Today, the dangers of offline, single-player-mode hackers are more apparent than ever. Thanks to Blizzard, honest gamers can breathe easy and — OK, wait, just how in the hell are hackers related to offline play?
News Blips:
Blizzard labels hacker prevention as the primary cause for nixing offline mode for Diablo 3. "If we allow an offline mode, it changes the structure of the data that we have to put on the user's system," lead designer Jay Wilson told PC Gamer. "I would never guarantee that we're never going to have [cheating and duplication] in Diablo 3. But it's one of the things that our community has been the most vocal about, wanting this fixed, and if we essentially are putting the server out there…we're not really going to be able to do better than Diablo 2." Diablo 3 heads to the PC and Mac OS, with no release date specified yet.
Ubisoft continues damage control by announcing the complete removal of From Dust's DRM system within two weeks. Ubisoft forum manager "bokowski113" told players in a post that the game's one-time online activation requirement should disappear in a future patch after the tech team ensures "those who have already started the game, and whose progress is currently saved on our servers, will receive and save their game information locally."
Sega announces Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown. Targeted for a summer 2012 release, the downloadable title brings Virtua Fighter 3 combatant Taka-Arashi into the fray along with brainwashed assassin Jean Kujo. Expect additional custom items, modes, and arenas as well. The only memory of the Virtua Fighter series I possess is that it's the only franchise technical enough to eschew the standard "mash buttons wildly and hope for the best" genre trope. [GameSpot]
Sony plans a major overhaul of PlayStation Home this fall. Central to the changes is a new genre-based hub divided into the Action District, Sportswalk, Adventure District, and Pier Park. Efficiency boosts such as faster login times and menu accessibility are also planned. Let's cross our fingers for a Saints Row district for all the open-world game fans out there.
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