EA Editor Criticizes Command & Conquer 4 DRM 266
Command & Conquer 4's DRM hasn't garnered Electronic Arts as much bad press and fan outrage as Ubisoft's scheme, despite being very similar. Nevertheless, it's been causing problems and frustrations for some users, including EA.com's own editor-in-chief, Jeff Green. An anonymous reader points this out:
"Green wrote on his Twitter account late last week: 'Booted twice — and progress lost — on my single-player C&C4 game because my DSL connection blinked. DRM fail. We need new solutions.' He continued later, 'Well. I've tried to be open-minded. But my 'net connection is finicky — and the constant disruption of my C&C4 SP game makes this unplayable. The story is fun, the gameplay is interesting and different at least — but if you suffer from shaky/unreliable DSL — you've been warned.'"
I was about to buy this... (Score:3, Interesting)
I was in my local games shop the other day and I brought this title to the counter. In the queue I noticed it said "requires online connection". So I asked the clerk if it was an online game but he said no. I subsequently put it back in the shelf and walked out of the store.
That's one lost sale EA. I'll buy it when you loose the funky DRM. (I have bought almost every other C&C title)
Re:Give that man a new job (Score:2, Interesting)
On the other hand, C&C4 is already cracked and readily available.
Indie games (Score:3, Interesting)
Consoles and physical media will be the way forward from now. With X-Box supporting all the latest DX technology, PS3 offering unparalleled processing power, and Wii providing an innovative user interface, the time has never been better for game developers to migrate away from the too-open platform of PCs.
Except for students, hobbyists, and studios that are that too small to qualify for a devkit. See also Bob's Game [wikipedia.org].
Re:Give that man a new job (Score:3, Interesting)
I may download a couple of copies tonight just to prove you wrong. Don't worry, they're going straight to /dev/null.
Re:Give that man a new job (Score:3, Interesting)
Gates is well known for stuff like that. He is (or was, since he's semi retired now) passionate about a good product. He is driven in almost the same way as Steve Jobs - they just went about it in different ways. The fact that so many people had just cause to call Windows "annoying and convoluted" would have been very troubling to him - especially since he faced the same issues when using it himself.
Re:No problems here (Score:5, Interesting)
I highly doubt he got a "modchip" for a PS3, unless he got ties in the underground.
There is nothing publicity available about being able to load PS3 Games from images yet.
It's been years since they enabled the PS3 to make backups from your games, but there still isn't a way to run those images.
Not public anyway.
I've heard rumours some of the underground groups have successfully ran certain images, but nothing ready to the public.
Steam (Score:2, Interesting)
I work on an offshore oil rig. Internet access is available, but not in my cabin. I had HL2 backed up to DVD but couldn't install it without dragging my laptop to where I could get a net connection. Got it all installed from DVD, patched from the net.
Went back to my cabin, and it wouldn't start. Not authorized! I had to get it back to an internet connection, start the games to authorize them, then go back to my cabin. Why the hell didn't it authorize when I installed and updated!!! Was too late to play.
After that, offline mode was fine. But I paid for this shit. It's frustrating. Newer games will be impossible for me, with a connection required all the time.
Re:No problems here (Score:5, Interesting)
You damn well can notice DRM on the Xbox 360. I recently had mine die and I sent it back to MS for repair. They sent back a referb unit as per their usual policy. Along with the Xbox was a note telling me to redownload all my DLC so that the licenses on my hard drive would be updated to work with the new console. Well that only works if the jack asses at MS remember to actually transfer the licenses to the new Xbox on their servers, which they failed to do in my case.
It took a lot of poking around but I eventually found xbox.com/drm which gave me proof that they indeed forgot to transfer the licenses and also gave me a way to transfer the licenses to the new Xbox, though you can only do this once per year.
While I was having these DRM issues I could only play DLC games when I was on the account they were purchased on and logged on to Xbox live. As soon as I lost my internet connection (which happened to be having issues around this time) all my DLC games would get the word trial added beside their name. I did a test and brought up the list of all my DLC games, pulled the network cable out of the Xbox and saw the word "Trial" added to the name of every one of my games, top to bottom, one at a time. Event my damn wallpaper disappeared because that was DRMed too.
That said at least they have a tool like xbox.com/drm and at least they do allow you to link your games to a console so they can be played offline once that is achieved. Still, I'm sure this isn't the last I'll see of these issues.
Re:Give that man a new job (Score:2, Interesting)
http://www.rlslog.net/assassins-creed-ii-crack-v2-wbb/ [rlslog.net]
This link says different.
Re:Give that man a new job (Score:4, Interesting)
So it's practically useless
No different to the retail version then?
I understand that there are save packs doing the rounds that work around these issues, but to be honest that is besides the point. This is not a win for DRM, its a loss for the consumer.
Re:No problems here (Score:4, Interesting)
there are simply too many problems related to software piracy to sustain the PC as a viable platform for much longer.
Yet surprisingly indie gamers, seem to be doing OK releasing PC-only games.
Frankly, I would like the "big boys" to stay out of PC gaming. Let them buy the arguments from their accountants that it's just "not worth" developing or porting to the PC (especially when they have switched over most of their production to producing for consoles first). These large corporations are only milking the same concepts they invented or purchased long ago, in endless boring sequels.
The beauty of the PC is that ANYONE with a compiler can write games. By definition, it will always be among the first platforms to receive truly innovative concepts - because the amount of people who CAN write a game for the PC is so much greater. The "barrier to entry" is much lower. You need no specialized equipment or software. Hell Microsoft even gives away "free trials" of its compilers nowadays. All you need is an idea, and the patience to code it.
Re:Hardware Dongle... (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't think it would work.
People can still modify the software to not check for a dongle, or create fake dongles. Dongles work well in a big companies because if the company is caught using unlicensed software it can mean hundreds of millions of dollars. However, some companies will still work around, or demand work arounds, dongles. I wish I could remember where I read a post on this. I read someone talking about an application they developed that used a dongle, but the customer used laptops and dongles were frequently lost in the field so the customer demanded the software without the dongles. The developer company was able to turn the dongle requirement off just for this "special case". If one person can turn off the requirement then so can others.
Individuals are (or at least think) they're more anonymous and don't have that kind of capital anyway. That being said, we've all heard about the cases where the *IAA has taken someone to court and won some X hundred thousand dollars.
Re:Give that man a new job (Score:3, Interesting)
The only difference here is that while Ubisoft succeeded (so far) at keeping (fully playable) pirated copies from surfacing, EA has not. If you look around, you will even find a scene release of C&C4 which from what I read, uses a server emulator to handle all the basic requests/calls made by the C&C4 game client. Assassin's Creed 2 on the other hand has the DRM integrated into the maps and mission data thereby making it far more tedious and time consuming to crack.
This suggests that EA did not implement the DRM nearly as well as Ubisoft. Not only that, but with Ubisoft's DRM, your game will literally save-state if the connection drops so you can pick up where you left off. You don't lose any progress whatsoever (I've even had the game crash to desktop from a Vsync bug and I didn't lose any progress since auto-saving is so frequent). This really makes EA's DRM seem like a "cheap knockoff" of what Ubisoft has done.
Re:No problems here (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm pretty sure what he's getting at is this DRM system is failing because it requires you to have an internet connection. Steam, which I do like, also requires an internet connection. Steam is better because it doesn't require a persistent connection. However, If for some reason you don't have an internet connection you can't use steam.
As an example if you work in a remote location like an oil rig, scientific research station, space, etc...
More commonly, if you live in a very rural area you might not have access to the internet or limited access through dial-up.
The issue with Steam and this DRM system is that it is assume everyone who wants to use the product has an internet connection. People know what they're getting into with Steam, but DRM schemes don't have to be listed on the box so you might not even know you need an internet connection to play until you get it home and open it, although I read somewhere else that "internet connection required" is on the box for AC2. I use to live in a rural area and once in a while would drive into the city to buy games, movies and anything else I wanted. It was a long trip and my DRM frustration would have been compounded knowing I'd have to make another 3 hour, each way, trip to return the stupid game, if I could return it at all.
I personally don't have issues with DRMs, I've never had one stop me from playing a game, but it should be very clear when one is used and what DRM it is. My older sisters computer was messed up when she bought Spore, I fixed it for her twice before I read about Spores DRM. That being said I have no evidence that was the problem, I just know that after she gave up on Spore and moved on to other things there was no more issue.
/. mantra "Correlation doesn't mean causation"
Re:I'm not a happy bunny either (Score:3, Interesting)
The funny thing that occurs to me is that, part and parcel with the game is the understanding that the purchase price buys a service from EA. That service is EA keeping the activation servers up and insuring that the game talks properly to the server.
In my view, you paid for a service and are not being provided that service. This opens the door to all kinds of things on your end, least of which is issuing a chargeback if you paid using a credit card.
All that being said, I am not a lawyer.
Re:Give that man a new job (Score:4, Interesting)
Really? Isohunt search [isohunt.com] seems to disagree. In fact the torrent seems to be 3 weeks old. The "official" torrent for the crack has been up for 6 weeks. The crack's also up at GameFix [wiretarget.com].
So... what are you talking about?
Re:Give that man a new job (Score:3, Interesting)
For example you still cant download Assassins Creed II and it has been out for almost an month already.
Yes you can. And you could the day it was released. Matter of fact, I think it may even have been cracked and on the internet the day before Ubisoft released it. Research first, post second. It'll help you a lot in the future.