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Posts Tagged ‘DRM’

DRM complaints. Really?

March 2nd, 2010

Brad McGraw

Two things have been annoying me lately.

Number one is yesterday GamePolitics released an article called Another DRM Victim Details Woes. It talks about cruise ship crew members who are hit by DRM and unable to play games. The Chief Officer of a cruise ship says:

… we quite often don’t have a good Internet connection or it’s cost prohibitive, especially on our personal computers. I watch movies and play games during my, albeit limited, time off. There have been many games that I have been unable to play because of DRM issues, games such as Spore & recently Empire: Total War caused me huge problems simply because it required an Internet connection during installation. I had to spend $120 USD on Internet charges just for the privilege of installing Empire: Total War.

A little over a week ago ars technica wrote an article titled The victims of PC gaming DRM: one soldier’s story. The soldier writes:

"I’m deployed to Iraq right now, and [DRM] has ranged from annoying to unforgivable for me. I would like to let you know that Steam is pretty awesome with working with deployed folks to make sure we can access/play our games," he told Ars.

"I’ve had hit and miss success with some of the other download companies. Any kind of game that tries to call home, though, is generally more of a problem than it is worth. Especially ones that try to resolve your IP address with your version/purchase location."

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Posted in Just my Opinion

Tags: DRM, Ubisoft

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DRM for PC Battlefield : Bad Company 2 detailed

January 27th, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

As reported on the Battlefield Blog, the DRM information for the game has been detailed. The basic system being used is SecuROM. The details are :

-The Closed Beta will use SecuROM. However, this sentence is interesting as it could indicate a change in how SecuROM operates.

When the Closed Beta is uninstalled, all traces of the game and SecuROM will be removed from your machine.

Previously, SecuROM remained on the system after the associated game was uninstalled.

-The final game will use SecuROM. The game’s executable will be ‘wrapped’ with the DRM, and some support files will also be installed in the game directory. The game will need authentication the first time it’s run, which can be done one of two ways :

1. Offline mode will function as a disc check. There won’t be a need for any online authentication from SecuROM, but you will need the disc in the drive every time you wish to play.

2. Online authentication will function as it normally does. SecuROM will check with the Master DRM server to see how many computers the game is activated on (it can be activated on 10 systems at one time). Once the initial authentication is done, SecuROM will not go online to perform server checks for 10,000 days after activation on that system.

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Posted in Games

Tags: Battlefield Bad Company 2, DRM, EA, offline mode, online activation, SecuROM

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Ubisoft going all in with accounts system for copy protection…UPDATED!

January 26th, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

It seems that yesterday when I wrote that this was Ubi’s plan for Assassin’s Creed 2, I was under selling the true scope of things just a tad.

As reported by Gamespy, it seems that this IS in fact the new direction that Ubi is taking their entire copy protection concept when it comes to PC gaming.

Any time you purchase a Ubisoft game, you will be required to authenticate it via a Ubi.com account. Any time you adjust your settings or save your game, those are actually saved on the Ubi.com servers.

So basically, it’s going to function like Relic Online or Steam functions now, complete with Steam cloud saves on the main servers.

The good side to all of this is that you can install your software on as many different systems as you want. Activation limits and the like become a thing of the past. Also, your saved games will follow you from your desktop at home to your lap top on the plane to the PC at grandma’s house when you get there.

The bad side is that if you are ever left without an Internet connection, your Ubisoft games are now absolutely unplayable. There has been no mention of an Offline mode such as what Steam uses, for example. While this is becoming less and less of an issue as time goes on, it’s still likely to make some people rather unhappy.

The first title using this system will be the Beta for the Settlers 7.

Some new information on how this system will operate is available now thanks to a FAQ sent from Ubisoft to Shacknews. Here are some of the bigger points.

What if Ubisoft decides not run these online services in the future? Will my game stop working?
If any service is stopped, we will create a patch for the game so that the core game play will not be affected.

What none of these companies addresses is when talking of issuing a patch is what happens if they go in to bankruptcy. At that point, it’s likely that the overseeing court officials would actually forbid the release of such a patch under the argument that it would reduce the value of the Ubi assets they are in charge of selling off.

What will happen if I lose my Internet connection when I play the game?
If you lose your Internet connection the game will pause while it tries to reconnect. If the Internet Connection is unable to resume you can continue the game from where you left off or from the last saved game.

However, if the games are being saved online, how would I be able to save any further progress made after connection loss? Are the saves also being made locally? This is something that needs further information.

As usual, we’ll keep updates on the situation as new information arrives.

Posted in Games

Tags: account system, DRM, Ubisoft

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BioShock 2 DRM Finalized.

January 19th, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

As quoted from the 2K BioShock 2 fan site Cult of Rapture :

Over the past two days, I’ve fielded a lot of questions and concerns about the DRM for both the retail and digital versions of BioShock 2. Because of this feedback, we are scaling back BioShock 2’s DRM.

There will be no SecuROM install limits for either the retail or digital editions of BioShock 2, and SecuROM will be used only to verify the game’s executable and check the date. Beyond that, we are only using standard Games for Windows Live non-SSA guidelines, which, per Microsoft, comes with 15 activations (after that, you can reset them with a call to Microsoft.)

What does that mean for your gameplay experience? This means that BioShock 2’s new DRM is now similar to many popular games you advised had better DRM through both digital and retail channels. Many of you have used Batman: Arkham Asylum as an example to me, which uses the exact same Games for Windows Live guidelines as us as well as SecuROM on retail discs, and now our SecuROM is less restrictive on Steam.

I know that the variables of PC gaming can be frustrating and confusing, and when you say there is a problem, we listen, and use your suggestions to make things better. Feedback like this does not go unheard, and while this might not be the ideal protection for everyone, we will continue to listen and work with you in the future when formulating our DRM plans.

It is pleasant to see something like activation limits on Games for Windows Live actually fully disclosed, as normally publishers try to tap dance around the subject by claiming they aren’t there, or that they have no knowledge of them. And kudos overall to 2K for fully disclosing their DRM, discussing it with their fans, and being willing to make changes. THAT is the kind of behavior that I for one would like to see more of from game publishers.

Posted in Games

Tags: 2K Games, BioShock 2, DRM, Games for Windows Live, pre-order, SecuROM, Steam

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SecuROM : Examining ‘The Beast’

January 19th, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

Mention its name on your average gaming or computer forum, and you’re likely to be greeted with a somewhat emotional response from most people. Let’s try it.

SecuROM.

Yep, that’s pretty much par for the course. It’s insidious, it’s evil, and it’s completely dead set against you. It’s out to ruin your day, ruin your fun, ruin your life.

It may sound like I’m just spewing hyperboles (always a fun game), but if you really believe that’s what I’m doing now, please perform the following experiment. Go to your favourite gaming or computer forum and make an innocent post asking what SecuROM is. Now, give it a day or two to percolate, brace yourself, and check back in to read the replies. And don’t be surprised if you see claims that SecuROM caused a user’s computer to spring to life and sexually assault their pet cat.

Is SecuROM perfect? No. There are legitimate compatibility errors for some people relating directly to the DRM. It has, in the past, used software blacklisting as part of its protection system. It installs itself along with a game, then stays behind long after that game has been removed from your hard drive. However, it also isn’t the demonic force or infection it is too often described as, either. So where does that perception come from?

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Posted in Just my Opinion

Tags: balance, Byteshield, DRM, EA, exaggerations, lawsuits, SecuROM, Tages

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Do you own your digital property?

January 18th, 2010

Brad McGraw

In a recent blog post at Public Knowledge Jef Pearlman quoted Michael Robertson who asked, ‘Do you own your digital property?’, and went on to say, ‘I know I sold you that, but you can’t play it on a portable device or put it on the Internet’ you’ve turned everything into a rental or a lease.’. This is exactly what the video game companies are saying. We now ‘license’ games, we do not own them.

Now there is an organization (DECE) that wants to start a ‘service’ that allows you to cross platform your media. That could mean music, movies, video games, etc. I would suggest going to my first link and reading that article for what that means. I am going to focus on video games and what I think DRM is supposed to be doing for the video game industry.

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Posted in Games, Just my Opinion

Tags: DECE, DRM, piracy, Second hand sales

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