Good show. Third party DRM in Steam games makes no sense.

I could follow my instinct to disbelieve Ubisoft, but I think if Valve were taking a moral stance against DRM by removing games from Steam, they’d do it in all territories.

I clicked this headline in my Google Reader expecting to be taken to an article at The Onion.

$5 per new map? Who else is glad they didn’t buy Modern Warfare 2? Phew.

Good one here; I’ve been enjoying the mini-series. I hope it’s in for as good a run as the Knights of The Old Republic comic was.

Perhaps Microsoft and EA weren’t the villains we thought? Ah, probably they were.

I’m more excited for Skate 3 than ever. Graded challenges, landing feedback, and hardcore mode are longstanding features of the Tony Hawk games. Jason Lee was in the last good one (Project 8), too. They should fit well.

I resolved that, when I played Mass Effect on PC, I would play as female Shepard, and I’d also play as a Renegade. So I created Sarah Shepard; I expected playing her to be fun, but not superior fun. I also expected to hate her. I didn’t like myself as a Dark Jedi in KoTOR. Force Lightning was fun, but I was a selfish asshole. I didn’t save the galaxy, I took it. My choices on Mass Effect’s Renegade path didn’t all result in such extremes, though; I could save the galaxy without having to mollycoddle everyone. I’d do it efficiently, and by my own rules. Playing Paragon or Renegade is analogous to playing as Superman or Batman would — that is, if either approved of killing.

I began Mass Effect 2 the day it released, mere weeks after completing my second run through Mass Effect. I found that Sarah Shepard had changed, and so had Mass Effect. But my Shepard was still a hard-ass who demanded respect, and who had a galaxy to save. I proceeded to oblige, this time with a new ship, new team, and most importantly, no inventory. The very facet of Mass Effect that most bothered me hadn’t just been changed, it had been discarded. Direct sequels usually just bring about new gimmicks, not fundamental design changes. The Mako was removed, and with it, so was planet exploration, which abetted making each assignment unique and meaningful, when before they were generic and menial. The Mako’s absence also changed the way we gather resources. Now we gather them as any sensible future person would — with probes, from the comfort of orbit. These refinements, additions, and omissions coalesced to form the best sequel I’ve played since Half-Life 2. It’s going to be very hard for there to be a better game this year.

Almost as soon as I finished playing like Batman in Mass Effect 2, I moved to playing as Batman in Batman: Arkham Asylum. Everyone was right: that game is good. It was all I could think about for a few days. I finished with just under 15 hours played and all Riddler challenges complete. Partway through playing, I began considering that I may not enjoy the game as much if I weren’t playing as Batman. I decided that I wouldn’t have. I also decided that I can’t count that against the game. I don’t think I’d have enjoyed Mass Effect 2 as much, either, if it had been built around lesser fiction. Arkham Asylum played well enough to make me feel like as though I was Batman, the baddest ass mortal in American fiction — that’s no small feat.

Neither is following those two games with a third — nothing I have in my game queue can compare. While coming down from this video game high, I’ve been dabbling. The Bad Company 2 Beta has been fun, though it keeps making old man jokes about my computer. And despite an epileptic episode, I’ve played a lot of Lumines. I’ve tried to get into a Total War game again (Medieval II), but I think I play those games incorrectly. I also started Yakuza for Playstation 2; that game has style. Still, I feel as though I’m just killing time until Final Fantasy 13 releases in a few weeks. I’ve never bounced between games this much.

Maybe I’ll make a male Paragon.

This is good news, but it opens an old wound. There was much uncertainty surrounding the PC version of The Force Unleashed; gamers expected it, but Lucas Arts wasn’t talking about it. In May of 2008 producer Cameron Suey addressed the issue saying there would be no PC version of the game. He cited scaling issues:

“The PC being the gaming platform that it is, someone with a $4,000 high-end system would definitely be able to play the Euphoria, the DMM and really technical elements of the game. But someone with a low-end PC would have a watered down experience, they would have to turn all the settings down and it wouldn’t be the same game.”

That line was as much a load of bull then as it is now; if an Xbox 360 can run a game, so can a $500 PC built in the last two years. There’s a reason people are amazed to see CryEngine running on a console while still looking decent. The Force Unleashed is said to be coming this Fall, and I have a feeling I’ll be playing it using the PC I built in January of 2008 for $700.

The fangirl inside me is squealing right now.

“I understand you work for George Lucas, how has that prepared you for this loss here today?”

Publishers, when they even make a PC version of their game, don’t treat it as well as they do the console versions. Development of the PC version of multi-platform games is often outsourced to a third party, and the quality of the product suffers as a result. But it isn’t always a problem of outsourcing; sometimes developers are simply told to focus their foremost efforts on the console versions. Marketing of the PC version also takes a hit; it is not uncommon for the PC version of a game to be released weeks to months after the console versions. Rarely will the PC version even be mentioned in magazine and comic book ads, much less television adverts; it will just be tossed out and left up to word of mouth and the virtually non-existent retail spaces to sell it to people.

Microsoft doesn’t help matters, either. You wouldn’t know it by watching their E3 press conferences, but they’re the same company that makes Windows, the largest PC game platform there is. Why don’t they let people know? Splinter Cell: Conviction made a splash this year at E3 2009, but on the big stage it was touted as an “Xbox 360 exclusive” to the press and to retailers; it was not until after the press conference that it was learned the game would be coming to PC as well.

Another effect of publishers’ mistreatment of PC games is apparent in the way the games press covers them. Like it or not, much of what the most popular sources for game news, reviews, previews and other information chooses to cover and care about is largely driven by marketing. Members of the games press have said as much; if a game doesn’t have marketing behind it, they will not bother reviewing it, if they even know about it to begin with. As a result, games press has become increasingly console-focused. Only the most high profile PC games news is reported on, and even then, there’s rarely any editorial input as there is in posts about console games. Follow-ups are scarce. The press just does not care as much. Unless it’s an outlet that precludes console game coverage, of course, but they are few, and they are small. Being virtually unheard, they are not in a position to serve as consumer advocates as bigger sites can be.

Publishers need to be taken to task by the press for things like staggering the PC versions of their games, for not optimizing properly, not marketing them properly and for not making certain features and DLC available that are present in the console versions. Some examples of games that have had these issues in recent years include:

• Saints Row 2 – staggered release, poor optimization, no DLC.
• Grand Theft Auto IV – staggered release, poor optimization, no DLC.
• Ghostbusters – no multiplayer.
• Tomb Raider: Underworld – no DLC, needed for true ending.
• Prince of Persia – no DLC, needed for true ending.
• Mass Effect – staggered release.
• Dead Space – staggered release.
• Mirror’s Edge – staggered release.
• Assassin’s Creed – staggered release.
• Bionic Commando – staggered release.
• Red Faction: Guerilla – staggered release.
• Street Fighter IV – staggered release.
• The Last Remnant – staggered release.
• Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. – no DLC.

Granted, in certain cases, a staggered release for PC games means a more polished game with a few extra features or some extra content; this was the case with games such as Assassin’s Creed and Mass effect, but they are the exception, not the rule. And in the case of Mass Effect, I would expect that a developer create a user interface that is appropriate for the platform the game is on, though I still appreciate it. The point is that there would be a much bigger stink made about the issues surrounding the games listed above if the affected version had been the Xbox 360’s or Playstation 3’s.

I won’t purport to have all the answers to these problems, but I have an idea. Above all else: care. If you’re a gamer, whether you play PC games or not, if you care about video games at all, care about what happens to the PC platform. Care about how the games are treated, how they’re marketed, how they’re supported and how they’re covered. If you’re a publisher, care about your game and make it right, or don’t make it at all. Your poorly optimized, poorly marketed and under-supported game reflects negatively on the platform. If you’re press, care about the state of PC games. You’re opinion leaders; if you care, gamers will care. If gamers care, that will force publishers to care, and we’ll all be better off for it.

David Gaider, author of Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne

The language used in the marketing for Dragon Age: Origins has made strides to popularize certain terms such as “low fantasy” and “dark heroic fantasy”, so I made a point of keeping these terms in mind during my reading of Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne. I don’t think they’re lying; many of the events in this story are messed up. Rebel Queen Moira, the mother of Prince Maric (the book’s main character), is violently murdered on the first page. Within the next eight pages, Maric is smashing the head of one of her attackers into a tree root repeatedly. From that point forward, Maric is on the run for a good portion of the story. He meets new companions along the way and eventually reunites with and takes charge of his mother’s rebel army; their purpose is to remove the Orlesian usurper, King Meghren, from Queen Moira’s former throne, so that Prince Maric may take his place.

Much of what occurs in Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne will likely be used referentially, for the most part, when it comes to the video game. I would surmise that Dragon Age: Origins’ story picks up at least twenty years after the events in The Stolen Throne, based on what’s known about some of the game’s characters. But I can say with confidence that David Gaider, with this prequel novel, has succeeded in crafting, introducing me to and familiarizing me with Ferelden and its history. If you are one of the many who is planning on playing Dragon Age: Origins, I would urge you to do yourself a favor and consider giving Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne a chance.

All indie games are 33% off on Steam this weekend, many of which have been featured here at DoSu. Pro tip: buy AudioSurf!

Wonderful video here, an obvious homage to “Where The Hell Is Matt?“. It’s hard to believe that it has been ten years since I first played EverQuest. I spent about four years in that game before moving on, but it’s still the most memorable gaming time I’ve had, and I came out of it with many friends with whom I still play games to this day.

Lots of new info and some in-game footage of Alpha Protocol in this episode. It’s sounding like everything I hoped it would be: like Mass Effect, but with spies!

Speaking of Mass Effect, it looks like PC will be getting the sequel at the same time as the Xbox 360 this time around. In 2010.

Dude, yes!

GameTap is going through some major changes, mostly for the better from what I’ve gleaned from these blog posts. The GameTap client can serve as something of a hurdle for people. The ability to use shortcuts or launch from a website will make things much more accessible.

As for the changes, the main link above will give you a high-level description of what will be happening. These supplementary links are to blog posts that give more specific information on how games will download and play, what will happen to your current save states, and new subscription plans. Pay special attention to the subscription post if you’re a current or potential subscriber. I recommend signing up, as I have, for the $60 annual billing so that you lock your account in before the deadline.

I’ve always been more of a Quake man, but I can definitely appreciate what Unreal Tournament has brought to the table. Partly due to its sub-par server browser and interface but mostly due to its lack of a playerbase, I haven’t been able to get into UT3. That all seems to be fixed with Patch 4 and the Titan Pack. They both fix, change, and add a ton of stuff — maybe even an ass-ton. Check the link and decide for yourself. Also check out the new Betrayal mode. It takes one of my favorite things in the world – Instagib – and puts a fun twist on it.

I’ve found that reading these novel tie-ins greatly enhances my experience with the video games. For example, reading Mass Effect: Revelation before playing Mass Effect made me very familiar with the races and key locations in the galaxy, as well as some backstory on the antagonist’s agenda. I also have a greater appreciation for the Halo universe since reading The Fall of Reach. For these reasons, and the reasons mentioned earlier this week, I’m excited to get this Dragon Age fiction into my hands and then into my brain.

It’s about time. For a while there it seemed like EA didn’t want my money, what with the way they didn’t put Burnout on Steam.