GOG, formerly Good old Games, which CD Projekt Red recently sold to the platform's original co-founder, has stuck to its convictions on DRM-free game publishing, with its latest release, Control Resonant, coming to the platform with no DRM and with the typical downloadable game files that GOG provides. The game also features native cloud saves on GOG Galaxy. The DRM-free launch of Control Resonant comes just over a month after the game's initial launch on Steam, and both the standard version of Control Resonant and the Deluxe Edition are available on GOG. Other versions of Control Resonant on PC use standard Steam DRM.

[Editor's note: Our handheld performance review and in-depth review of Control Resonant are now live]

The OpenTools Open Printer is a new open-source hardware project that spawned in response to expensive, predatory designs from traditional printer manufacturers. The philosophy behind it is that it is a "repairable, compact, and robust printer designed to last," and according to an announcement and preview video by CrowdSupply, it seems as though the Open Printer will be launching on the crowdfunding platform soon. It uses off-the-shelf parts to make repairs easy, and it prints on paper up to A3 in size, but can also accommodate a paper roll that is as wide as an A3 sheet's short edge 297 mm.

The Open Printer will use refillable ink cartridges, and it will be able to print on a variety of paper formats, including paper rolls. It features no DRM and is built on open-source firmware, and the makers have published both the firmware source files and the electronic and mechanical design files under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 license, meaning users are allowed to freely use and adapt the printer's design files as well as build projects based on it, as long as they share their projects under the same license and don't use the resources for commercial purposes. All parts that are not off-the-shelf will be able to be 3D printed, which again plays into the repairability aspect, since if something breaks, it is easy to replace.

GOG, the game distribution platform formerly owned by CD Projekt Red, was recently sold off by the aforementioned game studio and taken over by one of CDPR's co-founders, Michał Kiciński, who, at the time, promised to stay true to the platform's original pro-consumer approach to game distribution. Now, in a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, the new owner and CEO has revealed his plans for the now-independent GOG. Apparently, the leadership will be leaning into GOG's Game Preservation Program and its niche appeal with indie and retro gaming communities, instead of trying to compete with the big boys on volume and AAA sales. That said, he has also promised that GOG will continue to sell AAA games from CDPR, as part of the buyout deal—at least for six years from the date of the agreement.

Whenever there is a big shuffle in the business side of the gaming industry, there are always questions about how these smaller players will handle massive competitors, like Steam. When asked about how GOG will compete with Steam, Kiciński said that the indie platform doesn't plan on taking Valve on head-on. Instead, he says that "GOG has its own strengths and really should focus on maintaining them and even strengthening them." He goes on to explain that GOG's "identity" and "uniqueness" are "very much appreciated by gamers." What he is alluding to here is the Game Preservation Program, which aims to modernize and preserve classic games, both for future gamers and historians. He goes on to say that "Whenever a company is trying to win a market, it needs to just be better at a certain segment. In the case of GOG, that is classics and modern classics. Our aim and our vision is to just simply provide a superior service."

I don't know about you, but I've found the Dishonored universe to be one of the most interesting ones to be explored in gaming in recent years. Now, publisher Bethesda has made the dishonored franchise available via CD Projekt Red's GOG digital storefront, which means DRM-free versions of games you get to keep forever, as well as digital goodies. The original Dishonored and DLC, alongside Dishonored 2 and its expansion Death of the Outsider (too late for a spoiler alert, uh?) are now available with discounts up to 75% off.

Wolfenstein: The New Order and Wolfenstein: The Old Blood are also available through GOG as of now, so if you have a Nazi-killing craving lurking somewhere in your conscious or subconscious mind, GOG has that itch covered for you with hefty discounts as well (and these are extensive to the entirety of Bethesda's published catalogue on GOG, including those more retro pieces of gaming such as Quake and Doom). Go now, and be happy.

Origin is the fledgling online download account-based DRM service from Electronic Arts launched last June, that is home to Battlefield 3. To compete effectively against other similar services, the industry-leading Steam in particular, it must offer more content. To this end, Origin has added 11 publishers to its portfolio, reports CVG. These are Trion Worlds, Robot Entertainment, Freebird Games, Recoil Games, Autumn Games, 1C Company, inXile entertainment, Paradox Interactive, Core Learning Ltd, N3V Games and CD Projekt RED. That last one is interesting, because CD Projekt RED owns and runs www.gog.com, the website dedicated to selling DRM-free games.

Sony BMG has become the last of the 'big four' record labels to drop Digital Rights Management - on part of its music collection at least. Specific details have not yet been released, so this could potentially apply to all of the songs that Sony offers for download. Digital Rights Management is the technology that limits users to playing songs only on certain computers and devices, and has been the subject of fierce opposition over recent months. Warner, EMI and Universal have all made plans for DRM-free downloads, and Sony is set to launch its DRM-free downloads in the first quarter of this year.

EMI started the anti-DRM movement by being the first major record label to sell their music without DRMs. Fortunately, Universal Studios caught on quick, and now offers the majority of their library sans DRMs to select retailers. And thanks to a recent promotion of the Amazon DRM-free music selling service, and a new partnership of said music service with Pepsi, more record labels are planning to sell DRM-free music. Warner Music Group, who owns material from famous artists such as Black Sabbath, is planning to put their music on Amazon. Sony BMG is also planning to place their material on Amazon. The main reason behind this sudden adoption of DRM-free material is the recent success behind DRM-free music. A symbol of this success is Universal making 85% of their music available as an unprotected MP3 file. Universal is all but confirmed as staying in the DRM-free MP3 market, pending final results of the market trial due in mid-January.

Amazon.com is setting its sites on iTunes with the release of its new Amazon MP3 DRM-free music download service. The new service kicks off with more than two million 256kbps MP3 files from more than 180,000 artists from more than 20,000 labels. Amazon claims that many of the songs are cheaper than iTunes, with more than a million tracks cost from 89 cents to 99 cents. You can now download tracks directly from Amazon's site, but if you wish to purchase an entire album, you'll be required to use the Amazon MP3 Downloader available for Windows XP/Vista or Mac OS.

Amazon MP3 Downloads