Smalltalk with James Robertson

You know how vendors keep telling us that DRM is just fine, and won't possibly cause us any grief? Well... about that:

“Dear Batman Arkham Fans Microsoft has begun the process of closing down Windows Live services over the next year. To make sure there is no interrupted service, we will be moving the game to Steam for verification and update services for both the Base and GOTY versions of Batman Arkham Asylum and Batman Arkham City.”

“Unfortunately, you will not be able to continue playing from your current save. You will need to start a new game.”

So all of those movies and TV shows you've bought over the years? Perfectly safe, because Apple is a big, safe company - just like Microsoft :)

Tags: drm

With Watch Dogs pushed out until spring, what's the next big game I should be looking forward to? I have high hopes for the Bioshock Infinite DLC, but I'd like something to engross me the way Skyrim did....

Not only is XCom: Enemy Unknown around for IOS (that's been true for awhile) - they just added multi-player. Once the impact of Apple's new controller interface starts to appear, I think we'll be seeing big games making it to the iPad, with the idea that you can play on the pad, or via controller from the couch.

Tags: ios, xcom

Polygon has a post up about energy efficiency and gaming consoles. To the surprise of very few who know me, it's a topic about which I care very little. However, I do care about "auto off":

"An obvious low hanging fruit is enabling auto switch off by default," said Delforge. "The big prize is to make that as seamless as possible so that the users are not even aware that it's there."

Why? There are still games out there (Bioshock Infinite comes to mind) that don't allow saving whenever you want - they just have checkpoints. The last thing I need is to be most of the way to a checkpoint, have to pause because real life pops up... and have the damn console shut off because someone who thinks they know what's good for me decided to make that the default.

Pro Tip: The default should be the option that is least likely to cause end users problems, not the option that makes people with too much time on their hands feel better about themselves...

Tags: stupidity

I have to say, right now this interests me far, far more than either the XBox One or the PS4:

Tags: steam, games, steamos

I've been casting about for a game to play on my Mac for a bit - I've played out most of my existing library. I've been pondering Bioshock Infinite for awhile - I liked the game on XBox. While the ending won't be a surprise this time around, I figured it would keep me busy. One problem: I have a 2010 era Macbook Pro, with the low end NVidia 320M card. The official support site warns you off if that's what you have, but - I've ignored such warnings before (and it's a mixed bag as to how that's worked out. Dishonored played fine for me in Parallels, while Hitman Absolution performed like a dog).

The good news is, it seems to run fine. There's some framerate lag when I enter a new area, but mostly it runs at better than 30 FPS (not great, but playable, at least for me). So if you've been holding off because your Macbook isn't on the supported list, you might give it a shot. Just turn everything down to low :)

Tags: bioshock, bioshock infinite

Are there any balls that Microsoft can't drop?

The Xbox One won't support external storage solutions when the console launches later this year, Microsoft spokesperson Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb confirmed during a live recording of his podcast at PAX Prime 2013. Responding to a question from an audience member, Hryb explained that the company plans to allow Xbox One users to utilize external hard drives if they need more space than the console's internal 500 GB hard drive allows. However, he didn't think that feature would be available at launch.

Tags: microsoft, xbox

Either this move is a stopgap, or MS is seriously downgrading the XBox business within the company:

Whether Microsoft realizes that or not, it seems they aren’t in any rush to hire someone new or promote an existing Xbox team member. In fact, Don Mattrick is being replaced, but not by a games person. Instead, Steve Ballmer will be taking on his role and handling all communication with the rest of the Xbox management team.

From a revenue perspective at MS, XBox is tiny - so just how much time would anyone expect the CEO to spend on it? This doesn't bode well for the future of the platform....

Tags: microsoft, xbox

From Polygon:

Microsoft fumbled the messaging, and its reversal on policy is the company taking a timeout to regroup on the sidelines. Many commentators were quick to begrudge the company for excising the few positive points of the original policy: the ability to share games with up to 10 family members; the freedom to maintain a game library in the cloud; and the ability to trade digital games, an option unavailable in any other digital marketplace.

Fret not: Those perks, and presumably more, will appear on the Xbox One. They are future leverage, the spoonful of sugar that will help the eventual DRM medicine go down.

Apparently, the idea of having separate markets for disc based games and ones you've downloaded from a vendor is just a bridge too far for the small minds in the gaming press. First Gizmodo, now Polygon. Here's what we need: a game press that can rub two neurons together and come up with a new thought.

Tags: stupidity, consoles

Gizmodo is flipping out, because they think that the idiot policies MS just had the good sense to back down from were good. Specifically, they say this:

Here is how this makes sense for YOU: New games could then be cheaper. Why? Publishers KNOW that they will not make money on resold games, so they charge more to you, the first buyer. You are paying for others' rights to use your game in the future. If the old system had gone into place, you would likely have seen game prices drop. Or, at the very least, it could have staved off price increases.

Here's where they went off the rails (and where MS screwed up as well): It would be easily possible to create that resale market for digital downloads, while leaving disc based games alone. I know, I know - that was an overly complex thought for anyone at Gawker Media to have formed all on their own....

Tags: stupidity