News

In news that pleased pretty much everyone planning to buy Heroes of Might and Magic V, game publisher Ubisoft has made the decision to drop StarForce from all upcoming releases.

StarForce, a security program intended to protect game software from piracy, has been widely criticized for the security risks it poses to a system on which it installs. Since StarForce installs automatically with no notice to the user and since there is no clear procedure for removing it from a machine, the problems caused by the program are difficult to diagnose and repair. Among other things, the software can lead to optical drive slow-down and eventual malfunction.

Sources:
ExtremeTech

Boycott Starforce

Wait...you mean there's a company out there that's more interested in not alienating all of its consumers than in squeezing a few piddling cents more out of a product with copy protection that doesn't work anyway?

With the growing trend in companies aggressively defending their intellectual property with means that may be inconvenient or even harmful to consumers, this is definitely a step in the right direction. I'm already at a point where I refuse to purchase copy-protected CDs (sorry, Rachael Yamagata) because of the hassle involved. Computer software that contains the moral equivalent of malware (albeit under a different guise) completely takes the cake. Without this change, I wouldn't be purchasing HoMM5 at all. Hopefully, other companies will follow suit and realize that harassing consumers this way is going to hurt their business far more than piracy ever could.

Early last year, Sony's movie format known as UMD (universal media disc), a variant of the standard form of digital media, was still largely viewed by North Americans as a gimmick enabled via the PlayStation Portable with few supporters. But soon after Sony themselves transfered their own films to the small discs, movie studios began believing it financially foolish not to do the same. The UMD format was their ticket to ride the speculated success of the PSP, thus the handheld was launched with a wide array of movies within its media library.

But the present tells an alternate and unforseen story. Contrary to the hopes of the studios involved, sales of UMD copies have been slowing to a crawl. "It's awful. Sales are near zilch," said a high-ranking executive of Universal Studios Home Entertainment. "It's another Sony bomb..." As such, Universal Studios has recently opted to cease releasing versions of their films in the seemingly unfavorable format as a response to the slouching business. Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment, another studio that's chosen to currently halt UMD production, states they will continue with the format if and when doing so again proves to be a lucrative move.

It's even been rumored that Wal-Mart retailers may soon refuse to stock UMDs.

Not all is lost, however. Although a vindication attributing to the format's lapse in appeal has not been pinpointed, the president of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Benjamin Feingold, does recognize a few of the glaring issues behind the nosedive in sales. All the same, he persists as a strong supporter of UMD movies. "I think a lot of people are ripping content and sticking it onto the device rather than purchasing," Feingold said. Additionally, eye strain resulting from viewing films on the handheld's small screen for hours on end could pose as a sales-deteriorating threat.

Source: GAF

At the recent Nintendo conference Satoru Iwata revealed many things featuring upcoming Nintendo products, including of course, the Nintendo Revolution. Up until now all we've known is that it would support NES to N64 on the virtual console. Of course, there were hushed whispers and rumors about Sega really liking the idea and wanting to put their games onto it.

Well, it's no longer a rumor. The Revolution's virtual console will now offer downloads from not only Sega, but the TurboGrafx-16. It won't be every game, of course. But they're going to get all the best ones.

It's things like this that make me want a Revolution more than I already do. And I mean, I really want one.

Source: 1UP (Link courtesy of Phunbaba)

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for the Nintendo DS was revealed a few hours ago by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata. The game will use an esthetic very similar to Wind Waker, and is a truly remarkable demonstration of the DS's visual capabilities. The linked source has a short trailer and a number screenshots.

To me, this is only another reason to buy a DS. A new Zelda, a new Tetris, a new 2D Mario, a new 2D Castlevania, a new Advance Wars, a "new" Final Fantasy... man I wish I had an income....

Source: some British website, found via Digg

The negative publicity of the early "batarang" build of the PS3's controller seems to have made an impact. Phil Harrison, president of Sony Computer Entertainment's Worldwide Studios division, announced that the PS3's controller would indeed be redesigned for the final product, but no official redesign has been shown yet and Harrison did not specify any particular date for revealing the new design. We'll be sure to keep you up to date on any new developments.

Source: Engadget (Note: the picture shown on this site is NOT an official redesign, but one of several unofficial user-redesigns from an engadget contest several months ago)

Beginning March 22nd, the Sony PSP will be available in the United States at $199.99, a full fifty bucks lower than the initial launch price. This isn't a true price drop, however, because now the PSP is no longer bundled with a mandatory 32MB memory stick, carrying case, wristband, and earphones.

Sony's strategy here seems obvoius - reduce the PSP's price tag at little cost to themselves (consumers are estimated to save less than $5 overall if they were to buy each of the formerly prepackaged accessories seperately), but hopefully increase sales of their handheld to make it more competitive with the ludicrously popular Nintendo DS. Sure, it isn't much of a strategy, but the PSP needs all the help it can get.

Source: NForcer, via Digg.com