Proponents of DRM and other consumer-hostile copy protection technologies often argue that without this technology, software developers would never make any money. This is demonstrably false. In fact, DRM is - and has always been - about trying to squeeze every last penny of profit from a piece of software, regardless of the consequences. The net effects include software incompatibilities, technical support issues, angry customers, bad press, and (guess what?) lost sales.

Happily, a few game developers are starting to realize that DRM, and the attitudes associated with it, are pointless. Leading the anti-DRM charge is Witcher developer CD Projekt Red. These good people recently released Witcher 3, which has no DRM or copy protection of any kind.

And the result? Witcher 3 is setting sales records, and making a ton of money for CD Projekt Red. But why would people pay for the game when they can easily pirate it? Because most people want to support good work, and are willing to pay for it.

Another new version of Minecraft was announced on May 25 by Mojang. Version 1.8.6 fixes one security issue. The JDRGaming Minecraft server is now running version 1.8.6, and the Minecraft page on this site has been updated with the latest information.

A new version of Minecraft was announced today by Mojang. Version 1.8.5 fixes several bugs, including some related to security. The JDRGaming Minecraft server is now running version 1.8.5, and the Minecraft page on this site has been updated with the latest information.

A new version of Minecraft was announced today by Mojang. Version 1.8.4 fixes a few minor bugs, and one very large and embarrassing security vulnerability in the Minecraft server. The JDRGaming Minecraft server is now running version 1.8.4, and the Minecraft page on this site has been updated with the latest information.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Seattle has overturned a 2012 decision by U.S. District Judge Ricardo Martinez in Seattle, which dismissed claims against Microsoft based on a 2009 ruling that was later overturned as well. The upshot is that the class action against Microsoft for knowingly selling defective consoles will continue.

There's a complete analysis of the XBox 360 disc scratching problem elsewhere on this site.

This is encouraging news, but the fight is far from over. Still, it's a step in the right direction. Even if nothing else ever comes out of this process, I'll be satisfied if Microsoft admits the defect and its subsequent failure to provide appropriate relief to affected customers.

Due to a router change, the IP address of all JDRGaming game servers has changed to 96.49.181.168. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

Apparently version 1.8.3 of Minecraft was released on February 20 to address a crashing bug. There was no proper announcement for this update. A couple of lines were added to the version 1.8.2 announcement on the Mojang blog, but this meant that there was no corresponding RSS update.

The JDRGaming Minecraft server is now running version 1.8.3. The Minecraft page on this site has been updated with all the latest information.

The server hosting the JDRGaming game servers has experienced a major hard drive failure and is down until the failed drive can be replaced. I expect to have the server itself up and running later today, but the game servers may not be up until Sunday. I apologize for any inconvenience.

Update: The server (and all three game servers running on it) are back up as of 10:33am, March 7.

Mojang has released a new version of Minecraft, 1.8.2.

Notable changes in 1.8.2:

• New statistics
• New frame time graph in debug screen. Activated by pressing Alt+F3 to display frame time bar chart in lower left of screen.
• Spectator Mode: Mobs no longer follow/attack you in spectator mode.
• TNT: Reverted explosion physic changes to those before the 14w31a snapshot. Explosion force is no longer directionally biased.
• Oak and Dark oak trees: Oak and Dark oak branches no longer replace blocks.
• Beacons: Now ignore bedrock above them when determining a clear view to the sky.
• Mobs: Ocelots now spawn at or above sea level, rather than at Y=63. Squids now spawn below sea level, rather than at Y=63.
• Carrot on a Stick: Crafting one now removes all enchantments from the original fishing rod.
• A rather massive list of bugfixes!

The Minecraft page on this site has been updated with the latest information.

The JDRGaming server has been updated to version 1.8.2.

The stats for TPU have been reset for the new year. As usual, the previous year's stats have been archived and can still be accessed by clicking the '2014' link in the left sidebar.