The Week in Review

This week we learn that Blizzard takes care of its fans, Capcom is listening to their fans and the makers of Kingdoms of Amalur are having a bit of financial troubles.

Blizzard Cleans Up GAME’s Mess

When the Australian branch of GAME entered administration yesterday, it appeared that gamers who had pre-ordered Diablo III (or any other game for that matter) from the company were fresh out of luck. Fortunately, Blizzard, recognizing the opportunity to earn some good press, are footing the bill. Provided gamers have kept their pre-order receipt, they can buy the game again and Blizzard will refund the amount they paid to Game Australia. (Link)

Capcom Says It’s Done With On-Disc DLC

In general, most gamers don’t mind the idea of DLC – it’s content you can experience after you’ve finished everything else, and it’s a way for the developer to keep making money off their product. Day-one DLC is slightly more controversial but still accepted, because it’s usually developed after work on the “main” game has started to wind up. But for many gamers, DLC that’s already on the shipped disc is unforgivable. It was completed! It’s right there on the disc! So why can’t I play it? (Link)

DDoS Attack Scuttles The Pirate Bay

The popular file-sharing website The Pirate Bay has been offline for nearly a day following a deliberate denial-of-service attack from an unknown source, according to its official Facebook page. Since the attack, The Pirate Bay has been relying exclusively on its Facebook profile to relay information to the public. It first reported site issues nearly a day ago, suggesting it had heard reports from users that the site was inaccessible. (Link)

38 Studios Pays the State But Not Its Workers

The crunch appears to be coming to Curt Schilling’s 38 Studios, which is “in the process” of making an overdue payment of $1.125 million to the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation but, because of that, cannot meet its payroll obligations for the week. According to WPRI, employees at the studio “looked glum” but could not comment on whether or not they’d been paid this week. Sources have told Joystiq that the Kingdoms of Amalur developer has also terminated the employment of all temporary and contract workers. (Link)

EA Offers Free Origin Distribution For Crowd-Funded Games

Game development is an expensive business, even for small indie titles; just ask the guys behind Star Command if you don’t believe it. Every dollar counts. So to help relieve some of that pressure, EA is now offering 90 days of free distribution on Origin for any complete, crowd-funded game. “The public support for crowd-funding creative game ideas coming from small developers today is nothing short of phenomenal,” said Origin SVP David DeMartini. “It’s also incredibly healthy for the gaming industry. (Link)