socrossblog

Securom gives love a bad name

I’ve been a fan of SpoonyOne for a long time – this guys a riot!  His latest video talks about a rather touchy subject – Securom… Personally, I’m at a loss to understand why any company would use this program given the amount of ire its name conjures.  Is it because these companies are so out of touch?  It seems a little unlikely, since most of them employ gamers on many levels.  Geeze guys, at least call it something else!!  Something like awesomeware, or hotchickmagnet, something with a positive spin!

Ok, I kid, but really, I wonder how many babies are being thrown out with the bathwater these days.  Is it worth the anger and potential sales loss to include this kind of software?  I can hear the masses of gamers screaming NO! but clearly companies see some sort of upside. 

I think it’s always hard when a company implements a solution that is all upside for them and little or no upside for its customers.  Normally when this happens the customers move on (as in the case of DRM for the music industry…amazon mp3 FTW!) and find what they want elsewhere, but the game companies all use some form of DRM so there’s really nowhere else for us to go.

It’s also a little perplexing as a gamer because I see less invasive methods already in the market.  In my DJ life I’ve used a program called Ableton Live – this thing is not cheap ($499) so presumably they are more worried about piracy than you might be for a $55 game.  Their method involves a one-time online registration, and allows you to use the program on up to two machines at a time per license.  They also allow you to deauthorize a computer so that you can load it up again. 

Pretty simple, non-invasive and once you do it, you don’t have to think about it again.  This program has been around for awhile, so why aren’t we seeing something like this for gaming?  I suspect that this system is harder on the company, but if you are getting paid to make games, shouldn’t you take the hard parts and leave the easy parts for your customers?

Black Tiger, Green Laffy Taffy

Growing up in Bakersfield, California, I played computer and video games every chance I got – mostly at home on my NES (or on the ol’ Vic 20), but sometimes I’d head to Howard’s Mini Mart and play whatever cabinet game they happened to have.  I remember playing a lot of Airwolf, but the game that really sticks out in my memory is Black Tiger.

I first saw this game in 1989, while trying to decide between a box of grapeheads and some laffy taffy.  Needless to say, Ferrara Pan would have to wait that day…

Thanks to my PSP, I’ve been playing it again, and it is simply amazing how I can still smell the gentle aroma of fizzy fountain drinks and tangy nerds candy whenever I fire that game up.  I’m sure that my reverence for the game comes mainly from the simpler era in which I played it, but the design had several elements that put it ahead of its time:

Exploration: This game had a great way of encouraging exploration – arrows.  There were brown arrows and red arrows.  If you followed the red ones you got through the level as quickly as possible, but if you wanted to stop and smell the roses you followed the brown ones (ironic, no?).  Coupled with mini-levels and hidden bonuses and you’ve got one seriously quarter-eating, totally replayable game.

Variety: With the exception of the first two levels, each level has a distinct look and feel to it.  And just when you think you’ve seen all the enemies… Ninjas show up!

Upgrades: I know this is tame by today’s standards, but the ability to buy upgrades to your weapons and armor was pretty advanced for its day.  I think I learned more about the value of a dollar (or a zenny) from Black Tiger than from any of my first jobs!

So while Black Tiger may not be the best game in history, it certainly shaped a lot of my early game design philosophy.  I learned a lot about replayability and what makes a game fun – what games come to mind when you think of your early gaming days, and why?

My DJ Videos

I first picked up the needle in 1991, when I worked as the sound tech for a DJ friend of mine.  I was one of six kids in my family, so I had no cash to buy that expensive DJ gear.  Luckily, Rob let me take the turntables every once in a while, and I was hooked!  I’ll never forget playing “Ice Ice Baby” when it was on brand new, glistening vinyl…

I took a break for a long time after that, but finally dove back in when I asked my friend Dave “wouldn’t it be cool if you could DJ off of your laptop?” back in 2002.  Of course, unbeknownst to me it had been going on for quite some time, so clearly it was a brilliant idea!

I started off with PCDJ, and after being mostly disappointed with it moved on to Virtual DJ.  That program is a really fun tool, with lots of bells and whistles – along with one of the most accepting, user-friendly communities I’ve ever been a part of. 

Learning the technical aspects of digital DJing wasn’t easy – I tried tons of different configurations of sounds cards, laptops and controllers.  It was a pain!  A couple of books really helped – Laptop Music Power! by John Von Seggern and How to DJ Right by Frank Broughton and Bill Brewster (thanks guys, your books are amazing!). 

Even with these amazing resources, the learning curve was steep.  After finally getting to a place where I felt comfortable with my setup, I decided to make some videos so that others wouldn’t have to work as hard for the info as I did.  Also, it’s just easier to show people stuff rather than try to type it out.  I’m proud to say that in total they got over 360,000 views as I write this, so check them out and let me know what you think!

Update

Hey all,

As you no doubt have guessed by now, I’m no longer blogging for Microsoft.  I was one of the 1400 who lost their jobs last January, and I’m still looking for work. 

Since I built this site with my own money, I figured I’d take it back!  To be clear, this site is not connected with Microsoft in any way – except for the fact that I’m typing this post on a Windows machine. 

So what will I be blogging about?  Gaming is only one thing I’m into – I also do improv comedy, and I DJ (mainly hip hop/top 40 stuff.)  So the subtitle above really says it – random opinions from one guy…

So if you’re subscribed for the PC gaming stuff, I’m sure I’ll still post about it, but the focus of the blog is changing to my personal blog.  Hope you enjoy!! 

(and if you know of any product evangelist/community management/game design work out there, drop me a line!)