Nonsense Archive

  • Australia runs into Ubisoft’s DRM: Does not pass go, does not collect $AU200

    Australia runs into Ubisoft’s DRM: Does not pass go, does not collect $AU200

    I'll keep this short and to the point, if only because I'm sensing the "outrage" surrounding DRM has sorta died down. The movement ran out of fuel, I mean. Anyway, gamers in Australia have been unable to play Settlers 7, which uses that silly DRM nonsense that requires you be to constantly connected to the Internet, because Ubisoft's servers have been unreachable. Who saw this coming? Oh, right: everyone but the Ubisoft executives in Paris. /Le sigh.

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  • Call of Duty: Black Ops, now rumored: Developed by Treyarch, set between World War II and today

    Call of Duty: Black Ops, now rumored: Developed by Treyarch, set between World War II and today

    So what to make of this latest Call of Duty rumor? The seventh game in the series will be named Call of Duty: Black Ops, and will take place between the end of World War II and the present day. It won't necessarily "be" a Vietnam War game, but will have missions that take place all over the world. Remember: it's being developed by Treyarch (i.e. not Infinity Ward), the same dudes who developed Call of Duty 3 and Call of Duty: World at War.

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  • EA fellow bitten by his own company’s DRM in Command and Conquer 4, questions the sense of it all

    EA fellow bitten by his own company’s DRM in Command and Conquer 4, questions the sense of it all

    Jeff Green used to work at Games For Windows magazine before taking a sweet gig at EA, but that little fact won't silence his criticism of the DRM found in Command and Conquer 4. He tweeted white-hot rage when, as everyone on the Internet predicted, this "always-on" nonsense worked as intended, and prevented a law-abiding citizen from playing his game.

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  • Battlefield: Bad Company 2 sells many copies (plus bonus rant!)

    Battlefield: Bad Company 2 sells many copies (plus bonus rant!)

    God almighty do I have a bone to pick with Battlefield: Bad Company 2, which I bought on release day like a mark. The game is doing quite well for EA, having already sold 2.3 million units (and projected to sell 4 million by the end of the year). So that's ahead of expectations—it's a hit, have a party. The thing that annoys me (and Matt, for that matter) is the game's implementation of checkpoints. There's not nearly enough of them, and it's infuriating. I was very close to lighting my monitor on fire last night.

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  • Video: EA Sports MMA trailer (but where’s Fedor?)

    Video: EA Sports MMA trailer (but where’s Fedor?)

    Man, two new trailers in the same day. Our cup runneth over, and so forth! Anyhow, here’s the newest trailer of EA Sports MMA, which should hit stores “late 2010.” That’s all in-game footage, too, so no smoke and mirrors nonsense. Featured prominently are Bobby Lashely, Brett Rogers, King Mo, and Nick Diaz (!). Where’s Fedor? [...]

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  • Bravo to Epic Games for porting Unreal Engine 3 to the iPhone

    Bravo to Epic Games for porting Unreal Engine 3 to the iPhone

    Don't get mad at me—I wanted to go to GDC, but The Man said no. So now we're relying on CNET to bring us word of Epic Games' efforts to bring the Unreal Engine to the iPhone. You may not have even played Unreal for several years, but plenty of big games are based on the engine. Mass Effect and BioShock are based on versions of the engine, as is EA's upcoming Medal of Honor. Just think: playing Unreal on your iPhone. It's almost... unreal.

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  • EA servers crash as Ubisoft gets back online

    EA servers crash as Ubisoft gets back online

    When will this nonsense with online DRM stop? Ubisoft’s authentication servers were apparently attacked and therefore offline, but now they’re back. Now EA servers crashed for an hour this morning, locking players out of numerous gamings including Bad Company 2. This is crazy. DRM isn’t going anywhere but this current implementation simply isn’t stable enough. Suggestions?

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  • Thunder 30 amplifier from Orange

    Thunder 30 amplifier from Orange

    Stage aesthetics all contain a common trend. Generally, the equipment should be seen as little as possible, leading to pretty much every guitar amplifier in existence being black. Orange Amplifiers said, “To hell with all that nonsense” and proceeded to create some of the most visually offensive and sonically powerful amps on the market. Their [...]

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  • FIFA officially rules out using goal line technology at this year’s World Cup. In other news, FIFA is dumb.

    FIFA officially rules out using goal line technology at this year’s World Cup. In other news, FIFA is dumb.

    Is FIFA the worst organization on the planet? I'd say so. World soccer bigwigs have concluded a meeting in Zurich, and they've decided against implementing goal line technology at this year's World Cup. Yes, why would you want to introduce a legitimately helpful technology into a sport that so desperately needs it? Ridiculous.

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  • Nikon developing a Canon G11 rival?

    Nikon developing a Canon G11 rival?

    The Canon PowerShot G series have always been one of the best compact shooters available. See that pic above? I shot that back in 2003 with a G3. Beautiful, isn't? That's Camp Tapico in Northern Michigan, where I spent every summer of my teenage life. Anyway, word on the street is that Nikon wants some of the action that the G series has enjoyed all by itself for so long. Better late then never, Nikon.

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  • You don’t fall for the wallet inspector gimmick, so why fall for its online equivalent?

    You don’t fall for the wallet inspector gimmick, so why fall for its online equivalent?

    I think I'm getting to the point that, instead of feeling bad for people who fall victim to phishing scheme, or any other online nonsense, I'm actually like, “You know what? Serves you right.” There's a new scam going around that exploits Internet Explorer (in Windows XP, mostly), and it works by tricking users into pressing the F1 key at a certain time. Once the key is pressed, any ol' code a hackers wants to execute can be executed. Right now, the only work-around is to not press F1 when prompted by any ol' site. Cool.

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  • Ubisoft claims new DRM scheme was designed by ‘PC guys’ who are our ‘friends’

    Ubisoft claims new DRM scheme was designed by ‘PC guys’ who are our ‘friends’

    Is it even worth getting upset over this Ubisoft nonsense? By now you've certainly heard about the company's plans to implement a new form of DRM for its PC releases—I've only written about it 800 times in the past month! The DRM is bat-shit crazy, sure, but it's the sentiment behind it that has me concerned this Sunday morning.

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  • Oh look, another hack attack that could have been prevented

    Oh look, another hack attack that could have been prevented

    I could sit here and talk about the latest big “hack attack” to strike the civilized world, but these have become so tedious. The story is always the same: hackers from scary place (here, China and Eastern Europe) attack Western government/corporation (here, corporations) for unknown, shadowy reasons. Blah, blah, blah. Instead, I'll take this opportunity to remind you all of a very basic thing: please use the Internet with care. Don't go clicking things willy nilly.

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  • For your protection: In the UK, if you refuse body scan you won’t be allowed to board airplane

    For your protection: In the UK, if you refuse body scan you won’t be allowed to board airplane

    You're certainly familiar with those full body scanners, installed at airports to prevent bad guys from bringing bad things aboard airplanes. They scan your body, producing a fairly clear 3D image of your naked body. It's controversial because, really, who wants their naked body on display so some goon in a uniform can try to see if you have a knife taped against your leg? Oh, that's your attitude, is it? Well then, no airplane for you! That got weird.

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