Streaming media: ever since YouTube became the world’s favorite source of cat videos, it’s been the wave of the future. This year’s CES proved no exception — between the idea of playing cloud-based console games on PlayStation Now and watching ultra-high-definition 4K TV on Netflix, streaming and cloud-based media are clearly still where all the tech companies want us to be. [More]
video games
Sony Wants You Not To Need A PlayStation To Play Their PlayStation Games
By 1.7.14
The PlayStation 4 launched in November and so far has sold and performed well for Sony. One thing it doesn’t have, though, is backwards compatibility. The PS3 was out for seven years before that, and the PlayStation 2 before it sold over 150 million units worldwide. That’s a lot of old video games that don’t run on your shiny new system. [More]
Is EA Due For A Third Worst Company In America Crown?
By 12.30.13
We haven’t even begun to ask for nominations from readers for the next Worst Company In America tournament, but some are already making the case for once again giving the Golden Poo trophy to reigning two-time WCIA winner Electronic Arts. [More]
NSA Also Spied On World Of Warcraft, Second Life, Xbox Live Users
By 12.9.13
Because terrorists may be secretly chatting with each other while also trying to level-up their paladins and warlocks, the National Security Agency thought it was a good idea to eavesdrop on online games like World of Warcraft and Second Life, and on gamers who used Xbox Live. [More]
Digital Delivery Allows Companies To Ship Broken Products Without Refunds Or Returns
By 11.19.13
Not so long ago, if you bought a book with missing pages — or a DVD that skipped, or a CD or video game that wouldn’t play — you took it back to the store and got an exchange or a refund because obviously the manufacturer did not intend to provide you with an incomplete or broken product. The relatively new era of digital media delivery has improved upon this by allowing content providers to patch files and fix errors, but it’s also allowing companies to knowingly release inferior and/or broken products, often without giving the consumer any way to seek redress. [More]
EA CEO Says Winning Worst Company In America Title Was “Wake-Up Call”
By 11.6.13
For two years in row, Consumerist voters have awarded video game publisher Electronic Arts the title of Worst Company In America. Unlike other WCIA champs, EA has publicly responded to news of its wins, but often in a dismissive tone that only made things worse. But new CEO Andrew Wilson is now claiming that the company is listening to angry customers. [More]
Microsoft Promises That New Kinect Is Not (Always) A Crazy Spying Machine
By 11.1.13
With the new Xbox One console only weeks away from launch, Microsoft is doing its best to quell concerns that the new Kinect motion and voice sensor will be spying on users and storing important, sensitive information. [More]
Rockstar Apologizes For Shoddy GTA Online Experience With Virtual $500,000
By 10.11.13
Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto V has been a huge success, financially and critically, for the video game publisher, but GTA V’s recently launched online component has been disastrous, with many people unable to even access it, and unhappy with the glitches when they were finally able to play. To atone for the problems, Rockstar will be depositing $500,000 “stimulus packages” into the accounts of anyone who has tried logging into GTA Online in October. [official announcement] [More]
Will The Xbox One Live Up To Its “No Jerks” Promise?
By 10.3.13
For the last few months, Microsoft has been saying that the new reputation system being used with the upcoming Xbox One console will cut down on the number of crap-talking tools that have historically kept some gamers away from taking advantage of online multiplayer games. Now the company is explicitly marketing the Xbox One as a “No Jerks” experience. [More]
EA Ditches Plans For College Football Game After Settling Lawsuit With Former Students
By 9.26.13
For several years, reigning two-time Worst Company In America Electronic Arts has been fighting a lawsuit filed by former college athletes that accused the video game publisher, along with the NCAA and a third-party licensing firm, of illegally profiting off the likenesses of student-athletes. Now that it looks like the case could finally go to trial, EA has reached a settlement with the plaintiffs — and has ditched plans to put out a college football game in 2014. [More]
Impersonating A Cop To Cut The Line For ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ Works Great Until Real Cops Notice
By 9.18.13
To say that the Sept. 17 release of Grand Theft Auto V was highly-anticipated in the gaming community would be like saying Harry Potter fans wouldn’t mind if J.K. Rowling ever got around to writing another book about the boy wizard. The steal’em, drive’em, shoot’em world of the game’s newest offering proved such an enticement for fans that three gamers allegedly tricked mall security into thinking they were cops — all so they could cut the line of 500 customers waiting to buy GTA V. [More]
Steam To Let You Share Games With Others For No Extra Charge
By 9.11.13
How do you legally “share” a game in the digital age when no physical media exists? Microsoft thought it had a possible answer for the upcoming Xbox One by allowing users to pass a game along, but the limitations were too strict and the company eventually backtracked in response to negative feedback. Now the folks at video game marketplace Steam have come up with what may be a more appealing solution — the ability to share a game with up to 10 other people. [More]
Scammers Vomit On Receipts To Trick Walmart Into Taking Back Bogus Video Games
By 9.9.13
Using the power of emetophobia, some scammers in Michigan apparently think they have found the secret formula for tricking Walmart into accepting returned video games — or rather, returned video game boxes containing counterfeit or blank discs. [More]
Worst Company Champs Comcast & EA Team Up To Let You Play Games Through Set-Top Box
By 8.28.13
Two of the most-reviled companies in America — cable colossus Comcast and gaming Goliath Electronic Arts — appear to be working together, presumably to figure out a way to nickel-and-dime customers and then provide them horrible customer service, via a new gaming system that serves up “console-quality” games through Comcast’s set-top boxes. [More]
Microsoft Swears It Isn’t Going To Change Its Mind Again On Xbox One DRM
By 8.28.13
First, Microsoft announced that the upcoming Xbox One gaming console would severely restrict a user’s ability to resell games or play previously owned titles. Then Sony announced that its competing PS4 wouldn’t have any new restrictions, and Microsoft was basically forced to give them up. But that hasn’t stopped some consumers from being justifiably concerned that, once Xbox One has garnered a substantial user base, Microsoft will pull an about-face and institute the harsh digital rights management programs it had intended. [More]
Never Buy A Game Console At Launch: A Cautionary Cartoon
By 8.8.13
Being an early adopter of any electronic device, from smartphones to game consoles, means that you get both bragging rights and sacrifices. A lack of available games and technical problems that the real testers didn’t find are inevitable. The price falls precipitously a year later? For sure. Worst of all, you might pick the loser in the console wars, and end up stuck with crappy support and game selection. It happens. [More]
EA Makes Case That It Shouldn’t Be Part Of Lawsuit Over NCAA Games
By 7.31.13
Even though reigning, two-time Worst Company In America Electronic Arts is no longer in the video game business with the folks at the NCAA, the once-inseparable couple are both defendants in an antitrust lawsuit brought by former college athletes who allege that NCAA-branded games illegally made money from the players’ likenesses. Now EA is distancing itself even further from NCAA, claiming it was just doing what NCAA told it to do. [More]
Finally You Can Turn Your Sandwich Into Tetris PIeces
By 7.29.13
If you’ve always secretly wanted a sandwich in the shape of most of the Tetris pieces, have we got the sandwich mold for you! Though, as Drew at The Worst Things For Sale points out, if you’re old enough to love Tetris, you’re probably also old enough that you don’t need the crusts cut off your sandwiches. [Amazon] [More]
