Any clue who is gonna be the European distributor?

[KaHzModAn]

Yes, Starcraft 2 was kindof a win...

BUT only because SC1 was a huge success, and i've heard that people who bought it (hardocre ones at least) said it was'nt really that good

I didn't buy it while i loved the first one, because blizzard got too greedy, and it worked that time... good for them but I hope it won't work anymore

DRM is a pain for customers, its pretty much like the FBI message at the beginning of films, DVDs and stuff... you get Warnings that insult you, treats you like a thief... when you buy a DVD ! No way a pirated film has such kind of messages !

I didn't buy ROF until they said there would be a offline possibility for it, I bought it right after that mainly because they did the effort of doing it !

[Revvin]

Unfortunately DRM usually only hinders the genuine user though sometimes - though very rarely it will slow down the pirates enough for a developer to claw back some money from the first months sales.

Having just re-installed my OS I've found out just how irritating DRM has become with a few games I have. I'm not even going to bother trying to get GT Legends to install because to do so I'd have to go and hunt down a load of files because the DRM is not supported under Windows 7. Lock On was another nuisance, I had to go and hunt down a special update app just for the DRM for the totally legal copy I have.

Black Shark and Lock On 2 use limited install numbers so in the past where I've just wiped my HDD knowing I have the original disc's now I have to jump through hoops and remember to deactivate the programs else I lose an activation on a system format or upgrade. NetKar Pro also uses a limited activation number.

I wouldn't have a problem with this method if they used the same format as Live For Speed where you get three activations and one activation is replenished each week. I wouldn't even mind if it was 10 activations over 6 or 12 months and it was reset but 10 for the lifetime of a product? Even good old IL-2 is not without its problems with the disc checking. Again a little more searching required for that too.

Too much messing around just to install my totally legal sim collection. I respect the right for the developer to protect their work but respectfully ask that in doing so they consider carefully the impact on the end user, their customer and potential future customer.

[Chivas]

Originally Posted by Revvin

Unfortunately DRM usually only hinders the genuine user though sometimes - though very rarely it will slow down the pirates enough for a developer to claw back some money from the first months sales.

Having just re-installed my OS I've found out just how irritating DRM has become with a few games I have. I'm not even going to bother trying to get GT Legends to install because to do so I'd have to go and hunt down a load of files because the DRM is not supported under Windows 7. Lock On was another nuisance, I had to go and hunt down a special update app just for the DRM for the totally legal copy I have.

Black Shark and Lock On 2 use limited install numbers so in the past where I've just wiped my HDD knowing I have the original disc's now I have to jump through hoops and remember to deactivate the programs else I lose an activation on a system format or upgrade. NetKar Pro also uses a limited activation number.

I wouldn't have a problem with this method if they used the same format as Live For Speed where you get three activations and one activation is replenished each week. I wouldn't even mind if it was 10 activations over 6 or 12 months and it was reset but 10 for the lifetime of a product? Even good old IL-2 is not without its problems with the disc checking. Again a little more searching required for that too.

Too much messing around just to install my totally legal sim collection. I respect the right for the developer to protect their work but respectfully ask that in doing so they consider carefully the impact on the end user, their customer and potential future customer.

"though very rarely it will slow down the pirates enough for a developer to claw back some money from the first months sales"

If that statement were true developers wouldn't have bothered wasting money on copy protection.

[Revvin]

You'll find plenty of cracked copy protection's online and copies of games circulating on the day of release if not before. Copy protection is a futile effort to reduce casual piracy i.e friends lending friends their CD's not the pirates circulating the software through bittorrents and newsgroups. I'm not saying I have an answer and as I said I support the developers right to try and protect their work but the DRM's being used by some developers are becomming more and more draconian.

[Blackdog_kt]

I agree with Revvin. The only people discouraged by DRM are the casual pirates and the legitimate customers.

Let's face it, DRM is a different piece of software running on top of your favorite gaming title. In many cases it wasn't integrated during development and even if it was (in the case of in-house developmebt by big studios), it's still not a custom made solution for a specific game.

It's either a case of a big company like Ubi or EA following a "one size fits all" approach for all their in-house developed titles, or in the worst case scenario a developer studio hooks up with a certain publisher who, a few months before release, demands that the DRM be tacked on in a hurry so that they don't miss the deadlines.

Of course it's going to cause all sorts of technical problems when it's done like that


The only prevention lies in the demographic of casual pirates and people who are somewhat "computer illiterate", they can't make an illegal copy work or they want participation in online ranking systems, so they fork over the cash for a legit copy, but these guys are the minority of the piracy problem.

So, since DRM is not any better at preventing piracy than the old copy protection systems (they get cracked pretty much immediately in any case), why do the companies waste money on researching, implementing and supporting (in some rare cases) it? Simply because it's not the hardcore pirates they're after, they know they can't force them to buy their titles. The return of investment they're betting on is not by means of forcing the pirates to buy but by stopping you, the legitimate user, from reselling or giving away your legacy purchased copy as a gift.

[WTE_Galway]

Originally Posted by Blackdog_kt

I agree with Revvin. The only people discouraged by DRM are the casual pirates and the legitimate customers.

Let's face it, DRM is a different piece of software running on top of your favorite gaming title. In many cases it wasn't integrated during development and even if it was (in the case of in-house developmebt by big studios), it's still not a custom made solution for a specific game.

It's either a case of a big company like Ubi or EA following a "one size fits all" approach for all their in-house developed titles, or in the worst case scenario a developer studio hooks up with a certain publisher who, a few months before release, demands that the DRM be tacked on in a hurry so that they don't miss the deadlines.

Of course it's going to cause all sorts of technical problems when it's done like that


The only prevention lies in the demographic of casual pirates and people who are somewhat "computer illiterate", they can't make an illegal copy work or they want participation in online ranking systems, so they fork over the cash for a legit copy, but these guys are the minority of the piracy problem.

So, since DRM is not any better at preventing piracy than the old copy protection systems (they get cracked pretty much immediately in any case), why do the companies waste money on researching, implementing and supporting (in some rare cases) it? Simply because it's not the hardcore pirates they're after, they know they can't force them to buy their titles. The return of investment they're betting on is not by means of forcing the pirates to buy but by stopping you, the legitimate user, from reselling or giving away your legacy purchased copy as a gift.

You are assuming that because these are big corporations the DRM decisions are being made for informed rational reasons by intelligent pragmatic people.

This is almost certainly not the case.

[Flanker35M]

S!

How many copy protections have remained uncracked up to date? My bet: none. Go figure how usefull these DRM's are. I do NOT endorse piracy, I buy all my games as I want to see the collection grow

[Blackdog_kt]

Originally Posted by WTE_Galway

You are assuming that because these are big corporations the DRM decisions are being made for informed rational reasons by intelligent pragmatic people.

This is almost certainly not the case.

Actually, i'm not assuming anything. I know this is not the case, i just wanted to phrase the post in a "give some benefit of doubt" fashion to be impartial

My personal opinion on DRM is generally negative.

[nearmiss]

Anytime a thread progresses towards discussions of piracy and preventative measures the real pirates start jumping on. We have all read the usual verbiage = I'm not going to buy anything with software protection,etc.

There are plenty of people spewing and noising against protection from piracy methods. Yet, right now this instance on the torrent applications there are over 1 million thieves every hour of every day on every torrent application stealing software, music, videos and other media.

Anyone that thinks there isn't a problem with thieves is probably one of those million plus...

[philip.ed]

Ladies, ladies