Kotaku: Support

Video Game Addiction Support Group Opens In London, Canada

Stuart Houghton — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 17:00:00 MST

The US-based support group, On-Line Gamers Anonymous has opened its first chapter in Canada. Brad Dorrance - founder member of the London, CA chapter - came to the group after his 12-hour a day habit contributed to the breakup of his marriage and lead to an attempted suicide.

"I think people need to see how much damage can be done to a relationship by any addiction, even this one," said Dorrance.

Hold up, though. As we have mentioned before video game 'addiction' isn't an accepted condition and there is some considerable doubt among medical professionals as to its existence. That's not to say that already vulnerable people might immerse themselves in a game for a little too long, but labelling something an 'addiction' may not be the most helpful way of looking at it.

Comments?

Help now available for gaming addicts [London Free Press]

EA's Awesome Fix For Missing Red Alert 3 CD Key Characters

Michael McWhertor — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:00:00 MST

According to the Command & Conquer customer support team, a "small number of [Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3] manuals" suffered from an unfortunate misprint. Some owners of the Windows PC version are finding themselves with a CD key just 19 characters in length, exactly one shy of the required 20 characters required to activate the game. Oops!

Fortunately, EA has a helpful workaround to help gamers in need. Try to guess what it is.

No, that's actually the solution. Customer support suggests "guessing" the missing character. Start with "A." If that doesn't work, try "B." No? "C" then? Keep going. "D" is next. If it's not a letter, it might be a number. Try those too. The good news is that three dozen failed attempts to activate your game won't lock you out of your copy of the game.

From the official C&C customer support page.

There is currently a work around that may allow you to bypass this issue. Since you have the first 19 characters of the code already, you can basically try "guessing" the last character. To do this, simply enter your existing code, and then for the last character, try the letters A-Z, and then the numbers 0-9. You should eventually get the right combination, and be able to play the game.

We're guessing at least one of the 259 of 1540 people who claim they found this answer helpful are lying.

Gamers alphanumerically challenged can always contact EA via its online "contact us" form or by good old fashioned telephone.

What can I do if my Command and Conquer Red Alert 3 install code is 19 characters instead of 20? [EA via Digg]

GTA IV's PS3 Problems To Be Fixed Via Firmware Update?

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 13 May 2008 05:00:00 MDT

GTA IV has some problems. Some are pretty great, but most have resulted in freezes and lock-ups, which aren't great. And while a recent patch has fixed some of those problems, it hasn't fixed all of them, leaving a lot of GTA IV players still in the lurch. If that's you and you own a 60GB PS3, help may be on the way, as a poster over on the official PS3 forums has received an email from Take-Two support, who apparently told him Sony are working on a quick firmware update for the console, which will hopefully fix the issues 60GB users (who were the first to report problems with the game) have been having. Take with salt, yada yada.

Re: Phone SOny and R* Give them Your info!!! [ intimidtr3 @ PlayStation.com, thanks everyone!]

Assassin's Creed PC Patched, DirectX 10.1 Support Silently Killed Off

Luke Plunkett — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 05:30:00 MDT

Like its PS3 predecessor, the PC version of Assassin's Creed has launched with a few...problems. As in, it constantly crashes. Good news is a patch is on the way, which will fix the "majority of issues reported by fans". Bad news (for graphics whores) is that Ubisoft had to cut DirectX 10.1 support in order to get it working. Which, you know, isn't bad at all, since actually being able to play the game surely outweighs whatever miniscule advantages you were enjoying with 10.1. Doesn't it?
Assassin's Creed PC patch comes at the cost of DX10.1 support [Ars Technica]

How To Get Around Microsoft's Shitty DRM

Luke Plunkett — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 23:30:00 MDT

It's a safe assumption: many of you will have been jerked around by Microsoft's bum digital rights management setup for the 360. You've bought content, lost a console, and now can't play arcade games or use DLC unless you're online. Chin up, eh? Courtesy of Consumerist reader James, there's a way around it! James called up Microsoft support and hassled them about transferring the license from his old console to his new, replacement one. Voilà! The content was tagged to his new 360 instead of the old one, and James can play with the stuff he paid for whenever and wherever he likes. As should always have been the case. Only downside? There's two: it took 32 days for Microsoft to transfer the license, and there's no way of confirming whether this was due to some new Microsoft policy or the fact James is an expert at complaining.
Microsoft May Slowly Be Fixing Their Broken XBOX DRM [Consumerist] [Pic]

How to Get 800 Free MSoft Points

Mike Fahey — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 11:20:40 MST

We've gotten a few reports of customers who had purchased Undertow previously being laughed off the support line when calling Microsoft for compensation, as they indicated to us to do last week, so I decided to try the process out for myself. I called 1-800-4MY- XBOX, and after navigating the automated answer bot got in touch with a support specialist named Mark, who was amazingly cordial. I spent 7 years doing phone tech support myself, and Mark's level of cheerful professionalism was almost creepy. He took my information down and put me on hold to check the validity of my original purchase, which was made back when Undertow was released. Unfortunately he couldn't find my information about purchasing Undertow in the first place, which might have been m fault, because I am pretty sure I used a promotional code to download the game - information I am sure would have aided him in his search - but he gave every indication that were he able to find my information regarding the purchase he would have happily refunded the original 800 points. I of course did not, seeing as I did not technically pay for the game, but it you purchased Undertow before the free game reveal you should be fine. If you're having trouble, perhaps you're talking to the wrong person. Remember to be patient, and if all else fails - ask for a manager. Not everyone working the support lines is as eerily cheery as Mark was.

Arcade Flyer Archive To Liquidate Collection

fdemarco — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 09:00:00 MDT

If you have followed any of my writings over the past year, you'll know I am a huge proponent of The Arcade Flyer Archive. They are the inspiration and source for my weekly Arcade Flyer Art Saturday feature and are doing a great service for the gaming community at large by archiving these bits of our arcade past for the future. However, things like this don't pay for themselves and in an effort to keep this amazing site going, owner Dan is going to be selling off a portion of his massive collection. Starting in 2008 a large number of these flyers will be going on to the market for a measly $1 a piece. The sale pieces will include flyers from all three archives spanning pinball, video games and amusement machines. All of the details including shipping info, etc. can be found here. I will be sure to post a reminder once there is a solid list and the flyers actually go up for sale. So, start saving your pennies and you too could own a piece of arcade history!

The Fight for King's Quest IX

lsmith — Wed, 26 Oct 2005 12:40:15 MDT

Remember the fan made King's Quest game that Vivendi shut down? Eh, don't feel bad. Regardless, there's a group of troops trying to keep the game's release. Their plight and cause can be seen at Save King's Quest IX. From a business perspective, they are asking an awful lot of Vivendi to release their game or the rights, but it's probably worth a shot. Won't this just get released over the Internet sooner or later (if it hasn't already leaked), anyway?