Computers N Stuff » Pleasing the Shareholders

In other news, Ubisoft are scum.

Andrew Bryant — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 11:56:59 +0000

Back in the mists of time (or 2006, whichever happened first, I forget), Ubisoft used this anti-piracy aberration called Starforce (or however it’s spelt).

It pissed off everyone under the sun and, some people say, nearly caused Ubisoft to go bankrupt (after all, who’s going to buy a game that might break your PC, burn the cat AND eat your first born, all during the install procedure?).

The system was finally binned and, in a startling show of goodwill, Ubi started releasing games with either simple disc-checks or no protection what-so-ever.

Roll on January 2010 and history looks … Read More...

Actizzard keeps promises; whores franchises

Andrew Bryant — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 13:07:01 +0000

Activision Blizzard, that new mega-conglomerate we’re all learning to hate, have unvealed their main 2009 line-up at a Massive Inc. corporate upfront event.

No prizes for guessing which names will appear in the list then…

MTV has the full rundown here, but too summarise…

Guitar Hero 5 (tentitative title) was premiered as a suitable candidate for advertising. There is apparantly a screenshot floating around with Burger King adverts by the side of the note highway
The next Tony Hawk game won’t be played with your hands – obviously a candidate for the Wii-Fit Board, but given Actizzards gotta-sell-for-them-all multi-platform

‘Games will eclipse other media’ says Activision CEO

Andrew Bryant — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 11:37:58 +0000

During a keynote speech at the CES, Activision Publishing head honcho Mike Griffith boldly claimed that computer games are set to eclipse all other forms of entertainment.

As per usual, the figures quoted are fairly meaningless, effectively comparing apples to oranges, but Griffith proceeded to compare the still-blossoming video games market to the huge century-old monolithic music and movie industries, both of which are struggling to let go of archaic distribution methods.

Citing sales figures for the period 2003 – 2007, movie ticket sales & TV watching slumped 6%, music purchases fell by 12% and DVD sales remained steady. By … Read More...