Piracy Non-Issue For Valve

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2011-11-28-valve-piracy-a-non-issue-for-steam_9

Valve: piracy a "non-issue" for Steam by Robert Purchese (Eurogamer)

*Gabe Newell believes piracy stems not from price but convenience, and as Steam offers so much, piracy is no problem

* "In general, we think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy," "Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem.

*"For example, if a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24x7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country 3 months after the US release, and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate's service is more valuable. Most DRM solutions diminish the value of the product by either directly restricting a customers use or by creating uncertainty.”

*"Our goal is to create greater service value than pirates, and this has been successful enough for us that piracy is basically a non-issue for our company.”

*Newell added, "prior to entering the Russian market, we were told that Russia was a waste of time because everyone would pirate our products. Russia is now about to become our largest market in Europe.”

*Steam requires a download and log in, something many DRM services are criticised for, it also ensures games are up to date as well as offers multiplayer matchmaking, friends lists, achievements and a community

*Many top end publishers opt to have steamworks tools implemented, for use of multiplayer, cloud saving, authentication, so they can be built into the game early on

*Half-life started steam in 2004, but wasn’t until 2005 steam got its first third party, now 7 years later, it dominates the pc/mac digital distribution market.

Awesome looking hacking game

I really like the look of this game, the way the second cross wiring example shows careful level design so that the right timing can be achieved is amazing, I wonder how many outcomes the developers had to work out while making it, or maybe theres ones even they don't know about?

Moral Decision Making in Fallout

http://gamestudies.org/0902/articles/schulzke

Moral Decision Making in Fallout

by Marcus Schulzke

Abstract

Many open world games give players the chance to make moral choices, but usually the differences between good and evil paths through a game are slight. In order for moral choices in games to be meaningful they must be fairly calculated and have significant consequences. The Fallout series is one of the best examples of how to give players thoughtful moral problems and multiple paths to resolving them. This essay looks at the series, and Fallout 3 in particular, as examples of how moral choice can be incorporated into video games. One of the oldest fears about art is that it may corrupt observers and lead them to immorality - a criticism that has resurfaced with attacks on video games. Fallout 3 does the opposite. It encourages players to think about the morality of their actions in the virtual world, thereby teaching them the practical wisdom that Aristotle considered essential to being a moral actor.

Indie Game The Movie

Despite a few too many awkward prolonged panning shots of each guy about 6 times this looks like it will be really interesting. I hope it covers how guys like them went about living and funding themselves while they made the game. I wonder if any of them worked out of their bedrooms.