Photoshop Fun

Halo 4 released a new map which included a green screen... Next thing I know I had downloaded the trail version of Photoshop and came up with these... Not exactly perfect, but pretty fun to try out.

Halo 4© Microsoft Corporation. Photoshop Fun was created under Microsoft's "Game Content Usage Rules" using assets from Halo 4. It is not endorsed by Microsoft and does not reflect the views or opinions of Microsoft or anyone officially involved in producing or managing Halo 4.  As such, it does not contribute to the official narrative of the fictional universe, if applicable.

Evil 2- Good 2

Last October I wrote an article speculating on the future of Star Wars, here are the current scores:

Good:

• Detours delayed, good news.
• J.J. Abrams directing the original three cast members, great news.

Bad:

• Goodbye The Clone Wars, at least it is going to die after some great story arcs.
• Goodbye Star Wars 1313, you will be missed.

On Digital Rights Management and Proper Beta Testing

Halo 4 © Microsoft Corporation. Regicide.jpg was created under Microsoft's "Game Content Usage Rules" using assets from Halo 4. It is not endorsed by Microsoft and does not reflect the views or opinions of Microsoft or anyone officially involved in producing or managing Halo 4.  As such, it does not contribute to the official narrative of the fictional universe, if applicable.

Warning: Nerd Rant Inbound

As many of you know, I like video games. While I usually play console games, I still enjoy a fine P.C. strategy game as part of my gaming fun. As such I was excited, when a few days ago I learned a brand new version of Sim City was released. I enjoyed many hours as a child on Sim City 3000 Unlimited, trying to grasp the complex game.  While watching the videos for the new game I literally said aloud the words, "Shut up and take my money." 

However I soon learned there were some server snags in Sim City right now...

Then I learned there were really, really, bad server snags...

So in short, Sim City has to be connected to the server constantly to play the game, and naturally the basic servers quickly crashed once the game was released. So now instead of rushing to the nearest game store, I will wait until Sim City can promise it can deliver. 

All of this crazy server stuff is part of something known as "Digital Rights Management" basically a set of anti piracy restrictions. Unfortunately DRM often comes at the expense of the gamer, the consumers who have bought the game. While I am okay with such efforts, Sim City is a case where it was taken to far.

However all of this could have been noticed before hand if the developers of Sim City had done better Beta testing before release. This of course brings me to another game with similar issues, Halo 4. I really love Halo 4, and unlike many gamers I had the patience to wait for some of the features to start running. However there is no real reason it took us months to get File Share working, (although I am glad it is now running since I can publish cool pictures like the one at the top of this page) nor is there any good reason for the Spartan Ops server lag, or the lack of theater for Campaign. Furthermore Halo has it's own mini-always online requirement when playing Spartan Ops, a rather silly requirement for something I had to wait forever to download onto my flash drive.

Furthermore there are frighting signs such trends will continue. Bungie's next game Destiny looks like it is shaping up to be a constantly online game. I have traditionally avoided MMO's such as Bioware's The Old Republic because I worry about the day somebody decides to pull the plug on the server and make my game copy unplayable; however the allure of Bungie is to great for me. The worst rumors are those which say the Xbox 720 and the PS4 will both rely on being constantly connected to a server, meaning when the servers are unplugged entire consoles will be unplayable. Not to mention the lag which would occur if any of these machines encountered a Sim City-like server crash doomsday!

So that is why I make a few simple requests:

• Keep single player games from being forced to be constantly connected to a corporate server.
• Release patches at the end of a server's life which would allow offline play for the people who still want to play the old game.
• Beta test the heck out of any server which is going to be used for constant online play to prevent launch day crashes.
• Allow gamer's to make their own servers to host the game, this approach has been proven popular by games such as Minecraft. 
• If you are afraid of pirating, set up game content usage rules such as Microsoft's (the legal stuff under the top photo) which allows the game player to use some of the content without pirating it.
• Listen to the complaints of the gaming population! We complain because we care about these games.

So that is my simple wish list. Until then I will be waiting for when I hear news on when Sim City's servers are running reliably; so you know, I can actually buy the game and know I can play it to! But for now, I will be sticking to the games I know will play when I want them to.