24071166
submission
Channard writes
"Dead Island has done pretty well in terms of sales, but the game's PC release hasn't gone smoothly. Initially, Deep Silver/Techland released the wrong version of the game onto Steam, causing some consternation amongst gamers. The game also contains a variety of other bugs. However, it now emerges that even the fixed version of the game requires you to be online and connected to Steam in order to play.
Most Steam games only require you to validate the game once, after which you have the option of switching Steam to offline mode and playing the games regardless of whether or not you're connected to the internet at the time. Since the retail version of Dead Island uses Steamworks, this problem affects retail copies of the game as well.
While this may smack of Ubisoft-style DRM, Deep Silver/Techland suggest this is a bug although they then go on to state that they ' cant make any promises' as to when or indeed if it'll be fixed. They also try to blame Steam's Steam Cloud architecture, although this seems to be a case of passing the buck since other Steam Cloud games don't have this problem and can be played fine offline, albeit without Steam Cloud synchronization.
"Link to Original Source
20675272
submission
Channard writes
"As noted by Sony scene website PSX-Scene, the recent Playstation Network security breaches were preceded by layoffs of over 200 staff in Sony's Sony Online Entertainment subdivision. While that's not to say for certain the hack was an inside job, the website notes...
'Like all layoffs that are hard to swallow, this case was a big one, one 1/3 of the staff that worked in the ONLINE division, in all over 200 employees were given their sad "pink slip" 2 week notice, which means they had to work right up until the very dates that Sony had to shutdown the PSN network!
Even though some of these employees were in working in remote offices, they could have easy had whitelisted server access to the San Diego HQ to do their daily work, it just seems very strange that suddenly both networks go down after a massive layoff of KEY ONLINE SONY EMPLOYEES when they have to work knowing it is their last days on the job being a lowly paid slave to an evil corporation.'
It may just be co-incidence, but can you think of a better way to screw over a company that's just given you your notice?"Link to Original Source
14707508
submission
Channard writes
"While there have been occasional reports of previous PS3 firmware upgrades causing system crashes and so forth, Sony's new firmware upgrade for the system, 3.41, is apparently stopping PS3 owners upgrading their hard disks, Slim PS3 owners at least. This problem has been encountered by many users on Sony's forums and occurs when you try to put a new hard disk into a PS3 that already has the firmware upgrade installed. The general course of action for upgrading a PS3's drive is that you download the latest PS3 firmware onto a memory stick and after swapping the hard drive in the PS3, plug the stick in allowing the PS3 to properly prepare the disk for use. But as of upgrade 3.41, the PS3 fails to recognize the firmware on the stick, complaining that it can't proceed until you insert the correct firmware. Repeating the process and re-downloading the does not fix the problem, as I can confirm, having encountered the problem myself.
Users can put the old hard disk back in, provided they've not reformatted it for some other purpose, so all is not lost. Sony have apparently told gaming website CVG that 'The information available to our Consumer Services Department does not suggest that this is a problem PlayStation(R) owners are likely to experience when upgrading the HDD with 3.41 update.' This seems to fly in the face of the currently available information — although whether or not this statement was issued by Kevin Butler is unclear. Either way, PS3 owners encountering this problem will likely have to wait a few days for a fix and use their old HDDs for now."
11680008
submission
Channard writes
"As reported by Joystiq the PS3/Playstation Network version of Final Fight Double Impact features a rather restrictive piece of digital rights management. In order to launch the game, you have to be logged into the Playstation Network and if you're not, the game refuses to launch. This could be written off as a bug of some kind except for the fact that the error message that crops up tells you to sign in, suggesting Sony/Capcom intentionally included this 'feature'. Granted, you do have to log into the Playstation Network to buy the title but as one commentator pointed out, logging in once does not mean you'll be logged in all the time. Curiously, the 360 version has no such restrictions so you can play the game whether you're online or offline.
But annoying as this feature may be, there may be method in Sony's madness. The key difference between buying titles on the 360's Marketplace and Sony's Playstation Store is that buying a title from the Marketplace only usually entitles you to play that title on a single console. A Playstation Network account, on the other hand, can be used to licence up to five consoles, meaning any title purchased from that account can be played on five different consoles. And these consoles can be de-authorised and re-authorised at will, allowing gamers to switch licences around. This has led to a practice known as PSN game sharing, whereby gamers can purchase a title together, thereby paying a fifth of the cost of the game, and still allowing anyone to play the game on their console. Whether this has had any direct impact upon Sony or Capcom's apparent decision to implement this forced sign-in system is unknown. But Final Fight is the first title to feature this system — it'd be interesting to know whether this was done at Sony or Capcom's request."
