Anthony Horowitz, Valve and the Daily Mail are in CVG's Heroes & Villains of the week - 02/12/2011

By CVG Staff for computerandvideogames.com

There's people to cheer and people to jeer. Here's three of each from the past seven days of the gaming world that we've hand-picked for naming and shaming.

HEROES

Who: Witcher 2 dev, CD Projekt

Why: For understanding DRM

There are so many cases of DRM gone wrong that we were starting to think no one understood PC gaming anymore. Thank God for CD Projekt then, who seem to get the DRM issue perfectly.

"We of course experimented with all available DRM/copy protection, but frankly nothing worked," said Marcin Iwinski

"DRM does not work and however you would protect it, it will be cracked in no time."

Iwinski believes that a more effective method of discouraging piracy is adding "high value with the product - like enhancing the game with additional collectors' items like soundtracks, making-of DVDs, books, walkthroughs", as done with The Witcher 2.

At last, somebody gets it.

Who: Anthony Horowitz

Why: For bringing some sense to 'The Wright Stuff'

The author appeared on 'The Wright Stuff' during a debate which asked "Are games worse for kids than TV?"

We get the usual 'games make kids violent, teach 'em nothing, mine play outside with sticks' discussion cycle you'd expect, but then along came Anthony Horowitz.

"I'm often as a children's author asked about books versus television, versus computer games and my answer is always the same: some of all of them," he said.

"The Victorians worried about penny dreadfuls [19th century serial stories], our parents worried about television, we worry about computer games, and I don't believe actually that actually any of these things really go more than skin deep."

Horowitz dismissed the findings of Queen's University in Belfast, which claims that playing games could be better for kids' health than watching television, as "nonsense" that "only exists for people like us to have something to talk about in the morning. Where does one go with this? Are crisps worse for you than chips? It's ridiculous."

Hero.

Who: UK Government

Why: For committing to reforming ICT and computer science teaching in schools

In response to Next Gen, an independent review of skills for the UK's videogames and visual effects sectors published earlier this year by Eidos life president Ian Livingstone and Double Negative founder Alex Hope, the government had to say:

"The Government recognises that the current ICT programme is insufficiently rigorous and in need of reform. The Government is committed to introducing a slimmed down, more focused, and more rigorous curriculum.

"Teaching of ICT and computer science in schools needs reform to better reflect the changing role of technology and the need to engage the computer scientists of the future.

"... Through its curriculum and exam reforms the Government will look to pave the way for the sector to help schools offer pupils a genuinely rigorous grounding in computer science."

Good news then.

VILLAINS

Who: Valve

Why: For trolling

Seriously, Valve, just officially announce Half-Life 3 already. No more t-shirts, no more folders named "ep3" hidden inside your other games, if you can't do that, dial down the trolling. Haven't we suffered long enough?