Adi's Tech Site

Another thing that happened over the weekend was the release of a game called GameDev Tycoon.  Essentially, it’s a game developer simulation title. You start off with a small game development company which is based out of a garage. Your task is to make it into a huge game developer like Nintendo, EA, or Ubisoft. So what’s unique about this niche title?

Well, you will be able to make progress until a certain point, where your product is being seriously pirated.  The thing to note that this feature only exists in a pirated version of the game which is available on BitTorrent (uploaded by Greenheart Games, the developer of this title). They talk about what happens in full on the Greenheart Games blog

Just for the record, I am completely against piracy.  I love supporting the developers by paying for the game.

In my opinion, this is quite a creative way to get pirates to pay for the game. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good measure.  As with any other game it won’t be too long before someone figures out a workaround to circumvent this rather unique DRM system.

However, if someone wants to try the game first then they should really download the free trial.  If you like it then buy it, and if you don’t like it then don’t buy it. It’s that simple.  I am not trying to be controversial, I’m just being honest.

You read the title of this one right. The folks at Nintendo are going to be shutting down the following Channels on their Wii games consoles worldwide:

• Mii Contest Channel/Check Mii Out
• News Channel
• Everybody Votes
• Nintendo Channel
• Weather/Forecast Channel

In Japan, Nintendo will also be shutting down the Digicam Print Channel.

According to CNET, Nintendo have said that they are shutting down said channels because there was “a very low participation rate”.

It is a sad day in the games industry as THQ is officially dead.  The game maker is bankrupt and its games are being sold off to other companies. So far, we know that Sega is going to own Company of Heroes and Warhammer 40,000, Saints Row and Metro are going to Deep Silver(Koch Media), and THQ Montreal and South Park are going to Ubisoft.

Earlier today, I reported about EA who had started their massive sale for a whole load of their iOS games. Well it seems that a lot of companies want to do the same.  The folks at Valve have also started their 2012 holiday sales on the Steam store. This gives you a great opportunity to get some great games at discounted prices.  Every day there are going to be some featured deals and some flash sales which don’t last as long as the featured deals.

The flash sales normally last anywhere up to half a day so you would need to buy those fast in order to save.

For example, one of the featured deals at the Moment is EA’s Mirror’s Edge. It normally costs £13.99 but you will be able to get it for just £3.24 if you buy it in the next two days.

Of course, there are some other bundles of games including a Sega bundle, a THQ bundle and a valve bundle just to name a few.

Of course, this is just the beginning of these bundles, so be sure to check back into the Steam store soon to see what deals are available.

Update: This holiday sale is only on until 5th January 2013.

Christmas is one of the best times of the year to get some serious discounts on some software and hardware.  The folks at Good Old Games GOG have made Duke Nukem 3D available for free! However, this offer is only open for the next two days. That being said these downloads will be completely DRM-free! You can go ahead and grab the goods from GOG.com

Some of you out there might be familiar with LoveFilm.  If you’re not then it’s a service that allows you to stream a whole catalogue of Movies and TV shows to your device. Well, just last week, LoveFilm had released their official Wii U app and you could download it.  However, the folks at LoveFilm have now activated the Wii U app and I can confirm that it’s now usable.

If you’ve been waiting to get your mech on for a while then the first-person mech shooter known as Hawken will be open to the public soon. Players will be able to get their hands on an open beta release from next week on 12th December 2012. You can sign up by going to PlayHawken.com.