Oblivion Re-Rated = Bad News

The ESRB just re-rated Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion from Teen to Mature. On the surface the bad news for Bethesda is that fewer units will be sold to an M audience and it's a little bit of a black eye as well because of the "nude content introduced into the game from a third party mod". Sure, it's only for the PC version but the news blurb will affect all SKUs regardless.

Ok, so the story is that there was no nude content in the game's data but some modder added it with a utility. In the case of GTA's Hot Coffee incident there was actually some hidden art assets and animations that were unlocked by modders and thus got that game jacked up by the ESRB as well - and it really affected ALL ratings in the industry past that point. It's now harder to get a lower rating because of these hacks.

What's the point of this all this? That modders are now screwing up the industry they're supposed to be helping. In 1993 we opened up all our data to the industrious and ambitious folks out there who want to see what it's like to be able to make their favorite game a little more like what they'd want.....and get a taste of being a semi-game designer in the process. The most awesome example of what this philosophy has brought is CounterStrike.

Now what's going to happen? You'll probably start seeing game data files becoming encrypted and the open door on assets getting slammed shut just to keep modders from financially screwing the company they should be helping. And the day a game company's file encryption is hacked to add porn and the case goes to the ESRB for review - that's when we'll see how well game companies are protected from these antics and what the courts will rule. Hopefully it'll be on the developer's side.

Tunebite!

I found this utility quite a while ago but thought I'd bring it up since I've been telling quite a few people about it lately. The program is called tunebite and for converting copy-protected music into normal MP3s it's just plain AWESOME!

I use iTunes, Napster and Virgin Digital to get a lot of my music and I like putting that stuff on my portable mp3 player but all songs bought from the iTunes Music Store are protected and so are the songs from Napster and Virgin Digital. Well, now I just drag those songs into tunebite and it converts the entire list at 4x speed for WMA files and 2x speed for iTunes files - soooooooo nice!

The latest version is now supporting VIDEO conversion as well! Any videos you get that are protected can be unprotected with tunebite platinum. Try it today - it does what it says with a minimum of hassle.

Best_Buy_Reputation--;

Okay, so this pissed me off a little yesterday. I went to Best Buy to buy an XBOX 360 Wireless Adapter (and yes it's pretty damn lame that Micro$oft didn't include one with either 360 type!) and when I got to the checkout counter the dolt proceeded to tell me that they have a bunch of 360 accessories returned and would I like to buy their protection plan for $20 on the $100 item?

LAME. Can you believe Best Buy is actually telling everyone that buying a 360 is really risky and that you should also buy their damn insurance crap? They gave me the same shit story when I first bought the actual 360! So this was the second time I'd heard this bullshit!

BEST BUY: WHY DON'T YOU STOP SELLING XBOX 360'S IF THEY SUCK AND EVERYONE HAS TO USE YOUR PROTECTION PLAN?

Creativity 50!

Wow, I got a surprise this morning when an old friend emailed me and told me that I made Creativity Magazine's Top 50 Creative People of the Past 20 Years! Nice.

Whew, finally. I feel like I should be able to take a break now but there's too much fun stuff going on! My new company is doing great, the team is really gelling and working hard and our mission is very clear to us. That's the really nice part.

Here's a link to the article. I think it's also printed in a magazine too.