Sunday, August 23, 2009

Star Craft 2 Adds DRM

Just when one thinks the news of StarCraft II won't support LAN (Local Area Networking) couldn't get anymore depressing, another news breaks out stating StarCraft 2 will be getting DRM. We'd think the online petition with 120,000 names would already deter Blizzard, sorry, Activision Blizzard, from trying to come up with anymore annoying tricks - but it's apparently not the case.

It's no secret that DRM, or digital rights management, has always been viewed by a large section of the gaming community as a sort of insult to a paying customer, as it has proven time and again if a game is to be pirated, protection like this serves little protection at all, but instead, is a constant source of annoyance and an inconvenience to legit users.

By the way, there's nothing wrong with the title of this comic strip, it is essentially the blow first (you don't get LAN feature), then the taunt (you gotta show us some ID before you get to play).

The way we see it, this will be a brand + title, versus patience of customers experiment on a Titanic scale :)

Brick Wars

If you haven't heard of Brick Wars before, it's a term refering to the utilisation of LEGO in a table-top war game scenario, making it a type of miniature wargaming, since you'll be using LEGO miniature figurines (minifigs).

Most table-top RPG (Role-Playing Games) are based around dices and a set of rules. This can be in the form of Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) and Wargaming (like Warhammer 40,000), but both usually either use their own figures (which can either be purchased or made yourself), or just using imagination (like using glass fish tank pebbles in D&D).

In Brick Wars, since you're using LEGO, unlike other forms of table-top RPG games, you can construct anything you want with LEGO! Want to play a game about forest folk invading a castle? Build the buildings and scenes yourself!

To give you an idea about Brick Wars, BrickGamers have in the past conducted our own Brick Wars games all the way back since 2006 - that's nearly 4 years of Brick Wars! Over time we have managed to refine the rules to cater more for LEGO and less for typical desktop RPG games.

If you're interested to conduct your own Brick Wars (or if you have a lot of LEGO and have no idea what to do with them), you might want to take a look at a sample Brick Wars below to see if it's your cup of tea. Remember - Brick Wars doesn't only have to be about medieval battles - you can have a modern-day City theme being attacked by terrorists with police!



If you're wondering what's the City Tower Crane doing there, it's to position and move the Dragon:



See how you can make use of your LEGO if you just collect them or don't know how/don't do MOC (My Own Creation)?

To see the whole battle of this one of many past BrickGamers' Brick Wars, visit our Brick Shelf Gallery here to see how this battle began - and ended! Just click the Next link on the page (top right) once you're there to go through the whole story.

New 2009 August LEGO Sets @ Brickboy Shops

BrickGamers visited Brickboy Toys @ MidValley Gardens recently to bring you shots of the new 2009 August LEGO sets now out at all Brickboy shops (including Brickboy Brothers @ Sunway Pyramid and Tropicana Mall). For more details of pricing check out the Brickboy Toys blog and more pics can be found in the Forum.