Eidos Interactive and Valve Software are poised to slap those who claimed "the PC is dead" back to the age of the Commodore 64. With their agreement of a team-up for the online distribution of Eidos titles, the PC games industry just started to give the next-gen consoles a run for their money, using means to avert piracy.

Eidos Interactive, the UK-based world-class publisher for titles such as Tomb Raider, Commandos and Championship Manager, will now be distributing its new line of games and their bestsellers over Steam's online digital distribution network, including Tomb Raider: Anniversary and Championship Manager 2007. Other titles to be distributed include Hitman titles, Battlestations: Midway, Just Cause and the entire Commando series.

Gabe Newell, Valve Software's co-founder and president, was happy to extend their services to a major PC games publisher, toward an online community that is overly loyal to the PC platform. Steam is the premier distribution network for Valve Software, where they have been distributing games such as Rag Doll Kung Fu and Counter-Strike: Source. Tom Marx, development manager at Eidos, replied:

Eidos is delighted to add Steam to our extensive digital distribution network. Steam represents an opportunity to distribute our games electronically to millions of gamers around the world. It also provides us a direct connection to these extremely active PC influencers who frequent Steam as a source for new content and information. As a result of being a spotlight feature on Steam this year, we expect to see sales of Tomb Raider: Anniversary benefit across all channels.

Have you ever thought of the possibility that MMORPGs could be used by terrorists to recruit and teach people how to blow up stuff? The Counterterrorism Blog ("The first multi-expert blog dedicated solely to counterterrorism issues") has. Here are a few snippets from an entry by Andrew Cochran.

Many of the overwhelmingly positive features of Second Life can be adapted for negative Real Life means. The rapid and potent way in which communication takes place would seem to be an ideal platform for recruitment into radical groups, especially given the age range of those engaged in the world, which is typically 18-34. The teaching capabilities of the world can clearly be adapted for use by terrorists.

You may be asking yourself (or your monitor, if you're one of those kinds of people), "How's it going to work, anyway?" Cochran has the answer.

Streaming video can be uploaded into Second Life and a scenario can easily be constructed whereby an experienced terrorist bomb-maker could demonstrate how to assemble bombs using his avatar to answer questions as he plays the video. Using the decentralized organization effect, already successfully used by SL companies, the bomb-maker and his pupils can be spread around the globe and using instant language translation tools (available in the world) could be speaking a variety of languages.

And that's not even the worst part.

...possibly by far the most useful tool currently available to radical groups is the ability to transfer in-world money between avatars that can be translated into real currency. The Second Life currency of Lindens (approximately $270L to $1US) can be bought using a credit card in one country and credited to one avatar (account) and can be given to a co-conspirator avatar in another country.

Please note that the article also mentions other MMORPGs, (World of Warcraft, for one), but Second Life is mainly used as an example because it is, in the author's words, the "purest version of a digital 3-D world."

The whole thing sounds a bit farfetched, but who knows? If the terrorists haven't thought about it yet, then they certainly know about it now. Click on the "via" link below for the full article on the Counterterrorism Blog.

It'll cost AU$ 999 (US$ 788), but it's definitely worth it. The problem arises when you try to convince consumers that it's a worthwhile buy.

Sony thinks that a little extra sumthin-sumthin should make the PlayStation 3 worth the wait and the price tag. Of course, the way it's being presented isn't exactly perfect from a gamer's point of view, as The Age manages to show.

In their report, they mention the following freebies as additional "sweeteners" to the deal:

The James Bond film "Casino Royale" will be offered free to the first 20,000 buyers who register their PS3 online. Additionally the game Gran Turismo: HD will be available to all PS3 buyers as a free download from the PlayStation Network.

The main problem there? Gran Turismo HD is a freebie that has long since been out, and therefore nothing special to Australian consumers. Still, "Casino Royale" was a nice movie, and folks who pick up a PS3 do have a wider selection of titles to choose from, but it's still somewhat strange to think that a discontinued game-turned-demo is meant to be a great way to announce the game.

Perhaps adding MotorStorm for free would have been a better deal... ah well.

A few players over at the Europe World of Warcraft Forums have been keen to sense players who look suspiciously like bots. They walk aimlessly around the map, only attacking enemies the bot program "sees". So Preistingo was getting curious as to what options he had once he was absolutely sure he has a bot in his cross-hairs.

There are a lot of World of Warcraft players who have pretty nasty ideas for suspicious characters, who are claimed to be mostly Hunters and Rogues. But Blizzard Community manager">Vaneras, a Blizzard representative, says the age-old Game Master notification is your number one option. In fact, it's probably the only right thing to do, according to him.

Thudgot has reassured people that even if there has been little results to the reports that players send in, the reports themselves help Blizzard in their case against botters. But many are still unsatisfied with the slow, if not lack of, action being made against botters.

What people need to know is that almost every MMO game out there has one or two bot programs. There will also be botters, because there will always be someone who thinks they can play easy things even easier. We know that the reports are the lamest way to get rid of botters, but they do work.

It's like the wheel of the law, you know. It's slow, but hey, it does turn.

American scientists in Madagascar have recently rediscovered a rare species - a blind pink snake which was last seen over a century ago.

The specie, named Xenotyphlops mocquardi, resembles a long intestinal parasite; its kind was last documented in 1905 in the same locale. Van Wallach, Harvard's blind snake expert, is not surprised at all that it took such a long time for a new sighting to occur. He says "they're really rare because they're subterranean, you can't just go out anytime you want and collect these things. You can dig forever and never find them."

The latest specimen was captured alive in a gathering trip for reptiles and amphibians in the island. The snake is 10 inches long and has the girth of a pencil. Nobody thought the snake was special until it was sent to Wallach for identification and comparison.

"It was just routine field work," says Vicenzo Mercurio, a scientist in the expedition that discovered the blind snake. Wallach, for his part, excitedly remarked "they sent it to me and I immediately recognized what it was."

Scientists say that there are 15 distinct species of blind snakes in the island. They often have underdeveloped eyes and hunt insects with their smell. They usually feed on ants and their larvae and pupae. Blind snakes are related to worm snakes, which they bear closely resemble. These two species are negatively phototaxic, which means they abhor light and seek shelter in holes or under rocks whenever possible.

Biologists theorize that worm snakes and blind snakes descended from a common ancestral species which lived during the age of the dinosaurs.

"My fandom beats ur fandom, u loser!"

That is the somewhat apt battlecry of the fans everywhere when it comes to everything from games to basketball. It's also the same thing that Mavericks owner Mark Cuban had to go through, and it's the same thing he blogs about now.

After getting some comments from fanboys reminiscent of some of our comments (argument is in the form of 1337speak, something about my mom, etc.), he decided to talk about fanboys and how they seem to have changed. He notes that instead of being the counterculture to the industries, industries now seem to be fueling them into a personal support force. He writes:

Whatever happened to Counterculture being a positive attribute? In today's fanboy culture, kids are obsessively supporting products. They aren't "fighting the man", they "are the man". They are using their fanboy legions and their inherent purchasing power to persuade and dissuade anyone in their way (emphasis his).

He continues his analysis, noting how marketers now have to work with fanboy interest in mind as well as general consumer interests. In the age of the net, an irate blogger is a powerful one, one with the know-how and the influence to get his own perceptions to spread among his community.

It's a good thing we're a blog then. The only difference is that we're pro-gamer, rather than pro-console.

 

Five years ago Doctors didn't believe Liz Woolley when she said her son was addicted to an internet game in which players take the role of elves, ogres and trolls.

Back then, we all said "Wha--?" The mind-numbing point being that how could the experts not recognize the addiction? Especially after the depressed 21 year old Shawn Woolley committed suicide at his keyboard. The Age reports that many mental health professionals now agree that online gaming addiction does exist. Despite little scientific research regarding the issue.

Some of us here at QJ would like to jump the gun and make a very unscientific hasty generalization: It does exist... duh! Nicotine addicts can't go through the day without smoking a certain number of cigarettes. Some gamers can't go through the day without certain hours of game time.

But yeah, further Scientific research into the phenomenon would be welcome.

With all the talk about how MMORPGs drain people's time and take them away from their families, it's a bit heartwarming to find out that those annoying (in a cavity-causing-this-is-too-sweet-to-be-real-this-is-annoying manner) father and son sports duos can exists in World of Warcraft.

The father and some duo is Siscotoquork (dad) and Dragonflie (son) of the Maelstrom guild on the Emerald Dream server. What's amusing about them is that the son got the dad into gaming with FF7. Given the age of FF7, the dad's been a gamer for quite some time now.

Gaming for them has turned into an activity that helps keep them connected as a family. The dad explains that they used to play a lot of tourney basketball back then but as he aged and basketball became a little too much for him to play on a regular basis, gaming helped them gain common ground. Dragonflie had this to say about gaming and family:

It is a good activity if all the family is in it, because those that are not feel left out. Especially if the other members are not gamers. WoW just takes to much time to play it without the other family members being involved.

When it comes to balancing gaming time and family time, the son says that WoW's a little more demanding than games he's played before. The dad says for him, time management is a less hard since his family is all grown now. All he has to do is work WoW around his wife's activities.

When it come to the fact that the guild leader is the son, the dad had this to say:

It actually is great to have my son as guild leader. I do not have to put up with the headaches, however, being his father gives me an automatic respect factor with the other guild members. Even though I do not get any respect from him.

Of course he probably said that in jest. Why does the Southpark WoW episode come to mind?

So. News has just reached our ears that Blizzard, in collaboration with Eurogamer, will be giving out 100 World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade closed beta keys.

Psyched? Well you should be! Because with this key, you'll be able to access high-level content, two new races (Blood Elves and Dranei), and tons more stuff that you otherwise wouldn't be able to get your filthy WoW-addicted hands on, hehe.

Oh, and add to that the fact that you'll be getting this two months before the expansion hits the shelves on January, damn right you'd better be psyched baybee!

All you have to do is head on to the Eurogamer site and answer this very simple question: "Which of the following Blizzard games is World of Warcraft based on?" If you have no idea, don't worry 'cuz there are choices given so you never know, you might just get lucky.

Aaaand now, for the rules (or Eurogamer's version of it):

• Prizes will not be exchanged for cash or other goods - if you don't want the prize, don't enter.
• No employees of Eurogamer or Blizzard may enter this competition.
• If you don't give us a valid e-mail address we can't contact you if you win the competition, and you will be ignored and possibly ridiculed.
• All entries must reach us by Tuesday, 14th November, at which point the winners will be selected.
• Multiple entries from the same email address will be ignored.
• This competition is open to European residents only.
• Winners must be over the age of majority in their country of citizenship.
• The judge's decision is final.

There ya have it! If you already know the answer to the question, then simply click on the read link below to register for the closed beta key giveaway contest. Good Luck!