Third class citizen: PC gamer

I know its been over a week since my last post, but a few things have been happening, most important of which was learning my place in society.

England's empire was built on one knowing one's place in society's hierchy and to this day India's class system is actively maintained and observed. The gaming gods should be happy to know I have come to appreciate the pecking order of our own world.

What has brought this enlightenment? Like any good story, it was more a series of independent events that combined for one big gotcha. Because they've blurred from one to another, here they are in no particular order.

Coming off of an initial insult of being released on every other platform in every other country, Assassins Creed 2 was released in North America last week.

Why North America was slated last I'm not exactly sure, but I find some strange humor in some bizarro reality the last people on the earth would be the Americans and Canadians. Wouldn't that make for an odd movie? But why the game was released on PC last makes more sense. It was all about the DRM.

Digital Rights Management (DRM), which started innocently as laborously entering a games serial number into a screen during installation has become an intrusive and as we'll see, debilitating method of trying to defeat piracy.

You see, Ubisoft had decided 2010 was going to be the year they kicked the software pirates ass. They were going to take it to the matt, throwdown and make those pirates their b***h. An announcement was made that most of the new releases from Ubisoft would require an internet connection, which in itself wasn't too objectionable. Then the details came out.

The game, such as Assassins Creed 2 would require a constant internet connection, which if lost would also lose any progress made in the game. While this in itself is bad enough, the game wouldn't function. Not just the multiplayer which is understandable, but the single player storyline as well.

As explained by Ubisoft at the time, 'if the player loses the connection to the server, the game “will pause while it tries to reconnect,” according to Ubisoft’s FAQ. In the case that the connection cannot be reestablished, the server will store the player’s last saved game. Once the connection is restored, the player can resume from that point.'

Thats right, there was no offline mode to enjoy the single player storyline of a legally purchased copy of Assassins Creed 2. If your internet goes down then so does your chance of playing the game. In a surprising move, even the reviewers in magazines and on game sites told Ubisoft that not only did the emperor not have any clothes, but he was butt ugly as well.

Like a character from one of their titles, Ubisoft sailed into the storm swearing their new system would do fine and no one had anything to worry about.

Cue news story to prove how hard the confident (and incredibly stupid) can fall;

'For a large part of Sunday overloaded servers are the generally accepted reason for gamers left unable to play legally purchased copies of Assassins Creed 2.' Nothing but PC gaming.com, March 8th.

Of course, Ubisoft saw the error in what could politely be called 'over-ambitious' DRM and released a patch removing the internet connection.

You my friend, would be wrong.

Essentially the patch allows players to resume the game "from the exact same point" when they reconnect. But whether this move will be enough to help questionable sales when the game becomes available in the North American market on March 16th is another matter. Nothing but PC Gaming.com

Interestingly, many reports put the official release date as the 16th, but Steam has had it available for a few days. Whether this has any relationship to the terrible PR the whole incident has brought about or not, I'm not sure.

So basically, a gaming company can deliver a full priced game ($60) which doesn't work as is generally accepted in the gaming world and no one has complained. Hardly anyway.

But this is a rarity, its not happening with other companies so why would we as PC gamers have to worry.

Wrong again my friend (you're not too good at this guessing game).

Electronic Arts finally brought the Battlefield 2: Bad Company 2 series to the PC after the game's characters had a few adventures on every other platform but ours. Looking to cash in on the Infinity Ward backlash, EA put a dedicated team on the PC development, had destructable environment, dedicated servers and promised to continue the fast paced squad based action the Battlefield series was renowned for.

Oh, by the way, EA mentioned as they left the press conference, there won't be any chance of going prone and the crouch button can't be toggled.

What?

When the game is released, connecting the dedicated servers were fine until 3pm then bang! couldn't get on. Don't worry forums and EA said, we did such a bang up job, everyone and their granny are downloading the game and clogging up the systems a little. Give it some time and everything will be fine.

Cue news story;
Many players feel furloughed with the various technical challenges that have plagued the highly anticipated latest edition in the Battlefield series. For those taking the digital download path, a few missteps kept them waiting just a little bit longer with Steam's servers claiming they were momentarily overloaded. And that was only a sign of what was to come.

As the game found its way onto more and more computers, players apparently overwhelmed the servers with EA acknowledging the multiplayer Rush or Conquest games experienced problems with messages such as "Failed to connect to EA online" or "Invalid EA Online Account".

In this age of extra content for pre-orders, some complained of the needed codes missing.

On Sunday, problems continued to keep players away from the frontline as a message streamed across the bottom of Battlefield: Bad Company 2's game browser acknowledging connectivity problems as well as 'PB kicks'. EA noted that deleting the game's beta from hard drives and re-installing Punkbuster helped some players with the issues.

For those that could connect, play was limited to a short period before being kicked off for losing the connection with the server.Nothing but PC gaming.com, March 8th.

Understanding we have to give them some time to fix the problem, oh wait is that another news story coming across the wire with perfect timing to prove a point?

EA has been shutting the servers down constantly, to improve their hardware via maintenance updates - PR Product News March 14th.

I haven't gone on for about three days, which is sad as every gamer knows that addictive first few weeks of a new title where its hard to pull away long enough to even go to the bathroom has to be captured and enjoyed at the time. Be in the moment so to speak.

But that has already passed for this game as has my delusion that I, or apparently my fellow PC gamers matter enough for developers to create and deliver an acceptable gaming experience. Although they have no problem charging premium prices for the new titles, the games themselves are either so riddled with DRM they are made unplayable, or the needed work that should have be done during the beta phase was never completed.

The further fact that none of these problems appear to have the attention of the developers, who are showing no appearance of urgency doesn't make me as a customer feel very happy.

But at least there has been a lesson learned and according to my grandpappy, no price can be placed on that (although I'm sure the $60 dropped on Battlefield Bad Company 2 is a good number to start with). Now knowing my place in the gaming world, I will head back to the kitchens like any good subservient should and wait for any PC game morsel the developers feel  like throwing my way. And when that scrap does come, boy I won't complain if its stale, tastes horrible or if its even food, just thank them and wait for more.

After all, that seems to be what the gaming developers expect.

Offline means out of luck for Assassins Creed 2

Have you ever read something that obviously carries some huge ramifications but you're not quite sure how big or even how you should react?

This is where I am with the recent news regarding the extent Ubisoft is going to for its upcoming PC version of Assassins Creed 2. According to a brutally honest article at CVG the latest Assassins Creed game will not only require PC gamers to have an internet connection to load the game initially but to play it as well.

According to Tom Francis and his hands on experience with a pre-release version of the game, 'If you get disconnected while playing, you're booted out of the game. All your progress since the last checkpoint or savegame is lost, and your only options are to quit to Windows or wait until you're reconnected.'

Francis quite rightly concludes, 'Even if everyone in the world had perfect internet connections that never dropped out, this would still mean that any time Ubisoft's 'Master servers' are down for any reason, everyone playing a current Ubisoft game is kicked out of it and loses their progress.'

There are a few reasons this is still bouncing back and forth in my undecisive brain.

Understanding the birthmark the red-headed step children, aka PC gamers, bear in the gaming community is the ugly 'pirate' word, DRM (Digital Rights Management, the term given for steps taken to prove that game in your computer is the genuine article) will always be out there in some form or another. But when it infringes on the very ability to play a single player experience in such a dramatic fashion, then a more serious consideration needs to be given.

Also, consoles tend to be as wired to the internet as thier PC cousins but I haven't heard of any intentions to make this mandatory in those worlds.

Finally and certainly the biggest concern over this latest news, this is reportedly going to be the standard DRM system for all Ubisoft games. With the company being so large and buying so many smaller developers, trying to avoid Ubisoft games could leave a huge hole in the gaming library.

As they say in the best ongoing stories......to be continued....

PC Gamers wait for Assassins Creed 2 is nearly over

Its been a long wait, but after four months of looking over the gaming shoulder of our console cousins. Assassin's Creed 2 will scale its way to the PC.

Gaming magazines were full of Ubisoft's announcement of a March 16th shipping date for the sequel which has already managed to sell 6 million units worldwide on the Playstation and Xbox.

But coming from a lineage of assassins will cost more for this generation, the M for Mature-rated title will be available for a more-expensive-than-usual $59.99. The upside is some include extra content such as the Battle of Forli and Bonfire of the Vanities add-ons. A digital-delivery-only "Black Edition" will run for $64.99, and will include even more content that has not been specified.

Assassins Creed two is set in Leonardo Da Vinci's Italy with a new face taking the cowl, Ezio.

Its a floral feel to the annual Game Developers Choice Awards

Although you couldn't have three more different games, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Assasins Creed 2 and the revolutionary Flower are dominating categories across the board tenth annual Game Developers Choice Awards.

Infinity Wards chart breaking best seller Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 may have kept the cash registers ringing with its release, but the gaming industry appeared to be too busy pollinating or fighting their way out Gotham's nuthouse to notice. Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was only included in two categories and didn't make consideration for game of the year.

The annual Game Developers Choice Awards are considered the leading peer-based video game industry awards. Thatgamecompany's evocative downloadable game Flower leads the pc game nominations while four came for Ubisoft Montreal's well-received Renaissance action game sequel Assassin's Creed II, expected to be released for the PC in the first quarter of 2010.

In addition to the aforementioned Assassin's Creed II, this year's Game Of The Year nominations are rounded out by BioWare's Dragon Age: Origins, From Software's Demon's Souls, and Rocksteady Studios' Batman: Arkham Asylum.

The changes in today's game industry are well represented in the Game Developers Choice Awards this year by the inclusion of multiple iPhone titles (including Flight Control and Spider: The Secret Of Bryce Manor) as nominations in existing categories, as well as console downloadable titles such as Q Games' PixelJunk Shooter and RedLynx's Trials HD. Organizers have also further diversified the awards by adding a Best New Social/Online Games category this year, with both Facebook and free-to-play online games competing for the new prize.

The Game Developers Choice Awards are open to any video game, with no restrictions or payment for game submission, and Main Competition finalists are chosen via a combination of open game industry nominations and the votes of the leading creators in the Choice Awards Advisory Committee. Starting this year, winners are now being selected by the Game Developers Choice Awards-specific International Choice Awards Network (ICAN), which is a new invitation-only group comprised of 500 leading game creators from all parts of the video game industry. Choice Awards organizers believe that, in tandem with their goal of having the most focused, impartial awards in the game industry, this additional voting transparency will further boost the awards' reputation.

The complete list of nominees for the 10th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards are as follows:

Best Game Design
- Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady)
- Assassin's Creed 2 (Ubisoft Montreal)
- Flower (thatgamecompany)
- Uncharted 2 (Naughty Dog)
- Plants Vs. Zombies (PopCap)

Best Visual Art
- Borderlands (Gearbox Software)
- Uncharted 2 (Naughty Dog)
- Assassin's Creed II (Ubisoft Montreal)
- Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Infinity Ward)
- Flower (thatgamecompany)

Best Technology
- Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Infinity Ward)
- Red Faction: Guerrilla (Volition)
- Uncharted 2 (Naughty Dog)
- Killzone 2 (Guerrilla Games)
- Assassin's Creed II (Ubisoft Montreal)

Best Writing
- Brutal Legend (Double Fine)
- Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady Studios)
- Dragon Age: Origins (BioWare)
- Uncharted 2 (Naughty Dog)
- Halo 3: ODST (Bungie)

Best Audio
- Uncharted 2 (Naughty Dog)
- Dragon Age: Origins (BioWare)
- Rock Band: The Beatles (Harmonix)
- Flower (thatgamecompany)
- Brutal Legend (Double Fine Productions)

Innovation
- Scribblenauts (5th Cell)
- Flower (thatgamecompany)
- Uncharted 2 (Naughty Dog)
- Plants Vs. Zombies (PopCap)
- Demon's Souls (From Software)

Best Debut
- The Maw (Twisted Pixel)
- League Of Legends (Riot Games)
- Spider: The Secret Of Bryce Manor (Tiger Style)
- Torchlight (Runic Games)
- Zeno Clash (ACE Team)

Best Downloadable Game
- Plants Vs. Zombies (PopCap)
- Trials HD (RedLynx)
- PixelJunk Shooter (Q Games)
- Shadow Complex (Chair Entertainment)
- Flower (thatgamecompany)

Best New Social/Online Game
- Restaurant City (Playfish)
- Farmville (Zynga)
- Dungeon Fighter Online (Neople/Nexon)
- Free Realms (Sony Online Entertainment San Diego)
- Bejeweled Blitz (PopCap)

Game Of The Year
- Uncharted 2 (Naughty Dog)
- Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady Studios)
- Demon's Souls (From Software)
- Assassin's Creed II (Ubisoft Montreal)

In addition to the awards for individual games, the Game Developers Choice Awards committee is in the process of announcing its Special Award recipients. Most recently, it was announced that this year's Pioneer Award is being given to Valve's Gabe Newell for his work in co-creating vital PC digital download service Steam, and helping to make possible some of the most important video games of the past two decades -- from the Half-Life series through Portal to Team Fortress and beyond. Information on the winners of the Ambassador and Lifetime Achievement Special Awards -- as well as the identity of this year's Game Developers Choice Awards host -- will be revealed in the near future.

Winners in all major categories will be honored at the Game Developers Choice Awards show, open to over 3,000 of the world's leading video game developers, and taking place Thursday, March 11th at the Moscone Convention Center during the 2010 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.