OzHub, the Macquarie Telecom-led cloud computing alliance, has come down firmly on the side of Optus over the copyright controversy surrounding Optus TV Now, warning that any moves to change the law "risk branding Australia a global luddite state."
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David M Williams
Sunday, 21 March 2010 22:58
Q: What is the name of the military leader marshalling the respective GDI and NOD forces as they continue their battle? A: Major Disappointment!
This week past Electronic Arts (EA) released the latest game in the Command and Conquer real-time-strategy (RTS) franchise, number four.
1995 was a good year for fans of the RTS genre. That is the year two seminal titles launched. One was Warcraft II which greatly improved the gameplay and mechanics of its predecessor, and the other being Westwood Studios’ Command and Conquer, which itself built on an earlier game (Dune 2). Westwood Studios was purchased by massive gaming conglomerate Electronic Arts in 1999 and ultimately closed down and absorbed into EA Los Angeles in 2003.
Command and Conquer 3 was released to much acclaim in 2007, followed in 2008 by an expansion, Kane’s Wrath, and the third instalment of sister product Red Alert. All three of these titles received positive reviews and I personally enjoyed playing.
Fast forward to 2010; Command and Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight has now hit the shelves. The brand new instalment has been long awaited by legions of fans, much like the worldwide anticipation for Blizzard Software’s Starcraft II.
The game wasn’t without controversy. Electronic Arts, fearing rampant piracy, inserted digital rights management (or DRM) to minimise the unauthorised distribution of the game. This policy was made known prior to the game’s release, and the ensuing debate took away from the pre-release material about the game itself.
This controversy ought to have been foreshadowed after Electronic Arts’ previous DRM public relations disaster when the wonderful life-creation evolutionary simulation Spore was dreadfully panned on Amazon.Com reviews, all due to its mandatory registration that prevented the game being installed more than a small number of times.
Command and Conquer 4 has a less mercenary – or perhaps more mercenary, depending on your viewpoint – DRM scheme. This time there are no limitations on number of installations, and no behind-the-scenes rootkit-like applications running. What's taken its place?
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