Microsoft has obviously been inspired by the success of the music business on how to fight piracy…. Oh wait! The music business is the main example on how NOT to fight piracy. Check out the news over @ BBC news

Microsoft might be big enough to pull this one off though, but I have a feeling they’ve just lost those 1 million customers that got a permanent ban unless they buy a new unmodified console to play on.

Why does several businesses out there insisit on fighting piracy head on? Instead of working around it?
Look at steam, I know dozens of has-been pirates that now buys the games instead, over steam. Of course, if it’s not on steam, they might end up downloading it unless the game is available for digital purchase online.

I was of the impression that Xbox live also was one of the good ways to stop piracy. Make games easily available online to download unto your console. I am sure most of the games from Xbox live is not subject to piracy, though I don’t know the statistics….
The most ironic thing is that the ban is only for Xbox live, which means they cut them off from the only thing that probably keep them from pirating ALL games…
They can still play offline, so what’s keeping them from still pirating games to play offline? Heh….

And I can actually understand why someone would want to pirate the store-games.
First of all; people like to be able to buy their games online without having to go to a store.
The Xbox games usually cost ALOT for any average gamer, which would also end in piracy.
And there has been so much crap games out there at times, that you feel really ripped off when you had to pay $60 for a game that just sucked.
Discs are fragile things, they can handle some beating, true, but I know myself that I like to have a digital backup of it anyway. Just in case.

I have a feeling this initiative from Microsoft isn’t gonna end in a good way….

Little has happened since new years… Too much procrastinating with things like buying an apartment, surgery on my achilles and such. *sigh*
One would think that the time off my day-job because of the surgery, but guess what! Being home sick and being required to have my leg elevated at all times just kills all motivation
This friday, I am going to China though, yep! I am going there for 4 weeks! And I will be training Kung Fu at the International Kung Fu Centre[^] in Deng Feng! I am sure I will have alot more energy when I get back and tons of motivation to get the game going again. So that’s my light at the end of the tunnel right now.
Anyways, enough about me

We applied for funding before new years, which we didn’t get. We’re applying again with a, hopefully, better application again this spring. And also we’re now getting some help with the finances and maybe to help establish Kybernesis as a “real” company.

The game is going slooowly at the moment, but we have managed to get some art and modelling together(Read: the others have) and I might have found a candidate to join us as a programmer.
So everything isn’t all that dark.

Also, since the gamedevelopment seems to have stopped on our main project because of lack of funding(and procrastination ) we’ve been discussing a possible side-project as we gather some more funds. Facebook games! You know, those annoying games that you get invited to every day!
I used to hate those invites until one day a few months back I thought, “Hey! Maybe there’s something to these facebook games”, so I started to check them out instead of blocking them.
Granted, 90% of the games are just a variation of the same game(Read: Mafia Wars, Vampire wars, Dungeon wars, Whatnot wars ), but some are actually quite well made! Such as Battle stations[^] and even Dungeon Wars and the other Zynga games have some interesting quirk. Dungeon wars has “3D” quests which is nice to see. Battle Stations have great graphics, a way to actually join a clan, and not just your own passive clan, and do clan wars.
I am sure there are other interesting Facebook games out there too.

But I have found alot of the games lacking, so therefore we’re thinking of making a smaller game for Facebook as a sideproject. Incorporating all that we think is lacking in the current games ofc
I think it’s gonna be a fun experience, and will most definitely prepare us better with our main game.

I promise I will be alot more active on my blog when I get back from China!
So see you all in 5 weeks time!

Gamecareerguide has posted a new Ask the Experts feature post: Ask the Experts: Console vs. PC Development[^] that I find very informative for anyone who wants to start developing indie games.

Consoles might be a nice platform to develop for, when it comes to possible profits, but as Jill Duffy points out, it’s usually alot more expensive to develop for them. In addition, you need to get access to the development ki, which means another money sink AND a meeting with the company making the console; Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft.

Our [Kybernesis] games will be made primarily on PC, and maybe ported to consoles when we can afford it. Cause I have the same philosophy as the panelists mentioned in the feature points out in the end. Keep costs to the minimum… At least in the start-up phase!

Gamasutra has also posted a Postmortem: How Puzzle Quest Saved Infinite Interactive[^] which gives some very good insights into developing Indie games, specifically a casual puzzle game. But their experiences could very well fit any kind of Indie developed game.