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Microsoft Disables SafeDisc DRM On Windows Vista, 7, And 8

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Windows update disables SafeDisc

Microsoft has released an update for Windows Vista, 7, and 8 that disables an old digital rights management software called SafeDisc. The software was used on many video games back in the 90s as a way to prevent people from copying games that were shipped on optical discs. Microsoft has released an update that prevents any game that uses SafeDisc from being installed, citing concerns that the DRM software poses a security risk.

SafeDisc was also disabled in Windows 10, which led to many people complaining after upgrading their operating system only to find their old games no longer worked. Windows 10 also disabled SecuROM, another DRM program designed to prevent disc copying (it’s worth noting that neither of them actually worked that well at preventing piracy).

Both SafeDisc and SecuROM do represent genuine security risks. They are notorious for their security flaws that could create loopholes for viruses and hackers to exploit. Currently, it appears that SecuROM games will still run on Windows Vista, 7, and 8.

SafeDisc and SecuROM were used on many popular games, such as Grand Theft Auto 3, the original Sims, Microsoft’s Flight Simulator 2004, and Crimson Skies. With Microsoft cracking down on the insecure software, the only way to get the old games running is to buy them digitally through platforms such as Steam or GOG. Of course, players can always download cracking software to get around the DRM on their discs.

Microsoft has provided instructions on how to re-enable SafeDisc. It involves editing running certain commands to temporarily enable the software, or editing the registry to make it permanent. But they’re also keen to point out, rightly, that doing so will open your computer up to known security problems. They tell users to implement these workarounds “at your own risk.” You can see the instructions here.

It just goes to show that game publishers should probably think twice before shipping their products with faulty DRM software.

Rhiannon likes video games and she likes writing, so she decided to combine them. As well as writing about video games, she also belts out the occasional science fiction or fantasy story, edits videos, and eats strawberry oreos. In that order.

Gaming

Ubisoft says that future Assassin’s Creed games will need more time to be made

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As Assassin’s Creed Shadows is about to sneak up on people in November, Ubisoft says that the time between developing games needs to be longer to find the “right balance.” Shadows has been in development for four years, longer than any other game in the series up to this point. That includes the huge open-world epics Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.

Shadows lead producer Karl Onnée (thanks, GamesIndustry.biz) says that the latest AC game took 25% longer to make than Valhalla. He says this is necessary to keep the quality of the series that it is known for: “It’s always a balance between time and costs, but the more time you have, the more you can iterate.” You can speed up a project by adding more people to it, but that doesn’t give you more time to make changes.

Onnée says this has as much to do with immersion and aesthetics as it does with fixing bugs and smoothing out pixels. This is because the development team needs time to learn about each new historical setting: “We are trying to make a game that is as real as possible.” We’re proud of it, and the process took a long time. In feudal Japan, building a house is very different from building a house in France or England in the Middle Ages. As an artist, you need to learn where to put things in a feudal Japanese home. For example, food might not belong there. Get all the information you need and learn it. That process takes a long time.”

You’ll have to wait a little longer for Ubisoft to work on each game. Are you okay with that? In what part of Shadows are you now? Is it interesting to you? Leave a comment below and let us know.

 

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You can now pre-order Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP on PS5

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You can now pre-order Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP, a remaster that Dragami Games and Capcom both created. You can now pre-order the PS5 game on the PS Store for $44.99 or £39.99. If you have PS Plus, you can get an extra 10% off the price.

The company put out a new trailer with about three minutes of gameplay to mark the start of the pre-order period. Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP is a remaster of Grasshopper Manufacture’s crazy action game from 2012. You play as Juliet, a high school student who fights off waves of zombies.

The remaster adds RePOP mode, an alternative mode that swaps out the blood and gore for fun visual effects. It also adds a bunch of other features and improvements that make the game better overall. You can expect the graphics and sound to be better as well.

The game will now come out on September 12, 2024, instead of September 12, 2024. Are you excited to get back to this? Please cheer us on in the section below.

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This Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 zombies trailer is way too expensive

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Is there really anyone who is following the story of Call of Duty’s zombie mode? We’ve known about the story in a vague way for a while, but we couldn’t tell you anything about it. It looks like the “Dark Aether” story will continue in Black Ops 6, but we don’t really know what that means.

For those of you who care, here is the official blurb with some background: “Requiem, led by the CIA, finally closed the last-dimensional portal, sending its inhabitants back to the nightmare world known as the Dark Aether, after two years of fighting zombie outbreaks around the world during the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War timeline.”

Wait, there’s more! “Agent Samantha Maxis gave her life to seal this weird dimension from the inside out.” Even worse things were to come: senior staff members of Requiem were arrested without a reason by the Project Director, who turned out to be Edward Richtofen.

Black Ops 6 will take place about five years later, and it looks like it will show more about Richtofen’s goals and motivations. The most important thing is that you will probably be shooting an unimaginable number of zombies in the head. This week, on August 8, there will be a full reveal of the gameplay, so keep an eye out for that.

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