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 ]
News tagged with:
#living rooms
#actual demand
#quasi-console hardware
#frankenstein hybrid
#vr hardware
#gorgeous screen
#clever ruse
#digital distribution
#spinal fluid
#undisputed leader
#varied landscape
#entire studios
#constantly churning
#20th anniversary
#libraries
The 'Miss Pergamon' contest, Bloomsbury, and 'the prominent roles taken by women' in publishing are on Richard Charkin's mind, in this exclusive pre-publication excerpt from his forthcoming memoir. The post Charkin: ‘The Culture of Bloomsbury and Industry Progress’ appeared first on Publishing... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-04-10 05:00:53 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#richard charkin
#post charkin
#prominent roles
#forthcoming memoir
#bloomsbury
The Nintendo eShop for the Wii U and 3DS game consoles officially closed for business on March 27th, 2023, permanently disabling all new purchases on the platforms. We knew this was coming. Nintendo quietly announced the eShop's closure over a year ago, asserting that it was the "natural life... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-03-27 14:00:52 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#average consumer
#subscription services
#libraries
Stocks that traded heavily or had substantial price changes Friday: Oxford Industries, Scholastic fall, Activision rises Continue reading at ABC News
[ ABC News | 2023-03-24 20:31:47 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#scholastic fall
#traded heavily
#substantial price
#scholastic
Meta's publishing arm for virtual reality games is now officially called Oculus Publishing. It's a completely different division from Oculus Studios, which is the company's label for first-party games. Oculus Publishing will instead support partner developers with conceptualization, funding,... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-03-23 08:01:38 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#walking dead
#$10 million
#publishing arm
The first monthly StatShot report from the Association of American Publishers in 2023 shows trade revenues up 3.1 percent in January. The post AAP StatShot: US Book Industry Gains 3.5 Percent in January appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-03-21 18:18:29 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#aap statshot
#american publishers
#book industry
Digital media is facilitating spiritual practices in China, leading to the emergence of new online cultures and businesses. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2023-03-21 02:59:12 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#video call
#digital media
Despite high returns, sales for the 1,240 companies that report results to AAP's StatShot program increased 3.5% in January, with the adult books segment leading the way. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-03-17 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#report results
Inclusive programming was one of the hallmarks of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs meeting, which ran March 8-11 in Seattle and drew approximately 9,500 people. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-03-13 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
It's now much easier for game studios to release their work on the Epic Games Store. Epic has introduced long-awaited self-publishing tools that let anyone release games through its storefront. They'll have to pay $100 per title and meet certain requirements (more on those in a moment), but they... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-03-09 16:20:56 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#sales figures
#in-app purchases
#large audience
#large chunk
#developing software
#self-publish
The Humble Bundle company is no stranger to either massive groups of PC games or charitable giving, and it’s combining its talents for a deal you don’t want to miss. The Türkiye-Syria Earthquake Relief Bundle is a package of 69 games (plus some TTRPG elements and comics) sold for a minimum... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2023-03-02 16:28:03 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#total retail
#full list
#graphic novel
Australia has a history of removing controversial elements from children’s texts, but the question of whether they should be edited is not easy to answerGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastThe news this week that some works of bestselling children’s author... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-02-25 23:00:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#bestselling children
#absurd censorship
#guardian australia
#free morning
#free app
#original versions
#chocolate factory
#book industry
Bestseller lists of recent years have shown that our interest in the tales of the ancient Greeks is still going strong after three millennia, and even experiencing a renaissance. This is a testament, I think, to the timelessness of their content: the deeply human passions and agonies that they... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-02-24 09:52:27 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#modern readers
#bestseller lists
Horror movie powerhouse Blumhouse is getting into video games. The company behind hits like M3GAN, Get Out, The Purge and Insidious is opening a production and publishing division that will work on original horror games for PC, consoles and mobile.“We’re in the scary story business. We do films,... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-02-21 16:50:41 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#worked closely
#annapurna interactive
#indie publisher
#donut county
#outer wilds
#publishing division
The new Harry Potter game, Hogwarts Legacy, has generated a lot of controversy, which is reflected within the gameplay itself. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2023-02-15 04:01:53 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#hogwarts legacy
#harry potter
Hogwarts Legacy is the Harry Potter game I’ve been dreaming of since I was a teenager. I grew up alongside the Harry Potter novels and devoured them all, and I spent the time between book releases reading and writing fanfiction set in the Wizarding World. I would’ve traded my little emo soul for... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-02-10 17:00:41 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#coolest work
#harry potter
While Valve’s awesome $399 Steam Deck is a capable enough gaming system out of the box, some of its best features are easy to miss. If you know where to look, you can customize the Steam Deck to your liking, minimize annoyances, and even expand your game catalog well beyond the built-in... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2023-02-10 12:52:42 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#wi-fi network
#battery life
#libraries
Early this football season, the National Football League began shifting tactics to engage younger fans on social media as people reallocate their attention from TV to digital content that is fun, snackable and highly visual. With Super Bowl 57 quickly approaching, Big Game advertisers--who spent... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2023-02-08 19:41:19 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#football season
#digital content
Netflix is adding two more releases to its excellent library of games. The streaming giant announced Monday it recently secured exclusive mobile rights to Dust & Neon and Highwater, two upcoming titles from indie publisher Rogue Games. Of the two, the former will arrive first when it hits... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-02-06 18:00:28 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#upcoming titles
#nintendo switch
#february 16th
#climate change
#fair amount
#partly due
#indie publisher
Cloud gaming libraries normally get larger, but Amazon Luna's appears to be shrinking — for now, at least. 9to5Googlenotes that the paid Luna+ tier will lose 53 games in February. Many of these are older or niche titles you won't necessarily miss, but that does mean losing classics like No More... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-02-06 16:53:46 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#recent titles
#tough sell
#game pass
#back catalog
#great time
#libraries
PW caught up with the famous lexicographer to talk about the recently published Fifth Edition of his essential guide—and his lifelong fascination with the English language. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-02-06 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#pw caught
#recently published
#english language