EA Hell Freezes Over and Other Stuff
December 20th, 2008
Well, if you haven’t heard by now you better get your ass over to Steam and take a look: verily Hell hath frozen over and Valve has announced that several more top-tier Electronic Arts titles will be coming to Steam. Among these games are the MMORPG Warhammer: Age of Reckoning, the much-maligned Spore and the upcoming titles Red Alert 3 and Mirror’s Edge (to which I fist-stabbed the air and was like “YES!”). Some EA titles like Mass Effect and Crysis have already been available on Steam for some time now.
The real question which I think is on everyone’s mind right now is will the Steam version of Spore have the infamous SecuROM included in it? So far, there is no mention of it on the sales page, however that isn’t necessarily indicative of the reality.
Both the Crysis and Crysis Warhead Steam versions have SecuROM. Grand Theft Auto IV has it. There are probably more, but I can’t be assed right now to look them up. In the past Bioshock had it, but now doesn’t. I’m not sure if the Steam version of Mass Effect ever had it, but it doesn’t now at least. And the Steam version of Fallout 3 has never had it.
So I expect that the status of SecuR(ootkit)OM on Steam’s Spore will be confirmed in short order. Owing that my newish computer is already infected with the SecuROM virus (Neverwinter Nights 2 - thanks a whole lot Atari, you bastards) I am tempted to try it out and see if I can find it in the download. But probably not, I have a bunch to do and not all of it involves the following:
Vanguard is, right now as I type this, giving away a free month-and-a-half of playtime to former subscribers. That is right - from December 17 until January 31 the accounts of former subscribers have been re-activated. I was never really able to get into Vanguard, but I still have a soft spot in my heart for it owing to the sheer scope and ambition of the world. So a free month should be enough to install the 17-gigabyte behemoth on my hard drive.
Tabula Rasa has the rank stench of death hovering about it, but technically it is still alive and I have still have a couple free codes to give out. Why not join CJ McFee, Voyd and me and get yourself a free code so you too can emerge from Foreas with the aroma of a morgue clinging to you?
Can you believe I still have yet to get WotLK? I know, I thought WoW was all addictive and stuff. But here I am, barely able to fathom myself logging back into that crack-fest. But you know I will eventually. And now that Blizzard has introduced paid gender changes, I no longer have to live as a GIRL.
And finally for today, Steam’s weekend special: Stalker: Shadows of Chernobyl for $4.99. Yes, you read that right, it isn’t a typo - Stalker SoC for only $4.99. So if you don’t already have this classic you better fire up Steam and get it!
OH NOES!
November 6th, 2008
I renewed my WoW subscription.
I to had look at some of the shiny new changes they made. I really like the idea of achievements and having a separate container for pets and mounts is a much-welcome change. But it kinda feels like they should have been in place a year ago. I know, I’m a complainer.
I did get in a quick four-man of Zul Gurub - that was tons of fun. We did pretty well also, making it all the way to the Edge of Madness. Our group consisted of a Druid for tank, a Shaman for heals, and a Mage and a Rogue for dps. Sadly to take down High Priest Thekal we needed just a bit more dps - the timing in getting all three mobs down before they resurrect each other was too much for us without the additional damage. That and I had to set up my keys on the fly, was struggling to stay asleep and haven’t played in a month. Suffice it to say, my equipment was solid red by the time I ported out.
And the best thing about getting all wrapped up in WoW again for a few hours? I got a totally brilliant idea for the next expansion (before this one is even released … even before I have sufficiently immasculated myself enough to actually purchase the abomination).
OK, so the idea: repurpose all the level-duplicate zones into new high-level content zones. If leveling from 1-60 is a zip-bang affair, why not do away with redundant zones? For instance, Stranglethorn Vale, Arathi Highlands and Swamp of Sorrows all have pretty similar level ranges. Once you reach your 20s and beyond why should you have so many quests in different zones?
In the beginning, I think, this was a good design decision. It gave the world a big, open feel and players had numerous options on how to level their characters. It helped separate Horde and Alliance a bit. Of course a lot of people power-leveled their characters from the beginning and that is now fully endorsed as a play-style by Blizzard in the form of end-game development and the more recent leveling-speed boosts.
So now we have this big, empty world.
Why not pull a Warhammer on Azeroth and create a seamless two-continent leveling path with the disused zones being redeveloped into level 80 (or 80-90 more likely) zones? You could have players leveling 30-40 in refined Arathi Highlands and make Strangelthorn Vale a level 80 zone.
DDO gets right into the Dragons
I’ve been playing DDO off and on as well mainly to experience the new introduction areas - this game has come a long way in the past couple years. To be honest with you, I’ve come to look at DDO as one of the better MMOs available right now in terms of originality.
I also have something of a fetish for it’s weird, synthesizer music soundtrack. It reminds me of music that seemed to grace a lot of the weird and cheesy sci fi and fantasy movies in the late 70s. I can’t get enough.
But the new storyline is great, and the type of thing I love to see in an MMO type setting. The addition of hirelings is also welcome. The seemless integration of the hireling mechanic into the very beginning of the story was also delightful. For a better breakdown (with screenshots) of the new player experience, Syncaine of Pumping Irony has made several informative posts.
I don’t think too much of the new character creation system, but as I’ve mentioned before I’m the type who always hits “customize” in every game that lets me. I can see how the new system would be even easier than the old system for a total D&D newb.
But sadly, I may wind up allowing both my DDO and WoW subscription lapse, as I have finally gone and bought Fallout 3. That’s right, it is downloading over Steam as we speak. I was going to pass it up and focus on other games in the hope it will eventually come down to $30 (I’m not a big fan of buying games that cost more than $40), but what the hell? This is a quality title.
And while I’m certain FO3 will hold my interest in the long term, in the short I may set it on the back-burner and focus on LOTRO or continue to scratch my Colonization and Team Fortress 2 itches. I am, however, confident that Left4Dead will be holding my attention like all it’s Source-based counterparts I’ve played and that release is but a mere few weeks away.
But I’m almost certain at this point I won’t be bothering with WotLK until next year, if at all. Decisions, decisions - what is the deal with fall and all the new titles, lol?
Wow Account Security Device Coming Soon
June 26th, 2008
You would think Blizzard Entertainment operated a bank looking at all the ways scammers try to gain access to World of Warcraft accounts. Fake log-in pages, flash-embedded key-loggers, IM con jobs, faked IDs … the methods people have used to steal World of Warcraft accounts and the in-game currency they hold is eclipsed only by the sheer number of attempts made.
The most popular scam method lately seems to be finding new and inventive ways to deploy trojans laden with password-stealing software. Well friends, that practice is about to come to end once and for all.
Blizzard has recently announced they will be adding an extra security feature into accounts in the form of an encrypted passcode generated by a physical dongle. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was largely in response to the recent wave of account thefts made possible with an exploit in Flash (Which has since been fixed).
The Blizzard Authenticator is an optional tool that offers World of Warcraft players an additional layer of security to help prevent unauthorized account access. The Authenticator itself is a physical “token” device that fits easily on a keyring.
For only $6.50 at the Blizzard store, you can by an Authenticator which you link to your account. Once your account is linked you will need a security token generated by the device as well as your name and password to access your account. They are even letting people link one device to multiple accounts.
This may not completely stop more traditional con jobs from taking place, but having one of these will definitely shield you completely from the threat of key-loggers because the security number will change every time you log in.
