The PC Centric Extravaganza 10.21.08
Posted by Chris Evans on 10.21.2008
Get stuck into some Left 4 Dead DRM!
The PC Centric Extravaganza 21st October 2008
Well finally Pro Evo 2009 has arrived and the first thing I did was jump in the ‘Become a Legend' mode and find out that I suck awful at it =[. Ah well, hopefully I will improve. Regardless, lets get on with this thing!
-You have 5 activations per machine on 3 separate PCs.
- The 3 machine activations can be concurrent, but you must have the disc in the drive to run the game
- Uninstalling the game "refunds" an activation. This process is called "revoke", so as long as you complete proper uninstall you will be able to install the game an unlimited number of times on 3 systems.
- You can upgrade your computer as many time as you want (using our revoke system)
- Ubisoft is committed to the support of our games, and additional activations can be provided.
- Ubisoft is committed to the long term support of our games: you'll always be able to play Far Cry 2.
While I obviously am not best pleased to see constrictive DRM methods used in this game, I will still be buying it. However I fear that this is going to lead to a similar backlash as to what happened with Spore with many people refusing to purchase the game due to the DRM. In fact I think that the DRM will do more harm than good and we will see more people pirate it as there will likely be a non-DRM version of the game on the usual suspects soon.
Furthermore EA CEO John Riccitiello has commented (as reported by Yahoo) on the use of DRM in EA games.
"We're still working out the kinks. We implemented a form of DRM and it's something that 99.8 percent of users wouldn't notice. But for the other .2 percent, it became an issue and a number of them launched a cabal online to protest against it. I personally don't like DRM. It interrupts the user experience. We would like to get around that. But there is this problem called piracy out there."
We have a policy at work, if we see a product on the shelf that we wouldn't buy ourselves then we remove it from display. It is something which should apply for a whole lot of other businesses too. If the CEO of EA doesn't like DRM then why of why would he insist on it being implemented in his games? He may have a point that only a minority of people will actually be impacted greatly by DRM, but even this is too much. It is more the fact that people shouldn't be affected by the actions of the pirates. Hell I already know that people go out and pirate non-DRM versions of games that have it. These are people that had pre-orders in place or were just waiting for the game to be released before purchasing it. Due to the DRM they went and pirated it.
The game companies should realise that DRM is doing more harm than good and is contributing to the (overblown) problem of piracy on the PC.
Bioshock 2 – First Images
Word has reached me from N4G.com via Rock, Paper, Shotgun that the PS3 version of Bioshock includes some exclusive teasers for Bioshock 2 which is to be known as Bioshock 2: The Sea of Dreams.
You can download the teaser trailer from which the following pictures were taken here or watch the embedded version now.
Left 4 Dead Steam Pre-Ordering Begins
Left 4 Dead, the game that everyone who is anyone is eagerly awaiting the release of. Well we are now one step closer to that big release as you can now pre-order the game on Steam for $49.99 a pre-purchase special of $44.99.
Doug 'I am the PR god' Lombardi said a few words while fighting off the Infected hordes.
"With just over four weeks until launch, Left 4 Dead is showing every sign of topping The Orange Box on both the PC and Xbox 360, at retail as well as on Steam. Our pre-sell numbers at retail have jumped to over 65% greater than Orange Box at the same proximity to launch, and we're seeing tremendous enthusiasm for the product in what promises to be another great year for gaming on both platforms."
Doug has also revealed to Shacknews that the demo, which will feature the first two Survivor missions will be made available just after Halloween.
Pretty much if you are a European Steam user then you won't be able to purchase World of Goo until February/March next year, this is the same time as the planned European retail release. If you have already bought your copy of the game then you are not affected by this.
As part of our European agreement, we are restricted from selling the game on Steam in Europe. I'm thinking this was a clause that was accidentally left in, since I can't imagine this kind of restriction is good for anyone. We're going to try to reverse it. We live in the future. We shouldn't even have countries and regions. Just one big Internet where everyone is equal.
First Love Footage
I'm shocked to look back in my archives and see that I haven't said anything about Love before, the MMO being created by Eskil Steenberg. Well Rock, Paper, Shotgun have the first in-game footage of Love and it looks just like I expected it to look, a bit trippy.
