January 25th, 2010 
Brad McGraw 
Steam News has announced that Napoleon: Total War and Aliens vs Predator will be using Steamworks in both retail and downlaods.
Two highly anticipated titles from SEGA, Aliens vs. Predator and Napoleon: Total War will ship with Steamworks support at retail and online, including among other features, Achievements, Matchmaking, Leaderboards, Stats, and Cloud.
January 19th, 2010 Cliff Riseborough 
As quoted from the 2K BioShock 2 fan site Cult of Rapture :
Over the past two days, I’ve fielded a lot of questions and concerns about the DRM for both the retail and digital versions of BioShock 2. Because of this feedback, we are scaling back BioShock 2’s DRM.
There will be no SecuROM install limits for either the retail or digital editions of BioShock 2, and SecuROM will be used only to verify the game’s executable and check the date. Beyond that, we are only using standard Games for Windows Live non-SSA guidelines, which, per Microsoft, comes with 15 activations (after that, you can reset them with a call to Microsoft.)
What does that mean for your gameplay experience? This means that BioShock 2’s new DRM is now similar to many popular games you advised had better DRM through both digital and retail channels. Many of you have used Batman: Arkham Asylum as an example to me, which uses the exact same Games for Windows Live guidelines as us as well as SecuROM on retail discs, and now our SecuROM is less restrictive on Steam.
I know that the variables of PC gaming can be frustrating and confusing, and when you say there is a problem, we listen, and use your suggestions to make things better. Feedback like this does not go unheard, and while this might not be the ideal protection for everyone, we will continue to listen and work with you in the future when formulating our DRM plans.
It is pleasant to see something like activation limits on Games for Windows Live actually fully disclosed, as normally publishers try to tap dance around the subject by claiming they aren’t there, or that they have no knowledge of them. And kudos overall to 2K for fully disclosing their DRM, discussing it with their fans, and being willing to make changes. THAT is the kind of behavior that I for one would like to see more of from game publishers.
Posted in Games 
Tags: 2K Games, BioShock 2, DRM, Games for Windows Live, pre-order, SecuROM, Steam 
Comments Off January 11th, 2010 Cliff Riseborough 
As much as I like writing articles in general…finally, something game related!
According to a particular mention in an SC2 preview on the UK version of IGN, it appears that the game will be integrated with Steam.
Taylor announced another improvement to the game, this time affecting multiplayer: SupCom 2 will be completely supported and integrated into Steam and utilise Valve’s superior server browser. GPG net will not be making the transition.
This does raise questions about what the future of GPG net is if it isn’t going to be used for SC2. How long will it be kept around for those still playing the original games?
