The PC Weekend Warrior: shooting for 2 billion in 2014, weighing copy protection
As the week closes, we proudly announce the first issue of the Weekend Warrior of PC Gaming – an article dedicated to games and gaming on the birth platform of the most popular franchises to date. We’ll be tackling the still-hots and what-nots of the week from the most-talked about mainstream games, as well as ushering in a little of the independent scene as well. But we’ll also juggle around with the platform’s latest technological advancements, plus the new drive to revitalize PC gaming. A hailstorm follows at the full story.
The QuickJump QuickPeek has turned 1, and for the turn of the new year for the “news wrap-up,” all news revolving around PC Gaming and technology will be compiled into the PC Weekend Warrior.
We’ll be sifting the good and the bad from the game industry, but we won’t forget to remind ourselves of the latest to come out of the PC hardware manufacturing woodwork, since most of it is geared toward playing the upcoming next generation games.
Lately, the PC industry has also been taking steps to been biting back at doomsayers of the PC game, and so we won’t neglect to tackle what’s being done to revitalize the mainstream retail game. Don’t worry, however – we’ll also be dipping into the sea of independent gaming, and see what the underdogs of the gaming industry have ready to tickle our fancies.
They have spoken…
Lately, infotech research firm Gartner affirmed that the PC hardware install base has now peaked at over 1 billion PCs worldwide, giving us more a much clearer view of the hardware adoption rate for the personal computer. The number was thought to be Windows machines only, but as the announcement spewed more figures, it was apparent that the machines included Linux and Mac systems as well.
Not bad for a two decade stroll in this lifetime, but what does it spell for PC gaming in general?
Link: Gartner: PC install base more than 1 billion, to reach 2 billion by 2014
EA went “on air” again after waving the moderation baton at a few naughty PC Gamer editors, though the superstar publisher may have accomplished their one of their publicity stunts quite subtly. Sims Creator Will Wright got Spore some demonstration time at San Francisco, while online retail just revealed this week that a special Galactic Edition of Spore is available for pre-order.
It loaded double the viewable digital content and twice the reading material. Strangely enough, however, the inclusion of a National Geographic exclusive documentary all in high-resolution DVD didn’t push the price over US$ 79.99.
Link: Will Wright to demo Spore in San Francisco later tonight
Link: Spore to arrive with Galactic Edition
Well, big whoop for collectors’ pockets. But on the hardcore gaming front, we learned that Crytek‘s pretty confident of the new Cry Engine 2 optimizations. Or at least, that’s what the Cevat Yerli hinted first last week, when he said that Crysis Warhead could run on high settings with a gaming rig just worth over 400 Euros (US$ 620).
But now we’re pretty sure that Crytek is dead-serious: we mean, heck – Crysis Warhead won’t need Vista or DX10 to achieve the game’s maximum visuals and full effects.
Link: Crytek CEO says Crysis: Warhead to run on high settings with a 400 Euro PC
Link: Crysis Warhead details: new weapons, better AI, DX 10 not required, more
Biggest yet this week is Blizzard‘s slow unveiling of the next big game announcement they’ll be making tomorrow. Everyone’s on edge for a Diablo 2 sequel, though the World of Warcraft populace is gunning for a bigger announcement on Wrath of the Lich King. While we’re not 100% sure (maybe 90% sure), many evidences point toward the Lord of Terror’s revival.
Link: Diablo 3 to be announced at Paris’ World Wide Invitational?
Link: Blizzard’s World Wide Invitational 2008 teaser: Valenzetti and Diablo 3 – QJ.NET investigates
Link: Battle.net Forum section confirms Diablo 3 is coming
Or do they? Because if one thing’s for certain, online retail already has eyes on a release date for highly-anticipated StarCraft 2. Many believe that this may just be another placeholder date for the real-time strategy game, just like the few dates that came up for World of Warcraft‘s Wrath of the Lich King and could very well be misleading.
Neither the WotLK or the SC2 dates have been confirmed or denied, so we won’t shoot down the possibility yet.
Link: Retailers list release date for StarCraft 2
For sure, Valve Software’s pretty busy keeping the Team Fortress 2 community refreshed with much requested updates and content, even though the game’s got serious fan leverage from the popularity (and hilarity) of the Meet the Team video promotions. But hey, after playing around with Pyro’s Flare Gun, the overlooked Medic needed some lovin’ as well.
Link: Team Fortress 2 June 24 patch: Medic unlockable requirements reduced, more
AMD and NVIDIA have been dealing out their latest graphic card models onto the hardcore market, though each new model hasn’t pushed out more pixels as we would have hoped for.
Instead, we’re given the impression that last year’s cards could still be brought up to par, and we don’t see a significant demand or adoption rate until the next generation boards could muster broader system bandwidth. Those bottlenecks are a pain.
Link: NVIDIA announces GeForce GTX 280, GTX 260
Link: Diamond unleashes ATI Radeon HD 4870 card
To copy protect or to circumvent?
Though this was a major issue for the PC gaming community last week, the complaints seem to never end. We’ve all been there once in our mainstream gaming lifestyles: pop your newly purchased disc in, navigate through the autorun’s wizard, and suddenly get a notification that one of our optical drives or one of our applications are simply not acceptable for the game’s operation.
Seriously – what game publisher, developer, or security company has the right to say what an end-user is allowed to install into his or her machine prior to even purchasing the game?
The End-User License Agreement doesn’t appear until you after spent your hard-earned money on it at the local game shop, and we doubt the shop management has a policy on refunds that revolve around EULA revocation.
Many of us don’t like to steal – crime does pay in this world, and many have done their time to prove it. But to incorporate DRM software that renders your investment completely useless? It’s almost like the game developers are asking us to circumvent their copy protection measures. You’ve got to lay back and wonder – what’s up with that?
Video embed below puts another point in focus, but mind you, there’s plenty of anger and swearing in there. Moderate the volume before playing. Kudos to Youtube user NicotineAlien.
We foresee a terrible plight…
That’s all for this issue of PC Gaming’s Weekend Warrior, but we’ve got plenty more to look up to in the near future. Coming up just hours away is the impending announcement of Blizzard’s new game, as well as gut-churning updates on World of Warcraft and StarCraft 2.
We can’t help but sit here in anticipation for another world-rocking revelation from the people who had us comb the unknowns beneath a cathedral and kept our nights sleepless.
But as we wait for the next surprise Blizzard has up their sleeves, we could still bide out time with toying with the Spore Creature Creator while Ubisoft and Crytek dish their new first-person shooters – Far Cry 2 and Crysis Warhead, respectively – to the thousands of Cry FPS fans around.
We hear Sins of a Solar Empire also has a new expansion gearing up for development, and folks desperate for a post-apocalyptic fix still have Fallout 3 to look forward to.
In any case, we can see a lot coming our way next week, and you’d do well to stay on your toes for every one of them. For now, it’s time to retune those 8800 GTs…