Will the PSN Drama Affect Next-Gen Consoles?

Dominating the news this week is Sony’s Playstation Network and the recent breech in its security that gave a single hacker access to the personal information of 77 million gamers worldwide.  The first class action lawsuit has been filed against Sony by Kristopher Johns, who complains that Sony withheld information of the leak for too long before giving alerting victims so that they could take necessary steps to avoid identity theft on the internet.  

Speculation ran rampant among the internet community until this week when Sony announced that while its table of credit card information could have been accessed, the data was encrypted.  Additionally, no customers’ three-digit security codes were stored on the breeched network.  Some say that the three-digit codes are outdated technology, though, and that Sony’s reassurances don’t represent any real source of relief for the affected gamers.  In fact, Sony may be liable to provide a year of identity-fraud insurance to every affected customer.

This bad press comes at an unfortunate time for the electronics and entertainment powerhouse as the time for companies to reveal their next-generation consoles draws near.  Nintendo has already announced plans to release the Wii’s successor sometime in the next year.  Microsoft has admitted to having a next-generation console in the works, although details about this new project have not been forthcoming.  Of course, any news released about the Playstation 4 in the near future will be overshadowed by the current catastrophe.

Sony will have a lot of explaining to do, but considering the numerous intrusions and exploits that have caused havoc in Microsoft’s Xbox community in years past, Playstation fans can hold out hope that this disaster will fade beyond memory in much the same way.  Certainly, this forced time away from the Playstation Network has been an excellent reminder to many how heavily they relied upon the free service.  Less pleased fans will complain for weeks to come, but remember: you get what you pay for.

Minecraft Set Example for Indie Developers

Minecraft creator Markus Persson proves that indie games, or at least their creators, can achieve financial success. Persson gave an interview to Bloomberg Businessweek earlier this month, in which it was reported that the developer recently completed one of the most ambitious goals on his life’s To-Do List: become a millionaire.   

How much the 7,000 daily sales of $21 Minecraft copies contributes to Persson’s newfound moneybags is a matter for speculation, but one revelation in the interview makes it clear that Persson is quickly becoming wise to the game’s commercial potential: Later this year, Persson’s company, Mojang, plans to create and release versions of the game for iPads, iPhones and Android phones.

Time will tell if this cash injection will carry with it the microscopic beginnings of greed that seem to infect many game companies as they grow beyond their first, humble communities.  Still, Mojang’s seven employees are currently splitting their time between Minecraft support and a new title, Scrolls, a cross between the classic board game Risk and Wizards of the Coast’s shockingly popular Magic the Gathering.  If Persson reinvests the financial and popular success gathered by Minecraft into an equally appealing game, we could be witnessing the first steps of a growing videogame giant. 

Still, not everyone has yet had their free time devoured by Persson’s original pride and joy. Those unfamiliar with Minecraft are best advised to check the site for themselves, but a brief synopsis of the game is commonly, “Legos, with zombies.” Reminiscent of games like the Dark Cloud series, Minecraft requires players to mine or otherwise acquire materials, then build shelters out of them in which they can survive the nightly monster attacks.  

After meeting their initial needs for survival, however, many players have gone on to create objects, buildings, sculptures, and monuments of all kinds.  One resourceful devotee even created a microprocessor out of materials inside the game.  With the flip of a few switches the processor can solve simple equations.

Much like Playstation’s Little Big Planet, Minecraft both fosters and relies upon this kind of creative play to provide a unique, open diversion.  Sharing achievements also brings a social element to the game as players show off ideas and inventions built one brick at a time.  If constructing something like the castle below lures your curiosity, Minecraft may be the game for you.

Indie Games to Unlock Portal 2 Early Release

Are you counting the days until the release of Portal 2?  Well the culmination of Valve’s recent ARG may have just thrown you off count.  This week Valve released the Potato Sack bundle on Steam.  Confused?  Good.  You’re in the right frame of mind for GLaDOS’ latest experiment.  

Let me break it down for you.

The Potato Sack is a bundle of thirteen indie games:

• 1... 2... 3... KICK IT! (Drop That Beat Like an Ugly Baby
• AaAaAA!!! - A Reckless Disregard for Gravity
• Amnesia: The Dark Descent
• Audiosurf
• BIT.TRIP.BEAT.
• Cogs
• Defense Grid: The Awakening
• Killing Floor
• RUSH
• Super Meat Boy
• The Ball
• The Wonderful End of the World
• Toki Tori

And of course, GLaDOS has been appearing to players in each of these games, entirely contrary to their normal operation.  Also potatos.

The situation?  GLaDOS needs more CPUs to begin ‘rebooting’ for an event many speculate to be an early release of Portal 2 for the PC.  Valve likely gathers a double fist full of money on a publicity stunt worthy of a standing ovation, indie games worth playing actually get purchased (virtually unheard of), and fans of every game involved, including Portal 2, get a rather appetizing carrot to chase.

To catch up with this story to date, follow this link to reports by one of the first confused victims.  And by all means, get the Potato Sack and grind for that early release!

WoW Saves a Life?

Twelve-year-old Hans Olsen and his sister were walking through the forest near their home in Leksvik in North Trøndelag when the pair was attacked by a moose, apparently defending its territory.  Rather than panic, Hans says he used skills he learned playing World of Warcraft to save his sister.

Drawing agro off his sister with a taunt, Hans bought his sister time to escape.  Once the beast’s attention was entirely focused on him and his sister was safely away, Hans used another skill he learned on Blizzard’s popular MMO and feigned death.  The moose reportedly lost interest in the boy and wandered back into the woods.

Credible?  Perhaps.  Certainly the boy and his sister are safe now, moose are dangerous adversaries, and World of Warcraft is a popular enough game for this story to be spread around the internet like pinkeye.  At the very least, watching a half-ton of angry wild venison charging toward him has probably given Hans a new perspective on the seriousness of managing his DPS.  

You can check out the original article here, though you may want to have Chrome translate it first.

Random House and THQ to Develop Original Content

Fans of film and book tie-ins to popular video game dynasties will be pleased by the latest deal news from Publishers Lunch.  Industry colossus Random House has confirmed an expansion of their relationship with game creator THQ, aiming to create original content across multiple mediums.  The collection is intended for release as a series of games and books, but the two companies clearly hope to attract enough attention to bring their series to the big screen, much in the same way that Marvel and DC Comics have expanded their properties in the last decade.  

Films adapted from video games have historically done poorly at the box office.  Many have been poorly received by fans of the original products.  However, there is hope for the future.  Recent movie release “Watchmen” received mixed reviews, yet revitalized an interest in the epic comic upon which it was based. 

Many feel that the problem with film adaptations is a departure from the original works upon which they are based.  This project between Random House and THQ purports to offer new content, however, intended from its inception to be produced across mediums.  Time will tell if the structure of this new venture will break the lingering curse, but at the very least we can say it has started with a promising awareness of the multi-platform conformity their series will have to adhere to if they want to please the industry’s fickle fans.  

Meanwhile, attention from such successful industry leaders bodes well for the growth of video game and genre entertainment.  Whether those next steps into the harsh mainstream light will illuminate new, glorious areas to be explored, or cause the creative minds behind our favorite properties to shrink, hissing, back into the cold comfort of anonymity remains to be seen.