Mass Effect 2 only has a basic disk-check for DRM. But it's a huge hit and sold two million units in it's first week of release (see link).
HOW CAN THIS BE?
Unless you put on limited activations, tages, starforce, steam, and required server logons doesn't your game just get pirated and no one buys it, right?
The huge commercial success of this game tells another story.
Too bad no one at Ubisoft is listening. Or Blizzard. Or EA. Or THQ.
Same deal with a little game called 'Dragon Age: Origins'. Another huge-seller with basic DRM.
Hmmm, I see a kernal of a thought here....don't F#$K YOUR CUSTOMERS AND THEY BUY YOUR STUFF. Gee, what a good idea. Someone tell Blizzard. EA. Ubisoft. THQ.
Maybe the game press could grow a spine and tell people not to buy this draconian DRM crap. Nah. They're just go along. I subscribed to 'Computer Gamer' for ten years. When they had an eight page review of 'Spore' and DIDN'T EVEN MENTION THE LIMITED ACTIVATIONS I cancelled my subscription and NEVER BOUGHT ANOTHER ISSUE. It's time to vote with our dollars.
umm.....You do know Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age are published by EA right?
this alone does not work, you have to sell a good game in the first place. also remember that dragon age and mass effect 2 had huge boni on paying customers (first day dlc)
You do realize there are no PC or console specific numbers so you don't know which platform sold the best, correct? I would imagine that the 360 version made up a good portion of the Mass Effect 2 sales while the PC version was torrented to death but I would LOVE to be wrong on that one.
I own both Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2 for the PC, btw, purchased through Impulse. While the retail (DVD) copies of the game have only a disc check, the digital versions use the standard SecuROM online activation DRM. DRM is a fact of life with PC gaming, unfortunately.
That, unfortunately, will never happen within the professional level press. Why? Because if games don't sell and continue to make a dent in the consumer market, then all these "Game Reviewers" will be out of a job because there won't be any games (or enough games) to warrant having to pay someone to review them all.
I'd say it's pretty much common knowledge now that game sites like GameSpot get financial kickbacks to make some games sound better then they are to increase sales.
Mass Effect 2 is a great game though, so is Dragon Age. Were they pirated on practically the first day of release? Yeap. Did that keep them from being Huge commercial successes? Nope. The game companies whining about piracy need to wake up and smell reality. Piracy doesn't effect a crappy game's sales. The game being "crappy" does.
and stuff.
Great, you posted. Now I have to look stare at that avatar for ages.... Thanks.
I don't think that's really fair. I doubt they're really recieving any direct financial incentives to increase review scores, but I do think they have some fear of the wrath the fanboys will bring if they are too harsh. Since game companies usually provide their ad revenue, there might be some indirect incentive there, but for the most part the part of the company that handles that and the part that actually reviews the games remains fairly seperate, and a shitstorm is kicked up whenever they don't. Some generated goodwill towards a company might influence scores given, but I don't think there's any conscious intent to inflate scores, and almost certainly no conspiracy to do so.
ME2 and Dragon Age both use a carrot approach instead of a stick approach to DRM. Bought versions come with some DLC included (that second hand copies won't have), and Dragon Age does require you to be connected to EA's server in order to load a save game with "premium" content in it (which is a stick).
So, it's not really fair to say these games have no DRM. They're just far less stupid about it then Ubisoft is.
Ubisoft's defies and surpases the term "stupid". Please choose another negative adjective that defines it better.
Moronic? Self-defeating? Justification for abortion? Justification for genocide (of the stupid race only, of course)?
French?
Heh, are we back to Freedom Fries again?
Im British, the French are responsible for all bad things that happen. We all laughed heartily when we saw the silly 'freedom fries'. I was told the way to really beat a french man is to distract him with Agincourt then sleep with his wife. Im not sure of the succsess rate.
See the old TV program 'Allo 'Allo for evidence. I vill zay zis only vance. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%27Allo_%27Allo!
hahahahahahahahha!
Very low, i am affraid. Your best chance is food poisonning of the husband through jelly and pudding. Then, seduce the widow by singing a song of the beatles, i think it is the best thing you people made in the XXth century.
Glad to see some brits didn't forget our beautiful history of hate'nd love !
You win.
Game over thanks for playing.
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