I recently wrote about this topic here . But I wanted to write a more succinct version of it since some people thought I was advocating something akin to Internet Product Activation to thwart piracy. Let me first Bottom line this: CD based copy protection does more harm than good. Let me then add: There is no magic bullet that will stop piracy. Game developers need to quit trying to solve piracy via some sort of mechanism and instead design a policy that discourages piracy. Game develope...

Well this weekend we've been taking a beating on the net over Stardock Central. And by we, I mean me as I'm the one who hangs out on the gaming forums. Stardock Central is awesome technology but has the same kind of issues that the early "multi-mission" military aircraft had.  Back in the late 60s, the Air force fell in love with the idea of jet aircraft that could perform multiple roles.  Interceptor, air superiority, tactical bombing, strategy bombing, etc. And for 2 decades, the Air forc...

It figures the first time I get quoted in Newsweek it would be the issue with Steve Jobs on the front.  His big mug glaring at me for all eternity as a constant reminder that even as software companies go, we're small potatoes. But still, it's pretty cool to be in Newsweek because of something we made as opposed to something we did ! But still, definitely pretty cool to get into Newsweek with my name mentioned and quote and all.   

And so it begins... People have long talked about the day when we would just be able to buy a retail-level game and be able to download it right then and there.  And for the past two years, Stardock has allowed its customers to purchase and download Stardock's retail titles via Drengin.net.  But the challenge was how to expand those titles beyond the Stardock titles?  How to convince independent developers and publishers to put their titles for available on-line -- especially ...

When I first got into the alpha of World of Warcraft I quickly concluded that keyboard commands and hotkeys would not cut it when it came to on-line communication. My friend here at Stardock who is also on the alpha introduced me to Ventrillo: http://www.ventrilo.com Ventrillo is a voice chat system. It's like IRC but with voice. I assigned my Ctrl key as the hot key to let me talk. I just have a microphone on my desktop and talk to the other members of my guild. It's a great way of comm...

During the alpha of World of Warcraft one thing everyone noticed: Nearly all the players were nice people. I don't mean just friendly, but really nice. Will this be something that continues into the beta and beyond? I don't have my hopes up too high but I hope so. What are some of the rules of netiquette in the world of warcraft? Don't "kill steal". The first person to attack a creature gets that creature. Don't come in and start attacking it unless they ask for help OR if it looks lik...

Our games team is working on a new game called The Political Machine. It won't be out until May and the website hasn't even been announced. But I'll share it with you guys here . It's actually a strategy game that can be played either single player or multiplayer on the net. We've been doing a great deal of demographic research to find out what issues matter to voters in which states and splice it between Democrats and Republicans. If you click on the game link on its page you can get more d...

Yesterday we had a LAN party at the office and played Counterstrike all day. It had been about 3 years since I last played and my skills were definitely rusty. My "ownage" ability had definitely taken a few steps down. But it was still a blast. Though, it is always interesting to see a bunch of 30 somethings revert, just for an instant, to being a teen whenever someone makes a mistake (myself included). We had friendly fire on and I don't think there was anyone who didn't kill their own team...

Free Holiday Goodies from Stardock   North Pole Showdown . Only you can save Santa! In this arcade ...

I just finished Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Outstanding role playing game. I played the PC version though the game is available on the consoles as well. Knights is an adventure/role playing game where you control up to 3 characters at a time. From a pure game mechanics point of view, it contains the standard fantasy role playing elements with fighters (soldiers), thieves (scoundrels), and various magic classes (Force powered things). In the game, you begin as a low level fight...

The Political Machine (the game) was released this past August and it sold quite well. It was published by Ubi Soft at retail and distributed electronically via TotalGaming.net.  But as a money maker, it was so-so.  That's because a game that retails for $20 that has only a few month life span is going to have a hard time making back its investment.  Luckily, The Political Machine made its money back. But even if it hadn't made its money back, it was worth doing. In fact, it wo...

Expert blacksmithing gets you to 150.  Artistan starts at 200.  So what do I need to do to get from 150 to 200? I dunno but I'm finding black smithing to be kind of a waste of time so far.  Aldar is a much better blacksmith and we have no enchanters in our guild.  So I've thought about being an Enchanter but I fear that's too much work to get started and I'm already at 150 on blacksmithing.  

DeepT had this to say on professions: After doing all the professions to a reasonable level (not including specialist blacksmithing), I have decided none of them are that good. Alchmey: None of the potions give fantastic buffs or effects. Powerful, usefull effects are very short lived. For example one potion gives 1000ac, but for a mere minute. Another gives invisibility, for a mere 30 seconds. And then healing potions have timers which is stupid. I can understand the 'diablo' effect ...

I walked into the living room and my wife was watching one of those fat people losing weight shows. I said, "Deb, why are you wasting your life watching this junk?" To which she responded, "Big talk from the man who just spent his entire day playing World of Warcraft." A pause. "Well, I did make it to level 30 today." At which point my son Alex chimes in, "Yea, now daddy can wear a helmet!" My wife looks at my son and then looks at me and says, "Brad, I think you need to wea...

As I look at Stardock's massive IT infrastructure I realize something - we are well suited to make a massively multiplayer online real time strategy game. The problem with RTS's done as massively multiplayer has always been the persistent world. That is, what happens to your empire when you're not playing? There is also quite a bit more involved in keeping the world compelling and interesting over time. Most game developers would have to build an awful lot of tools to make a persistent RTS...