So I guess the Diablo II patch 1.13c was released today.  How do I know?  Because I get a text message from my brother at 7:00AM today:

Patch and ladder reset day for D2.  Legends and Heroes will be born.  R u one of them??

I've also gotten messages saying:

Get Nathias the Paladin.  We need to rescue the peg leg boy!

and

Moo!

I guess he is excited about this update.  If you are excited as well...you can get the update here.

So I guess Ubisoft has a new type of DRM for their two newest PC releases, Assassin’s Creed 2 and Silent Hunter 5 and basically you need to be connected at all times to the internet to be able to play either of these games.  No internet = no game.

This is all fine and good, unless a bunch of hackers keep knocking the authentication servers offline, I assume by DoS’ing it.  Here is the word from Ubi via their Twitter feed:

Our servers are under attack again. Some gamers are experiencing trouble signing in. We're working on it and will keep you posted

This issue brings up the old debate, again, of is DRM worth it.  Honestly, I have no idea.  You can argue that it causes more problems than it solves.  Also, if your DRM gets cracked…was the money you invested into the DRM actually worth it?  But game development is a HUGE business with lots of money invested into each game.  If you were making a game…would you want your investment protected so you could maximize profits?  I would think so. ..at least I would.

I’m not sure how much money Ubi dumped into their DRM scheme for these games…but they seem to not want to admit that the DRM has already been cracked…which I’m hearing rampant rumors saying it has been...as early as the day it was released.

We're happy to say ACII & SH5 are withstanding the efforts to crack them.We see the rumors but still confirm no valid cracked versions exist

Now onto some real news.  Steam News has the announcement of Portal 2:

Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Left 4 Dead, Counter-Strike and Half-Life) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced Portal 2 for shipment this coming holiday season.

Portal 2 is the sequel to 2007's Portal, which won 70 industry achievement awards.

For more information, please visit www.steamgames.com

I’m pretty sure I didn’t post about Civilization 5 yet, but it was announced last week. You can view the newly released trailer and screenshots over at civilization5.com.

This makes up completely for that terrible annoucement of Civilization Network for the equally terrible FaceBook. Sid Meier you have renewed my faith in you. Continue creating awesomeness!