Hi, guys! This is the first of a planned series of casual podcast segments (monologues, really). In this one, I talk about my experiences playing the new Deus Ex game, Human Revolution, then get into digital downloads, copy protection, pirates, Dungeons & Dragons, and Elite. I also talk a bit about Frayed Knights, a game I'm beta testing for Rampant Coyote. I also find an excuse to bring up my favorite comedy movie, Ghostbusters.

Keep in mind that this is an "off the cuff" type of deal with minimal planning and no editing or frills. If you have suggestions, fine, but don't expect a polished production here. That's what Matt Chat is for! :)

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While checking out one of Amazon's amazing deals, PaintShop Pro X3 Limited Edition for just $25, I couldn't help but be distracted by a firestorm of negative comments related to some rather harsh sounding Digital Rights Management (DRM). In fact, the comments have been so harsh and there have been so many one star "reviews" because of it, Corel themselves commented (an opportunity I've not seen Amazon provide before, but it appears to be an option now), which, by most accounts, appears to be little more than corporate doublespeak and certainly didn't calm the firestorm. Let's hear your thoughts! For your convenience, I've reproduced one of the user reviews and Corel's response below:

Next Generation has posted an excellent but brief history of copy protection by Adam Swiderski.

I just found a fun presentation that compares the copy protection schemes used by the 360 with those of the C-64. I was really surprised at the similarities, despite the many years and "advancements" made in the interval. The presentation really gets into the guts of the C-64 and the 360; you techies and hardware hackers out there will really enjoy this. Link via maxconsole.

Dongle: Without this dongle, forget about running that $400 program you just bought.Friends, I'm madder than a pirate sued for singing copyrighted shanties that game publishers are STILL belittling us with burdensome, unnecessary, and utterly useless copy protection.

With all the recent buzz here at Armchair Arcade about Pool of Radiance and other Gold Box games, I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the infamous "code wheels" most of those games used to inhibit sharing copies of the game with your friends. Eric Lambert of Vintage Computing has an entertaining article up called Old-School PC Copy Protection Schemes that takes a look at these "vintage" forms of copy protection, most of which rely on materials included with the game.