Interplay hits GameTap

[Morbus]

Unable to get updates and work with legit copies is what I call castrated.

That's my point, they were able to get updates. :\

Oh yes, most certainly. Now if you excuse me, I'll go feed my army of flying pigs.

I was just point out your inaccuracies...

What limited bandwidth? Limits were ruled as illegal in Poland. Hence, limitless broadband.

I live in a crap of a country where we still pay monthly fixed fees for our telephone line...

 

[Tagaziel]

That's my point, they were able to get updates. :\

I don't recall that. Still, it's better to get an original GC2.

I was just point out your inaccuracies...

I couldn't find anything that would verify the claim that Steam is pirateable.

I live in a crap of a country where we still pay monthly fixed fees for our telephone line...

Move to Poland.

 

[fedaykin]

I couldn't find anything that would verify the claim that Steam is pirateable.

Ahahaha. Man, do you live in a cave? It's pirateable.

 

[Phil the Nuka-Cola Dude]

What is not true? GC2 wasn't Starforce'd AND was available on torrent trackers. Be a little more precise, don't try to pull off a Samon - you have neither the charisma nor the good taste.

Eh, Starforce/Securom don't stop crack teams for more than a couple hours, if that. Whether the game has anti-piracy software or not, it is going to torrented within hours of release.

 

[Brother None]

What limited bandwidth? Limits were ruled as illegal in Poland. Hence, limitless broadband.

It's easy to forget in countries where it doesn't apply, but a lot of countries still have many users who either don't have broadband (specifically larger regions with wide spread of populace, such as Asian Russia or non-coastal USA) or who have broadband with limited bandwidth - like Australia and (apparently) Portugal.

There is much money spent of this absolutely useless security that could be used to actually make the game better. And yet, when the game flops, it's always the fault of the piracy. I bet I really hurt that producer 10-15 years ago by playing their game when there was basically no way of buying original games in my country.

Oh, it's much worse than that. The industry has officially gone batshit insane on the topic of piracy.

Are you aware of the NWN 2 adventure pack Mysteries of Westgate, made by Ossian studios? It has been finished for months. Around the time it was finished, months ago, there were no other major RPG releases on PC stealing the headlines and people were interested in this expansion pack.

Now they've been trying - mostly unsuccessfully - to keep attention vivid, but they're going to loose out to major releases in both MMORPGs and RPGs (Mass Effect) when the game finally comes out in a while.

And why? Atari delayed the adventure pack to finalize fixing up a new anti-piracy system for NWN 2. They have effectively killed any chance for the adventure pack to be a success because of paranoid fear of piracy. In other words; in an attempt to stop sales losses due to piracy, they have destroyed the game's sales forecast.

That is officially over-the-edge, unrealistic, batshit insane. If anything is doing major harm against the PC industry, it's this kind of shit.

 

[Morbus]

It's easy to forget in countries where it doesn't apply, but a lot of countries still have many users who either don't have broadband (specifically larger regions with wide spread of populace, such as Asian Russia or non-coastal USA) or who have broadband with limited bandwidth - like Australia and (apparently) Portugal.

It should be eradicated in a few years, here. Most ISPs already have no limits, but some, specially in some regions of the country, still do...

And about that Atari thing, well, it's Atari... Lol XD

 

[Sander]

It's easy to forget in countries where it doesn't apply, but a lot of countries still have many users who either don't have broadband (specifically larger regions with wide spread of populace, such as Asian Russia or non-coastal USA) or who have broadband with limited bandwidth - like Australia and (apparently) Portugal.

And Belgium. And I'm pretty sure Zeeland still has them.

And why? Atari delayed the adventure pack to finalize fixing up a new anti-piracy system for NWN 2. They have effectively killed any chance for the adventure pack to be a success because of paranoid fear of piracy. In other words; in an attempt to stop sales losses due to piracy, they have destroyed the game's sales forecast.

That is officially over-the-edge, unrealistic, batshit insane. If anything is doing major harm against the PC industry, it's this kind of shit.
And why? Atari delayed the adventure pack to finalize fixing up a new anti-piracy system for NWN 2. They have effectively killed any chance for the adventure pack to be a success because of paranoid fear of piracy. In other words; in an attempt to stop sales losses due to piracy, they have destroyed the game's sales forecast.

That is officially over-the-edge, unrealistic, batshit insane. If anything is doing major harm against the PC industry, it's this kind of shit.

And then there's the pretty basic fact that whatever your system of security, it will be cracked in a matter of days if not a matter of hours and pirates will be able to play your game without any hassle, while your regular subscribers will be faced with horrible copy protection software and all sorts of system specific bugs that they can't get out, not to mention the fact that they can't even back-up their games.

 

[Phil the Nuka-Cola Dude]

Just stumbled upon this, and got a laugh out of it:

Should be small enough not to break anyone's forums.

 

[The Dutch Ghost]

Damn you EA, damn you!

Now gamers throughout the world will live in fear.

 

[PlanHex]

Just stumbled upon this, and got a laugh out of it

The fun doesn't really start until you find out that Penny Arcade's game uses the same type of protection.

 

[Briosafreak]

with limited bandwidth - like Australia and (apparently) Portugal.

I don't have any limits. And I have a 18Mbs connection too. Morbus should change to the cable or ADSL2 operators, they are much better. They come with no fees phone numbers too.

The fun doesn't really start until you find out that Penny Arcade's game uses the same type of protection.

I heard it's similar, with online activation, but is it almost the same? I still haven't tried it.

 

[Brother None]

I heard it's similar, with online activation, but is it almost the same? I still haven't tried it.

Not really *the same*, but the same principle, yes: online activation (which makes some sense since it's a DD download game) required with every installation and there was an unspecified limit on the number of installs.

Shamus, that knife-between-teeth fighter of DRMs, put in its due time. First in anger, second...well...this is the sticky bit.

The sticking point for me is, or perhaps was, the limited installs. If they got rid of that, this would be more or less like Steam. What the Hothead guys are saying is that the “limited installs” thing is just so they can reserve the right to deal with the same key being used by many different people. As I read it, this isn’t like the EA system where the fourth attempted install results in rejection and you have to call up tech support to get back in. The system as designed will allow unlimited activations, but the language in the EULA is there to give them wiggle room in dealing with obvious and flagrant piracy. If they see the same key being used hundreds or thousands of times, they will have to manually block the account, and the language in the EULA is there to allow them to do that.

This is not the only possible interpretation of what has been said so far, but despite my normal bitterness, cynicism, and paranoia on these issues, I’m actually subscribing to their version of the story. They’re talking about re-wording the EULA to make this more clear.

This doesn’t solve the “will the servers still be there in 10 years” concern, although this is a problem faced by anyone who distributes a demo which contains the unlockable full version.

 

[Morbus]

I don't have any limits. And I have a 18Mbs connection too. Morbus should change to the cable or ADSL2 operators, they are much better. They come with no fees phone numbers too.

Not available in my region.