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PS3 Versus the World

Sony has been going crazy trying to keep clever users from unlocking the PS3 to run homebrew (like the Wii hack which I love!).

First of all, companies are trying everything they can, but in the end it won't amount to much. Consider that all it takes is one person anywhere in the world to figure out the encryption codes (not the real name, but it's simpler) who then shares it online (like in this hilarious example where a user tricked a Sony spokesperson into sharing a PS3 related code to his audience of thousands on Twitter!).

And yet companies get increasingly difficult and stupid about trying to protect their games which only makes things harder for the legitimate users (obligatory comic referencing this concept). All I can say is good luck Sony.

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Farmville Addiction Leads to Baby’s Death

Today a severely depressing story of a baby that was shaken to death for interrupting his mother's Farmville time.

A normal parent knows interruptions happen and can deal, but someone suffering from an addiction is different. They're obsessed and nothing else is as important!

The Mashable article says this:

Needless to say, it is Ms. Tobias — and not the game itself — that is responsible for the death of her 3-month-old son.

While this is completely true, I don't think it's right to say that Farmville was not involved and bears none of the responsibility. The game, is fun, engaging, bright and feeds into people's innate needs to build, organize, nurture, and escape (all signs of addictive games), but worst of all, Farmville punishes you for not playing. When you stop playing, your animals and crops die.

At some point, the people who make Farmville had a meeting to decide how to keep people playing the game and came up with the death idea. To be fair, maybe they didn't realize how this would lead many people into addiction, but it has and that fact is pretty obvious by now.

Even Mashable agrees:

FarmVille, named one of the “worst inventions” in recent decades by Time magazine, has more than 60 million members, most of whom access the game through Facebook (Facebook). Some players have found it so addicting that they’ve lost their jobs and racked up debts north of $1,000.

In the end, what company owns up to this and apologizes or changes their ways even in the face of deaths and misery that they had a hand in causing? Instead, they'll blame the user saying that it's totally their responsibility for becoming addicted. So the only choice you have is to handle it yourself.

You have to manage or completely avoid games that are (allegedly) built addictive. Just do a search for "name of game" addictive and if there are pages and pages of results, you just might want to steer clear.

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12 Year Old Boy Uses World of Warcraft Skills to Save Sister’s Life

(Image used under: Fair Use doctrine)

So you think all those online games rot your brain, make you slovenly, and are a complete waste of time? You're still right, but there are some unexpected benefits it seems.

A Norwegian boy who apparently plays the popular online game, World of Warcraft, used the skills he learned in the game to save his sister and then himself from an angry Moose.

Hans and his sister got into trouble after they had trespassed the territory of the moose during a walk in the forest near their home. When the moose attacked them, Hans knew the first thing he had to do was ‘taunt’ and provoke the animal so that it would leave his sister alone and she could run to safety. ‘Taunting’ is a move one uses in World of Warcraft to get monsters off of the less-well-armored team members.

Once Hans was a target, he remembered another skill he had picked up at level 30 in ‘World of Warcraft’ – he feigned death. The moose lost interest in the inanimate boy and wandered off into the woods. When he was safely alone Hans ran back home to share his tale of video game-inspired survival.

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Story of Gaming Addiction

(Image used under: Creative Commons 2.5 [SRC])

This is a heartbreaking account of someone's battle with gaming addiction. Posted here so I can look it up later.

This pretty much sums it up.

"I hated level 40," she said with a sigh. It was the first time we'd spoken in eight years, and she had never forgotten the night I spurned her advances in favor of gaining a level in EverQuest.
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Spore Slapped With Class Action Suit Over Invasive DRM

(Image used under: Creative Commons 2.5 [SRC])

It's hardly surprising that there has been a huge backlash against Spore due to the decision to include DRM. I'm a little surprised, but very happy, that someone had the tenacity to file a class action lawsuit against them for it.

In the end, no company has the right to control your game playing to this degree. It's a shame that a game from such a well-renowned company would be smeared and tarnished because their foolish decision to treat their customers like criminals.

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“Spore” Dying Under DRM

DRM
(Image is in the Public Domain)

Spore, the long-awaited video game from the creator of Sim-City and the Sims has finally been released, but with a catch. It includes invasive Digital Rights Management (DRM) that has resulted in a movement by gamers to keep the Amazon.com score at the absolute bottom.

I hate to see a good game go down, but no company has the right to try so hard to control how we use our legally purchased software.

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Second Life Market About to Crash?

(Image source is unknown)

It seems that the Second Life client can be made to connect to open servers run by anyone. If that's the case, then what will maintain the Second Life market structure? A lot of their income came from land (which you had to pay a monthly fee to own), but if you can now go to an open server for your land where there's no charge (or run your own), what will Linden do?

Even worse, if the only thing keeping people from copying items is a terms of service agreement, what's to stop someone from doing it on a completely open server? This is also great news for those involved in virtual sexual deviance ("age-play" for example) who will now be able to do what they wish without interference.

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Massive Multi-player Online Gaming for Kids – Beware

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There are already plenty of cases of adults or college students who have lost jobs and dropped out of school due to MMO gaming obsessions. Now we're going to unleash this on our kids?

If you're thinking of letting you kid play an MMO, be very careful about what game you choose and be sure to set limits on how and when they play.

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New Video Game Forces Adware Functionality to Play

(Image used under: Creative Commons 2.5 [SRC])

Hellgate, a soon-to-be-released video game includes a license agreement that forces players to accept the harvesting of identifying information from their machine. This is part of an in-game advertising scheme that, so far, doesn't quite reach the level of what the Penny Arcade cartoonists prophesied, but it's getting closer.

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Casual Gaming Big Business and Getting Bigger

I was glad to see this Ars Technica article about how casual gaming is a huge thing especially in the arena of casual MMOs. This is what I’ve been saying all along with my City of Heroes webpage. Tags:

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Chat, Instant Messaging, Forums, and Internet Blogs are fun, but make sure you post carefully.
Sometimes spyware gets in your computer and the anti-virus won't stop it. Use a spyware scanner to find and remove spyware and adware.
Use a software firewall to detect bad code on your computer when it tries to connect to the Internet.
Always keep your system up to date with security patches or none of the rest of your security software will matter.
Use an encryption tool to protect your important data when storing or transmitting it.
Switch to Firefox for your web browsing and you'll be better protected from Internet threats.

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Digital Rights Management (DRM)

What is Digital Rights Management (a.k.a. DRM) and why does it matter?

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Spyware Scanners

Learn how to detect and remove spyware and adware using a free scanning tool.

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Software Firewall

Learn what a firewall is and why you want one on your computer.

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Operating System Updates

Make sure to keep your operating system up-to-date with security patches or else none of the rest of your security software will be able to protect you.

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File Encryption

Learn how to protect your important files on your computer or when transmitting them with free tools for file encryption.

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Mozilla Firefox - Internet Browser

There are many browser choices out there. Read why I think Firefox is one of the best.

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