Automatic patching and stuff...
Of course, HEXUS.gaming being HEXUS.gaming, we couldn’t help but be completely nosey and find out a bit about these guys. Tony has been in the IT trade for nearly 20 years now and is a keen gamer, carving a name out for himself in Everquest 2 as well as going for some FPS fun in pretty much all the shooters out there. Nicholas specializes in fund raising for developers and publishers within the games sector and has a strong pedigree of past work with some big names in gaming. Together with the other directors, one of whom bears more than a passing resemblance to Richie Cunningham, these guys got together and started working on a way to make patching and playing games easier.. and GameShadow was born.
So, what does GameShadow actually do? The answer is really quite simple, but how it actually does what it does is hugely complex. In essence, GameShadow takes a look at the games on your PC, then checks to see what patches are available for it. The way it does this is by scanning various files to check version numbers and registry entries so it can get you the exact patch you need.
Now my first concern was that GameShadow was scanning my PC, something that I didn’t feel entirely comfortable with, but, as Nicholas explains, we needn’t worry:
“The GameShadow service scans your PC purely looking for recognised games files. It takes that information and the compares your version numbers with what we have on our servers. At no time is any information sent from your PC to us and we haven’t hidden any spyware or adware in there either.”
Tony adds;
The thing is, GameShadow comes from us being gamers and wanting an easier way to patch other than searching through a game or publisher’s website for the patch we want. We like our gaming to be easy and simple… the challenge should be in the game, not in getting the game to run and certainly not in checking your computer for unwanted adware or spyware. The GameShadow client only checks versions against our servers patch list and pulling the patches down that you need, we don’t hold any information about what’s on your hard drive
So that’s a relief… my meticulously organised collection of ‘art’ films is safe for another day. GameShadow came from Tony’s frustration at having to spend so much time hunting for patches that it became a pain getting a game to run and the last two years have been spent honing GameShadow’s engine to enable it to do the job effectively and efficiently. The resulting unique ID system looks at file sizes, folder structures and registry entries to then figure out what version of a game you have. This information is checked with the GameShadow servers and if a patch is found that you haven’t got, then the software lets you know. You can make life even easier for yourself by just letting GameShadow get on and do all the installing and that malarkey with the minimum interference from you, just like Automatic Updates with Windows.
If you’re like me and a bit of a control freak you can just let GameShadow tell you there’s a patch waiting if you want it and then do the install yourself. Actually getting the patch after that couldn’t be easier, all you do is click the link and away you go. GameShadow uses a client/host structure rather than peer-to-peer as this gives much better transfer rates and doesn’t rely on how many people are seeding compared with how many are leeching.
