Electonic Art’s Always On Digital Rights Management Cheats Customers
As a child, I was a huge fan of the SimCity franchise. I played every single SimCity with the exception of SimCity Societies. It holds a special place in my heart, it always will. When I was a child I wanted to be many things, one of those things I wanted to be when I grew up was to be an architect. For a potential architect, I loved designing cities, laying out the roads, setting zones, it was truly awesome.
So when I heard that Maxis was to release a new SimCity, I was naturally very excited. From what I’ve gathered, when the game function, it’s a great game. But currently the new SimCity is plagued with all sorts of issues. The biggest issue being EA’s draconian DRM that is frustrating the hell out of paying customers that just want to play the game they paid for. With server issues, bugs, lost saves, features not working, etc, it’s a very aggravating experience for users.
While EA claims that the DRM they use for SimCity isn’t so much about piracy prevention, rather the online requirement is there to enhance the user experience. We know better. We have seen this behavior from them before.
It seems that these methods have backfired and it’s only affecting paying customers. On top of that, I believe paying customers will download a crack once available so they don’t have to deal with EA’s DRM so they can play the game the way they want to play it.
Is Electronic Arts so greedy, so desperate to stop piracy of their games that they are willing to ruin the gaming experience for their customers? It seems so.
Gamespot just posted their review of the new Simcity and they were also very critical of the DRM and other issues with the game.
It really makes me sad to see such a potentially wonderful game ruined yet again because big corporations are not putting their customers first.
Playstation 4 Hardware Specs
While I’m personally not a console gamer, rather a PC gamer, I’m still excited about the Playstation 4 announcement. The reason why is because as a whole, the gaming industry for the most part has been held back graphically thanks to aging last generation console hardware. The next generation of consoles will finally introduce direct X 11 graphics to console gamers. What does this mean for PC gamers and console gamers alike? It will finally bring gaming experiences that are only enjoyed in a select few titles on the PC which require a mid range to high end PC to enjoy to the masses.
I’m excited to see, while somewhat vague in description, hardware specs of the upcoming PS4. It seems that many of the rumors on the net were pretty accurate.
PS4 Hardware Specs:
“A press release reveals the machine will include an 8-core 64-bit x86 “Jaguar” CPU developed by AMD and a Radeon GPU with the capability of terrorizing televisions with 1.84 TFLOPS of gaming goodness.
PlayStation 4 includes a Blu-ray drive that spins game discs a brisk 6X and 8X for DVDs. Additional specs in the release note the, already revealed, 8GB of unified GDDR5 RAM along with 802.11n WiFi capability, USB 3.0 ports, Bluetooth 2.1 and ports for optical audio, HDMI and even legacy analog AV hook-ups. Though the console will have internal storage, Sony did not detail its size.
Sony’s plan is to launch its new PlayStation 4 console this holiday season. No specific date.”
Source: http://www.joystiq.com/2013/02/20/sony-further-details-playstation-4-hardware-specs/
Ransomware Criminals Caught
Good news, I hope these guys go away for a long time!
By Rick Burgess
Authorities have detained 11 individuals thought to be responsible for the proliferation of a nasty “police ransomware” virus which demanded users pay €100 ($135 USD) to re-gain access to their infected PCs. Amongst the 11 caught — a crew of Ukrainians, Georgians and Russians — the malware syndicate’s founder was also apprehended.
Image taken from: malwaretips.com
The obtrusive malware would hijack computers by disabling users’ ability to interact with programs and files. Additionally, the ransomware would threaten users, stating they were under investigation by their respective country’s law enforcement agency for accessing child pornography and other illegal materials online. The virus offered victims a way out of the mess though, by way of purchasing pre-paid money cards to pay a fine for breaking the law.
According to officials, the unscrupulous outfit generated at least $1.3 million annually — proof that cybercrimedoes pay, providing you get away with it. The revenue came as quickly as the malware spread, with roughly 3 percent of affected users actually paying the 100 euro ransom in hopes of freeing their hostaged computers. The virus spread to about 30 countries throughout most of Europe.
The malware syndicate had been headquartered in the Mediterranean resort cities of Benalmadena and Torremolinos. While Spanish authorities apprehended the majority of the group, their founder was waylaid by officials while visiting the United Arab Emirates.
Europol, a European Union law enforcement agency, stated the operation was the, “largest and most complex cybercrime network dedicated to spreading police ransomware.”
Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/51654-major-ransomware-operation-dismantled-by-authorities.html