DRM News

A lot of large publishers have so called first party bloggers in their employ. Basically, they hire people to go out amongst the great unwashed (otherwise known as…you know…US) and actually communicate with the masses. Probably the best known of them all is Microsoft’s blogger Larry Hryb, better known to many as Major Nelson.

Well, EA also has their own blogger, a man by the name of Jeff Green. Previously a writer for Computer Gaming World & Games of Windows, he now does a regular podcast for EA, as well as writing Twitter and blog posts with company updates, game updates, development news and the like.

EA’s latest release is Command & Conquer 4, a game which requires a constant server connection to be playable. From looking at his Twitter account, one quickly gathers that Jeff has been having a few problems with the game’s need for a server hook up.

Booted twice–and progress lost–on my single-player C&C4 game because my DSL connection blinked. DRM fail. We need new solutions.

@stephentotilo Yes, exactly. Or just do periodic checks. or check on first load, and then update when you quit?

Yes…I agree with what you guys are saying. A better solution would be to cache progress/stats for upload later.

Welp. 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.

@andrenekoi Yeah, the online connection killed it for me personally–my router is too shaky. Not a fan of this scheme.

So there you have it. Server connection DRM absolutely ruining the game for someone working for the publisher.

In all seriousness, kudos to Jeff Green for being pretty honest about his whole experience with the game. It goes to show that ‘first party blogger’ does not equal ‘corporate mouthpiece’.