The headlines practically write themselves: <a href="http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/04/demigod-hit-by-massive-piracy-review-scores-take-beating.ars">pirated copies of Stardocks' new game Demigod overwhelmed legitimate copies, crashing the Demigod servers on its premiere weekend</a>. Their servers saw 100,000 more users connect than expected, but only 18,000 of those users were legitimate.
Stardock is one of the game industry's most lenient companies when it comes to DRM. For their newest game, Demigod, they decided to avoid needlessly restrictive (and ultimately futile) DRM schemes, and allow players access to multiplayer mode only with the use of a license key, which was printed on the CD of licensed copies.
This is all well and good, but <a href="http://forums.demigodthegame.com/347467">as a (remarkably open and honest) post by Stardock's CEO Brad Wardell points out</a>, it wasn't the cause of the problem. The Demigod servers were overwhelmed by simple HTTP request. Every time a copy of the game is booted up, it asks the Demigod servers, "Hey, do you have any updates for me?" This occurs whether or not the game has the license key installed Read more
Medal of Honor Frontline
Back in the year 2000 a British game developer called The Creative Assembly revolutionised the real time strategy genre with Shogun: Total War. I’m not generally given to hyperbole but a revolution is the only way to describe it. This new brand of real time battle on huge varied terrain maps with massive opposing armies was a breath of fresh air. A genre which was stagnating with endless Command and Conquer knock offs had found an entirely new direction and the game-play was captivating.
Wanted came out in 2008 and featured plenty of slick gun action as James McAvoy became a professional assassin and learned to bend bullets in the air in an impossible manner. Game tie-ins now seem inevitable and so Wanted: Weapons of Fate on the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC was to be expected. It is a third-person shooter with plenty of gun play and a focus on using cover and bending bullets.
