Jeff Green used to work at Games For Windows magazine before taking a sweet gig at EA, but that little fact won’t silence his criticism of the DRM found in Command and Conquer 4. He tweeted white-hot rage when, as everyone on the Internet predicted, this “always-on” nonsense worked as intended, and prevented a law-abiding citizen from playing his game. → Read More
Let’s make one thing clear: I wouldn’t play Command and Conquer 4 if it was the game on Earth. It’s just not “me.” So pardon my blase attitude while I drop this bombshell: the game uses the same stupid DRM that Ubisoft now uses, which I complained about on CNN. Add this to your list of games not to buy, then. → Read More
Since we’re your go-to source for complaining about DRM, I figure we should mention the latest development regarding EA’s Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Dice, the game’s developer’s, have removed SecuROM DRM from both the retail version of the game as well as the digitally distributed one (i.e. Steam). Why a Steam game even needs SecuROM in the first place (it’s merely a disc check, so…) is a question I cannot answer. It’s probably like a contractual thing or something. → Read More
When will this nonsense with online DRM stop? Ubisoft’s authentication servers were apparently attacked and therefore offline, but now they’re back. Now EA servers crashed for an hour this morning, locking players out of numerous gamings including Bad Company 2. This is crazy. DRM isn’t going anywhere but this current implementation simply isn’t stable enough. Suggestions? → Read More
Oh, Ubisoft. You so quickly went from the guys that brought us Splinter Cell (young people: Splinter Cell used to be cool in the early to mid 2000s) to the guys that have created the stupidest DRM known to man. Oh, and you’re also incapable of telling the truth. The authentication servers for Assassin’s Creed II (I thought that comes out tomorrow?) and Silent Hunter V were completely inaccessible for a number of people yesterday. Why? Ubisoft claimed it was because of “exceptional demand,” but the real reason is that some punk kids (I assume it’s punk kids) decided to launch a denial of service attack. I suppose, technically, a denial of service attack involves, on some level, demand… → Read More
When it was revealed that Ubisoft’s new DRM scheme would require you to be online at all times, and if disconnected for any reason would boot you out of the game, people immediately asked the obvious question: “Well, what if your DRM servers go down?”
Ubisoft was not forthcoming, unless this little calamity is their roguish idea of an answer. Yes, the servers which must be connected to constantly in order to play, save, or do anything at all went down early this morning, and everyone who wants to play their new legitimately-purchased copy of Assassin’s Creed II is SOL. → Read More
Right around the time the world’s financial markets started to collapse, back in 2008, RealNetworks, the folks behind RealPlayer, released RealDVD. It was a short-lived piece of software that made making DVD movie backups fairly painless—too painless for Hollywood, which immediately took RealNetworks to court, claiming all sorts of copyright infringement hokum. That’s all in the past now, for RealNetworks has settled with the six “major” Hollywood studios to the sum of $4.5 million. Ouch. → Read More
Looks like Apple didn’t learn its lesson with the whole iTunes DRM thing. I suppose that they might consider some things worth DRM-ing and some not, but I think it’s more along the lines of they’ll do it whenever they think they can get away with it. And they seem to think that’s the case with their new e-book store, which will sell books laced with delicious FairPlay DRM. → Read More
It’s time we start implementing DRM on console games. I mean, look at this nonsense. The Xbox 360 version of BioShock 2 leaked yesterday, a full five days before its official release. The same thing happened with Mass Effect 2, which leaked something like six days for the Xbox 360 before its official release. Since publishers are so keen to treat PC gamers like filthy thieves, I say we start implementing annoying DRM on console games, too. → Read More
For all of its stupidity, the music industry should be commended for relaxing its DRM requirements. Every single song on iTunes is DRM-free, as are the songs on Amazon MP3 and electronic music specialist Beatport. The Zune Marketplace works a little differently, but many of the downloadable songs there are DRM-free, too. But PC game publishers? They’re still bat-shit crazy, as evidenced by the DRM requirements of BioShock 2 and presumably every single one of Ubisoft’s upcoming releases. What’s it going to take for PC publishers to step back and realize that DRM does absolutely nothing to prevent piracy? Not only that, but that it encourages piracy because the pirated version of the game ends up being superior to the legitimate copy? → Read More
In other, non-Apple news: Ubisoft has lost its mind. Its latest DRM scheme—the first game to use it will be The Settlers 7, curently scheduled for a Marchrelease—will require that you always be online in order to play its games. That’s not a good idea for many reasons.
For example, look at poor ol’ Devin. He’s been fighting Comcast for God knows how long. Needless to say, he’d be SOL if he ever wanted to play the PC version of a Ubisoft game ever again. → Read More
As the world turns, the confusion surrounding BioShock 2‘s DRM continues to… confuse. 2K Games said that it’s all but eliminating SecuROM for the game’s DRM regime, but that Games for Windows Live will remain. Installation limits? Gone. Well, kinda. Riot, etc. → Read More
Looks like we have ourselves yet another DRM-related controversy for your amusement. The star this time is BioShock 2, the upcoming FPS developed by various 2K studios. The usual suspects abound: SecurROM, limited installations, and Games for Windows Live. → Read More
There has been some talk about the Associated Press’ new system, called hNews for some reason, for protecting its precious copywritten materials from bloggers, pirates and pederasts. The system will include a DRM system that will make sure you can’t cut and paste data from a browser to a blog post, thereby ensuring that no one can steal the AP’s valuable, value-added content. As I recall similar systems were implemented by websites back in the days of AOL. They didn’t work because you could just view the source code or, interestingly enough, take a screen shot. The system works by putting something into a digital container and then sending to Google or whatever. This same system, as you recall, has prevented the rise of piracy in the music and movie arenas and must be applied to the written word before the Internet fails and we all resort to getting our news from “prophets” who will line major thoroughfares opining on things they believe happened, whether or not they are true. In short, we’ll be stuck with cable news pundits. → Read More
Remember yesterday when I noted, by way of TorrentFreak, that the RIAA had all but considered DRM to be dead? Not true! Not true at all. → Read More
The chief spokesman for the RIAA, one Jonathan Lamy, has gone on record to say what any normal, not-on-the-RIAA-payroll person has been saying for some time now: “DRM is dead, isn’t it?” Yes. Yes it it. → Read More
We’re all pirates because of DRM. That’s the conclusion of a new UK study—and it’s a long one, coming in at 200+ pages—. The idea here is that the DRM schemes imposed by rights owners do just as good a job at restricting people who have legitimate claims to the material as it does restricting those without any claim at all. → Read More
The BBC has released this helpful infographic to let everyone out there know that DRM isn’t just simple — it’s fun! Of course, you’d have to be a goddamn PhD of doublespeak to make any sense of it, but who isn’t these days? → Read More
Unless you’re like me and buy all your EA games via Steam, you’ve got some serious DRM. And once you uninstalled the game, you’ve still got DRM. While EA has released a few game specific tools for removing said DRM, they haven’t exactly made it easy have they? Well good news – EA released a tool today that will help you manage the DRM from any game you’ve uninstalled from your system that was released after May 2008. → Read More
In moves which may or may not lead to an outcry from the gamer population at large, both Valve and Microsoft have strengthened their DRM on their PC gaming platforms. Whether these changes will simply curb piracy, as intended, or whether they will prove a nuisance as other DRM schemes have done historically is yet to be seen. → Read More
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