Archive for October, 2008

Millions of video game lovers, many of whom were devoted to the widely popular Sims video games, waited anxiously for Electronic Arts newest video game release called Spore. Electronics Arts did not disappoint it’s many fans as the $49.99 regular version of Spore, the $9.99 Spore Creature Creator and the $79.99 Galactic version of Spore were released without a hitch and were quickly snatched off the retail stores shelves. Although Spore’s sales didn’t quite match the volume of sales of video game monoliths Guitar Hero III or Grand Theft Auto IV, it did very well. It is usually about a week after a video game release when the people who bought the game begin flooding the Internet with either their personal praise or damnation of the video game. They talk about things like game play, graphics speed and resolution, end game, online play, character building etc. Not this time! With Spore, the talk was all about its DRM!

What is DRM? The copyright protection called DRM is an acronym for Digital Rights Management, a term used to describe the different techniques for restricting the free use and transfer of digital content. DRM is used in a number of media, but is found most often in music and video files. Many of people believe that DRM should stand for Digital Restrictions Manager being that it manages users restrictions while taking away their rights. Companies like Apple began using DRM under the auspices of fighting piracy. Has it worked? You tell me. After the news of the type of severe DRM Electronics Arts put on Spore spread to future buyers, it took only days for over 500,000 illegal copies of the Spore video game (without DRM) to be downloaded from P2P BitTorrent sites on the Internet. Does DRM work? No! It ticks people off. If you don’t believe it, ask Amazon.com, where thousands of people unhappy with Spore’s DRM restrictions gave the new video game a lowly one star rating. Thanks to DRM, Spore has become the most pirated game ever.

So, what was so bad about Spore’s DRM to get so many people in an uproar? Here is what it is all about and I am going to tell you from first hand experience because I purchased the $79.99 Galactic version of Spore and after one more download, the game will be worthless. Because my video card was not set perfectly to run Spore, I received a warning message after the first installation that I needed to change my video card settings and reinstall Spore again or the game would not work. One installation used. I did what was required and reinstalled Spore again. No error messages this time, the game works wonderfully. Two installations used. So why am I counting installations? You see, with Spore’s DRM restrictions, the purchaser can only install the game three times. After the third installation, your bought and paid for game of Spore will be nothing but a worthless piece of plastic. You can play it, but you will never be able to install it again. So you pray nothing goes wrong with your computer because you won’t be able to install Spore to a new one. If I would have known about Electronic Arts DRM restrictions for Spore, I never would have purchased it and I may have gone as far as joining the other 500,000 so-called pirates visiting a free game downloads site to download a DRM-less version.

Some folks say that a company should be allowed to protect their copyrighted products, and I agree as long as they don’t take the rights away from the new owners, the people who have purchased those copyrighted products. I want to first say that I don’t necessarily hate the idea of copyright protection but I do hate the way DRM is being abused by the companies. When a person buys a copyrighted product, the copyright should now belong to the new owner along with the product. As far as I am concerned, when I purchase something it should be mine to do with as I please. As long as it does not involve harming, torturing or killing a living creature, I should have complete and total rights to do what I want with that product. Here are some examples of what I mean. If I were to purchase a German Shepherd dog ($800), it is mine. If I want to either sell or give my dog away to someone else, I have every right to do so. If I buy a car ($25,000) and a week later feel like selling it or giving it away, I can because I have the every right to do so. If I were to buy a house ($200,000) outright for cash (I wish), that house would be completely mine to sell or even give it away if I choose. If I have complete and total rights to do what I want with my dog, my car and my house, will somebody please tell me why can I face criminal charges and punishment for doing what I want with my $79.99 game of Spore or any other video game for that matter. Heck, with EA’s new DRM restrictions imposed on my Spore video game, I can’t even install it more than three times. In truth, Spore still belongs to Electronic Arts even though I forked out my hard earned cash for the rights of ownership. Therein lies the true crime my friends. And the video game industry is wondering why more and more normally honest folks have turned to pirating.

Sadly, video game companies like Electronic Arts are unwittingly causing the downfall of the video game industry with their abuse of DRM restrictions. Piracy paranoia has already taken a huge bite out of the PC and Mac game industry. Remember when stores like Egghead and Electronics Boutique used to be stocked wall to wall with computer games for your PC or Mac. Then they come up with all of these unjust anti-piracy rules that if you open the games packaging there will be no exchanges or refunds allowed. Are you kidding me. With all of the different computer configurations out there due to lack of standards within the industry, you were lucky not to run into a conflict when installing or playing the game. How many of you remember buying a $50 computer game only to have it not work when you installed it. Remember how you felt when you tried to get your money back for a $50 game that you never even got to play only to be told by the suspicious salesman at the stores counter, Too Bad, No Refund, No Exchange Policy Here! A lot of people remember. That is the main reason good honest folk turned to P2P download sites for their computer games in the first place. No risk of losing their money through no fault of their own. Thus began the downfall of the video game industry for PC’s and Mac’s. Now when you go into a store looking to purchase a game for your PC, all you will find is a little rack of about fifteen computer games tucked away somewhere in the back of a video game store.

Don’t look now, but the video game industry is following that same path of self destruction as before, and the DRM restrictions they are putting on games like Spore will be their undoing. If the fact that the Spore DRM policy has caused it to become the most pirated video game in history does not bring about changes in copyright policies, then they will be in deep trouble as an industry. I realize I am ranting but I tend to get ticked off when I am being ripped off and I am not alone here. Head over to CNet or Amazon.com to see what people are saying about the Spore DRM policy. The video game makers had better listen too, because they are on the path of causing their own demise with such a draconic DRM policy. Electronic Arts, the maker of Spore especially had better open up its ears, because over 500,000 people downloading DRM free versions of the video game from Free Game Downloads sites in only a few days makes a thunderous sound. The release of Spore was supposed to be a happy day for all. Instead, EA’s punishing DRM policy may have begun the downfall of the video game industry, and that would be a sad day for everyone.

On the market today there is now available some crazy and zany video games that can enhance the video gaming experience for gamers. These incredible video games have the ability to cause the villains within a video game to begin dancing to disco music.

The most bizarre of these newly bizarre video games are produced by Insomniac Games, who also produced the Ratchet And Clank Future – Tools Of Destruction video game. Within this video game was the introduction of the Transformer that had the ability to turn enemies into tiny, little penguins and the Gelanator that could trap its enemies in ice cubes that were made of lime gelatin. Their whimsical look on video games has enabled the majority of their video games to become top titles on the bestseller charts by the gaming industry.

The magical and advanced technology that is used in creating special effects in many movies are the same ones that are used to create the realistic graphics and life like animation within many video games produced by Insomniac Games. Insomniac Games is one of the few independent video game developers that are still battle for their place among the big league names of Activision and Electronic Arts Incorporated. Already two top independent video game developers, Pandemic Studios and BioWare Corporation, have sold out to Electronic Arts Incorporated.

Insomniac Games is a company that has reserved the rights to keep to their roots as a goofy and informal company that can focus on creativity and fun. This company was founded in 1994 and has been going strong ever since they released their very first video game demo entitled, Disruptor. However, it only sold close to two hundred thousand copies, which is not great, but for a first time video game it is not too shabby either.

The second video game that they released was Spyro the Dragon, which featured a friendly purple dragon and it was a runaway hit. This video game was so incredible that between 1998 and 2000 there were three more video games created that were based on the Dragon Spyro. The sales of these video games reached close to twelve million copies actually being sold.

Then in 2002, they created Ratchet And Clank, which was about a furry yellow creature and his robot sidekick. This video game was such a huge hit that it sold more than twelve million copies. The major video game they released was a more mature type of video game known as, Resistance – Fall Of Man. This video game became one of the best selling video games for Sony and its Playstation 3 video game system.

Insomniac Games develops video games for only Sony, and since the Playstation 3 video gaming system has fallen way behind the sales of the Wii and Xbox-360 they have truly been affected. However, they are not considering selling out to the larger video game developing companies. In fact, they will consider developing video games for other video game system manufactures first.

They have created such fabulous video games as Spyro the Dragon in 1998, Spyro 2 – Ripto’s Rage in 1999, Spryo – Year of the Dragon in 2000, Ratchet & Clank in 2002, Ratchet & Clank – Going Commando in 2003, Ratchet & Clank – Up Your Arsenal in 2004, Ratchet Deadlocked in 2005, Ratchet & Clank Future – Tools of Destruction in 2006, and Resistance – Fall of Man in 2007.

Video games wholesalers are now numerous in numbers providing video games online retail outlets with current wholesale list of the latest in video games. If you are an online video game retailer, surely you have your own video games wholesaler distributor whom you have been depending on for your source of the latest video games and even accessories.

The explosive growth of the video gaming industry became more evident with the onset of the internet. Online gaming and the business of selling video games online enhanced more the growth of this industry. Retailers selling video games online proliferated.

Makers of video games soon realized the need to increase more the volume of their production due to the ever increasing demand for their product enhanced more by online retail business. Offline wholesalers of video games supplying the needs of offline video game retailers soon recognized the online opportunity for increased business.

Thus, in a matter of time, the triangular relationship between makers of video games, online video games wholesalers and online video games retailers came into being to serve the demand of online video games clientele. This business arrangement made the retailers depend on wholesalers for their supply of video games through their updated wholesale list of video games product.

If you are new to video games retailing business and you would want to find dependable video games wholesalers, it would be more advisable to learn first from those who are already there, meaning from owners of online video games retailers themselves. This is the safest way of going about looking for dependable video games wholesalers. This advice is simply due to the fact that because of the increasing popularity of this kind of online business, scammers like flies, are attracted to them.

So, beware. Another way would be to join discussions on the same eBay where you can ask for advices as to the legitimate and dependable video games wholesaler distributors. Options of Places You have for trading your time for a potential long term successful venture with the wanted source for your business necessities:

Article Directories: One place you can do well to accumulate information about useful and helpful sites that can assist you in your video games online retail business is an article directory. Article directories are now the in thing when it comes to looking for supplier of goods and services.

This is where most wholesalers, distributors, suppliers and even retailers would talk about their products and how you can benefit from them. If you happen to be looking for the kind of products or services they are writing about, you can then follow their link found below their articles.

There are surely many more ways. You need to keep doing your diligence with the correct information sources in order to rise up and beat your competition. Not only it is fun when you know what your results will be, you should also profit from the sale of your wholesale video games accessories. So make sure to treat your video games wholesalers well so you can also reap the rewards this holiday season no matter how slow the economic is for many.