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 the middle of this year’s Summer Game Fest, Geoff Keighley teased a new game with characters from a storied manga artist – and he wasn’t kidding. Sand Land is a new adventure game from Bandai Namco, featuring character design from Akira Toriyama, the man who gave us Dragon Ball’s Goku, the... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-06-08 20:02:42 UTC ]
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Publishers are developing new strategies and leveraging existing strengths in the ever-evolving audiobook market. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-06-02 04:00:00 UTC ]
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PW talks with two authors about death, joy, and their new, accessible version of the 8th-century "Tibetan Book of the Dead." Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-06-02 04:00:00 UTC ]
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With the rise of AI language models and tools like ChatGPT and Bard, we've heard warnings from people involved, like Elon Musk, about the risks posed by AI. Now, a group of high-profile industry leaders has issued a one-sentence statement: “Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-05-31 11:15:45 UTC ]
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He exploded into the tweedy world of literature, a young, pouting and outrageously brash crusader for prose. Our writer remembers her encounters with the novelist, whose smarts and chutzpah confounded his peers‘You’ll be reading me every now and then at least until about 2080, weather... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-05-22 05:00:48 UTC ]
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The celebrated author of Money and London Fields, whose works defined the 80s and 90s literary scene, died of oesophageal cancer on Friday at his home in FloridaMartin Amis, the influential author of era-defining novels including Money and London Fields, and the memoir Experience, has died at... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-05-20 18:53:35 UTC ]
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Gains in religious and higher educational publishing offset dips in the trade segments in February, resulting in a 0.2% sales gain for the 1,240 publishers that report sales to AAP's StatShot program. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-05-12 04:00:00 UTC ]
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PR pros say they're feeling the pressure of new client demands in a changing digital media landscape. Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2023-05-10 04:01:00 UTC ]
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PR pros say they're feeling the pressure of new client demands in a changing digital media landscape. Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2023-05-10 04:01:00 UTC ]
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Arachnophobic Harry Potter fans, rejoice. Developer Avalanche Software has added a new accessibility feature to Hogwarts Legacy that removes spiders from the game. The update coincides with the title’s arrival on PS4 and Xbox One today.The Hogwarts Legacy update (build 1140773) launched Thursday... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-05-05 19:42:15 UTC ]
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The digital media company Cond? Nast unveiled a slate of new video offerings, ad products and experiential franchises at its NewFronts presentation this morning in The Spiral at Hudson Yards, furthering its embrace of business lines that extend beyond its core editorial product. Speaking to a... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2023-05-04 14:15:00 UTC ]
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The New York City-based literary agency announced three new director-level promotions among several new hires and staff changes across the agency. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-05-04 04:00:00 UTC ]
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On IAB NewFronts day two, digital content platforms and streamers pitched new ad formats (with a focus on artificial intelligence and shoppable content) in short-form social video and longer-form TV shows and movies. Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2023-05-03 10:01:00 UTC ]
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Telling good stories in games is really hard. It’s hard in any medium, of course, but games provide a set of challenges over and above those faced by novelists and screenwriters. Take the question of agency—if the player is allowed to make the primary narrative decisions in the game, then the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-05-01 15:00:45 UTC ]
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Despite suffering a significant blow this week in its attempt to take over Activision Blizzard, Microsoft still believes it can get the job done. The company has signed a 10-year agreement with Spain-based cloud gaming provider Nware to make PC games it builds in-house available to stream on... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-04-28 17:25:18 UTC ]
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Describing an 'inward-looking atmosphere,' panelists at London Book Fair explored the funding impact of Brexit on the literature market. The post At London Book Fair: Brexit and Creative Industry Funding appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-04-26 13:37:28 UTC ]
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In this excerpt from ‘Gunflight,’ Ryan Busse, a former firearms exec turned gun-safety activist, explores the industry’s response to America’s first high-profile school shooting, and the shift to today’s radicalized gun landscape. Ryan Busse is a former firearms executive who spent 25 years at... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2023-04-26 05:00:00 UTC ]
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The long-running legal tussle between Apple and Epic Games picked up another ruling, in the former’s favor, although the three-judge panel also upheld a part of the original ruling in Epic's favor. The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling, which rejected most of Epic's... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-04-25 11:16:04 UTC ]
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There were 669m physical books sold in the UK last year, according to new figures from the Publishers AssociationThe UK publishing industry had a “record-breaking year” in 2022, with a total income of £6.9bn.A Year in Publishing, a look at the state of the book market by trade body the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-04-17 11:26:08 UTC ]
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Max is coming to market. Following months of streaming rumors and speculation, Warner Bros. Discovery is officially combining its streaming services HBO Max and Discovery+ under one brand: Max. Launching May 23 with a new tagline, color and mission, the upcoming service will drop the iconic HBO... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2023-04-12 19:25:11 UTC ]
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