Second Penny Arcade Game Due Out This Week 68
Hothead Games has announced that the second episode of the Penny Arcade: On the Rain-slick Precipice of Darkness series is coming out this Wednesday, and they've released a trailer showing off some of the gameplay. ACG has an interview with Hothead's Joel DeYoung discussing the series and explaining some of the decision-making that went into its development. The game will launch for Linux, Mac, PC, and Xbox Live, with a PS3 version coming later. Feedback from players of the first game in the series inspired a $5 decrease in price this time around.
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Pho [wikipedia.org] - 698 Calories per every 784 grams
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I can't speak for menudo, but if eating pho is wrong, I don't want to be right!
(Also, you forget andouillette [mcmuffin.co.uk], the sausage not only wrapped in, but made completely from, intestine.)
More Silliness (Score:2)
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Looks like someone out there hit the pipe pretty hard before moderating.
Re:DRM (Score:5, Insightful)
if it's DRM-free, you'd better fucking BUY it to support people that make proper PC games.
Re:Not DRM related (Score:3, Interesting)
Actually this is one of the few games I have bought. I felt that after years of producing comics that gave me a good laugh ( though I wish fruit fucker and the divx player would make appearances again), i felt not just a relationship with the authors; and emotional investment if you will, in the characters that are portrayed through Penny Arcade. Playing the game was like reliving the comics
Further to that, the price of the game wasn't too bad either.
Re:DRM (Score:5, Informative)
I would imagine it would follow the last release, but I'm not sure anyone really knows.
The last release was available in two forms, that I know of:
- Xbox Live Arcade. The strictest DRM possible (they lock down your entire system and pretend it's an appliance (console) rather than a computer), but it generally works. It's not like you'll be running into "You're not allowed to have this program installed" bullshit with this.
- Greenhouse, their own digital distribution system. Light DRM, somewhat less than Windows XP -- when first installed, or when there's a significant hardware change, it phones home. Unlike XP, this "phoning home" doesn't force you to call someone in India and insist that it's the same computer -- you can install it as many times as you like. But they do reserve the right to notice if you're installing it on a few thousand of your best friends' systems, and disable your key in that event.
So no, not DRM-free, but what I would call an acceptable level of DRM. For example, it's not exactly going to refuse to run because Daemontools is installed.
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Re:DRM (Score:4, Insightful)
You act as if the DRM companies intentionally make it crackable. The fact is that any DRM a company makes is cracked.
This DRM sounds innocuous -- it just tracks how many times you install your key in case you try giving it to 30 of your friends or something. I would call that not restrictive...
Re:DRM (Score:5, Insightful)
You act as if the DRM companies intentionally make it crackable.
Not really, I act as if DRM companies knowingly provide solutions to publishers that are essentially nothing more than than exercises in "investor/board member reassurance" (Rather than truly effective pieces of DRM). Waste of investor money and perpetuation of the time honoured, "board amazement" principle.
I'm not against DRM. I'm against incompetence and time-wasting. Too much of current DRM is nothing more than snakeoil for publishers.
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I'm not against DRM. I'm against incompetence and time-wasting. Too much of current DRM is nothing more than snakeoil for publishers.
But all DRM is going to be crackable. The purpose of DRM is (a) to prevent casual copying and/or (b) to encourage legitimate users to buy multiple copies. In the best case, DRM is unobtrusive enough in operation and difficult enough to crack that people won't really bother to find a way to crack the DRM.
Uncrackable DRM is a fantasy, but if the "snakeoil" successfully prevents casual copying, it's about as effective as DRM is going to get.
Re:DRM (Score:4, Insightful)
DRM is an attempt to hand out usable copies of a binary file to paying customers, while trying to prevent those customers make further usable copies. This is the equivalent of trying to make water not wet.
So let me take your position and follow it to its logical conclusion; All DRM is snakeoil.
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Re:DRM (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't see light DRM as being acceptable if it is just going to be continuously broken days after it comes out. I'd be fine with DRM IF it remains uncrackable...
Is that really relevant, though?
I have a limit to what I will tolerate, as a customer. Whether or not it's effective is between the developer and the pirates.
But so far, I've had to enter a CD key exactly once -- I think it was even copied and pasted. I'm sorry, but the moral outrage simply isn't worth it when that's all that's at stake.
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This position is isomorphic to the position that all DRM is unacceptable.
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It was also available on Steam. Other than the Steam platform, no other DRM was included.
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I vaguely remembered Steam, and I Googled for it, but all I found were references to the Penny Arcade strips themselves being available on Steam, which seems like a retarded idea. (Why would you want them via Steam, rather than via Firefox?)
I'll take your word for it. Irrelevant to me, as I bought it for Linux.
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Just to point out that the makers of this game, pennyarcade and whoever else, the DRM of XBLA was beyond their control. They never said "let's put DRM into the XBLA version." My impression is that microsoft puts it automatically on everything. I would wager that even the stuff that is free is technically locked to one console.
But you have to be clear that the game shouldn't be dinged points because it has XBLA "DRM." It's not a choice in that case.
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I would wager that even the stuff that is free is technically locked to one console.
Correct. Everything you download to a 360, free or not, is locked to your console and gamertag. I imagine this makes it harder since you can't compare a DRM'd file with an unDRM'd file.
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They never said "let's put DRM into the XBLA version."
They did, however, say "let's put out an XBLA version."
But you have to be clear that the game shouldn't be dinged points because it has XBLA "DRM." It's not a choice in that case.
Again: They could have simply boycotted that whole platform.
As it is, it's like any other dev shop working for any other major label. It seems likely the developers would read Slashdot, and, being developers, would also understand the inherent flaws in any attempt at DRM. But at the end of the day, the label is writing your check, so they call the shots.
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Again: They could have simply boycotted that whole platform.
Oh please. They were more interested in making a game than a political stand. Penny arcade has always had a healthy perspective on DRM, that there are more important things out there if it's not actually a problem. XBLA DRM is not draconian.
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Try reading my entire post, next time... If they truly were "more interested in making a game", why not go with one of the major labels? Greenhouse is a political stand.
And this is a laugh:
XBLA DRM is not draconian.
The Xbox itself has some pretty draconian DRM. To put this in perspective:
The DRM in Bioshock, and in Spore, wouldn't let you run a specific list of programs, such as Daemon Tools. That's a blacklist.
The Xbox won't let you run anything but a specific list of (signed) programs. That's a whitelist.
So yes, I'd call a whiteli
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If you don't like DRM you shouldn't touch the game, period. That sends a stronger message than acquiring the game illegally. Otherwise you're just justifying to these companies the need for DRM.
And to make things worse, you make it seem like you'll download the game illegally even if the game has no DRM.
Price (Score:2)
I do appreciate the price drop, but could they please just make it an even 15$.
It always amazes me (Score:1, Insightful)
They actually made a good game that doesn't get in your way, is available on all the major platforms, actually includes humour and avoids ultramacho bullshit stereotypes except in high caricature, and costs as much as a night at the movies (with popcorn). What the fuck do people need in order to satisfy them? Let me stop you before you answer that: Nobody's going to include a free blowjob in the box.
This is about as good as it gets, you cunts. Get over your holy wars and buy the game, because it's the
Re:It always amazes me (Score:5, Funny)
try harder gabe.
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So you're saying we should all but the game, even if we have no interest? I mean seriously, if I was actually fan of Penny Arcade, I might have, but I'm not, and have MORE than enough games sitting here unplayed that I really don't need to add yet another one to the fray.
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Re:It always amazes me (Score:4, Funny)
Nobody's going to include a free blowjob in the box.
Ah, goddamnit. Ripped off again.
DRM (Score:5, Insightful)
What is with EVERY SINGLE THREAD about video games turning into anti-DRM rants. Sorry, DRM is today's copy protection. Copy protection has been in games since they put spin wheels and decoder cards into the game box. This will not be going away. Yes, some of you will refuse to buy games because of it, but you're not gamers. Playing the original Zork over 20 years ago doesn't qualify you as a gamer. CDs were their very own copy protection when they first came out since nobody had the patience to transfer 650 megs over their 9600 baud modem. Then came security keys, and then DVDs. Now it's DRM since people will gladly download 8GB games, and it will take a single night. Enough already. I came in here to read about the game and there isn't a single post about it.
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Yeah, what happened to the good ol' days when EVERY SINGLE THREAD about video games turned into a rant against JACK THOMPSON???
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Yes, some of you will refuse to buy games because of it, but you're not gamers
I am, in fact, a gamer, and I have refused to buy a game because of its DRM. How many hundreds of dollars per year do I need to spend on games before I pass your mystical threshold?
Enough already. I came in here to read about the game and there isn't a single post about it.
Because there's nothing to discuss. We've got a teaser video and a price drop; what's to discuss in this that hasn't already been said? Besides, people are talking about something that's important to them and important to video games as a whole. The issue of what DRM ships with the game is as or more pertinent than discussing the
Happy that they listened to cystomer feedback (Score:3, Insightful)
I enjoyed the first one and will buy this one.
As for the DRM, come on folks, the PC/Mac/Linux version gets installed pretty quickly. I can't even remember if I needed to input my license key except to download it. I can install it at home like I want and play. No worries. No activation through internet or other crap. No intrusive sending data to the base (Spore).
I think DRM is silly, but having some way of allowing paying customers to download the full version and letting non-paying customers download a demo version is acceptable so long as you don't try to push it further.
Again, thank for listening to feedback. Responding to it means that I will buy this one (in one or two weeks, when my exams are finished)
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I'd say it's just smart. They couldn't know if they were going to have a successful game to start, and they had to give it a price bump to make some of their money back.
The drop reflects that the game was reasonably popular, and that their likelihood of making a modest profit meant that they could afford to drop the price and still make their money back.
Ooooh, this is really bad timing. (Score:4, Interesting)
Well, I kind of liked the first game (it was worth my $20 at the time), but I'm goddamn drowning here in Fable II, Fallout 3, Saint's Row 2, a Dead Space I haven't even opened, the new Castlevania...
Just bad timing, guys. Your amusing writing but mediocre gameplay just can't compete with that. Maybe later?
Re:Ooooh, this is really bad timing. (Score:4, Interesting)
Not to mention the next installment in the Homestar Runner game coming out, er, today. And Little Big Planet. And Far Cry 2. And King's Bounty (which is remarkably awesome - it's like the Russians are the only ones who remember how to do good PC RPGs these days). And World of Goo. And the stuff at gog.com, crying "download me" directly into my subconscious. It'll be 2009 by the time I finish the stuff coming in the next week, and that doesn't take into account November's wave of gaming goodness.
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...and Fallout 3...
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As I said before ... (Score:1, Interesting)
I wonder if they tweaked the gameplay any? (Score:2)
I'd like to see a re-balance in the second