Final Fight Brings Restrictive DRM To the PS3 240
Channard writes "As reported by Joystiq, the PS3/PlayStation Network version of Final Fight Double Impact features a rather restrictive piece of digital rights management. In order to launch the game, you have to be logged into the PlayStation Network and if you're not, the game refuses to launch. This could be written off as a bug of some kind except for the fact that the error message that crops up tells you to sign in, suggesting Sony/Capcom intentionally included this 'feature.' Granted, you do have to log into the PlayStation Network to buy the title but as one commentator pointed out, logging in once does not mean you'll be logged in all the time. Curiously, the 360 version has no such restrictions, so you can play the game whether you're online or offline. But annoying as this feature may be, there may be method in Sony's madness. "
Channard continues, "The key difference between buying titles on the 360's Marketplace and Sony's PlayStation Store is that buying a title from the Marketplace only usually entitles you to play that title on a single console. A PlayStation Network account, on the other hand, can be used to license up to five consoles, meaning any title purchased from that account can be played on five different consoles. And these consoles can be de-authorized and re-authorized at will, allowing gamers to switch licenses around. This has led to a practice known as PSN game sharing, whereby gamers can purchase a title together, thereby paying a fifth of the cost of the game, and still allowing anyone to play the game on their console. Whether this has had any direct impact upon Sony or Capcom's apparent decision to implement this forced sign-in system is unknown. [Though an email from a Capcom employee seems to confirm this.] But Final Fight is the first title to feature this system — it'd be interesting to know whether this was done at Sony or Capcom's request."
Re:If you don't like it don't buy it (Score:5, Informative)
Here's a link to the developer's (Proper Games) contact page: http://www.proper-games.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=35&Itemid=55 [proper-games.com]
And here's one to the publisher's (Capcom) contact page: https://shop.capcom.com/DRHM/servlet/ControllerServlet?Action=DisplayContactFormPage&SiteID=capcomus&Locale=en_US&Env=BASE&resid=S9FRGwoBAiMAAFFzqmEAAAAD&rests=1272009021063 [capcom.com]
How Console DRM Works for digital downloads. (Score:5, Informative)
Xbox 360: Everything you download is tied to your gamertag and your console. Either your gamertag must be logged in, or it must be running on the specific console that the content is licensed to. Microsoft provides a license transfer tool that you can use to migrate your licensed console in case of system death, which you can use once a year (more if you talk to the service agents). You can re-download content as much as you want as long as the purchasing gamertag is logged in.
- Advantages: Very difficult to illicitly share content. For the most part, it happens behind the scenes without the user ever knowing. Content can follow you to other consoles with your gamertag.
- Disadvantages: When the console breaks, licensing issues become very confusing and unexpected. License transfer & re-download is easy, but time consuming.
PS3: You get 5 downloads, tied to the purchasing PSN account. This can be onto your console, or the consoles of bunches of friends. If you choose to download to the consoles of a group of friends, you won't be able to re-download in the future if your console dies. As the grandparent poster pointed out, this leads to sharing groups on PSN... groups of friends who buy once, share 5 times.
- Advantages: Relatively straightforward. Easy to understand. Trusts the user. Can use content on friend's machines (afterward, so can they).
- Disadvantages: Lots of cheating. Migration is a lot less streamlined. After a certain point, the user simply cannot re-download to new consoles.
Wii & DSi: Downloads are tied to the system, not the account. If your system breaks, your content needs to be re-purchased on the new one.
- Advantages: Extremely simple & hard to cheat.
- Disadvantages: Any console failure means all of your digital items are lost.
Steam (for comparison): Downloads are tied to the account, which must be logged in to the steam application to play. Additionally, steam may or may not require being online at the time of play. However, player can download and connect to as many machines as they install steam on, and can switch freely between them so long as they are only logged in once.
- Advantages: Relatively easy to understand. Download anytime, anywhere. No need to keep old games on your HDD that can be re-downloaded later.
- Disadvantages: Requires frequent network access. Some games install secondary DRM.
Re:Game sharing isn't that widespread and besides. (Score:3, Informative)
I've installed WipEout HD on two consoles, so that's not the case. I also had to redownload the activation key when I put a new HDD in my PS3, and this counted as another download from my 5 console limit...
Re:Thank you Sony (Score:4, Informative)
No, but at the same time, you don't hear the parent crying himself to sleep either.
That's the idea of boycotting in capitalism; not to punish companies, but to consciously refuse to compromise your principles, resulting in you getting only what you truly want.
Re:What I've experienced with PS store (Score:5, Informative)
well, you've touched on the actual story here, which slashdot completely missed. Lots of PSN games require you to be signed in to play, that part is nothing new. What Capcom did with Final Fight is disable the ability to share the game between 5 accounts like you can with everything else on PSN. And it has nothing whatsoever to do with Sony, no matter how much everyone loves to hate them, the move was entirely Capcoms.
Re:Oh hey! (Score:3, Informative)
To be fair, it requires you to be logged in to buy it, so you'd already have the Other OS option disabled. If you don't update your firmware, any game that already works and doesn't require you to be online will continue to work.
Re:If you don't like it don't buy it (Score:4, Informative)
Yes, RTFSummary?
However it is mostly back to the old days of copying games for friends.:
PSN games are tagged to an account.
You can log into a PSN account from any PS3.
Prior to this game you could download your PSN games and then sign off and play them as you saw fit.
This leads to people sharing an account amongst themselves so that everyone can have the games but they are only payed for once. It is apparently fairly pervasive, and even works for MP games (you can be signed into a different account and still play the games, not sure if this works for this FF title or not).
I haven't done this yet myself as PSN games fall under within my price range of "It is low enough that I am willing to take the hit if it isn't that great, especially if they offer a demo". Admittedly, I have also bought all of one PSN game (Fat Princess).
Re:What I've experienced with PS store (Score:1, Informative)
The phrase is "per se".
Re:How Console DRM Works for digital downloads. (Score:5, Informative)
You should have called Nintendo to explain the situation.
In my case, my Wii was was over a year old, and it wasn't damage - my apartment was burgled and my Wii stolen. (Fortunately I carry renter's insurance). I got a new Wii, called Nintendo explained the issues. I had not yet signed into the Wii Shop channel on the new Wii (which is good, becasue its important to NOT do so) They me send a letter with thep police report and the serial # of the old and new Wii. And sure enough, they moved all my old content to the new Wii.
Re:Warkawk anyone? This DRM strategy is NOT new (Score:1, Informative)
You are correct. Warkawk, GT5 Prologue, and SOCOM: Confrontation all use this same DRM scheme.
The only difference here is that you may choose to buy those 3 on a disc instead, any bypass this requirement. This is not an option for Final Fight.