Deus Ex 3: HumΔn Revolution

[ForceStealer]

Unsurprisingly, Square ain't happy

Publisher Square Enix has filed a complaint against several unknown defendants who allegedly used an Italian internet service provider to illegitimately obtain and distribute preview code for the unreleased game Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

And now, Bellevue, WA-based Half-Life house Valve Software has become entangled in the suit against 15 "Doe Defendants" accused of copyright infringement and violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

Square Enix, parent of Deus Ex: HR developer Eidos Montreal, said in its complaint -- obtained by Gamasutra -- that it arranged access to a "limited preview" of the game to select members of the press, under non-disclosure agreements.

These press members could access the preview through Valve's Steam digital distribution platform. One of these authorized reviewers was with the Italian gaming magazine Giochi per il Mio Computer, or GMC.

But on May 31, Square Enix found that an unauthorized copy of the Deus Ex: HR preview was floating around on public peer-to-peer BitTorrent sites. The publisher quickly removed Steam access to the preview, and downloaded a copy of the BitTorrent version to analyze the code.

"Anomalies in the code" pointed to the Steam account of the GMC reviewer. But the IP address of the game journalist's computer at GMC's offices did not match the IP address of the computer that accessed the code during the session in question.

Using a hardware ID number, Valve also determined that the computer used to access the game preview code did not match the computer used by the authorized GMC journalist, the complaint added, suggesting that the access was unauthorized and unknown by the journalist.

Valve said that it has more information about the allegedly-offending Steam account and the relevant hardware ID number, but it cannot release that information to Square Enix due to Valve's privacy policy, unless Valve is subpoenaed for the information.

That's exactly what Square Enix is now pursuing -- permission from the court to issue a subpoena for information from Valve, whose servers held the preview code for the game. Square Enix, which is claiming damages in excess of $5,000, said it believes that information will help identify the Does, and will enable the publisher to pursue the case further.

 

[Sheva Alomar]

Old news is old.

 

[ForceStealer]

Oh is it? I knew about the demo I hadn't heard all the lawsuit shtuff. Apologies.

 

[Ⓐaron]

I can't imagine that a nowhere-near-complete preview of the game will result in less sales. If anything, a lot of people probably downloaded it who wouldn't have cared about the game if there hadn't been a free preview. But then, they wouldn't be Square Enix if they weren't litigious. The only way the leak could conceivably harm sales is if the leak was extremely glitchy, and I don't see any indications that this was the case.

 

[ForceStealer]

Agreed, but at least they didn't go after the people that downloaded it, music industry.

 

[Ⓐaron]

yeah, that's a fair point

 

[Cthulhu]

Thing is, there's a bunch of people that will go 'BAWW THAT GAEM SUXXX FULL OF BUGS Q_Q' after playing this shitty version.

Which probably isn't the target audience and should be ignored, but still, .

 

[Max Payne]

 

[X-SOLDIER]

I'm pretty sure that this game is going to consume days of my life if the alternate paths are sufficiently interesting / diverse. The story looks excellent.


X

 

[X-SOLDIER]

New, awesome viral advertisement.

X

 

[Cthulhu]

Awesome trailer, . I just hope the game's just as good.

It looks like movie material, too, even though similar movies have been made (Surrogates comes to mind).

 

[X-SOLDIER]

Audio is often underappreciated in games, because it's one of those things that, if it's done right, you oftentimes won't notice it, and it's only when it's not done well that it's really apparent. That being said, it looks like they've got it nailed.

Only 1 more week.


X

 

[X-SOLDIER]

Another Live Action footage ad, featuring a quote that is NOT by Charles Darwin.



X

 

[Hisako]

Hnngh why is August 25 not today

It needs to be today

 

[Russell]

Audio is often underappreciated in games, because it's one of those things that, if it's done right, you oftentimes won't notice it, and it's only when it's not done well that it's really apparent.

Concur.

So never played any other Deus Ex games and I don’t really know that much about it, but the early reviews I’ve found have praised it:

Deus Ex Human Revolution has received widespread critical acclaim in both previews and reviews. Reviewers who had access to the game in February 2011 praised the open-ended experience of the game, similar to the first Deus Ex,[31][32] the importance of conversations in the missions,[33] and also the depth of the storyline.[34] PC Gamer UK gave the game a score of 94 and the Editor's Choice, describing it as a game that "puts almost everything else in the genre to shame." [35] Official Xbox Magazine gave the game a perfect 10/10.[36] Official PlayStation Magazine UK gave it an 8/10, citing frustrations in ammo quantities, load times, and boss fights.[37] Game Masters gave the game a score of 94%, saying it was "an incredible piece of game-making; it's the revival Deus Ex always deserved" and concluding with calling the game "a once-in-a-generation kind of game, and the first game in a decade to do everything the original Deus Ex did, and to do almost all of it better."

The words I picked up on there are “depth of the storyline” & “open-ended experience of the game”.

I’m glad I don’t know to much about it, going to enjoy playing it all the more.

 

[Rumpelstiltskin]

Deus ex machina: Invisible war was and still is one of the best games ever to come out on the pc. Although it's considered dated by todays standard the plotline was brilliant and the gameplay was deeply responsive to your upgrading of the character

Really looking forward to seeing this hit the consoles next week

 

[X-SOLDIER]

I think someone just released a mod for the original with 75% of the textures redone in higher definition if anyone is interested in trying it out.


X

 

[Max Payne]

Wasn't just textures, it was new shader and lighting effects too if I remember the changelog correctly.

 

[X-SOLDIER]

Joystiq's review is hinting that this is everything that I've been hoping. I can't WAIT until tomorrow.


X

 

[Russell]

Comes out Friday here in the UK.

 

[Cthulhu]

Guess this is another one of those games on my to buy list when I finally go and buy a new PC, .

It's funny though, the PC market has been largely dead for a couple of years now, but suddenly seems revitalized with a bustling indie market and very big titles coming out for PC.

 

[Max Payne]

It's funny though, the PC market has been largely dead for a couple of years now, but suddenly seems revitalized with a bustling indie market and very big titles coming out for PC.

No.

 

[Cthulhu]

Yes. definitely compared to some years ago, and in my experience.

 

[Max Payne]

Yes. definitely compared to some years ago, and in my experience.

Your experience is garbage. Big name PC exclusives have gotten more sparse, but the platform hasn't been wanting for releases at all. There has always been a good market for Indie games, and RTS/adventure/pointclick adventure games on the pc due to ease of distribution.

 

[Cthulhu]

I think I did point that out, yeah. Steam is definitely riding the indie wave (although with Steam being as big a publisher as it is, once can wonder if they're still truly independent).

I was mainly aiming at the AAA titles though, which have been scarce besides series like Call of Duty. Plus I'm complaining because all the fun games you people always fawn about never were published for PC, .