I got an idea, in the actual game if part of the game has be modified or cracked it'll make the game impossible to get past, like a giant billboard in the way that says "At least we didn't use DRM" after the first few levels.
I think its a smart strategy to move towards forcing you to perpetually be online.
It works for Valve and Blizzard.
I think single player games are a dying breed, going the way of the PC game.
Demon Souls was almost single player, but still required you be online to get full enjoyment of the game. I think we're going to see more and more of that.
We'll also likely see more and more nickel + diming.
I'm against DRM. I think it's a reactionary measure that doesn't work. We'll likely see a lot of people either turned off from the DRM, or get the crack for it.
Steam you can go into offline mode so you just need to be online to launch steam.
Blizzard just has unique keys for online play, WoW you kinda have to be online to play. WC3 there's no check for single player besides entering a key.
No you dont need to be online to launch steam and Steam isnt really working against piracy of singleplayer games. yes i know to play halflife you need to be/have been connected to the internet but this is one of the odd games in the larger game pool.
Zac, Nintendo did exactly that with the latest DS Zelda game. You could find the game rom easily everywhere, but they somehow managed to lock the first railroad track - something you run into after, I think, 10 minutes or so. Im sure its been cracked by now, but it sure worked for some time. And no one could complain about not being able to try before they buy!
Then again it's easy for them since downloaded ROM = flashcard = easy hardware to trace. But still, its kinda cool.
How about releasing your own pirated copy...I know that sounds crazy, but this way you can control what kind of copy is floating around the net...include some severe limitations, but make it playable...later the full copy will also be available online, cracked by the usual suspect, but by then the limited copy will have spread enough...the casual pirate will most likely download your copy instead of the full one...and he wouldn't even know it...he will blame the limitations being part of a faulty crack...if he will buy the game afterwards remains to be seen, but I doubt he will try to pirate it again in the hope he will get the full copy he doesn't even know exists...he'll just pirate some other game...
True...you wont stop piracy that way, but that is impossible anyway, but at least you make it harder for the pirate, to get the full game (just as Vig said)...if the ether is flooded by broken copies, it will be harder to find the good one...it has to be easier for the paying customer to have the game than for the pirate.
Instead of punishing your customer, you use the pirates against themselves (make sure to release you broken copy before the official release date for maximum impact)...they want the game early, free and easy...and you give it to them...they'll spread it, not knowing of the limitation, because they know they are the m!ghty 1337-Hax0r, rul0r of the hole interwebz...they don't know they are being used...they don't even believe they could ever be used...it's psychology you need, not brute force...
I remember Daft Punk doing this with their Discovery album...there were songs available online with the same titles as on the disc, but they were completely different songs...however, I don't know how long it lasted...so my idea might not be that good anyways...
How about releasing your own pirated copy...I know that sounds crazy, but this way you can control what kind of copy is floating around the net...include some severe limitations, but make it playable...
Some studio really needs to try this just to see how well it works.
How about releasing your own pirated copy...I know that sounds crazy, but this way you can control what kind of copy is floating around the net...include some severe limitations, but make it playable
I think it would have lasted longer, if Eidos hadn't responded to the question the way they did...especially not before the release date...that wasn't a smart move...If they had just closed the thread (since it was clearly a pirate, even if he hadn't have that glitch) and later answered vague like 'we are looking into that problem' or 'strange, we never encountered such problems during Q&A', the pirates surely had not noticed it very soon...
I can't play HL2, any of its episodic content, or TF2, because I lost my old Steam login information and it wouldn't let me recover it by email, only by answering my secret questions (which I also forgot). It eventually, somehow, let me re-register a new account with the same email I used previously. Now I can play L4D2, but nothing I bought previously. And I bought them online, so I don't have CDs, serials, or anything like that to even start trying to reinstall it. Just Steam. Steam says I don't have those games anymore, so poof, I don't.
That's not cool.
I don't want that happening with console games too. The whole point of console games is that they work without all the hassles of a PC. And if games stop being available used and for rental, I'm not buying games. They're like $60 each now and most of them still aren't that good. I only buy new ones when they're old enough that the price has dropped. If they're going to stop working by that point because of Internet tomfoolery, forget it.
(I know, most of you guys make your living from people buying those games when they're new, and people with my buying habits are probably a large part of what's making the industry job market so unstable. But video games are essentially a hobby for rich kids. The prices of new consoles and games dictate that. The sales of new games have always been, and will continue to be, based around consumers with a lot of disposable income. That limits profits to that group. That's why the Wii has done so well on paper and stupid games like Farmville have been able to pull in hundreds of millions of dollars. It's not because more people like shitty games, it's because more people can afford to buy shitty games new. That's how the $60 game business model is structured. The rich enthusiasts buy the games new, everyone else buys them used, and when the sequel comes out, more of the less wealthy people are willing to pay the $60 for 1 game instead of the $50 for 5 games they might have bought used, because now it's more likely to be worth it. THAT is why there are like eleventy Guitar Heroes and 9-or-so CoDs and Nintendo is still doing well despite the Wii still only having like 3 good games. Point being, the companies who adapt their business model to the public instead of trying to force the public to adapt to their business model will profit like crazy; but not the other way around.)
Some nice points here.
they could profit more if they make it more accessible, like im about to buy a console and i want to dev for it i tried ps3 wii etc. and all of those fail and got cracked by home brew engines and you have xbox whit XNA making big profits in indie community. while others only give access to established studios.
So ppl that install the homebrew engine will have access to pirated games as well so they paying for their decisions. and by other hand if ppl f`d
their console trying to hack it, they send it to warranty so double loss´s for them.
so i dont fell sry for them. if they fired u makes this divisions would be triple revenue ^^
" you have xbox whit XNA making big profits in indie community" XNA games don't turn a big profit. I think there has been two games sofar that has pulled in more than 5000 $ :P
" you have xbox whit XNA making big profits in indie community" XNA games don't turn a big profit. I think there has been two games sofar that has pulled in more than 5000 $ :P
That's kinda sad, I thought castle crashes and Geo wars sold a lot.
I enjoyed how Batman did things, where they checked to see if the copy protection was gotten around and so made it impossible to get past parts of the game. Or who can forget GTA 4, where if you cracked the game your player was CONSTANTLY drunk, lol...
These are extreme examples, I mean you could just put a notice saying "Get lost h4xz0rz". But I would much rather these than some shitty DRM that messes up my legit games and only takes a total of 5 seconds to bypass by some smart arse kid on his PC anyway...
I mean, theres ALREADY talks that the new UbiSoft DRM has been cracked... So it really shows you how pointless DRM is.
" you have xbox whit XNA making big profits in indie community" XNA games don't turn a big profit. I think there has been two games sofar that has pulled in more than 5000 $ :P
you are completly rong "I MADE A GAME WHIT ZOMBIES IN IT" Sold 200.000 units at 1 profiting for xbox 160.000 and 40.000 for developer
"I mean, theres ALREADY talks that the new UbiSoft DRM has been cracked..." But it hasn't ^^ They are just starting to realize how tricky it will be. You can start the games, but you can't play them. And ZacD, no, they didnt spend THAT much money on it, no.
Seeing as there arn't any games out with the new DRM (I think), thats to be expected. I haven't seen any on pirate bay or newz hosting anyway.
But this stuff will be cracked, those guys live for the challenge. What was that god awful DRM they used on Riddick? It took them a few days, but they got around that, too, and that wasn't supposed to be unbreakable.
Take a look around. Most major gaming newsblogs etc are writing about it, kotaku etc. Both Assassins Creed 2 and SIlent Hunter 5 use this new DRM. Both are rumored to be cracked, but they are not :]
Yes but again, those games are so new the arn't even up on torrent sites yet, at least in the case of AC2. I just had a look for this Silent Hunter 5 and couldn't see it either. So to say that the drm isn't even out there en'mass yet, but has already been cracked to such a degree, shows progress and that its not the be all, end upp Ubi hope it was going to be. If you really think that in a week, or a month, this wont be cracked wide open, then I have to repsectfulyl disagree.
This stuff isn't an over night fix, but it IS some peoples lives. They live to crack stuff like this, they see it as a challenge, even more so when its so damn ugly and restrictive. So mark my words, it wont be long before a 100% legit work around is found.
Its mostly restrictive for pirates though :P Yes, they are up on torrents, both AC2 and SH5. AC2 has been up on piratebay for a couple of days now, still not cracked at all. So its out en masse alright... Its already been out on torrents for five days, so.. I don't think its gonna be cracked in a week. A month, maybe yes. Time will tell.
Its mostly restrictive for pirates though :P Yes, they are up on torrents, both AC2 and SH5. AC2 has been up on piratebay for a couple of days now, still not cracked at all. So its out en masse alright... Its already been out on torrents for five days, so.. I don't think its gonna be cracked in a week. A month, maybe yes. Time will tell.
AC2 is cracked in early beta release. just wait till its fully working but its already ben cracked. ^^
And how much more they say it is impossible more hackers they attract to it
human kind loves challenging stuff ^^
Which is my point exactly... People only do this stuff for the challenge, or when it pisses off the consumer (or usually, both).
So adding DRM and stuff that messes up the legit users play doesnt nothing in the long run other than, well, mess up the legit user. The crackers will crack it and the hackers will hack it, regardless, no matter how long it takes.
Remember the PS3 was claimed near unhackable, and finally after nearly 3 years, somebody did it at last. So nothing is impossible when you have the drive to do it.
Well, I'm not gonna discuss this more here, but I will let time be the judge of how this plays out. ^^
Also: What pontus said. I think all game developers should give a silent prayer aswell.
As much of a pain in the ass as some people think this system is, in a few years, this will be a non-issue with the connectivity anyway. This is just the beginning, face it.
I know it goes against what many people believe, but I think they should just stop wasting money trying to protect games from piracy. Here's some of my reasoning:
1. Pirating has been going on how long now? At least 25 years that I know of. Way back in the days of Leisure Suit Larry, where you had to answer random questions using the manual (pirates included scans of the manual). In 25 years, they have yet to find an effective protection method, because pirates always find a way to hack the code.
2. Because of number 1, companies waste millions on new developing new methods to better protect the game. Save the money.
3. I know the companies feel they deserve all the money from those potential sales, and I agree, but I don't believe that those pirated copies would translate directly to sales if piracy was stopped.
4. Continuing with out protection will not cause people to just start pirating everything. It's a mindset, and I would bet that most, if not all, of the people currently paying for games, would still continue doing the same because they don't feel good pirating.
Hell, maybe even continue with a fairly basic protection, just to slow the availability of pirated versions on the game's release. People who REALLY want to play the game, will buy it on day one, rather than waiting for a cracked version.
And just to chime in on the other suggestion, I hate the idea of tying games to online servers to authentic the game. It's fine with me if it's an online game, but I had having my forms of entertainment (games, movies, music) being tied to the internet. Hackers know ways around these methods too, and all it does is make things difficult for the user.
In relation to the dev saving money, hell yeah... If they dropped the development of crazy DRM and instead saved the cash to offer the buyers cheaper games, then that in itself would actually help they gain MORE money in the long run. A more attractive price point means more potential buyers.
More people pirate because a) games are too expensive and b) they usually have a load of hidden bloat and crap to install. Getting rid of B and reducing A means that profits would go up, surely...?
> More people pirate because a) games are too expensive
believe it or not, I knew a couple of people who just pirated and downloaded stuff because they were too lazy to go to the store. (before steam & co came along)....especially if they wanted an english version of a game that they had to get from an overpriced import store because all the local game stories were full of localized games.
Personally I prefer games which offer you something extra when you buy them - things pirates don't get. Easier updates, special access to forums / communities / etc.
Reward people for buying your game don't punish them with restrictive DRM.
Actually there's quite a few games I bought first and then pirated just to get around all the hassle of DRM or insert CD here / insert CD there. I really love publishers who decide to get rid of DRM so it's easier to enjoy them, like Bioware did with NWN. Especially on my netbook I need lots of no-cd patches to get stuff working.
Let us assume for a moment, that this 'DRM' indeed stops piracy...do you really think the people who would have pirated it will buy it instead? They don't care for AC2...they don't want this game, they want a game...they won't buy AC2 but pirate some other game. You don't gain customers by these measures, you lose them.
The real problem with PC games is not piracy, but that the games are not bought...you might say that these are connected...more pirates means less customers and less pirates means more customers...there might indeed be some connection, but it is definitely not as easy...
Customers and pirates are two distinct groups...even if you could reduce piracy, you wouldn't make customers out of most of them...
Here is an equation that does work: more DRM-shenanigans means less customers.
Some of them might turn into pirates, but most of them will simply not play AC2 and that's a shame...it's quite a good game...
in a few years, this will be a non-issue with the connectivity anyway.
And one of my biggest gripes (and i've seen it echoed elsewhere as well) is... if that's the case, then why the fuck not wait til then, instead of flipping off anyone who has a shitty network connection now?
Eh, whatever. Ubisoft's off my christmas/birthday/gift shopping list for now.
Assassins Creed 2 is now fully cracked. Told you it wouldn't take long. The cracks 281meg, but it works, so... That took long eh? Looks lke theres a few hoops to jump through to do it, but the full game is playable, so even then... The DRM is already cracked.
if it delayed the piracy by a week, that might be considered a big win by Ubi you know. A triple A game's first week of sales is hugely important to its success
Kinda, but now that its done, every other game that uses it will be cracked the same way upon release, if not before. I can't imagine it not being cracked for a week made any real impact on sales at all, to be honest... If people don't want to buy it, they just wont buy it, regardless. Just because a crack isn't out, it wont change the mentality of some people to think "oh hold on, no crack? Well ill just cough up the money for it rather than wait a week".
So ultimately, I don't think Ubi have gained or lost anything from it being a week delayed. The only thing that’s clear, is the new DRM that’s going to piss off EVERYBODY is already worked around, and once again pirates are getting an easier time while legit buyers suffer.
Nothings been gained for Ubi... But they have lost a lot of time and money on another failed DRM, and it’s about time they woke up to this. You just can't beat "Anon" when he wants to crack it.... Because ultimately, he will. So put the money spent on shoddy DRM into development of something else.
Heh. You better read up. The 281 mb crack released yesterday that is confirmed NOT to work? :P Like the silent huunter 5 crack..that is also not working? ^^
you freeze at the animus. Then if you use someone else savegame to get past that (and missing the storyline etc) then it freezes when you try to start a new mission, so yeah.
As someone who worked on Settlers 7, one of the first Ubi games using this new "always on" internet required DRM, I have no problem with it.
PC games lose a ton of sales towards Piracy. How much? we can't know, as every pirate wouldn't have turned into a sale, but at least *some* would have. Currently it's rarely profitable to make a PC game. Titan Quest was pirated like crazy, tons of people played it and enjoyed it, but they didn't make enough sales to justify continuing the series and developers, and then they all had to find new jobs.
Maybe this DRM won't work fully, but the idea of DRM that works the way MMORPGS work is just fine by me, if it means I still get new PC titles. I think it is possible to make an always on DRM work, and it's possible to make it non intrusive. Whether this first version will work that way, we'll see, but I cannot blame developers and publishers for wanting to recoup their development costs by seeing sales of the game.
I find it deliciously ironic that so many polycountes argue for the position of corporations and fuck-the-little-guy policies in political threads and others, but then when it comes to having carte blanche to pirate game titles, they are all of a sudden raging against the machine.
It's also ironic that the most ardent oposition to these policies are more than likely to have the internet hookedup through an IV in the arm. How many of you really have problems with internet access, rather than enjoying a nice strawman? The DRM in question has come out to say it addresses hickups in the internet stream, allowing you to play games without it after the main sales frame of the game are over, and all the other little quibbles people have. If executed as said, this will provide no more trouble than dealing with an MMO.
People said that being always on is justified for an MMO because you get to play with so many others, well what if having to be always on is the price you have to pay to get new (AAA) PC games actually funded? When people mention Indie games with no DRM, it's really dubious, because Indie games people seem much less willing to pirate, because there is a face on the developers. In the same way people justify shop lifting from Sears, but not a small mom and pop grocery store, they do with EA/Ubi vs the indies.
poop: I agree with you, but you are wrong about one thing, pirates pirate indie games and games without DRM just as much. Look at world of Goo. 90% piracy. Way to stick it to the man, pirates!
Heh. You better read up. The 281 mb crack released yesterday that is confirmed NOT to work? :P Like the silent huunter 5 crack..that is also not working? ^^
you freeze at the animus. Then if you use someone else savegame to get past that (and missing the storyline etc) then it freezes when you try to start a new mission, so yeah.
To get around the 3min freezing issue, theres a work around for that, too
Its all workarounds and hoops to jump through, granted...
A lot of us here don't have the luxury of 24/7 internet, hell we've been running on 2mb max since steam came out. You can imagine how painful it is to preload a game, or when steam's offline play bugs out..so no, I don't think I like this new DRM
I wouldn't mind having to be sometimes on to play. Having to be online to launch the game every time wouldn't even bother me that much, especially if it meant I didn't have to have the CD in. It's the always-on thing that bugs me because it's not uncommon for my connection to drop out periodically. More importantly, I've never played an online game where the servers never lagged or dropped connections. If that's going to stop a single-player game every time it happens, it's going to be a pretty big hassle.
That goes triple for consoles, which have no reason to be online for anything but multiplayer normally, and (last I heard) can't even have their games pirated without hardware mods, which it detects as soon as it does go online anyway. (And even if the mod chips work online somehow, it still takes a special kind of pirate to bother pursuing such a setup, so it doesn't strike me as something that's stopping a lot of sales.) So it's really all about messing up used/rental games there, which just isn't cool.
It's also ironic that the most ardent oposition to these policies are more than likely to have the internet hookedup through an IV in the arm. How many of you really have problems with internet access, rather than enjoying a nice strawman? The DRM in question has come out to say it addresses hickups in the internet stream, allowing you to play games without it after the main sales frame of the game are over, and all the other little quibbles people have. If executed as said, this will provide no more trouble than dealing with an MMO.
To play devils advocate here, I think most people are worried about the games outlasting Ubisoft.
At least I am.
Sure the always on thing is annoying because there are times that I play games when I'm not on and I want to continue to do that but I have enough non-crazy DRM games to keep me busy, for how much longer remains to be seen.
It's kind of a fuck-you to people who can only get dial-up.
What happens when Ubi decides to close the window on playing older games?
What happens when they get bought out and the new company decides they aren't making any money off those old DRM servers they have new DRM and they shut it down?
They could patch, but a company in its death throws probably isn't going to patch their entire back catalog of games while they circle to drain.
Sadly I think this is a necessary first step in weening people off pirating PC games. Once they shut down the illegal distribution hubs and people establish proper purchasing habits, they can probably back off the crazy DRM tactics, but its going to take a long time for that to happen.
Well, if this is the case than gamestop is on our side too.
buy mw2 new $60. $15 to gamestop 45$ to publisher/developer/etc...
return it, get 15
gamestop resells for 55
return get 10
gamestop resells 50
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Used games keep gamestop in business. Places where you can't straight up sell them a game (after any amount of time, or something you didnt buy there) like best buy or walmart would be so much more powerful if gamestop didnt have the used game corner. Because gamestop isnt (as) big it can't buy in as large bulk amounts.
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but independent of whether or not publishers destroy the used game market, and thus destroy gamestop and all other used game trading places (besides pawn shops, they cannot be killed) pirates will find a way. Every developer's best bet is what it always has been. Have a multiplayer component, make it really really good and have standard cd key stuff on the multiplayer servers. Unless the game is mega ultra ultra popular (wow, mw2) it probably won't have a big enough want for cracked servers/patches. and in the cases in which they are ultra popular, pirates don't matter much anyways.
Replies
I can't say I can think of a solution but that online crap is definitely not the right direction to take it.
It works for Valve and Blizzard.
I think single player games are a dying breed, going the way of the PC game.
Demon Souls was almost single player, but still required you be online to get full enjoyment of the game. I think we're going to see more and more of that.
We'll also likely see more and more nickel + diming.
I'm against DRM. I think it's a reactionary measure that doesn't work. We'll likely see a lot of people either turned off from the DRM, or get the crack for it.
Steam you can go into offline mode so you just need to be online to launch steam.
Blizzard just has unique keys for online play, WoW you kinda have to be online to play. WC3 there's no check for single player besides entering a key.
No you dont need to be online to launch steam and Steam isnt really working against piracy of singleplayer games. yes i know to play halflife you need to be/have been connected to the internet but this is one of the odd games in the larger game pool.
Then again it's easy for them since downloaded ROM = flashcard = easy hardware to trace. But still, its kinda cool.
True...you wont stop piracy that way, but that is impossible anyway, but at least you make it harder for the pirate, to get the full game (just as Vig said)...if the ether is flooded by broken copies, it will be harder to find the good one...it has to be easier for the paying customer to have the game than for the pirate.
Instead of punishing your customer, you use the pirates against themselves (make sure to release you broken copy before the official release date for maximum impact)...they want the game early, free and easy...and you give it to them...they'll spread it, not knowing of the limitation, because they know they are the m!ghty 1337-Hax0r, rul0r of the hole interwebz...they don't know they are being used...they don't even believe they could ever be used...it's psychology you need, not brute force...
I remember Daft Punk doing this with their Discovery album...there were songs available online with the same titles as on the disc, but they were completely different songs...however, I don't know how long it lasted...so my idea might not be that good anyways...
Some studio really needs to try this just to see how well it works.
hardly a new thing.
they did that with Batman Arkham Asylum.
http://kotaku.com/5356752/deliberate-glitch-foils-arkham-pc-pirates
but like any form of piracy deterrent it only lasts a while til its cracked.
http://www.vg247.com/2010/03/04/ubi-claims-cracked-pc-drm-reports-are-false/
Some nice points here.
they could profit more if they make it more accessible, like im about to buy a console and i want to dev for it i tried ps3 wii etc. and all of those fail and got cracked by home brew engines and you have xbox whit XNA making big profits in indie community. while others only give access to established studios.
So ppl that install the homebrew engine will have access to pirated games as well so they paying for their decisions. and by other hand if ppl f`d
their console trying to hack it, they send it to warranty so double loss´s for them.
so i dont fell sry for them. if they fired u makes this divisions would be triple revenue ^^
These are extreme examples, I mean you could just put a notice saying "Get lost h4xz0rz". But I would much rather these than some shitty DRM that messes up my legit games and only takes a total of 5 seconds to bypass by some smart arse kid on his PC anyway...
I mean, theres ALREADY talks that the new UbiSoft DRM has been cracked... So it really shows you how pointless DRM is.
you are completly rong "I MADE A GAME WHIT ZOMBIES IN IT" Sold 200.000 units at 1 profiting for xbox 160.000 and 40.000 for developer
But this stuff will be cracked, those guys live for the challenge. What was that god awful DRM they used on Riddick? It took them a few days, but they got around that, too, and that wasn't supposed to be unbreakable.
This stuff isn't an over night fix, but it IS some peoples lives. They live to crack stuff like this, they see it as a challenge, even more so when its so damn ugly and restrictive. So mark my words, it wont be long before a 100% legit work around is found.
http://www.techcrunchit.com/2008/07/22/top-10-best-ever-hackers/
AC2 is cracked in early beta release. just wait till its fully working but its already ben cracked. ^^
And how much more they say it is impossible more hackers they attract to it
human kind loves challenging stuff ^^
So adding DRM and stuff that messes up the legit users play doesnt nothing in the long run other than, well, mess up the legit user. The crackers will crack it and the hackers will hack it, regardless, no matter how long it takes.
Remember the PS3 was claimed near unhackable, and finally after nearly 3 years, somebody did it at last. So nothing is impossible when you have the drive to do it.
Also: What pontus said. I think all game developers should give a silent prayer aswell.
As much of a pain in the ass as some people think this system is, in a few years, this will be a non-issue with the connectivity anyway. This is just the beginning, face it.
1. Pirating has been going on how long now? At least 25 years that I know of. Way back in the days of Leisure Suit Larry, where you had to answer random questions using the manual (pirates included scans of the manual). In 25 years, they have yet to find an effective protection method, because pirates always find a way to hack the code.
2. Because of number 1, companies waste millions on new developing new methods to better protect the game. Save the money.
3. I know the companies feel they deserve all the money from those potential sales, and I agree, but I don't believe that those pirated copies would translate directly to sales if piracy was stopped.
4. Continuing with out protection will not cause people to just start pirating everything. It's a mindset, and I would bet that most, if not all, of the people currently paying for games, would still continue doing the same because they don't feel good pirating.
Hell, maybe even continue with a fairly basic protection, just to slow the availability of pirated versions on the game's release. People who REALLY want to play the game, will buy it on day one, rather than waiting for a cracked version.
And just to chime in on the other suggestion, I hate the idea of tying games to online servers to authentic the game. It's fine with me if it's an online game, but I had having my forms of entertainment (games, movies, music) being tied to the internet. Hackers know ways around these methods too, and all it does is make things difficult for the user.
More people pirate because a) games are too expensive and b) they usually have a load of hidden bloat and crap to install. Getting rid of B and reducing A means that profits would go up, surely...?
believe it or not, I knew a couple of people who just pirated and downloaded stuff because they were too lazy to go to the store. (before steam & co came along)....especially if they wanted an english version of a game that they had to get from an overpriced import store because all the local game stories were full of localized games.
Personally I prefer games which offer you something extra when you buy them - things pirates don't get. Easier updates, special access to forums / communities / etc.
Reward people for buying your game don't punish them with restrictive DRM.
Actually there's quite a few games I bought first and then pirated just to get around all the hassle of DRM or insert CD here / insert CD there. I really love publishers who decide to get rid of DRM so it's easier to enjoy them, like Bioware did with NWN. Especially on my netbook I need lots of no-cd patches to get stuff working.
The real problem with PC games is not piracy, but that the games are not bought...you might say that these are connected...more pirates means less customers and less pirates means more customers...there might indeed be some connection, but it is definitely not as easy...
Customers and pirates are two distinct groups...even if you could reduce piracy, you wouldn't make customers out of most of them...
Here is an equation that does work: more DRM-shenanigans means less customers.
Some of them might turn into pirates, but most of them will simply not play AC2 and that's a shame...it's quite a good game...
now a stupid guy whit a degree knowing nothing about games industry get hired to manage the company.
Or wen you get to manager you got dumber ^^
Eh, whatever. Ubisoft's off my christmas/birthday/gift shopping list for now.
Assassins Creed 2 is now fully cracked. Told you it wouldn't take long. The cracks 281meg, but it works, so... That took long eh? Looks lke theres a few hoops to jump through to do it, but the full game is playable, so even then... The DRM is already cracked.
So ultimately, I don't think Ubi have gained or lost anything from it being a week delayed. The only thing that’s clear, is the new DRM that’s going to piss off EVERYBODY is already worked around, and once again pirates are getting an easier time while legit buyers suffer.
Nothings been gained for Ubi... But they have lost a lot of time and money on another failed DRM, and it’s about time they woke up to this. You just can't beat "Anon" when he wants to crack it.... Because ultimately, he will. So put the money spent on shoddy DRM into development of something else.
you freeze at the animus. Then if you use someone else savegame to get past that (and missing the storyline etc) then it freezes when you try to start a new mission, so yeah.
PC games lose a ton of sales towards Piracy. How much? we can't know, as every pirate wouldn't have turned into a sale, but at least *some* would have. Currently it's rarely profitable to make a PC game. Titan Quest was pirated like crazy, tons of people played it and enjoyed it, but they didn't make enough sales to justify continuing the series and developers, and then they all had to find new jobs.
Maybe this DRM won't work fully, but the idea of DRM that works the way MMORPGS work is just fine by me, if it means I still get new PC titles. I think it is possible to make an always on DRM work, and it's possible to make it non intrusive. Whether this first version will work that way, we'll see, but I cannot blame developers and publishers for wanting to recoup their development costs by seeing sales of the game.
I find it deliciously ironic that so many polycountes argue for the position of corporations and fuck-the-little-guy policies in political threads and others, but then when it comes to having carte blanche to pirate game titles, they are all of a sudden raging against the machine.
It's also ironic that the most ardent oposition to these policies are more than likely to have the internet hookedup through an IV in the arm. How many of you really have problems with internet access, rather than enjoying a nice strawman? The DRM in question has come out to say it addresses hickups in the internet stream, allowing you to play games without it after the main sales frame of the game are over, and all the other little quibbles people have. If executed as said, this will provide no more trouble than dealing with an MMO.
People said that being always on is justified for an MMO because you get to play with so many others, well what if having to be always on is the price you have to pay to get new (AAA) PC games actually funded? When people mention Indie games with no DRM, it's really dubious, because Indie games people seem much less willing to pirate, because there is a face on the developers. In the same way people justify shop lifting from Sears, but not a small mom and pop grocery store, they do with EA/Ubi vs the indies.
To get around the 3min freezing issue, theres a work around for that, too
Its all workarounds and hoops to jump through, granted...
That goes triple for consoles, which have no reason to be online for anything but multiplayer normally, and (last I heard) can't even have their games pirated without hardware mods, which it detects as soon as it does go online anyway. (And even if the mod chips work online somehow, it still takes a special kind of pirate to bother pursuing such a setup, so it doesn't strike me as something that's stopping a lot of sales.) So it's really all about messing up used/rental games there, which just isn't cool.
At least I am.
Sure the always on thing is annoying because there are times that I play games when I'm not on and I want to continue to do that but I have enough non-crazy DRM games to keep me busy, for how much longer remains to be seen.
It's kind of a fuck-you to people who can only get dial-up.
What happens when Ubi decides to close the window on playing older games?
What happens when they get bought out and the new company decides they aren't making any money off those old DRM servers they have new DRM and they shut it down?
They could patch, but a company in its death throws probably isn't going to patch their entire back catalog of games while they circle to drain.
Sadly I think this is a necessary first step in weening people off pirating PC games. Once they shut down the illegal distribution hubs and people establish proper purchasing habits, they can probably back off the crazy DRM tactics, but its going to take a long time for that to happen.
Well, if this is the case than gamestop is on our side too.
buy mw2 new $60. $15 to gamestop 45$ to publisher/developer/etc...
return it, get 15
gamestop resells for 55
return get 10
gamestop resells 50
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Used games keep gamestop in business. Places where you can't straight up sell them a game (after any amount of time, or something you didnt buy there) like best buy or walmart would be so much more powerful if gamestop didnt have the used game corner. Because gamestop isnt (as) big it can't buy in as large bulk amounts.
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but independent of whether or not publishers destroy the used game market, and thus destroy gamestop and all other used game trading places (besides pawn shops, they cannot be killed) pirates will find a way. Every developer's best bet is what it always has been. Have a multiplayer component, make it really really good and have standard cd key stuff on the multiplayer servers. Unless the game is mega ultra ultra popular (wow, mw2) it probably won't have a big enough want for cracked servers/patches. and in the cases in which they are ultra popular, pirates don't matter much anyways.
Nope