11-year-old game Resident Evil Revelations recently released an update that apparently introduced DRM, only to swiftly roll back the patch after complaints from players that it reportedly caused performance issues. Capcom aren’t giving up that easily on their vow to crack down on mods, though.
]]>The makers of fresh Soulslike Lords Of The Fallen have taken a strong position against the use of digital rights management software Denuvo, promising players that the game will never dabble with the controversial anti-piracy tech.
]]>The maker of controversial anti-tamper software Denuvo has vowed to show that its much-maligned DRM doesn’t hurt game performance, finally putting to bed years of complaints that stopping piracy comes at the cost of legit players’ experience.
]]>Well, here’s a bit of a bum note in the otherwise upbeat tune of Intel’s 12th Gen Alder Lake CPUs: the new chips are apparently tripping up games that use Denuvo DRM. Not all of them, fortunately, but Intel has listed over 50 games that might suffer compatibility issues across Windows 10 and Windows 11 when using an Alder Lake processor. These include big names like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Total War: Three Kingdoms. (Update - Fallen Order has now removed Denuvo completely, so should be fine.)
]]>While Crash Bandicoot 4 is mostly singleplayer with some local multiplayer, the game does require on online connection on PC. That's always bad, and especially when server issues stop people from playing a game on its launch day. Crash 4 arrived on Battle.net on Friday, then Blizzard's authentication servers burst soon after, rendering the game unplayable for many until the issue was fixed. Cool.
]]>Update: Ubisoft say the Steam problem is now fixed. Affected people may need to restart the Steam client but then it should work.
Ubisoft's open-world online drive-o-fly-a-boaty racer The Crew 2 launched in the wee hours and... a great many people cannot play it at all. The Steam version is currently busted (perhaps just for for folks who pre-ordered?), as attempts to launch the game lead to Ubisoft's Uplay client popping open--so far, as expected--then demanding a CD key which people don't have. Ubisoft acknowledge the problem and say "we hope to have this resolved soon" but oh dear.
]]>It's easy to forget sometimes that games are a legal minefield, and so much of what we take for granted - mods cheekily using repurposed art assets, or fan-games bringing joy to the masses - are often technically illegal, at least under current American copyright law.
Recently, several groups including the Museum Of Art & Digital Entertainment (MADE to their friends), put forward the argument to the US Copyright Office that existing game preservation exceptions in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) be widened as part of regularly scheduled legal revisions. This would allow for 'dead' online games to be more easily revived by entities other than their rights-holders.
Unsurprisingly, the ESA, representing a great number of major gaming publishers has spoken out against this.
]]>There's been slow-burning confusion about whether Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War 3 [official site] (due out mere hours from now) is going to be one of those bothersome always-online sorts of games, even in singleplayer mode.
It's reasonably apparent that multiplayer is the main focus of their RTS-meets-MOBA dakka dakka, but there are plenty of boring old bottom-burps like me who are only really interested in solo slaughter. I dropped Relic/Sega a line to establish whether or not you need to be online for singleplayer, exactly what happens if you go offline while playing, and why they've gone for the system they have.
]]>Rise of the Tomb Raider [official site] might finally be cracked six months after its release. A step-by-step video showing a cracked copy of Rise of the Tomb Raider surfaced in Russia last week. It raises the question of whether or not pirates will finally be able to defeat Denuvo's DRM security - protection so tough that some crackers said they were giving up. The crack has yet to be replicated, though, and it's unlikely to happen any time soon.
]]>In April the cyberworld rejoiced when cybergoggle enthusiasts created a tool to let HTC Vive cybernauts play games made for Oculus Rift. In May, er, Oculus responded by adding a DRM headset check that stopped software working if it wasn't on a Rift, despite Oculord Palmer Luckey previously saying sunny things like "our goal is not to profit by locking people to only our hardware." Naturally, Revive quickly got around that. Well! Things seem to have come to a happy conclusion, as Oculus have quietly removed the checks. Vivers may once again play Riftzaps using Revive.
]]>I'm hearing mostly bad things about Rememdy's Quantum Break [official site], not least of which is that the reliably unreliable Windows Store (in many ways the child of Games For Windows Live) is preventing our reviewer from getting into the damn thing. Remedy's approach to pirated copies of the game makes me want to like it, though.
Re-using a technique seen in Alan Wake on PC, if Quantum Break decides you're running a pirated copy, it sticks a skull'n'crossbones-adorned eyepatch onto lead character Jack Joyce. Rather than a punishment, this seems rather a comic touch, seems appealingly at odds with what is otherwise rather a dour affair.
]]>My eyebrow's raised so high that it's knocking plaster off the ceiling, but it's worth sharing this oddity as a talking point if nothing else. It seems Just Cause 3 [official site]'s DRM is still presenting stiff competition to crackers over a month on from release, prompting one pirate collective to predict that we are in the game piracy end times. "According to current trends in the development of encryption technology, in two years time I’m afraid there will be no free games to play in the world."
Obviously that's garbage, both because people willingly make tons of free games and because many paid games choose not to include DRM at all, but maybe DRM really has become a new force to be reckoned with.
]]>Last month we reported that Windows 10 wouldn't run games that employ SafeDisc or certain versions of Securom DRM. This decision was made by Microsoft in response to security concerns, but as a side effect rendered hundreds of old games unplayable on the new operating system without players installing no-CD cracks or re-buying the games via modern digital distribution services which don't use the now-abandoned DRM.
Now Microsoft have released a security patch that also removes support for the Safedisc DRM from Windows Vista SP2, Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1. Check below for more detail and instructions on how to get those old games working again.
]]>Windows 10 won't run games that employ SafeDisc or certain versions of Securom DRM, rendering hundreds of old disc-based games potentially unplayable without complex workarounds. Games which used these forms of DRM range from Crimson Skies to Grand Theft Auto 3, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 to the original The Sims. Yet despite this change coming in Windows 10, blame can't likely be placed at Microsoft's feet. For one, SafeDisc is notoriously insecure and Microsoft's decision to block it from their new operating system will likely protect more users than it hurts.
More details below.
]]>Microsoft can disable "counterfeit games" and "unauthorized hardware peripheral devices" according to the recently updated Microsoft Services Agreement. The agreement, which pertains to the Windows store, suggests they can detect pirated first-party XBox and Windows games you have installed.
]]>The ghost of THQ is still with us today as some of the publisher’s greatest hits find new life on GOG. Deep Silver and Nordic Games, who bought the rights after THQ's demise, have released Saints Row 2 + 3, Darksiders 1 + 2 and Metro: Last Light Redux on the digital store, all at a discounted price until May 18th.
This is the first time any of these games have been made available completely DRM free.
]]>If a publisher shuts down a game's online bits, current US copyright law says, you're technically not allowed to modify the game to use different servers or work offline. It's gone, that's it, bye-bye. That's a bummer for players, not to mention folks trying to preserve our short but already fading history. American digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation have been trying to change this, and are currently arguing for an exception for abandoned online games letting folks revive and save them.
According to the Entertainment Software Association, a trade association representing mostly publishers, this would be a bad thing. Oh dear.
]]>In a final [humiliating capitulation]/[act of goodwill and community empowerment] Maxis will today release SimCity's offline mode, freeing city builders everywhere from the terrifying fear that a cleaner at the Origin data center will accidentally unplug the servers as he hoovers up the hopes and dreams of the developers. At the time of writing (lunchtime on Tuesday the 18th), the servers are down as the game prepares for the update that will mean the next time the servers are down, you'll be able to play.
]]>When Shadowrun Returns was first conceived, it came with the sparkly promise of pristine freedom - not a speck of diabolical DRM to be found even in its grimiest cybergutters. But then, due to some behind-the-scenes shenanigans, Harebrained Schemes went back on their word, shackling all future updates to Steam, which - while not the end of the world - was absolutely a form of DRM. Now, however, PLOT TWIST: things have changed... again! Harebrained was recently seen beating its own DRM into a mangled, bloody pulp, lighting it on fire, and then reading it passages from this fan fiction. Meanwhile, onlookers watched in horror until they realized this was cause for celebration and started cheering. Some even joined in. Experts described the scene as "just a really great time" and "hahahaha wheeeeeee yeah!"
]]>Our coverage of Battlefield 4 got rather interrupted by the arrival of a baby. It happens. So in trying to catch up, I wanted to play through the single player campaign, see how it compared to COD: Ghosts'. Yeah. That would have been nice, wouldn't it. But then EA happened.
]]>Here's some very good news: CD Projekt Red are keeping their promise, and The Witcher 3 is to feature no DRM whatsoever. It's odd, because they feel like the sort of company that never would in the first place - what with their connections to GOG and all. But CDP have stuck their fingers in the icky pot of DRM in the past. And of course they were embroiled in the epically dick move of threatening alleged pirates with bullying lawsuits. It seems that this ill behaviour is behind them now, and they're making efforts to reassure people that there's to be not a drip of DRM in The Witcher 3. Hoorah!
]]>You have about 20 hours left to take advantage of GOG's DRM Free sale, put togeether to celebrate today being the longest day of the year. The games are free of the lumpen, ugly additional code that bootstraps their code to your PC. If for some reason you own a million PCs, you would be allowed, nay encouraged, to install them on each and every one. I wouldn't, because that would involve a lot of work, not least in acquiring an entire planet to source the resources for such a PC collection, but the hypothetical scenario still stands. You really should look over the whole list, but below I've gathered a few treats to entice you in.
]]>Why has the SimCity story gone away? It's a good question. And the answer for it reveals much about how both the games industry, and the games journalism industry, work.
]]>What Maxis are doing is frankly peculiar. Earlier this week we posted a story revealing that claims that SimCity required online servers to run non-regional computations were not the case. That night we were promised a statement from the studio, but heard nothing. Repeated emails to EA have resulted in no response since, and the whole situation has become more muddy with each day. It's since been revealed that population numbers are nonsense, even down to leaked Javascript code featuring "simcity.GetFudgedPopulation" as a function. We've learned that city size limits are arbitrary, pathfinding is rudimentary at best, and Eurogamer's absolutely superb review lists many more bugs, broken features, disappearing pretend-money and never-arriving resources.
So it's all the more odd to see Maxis head Lucy Bradshaw acting as if none of this is happening, and instead just carefully rewording her mantra of how SimCity is only supposed to be played online, but this time leaving out the bit about server-side computations for local play.
]]>In this, our ELEVENTH DAY of the equivalent of PC gaming's Leveson Inquiry, Senior Director of worldwide communications at EA Maxis Erik Reynolds has written a series of 'transparent tweets'. These tweets indicate that a post on the Simcity forum about a hack for offline mode violated their Terms of Service, and the discussion would have to be moved elsewhere.
]]>Update: Ubisoft have tweeted an apology, saying they're working as fast as they can to get the servers back online.
So, like many others, I'm very excited to play Far Cry 3. After Jim's review, and many similar elsewhere, I've been dying to play it and finally have the chance. Today is my day off, hooray! And so far I've been treated to a horrible, horrible time, and all at the hands of the technical mess that is Uplay and idiotic mechanical choices. And right now? Ubisoft's servers are down. On launch day. You can still play in offline mode, but ho boy, this isn't a good start.
]]>So, Ubisoft, eh? It's been quite the 24 hours for the publisher. Having spent a few years seeming to actively seek the loathing of PC gamers - despite releasing a stream of good games - there appears to be a concerted effort to turn their reputation around. And this is something we certainly welcome. With an official pledge to abandon their deeply silly DRM, and a promise to try to release PC versions as close as possible to the console versions, they're meeting gamers' demands like we've got their families held hostage. (We don't, do we?)
]]>For a couple of years we have been petitioning Ubisoft for an interview with those involved in their DRM decisions. We're very pleased to report that this has finally happened, as we spoke to Stephanie Perotti, Ubi's worldwide director for online games, accompanied by corporate communications manager, Michael Burk. Perotti is involved in all online technologies at Ubisoft, and works with many different studios and teams, with DRM part of her remit. We asked about the evidence for the various figures that have been quoted in the past, whether they have any proof for the efficacy of their extreme DRM, and whether Ubisoft has any regrets with how the matter has been handled in the last few years. And we also learn the rather enormous news that Ubi have abandoned always-on DRM, and will now only use one-time activation for all their PC games.
]]>In an interview on RPS today, Ubisoft tells us that they will no longer use their controversial "always-on" DRM. In fact, they quietly scrapped it months ago, but haven't made that official until now. In what is a really remarkable turnaround, the publisher pledges that from now on they will only require a single online activation after installing, with no activation limits, nor limits on how many PCs it may be activated.
]]>Blizzard have finally admitted that their useless always-on DRM in Diablo III is partly to prevent piracy. Despite having previously insisted that it was purely to improve gamer experience (oops), in a post spotted by Eurogamer, Blizzard boss Mike Morhaime has pointed out that it does "help us battle" such issues. But then goes on to say that it's still the best solution, that it's essential, and while there are "some downsides", it was "the best long-term decision for the game."
]]>Update: Epic's issued a statement clarifying its meaning, noting that - while nothing's off the table - it hasn't entered serious talks about how it'll implement online play at this point. Here's the official word, in full: “We’re not talking about our plans at this time, mainly because that plan doesn’t exist yet. Fortnite is an iterative, living project and many things are still being decided prior to its release in 2013.”
Original article: Let's start with some good news, shall we? First off, Fortnite's looking quite nice and - based on an interview I just wrapped with producer Tanya Jessen (which you'll see all of tomorrow) - the Unreal-Engine-4-powered survivor is, by and large, taking full advantage of every tool at PC gaming's disposal. In other words, expect a constant flow of new content, some form of mod support, and impressively open-ended, procedurally generated worlds. It's not all uncharacteristically colorful cartoon roses, however. At this stage, Jessen told me, a constant Internet connection requirement ala Diablo is still a possibility. She assured, however, that it'd be used first and foremost to improve the game - not as a last line of defense against piracy's nighttime pillages.
]]>Things haven't been going so hot for the Lord of the Damned lately. At this point, his rocky start's probably better documented than, er, Rocky's rocky starts, and then that whole hacking thing happened. Granted, somewhere in there, Diablo III also sort of became the fastest-selling PC game of all time, but honestly, millions and millions of dollars can only wipe away so many tears. At any rate, the fallout continues - this time with a second delay for the hellish hack 'n' slash's controversial real money auction house.
]]>Because the universe loves comedic irony, Diablo III's online infrastructure specifically put in place to keep out cheaters and hackers is currently being besieged by cheaters and hackers. Yesterday, Blizzard acknowledged the issue, and today, the damage control process has officially begun. From where I'm standing, though, it leaves out one very important step: the part where it, you know, actually solves the problem in the long run. Perplexingly, the multiplayer-loving megalith has opted to calm players by pointing out that account compromises skyrocket with new game releases, ala WoW expansions. Fair enough. But why, again, is it supposed to be reassuring if it keeps happening?
]]>First things first: everybody, go change your Battle.net passwords. I have to imagine that someone at Blizzard uttered the phrase "Besides, what else could possibly go wrong" over the weekend, prompting the god of comedically cruel timing to bring its massive whack-a-mole hammer down on Blizzard's doorstep. And so: hackers! Diablo III's official forums are currently rife with tales of items and gold going missing and characters even being hijacked wholesale. Even Eurogamer has firsthand experience. Now, though, Blizzard's attempting to play knight-in-increasingly-tarnished-armor once again.
]]>My companions have stopped following me. The map has suddenly blanked out. The dungeon doors aren't opening. And despite my just having cleared out a two-storey dungeon for the second time, there hasn't been a checkpoint in over a half an hour. If I quit out to fix it, the entire area map will be reset yet again (a previous quit to see if there was any way to raise the difficulty had already done this to me once, and is how I discovered the dungeon wasn't checkpointing), so in total an hour's play time lost, and, well, here's the thing: Diablo III just isn't brilliant enough to warrant this.
]]>A videogame came out recently. If you consider yourself part of the unruly mass that is Everyone On Earth, you're probably playing it, thinking about it, dreaming about it, or stroking it in a none-too-subtly suggestive fashion right now. (Stop that, by the way. It's really weird.) Or, you know, you're not. Because - given Blizzard's track record so far - there's a very good chance the servers are down, or lag has hurled you into a minefield of hungry, hungry Diablos, or the unnatural reaction that is Templar-meets-shield has broken reality again. I imagine you're angry. It's only natural, after all. You've waited more than a decade, and you just want to dive headfirst into hell while the hype fires are still at their brightest. Really, though, it's probably only a matter of time before PC gaming's most massively successful giant steamrolls the kinks and turns this nightmarish launch into an ugly, short-lived (in the grand scheme of things) memory.
That perspective in mind, it's easy to watch the pitchfork-and-torch-wielding hordes storming Blizzard's walls and think "Yuck, these people sure are blowing things out of proportion - just like they always do." So a major game launch came down with a fairly violent case of the hiccups. Don't they all? And now Blizzard's apologized, so what more could these people possibly want? At this point, you're just waiting for whiners to swallow this bitter pill and eat their words so they can inevitably start singing Diablo's praises again. That mentality, however, is precisely why I'm begging you: please stay angry.
]]>Update: After many hours of patching and subsequent server outages, Blizzard's claiming everything's good to go. If, however, you kick open a rotten stump only to discover an outpouring of bugs instead of loot, you can take your complaints here.
Original article: Hey everyone, I just played Diablo III without a single hiccup! Ow, argh, oof, ugh, whyyyy. Oh, I get it: you're all beating me because my experience is atypical, and instead of feeling happy for me and perhaps throwing some form of party, you're booting my ribs from my body (henceforth known as "Error 37-ing") out of rage at what you've encountered. Oh you guys. Fortunately, Blizzard claims a round of "emergency maintenance" should have things functioning far, far better than new.
]]>Diablo III is out. (In the UK and Asia, at least, with the US version unlocking in about four hours.) Words that still don't make sense when you look at them. So after the struggles of server issues all experienced at the start, I finally settled in to spend three very late hours with the game. A game which is, at least so far, action RPG perfection, worryingly troubled by the requirement of its always-on DRM. This is the tale of my first three hours, joyful and infuriating.
]]>EA have issued a clarification to Gamespy that while you will have to have an internet connection to launch SimCity, it will not boot you off if your connection goes down. Which is to say, it's not as egregious as others' "always-on" DRM, but we maintain is still an unnecessary and game-crippling mistake, which we really hope they will reverse before release. That the game won't stop working if your connection goes down sounds great, but it makes no useful difference to those who wish to play the ostensibly single-player game without an internet connection, whatever the cause. As we've said before, the online features sound like they'll superbly enhance your single-player experience, but enforcing them is cruel and stupid, and renders the game broken for enormous numbers of players. We desperately hope to see EA backing down from this position before release. Just as we expect to see Blizzard come to their senses and not release a self-sabotaged version of Diablo 3. The reality is, unofficial versions of the games will appear very soon after release, offering useful features that the publishers' versions of the games will not. That's simply crazy. We've contacted EA to ask if we can talk to them about this all.
]]>Some good news and some bad news about the forthcoming SimCity reboot. Good news: you won't have to buy it through Origin, meaning there can be pricing competition. Bad news: you will have to play it through Origin, with a permanent online connection all the time. That's some fairly bloody enormous bad news. But there is time to convince EA that while there are many merits to having your game online, there are also some vastly more dreadful downsides, and failing to recognise that would be a terrible shame.
]]>It's fair to say that RPS has taken Ubisoft to task over its DRM decisions. The company has made some extremely poor choices, that have overtly harmed people's experiences legitimately playing their games, and no evidence of any reduction in piracy as a result has been shown. However, rather than backing down in the face of the enormous outcry, Ubisoft continued to push it, even telling PC Gamer that they viewed it as a "success". The hubris, combined with the continuing downtime for single-player games, reached a point where things went from bad to ludicrous. But could things be about to change? Ubisoft's digital boss, Chris Early, told Eurogamer that he'd like to see the need for DRM to go away. Blimey.
]]>Ubisoft are issuing apologies after it seems their server migration isn't only taking down the games they warned it would. Reports of both Driver: San Francisco and Anno 2070 also not working properly are coming from gamers (cheers EG), as Ubisoft acknowledges more games than they'd planned are being affected. Once again it's impossible not to observe that if they hadn't tied single-player games to such draconian, useless and self-defeating DRM, none of this would be happening. To find out the details of why the games are down, along with others, read our earlier coverage here.
]]>With Ubisoft's recent announcement that Rayman: Origin's splendid arrival on PC will have the barest DRM for the download version (a single activation - a pointless waste of everyone's time still, of course) and the retail version having none at all (although Ubi have yet to get back to me over whether it will work without the disc in the drive), it makes you wonder if the company is beginning to see the light. With other recent games having only required a single activation, there does seem to be a movement away from their moronic 'always on' system. A system that's proving its idiocy next week, when Ubisoft take their servers down for an indefinite period, meaning any games using it will cease working.
]]>What do you own? Looking through my possessions, I feel fairly comfortable that the food in my fridge belongs to me. And I have an odd confidence that the hardware in my PC is mine. But the books on my shelves? I seem to have very little rights over them. The CDs stacked up in a cupboard (remember CDs?) certainly aren't my property. And the software on my computer may as well be tied to a long piece of elastic, just waiting for the publishers to give it a tug. You own a license. But a license for what? This lack of ownership becomes even more concerning when it comes to the digital space, at which point our rights to anything become extremely ambiguous. And that's something that can bite you hard on the bum, when places like Steam seem to reserve the right to ban you from your account, and not even tell you why they did it. Below is the story of one RPS reader who says he lost access to his entire Steam collection, and thoughts from game lawyer Jas Purewal on whether we really own any game we buy.
]]>The ever quotable Fred Wester CEO Of Paradox Interactive (as his mother calls him) has laid down some views on DRM, and extolled the virtues of PC, at Gamespy at the end of last week. And wouldn't you know it, the man's speaking some sense.
"It’s so much simpler to develop for the PC -- you can decide everything for yourself... The PC is very rewarding because the audience is very knowledgeable about the games, they’re very hardcore, they’re very quick with their feedback, and we have a great relationship with our customers."
]]>If making a fuss keeps working, it's only going to encourage us. In the last week we've - among others - reported on the extremely peculiar choice in Ubisoft's chosen DRM for Anno 2070, to have it use up an activation every time you do something so simple as change a graphics card in your PC. Assuming this was a mistake we contacted Ubi, who genuinely surprised us by coming back to say it was completely intentional, wasn't a problem, and that was that.
Well, after attention was brought their way, co-developers BlueByte got in touch with Hilbert Hagedoorn at Guru3D - who first brought the issue into light - and gave him more activations for the game. And now it's just been reported that they've changed the DRM such that the game will no longer spit up if you switch a PCIe slot.
]]>Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this is the first time RPS have presented detailed instructions on how to build a concealable assassination tool. Given that I'm writing on a website that Kieron Gillen is a director of, I find that baffling. Anyway, how many fingers do you have? All of them? Would you like one less? You'll need a drawer, a screen door, a throwing knife, and balls the size of a baby's head.
]]>On Monday we reported the strange discovery by Guru3D that something so simple as changing your graphics card could use up an activation on Ubisoft game, Anno 2070. At the time I suggested that this was perhaps a bug in the DRM Ubisoft uses, Tages, meaning it was overreacting to hardware changes. It seems I was wrong, and Ubisoft have confirmed to us that this is how they intend the DRM to work.
]]>Ubisoft have managed to go a month or so without anyone loudly throwing their hands in the air and despairing at their DRM ways. They'll be relieved to know the drought is over, with tech wizards Guru3D discovering that Ubisoft's limited activations of their games are not just limited to specific machines, but specific graphics cards.
]]>Some companies' DRM is stupidly cruel, punishing only those who have legitimately purchased the game, and not those who pirate it. Well, most companies' DRM is that. Serious Sam 3's DRM is brilliantly cruel, punishing only those who pirated it. By relentlessly pursuing them with a giant invincible armoured scorpion. As revealed by Dark Side Of Gaming, only those who unlawfully duplicate the game encounter this immortal enemy, who haunts them from the opening moments. You can see it in action below.
]]>Good Old Games have certainly built themselves a brand. Over the last few years the Polish project has leapt forward from offering a few provincial classics to a really impressive catalogue of games that made the 90s and early 00s interesting. Clearly they've been letting in many more recent games of late, with Fahrenheit appearing last week for example. And they used it to launch their own game, The Witcher 2, earlier this year. But it seems they want to expand even further, going directly into competition with the likes of Steam, Impulse, GamersGate or Origin. Which is always a bold step, but one made much more interesting when you consider their DRM-free requirement.
]]>While we may be suffering a delay on Assassin's Creed: Revelations, there's some good news. Ubisoft have just confirmed for me that the game will not be coming with their hideous "always-on" DRM - a sign that perhaps, since it's absent from such a big title, that they're finally recognising it shouldn't be anywhere near any of their products. Instead you'll need to be online the very first time you play the game for an activation, and then it's yours to play offline at your leisure. Goodness gracious, that's bordering on reasonable! Hooray!
]]>There's a bit, 1m40s in, into this new Assassin's Creed Revelations trailer that I feel is a microcosm for how Ubisoft views the PC. A guard stands over a collapsed and bloodied man, who represents the PC gamers excited by the game but who have to wait for them to kick the console beta version out first. The guard then punches the downed man. The fist is Ubisoft's DRM.
]]>We're receiving reports that new Darkspore players are unable to play the game, and haven't been able to play for over nine days, due to an error with the online authentication system. There's an ongoing thread about the issue here, dated from October 18th. There's currently no word on a fix.
]]>Diablo III's 'always-on' DRM is obviously a matter of much controversy, albeit a more nuanced one than that of Ubisoft. Where Ubisoft implemented the grotesque system purely as a claimed measure to fight piracy, Blizzard's logic at least has some elements that offer benefits to the player. Battle.net, online ranking, drop-in-drop-out co-op, the auction house, and constant live monitoring of your progress, and monitoring to prevent cheating, can all be argued to be in the players' favour, in a way that Settlers VII crashing its single player because the internet blipped does not. But it doesn't make the problem go away, and I want to strongly argue that Blizzard reconsider their decision, in the face of its simply breaking their game. Because no matter how perfect your connection, it will affect you.
]]>Like an angelic voice of reason amongst the grunting lunacy comes Christofer Sundberg, founder of Avalanche Studios. The Just Cause developer has told EDGE that "always-on DRM only says: 'Thank you for buying our game, we trust you as far as we can throw you.'" Responding to the utterly unfounded and unevidenced defence of Driver SF's always-on DRM from Martin Edmonson last week, Sundberg told the Edgeborg that treating customers with respect would be a far more effective means of dealing with piracy.
]]>With peculiar timing, Valve seem to finally be offering refunds on From Dust. Customers who bought the game under the belief its DRM required a one-time only activation angrily responded to the revelations (as brought to the world by the fine eyebrows of RPS) that the game required a connection for every launch. Demands for refunds were being met with stony silences in every direction, with Ubisoft pointing customers to the retailers. And while there were rumours of Steam giving some money back, most were being met by their questionable stance that they don't offer refunds for anything. Well, despite the recent announcement that the DRM would soon be patched out, that seems to be changing, as it appears (from the text of Valve's emails) Ubisoft have specifically asked Valve to return the cash. (Let's put in a disclaimer here - this is based on reports from a couple of readers, and Valve are notoriously fickle in these regards.)
]]>Well blimey, here's a thing. After Ubi's frankly dreadful performance over From Dust, there appears to be a degree of capitulation afoot. On the From Dust forums (which now appear to be the only way to learn such news from the publisher) it has been revealed that the team are working on a patch that will remove online authentication DRM entirely. Which would be, well, brilliant!
]]>Update: Lo-Ping are claiming that Steam is offering discounts to those who apply. Edit: A claim which is increasingly proven to be false.
Astonishing. Ubisoft have yet to respond to our questions today, when we asked why From Dust was requiring an internet connection to launch despite their making it very clear it would not. They also have yet to respond to our queries as to why it hasn't been properly ported, despite the weeks of last-minute delay for the PC version. And now, incredibly, rather than apologising to the huge numbers of people who had been deceived by the previous untrue claims about the game's DRM, they've instead just deleted the post, and put up a new one. From Dust requires an internet connection to launch, and tough shit if you bought it when they were saying otherwise. (Edit: They've now somewhat confusingly edited in the original post to the new post.)
]]>Update: Ubisoft have deleted the forum post which was saying the DRM would not require an internet connection! Just removed it from history. Fortunately, we took a screenshot.
Update again!: Now the post is mysteriously back, with a disclaimer saying the details are being checked, and a statement should be coming shortly.
It's hard to know what to say. After their insisting that From Dust, the delayed PC version from Ubisoft, would not require an internet connection to launch after the first time, of course it does. It's impossible to launch From Dust, even from Steam in offline mode, without being online. Launching the game fires up their new Ubisoft Game Launcher, which refuses to work unless it can find a connection. And that's ignoring the fact that the game is in no way properly ported.
]]>Ubisoft have just got in touch with us to say that as a consequence of the extremely negative reaction to the news that Driver: San Francisco, on top of not supporting wheels and being a month late on PC, would have their disgraceful "always on" DRM, that they have changed their mind about the latter. Hooray! I exclaimed. Until I read it more carefully.
"We've heard your feedback regarding the permanent internet connection requirement for Driver and have made the decision to no longer include it. So this means that Driver PC gamers will only need to sign in at game launch but can subsequently choose to play the game offline."
So, er, what has improved?
]]>Ubisoft has told VG247 that the delayed From Dust won't require their wretched "always online" DRM. What DRM it will require is as yet unknown, but we've contacted Ubisoft to find out. It's pretty likely that it will require a connection for a first-time authentication, but whether it's going to demand the internet be there to launch each time is what we want to know. And why does From Dust escape it, and Driver: San Francisco not? Not even God knows. You can read Alec's impressions of the 360 version of From Dust here.
]]>At a certain point you have to wonder if Ubisoft is in the midst of some spectacular version of a Producers-style attempt to treat PC customers as abysmally as possible for some unknown goal. In the last couple of weeks they've bumped PC release dates on their last two games (Call Of Juarez and From Dust) just days before release - rather spitting in the eye of pre-order customers. And now they've now ensured that those looking forward to playing Driver: San Francisco can distract themselves with the knowledge that it will carry Ubisoft's loathed DRM that requires you always be online to play both single- and multiplayer.
]]>UPDATE: Capcom appear to be reconsidering certain elements of their DRM plans, but removing GFWL is not on the table, and they say that removing the DRM completely is "not feasible". They also discuss removing the DRM from legitimate copies of the game in the event of it being cracked.
Here's a new one. The original Street Fighter 4 sold well on the PC by Capcom's own admission, but apparently some folk found a way to acquire it without paying for it, so they didn't bother releasing the PC version of Super Street Fighter 4 that they had already more or less developed. I hope no one tells them that piracy happens on consoles too, or they'll maybe stop releasing any games, and just produce them for their own amusement. They've had a change of heart for the latest iteration though: they'll be letting PC gamers give them their money if they so choose. Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition is coming to PC, and it's learnt a few new DRM tricks too.
]]>So there have been some problems with EA's DRM for Dragon Age. Ars Technica has a good, angry summary of what has been happening:
]]>Mea culpa. Last month, in reaction to Ubisoft's confusingly worded statement about their change of DRM for Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, I launched into a lengthy rant about how it still wasn't good enough, based on my own misunderstanding. I understood that it would require an online authentication every time it was launched, whereas it appears to be the case that it's only the one time after it's first installed. So I think I owe Ubisoft an apology. It's important to note that Ubisoft have not contacted us regarding that article at all. They are stoic. And it's also important to note that I'm not saying that I believe that one-time online authentication DRM is acceptable either. I am not stoic. But I do not like having misrepresented the facts, and as such want to make my mistake clear.
]]>Correction: It seems that Ubisoft's new DRM will be requiring one activation at install, and then not again. While this is problematic regarding DLC, and I continue to argue (as the post below explains) still not okay, it's not quite as it was understood from the ambiguous statements given before the article was written. However, the "always on" DRM continues to torment users of Ubisoft games like Settlers 7. Apologies for the confusion caused, and to Ubisoft for the incorrect statements.
Don't be fooled, I say. Ubisoft, amongst others, have been getting a lot of good press lately, including from this very site, for the apparent backtracking on the DRM that had crippled a number of games. By insisting that players be always online as they played, Ubisoft's games became a subject of headlines - gamers' progress would be lost, players dumped out of their games, because BT pressed a wrong button somewhere, or the Sun's flares caused a blip in a wifi signal. It took Digital Rights Management to a whole new level of pointlessly ruining valid customers' experiences; while the pirates they were pretending to fight continued to enjoy a far better game. And so we celebrate as they remove this, and we compliment them for backing down from the nonsense. But I (John Walker, whose views don't necessarily reflect those of his (inevitably wrong) colleagues) say: let's just think about that a little more carefully.
]]>The Steam pre-order page for the PC version of Assassin's Creed Brotherhood (which we now know will be landing on the 18th of March) would appear to be missing something. The eagle-eyed tipsters at Beefjack have spotted that where the Steam page for Assassin's Creed 2 described the game's need for an permanent internet connection in capital letters and addressed the game's DLC in the Game Details box, Brotherhood has no such warnings, indicating that the game will be shipping without the DRM (though they could always update the page later). It wouldn't be a massively surprising move, seeing as how R.U.S.E. shipped without the hateful thing. We should celebrate! Is it too early to open a bottle of something? Surely not.
]]>This forum post on the Bioware forums has detailed how the Dragon Age 2 DRM will work. The Steam version will use Steam, and nothing else. For the retail version there is no limit to install, no disc check, and are online checks, which mean that only five PCs can be used to play a single version of the game within a 24-hour period. While this game can also be played offline, you will need to "check in" after a number of days to keep playing.
]]>EDIT: Stand down! People Can Fly's Creative Director, Adrian Chmielarz, has tweeted saying that Bulletstorm only requires a constant internet connection for installation and online play. This simply looks like an incredibly poor choice of words on EA's part, since none of the other "digital" versions on the disclosure page list a persistent internet connection as a requirement. Phew. For posterity, I've re-posted my original post after the jump.
]]>What do you own? Not "pwn", you nu-gamer young person. But own. What do you pay for that's yours to do with as you wish? Food, clothes, knitting needles. But what about games? When you pay money for a game, do you own it? Increasingly, not in any understood meaning of the word. Like music over the last couple of decades, we're currently sleeping through having our rights as consumers taken from us, while the prices stay the same. If you buy an album, do you own that music? No - not at all. If you do anything with that music other than listen to it on the CD it came on, or as the files you downloaded, then you're breaking an ever-more spurious collection of laws. And increasingly, gaming is going in the same direction. What was once considered sharing - and we're not even talking about copying here - is now being treated as theft. And THQ, as reported by Shacknews, are going out of their way to prevent sharing or re-selling of Homefront.
]]>Yes! We're receiving reports that Ubisoft hasn't simply dropped its fabled online authentication DRM from future releases, but has turned it off altogether. This Reddit thread shows screenshots of PC gamers playing both Assassin's Creed 2 and Splinter Cell: Conviction with no internet connection whatsoever following the latest patches. The only time you need an internet connection is now during installation [Edit- And each time you boot the game]. Presumably the excellent Settlers 7 will have received the same treatment [Edit- it hasn't. Not yet, anyway. Guh.] [Last Edit: Ubisoft has now confirmed the deliberate removal of DRM over at Shacknews.].
]]>Word via the Ubi forums is that Ubisoft's sadface-inducing DRM will not appear in forthcoming Strategy, R.U.S.E.
]]>Blizzard supremo Frank Pearce has told VideoGamer.com, "We need our development teams focused on content and cool features, not anti-piracy technology."
It accompanies the announcement that StarCraft II's single-player mode will not require constant online connection to Blizzard's Battle.net. Describing DRM as "a losing battle", Pearce states that their company is far more interested in creating an online community that will endorse and support paying customers.
]]>Remember a couple of years back when it seemed Ubisoft were using a No-CD crack to make their Direct 2 Drive versions of Rainbow 6 Vegas 2 work? Well, news reaches us via LewieP and Torrentfreak that apparently the Steam-version of Rockstar's Max Payne 2 incorporates the No-CD crack of the now-defunct Myth group. Or, at least, that's the only feasible explanation of why the group's ASCII logo appears when nosing at the executable in a hex editor. Torrentfreak cover the story in more detail. In short: oh dear. In less short: oh deary, deary me.
]]>I just euthanised Sam Fisher.
It was the right thing to do. I couldn’t let him go on like that, constantly trailing off mid sentence, sometimes for minutes at a time, before carrying on exactly where he left off. Or he’d pull himself into safety behind a piece of cover, only to get seemingly distracted, vacant stares as all around him was chaos. When he finally returned to reality, he would just as likely be somewhere entirely different to when he started.
I don’t blame him though. It’s not his fault he’s like this. It’s Ubisoft, with all their talk of good intentions and protecting their creative license, that have really killed him, not me. It wasn’t me who decided that it was time to fight the pirates at all costs, even if it meant that the only true victim would be the paying customer. It wasn’t me who waged this war over copyright infringement. I’m just collateral damage.
]]>So claim hacker collective Skidrow, at any rate. It's all been a bit quiet on this once-frenetic front for a couple of weeks, but the war is very much back on it, seems. (Also, watching Twitter today, I've seen several folk with Splinter Cell: Conviction PC review code alleging that they're being unfairly dragged to a menu screen a little too often. Nothing says "dynamic espionage-based action" like "network connection lost".)
If Skidrow are telling t'truth, they've got rid of the always-online requirement for Assassin's Creed II entirely - no fake servers, no refusing to get past the first mission. Apparently, anyway - when this happened with Silent Hunter V it turned out to be all mouth and only some very small trousers. If this is all as it appears, perhaps it'll be enough to finally convince Ubi's higher-ups that punishing their paying customers with a near-sighted restriction that limits when and where they can play isn't worth the time and effort after all. Oh, if only.
]]>Ubisoft seem to be compensating players for the outage to their sadface-inducing "always on" DRM service, which rendered some folk unable to play Assassin's Creed 2 and Silent Hunter V for periods of time since release. Apparently Silent Hunter V players have been offered Shaun White Snowboarding or Prince of Persia as a digital download in an email which was sent out over the last couple of days. Evidence of Assassin's Creed 2 compensation here, via BluesNews.
]]>I forget what we have and haven't said about the DRM in Command & Conquer 4, but if you've somehow not heard, the long-story-short is that it's very similar to Ubisoft's always-online horror-thing. Lose your connection and you get kicked to the menu-based curb. The difference is that there's a persistent experience rank/unlock system, a la Modern Warfare, so it's at least trying to use its internetiness for something other than mere restriction. My personal take is that this kind of thinking is the only hope of ever justifing an online requirement, but in this case the unlock system rips half the fun out of the game by keeping the coolest units so distant, so it's scant justification this time around. Boo. Anyway, there's been a spot of semi-comedy to this techno-tragedy.
]]>Ubisoft have told Eurogamer that yesterday's DRM server outages were caused by external attacks, and that they did not affect 95% of players. "Servers were attacked and while the servers did not go down, service was limited from 2.30pm to 9pm Paris time," they explained to the big EG. They also apologise to those who were affected by this, explaining that they represented only 5% of players. This adds a sense of scale to the statements made by the Ubisoft community manager yesterday. It also acts as a confirmation from Ubisoft that their new DRM system is vulnerable to DOS attacks, meaning they are unable to ensure customers can play their single-player games.
]]>Ubisoft's servers have been down/overloaded for around the last ten hours, making it impossible for people in some parts of the world to play Assassin's Creed II. Which is certainly not amusing if you're someone who bought the game despite the DRM (that requires constant connection to their servers), and trusted that Ubisoft would not allow something like this to happen. Especially not in the first week. An enraged forum thread appeared on Ubi's site, which eventually led to a post from Community Manager "Ubi.Vigil", who explained that the situation was, "unacceptable". And then time ticked on.
]]>It is the year 2138. Since the terrible conclusion of the great war between Simon Cowell's X-tremes and Charlie Brooker's Tweetonauts, humanity has been at peace. And, for the first time in 131 years, the PC gaming website Rock, Paper, Shotgun passes an entire week without mentioning DRM.
That's then, but this is now - and UbiGate continues apace. Yesterday, seemingly cracked versions of Silent Hunter 5 and Assassin's Creed 2 appeared. Ubisoft have since responded to say these DRMless versions are not complete, backed up to some extent by various forum comments observing that the SH5 scene release can't make it past the first mission. Other comments claim otherwise. What's a poor website to believe?
]]>Time to crack open the lid of this frightening Pandora’s box again... PC Gamer have arranged a follow-up interview with Ubisoft about their monstrous constant-connection DRM system. You know, the one that nearly 800 RPS readers have said understandably upset things about. While it clarifies and confirms how the horrid thing works, frankly it’s unclear why Ubisoft agreed to do the interview, given they pointedly fail to address gamers’ concerns in it. Instead, they repeatedly confirm the various everyday situations in which the game you’ve paid for will be denied to you, roundly proving that yes, it is as bad as everyone fears. But it’s okay, because they say they love PC gaming. Well, maybe they do, but they've got a bloody funny way of showing it.
]]>We barely need to say anything here (but we will), as where we're going we don't need words. We only need righteous fury. PC Gamer have experienced the controversial new Ubisoft DRM first-hand, in the PC build of Assassin's Creed 2. We already thought the paranoid new copy protection was pretty bad, requiring as it did an online check everytime you played and giving you a hard time if you tried to launch it offline.
What we didn't think - what we didn't believe they'd be mad enough to do - was that it'd kick you out of the game if your net connection dropped for any reason.
]]>Why not? Everyone loves it when our crazy comments page numbers thing kicks in. Ubisoft have taken their senses and posted them into outer space. Responding to the public outcry for more draconian, inconveniencing copyright management, they have replaced Starforce and announced their new PC-only DRM system. One that requires you be permanently online in order to be able to play.
]]>2K have perhaps declared something of a backdown on the BioShock 2 DRM. Sadly this isn't to get rid of the godforsaken Games for Windows Live inclusion, but it is to reel in SecureROM slightly. Although to compare the before and after isn't so simple, as it doesn't seem anyone was quite clear what the before really looked like, and it's not clear that the after is as different as implied. The current status is: SecureROM check on launch, but no install limts, and now there are offline profile options for GfWL meaning you can in fact save, load, etc without being connected. GfWL will still limit you to 15 activations, but this can be reset with a phone call to Microsoft. And "now our SecuROM is less restrictive on Steam," although it's not clear how.
]]>Okay. Let's keep this just the facts, as everyone knows what they mean. The tech specs for Bioshock 2 are out. They're reasonable enough. There's also some fun DRM. Online verification via SecuRom, with an install limit (15 machines, admittedly). To save the game or play online, you need to be logged into Games for Window Live. This still applies on Steam - so SecuRom and Games For Windows Live are needed in addition to the Steam client. Hmm.
UPDATE: 2K Community Manager Elizabeth elaborates over at the forums. In short, it will be doing the standard Games for Windows Live activation - as in, you can play and save games offline without achievements. SecuROM is only a disc-check method for the retail copy. While final details of Steam are forthcoming, that may imply it won't be there. Hmm.
Comments thread... go. Let me and Edwin Starr provide the soundtrack.
]]>Don't know what DRM is? Don't care about it? Please vote in this poll. Lots of people are keenly outspoken about their dislike of digital rights management, and you can be sure they'll make their feelings known here. If you don't know what DRM is, or don't care, please give us your input alongside everyone else: it's important for us to get a clear picture.
See below for the poll. And ignore the n, it's a crazy bug.
]]>Hah - got you! You totally thought this was going to be some 8,000 word rant against Sony's widely-loathed DRM, didn't you? Oh, there's enough of them on the internet already - I'm quite happy to say limited activations are horrible and stupid and everyone involved should know better, and leave it at that. This sorta-RPG webgame game goes further, pitching the devil-DRM as the ULTIMATE EVIL in a world also populated by the villainous likes of the RIAA and Disney Corp. Or so Brain Chef pretends to be, anyway. It's fooled a fair few sites with its devious subterfuge... Below: mild annoyance.
]]>A spot of interesting news regarding Dragon Age: Origins. Bioware and EA have announced that the game will be coming out without Securom DRM, or any other form, beyond an old-fashioned disc check before loading. This means the old-skool fantasy RPG won't require any online authentication at all, and thus will have no install limits. Another sign of EA's changing mind about game protection.
Blues News reports the story, picked up via the official Dragon Age forums, where Community Coordinator (come on community, follow me in groups of four) Chris Priestly describes the announcement as "good news."
]]>Cleverman make cleverthinks! Fresh from the Web 2.0 expo earlier this month is this entertaining and educating half-hour talk with Will Wright about everything including but not limited to his career and games to date, what's next, lessons learned from Second Life, the intersect between games and reality and -ooh missus - Spore's controversial DRM and the business considerations around it: "These people have paid money for a game, and you don't want to be treating them basically as criminals". On Spore itself, he observes that he wanted it to be almost more of a toy than a game per se - something else for the game's many critics to chew on, then.
Also especially salient is an observation that gamers are basically narcissitic - "the more you can make the game about that person, the more interested, the more emotionally involved they will get." A theme which, clearly, has run through a number of his games. LET THE MAN SPEAK.
]]>IGN's got a remarkably long Q&A up with some anonymous mouthpiece of the Rockstar hivemind, specifically detailing all the various copy protections and mandatory login guff next week's murder simulator will require to install and run. There will, it seems, be quite a few barriers between you and your hooker-killing; the internet will not be happy.
]]>Via VG247, early word on what might be for the first add-on pack for the famously uncontroversial Spore. And it's... Cute & Creepy Creature Parts Pack? Oh, man. That sounds worryingly superficial, though I guess it embiggens the element of the game that's been most well-received. Still, there's only so much creature-tinkering I can do before getting bored. New/expanded stages plzkthx.
]]>I know this probably sounds like paranoia, but sometimes I wonder if there's some people predisposed to dislike the forthcoming Fallout 3. Yes, I realise what you're thinking: But this is from Bethesda, who make those incredibly popular Elder Scrolls games, and the Fallout series is excellent and deserves a new game from a stand-out development team. But despite all this, my gut just tells me that there's a dissenting voice, quiet as it might be, out there. While I'm here, another prediction: I think DRM will soon become a hot-button issue amongst PC gamers. Time will prove this. I laugh to think what would happen if you combined the two topics, were my instincts to prove correct.
Wait, what's this?
]]>Time to stick my hand into the angry beehive again... The EA/Spore/DRM issue isn't likely to go away any time soon. In a funny sort of way, the ridiculous DRM on Spore might well turn out to be a good thing for gamers - like it or not, EA's weight in the industry means they're trend-setters to some degree. That a company so big attempted the sort of draconian copy-protection that only smaller publishers had hithero dabbled in, and crucially they now seem to realise it was a mistake, may well set a positive precedent for everyone. So, while I initially decried the mass trolling of Amazon reviews, I have to agree now that a game as high-profile as Spore was perhaps an ideal object for protest. I'd still much prefer it was gone about in a smarter way than fevered screaming, though.
Though EA aren't behaving in terribly gentlemanly fashion towards DRM-complaint posts on their forums, they are gradually backing down from some of the restrictions they unfairly placed upon Spore installs, and it looks like that trend's set to continue.
]]>The good news is this: EA are taking a big step back on Spore's DRM. From three installs ever and one account per copy of the game, they're switching to as many re-installs as you want on a maximum of five computers, with a patch for multiple accounts for one machine on the way. That's a big change of heart. We hinted that there might have been a change from three to five installs last week. This weekend the LA Times reported that EA have "apologised" to customers for the digital restrictions, when issuing their reprise. They report EA Games' President Frank Gibeau saying,
"We've received complaints from a lot of customers who we recognize and respect. We need to adapt our policy to accommodate our legitimate consumers."
]]>I hadn't tried activating Spore more than three times, but reader roBurky did. It happened like this:
]]>We briefly mentioned Good Old Games yesterday, but if you've not heard of it then... well, suffice to say, if you're the kind of fellow who reads this site regularly, then GoG's mooted catalogue of classic game downloads is going to make you a very excited wee PCophile.
The retrocentric digi-store, offering DRM-free, cheapie downloads of the likes of Fallout, Sacrifice and Operation Flashpoint, isn't starting up until September, but we thought we'd better chuck a few questions about the site's origins and intentions at the folks behind it - CD Projekt, who you're probably most familiar with for last year's divisive RPG The Witcher. Now, they're potential saviours of olden games...
]]>Gosh, all that hoo-hah about Bioshock's limited number of installations and activation process seems like a long time ago, but I suspect it's still an open wound for some folk. A vocal portion of Bioshock's players were angry - "Ken Levine personally kicked my girlfriend to death" angry. Will they be any less angry now 2K's lightened its infamously ruthless DRM (as promised many moons ago)?
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