Team Fortress 2 PSA: TF2 is Free to Play and come meet the Medic
Well, the Uber Update has been aptly named (in hindsight, that makes sense now) and Valve has finally released the Meet the Medic video for Team Fortress 2. The other big bit of news that TF2 has gone free to play, and frankly if you haven't played it yet, you need to get out of your cave. Also, if you are a console video gamer, this would be the perfect time to play the BEST version of TF2, right on the best platform! Ok, so that was a cheap shot, but you have to admit that TF2 on xbox/ps3 is a sad wasteland devoid of any unlocks or every bodies favorite, HATS!.
Actual details for the free to play bits can be found at the Team Fortress 2 website FAQ, but a quick rundown: A free TF2 account is any that hasn't purchased something in the Mann Co. Store (hats, unlocks, etc), but you can pick up a multitude fo starter packs for .99 cents, but beware; the steam wallet has a minimum of $5 when you transfer cash in there. People who had a copy of TF2 before the free to play get a free hat called the Proof of Purchase. Speaking of hats; they do nothing for you in game, but people complain because OMG MY GAAAAME. Get over it you big babies.
Buy a new Windows 7 Machine get a (not so) Free Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 4GB is totally free once you realize that you have to spend over $699 on a windows 7 PC and be a student. Just think, that $4,000 grand a year tuition is REALLY starting to pay off! The specifics come from the Windows Team Blog
Get a free Xbox 360 4GB console with the purchase of a Windows 7 PC $699 or more, at participating retailers in the US from 5/23-9/3 or while supplies last. Verification of student status required. See participating retailers for full details.
You can use the PC scout to figure out what you want, but I wouldn't expect a top of the line gaming rig (or even a mid level one for that matter). If you are looking to get a gaming machine on a budget, I'd recommend Newegg.com and going the do it yourself route; it's really easy!.
If you are a poor college student and looking for some Microsoft hookups, I would totally recommend Dreamspark and hitting up your college's tech department. More often than not, the tech department will have free copies of windows products that they will install for you.
Kinect Hacks and Modding Potential
Who would have known that a motion controller ad don for the Xbox 360 would turn out to be such a hit in the hacking community? I think I have heard more about the mods than the actual game play with the Kinect. It's also good to see that Microsoft has changed it's initial hardliner stance on hacking the Kinect and will hopefully embrace the goals of the modders with some official XNA support.
The best part is that it only took a week for hackers to break down the Kinect's security and offer it up on a silver platter to everybody to enjoy. I went from thinking it was going to be another dumb motion control gaming gimmick to seriously considering picking one up to play with. It may not be as a gaming device, but as an artist it would make for a cheap way to work into a fairly sophisticated interactive art piece. It's great to see that something like the Kinect has much more use and potential outside of being an Xbox gaming peripheral and that modding can be very beneficial to the community. The community also comes up with some pretty interesting things like the Minority Report interface for your Windows 7 computer. Would befun to control your computer like that for a little bit, but I'm not sure it would be all that comfortable after awhile.
If you are looking at the nuts and bolts of how to hack the Xbox 360 Kinect, Endgadget has a pretty good writeup on it. Make Magazine also has a neat article on how the infrared camera works in the Kinect. Now I've just got to convince the SO that I NEED a Kinect for my Xbox S, If only she would let me buy this one.
Why pirating doesn’t hurt video game developers
I can't really believe that I haven't updated in quite awhile; summer classes and getting a new job sucked the free time right out of me. Anyways, enough about my lack of updates.
Lately, video game publishers have citied declining retail sales as how piracy is directly hurting them. Well it seems that retail sales are only suffering because the increase in digital sales. According to the NPD report, digital download sales trailed closely behind physical box sales (21.3 million vs. 23.5 million respectively). During that same period, PC digital download sales made up to 48% of unit sales and 36% of dollar sales. So while retail sales may be declining, it's not necessarily because of computer video game piracy.
The big problem with trying to correlate X million in illegally downloaded games to X million in lost sales is that it simply doesn't work like that. There is no quantifiable number or study out there that shows a direct correlation between those numbers. So when you see these "studies" that claim piracy costs an industry millions in lost revenue, it's simply a load of made up numbers. In fact the U.S. Government has basically admitted that most piracy estimates are bogus. The Government Accountability Office said that it is "difficult, if not impossible to quantify the economy-wide impacts". What video game publishers should be doing is stop blaming piracy for their lack of sales and look at from a different angle.
See, since a video game publisher can't link a download to a lost sale, they should instead start looking at how they can make piracy work for them. Obnoxious DRM like Ubisoft's-always need to be connected to the internet-only affects the customers who pay for the game. Remove the costs of developing that DRM and accept the fact that people will download your game illegally. Take that saved cost to make the game cheaper or find a way to connect with your fans and give them a reason to buy. Look at indie game developers who embrace the fact that DRM is a failure and still make money from their game (Humble Indie Bundle). How many legitimate users is it ok to inconvenience in order to reduce piracy?" The answer should be none. Fans want to support artists, so who is to say that video game developers can look at experimenting with a new model revolving about a CwF +RtB model. Pair the infinite goods-namely a video game or such- with a scarce good to give more value.
Bottom line, video game piracy does somewhere between zero and slightly nothing in terms of damage to a developer. Think of video game piracy as word of mouth advertising for a game (the best, since it's free); all those "millions" downloading it are going to play it and recommend it to their friends to pass it along. Outwards those others may pay for it, or they may not. But by getting the (hopefully positive) word out, there is a much larger audience to connect with to give a reason to buy the video game. Look at successful crowd sourced projects for movies and tv shows that use places like The Pirate Bay to distribute their shows for free, and then generate money for additional content from fans who want more.
Make something that fans want to support; this means games that aren't rushed out to meet a deadline and buggy as all hell. Times are changing, and video game publishers should change with the times or become extinct like the dinosaurs. They can look at piracy in a different light and how they can use it to their advantage.