Restrictive DRM Makes Buying Games Unappealing

Posted on February 3, 2012 by whatthegeek

On Tuesday February 7th Ubisoft plans to start some work on their servers. As you could probably imagine, that’s going to leave the online multiplayer component of most of their games unusable until the work is done. Unfortunately, for PC gamers the single player component of some of these games will be down as well.

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My Game of the Year Awards for 2011

Posted on December 30, 2011 by whatthegeek

 

Well, the year’s almost over. Tomorrow night, I’ll be ringing in the new year at a fundraiser event for KAM, but today, I’m thinking back on 2011 and kicking off the first (and possibly last) annual What the Geek Game of the Year Awards.  Continue reading →

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Dear Microsoft,, Please Plug These Holes.

Posted on October 14, 2011 by whatthegeek

Over the past several months Xbox Live accounts (including mine) have been getting hacked en masse. Once the hacker has taken control of the victim’s account, they’re buying up as many Microsoft Points as they can, and spending them all on in game currency for FIFA 11 or FIFA 12. Then, from within their FIFA game of choice, the hacker buys up items for FIFA Ultimate Team, and presumably sends those items off to their personal XBL account.  Continue reading →

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Swag Bucks Tells Us How They Feel About Cancer

Posted on October 7, 2011 by whatthegeek

Swag Bucks is known for offering great sweepstakes, and all sorts of freebies and goodies, but they’re more than that. They have strong feelings on the tough issues facing the world today as evidenced by this “cancer sucks” captcha. I’m looking forward to seeing more of these on their site – maybe “the recession blows” or “screw poverty”.

 

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The Tale of a Hacked Xbox Live Account

Posted on October 5, 2011 by whatthegeek

On September 6th, just after 9 AM, I received an email informing me that my purchase of 1600 Microsoft points had been unsuccessful. This was something of a surprise, as I had not attempted to buy any Microsoft points that day, so I logged into my Xbox Live account to find out what was going on. Continue reading →

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Kevin Mitnick Will Have Work in 2027 Thanks to Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Posted on August 30, 2011 by whatthegeek

In these uncertain economic times no one can claim full job security, much less predict where they’ll be working in 16 years. No one except for Kevin Mitnick that is.

Thanks to Eidos Montreal, developers of Deus Ex: Human Revolution Mitnick now knows where he’ll be in 16 years – working for a fictional company that produces human augmentations. Not to shabby for a guy who did time for hacking!

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Who Wants to Buy My Diablo 3 Loot?

Posted on August 1, 2011 by whatthegeek

Diablo 3 may be the most anticipated PC game of all time, but, as it turns out, it will implement one of the most loathed concepts in PC gaming – a system where you can pay real money for in-game loot. Blizzard announced today that Diablo 3 will contain an in-game auction system where players will be able to buy and sell items with their hard-earned cash.  Continue reading →

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Pandora: A Case Study on the True Price of Bad Marketing

Posted on May 16, 2011 by whatthegeek



After taking a break from Pandora for about a year and a half, I recently dove back in, and I’m loving it.They do a far better job of picking music I like than competitors like Slacker and Last FM. Despite the quality of Pandora’s service, I might still wander away from them again. Not because I don’t care for the service or the company, but because they have made it difficult to just keep listening.  Continue reading →

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So How Does Craigslist Flagging REALLY Work?

Posted on April 29, 2011 by whatthegeek

Despite the luxurious three figure income that freelance writing provides, I still find myself seeking side work from time to time. Fortunately, I’m not just a snarky writer, I also happen to be pretty good at fixing broken electronics as well. I often post my repair services on Craigslist, but recently I’ve noticed a lot of my ads for Xbox 360 repairs getting flagged down. Given the fact that I don’t offer any modding services that violate the Craigslist terms of service (and the law for that matter) I was surprised my listings were getting taken down. I was even more surprised when I saw listings going down within minutes of going live on Craigslist.  Continue reading →

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