteration of Spore as hopefully EA has fixed some of the glitches that bogged down an otherwise fantastic idea for a game (and also, here's hoping they found a way to prevent every player from creating a race of giant male genitalia).

LucasArts Executives Resign

It has just been released that yesterday, LucasArts president Darrell Rodriguez has resigned along with several other executives. Reasons are not yet known but games currently under development are not expected to be affected. To be honest, with their most popular games being the LEGO series, Star Wars Battlefront and Tales of Monkey Island, I am not overly concerned with the quality of LucasArts games going forward. I think that the best thing LucasArts can do at this point is to bring in some new visionaries to pump new life into their strong brands.

New Dragon Age Add-On: Play as Darkspawn

BioWare has announced a unique new add-on, Darkspawn Chronicles, for Dragon Age: Origins Awakening wherein the player can fight as darkspawn. In this alternate storyline, your original character dies in the Joining ceremony, and instead you control darkspawn trying to thwart the Grey Wardens' quest to defeat the Archdemon. This DLC brings to mind the recent debate of whether choice is a positive or a negative in gaming. Some gamers (including myself) have trouble making "unethical" choices in video games, even if those choices lead to better loot or abilities. However, the new DLC does not appear to give you a choice; you are definitely campaigning against the side of good. I am reminded of the level "No Russian" in Modern Warfare 2, where the player is forced to go through the level either participating in or just witnessing the mass murder of innocents in an airport. Some players treat games as just a challenge to be beaten and as such, will make the most profitable choices in any scenario and may not be as affected by the ethical dilemmas that sometimes arise. Others approach such content as Darkspawn Chronicles and No Russian with a certain amount of distaste and may even hesitate to play at all. I am not sure if I will be able to hunt down Alistair and the Grey Wardens without qualms after having him as a party constant in my first playthrough and this question of morality could interfere (despite the inherent silliness of becoming attached to video game characters) with my enjoyment of the add-on.