Episode 239: This Episode is DRM-free

This week, Paul is too busy unpacking in his new home in California, so it’s just Jonah and Jordan, as the news mainly deals with DRM. The Gaming Flashback this week is the Activision racer The Great American Cross-Country Road Race, while this week’s Gaming History doesn’t focus on a video game company or developer, but a fictional character instead, Mario’s favorite mount, Yoshi.

The news this week includes:

  • EA forum bans cause game bans
  • Research film states piracy’s up 20% in past 5 years
  • GOG sez customers hate DRM
  • Steam user database cracked
  • Uncharted 3 launches with 1.1M sold in first week

All that plus Reader Feedback and the Question of the Week, “What DRM would you tolerate?”

0 thoughts on “Episode 239: This Episode is DRM-free”

  1. In before Herr_Alien. 🙂
    Come on Paul! How many podcasts are you going to miss?

    @GOG says customers hate DRM: Of course they do! Just like you said, DRM only hurts the customers and not the pirates. And yes, please bring back games filled with physical content, I would love to have stuff like that.

    @QOTW: Sorry, don’t know of any DRM that I could tolerate. I know that pirates shouldn’t be accepted, but unfortunately there’s nothing that can be done about them.

  2. @DynamicJul
    😀 Actually it is a nice change. The time zone difference usually works in my favor (Eastern Europe), but it’s not completely impossible for somebody from US to get in first.

    @EA forum bans cause game bans:
    So apparently they didn’t fix the issue yet … they’re still using one database to handle the authentication for both systems.
    If you think of it, you don’t even need two databases with the same user/password data, you only need separate databases to store forum bans from whole-account bans.
    Correcting the bug should not be that difficult and it will make a huge impact for the better.

    @piracy’s up 20% in past 5 years:
    Games for free? Who would think this would ever be a lucrative business? 😛
    I for one would pirate the shit out of Assassin’s Creed 2, just to point out that intrusive DRM is not ok. I’m not that much into that kind of game though, so …

    @GOG sez customers hate DRM
    And for good reason. As long as the code reaches the client, any DRM measures in it will be bypassed. Not might be bypassed, not could be bypassed, WILL be bypassed.
    As for physical content, well, you still have those Deluxe editions.

    @Steam user database cracked:
    Not the best of the possible news. I don’t like to have the credit card info stored on servers, and in my envision of an online store, the credit card info is never stored. Yes, with every purchase you would need to type in the number again, but unless you check out very often (instead of putting more items in the basket then checking out) it should be quite ok.

    @QOTW:
    Steam, and the regular CD-key.

    Jonah, regarding DynamicJul’s comment, I think you mean pseudo-code. And it’s not really about pseudo-code; as long as you know (1) what you want the program to do and (2) how to do it in one language, it will be easy to get the same thing from another language. The main hurdle in all software companies is not about learning a new language, is more about figuring out what the software you’re making is supposed to do.

  3. Actually my time zone is GMT +1 so it’s the same. Also, I forgot to mention that my country doesn’t have things such as ‘Microsoft offices’ or ‘video game shops’ so I have to buy everything off the internet and it isn’t possible to fix an Xbox 360 over the internet.

  4. Wait… taking fallout 3 apart and putting it back together again? This time it’s a brand new engine, so even if they learnt some stuff from the previous games, it’s not like they could reuse that much this time as they have done between previous games.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Post

Microsoft Confirms Price Cut on 20GB Xbox 360Microsoft Confirms Price Cut on 20GB Xbox 360

If you’re considering the Xbox 360 console, or plan to buy the Xbox 360 Arcade Edition for USD $279.99 please take pause, until the Xbox 360 20GB models dry up, you can now purchase them for USD $299.99. As Microsoft has bluntly stated, get them “while supplies last.”

We’re sure Microsoft is going to take a hit in Arcade sales while these supplies last, but that’s the sacrifice you make for drying up a console SKU and removing it from the market. So, while you can save $50.00 now, you’ll also be able to get a new 60GB model for the same price as the original Xbox 360 Preimum at USD $349.99.

You’ll still be able to purchase the Elite for its epic price of USD $449.99 if you really need the larger disk capacity (120GB). This is an official statement, leading up to E3, so we’ll have to see what Microsoft plans to announce at the event.

Will Sony respond to the price cut now that this is official? Probably not, as the Elite price is the same, the only concern Sony may have is the disk capacity comes closer to their high end console solution.

(more…)

EA Listens To The Public: No SecuROM In The Sims 3!EA Listens To The Public: No SecuROM In The Sims 3!

simsIt seems Spore was the staging point for the SecuROM revolt and the massive amazon 1-star reviews and backlash have not gone on deaf ears. Electronic Arts has opted to leave SecuROM out of The Sims 3, an upcoming release for just that reason.

“We have heard your requests over the past months and here is our plan for The Sims 3,” Sims development head Rod Humble stated on the official website. “The game will have disc-based copy protection – there is a serial code just like The Sims 2. To play the game there will not be any online authentication needed. (casualgaming.biz)

We wonder, did they do this primarily because of the Spore revolt or because the demographic for The Sims is even more casual than that of Spore? Casual gamers expect a casual experience from install to un-install because they don’t want to be hassled with silly copy protection. Or, perhaps casual games like The Sims is less likely to be hacked because it’s not a “hardcore” game?

We’re sticking with the thinking that this is a “good faith” jesture to the gamers for how they “rocked the vote” on the last title as The Sims is one of the best selling series on the PC gaming platform. Lots of sales with lots of fans, why interrupt that momentum with ugly DRM whiplash?

Episode 281: Weeyoo SeepeeyooEpisode 281: Weeyoo Seepeeyoo

In this long episode of Gaming Podcast, the show runs long because of the tons of entries made to win a Steam code of XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Paul gets upset at Jonah for a topic about the Wii U, while Dan is delighted to say the F-word again. The latest Gaming Flashback is about the oldest coin-op arcade game from 1971, Galaxy Game.

The news includes the following items:

  • Sony drops 3D support, saying customers rejected it
  • Oddworld creator to EA: “F— you very much”
  • Wii U launch developer complains of lackluster CPU
  • Mists of Pandaria sales below expectations according to analyst firm
  • Microsoft enhances security at Xbox offices to stop next-gen leak

Finally, Paul eulogizes Nintendo Power, which is closing its doors after 24 years.