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College students shunning free music subscription services
It's the rare college student who will turn down free anything -- free food, free booze, and free love are all top priorities for the modern scholar -- so we were more than a little surprised to learn that those online music subscriptions being offered gratis by a number of colleges haven't really taken off like one would assume. In fact, according to the Wall Street Journal, the services from Napster and company have proven so unpopular that many schools are dropping the program altogether after only a year or two, although the RIAA claims that the number of participating campuses will actually increase "pretty significantly" this fall. Even if that's true, it's not clear why students at newly-subscribed schools would behave any differently than ones who already have access to the free tunes and still choose alternative distribution methods -- most notably the iTunes music store and the still-popular P2P networks. Ultimately it seems to be the services' many restrictions that are turning off the college crowd -- tracks can't always be burned to disc or transferred to a DAP, and they also disappear after four years -- and the fact that students today treasure their iPods even more than their precious cans of beer only makes non-FairPlay content that much more undesirable.[Via TechDirt]
Spain cracks down on file sharing
It's a sad day for Spanish content pirates, as formerly lax laws allowing P2P file sharing for personal use have just been overturned in favor of strict new rules that make file swappers financially liable for any unauthorized downloading they partake in. Furthermore, the new regulations -- which, unsurprisingly, have been blessed with the MPAA's seal of approval -- also hold ISPs accountable for the P2P activity of their customers, which could be seen as an incentive for service providers to block what they consider suspicious traffic. Even regular law-abiding citizens will be affected by the recent crackdown, as a small tax will now be levied on all blank media to reimburse copyright holders for earnings lost to piracy. While we're totally in support of intellectual property owners getting paid for their content, we worry that these tough new rules will discourage and even prohibit the many legitimate uses of P2P networks that have nothing to do with stealing movies and music -- as usual, a few bad apples (well, maybe more than a few) have caused everyone else to suffer.[Via Slashdot]
Prey PC demo available; Xbox 360 demo WRU? [update 1]
The demo for both the PC and Xbox 360 versions of Human Head's long-time-comin' FPS, Prey, were supposed to drop today. It's today and one's here, the other ain't. Just so we weren't left hanging, checking the Xbox Live Marketplace ad nauseum, 3D Realms' George Broussard donned an all too familiar cap to let everyone know the demo isn't coming ... at least not today:"We do not want 360 people waiting up for the demo or having false expectations. The 360 demo will not appear on Marketplace tonight."I'm still waiting for specifcs, but I'm being told that it's still in testing at Microsoft. From what I understand this isn't Microsoft's fault, and is more likely just an issue of timing."I'm hesitant to give any estimates for a release, but I've been told it should be reasonably soon after the PC release, but could be as long as a few days."We will post an update as soon as we have more solid information."Since we all know Microsoft isn't to keen on releasing demos on Fridays, we're looking at an early next week release. If you're rocking a PC capable of running the demo, you could always go that route also.[Via 360-Hq.com][Update 1: TV Guide's Joe Hutsko got word from 2K Games' Jay Boor who said ... wait for it ... "Should be up soon - hopefully today." Alright hopefuls, you can officially start bugging the hell out of the XBL servers! Thanks, Joe!]
Introducing the official SOE podcast
Last Thursday, the first official Sony Online Entertainment podcast surfaced on the esteemed Major Nelson's blog. Yes, you read that correctly. The podcast can be downloaded here. However, I'm afraid you won't find it as engaging as other kinds of podcasts coming from certain inside sources (we're lookin' at you Major).And why don't they have a blog? The cart may have gotten ahead of the horse on that one. At any rate, you're probably wondering what they talk about. Lots of Everquest, and LOTS of scripted discussions. Sony, if you are reading: drop the scripts and lose the incessant background music!The idea behind this is really good though (if it were implemented right). To make this into something worthwhile they could fire the talking robots, stop reading straight off a script and tackle issues that more gamers can relate too about the PS3 (though this is SOE after all, hence the chosen topics). Podcasts make excellent PR tools and Sony could cover a lot of ground if they did this right.
Macgamefiles offers free game hosting
Macgamefiles.com has announced free game hosting for shareware and freeware game developers (but not for things like maps, mods, etc.). The only catch is that the game's developer needs to point their download links to the game's product page hosted at Macgamefiles.com. This, I assume, is so MGF can make up their (probably astronomical) hosting costs with ad hits.Given some of the bills I've heard of for hosting large files like podcasts and software downloads, I would imagine this is a huge bonus for garage-based game developers. Three cheers for internet advertising business models!
Movie downloading kiosks may be coming soon
In what could turn into a preemptive strike against the further decline of DVD sales in the face of competition from digital downloads as well as Blu-ray and HD-DVD discs, major retailers may soon be installing kiosks in their stores that give customers access to on-demand, feature-length films on DVD or their portable devices. According to Reuters, the major movie studios are reportedly in talks with retail heavyweights like Wal-mart to theoretically offer their complete archives for downloading to in-store terminals with high-speed connections, where they would either be burned onto DVD or transferred to unspecified devices, a la that proposed DVD Station service we saw awhile back (which seemingly never materialized). While the prospect of having immediate access to almost every movie ever made is admittedly appealing, we're not really sure that we want to drive all the way over to Best Buy just to stand around waiting uncomfortably with our fellow patrons as we all clutch our iPods, nervously tap our feet, and wish we'd all just stayed at home and settled for whatever was on Moviebeam.[Via Slashdot]
Mac OS drivers appear in Dell download list
Somehow, some way, Mac OS drivers have appeared as a download option for a Dell Latitude X1. How many times do we have to tell you Michael Dell: You can't sell Mac OS X, no matter how often or how badly you wish to sell an operating system that's made for this century. Besides, trying to sneak it onto your site is just bad form.If you want to see this interesting quirk for yourself, check it out at Dell's Driver and Downloads site. As of this writing, you can snag your own 'Mac OS' drivers for a Latitude X1.This most likely is nothing more than a quirk of Dell's site, as we (thankfully) haven't heard of Jobs changing his mind or seen reports of the sky falling. You can go on about your business.[via Engadget]
PS3 service goes after Xbox Live Arcade
With a keen eye, IGN noticed a job offering floating around the internet that is described as looking for a "a superstar engineer with a strong graphics background to develop an unannounced downloadable title for the PlayStation 3 launch in November."So we all know that Sony's PlayStation Network Platform wants to compete head-on with Microsoft's service, but this gives even more fuel to the fire in their effort to tackle Xbox Live Arcade with downloadable games as well. That Game Company posted the call for programmers, and it turns out they want to bring the trippy web game flOw (that's free) to the next-gen console. This begs the question: What other downloadable games are being cooked up for the PS3 service? Guess we won't know until November.
Oblivion Orrery Pack on XBLM
The Oblivion Orrery Pack, which includes (according to Gamespot) "a new quest with original dialogue, journals, and rewards, access to the eponymous dwarven machine in the Imperial City's Arcane University, and new character powers based on the phases of the moon" is now available on XBLM for 150 MS points. I was about to complain that the announcement above was annoyingly premature, when the phase of the download moon suddenly turned in our favor. You can thank the Dwarven Gods because this add-on looks like a much better value than the over-priced horse armor that pissed off half of Tamriel. Is this pack worth the points?[Thanks Nick]
Airlines want to offer iTunes for inflight iPod downloads
Companies that develop inflight entertainment (IFE) systems for airlines have been in discussions with Apple about integrating the iPod and iTunes into IFE systems, according to several of the companies. Proposed applications include seatback-based iPod docks with USB and charging ports, allowing passengers to charge song and video purchases to frequent-flyer miles, and adding other ecommerce applications. "Our interests are wider – not just Apple, but enabling any e-commerce on the aircraft. Music is one thing in that category we are working on," said an exec with Panasonic Avionics. However, numerous obstacles stand in the way of inflight downloads, including changing Apple's licensing, so that songs downloaded directly to an iPod in the air could later be copied back to a customer's hard drive, and the issue of licensing and payment while a plane is in international airspace. Then, there's the issue of getting Apple to participate in the first place. When asked for a comment by editors at Flight International, the company issued what has to be one of our favorite "no comment" lines, especially for a technology company: "Apple never talks about the future." We'll keep that in mind.
PGR3 Speedpack for 400 XBLM points
I should have mentioned this in my previous post on the PGR3 Global Tournament: A banner ad on the right of the details page states that the downloadable content announced in that Spring press release will include "12 hot cars and new gameplay enhancements." The new "Speedpack" will sell for 400 MS points, proving that exotic cars are twice as valuable as armored horses. [Thanks Sinz]
U.K.'s 3 helped Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" top the charts
In a completely shocking and unprecedented move, a corporate entity is trying to latch on to the latest "big thing" by taking partial credit for the phenomenon's success, which in this case is the first song to top the U.K. singles charts without ever having been sold in stores. Wireless carrier 3 is claiming that its network was responsible for up to 20% of the total downloads of "Crazy," the first single by Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo collaborative Gnarls Barkley (no relation to the Round Mound of Rebound), which sold 31,000 digital copies and 0 CDs in the week ending April 2nd. 3 offers songs for 99 pence apiece and also allows a copy of the track to be downloaded to a user's PC, which would seem to make it a strong competitor in not only the mobile arena but the traditional online music market as well.
Elder Scrolls IV: Nickel and Dimed
We always knew that "micro-transactions" via Xbox Live Marketplace were part of Microsoft's master strategy for squeezing every last penny out of the gaming public. Now that Elder Scrolls IV horse armor is on sale for the low, low price of 200 marketplace points ($2.50), it's hard not to feel like we're being nickel and dimed into economic oblivion. Isn't this really just a back door way to further jack up the cost of games by charging us for stuff that should have been on the disc anyway? On one hand, it seems sort of flinty to complain about a nice add-on for the price of a Big Gulp, but then you can dig into the couch for change only so many times before you come up with nothing but stale Cheetohs. Admittedly, Oblivion is a great gameplay value compared to other $60 games, and the ability to pimp your equine ride is pretty cool (though it would be nice if it came with a side quest or something). Is Bethesda's first micro-transaction micro enough for you, or am I Tamriel's biggest cheapskate?.
Download Survivor, but not via iTunes
File this under "What are they thinking?" CBS has announced that it will offer downloads of its mega-popular reality show Survivor: Panama* at $1.99 a pop. But here's the catch: The episodes will "expire" 24 hours after purchase, will not be iPod compatible and will not be sold via iTunes (CBS.com will distribute them). CBS's president of digital media Larry Kramer told Ruters, "We want to go gradually. We've never done this before." I honestly do understand Mr. Kramer's hesitation. It's a new marketing venture and they don't want to get burned. But we know that the networks get the majority of the cut from iTunes sales. Plus, why would I pay for something that's going to "break" in a day? That's like saying, "After you listen to this CD once, I'm coming to your house and taking it away from you."*Does anyone else think the theme should be changed to Panama by Van Halen for this season?[Via MacDailyNews]
The down low on downloadsquad
TUAW would like to extend a hearty welcome to the newest member of the Weblogs, Inc family, downloadsquad. If you are obsessed with checking out the latest and greatest downloads then this is the blog for you. It covers both Mac and PC software and you will see a familiar face from TUAW blogging there, just to ease the transition.Here is their RSS feed for Mac software, but you really should go check the whole blog out.
