Viral Semantics

Symantec releases 'Gaming Edition' antivirus.

By Nathan Davis on 26 November, 2008

Commonly criticised as the bloated, performance-hitting antivirus that doesn’t uninstall (well, without a special tool), it would seem Norton AntiVirus is trying to shape up and become gamer-friendly. Yeah, my head just exploded too.

Today, Symantec launches Norton AntiVirus 2009 Gamer Edition, which is “designed specifically with the gaming community in mind,” just in case the name didn’t entirely give that away. Inherently aware of the stigma associated with its software, Symantec’s new antivirus gaming website tries to convince its detractors otherwise. Various charts are sprayed about, comparing flattering performance against ‘Competitive Industry Average,’ and it lists features it doesn’t have, such as “won’t slow you down” only shouted in caps.

The website and the box itself sport generic alien-ninjas in space, rockets, and even a tank, just to hammer home how truly in touch it is with gamers. The interface didn’t go without a lick of gamer awesomeness, packing various levels of totally-rad distortions, the likes of which would have WindowBlinds go weak at the knees.

Norton now comes with space-alien-ninjas.

Aside from toeing the usual antivirus line, Gamer Edition promises to shut the hell up, with no annoying pop-ups or other such interruptions. It also claims to somehow protect the loot you’ve farmed for hours in MMO games (can’t wait to see that one put to task).

Lightweight and out of your way, it actually sounds like how the vanilla edition of Norton should behave. As a gamer, I tend to steer clear of antivirus software simply because I want all the processing power and memory to go straight to the game – I’m also savvy enough to know how to avoid viruses. I know I’m not alone, so the question is: will gamers even bother with this?

Either way, it seems not even Symantec takes it seriously. See brain-grating “DON’T GET PWNED BY YOUR ANTI VIRUS SOFTWARE” promotional clip, below.