Triton (content delivery)
Encyclopedia
Triton was a digital delivery and digital rights management
Digital rights management
Digital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...

 service created by Digital Interactive Streams, which abruptly went out of business in early October 2006.

Triton was a new competitor in the rapidly growing market for electronic distribution of video games. Triton was being used to serve budget-oriented games from such publishers as Strategy First
Strategy First
Strategy First is a software company based in Montreal, Canada. Founded in 1988, the company has published numerous well-known games, such as the Disciples series, Jagged Alliance series, Space Empires series, and Galactic Civilizations....

 and Global Star Software, and was most known for distributing Prey
Prey (video game)
Prey is a first-person shooter video game developed by Human Head Studios , and published by 2K Games. The Xbox 360 version was ported by Venom Games. The game was initially released in North America and Europe on 11 July 2006...

.

History

Triton was launched on November 10, 2004, under the name Game xStream. The service signed several smaller publishers shortly thereafter, and announced its first high-profile deal in May 2005, signing 3D Realms
3D Realms
3D Realms is a current video game publisher and former video game developer based in Garland, Texas, United States, established in 1987...

 and its then in-development FPS Prey
Prey (video game)
Prey is a first-person shooter video game developed by Human Head Studios , and published by 2K Games. The Xbox 360 version was ported by Venom Games. The game was initially released in North America and Europe on 11 July 2006...

.

Game xStream was renamed to its current title of Triton on May 8, 2006.

In early October, 2006, owners of Prey who had purchased it via Triton began to complain about problems purchasing the game, activating it, and reaching customer service. Joe Siegler of 3D Realms, the producer of Prey, managed to find out that Triton and Digital Interactive Streams had gone out of business suddenly and apparently without warning.

A follow-up from Royal O'Brien of Triton said that Prey owners who use Triton won't lose their game. A patch was in development to remove the dependency from the live system and allow you to back up/copy and play your games. However, customers who purchased the game through Triton will receive a retail copy.

Prey was released on Valve's
Valve Corporation
Valve Corporation is an American video game development and digital distribution company based in Bellevue, Washington, United States...

 Steam service, which allows any existing Prey owners to register their game through Steam by entering the activation code, including those who bought Prey through Triton.

Technology

Although similar to competing services, the primary selling point of Triton was its "dynamic streaming
Streaming media
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a streaming provider.The term "presented" is used in this article in a general sense that includes audio or video playback. The name refers to the delivery method of the medium rather...

" technology, which allows for games to be played before they have been completely downloaded - new content is sent to the client as it is needed. All games on the service required the user to be online to be able to play purchased games.
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