Indie Game Dev On the Positive Side To DRM 440
spidweb writes "The online backlash against DRM has gotten a bit excessive, especially since the purpose of DRM is entirely admirable: to stop thieves and free riders and to help creators actually get paid for their work. This blog entry calls attention to XBox Live, a place where strong DRM is helping to encourage quality games at low prices which make money for their developers. Quoting: 'If I could snap my fingers and give myself the same absolute control over the games I make that XBox Live has over theirs (in return for lower prices), I would. The freedom of the current system is nice, but it comes at too high a cost. Honest people need to pay extra to subsidize thieves. The unfairness is just this side of intolerable, and it's only getting worse. DRM is fair if, for what the corporations take, we get something in return.'"
Re:Whatever happened to supply and demand (Score:3, Informative)
Right, because console games are never pirated. Oh, wait [thepiratebay.org].
That won't stop publishers making the argument, but there would be no argument at all if one side wasn't completely invalid.
Ummmm (Score:4, Informative)
PC gaming has died? Better let all the studios know that are still releasing PC games. Since July we have seen 16 releases including:
Batman: Arkham Asylum, Wolfenstine, Tales of Monkey Island, and Street Fighter 4.
That is just since July of this year. Then there's a little game called World of Warcraft that has over 12 million active (meaning paid to play within the last month) subscribers.
PC gaming is hardly dead. Tons of games keep coming out from major studios, including games also available on the consoles. That's your real indicator right there. If it were such a problem, if it were truly "dead" then why would console titles come out for it? Wouldn't they avoid it as to not have their game pirated and to save the cost of porting? However, that's not the case. Street Fighter 4 came out for arcades first, then the consoles. They spent a little more time on the PC version giving it better graphics and more content and made it the definitive version. Hardly what you do for a "dead" platform, of it piracy will just eat all your sales.
Money is being made on PC games, and plenty of it.
Re:Enforcing artificial scarcity is a poor strateg (Score:3, Informative)
Depends on your definition of "intrusive".
On Burnout Paradise, they've got a mix of billboards all over the place, some of them you're supposed to smash, some you can't. It's intrusive in the same sense of the billboards in real-life being everywhere; but the ads aren't distracting from the game. They're just part of the urban landscape; as you get into town the billboards get more numerous. What's interesting is the humorous ads for the Burnout features, awards, and shop items, intermixed with ads for SlingBox, Burger King, Vizio and a few others.
The ads themselves don't detract from the game (Thanks Criterion...) and they were noticeable enough that I recognized them while going between events and remembered the ones I ticked off.
In that context, the ads will work and won't likely get "worse" like you're concerned about. Other games, heh...remains to be seen.
Re:Enforcing artificial scarcity is a poor strateg (Score:2, Informative)
Crytek didn't make FC2. It's not even on their engine.
Re:Enforcing artificial scarcity is a poor strateg (Score:3, Informative)
Which percentage is higher?
Another, IMHO, disingenuous, argument.
The sample size is clearly too small - you could use this example to argue either side you want.
Re:Devs should like DRM (Score:3, Informative)
The problem is that there is no way to make people pay for the labour if the end result of that labour can be copied freely.
You could not be more wrong, although that is precisely with the MAFIAA wants you and Congress to think. Look up the ransom model. There are all kinds of variations on it - like the street performer protocol, product placement advertising, per buyer customization (think your girlfriend's favorite song with her name in the lyrics, or your kid's favorite cartoon with versions of them in it), serial subscriptions, tie-ins to physical items, etc. And these aren't hypotheticals, people small and large, have been experimenting with these variations and in many cases have had a lot of success.
Re:I've argued the same points (Score:3, Informative)
Of course, it was a LOT less convenient over 28.8Kbps dial-up...