Chris Halverson’s Blog

So the big news this past week in gaming circles was the release of Will Wright’s “Spore”. Of course, the bigger news was the draconian SecuROM DRM that they force install on your PC during the install. You may remember SecuROM from the Sony rootkit debacle a while back. SecuROM is, by pretty much any definition, a rootkit. It is not removed if you uninstall the game. The DRM EA is using limits you to a certain number of installs (3 in the case of Spore). There has been huge backlash. Spore’s customer rating at Amazon has been destroyed by people complaining about the DRM (whether they’d buy it or not). It’s rating is hovering around 1.4 with about 1500 ratings, which given the hype is huge.

I wasn’t happy about all of that before, but I  only had a passing interest in Spore. But now I read that EA will use SecuROM in the upcoming Red Alert 3.

Oh noes!

I played RA2 more than I care to think about it. I played against my son and my wife like crazy. I’ve played all the RA2 expansions and Generals. The RA series was an awesom RTS series. Once I heard that RA3 was coming out I was all excited (and not just because Gemma Atkinson is in it, although that sure doesn’t hurt). Not so much anymore.

DRM does not work. When will the game companies realize this? What’s “funny” about this is that there were cracks available for Spore before it was released. Look at Stardock and in particular Sins of a Solar Empire. They have no copy protection or DRM and have sold remarkably well, especially considering the lower budgets compared to EA. Bioshock and other big games have had disatrous results due to oppressive DRM.

Stardock has, in fact, released a “Gamer’s Bill of Rights” that they will abide by as a developer and publisher. This is a very consumer friendly statement:

1. Gamers shall have the right to return games that don’t work with their computers for a full refund.
2. Gamers shall have the right to demand that games be released in a finished state.
3. Gamers shall have the right to expect meaningful updates after a game’s release.
4. Gamers shall have the right to demand that download managers and updaters not force themselves to run or be forced to load in order to play a game.
5. Gamers shall have the right to expect that the minimum requirements for a game will mean that the game will play adequately on that computer.
6. Gamers shall have the right to expect that games won’t install hidden drivers or other potentially harmful software without their consent.
7. Gamers shall have the right to re-download the latest versions of the games they own at any time.
8. Gamers shall have the right to not be treated as potential criminals by developers or publishers.
9. Gamers shall have the right to demand that a single-player game not force them to be connected to the Internet every time they wish to play.
10. Gamers shall have the right that games which are installed to the hard drive shall not require a CD/DVD to remain in the drive to play.

I wish all games were like this.

As planned I avoided the madness that was the Minnesota State Fair. I hardly knew it was going on to be honest. The people watching and Sweet Martha’s Cookies are about the only things that have any draw and I can go to the store and pick up a bucket of cookie dough and sit on the couch and watch “Trick my Truck” and “Mobile Home Disaster” on CMT without having to deal with the rest of humanity.

Much Google love this week. I’m a Google fanboi, I admit it. I’m loving Chrome and would switch except for a couple of minor issues that I guess will be available in the near future. Well, maybe all but one. I’m totally dependent on Roboform and unless the extention API is similar to Firefox, I can’t see that being ported any time soon. I did find this page that describes a work around to sort of get it working, but it’s still not  integrated. They say it’s due to WebKit. Eh. Whatever, just get it working! Picasa 3 is also a nice upgrade if you use that.

I went to a friend’s 40th birthday party a couple of weeks ago. This is somebody I went to school with and not a friend from work or anything, so in some ways it hit me harder that I’m quickly approaching the big four-oh. Yikes.

Being a semi-retired Professional Poker Player(TM), I’ve been playing a bit of teh pokah lately. Just some SNGs, maybe a couple a night at good ‘ol Full Tilt. I’ve graduated back up to the $20s and after a couple of missteps while getting used to a bit different play there (there really is a difference between the $10 and $20, not a lot, but enough to notice it), I’m back on track and ahead again. Obviously small sample size. Oh, and I need to pay a bit more attention to the game and not TV while playing. When you check-call with the nuts you suddenly realize that “Modern Marvels” has more of your attention than the game. Even so, it’s still fun to play when it’s not a grind and I don’t feel like I have to play.

Of course, I have to play WoW…but that’s different…

I try really hard to keep politics off here, but you can’t tell me these are accidents and/or that there isn’t a liberal bias in the media.

This was from cnn.com on 2008-09-04:

And thanks to Easycure for another example of the Liberal media bias that “doesn’t exist”:

I’m not saying McCain is the be all end all, but I will say that Obama isn’t going to be all that different than any other politicain. Y’all can sit back and pat yourselves on the back while bringing home less pay, but at least you can “feel good” about it.

Meh.

That’s probably all the politics you’ll get out of me here. Despite the Repulican convention being held in my back yard, I couldn’t care less about it right now. 

This video (from quite possibly the best 2 minutes of video a week), sums it up nicely IMHO. Make sure you watch until the end.

Damn straight…I’m going to Arby’s. See ya later.

If you’re heading to the Minnesota State Fair (or any other place where there’s lots of people), you may find this Fair Bingo card set useful.

Enjoy!

Blogging to you live from my deck. I took the day off today since it’s now the middle of August and I still have about 5 weeks of PTO to take. Oy, it’s going to be hard to fit it all in. Again. I do this every year, you’d think I’d learn by now.

It’s been beautiful around here the last few days. Well, “nice” if you mean in the 90s or so, but I can handle that despite the fact that I’m not what you’d call and outdoors person. Outdoors to me means sitting on the deck having a drink and ideally a cigar. Lawns are looking a little brown, but our new landscaping looks great (we had a new retaining wall put in earlier in the summer).

I did find a new cigar store that I think I’ll come to love. Previously I went to one that is close by and has a decent selection, but the staff knows absolutely nothing about cigars. It’s attached to a liquor store and is staffed by people from there instead of having dedicated cigar store people. It’s nice because it’s close, but other than that I was left wanting. I used the new fangled Internets and did what the kids these days call a “search” (I used “Teh Google”) and found one further from my house, but fairly close to my office that is really nice. It has a 400+ sq ft walk in humidor and couches and chairs to sit at and smoke in the store! They have a big screen TV and free WiFi. ZOMG! I went up there about 1pm today (Monday) and there were like 4 people sitting around chatting and smoking. The sales people were knowledgeable and helped me pick out something new. I’m now sitting on my deck trying it out and I have to say I like it. Locals, if you’re in the Maple Grove area it’s called Tobacco Grove, check it out.

Oh, I finally learned how to blow smoke through my nose without passing out and choking to death. When done a few times during a smoke of a decent cigar, it does add a lot to the flavor.

The August heat does mean one thing in this area: The Minnesota State Fair. I know Drizz is already getting psyched for the beer drinking, kid chasing and people watching.  Personally, I’m of the mind that humanity basically sucks, so I tend to avoid things like the fair. Seriously, I get no enjoyment out of watching overweight people either squished into clothes that are too small, or hanging out of wife beaters while letting their 8 kids run all over the place. If I wanted entertainment like that, I’d just watch CMT or something. My guilty (geeky) fair pleasure is listening to the fair police on the scanner. It’s amazing the stupid things that stupid people do when they get looped up on Leinies in 100 degree heat. Hopefully they haven’t moved to digital yet (I forgot about it last year, so for all I know they already have). I do send the boy out with some money to bring me back a bucket of Sweet Martha’s cookies, but other than that I avoid it like the plague.