The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 16,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 6 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
by Tom Curtis
Just four months after refocusing into a quarterly format, GamePro magazine announced that it will cease publication indefinitely.
A spokesperson from GamePro parent company IDG told IndustryGamers that the magazine and corresponding website weren’t pulling in enough ad revenue, and the magazine’s November issue will be its final release.
GamePro’s website notes that on December 5, the site will redirect to PCWorld.com, which will offer "gaming news, reviews, and how-tos from the PCWorld team."
IDG said that layoffs will coincide with the magazine’s closure, but did not mention how many employees will be affected.
With the magazine and website no longer in operation, IDG says GamePro Media is "refocusing its US business exclusively on its growing custom publishing and solutions business," leaving PCWorld as the company’s leading video game publication, while GamePro Media will focus on creating specialized content for vendors and events such as E3.
According to IndustryGamers, this restructuring was led by IDG’s Mike Kisseberth, who oversees the company’s Consumer and Small Business media group, which includes PCWorld, Macworld, and GamePro Media.
Earlier this year, Gamasutra spoke to GamePro Media’s VP of content, Julian Rignall, who expressed concerns over the state of the print market in the US: "It’s not like Europe where there’s a newsstand on every corner," Rignall said. "Magazine distribution has always been a huge challenge in America. You pay huge fees to get it on the newsstand, distribution’s kind of screwed up. It’s never been a particularly great business, and in this day and age, it’s even worse."
Despite acknowledging the risks involved with print media, he added, "It sounds really boastful, but what we want to do is make the last great video game magazine," he says. "Let’s go out in style, let’s make something that celebrates what print does really well."
[SOURCE]
| Test |
From Evernote: |
Minecraft easter egg makes its way into Skyrim | JoystiqClipped from: http://www.joystiq.com/2011/11/15/minecraft-easter-egg-skyrim/ |
by David Hinkle 
on Nov 15th 2011 9:00AM
Who says a nasty legal battle means you can’t appreciate each other’s work? A nice little nod to Minecraft made its way into Skyrim, Ology reports. Neat!
Pictured above is the Notched Pickaxe, which looks an awfully lot like the one from Minecraft
Ever since Richard Garriott won his lawsuit against former employer NCsoft last year, the legal process has been grinding on ever since to hash out the details. Today we’ve learned that the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reaffirmed the win of almost $32 million in favor of Garriott.
The lawsuit came about after NCsoft fired Garriott in 2008 and then marked his departure as “voluntary,” causing his stock options to expire instead of remaining intact through the end of his 2011 contract. In 2010 a court found NCsoft to have breached its contract, and ordered the company to pay $28 million plus interest and attorney fees to Garriott and his legal team. This recent ruling affirms that outcome and paves the path for Garriott to be compensated.
In the ruling, the 5th Circuit Court writes, “It would be unjust to allow NCsoft to sit back during trial, observe Garriott’s litigation strategy, and then demand a new trial on damages when it dislikes the verdict.”
[Source: Androvett Legal Media press release]
by Justin Olivetti MMO industry, Legal, Miscellaneous Sony’s hacking woes continue today, as intruders today have attempted — and, in some cases, succeeded — to access the giant corporation’s accounts. Chief Information Security Officer Philip Reitingerposted a letter on several SOE forums informing players that their accounts may have been compromised. The good news is that less than 0.1% of Sony’s entire playerbase has been affected. The bad news is that that leaves around 33,000 SOE players — in addition to Sony Entertainment Network and PlayStation Network customers — whose accounts were hacked. Following the intrusion, Sony temporarily locked the accounts and is investigating the situation. "Only a small fraction of these 93,000 accounts showed additional activity prior to being locked," Reitinger said. He assured customers that credit card numbers were not leaked and that any purchases made during this intrusion will be restored. SOE customers with locked accounts will receive an email with instructions on how to validate their credentials and restore their service. [source]
Hackers compromise 33,000 SOE accounts
on Oct 12th 2011 7:00AM
If you want to carry on using your PS3 online, you’ll have to give up some important legal rights — unless you read the small print and take action.
One of the perhaps inevitable outcomes of April’s Playstation Network hacking scandal, and Sony’s delays in revealing that personal data had been compromised, is that several class action lawsuits have been filed. For those not familiar with the concept, class action is a request that, if granted by a court, means that a case can have a single lead plaintiff but anyone held to be in similar circumstances can be attached without having to launch their own action. If the plaintiff prevails, those attached can get damages on the same basis. It’s a set-up that corporations are very wary of as it means people are not deterred from the costs and hassle of legal action, and the potential payouts can add up to a fortune.
Sony has decided it wants to head off any future class action lawsuits by simply making legal action out of the question. To that end it’s demanding all users agree to a new condition stating:
If you have a Dispute with any Sony Entity or any of a Sony Entity’s officers, directors, employees and agents that cannot be resolved through negotiation within the time frame described in the “Notice of Dispute” clause below. Other than those matters listed in the Exclusions from Arbitration clause, you and the Sony Entity that you have a Dispute with agree to seek resolution of the Dispute only through arbitration of that Dispute in accordance with the terms of this Section 15, and not litigate any Dispute in court. Arbitration means that the Dispute will be resolved by a neutral arbitrator instead of in a court by a judge or jury.
In other words, if you think Sony’s breached your contract or otherwise screwed you over, you must go to arbitration: by agreeing the new conditions you give up your right to go to court.
There are several key limitations. It appears the new conditions are only being used in Canada and the US. There’s potential for a legal challenge if anyone is able to successfully argue that online play is part of the deal when you buy a PS3 (meaning you have the right to continue using the service under the existing terms and conditions, though you’d give up the right to new features.) And Sony’s wide-ranging definition of a “Dispute” likely wouldn’t hold up: for example, it attempts to exempt itself from court action over breaches of criminal law such as fraud.
Customers must tick to agree the new conditions before continuing to use the service, but there is a 30 day opt out period. While you’d think that a fair system would mean that if you can click to agree, you can click to withdraw your agreement, but it’s not that simple. Instead you must mail a letter to SNEI, 6080 Center Drive, 10th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90045, marked “Attn: Legal Department/Arbitration.” The letter has to contain your name and address, PSN account number, and confirmation that you do not agree to resolve all disputes via arbitration.
If you want to take advantage of this option, there’s a template letter available on Google Docs.
[SOURCE]
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Or you could just get an Xbox 360.
The title pretty much says it all..
Change log:
+ Added a brand new biome generation code that simplifies life a lot and makes things much more exciting for the future
+ Added new mob; Endermen
+ Added FOV slider
+ Added brightness slider
+ Added randomly generated ravines
+ Killing a monster makes it drop experience orbs
+ The player can level up by gathering experience orbs
+ Added randomly generated houses
+ Added huge mushrooms
+ Using bonemeal on small mushrooms grows the mushroom into a giant mushroom if there’s room
+ Rewrote the light rendering to use multitexturing instead of direct colors
+ Sky light and block light have different tints, cool colors for sky light, warm for block lights
+ Added critical hits that deal +50% damage, plus an extra point to make crits with weak weapons worth it
+ If the player hits a mob while falling, they always hit a critical hit
+ The game now keeps track of damage sources and types
+ Some damage type ignore armor now; drowning, being on fire (but not being IN a fire), falling out of the world
+ Ice now only spreads next to existing ice or from coast areas
+ Made the explosions prettier
+ Made level height depend on a single variable (the level height still is 128, but it’s more moddable now)
+ Added sprinting
+ Added hunger
+ Food is now stackable
+ Improved the logo
+ Added suspended particles to water
+ Added a server list so you can remember multiple servers
+ The player regenerates slowly while the food bar is high
+ Eating food now takes time
+ Skeletons hold their bows better now
+ Added melons
+ Made melons and pumpkins farmable
+ Animals that get hurt will flee randomly for a short while
+ Pigs have snouts now
+ Made a flashier title screen
+ Looking towards the sun during sunset/sunrise changes fog color
+ Added fence gates
+ Added a player list to multiplayer
+ Added Silverfish
+ Added Cave Spider
+ Added huge underground dungeons (stronghold)
+ Added underground mine shafts
+ Added melon
+ Added sprouts for melons and pumpkins
+ Added vines
+ Added iron bars
* Fixed mushrooms spreading infinitely
* Fixed caves generating with too many dead ends
- Removed Herobrine
For Those Who Love Fighting Games
via Steampunk Fighting Stick — For Those Who Love Fighting Games And Really Hot Water – G4tv.com.
Add another one to the list of F2P MMOs:
Massively have spotted a statement on Seeking Alpha by the CEO of Perfect World, owner of Cryptic studios, that Star Trek Online will go free to play before the end of the year. Champions Online, Cryptic’s other MMO, went free to play in January, so it comes as no surprise that its sister game has followed suit. CEO Kelvin Lau said that he felt the free to play model had ‘bigger potential’ in both the US and Chinese markets.
Sadly the statement contained no information Star Trek will follow Champions in using Steam’s new free to play system or continue with its own payment model.
[Source]
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