Storm clouds gathering over MMO games
Some disappointing news this week, at least for rabid gamers and fans of science fiction. Sony Online Entertainment, publishers of the ambitious massively multiplayer online RPG, The Matrix Online, has announced the game is to close.
It isn't the first MMO to close this year, as Tabula Rasa, the over-hyped project of Richard Garriott, had only celebrated its first birthday before NCSoft pulled the plug. Two other promising MMO titles released last year - Warhammer Online and Age of Conan - have both seen dwindling subscription numbers and the developers have had to reduce the number of servers to ensure the game world remains populated.
While nearly every recently released MMO is struggling to survive, the venerable World of Warcraft continues to pick up subscribers, having passed the 10 million milestone, while other games are lucky to retain 100,000 subscribers six months after launch. Its publisher, Blizzard, has made more than a few gold coins from the title and its recent merger with Activision makes it the largest games company in the world.
So what's the problem? The Matrix is a great science fiction license, with a trilogy of extremely popular films under its belt, and a legion of fans. The game promised to continue the Matrix storyline after the third film, with plenty to whet the appetites of fans, including live events where the player would interact with famous Matrix characters, whose roles would be played out by real people, employed by the game's publishers. There's an excellent insight into how these events panned out by Steve Williams, one of the original gamesmasters.
Ever since I first played Planetside, a massively multiplayer first-person shooter, I've consistently argued that persistent game worlds with dynamic content are the future of gaming. However it seems more difficult than ever to produce an MMO that works. There are plenty of factors involved, each of which could provide enough subject material for a lengthy essay. Most of these boil down to MMO projects being simply too expensive, in the face of a PC games market that's becoming dwarfed by the consoles, which are not a good platform for persistent-world gaming. WoW is the single example of a blockbuster-selling PC MMORPG, a large part of its success being down to lower system requirements, while the experience of playing many other games is hampered if you haven't spent £1,000 on a high-end PC in the last six months.
Two highly anticipated new MMORPGs are due to hit the PC soon, based off what are undoubtedly the two biggest film licenses ever. Star Trek Online has fans of the series dusting off their uniforms, stroking their portrait of a bearded Commander Ryker that hangs over the fireplace, while repeatedly practicing the immortal phrase "make it so" in front of the bathroom mirror. You can see why they're excited: the screenshots of the game look gorgeous, and could finally give fans the game they've dreamed about.
Meanwhile Star Wars is going to receive its second MMO incarnation, with The Old Republic, an MMO game set long before the events of the films, and produced by Bioware, a company with plenty of classic PC RPGs under its belt.
However, whereas I once would have bet the keys to my house on the success of these two games, I'm adopting a wait-and-see approach for now. Games in general are becoming more expensive to produce each year, and MMOs require a great deal of continued investment after they hit retail. The more ambitious the design, the more expensive the game is to run, and without enormous numbers of subscribers, most MMOs simply aren't viable. If the game design is flawed, with gamers becoming frustrated, they simply leave, or (ahem) return to WoW.
Vista SP2 frees up disk space
After running Vista SP2 beta on one of our test systems since March, we decided to remove it and install the final release version that appeared last week. To our surprise, after the tediously long process, we found that about 30GB of extra free space was available on the 250GB C: drive - it had increased from 58GB to 88GB, a handy amount of useful space.
Netbook confusion remains as Microsoft backtracks on Win7 Lite
Confusion still reigns in the netbook arena, with Microsoft reported to be backtracking on its decision to limit the devices to three running application under the Windows 7 starter edition. The same site also says Microsft had made it impossible to change the Windows 7 wallpaper but has thought better of it.
Techarp, apparently drawing on information from computer manufacturers, says there will be starter editions designed for two categories, a netbook and a small notebook PC, as well as a special edition for China. Microsft defines a netbook as having a screen diagonal of 10.2in or less.
Techarp says limitations on graphics and touch capabilities on netbooks have been removed.
Microsoft is keeping mum on the subject but with at least three open-source projects - Android, Intel's Moblin and Ubuntu - targeting the new formats it must be wary of allowing its rivals to gain critical mass in a potentially huge new market.
The fixation on categories - netbook and small notebook - has more to do with software pricing than technology. The cheaper the hardware gets, the higher the software costs as a proportion of the selling price, and the more likely it will be that people will choose open-source if Microsoft does not cut its prices. Hence the idea of a Windows 7 Lite, which allows the company to undercut its own products on price.
Microsoft has no option but it's a risky strategy, especially as people may have different expectations of emerging true portables and don't necessarily want a "pocket Windows". This is especially so as first generation non-x86 formats are likely have the edge over Wintel products on portability and battery life (see below).
Apple, which broke one mould with the iPhone but has so far ignored the new formats, could also spring a surprise; but it is not chief executive Steve Jobs's style to go downmarket and any Macnetbook is unlikely to be challenging on price.
Meanwhile, Lenovo has launched a 12.1in machine using nVidia's Ion platform, which couples a GeForce 9400M graphics processor and Intel Atom processor on a Pico-ITXe motherboard. Ion gives the IdeaPad S12 (pictured above left) the performance of a gaming machine capable of playing HD movies to an external display using an HDMI link. It is described as a netbook, contrary to Microsoft's definition, which just goes to show that where the marketing men lead, the public is not always sure to follow.
Microsoft makes your PC talk in its sleep
Windows 7 gets scary
No this isn't a pic from the trailer of of some cheap budget horror flick, but one of the desktop wallpaper images bundled with Windows 7 RC1. What on earth were the developers eating?Mcafee: How to spot Conficker
What is the Conficker worm?
Conficker first surfaced late last year, taking advantage of a security flaw in Microsoft's Windows operating system to spread itself. Microsoft provided an emergency fix for the vulnerability last October with Security Update MS08-067. However, because many systems were not patched or properly protected with security software, Conficker has slithered onto as many as 12 million Windows computers, according to some estimates.
Some experts believe that one variant of the worm, Conficker.C, may activate on April 1 and start another assault on Windows computers. Computers infected with Conficker become part of an army of compromised computers and could be used to launch attacks on Web sites, distribute spam, host phishing Web sites or other criminal activities. Additionally, once it is on a computer, Conficker digs itself in by attempting to deactivate security software and sabotaging tools to remove it.
How do I know if I'm affected?
"One of the symptoms of this worm is that it blocks access to Web sites of Internet security companies," says Dave Marcus, of McAfee Avert Labs. "A pretty good indication of whether your computer has been infected is to try and visit McAfee's Web site: www.mcafee.com. If the site won't load, you will need to clean your infected computer by searching for McAfee? Avert? Labs Stinger tool on the Internet. You should also install Microsoft's patch to prevent the worm from reinstalling itself."
As Conficker blocks popular security Web sites, including www.mcafee.com, users should search for "stinger virus removal" on the Internet, if they are unable to obtain it from McAfee's Web site. Alternatively, users may transport the Stinger tool via a USB stick from an uninfected computer.
McAfee has released a free tool that will help assess multiple computers for the presence of Conficker. This new tool, termed ConTest, may be downloaded at no charge at http://www.mcafee.com/us/enterprise/confickertest.html
Removing Conficker and preventing re-infection
Anti-malware solutions will clean the infection and use behavioural detections techniques like buffer overflow protection to prevent future infections. This is important because Conficker can propagate via portable media such as an infected USB drive. As the drive is accessed, the system processes autorun.inf and executes the attack. And finally, ensure all computers have Microsoft Security Update MS08-067 installed.
For more information on the Conficker worm and how users can protect themselves, visit http://www.mcafee.com/us/threat_center/conficker.html
UI designers hate lefties
Using a smartphone over the weekend led me to realise that I am completely handicapped when it comes to using computers and gadgets. The problem? Being left-handed.
During a meeting with Logitech last week, I was treated to seeing the company's latest gaming mouse, taken through a demonstration of how different functions could be assigned to its myriad of buttons, which as a gaming addict, I could really make good use of. However, the reality is that I can't use any of these mice, as I hold the mouse in my left hand, which means my thumb doesn't hover over the extra buttons. If I want to use them, I need to clumsily press my little finger on the button, which is not only unnatural, it could lead to some form of RSI.
I've learnt to accept that premium mice are all designed for right-handers. After all, only ten per cent of people are left-handed, so no peripheral company bothers with what they see as a tiny market. I counter that many other lefties also desire a mouse that works for them, and since none exist, the first company to release a quality left-handed mouse could get a lot of sales.
I've been moaning about this since I bought my first 'gaming mouse' but only recently have I noticed that other gadgets are designed with right-handed people in mind.
Mobile devices are a perfect example. I never realised that the reason I find smartphones rather clunky is that I'm simply not holding them correctly. On Windows Mobile 6.1, the Start Button is located in the top left of the screen. I usually hold the device in my left hand and then use my right hand to press the screen. In doing this, I am reaching across the device with my hand obscuring the screen. When I tried holding the device in my right hand, everything became much easier. I think the OS must have been made and tested by right-handed people who may not have realised the layout wouldnt be intuitive for everyone.
There must be plenty of other examples of products which have been designed with the assumption all its users will be right-handed, although for many of them, it isn't obvious there's a problem at all. It only becomes apparent to me when I use the device the correct way and find it much simpler to operate.
Vista SP2 release candidate appears
Those of you who installed the Vista SP2 Beta a few months ago may today notice that Vista has decided to downloada a new update ('Uninstall Tool for Vista Service Pack 2'). This runs automatically after download and tries to remove the SP2 beta from your PC. In our case, it was accompanied by a blue-screen failure on Stage 3 of the process, but it completed successfully on reboot.
The reason for the uninstall is that the Release Candidate is now available for download from the Microsoft download siter (although not yet via Windows Update). Note that 2 reboots are needed before the 'Evaluation Version' text from the beta on your desktop is removed.
There's no indication when SP2 will appear on Windows Update, although rumours are that it could be as early as May.
More new features for Windows 7
The Engineering Windows 7 blog is describing a whole bunch of new features in Windows 7 that didn't make it into the recent beta release. These will appear in the forthcoming release candidate (RC) which some people are saying could appear as soon as April.
Many of these new features are quite significant (such as multi-touch support for the software keyboard), which just goes to show exactly what 'beta' really means. No doubt there'll be even more tweaks before we see the final release.
The leaves are falling off Photosynth
Well that's what Microsoft's new Photosynth website - just released from its long beta phase - keeps telling us. Photosynth is now live for users to create their own 'synths', although every time we try to view one we get the bizarre message pictured here. Usually followed by IE7 crashing.
To create a 'synth' (a funky stitched-up 3D view of a photo collection), you need to upload between 5-300 photos (yes, upload - don't dig out your high-res pics just yet) of your subject using the Photosynth desktop application and let Microsoft's servers do all the grunt work. Oh, and you need a Windows Live account to sign in as well.
It's a fascinating technology, but one that seems to be in desperate search of a useful practical application for the masses.
