Hasta La Gadget!

Ubisoft has made a rather huge announcement, saying that it will no longer implement its much-hated always-on DRM in its PC games. Ubisoft’s worldwide director for online games Stephanie Perotti announced the big news in a particularly hard-hitting interview with Rock, Paper, Shotgun, saying that the company has been listening to feedback from players and has decided to ditch the controversial form of digital rights management. Hopefully this decision sticks, because while always-on DRM may make investors happy, it certainly has the opposite effect on paying customers.

As many of you already know, Ubisoft’s always-on DRM required players to have a constant internet connection while playing its games. Losing your connection while playing meant that you were booted from the game – even when playing single player – which is something that didn’t sit well with the people who payed good money to play. Ubisoft was met with outrage from fans every time it implemented this DRM, and it seems that the company has finally had enough of the vitriol.

Now, instead of requiring a constant Internet connection while playing, Ubisoft will only require that you be connected to the Internet while you activate your game. After that, you’re free to play offline to your heart’s content. Even better is the fact that you’ll be able to activate your game on as many machines as you want. Perotti says that this has been Ubisoft’s policy since June of 2011, but that isn’t entirely true. Ubisoft titles like From Dust and Driver: San Francisco were stuck with the DRM when they released in fall 2011, only to be removed later when fans started complaining (and, in the case of From Dust, started demanding a refund from Ubisoft and Valve).

Still, it seems that from here on out we won’t have to worry about dealing with Ubisoft’s always-on DRM. This appears to be just one part of Ubisoft’s new commitment to the PC platform, as Perotti also says that Ubisoft will be trying to improve communication with PC players. That includes attempting to get PC releases out the door at the same time as their console counterparts, which is a huge plus. If Ubisoft is serious about getting back into the PC community’s good graces, then the publisher will likely be rewarded with more sales, so this could potentially be beneficial for everyone involved. Bask in the glory, PC players, because for a while many of us were thinking that this day would never come.

Ubisoft abandons always-on DRM in PC titles is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The release of the highly-anticipated Borderlands 2 is just two short weeks away, and it won’t be long after that September 18 release that the game gets its first DLC. We’ve known for a while that this DLC will add a new class – the Mechromancer – but what we didn’t know is when it will launch. This weekend at PAX Prime, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford finally gave an actual date, saying that the pack will be available “by October 16.”

That’s just about a month after the release of Borderlands 2, which is a lot sooner than what Gearbox had originally said – after the Mechromancer DLC was announced, Gearbox said that it should be available “60 to 90 days” after the release of the base game. Still, most will be happy that its arriving sooner rather than later, especially considering that it’s a free bonus for those who pre-ordered the game. For those who aren’t going to pre-order, the Mechromancer DLC will cost $9.99 or 800 Microsoft Points.

After the Mechromancer DLC hits, Gearbox plans to deliver four more DLC packs for Borderlands 2, just like it did with the original Borderlands. Pitchford assured that these aren’t going to be paltry offerings either. “We have committed ourselves and are in pre-production on four campaign DLCs,” he said. “These are all big original, themed, fully built out campaign DLCs. This isn’t just ‘here have a couple of guns.” Pitchford also said that all four of these DLC packs will be similar to the scope of The Secret Armory of General Knoxx, which is widely considered to be the best DLC released for the original game.

So, we’ve got the Mechromancer DLC about four weeks after release and four General Knoxx-sized DLC packs in the pipeline. This means that we’ll be getting a nice amount of additional content for Borderlands 2, which already seems to be a massive game. Are you excited about Gearbox’s DLC plan for Borderlands 2, or does it leave you feeling a little uneasy?

[via Polygon]

Borderlands 2 Mechromancer DLC release date outed by Gearbox is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Steam has developed a reputation as a haven for indie games like Super Meat Boy, so it’s only fitting that store owner Valve has just launched a section to welcome more of those games into its tent. Greenlight lets small developers submit titles and have gamers vote as to whether or not the candidates should get space on Steam’s virtual shelf. Pickier players don’t have to see every game in contention; they can filter the list down to specific game types and platforms, and collections can narrow the selection to categories hand-picked by fans or publishers. No games have cleared Greenlight just yet, but it won’t be long before the logjam becomes a flood — between this and general apps, Steam is about to get a lot more crowded.

Filed under: Gaming, Software

Valve launches Steam Greenlight to pick cream of indie game crop originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Aug 2012 22:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As many of you already know, the Metal Gear franchise is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. What better way to celebrate than with a new game in the series? At the Metal Gear 25th Anniversary event in Tokyo, Konami and Kojima Productions announced the latest installment in the series, and they’re calling it Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes.

Not too much is known about this new game at the moment, and above you see the only screenshot that has been shared by Konami. GameSpot was there to see the game in action, and it’s reporting that Ground Zeroes brings a number of a changes to the famous stealth series. It would appear that Ground Zeroes is an open-world game, but it’s difficult to make that call with only one live demo on the books.

GameSpot also seems to think that Solid Snake is making a return in Ground Zeroes, but that’s also difficult to call as the character was only called “Snake.” Since there wasn’t any prefix mentioned, it could definitely be someone other than Solid Snake, so we’ll have to wait until Konami dishes new details to find out more about the game’s main character.

Whoever he is, he was shown summoning a helicopter for transportation and can drive a Jeep to his next objective, which lends to the belief that this will be an open-world title. It’s also worth noting that the game won’t end when you’re discovered. If such a thing happens, Snake will be able to use all of his equipment to attempt an escape, which is another new feature Ground Zeroes is bringing to the franchise.

One thing that was there in force was the Fox engine. The game apparently looks great with the Fox engine backing it up, but then it would have to be a solid engine as Kojima says that the possibility of next generation consoles was considered while building it. Speaking of gaming platforms – we don’t know which platforms Ground Zeroes will be gracing. Kojima played through the demo using an Xbox 360 controller on a PC, so it could be that PS3, Xbox 360, and PC will all be getting it. There hasn’t been any release date announced either, so it seems that we’ll be left waiting for a lot of new information. Still, for now at least, we imagine that Metal Gear Solid fans are happy with the knowledge that a new game is on the way. Click the thumbnail below to see the full first image for Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes.

Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes revealed, hints at open-world elements is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Yesterday, Bethesda announced Hearthfire, the latest DLC for Skyrim. It looks to be a charming little DLC pack, but there’s just one problem: Xbox 360 owners will be getting Hearthfire next week, but PS3 owners are still without Dawnguard, Skyrim‘s first DLC. This understandably has some PS3 players wondering if Bethesda delayed Dawnguard on PS3 so it could finish up work on Hearthfire and get it out the door quickly.

According to Bethesda’s VP of PR and marketing Pete Hines, that isn’t the case. When asked on Twitter if the delay of Dawnguard had something to do with the production of Hearthfire, Hines replied with “No, they are separate things.” When another fan expressed their disappointment in the fact that Xbox 360 players were getting their second DLC offering while PS3 owners have yet to receive their first, Hines said “We are working on multiple projects, even beyond those two things. The entire team doesn’t work on one thing at a time.”

So there you have it – multiple teams at Bethesda are working on both Dawnguard for PS3 and Hearthfire for Xbox 360. When the PC version of Dawnguard showed up a few weeks back, many were surprised to see that the PS3 version didn’t launch alongside it. At the time, Bethesda said that it wasn’t satisfied with the performance of the PS3 version, and wouldn’t be releasing it as expected. We’re still waiting for that PS3 release date, unfortunately, and Hines even said today that he didn’t have any new information to give.

Let’s take a step away from this Dawnguard debacle for a moment though and examine Hines’ words more closely. While he said that both Hearthfire and Dawnguard PS3 are in development at the moment, he also said that there are other projects in the works at Bethesda. We know that Bethesda isn’t developing the upcoming Elder Scrolls MMO, so Hines’ comments lead us to believe that Bethesda is also working on Fallout 4. DLC woes aside, that’s pretty exciting, wouldn’t you say? Keep it here at SlashGear, as we’ll update you once Bethesda spills more details on the missing PS3 version of Dawnguard.

Dawnguard PS3 wasn’t delayed because of Hearthfire, Bethesda assures is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.