Most of you already know that Ubisoft has some incredibly draconian DRM, since a lot of their games require that you keep a connection going with their servers at all times as you play the game. Well, what happens when those servers go offline?

On Tuesday, February 7th, Ubisoft will be moving its servers, and have not specified how long it will take. For those of you who have legitimately purchased your Ubisoft games, you will just be out of luck if you want to play them while the server move is taking place. That includes single player games, as well.

While Ubisoft recently announced that Rayman: Origin will have bare DRM (requiring a single activation), the glaring problems of their “always-on” DRM will be highlighted on Tuesday. Of course, if you have a pirated version, then you won’t have anything to worry about, at least when it comes to playing the game.

There are certain gaming companies that I’m not fond of. Two of the things that usually put me off to a company is excessive use of DRM, and the act of buying up companies, just to run the franchises into the ground with constant releases with little innovation. However, when you compare these to the copycat tactics of gaming giant Zynga.

A couple of weeks ago there was an image released  by Nimblebit, creators of the iPhone game Tiny Tower. It was a very sarcastic congratulatory message, which showed off the close similarities between their game and Zynga’s. Now, it would be easy to dismiss this as a simple coincidence, if Zynga didn’t have a track record for this sort of behavior. Ever heard of Farm Town? No? Well, it came out in early 2009, and was later crushed by Farmville, which was nearly identical. You could also look at Mob Wars and Mafia Wars. The list goes on.

Again, some people could say that it’s all just a series of coincidences. However, Forbes got their hands on a leaked memo that Forbes from CEO Mark Pincus didn’t show that this is exactly how they build games. “We don’t need to be first to market. We need to be the best in market.” is one of my favorite lines. The whole memo talks about how they “innovate” by improving on other people’s ideas. I’m sorry Mark, but you aren’t innovating. You’re taking someone else’s idea, and throwing money at it. Then you advertise the shit out of it until the competition is crushed. There is a special place in hell for people that prey on independent game developers.

Marketing and public relations is an area that takes a lot of skill. After all, your job consists primarily of interacting with with customers and news outlets. These are the two groups of people that you want to make a good impression on, as they will no doubt have an influence on the sales of whatever wares you’re peddling. Of these groups, I will always believe that the customers should be treated best of all, because they’re the ones spending their hard-earned money on your product.

If you’re looking for an example of how not to treat a paying customer, you might have a look at this correspondence published over at Penny Arcade. Here’s an excerpt from the email exchange between a customer who pre-ordered the PS3 Avenger, and someone from Ocean Marketing, who represents N-Control:

You just got told bitch … welcome to the real internet check kotaku in 2 weeks when they are reviewing free PS3 Avengers we send them as well as G4 and all the other majors hell yeah , don’t forget to check Amazon, gamestop.com, play n trade , Myers , Frys and a ton of other local stores coming your way you think you speak for billions son your just a kid you speak for yourself no one cares what you think that’s why were growing and moving 20-50 thousand controllers a month. We do value our customers but sometimes we get children like you we just have to put you in the corner with your im stupid hat on. See you at CES , E3 , Pax East ….? Oh wait you have to ask mom and pa dukes your not an industry professional and you have no money on snap you just got told.

I don’t care who you are, what you do, or who you know. This is not how you talk to someone, especially when that person has given you money for goods (that you’ve not yet delivered). Now, it could be that this was simply a fabrication to smear Ocean Marketing, but Mike Krahulik (better known as Gabe from Penny Arcade) sent a follow-up email to the same person, and after a few emails, received this charming tidbit, which confirms that this guy is just as cheerful as the previous messages made him out to be:

Your sites amateur at best my son could put together a better site than yours and you run PAX ?? Wow , Ill put my marketing team on a smear campaign of you and your site and your emails , I have about 125 dedicated people to run PR , Blogs , Articles , Videos you have no clue who I am . Thanks again

Reading through these only makes me wonder how this person got into the line of work that they did. This is not how you treat customers, and making threats toward someone who is a rather large figure in the gaming community (also known as your target audience) is just a bad idea.

After emailing my contact at N-Control, I got a phone call from Paul, who turned out to be the person sending these emails. We spoke for around fifteen minutes or so, and he assured me that despite the negative press, he’s been contacted by several companies, who have asked him to represent them. Paul also expressed confidence that this would simply blow over in a week or two.

He also told me that he’s received a lot of emails from customers, who were similarly upset about not receiving their product before Christmas. Apparently the only thing special about Dave was that he caught him at a bad time, and got under his skin. Of course, that still doesn’t excuse the way he treated a paying customer. Even if customer service isn’t your primary job (which is apparently the case, according to Paul), you still should treat the people trying to give you money with respect.

When I brought up the posts on Reddit that discussed the emails, and the backlash that was visible there, he more or less shrugged it off. He seemed annoyed by the amount of friend requests he’d received on Facebook, since someone managed to find him. He credited that to the fact that his information was posted at the bottom of the Penny Arcade piece, and said that he’d be talking to his lawyers about that later today. What’s more, he said that his job isn’t really to deal with individual customers like Dave, but rather to strike deals with companies like GameStop and BestBuy. Those companies are buying his wares, so he “doesn’t care about anyone else.” Why? Because as long as his products are on store shelves, people will buy them.

In the end, he conceded that it would be a good idea to send Dave an apology, and even hook him up with a couple of free Avengers as a gesture of good faith. After all, the guy just wanted his Avenger, and got some nasty emails for his trouble. While that’s good news for Dave, something tells me that he still won’t be getting a booth at PAX, or winning back the hearts of everyone who read the original emails.

Update: We have gotten a copy of the apology email sent to Dave, from Paul at Ocean Marketing. As you can see, it has a very different tone from the originals, and better grammar and spelling (for the most part):

Hey Dave,

I just wanted to apologize for the way our emails progressed from beginning to end , You caught me on an extremely bad day and I had been dealing with 100’s and hundreds of emails trying to explain the situation to everyone on where the product was and you just pushed me a little too much and I should have just apologized and tried to explain things better. Also I had a really bad day losing a friend to an overdose and the stress of my newborn baby and the Holiday ,missing my family and just stressing on getting product out to everyone and why it was held up in customs wore me out.

I am deeply sorry for any disrespect , aggravation or lack of information on the delivery date. We knew when product was leaving china and we were trying to adhere to a strict deadline but due to port issues and air freight issues. The units are domestic now and awaiting pick up at customs . So we missed the 17th deadline and I apologize for that but it was out of my control and besides me no one else was helping me handle the situation so imagine the weight on my shoulders.

I’m not asking for any sympathy just for some understanding and forgiveness , I’m human just like everyone else and made a mistake. I underestimated you and its cost me a lot of trouble thousands of spam emails , a lot of personal bashing , and internet spam and trouble and just overall stress with my wife and newborn. I ask that you please accept my apology as a peace offering I will refund your money and give you your 2 units/Avengers free of charge please help me to get some of this negativity removed or at least my personal name although its already all over the internet and the calls and emails will not stop but any help will be appreciated especially with penny arcade as Mike and edit his own website I owe him an apology too which I will write next.

Update 2: Gabe over at Penny Arcade has posted what is likely to be the last of the emails between Paul from Ocean Marketing and himself. There is an apology in there, but as Gabe points out, “there is a big difference between being sorry and being sorry you got caught.”

Update 3: Check out the official word from N-Control here (Spoiler! $10 off on pre-orders)

No, we’re not just telling you about a scene from the newest Call of Duty. Early November 6th, thousands of copies of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 were stolen in an armed robbery in Paris, France. I didn’t believe this James Bond-esque news story, so I did my research and it seems pretty legit.

At 8am November 6th, a truck carrying around 6000 copies of the game crashed into a car. I’m sure the car was part of the heist and purposefully crashed into the truck. The drivers of the truck left the vehicle to notify emergency vehicles about the accident. Before they could get very far they were ambushed by two masked men, knives, and tear gas. The keys were taken and the masked men drove the truck away. The whole lot of games was said to cost 400,000 Euros, according to TF1 at Eurogamer.

A day earlier, another heist was reported dealing with three hooded men that used a weapon to steal another truck full of Modern Warfare 3. It was stated that they blocked the road but we don’t know as many details. This jacks the total of stolen games up to 780,000 Euros.

There have been reports that some of the copies have since made their way to eBay. Microsoft has released a statement stating that anyone found playing the game early would be banned on Xbox live. The game officially releases on November 8th worldwide.

It’s really difficult being a die-hard fan of a game franchise, especially when the developers leave so much of the story untold. Today, I really feel for those that have taken it upon themselves to fill in the void after Chrono Trigger. A group of such fans have been working for the last 5 years on their own game entitled Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes. I personally wasn’t aware of the project, but am suddenly intrigued by it. Especially since it will be released in only a few short weeks. Or at least it would have been.

Square Enix moved in and sent out a cease-and-desist letter which pretty much put an end to the project. Talk about a douchebag move. I’m aware that they are obligated to protect their copyrights, and I have no issue with that. What I do take issue with is their timing. These people have been working for five years, and now have absolutely nothing to show for their hard work and dedication. I don’t doubt that Square Enix has known about this project for some time. If they were really concerned about protecting their property, they’d have shut this down years ago.

Or here’s another thought. They’ve been turning their heads for a few years now, so what would another few weeks hurt? The game could get released, those people could take pride in their work and other fans could enjoy it. Square Enix could then take an official stand against the game, and send out all the cease-and-desist letters they want, thus protecting their intellectual property. Of course by then the game would already be loose, and available through any number of means. Sounds like a win-win to me.

Square Enix, your piss poor timing shows that either you’ve been completely ignorant to a project based on your work for five years, or that you just really love screwing over your (once) loyal fans. Either way, you’ve earned yourself the title of Douche of the Week.

Source

Alright, so we don’t actually have a douche of the week, but if we did, George Will would qualify.  He recently wrote up a piece ranting about kids these days.  The entire article printed in The Washington Post is excessively preachy and judgmental.  Written by a man who is looking back upon the past with rose colored glasses that cover up the faults of his generation.  Just like all cynical old men, he’s complaining about the younger generations.  He starts it off by saying that adults never really grow up anymore and using a fashion accessory as proof.  Apparently he has an issue with people walking around in denim.  Instead you should sip tea and look crisp and clean in a pair of nice khakis.

He actually states that men should never wear anything Fred Astaire wouldn’t wear and women don’t wear anything Grace Kelly wouldn’t.  So boys pull out those bow ties and ladies it’s back to wearing large hats.  Oh joy.  You might be wondering where on earth gaming came into play.  Well during his hissy fit that I’m sure he was well paid for, he decided to go after gamers very briefly.  It wasn’t good enough to discredit full generations based on their addiction to denim, he had to take it one step further.  He went on to say, “Seventy-five percent of American “gamers” — people who play video games — are older than 18 and nevertheless are allowed to vote.”  We feeble minded gamers are clearly incapable of coming to a logical decision involving politics due to all that gaming rotting our brains.

Source: Joystiq