The year in gaming featured much more than new games. 2011 was packed with news that kept gamers interested throughout the year. Vivid Gamer was able to report on much of it, and here is a recap of 2011′s hottest stories.
EA Fails to Disclose SecuROM
On March 8, EA released the highly-anticipated sequel to the popular Dragon Age. What EA failed to mention is the hidden DRM within the game, known as SecuROM. Three days later, Rebecca Quintana reported the existence of the DRM within Dragon Age II citing a “Reclaim Your Game report” and the gaming world was infuriated for the most part.
“We have CONFIRMED from testing that it DOES contain SecuROM, and that it DOES leave files behind. We can also confirm that nowhere on the package, in the EULA or on the Website for the game is thee ANY mention of the inclusion of SecuROM. EA had been ordered by the courts to disclose the use of SecuROM on any game that uses it. And it is contradictory of what Bioware has been saying for the last 3 weeks.”
Rebecca’s full report on the issue can be found here.
Gamers Unite To Support Earthquake Victims
On March 11, Japan was struck by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, the most powerful earthquake ever known to have struck the island-nation. Japan, a major hub for the gaming industry, was absolutely devastated. While not trying to take anything away from victims of the two natural disasters, the gaming industry was also impacted severely. The disasters delayed multiple games and is one of the main reasons the Vita was delayed in the U.S. Gamers were not afraid to come to the aid of Japan however, and many gaming companies contributed to relief efforts. Elizabeth Burnette reported that the company PopCap was able to collect over $200,000 for relief efforts.
Partnered with the International Red Cross, PopCap pledged all the proceeds to the victims suffering from the recent disasters. The titles included Bejeweled, Peggle, and Plants vs. Zombies. Plants vs. Zombies had recently made its way to the top of the Japanese sales chart and PopCap felt that it was “the most appropriate game to feature in this fundraising campaign.” Along with PopCap’s sale, Capcom and Sega pledged to donate the proceeds from their respective iOS titles, Street Fighter 4 and Sonic.
Elizabeth’s report can be found here and the impact the earthquake and tsunami had on the Vita can be found here.
Vivid Gamer is a contributor at Vivid Gamer. We are committed to providing well-researched, accurate, and valuable content to our readers.
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