Ubisoft's always-on digital rights management solution, dubbed the "Online Services Network," has apparently been circumvented by hackers. News of its arrival on peer-to-peer file-sharing networks began circulating in places like social-news site Reddit Wednesday morning.
The DRM, which now ships with every new PC game made by Ubisoft, requires that gamers have a constant connection to the Internet in order to play their games. The security feature caused a large backlash by users for its inclusion in Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed 2 title, which was released last month.
The hack itself removes the DRM entirely and … Read more
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has set the world record for the best launch day, in terms of U.S. dollars, in the history of the entertainment industry, Guinness World Records announced Wednesday.
According to Guinness, Modern Warfare 2 grossed $401.6 million in a single day when it launched on November 10. The game easily shattered Grand Theft Auto IV's previous record of $310 million in revenue on its launch day back in 2008. Halo 3, which tallied $170 million on its first day of availability, is the third-highest-grossing entertainment product of all time.
7-Eleven--probably best-known for Slurpees, hot dogs, and being open all night--is expanding its game offerings by getting into used console titles.
The franchise announced Monday a partnership with Game Trading Technologies to create a new program called Great Games Below $20. The program will bring "a mixture of games" into more than 3,000 7-Eleven stores starting immediately.
All titles available in 7-Eleven stores will be preowned and priced at $19.99 or below.
According to Game Trading Technologies spokesman Jody Janson, all the major consoles and handheld platforms will be represented in 7-Eleven's game lineup. Janson … Read more
This may very well be the beginning of the end for the paper game manuals found in console games. Game publisher and developer Ubisoft on Monday announced that it would no longer be shipping them in its future console titles on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
In their place will be an in-game manual that provides the same types of information about controls, game credits, and other legal information. This is the same kind of offering Ubisoft's been doing with its PC games since last month. According to the company, the first console title to feature such a … Read more
A new study by virtual goods provider Viximo suggests that by 2011, sales of virtual goods will amount to 20 percent of U.S. game software revenues.
According to the report (registration required), this forecast is predicated on the expectation that virtual goods will grow faster than the overall gaming software industry. In 2009, U.S. retail sales of console, portable, and PC game software generated revenues of $10.5 billion, an 11 percent decline over the $11.7 billion generated in 2008. In the meantime, virtual goods revenues are expected to hit roughly $1.6 billion in 2010 and … Read more
I first sold my soul to a girl with a very large gap in her teeth. It took me years to get it back. (Yes, souls are recoverable.) But then I met a former trapeze artist from a Hungarian circus. The rest, as they say, is misery.
So I feel a peculiar and vigorous bond with the 7,500 people who, so mesmerized by the idea of buying a video game, sold their souls to the UK gaming retailer GameStation.
You might think I am making this up. You might think that no one can buy someone else's soul. At least, not legally. Well, please check your own soul compartment, just in case you might have inadvertently sold its contents while ordering up a new Xbox 360.
According to Fox News, you see, GameStation decided to slip a clause into the terms and conditions of its purchase contracts that gave the company the rights to your immortal being.
The clause makes for stimulating reading: "By placing an order via this Web site on the first day of the fourth month of the year 2010 Anno Domini, you agree to grant Us a non-transferable option to claim, for now and for ever more, your immortal soul. Should We wish to exercise this option, you agree to surrender your immortal soul, and any claim you may have on it, within 5 (five) working days of receiving written notification from gamesation.co.uk or one of its duly authorised minions."
The retailer reportedly began this clause as an April Fool's joke, but then developed it in order to prove to itself, the world, and the heated inhabitants of Haedes that no one reads these often draconian draftings. … Read more
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.
But not all the news was good. While revenues for video game software and accessories were up significantly in March, hardware revenues took a hit.
For the month, the industry posted total sales of $1.52 billion, … Read more
It's been pretty much one great thing after another for Steven Holcomb since winning the bobsled gold at the Vancouver Olympics. Well, at least until this week.
Holcomb, who is a big-time computer nerd and video gamer, discovered that his prized Xbox 360 and games had been stolen out of his car. And while the $4,000 worth of gear and games has him a little queasy, what really makes him sick are the hundreds of hours of saved games that he had on the console.
"It's like a death in the family," Holcomb said in … Read more
As the United States continues to struggle with its deficit, a task force created by President Obama to address the situation may be turning to Microsoft to inform the public about the difficulties of balancing a federal budget.
According to USA Today, Erskine Bowles, head of the Obama administration's budget-balancing task force, has contacted Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to see whether the company could build a video game designed to allow gamers "to take a stab at balancing the budget."
Details on the title are few and far between. Although it sounds like it will be Web-based, … Read more
commentary Although Nintendo has said little about its plans for the Nintendo 3DS, its upcoming 3D-capable portable gaming device, company exec Reggie Fils-Aime recently said in an interview with BusinessWeek that the 3DS isn't just another version of the DS. Instead, the device will replace Nintendo's DS line.
"We have ideas of what we want to bring to the consumer that we can't do with the current DS model," Fils-Aime, who is president of Nintendo of America, told BusinessWeek in the interview. "The Nintendo 3DS for us is our next handheld platform." He … Read more
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