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.
I think the first-sale doctrine precludes such blatant assfuckery shenanigans.
Except it's been legally determined that software does not fall under first sale. Not if it has a EULA, anyway - and I don't know of any software, including console games, that lacks one.
If the software has not been sold there can be no first-sale doctrine. Luckily, the majority software with an EULA is still sold, it's the nature of the transaction and not the fact that there is a license in the box that decides this.
There is follow-up story to the article linked in the OP, that confirms this has nothing to do with DRM. For this one, we have the cheaters instead of pirates to blame.
i purchased a copy of X3TC from steam, even though i can back up the installed files, i can't play it off-line. I have to be on-line for steam to connect to their server, then allow me access to my game. WTF. I was royally pissed. In another thread, i rant and whine about the fact that in Grand theft auto 4, i am not allowed to save my progress, unless i create an account with the so called "rock star Social club". Meaning, i play the game, and have to have an Internet connection, and my progress gets saved onto their on-line server, not onto my hard drive i presume. BUT if i have no Internet connection, i can't save at all. It is bad enough that on their website, that they stated with even the downloaded SecruRom uninstaller, i will not be able to totally un-installed securRom or some of its components. Of course, the game came in a limited number of activation.
I would love to see a link to where the courts made this ruling. As far as I understand things the EULA question is a slippery one and one that may be addressed by the Obama administration - soon...
But why would they help protect consumers when buying evil things which put bad ideas in the heads of our children about violence and nucular war? Hehe, oops, wrong administration. I hope he does deal with this issue and others involving the rights of software consumers. Although by the looks of it he may be busy for the next couple years cleaning up after the mess which was the last 8 years...
I would like to see a coherent national policy on it as well. Not that I think it will end as you would like, but having a defined, legislated policy would be preferable to the current situation where one legal precident may or may not be accepted in other jurisdictions. In fact, UTICA was written explicitly to fill the legislative void that EULAs currently exist in, but only two states have accepted and enacted it.
The case I'm referring to is I. LAN SYSTEMS, INC v NETSCOUT SERVICE LEVEL CORP.
Or you could read the Game Cheats Are Illegal? thread, where this whole thing got thrashed around for a few months. The above ruling is cited on page 18, I believe.
Sorry to bump an old topic, but Epic has now released a patch that deals with the problem. Download here
Meanwhile, most people have probably already resorted to illegal solutions... *sigh*
As for how long people tend to play games:
Suffice to say I just finished re-playing Wizardry 6 and 7.
News like this makes me love Stardock even more.
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