MMO Account Security

Here is a great article by Guildwars makers about account securities:

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/mike-obrien-on-account-security/

I love his sentence where each word is a link to a security breach of a MMO company which I quote here:

But in recent years,a truly staggering number of game companies and web sites have had their account databasesbreached. These reports of security breaches — 77 million accounts, 25 million accounts, 24 million accounts, untold millions more — may seem abstract, too big to be real, but they’re obviously not

I agree that account security is a problem - but is it really necessary to put extra work on the player only because your security systems lack innovative concepts? Since Blizzard released the authenticator their account hacks were reduced by a large margin. Where is my Guildwars authenticator?

If you ask why spending money on account security then let me tell you that 60% of trojans on your PC are written to steal MMO accuonts - not your credit card or bank details. As MMO accounts are more worth these days than your limit on your credit card :)

Without words

Fly safe man!

iPhone 5

So the iPhone 5 was anounced. As usual Apple anounced price, preorder date and shipment date just under 2 weeks from the anouncement. I wish other companies could do this.

Am I happy with the 5? Well yes - no - sort of. Its a nice upgrade and I will love the taller screen as I read a lot on the phone (Facebook and Twitter). Is it a revolution? Of course not. I don't get why people on one hand criticize why Apple doesn't revolutionize the mobile market every year and on the other hand buy Samsung clones which suck.

I don't get people sometimes.

Does it matter? Well sort of. As people who buy Android phones might miss why iOS is special. Its usability is better in my opinion. The only area where other companies are left to compete is 'more' technology and lower price (which leads to less business).
With 'more' I mean larger screen, more memory, more CPU. But don't they understand that this is just the base of the experience. They forget that the operating system need to shine as well and thats where Android lacks - as Google doesn't seem to care. It is a search engine company after all. And as a Smartphone company you have lost control over that important piece of software.

In the long run it won't matter as it didn't with mp3 either: mp3 players are dead, its called iPod now. We call programs "apps" now. We call places to buy apps Appstores. So in 10 years it won't matter anymore. Believe me.

It is like that all hundreds of tablets iPad wannabes merely account for 9% of the internet traffic compared to 91% from the iPad. Its like that 70% of smartphone revenue share is owned by Apple.

But don't get me wrong. Samsung is important for Apple to push them further in the race envelope. How bad non competition can be you see on their standstil on iPods which they just re-engineer every couple of years.

My worst gripe with yesterdays event?

1) no new iMac
2) no new Retina 13" Notebook
3) No Mini iPad

Online Games are made of people

Sometimes life reminds you that the people you play with in online worlds - like Eve Online - are real people. Sometimes someone like this never comes online again.

Yesterday was such a day in Eve Online when one of the most important diplomats of my alliance went offline forever - having been killed in yesterdays attack on Americans in Libya.

Cheers mate, fly safe wherever you are:

http://themittani.com/news/rip-vile-rat

Angry Birds Friends

Now thats a cool feature of a Facebook Game by Rovio: playable embedded code (click on it)

Full Steam Ahead

Steam is market leader on downloadable PC games. Without steam you only do a fraction on digital sales on PC. The problem was that you had to ask Valve for permission and their review process is a mystery. When they say no - it meant no. No chance of reversal.

So Valve changed the way products enter steam and put the power into the hands of the community. YOU can now decide which game comes on steam. Well, most of the time.

Steam rejected an erotica game from Greenlight and then put a $100 fee on games which want to get published to hinder crap entering the system.

That still reminds me how console development works. You need some sort of control over content, otherwise your platform turns into a dirtpile.

That sex is not ok on steam but ultra violence is - that is an entirely American tragedy comedy.