Why is DRM a good thing you may ask yourself?
The answer is simple:http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/01/pc-gears-of-war-drm-causes-title-to-shut-down-starting-today.ars
More such implementations will surely manage to piss of enough consumers that they go over to a totally DRM'ed solution/lockdown system such as the XBOX 360 Console (Which lets you install games to hard drive, but NOT play without the game cd) and the Playstation 3 (If it ever got any content... ).
The trick is to make one platform so undesirable and unrewarding that the consumers will flock to another even more destructive and damaging platform, simply because it is easier to use --- and easier for companies behind it to make the customer lose sight of the rights they lose.
And the best part in all this:Those who did not BUY the DRM'ed product will be able to play GoW, even after January 28th 2009.
Hilarious. If only because that's so pathetic.
If Stardock got a contract with Capcom, SNK, and Sega to put their fighting games on Impulse, I'd never even buy a console again.
Right now that's the only reason I own one.
It's stuff like this which is why I always crack my games after buying, except for Impulse/some Gamersgate stuff
Good Gawd!! Well keep shoving DRM down our throats Epic/EA/Tages/SecuROM. If it wasn't for you I wouldn't have found great games like Sins of a Solar Empire or Galactic Civilizations II or free games like World of Padman. I TOTALLY understand protecting a developed game. However I will NOT now or EVER buy a game with built in install limits. A built in kill switch takes the cake though. As if trying to keep a game playable was not hard enough just because of technology changes.
I hate consoles and will never support them. Restrictive DRM is pure evil. As far as I'm concerned there is no reasonable argument which can be made to change that simple truth.
BTW: Since we are on the topic... Let me introduce you to the very meaning of EPIC fail. Recently GoW produced by
[wait for it]
[wait]
Epic Games - expired on the PC!
That's right boys and girls, it appears a built in DRM timer or kill switch that of course ONLY affects customers - 'magine that...
Of course the usual "we did not think or know this would happen" argument will be given. Strangely enough one has to wonder how anything not DRM related to have created the situation even it is was unintentional. There simply is no legit reason for it to have occured.
I highly recommend checking out the official forums; a shit storm of EPIC proportions taking place.
Fail.
SecuROM is from the devil... that was giving me trouble long before DRM became a hot issue and maybe even before I knew that game piracy was even an option. All it's ever done is prevented me from playing games I legally own... utter nonsense.
Obviously I *never* use cracked or pirated games, but if I did, I imagine they would be much easier to run without making the premise of jumping through DRM's hoops. Media rights my left nut- DRM will be the end of the industry, one way or the other.
Come ON GUYS! DRM is expensive! You can't expect producers to pay big money for licenses that last forever! I think it is entirely sensible that our products stop working after a while. Otherwhise why would you want to buy the expansion or the sequel? I don't see this as a bad investment, I see this as a good opportunity to spend more money.
There is only one solution to prevent DRM in the future. It's actually very simple. Stop buying products that have them. There is only one way to make them feel their pain and that is through the bank account.
It's the only way. You may not always play the games you would like but trust me in a few years if everybody does this there will never be another DRM.
Of course this is just wishful thinking, but it's the only way to go. I'm doing it. Some games I have to leave on the shelves even though I would love to play them. Such is life.
Me too. I have Earned in Blood still in it's cellophane because I learned it had Starforce on it after I bought it. I also have a small box of SecuROM and Starforce games I will never play again. Oh well. I used to consider Steam a trusted vendor of games but now they're selling games by 3rd parties that have activations limits. You have to be careful and do your research before you buy games now days.
So has this problem been addressed yet?
Not yet, apparently, and i didn't even finished it yet! Reading through the thread on the official forums, it appears this came as a surprise for Epic aswell, and it's an issue with Windows certificates. I'll go get my torch and pitchfork, but i'll give them some time to resolve the problem before joining the angry mob.
Wow, I never thought anything would top the fact that the pirated version of Spore had better performance than the legal one . . .
I don't want to know what could top this, oh wait I just thought of something: EA switching from SECUROM to Starforce - aka the-product-made-by-the-poor-losers-who-posted-a-working-link-to-a-GCII-torrent-to-prove-you-need-DRM
The sad thing is I can see EA doing that.
This is such a shame. I bought both Gears of War 1 and Gears of War2. And let me tell you this, these games rock so hard it's unbelievable. Gameplay and graphics are of a really high lvl. Like as in best games of the year. I only heard that the multiplayer of GOW2 had some issues with connecting. I hope they make a patch for it soon.
Back to DRM. I think no matter how good you protect a game it allways will be hacked and be put on the internet. But when I look at myself I notice I buy some games if there is a good reason for it. And the reason it is being rewarded and loyalty. For pre-ordering Demigod I am in the beta now. A thing I can encourage all companies to do. DRM is not the future, pre-ordering is or should be. Some games you just don't want to download from torrent sites.
I think no matter how good you protect a game it allways will be hacked and be put on the internet.
I would say that is the 'golden truth' about video games which companies like Stardock and Valve know. Certain other companies need it drilled into their thick skulls.
It is real hard to arugue against piracy in cases like this where the pirated version is significantly better than the legal version.
The concluding paragraph of a research paper I did on DRM for my college writing class last semester.
Companies have a right to protect their product, but often seem to forget that consumers have a right to use that product. By protecting their products from illegal use, companies often ignore the fact that anti-piracy measure affect legitimate customers as well. In most cases, the legitimate customers are the only ones affected as pirates just find ways around the DRM companies use. At some point customers will get fed up with ever increasing DRM restrictions and decide to not buy a digital product, or worse pirate that product. We can only hope that companies find a way to both protect their products and not limit legitimate customers before that happens.
Oh. My. God.
SUPER EPIC FAILZORZ
Like... wow. How stupid does stupid get?
there really is no way you can protect a game that is on a CD ROM , or is digitally downloaded. FLASH DRIVES and CARTRIDGES FTW!!!!!!
Is it even legal to do that?? If its not its very unethical to just kill a game after 3 years and expect no one to complain.
I sincerely doubt it's legal. Stopping support, yes, causing it to no longer work, no.
*whistles The X-Files theme*
I thought DRM was supposed to stop pirates... but uhh, this seems to be encouragement to use pirated software. Hint hint, to game producers/developers/whomever likes putting DRM into games, it's all being pirated anyway, stop making your legal customers suffer.
right now DRM is preventing me from watching my Blu-Ray movies. I just got a Blu Ray player for my PC and I bought some Blu-ray movies to celebrate. Now I'm home with this awesome HD movies... and they don't work! I have the codecs used by Blu ray Movies, but apparently I need to either use Power DVD (which keeps telling me I need to update and/or crashes) or to use pirating software to rip the Blu ray out of its BD DRM.
If the "licensed not sold" tactic has failed, which is the case in 99% of software sales, consumer laws apply. The exact laws are too different between countries under .nl laws I would send a nice letter:
"Dear Epic Megagames, your product is covered with a hindrance that should not be on it. Taking the civil law, book 7, article 20, into account I demand the you immedeately remove this hindrance. I await your decision about this within two weeks, and within the same two weeks, I expect the product with the hindrance removed, or, a planning by you for removing the hindrance. I you fail to comply I will invoke my legal right to reduce the price of the product and get part of my money back, as it has become completely non-functional and I believe a game is interresting to play for much longer than 3 years I think a reduction of the price by 50% or more is reasonable".
If the "licensed not sold" has succeeded you cannot invoke consumer rights since there has legally been no sale between a merchant and a consumer. Your only defense can be the license itself, if it has no time limit, you can try to defend you with a "breach of contract". If the license has the time limit there is little you can do. This is why consumers should always strongly resist EULA's, the mere fact of a "licensed not sold procedure" means your rights are completely gone.
Can you imagine what would have happened if Epic games had gone under and was now defunct? Everyone would be SOL... and THAT is why I stringently oppose DRM of this sort.
I wonder how this was suppose to stop people from downloading the game??
DRM needs to burn in the deep fiery pits of the Earth. I already fell for buying Dead Space and that is the last and only game with limited installs I will ever buy. It cracks me up to hear companies who put these kinds of DRM on their games say that it is to stop pirates, and then hearing that there is a pirated version a week before the game is supposed to come out. It's hilarious!
Supposedly pirates can't get updates to the game, but that is still no excuse for limiting the amount of times I can install my property. Now we PC gamers are pretty much renting our games with a price tag of $50-60. I really hope these companies finally see through the cloud of stupidity they are in and deal with this problem.
Thanks Stardock for making sure you have the consumer in mind. Know that we are looking at you to set the example of what PC gaming security should be.
All drm is about the company makeing money. Greedy ******* trying to make more sells by limting installs.
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