Gather ’round, children, and let me tell you a story about the old bugaboo we used to call DRM. Digital Rights Management was the beast under every gamer’s bed in the mid-2000s, an invisible bit of software baked into game discs that dictated and tracked player behavior under the guise of preventing piracy. DRM software, like SecuROM, limited the times a game could be downloaded and forced players to regularly connect to the internet for authentication checks, at a time when less than half of American adults had reliable broadband connections. DRM features soured the releases of BioShock, Mass Effect and Spore, and by 2010, anti-piracy software had rendered Assassin’s Creed 2 and Splinter-Cell: Conviction unplayable. When Microsoft attempted to release the Xbox One with always-on DRM features in 2013, intense vitriol from fans forced the company to reverse its plans at the 11th hour. There were lawsuits. DRM was a curse word. Meanwhile, Valve was building out Steam. When it landed in 2003, the digital PC storefront was designed to streamline the patch process for games like Counter-Strike and make it easier for Valve to implement anti-piracy and anti-cheat measures. Steam was made to be a DRM machine. In 2004, with the release of Half-Life 2, Valve made Steam a requirement for every player, and even those who’d purchased new, physical copies of the game had to boot up the launcher first. There was some low-level grumbling, but PC players were used to being lab rats, and... Continue reading at 'Engadget'
[ Engadget | 2024-03-04 16:30:21 UTC ]
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In celebration of LGBTQ+ History month in October, nonprofit organization Parents, Families, & Friends of LGBT National has brought together a slew of celebrities to voice characters in a video adaptation of picture book 'The Mother of a Movement: Jeanne Manford—Ally, Activist, and... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-10-13 04:00:00 UTC ]
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PW’s annual ranking of the world’s largest publishers in 2021 shows little change from 2020 among the top 10 Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-10-07 04:00:00 UTC ]
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The number of video streaming services available has increased dramatically over the past few years as everyone decides they want a piece of the pie. The days when Netflix was your only option are long gone now, and while that’s great for all of us itching to discover our next favorite TV show,... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2022-10-06 13:15:17 UTC ]
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Companies providing ghostwritten autobiographies for people wanting to share histories have seen surge in trade since CovidBrian Lewis grew up on a tough council estate after arriving in Britain as part of the Windrush generation. At the age of eight he developed an interest in chess and joined... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-09-24 14:00:06 UTC ]
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Final sales numbers for 2021 from the Association of American Publishers show a 12.3% increase in industry sales, with total sales hitting $29.33 billion, up from $26.1 billion in 2020. Easing of the pandemic in 2021 had a significant impact on industry results. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-09-16 04:00:00 UTC ]
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The Colombian-American author's new book "Lightlark" was rejected numerous times — until she went directly to her readers for support. Continue reading at HuffPost
[ HuffPost | 2022-09-15 09:45:12 UTC ]
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The sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild finally has a name: Tears of the Kingdom. And it’s finally got a release date, too: May 12th, 2023. This was arguably the big reveal of Nintendo’s Direct live stream, alongside a Pikmin sequel.We got an all-too-brief teaser showcasing the... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2022-09-14 11:31:52 UTC ]
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Another summer has come and gone, but the digital media industry looks a little bit different than it did last spring. Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2022-09-08 04:01:00 UTC ]
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As houses across the industry start recalling staff to their offices, publishing professionals are pushing back against low pay, heavy workloads, and an increasingly stifled corporate environment. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-09-02 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Post-lockdown, publishers remain all-in on interactive book and product formats, from activity titles and prompted journals to puzzles and games. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-09-02 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Music publishers, songwriters and musicians have struck a deal with streaming services for US mechanical streaming rates for 2023-2027, the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) has announced. The NMPA, Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) and Digital Media Association... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2022-09-01 12:34:02 UTC ]
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As some of you may already know (and sure, some of you may not care) Bob Dylan is publishing a book this November about his “philosophy of modern song” called… The Philosophy of Modern Song. If you are among those who do care (like me) the table of contents of the Nobel laureate’s foray into […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-26 15:37:43 UTC ]
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In ‘Slaying the Dragon,’ Ben Riggs chronicles the rise and fall of the company behind the granddaddy of role-playing games Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-08-26 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Hollywood can’t resist a literary adaptation. Frontlist, backlist—it’s all fodder for screenplays. The publishing world itself also feeds the insatiable page-to-screen pipeline: from 1930s and ’40s screwball satires about newspaper reporters (His Girl Friday, Meet John Doe, Mr. Deeds Goes to... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-18 08:53:31 UTC ]
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PlayStation’s game-streaming scheme, at its top tier, is now competing directly with Xbox Game Pass, the service that proved the concept by earning 25 million-plus subscribers over the past five years. It’s now been over a month since PlayStation Plus Premium went live, offering similar cloud... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2022-08-15 11:15:56 UTC ]
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The Justice Department’s legal effort to block the merger of book publishing giants Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster is more than just a showcase for the Biden administration’s tougher approach to corporate consolidation Continue reading at ABC News
[ ABC News | 2022-08-06 14:26:56 UTC ]
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Year-to-date hardback revenues were down 7.5 percent in May at US$1.2 billion, paperbacks up 8.7 percent for $1.3 billion. The post American Publishers’ StatShot: US Industry Down 3.7 Percent in May appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2022-08-01 22:50:37 UTC ]
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Being able to play modern, high-quality video games on just about any kind of PC is the big pitch of the handful of cloud gaming services out there. Using a subscription model, these services allow people with a strong internet connection to tap remote servers in order to play video games of... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2022-07-29 10:30:00 UTC ]
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Annapurna Interactive is set to hold its second games showcase today at 3PM and you can watch it below. The powerhouse indie publisher just released one of the most anticipated games of the year in Stray, as well as the acclaimed, speedrun-friendly Neon White. It's about to offer a look at... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2022-07-28 18:00:16 UTC ]
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Shredder's Revenge is great if you want a modern take on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles beat-'em-ups, but what if you'd rather stick with the classics? You won't have to wait long to revisit those, either. Digital Eclipse, Konami and Nickelodeon have announced that TMNT: The Cowabunga Collection... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2022-07-22 14:00:16 UTC ]
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