The Return of Mirror's Edge - Announced at E3 2013

One of the most exciting announcements of E3 happened today by EA Games and DICE.
The return of Mirror's Edge.  A sequel in early development we will see us returning to the awesome parkour  action the original Mirror's Edge brought us.

Now we just need to have "Faith" that DICE and EA will have listened to the fans and give us a multiplayer tag experience on those rooftops along with an incredible single player story.  (And hopefully the single player story will have a lot less cussing this time.)  :)

Enjoy the teaser... and get ready for a long wait.  It's coming... "when it's ready".  I'm sure it will be worth the wait.

EA Sale Fail

Free shipping on digital downloads... how generous!

Command & Conquer 4 - Persistent Internet Connection Required

Just when we thought one of the big publishers was finally listening to their customers...

Well, PC Gamers, put another nail in the Publishers-think-you're-idiots-and-will-believe-their-bullcrap-spin-on-persistent-internet-connection-DRM coffin.  "Oh you'll sooooooooo love the things we're doing with OUR game that you won't care about the SMALL inconvenience of being forced to have a persistent connection to play."

Blah blah blah, we've heard it all before from Blizzard and Ubisoft, and now EA has officially rejoined the DRM freaks ranks again with their C&C4 title released today.

I love the spin they're trying to put on it this time as well... in a quote from an Ars Technica article:
"... as a nice side effect, since C&C4 requires players to be online all the time in order to prevent cheating, we'll be shipping without any form of DRM."

Sure enough, Steam lists it without notice of DRM in the right-column where they usually mention it.  My question is, where on Earth does anyone get off passing off a required persistent internet connection as NOT being a form of DRM?

I'm starting to lose my faith in gamers, since we are responsible for this madness continuing and persistently getting worse in our lives.  Until we put an end to it by stopping the consumption of said defiled games, we will continue to see a decrease in our liberty to use purchased content as we please.  Freak, it won't be long before these software companies start telling you when you can use your computer for non-gaming related activities.

If we don't take a stand together and do it now... this will be our lot in life for the rest of our gaming lives.  And don't give me your "I don't care about being forced to have an internet connection all the time... My computer is always connected, so I'm good..." crap either.  It's a principle people.  The principle of losing your liberty.

The principal of giving up your freedom to use something you purchased because you "have to have the game" or you don't feel like a hard-core gamer.  I've got news for you folks... having the game first doesn't make you any more of a hard-core gamer than the next guy... I promise you'll live for a few more weeks while we all put our foot (and our wallet) down and let these companies know we're not going to take their crap anymore.

And if you really can't pull yourself away enough to stand up for what is right... then go enjoy your game as a slave to the man... and I'll just finish my career as a gamer with what little time I have left with the games that I have freedom to play how/when/where I want.

It's too bad... there are a lot of good creative developers and game creators out there.  It's a shame these greedy publishers are ruining it for all of us.

So, to the pirates and hackers/crackers out there... Enjoy your short challenge of beating the system this time, and enjoy your stolen copies of the game; whilst the rest of us suffer for our honesty/integrity... I'll be waiting for the articles soon where people who did buy the game don't get to play because the EA servers are down, just like the Ubisoft ones after Assassin's Creed 2 release.

[sarcasm]Good Game[/sarcasm]

EA Download Old Command & Conquer Versions Free and Legal!

Good news for RTS fans!

Electronic Arts (EA), in celebration of the up-and-coming Command & Conquer 4, has decided to allow PC gamers to download the following, free and legal from commandandconquer.com:

• Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun + Firestorm
• Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn
• Command & Conquer: Red Alert

Just click the commandandconquer.com link above to re-live some of the classics.

I hope they're DRM free, but I haven't had the chance to confirm at the time of this writing. If you download and try them, please return and post a comment to let us know if they have DRM or not.

Be sure to look at the installation instructions for each, as there seems to be a little trickery involved in getting them working.

Gamers Find SecuROM Installed with Red Alert 3 Purchased Through Steam

We all got excited when we found out that EA was going to offer their games on Steam with the hope of lacking the third-party SecuROM DRM that we honest paying gamers have so come to loathe.

We rejoiced more when we actually bought some games on Steam (myself getting Mirror's Edge for my first SecuROM-free purchase).

In my entry about EA offering their games on Steam, I thought I'd confirmed that the EA games wouldn't have SecuROM (or would at least that Steam would list it if it had it) by finding the GTA IV page on Steam's store and finding that it listed SecuROM and its terms; where Spore's page on Steam didn't mention any third-party DRM.

Spore, like Mirror's Edge, has been confirmed DRM-free; and thus most fans that have been excited about EA's move to Steam started assuming that any EA game on Steam that DOESN'T list third-party DRM must be DRM-free (aside from Steam's own DRM; which the majority of us don't mind or we wouldn't buy games through it.)

Well, some purchased Red Alert 3 through Steam and got SecuROM with it. It seemed to be inactive until some of said gamers tried to launch it while also running Microsoft/SysInternals' Process Explorer, a popular tool that is like Windows' "Task Manager" on steroids. Being a developer myself, I use this program frequently, and it rocks... highly recommended if you're not fully satisfied with the limited information Windows' "Task Manager" provides. But I digress...

Go to the Steam forums to read the entire thread (well, at least until the ridiculous flame-war takes over the thread.) Two gamers confirmed it and made sure to test with systems that had were already SecuROM-free/had been cleansed of SecuROM prior to the Red Alert 3 install.

Both ended up with SecuROM after and neither could run the game if Process Explorer was running.

I love Steam, by-the-way... and I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt (since the Steam thread only started on 16 January.) For all we know, Steam thought it was SecuROM free as well. I hope they'll rectify it by updating their store page for Red Alert 3; or, better yet, put the pressure on EA to get it removed from the game. I have faith that Steam will handle this responsibly... Time will tell. If you're one of the poor unfortunate souls that are affected by this, please comment here and tell us about how your sitch played out.

Now the flame-wars can continue all over cyber-space and elsewhere all they want, but I'll repeat the resounding theme of why this whole DRM mess has exploded out-of-control and needs to be rectified permanently:

No software distributor has the right to install any third-party software on a customer's machine that does not have to do with the product's functionality that the customer purchased, without:
1. Informing the customer that said third-party software will be installed (and when I say "inform" I mean spelling out exactly what said third-party software will be doing, why it's necessary and what, if any, known side-effects it may cause to their system.
2. Allowing the customer to authorize installation of said third-party software.

The fact of the matter is, this SecuROM was installed without said consumers knowing it was going to be; and that is wrong. That is what is referred to as spyware/malware and I have to assume (someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) that such activity isn't legal. It doesn't provide functionality to the software the consumer purchased; rather it supposedly provides "protection" to the distributor for their property.

Protection. Pfffft.

We all know that the criminal pirates crack that crap within a week or so (if not earlier) to a given software release, and those that don't wish to pay for it are already stealing it regardless... so all that happens is the honest paying customers are left holding the bag.

Holding a bag they don't deserve, nor asked for... but have put up with for years, since taking time to write one's own DRM or even to integrate one's software with a third-party DRM takes a lot of time and resources to make happen (trust me, I know ... I'm integrating with some for an enterprise product at work right now and it's very frustrating. But our customers know when their licensing is explained to them what will be happening.) The point is, that cost isn't eaten by the developer/publisher... it's passed on to the paying customers which kicks the cost up a few notches.

So we've dealt with this for years, paying for criminal behavior that we haven't exhibited; and lived with it because we still love the games and want to support the game makers.

But enough is enough when we can't go buy a game without it jacking up other parts of our system; and Google around, there are plenty of reports of hardware and software getting messed up by different implementations of DRM.

People draw analogies left-and-right for and against DRM... one in the Steam thread mentioned metal-detectors in courthouses and cops on the side of the road making sure he's not drunk. These obviously are not fair comparisons, because the metal-detector doesn't hamper the courthouse's functionality or your ability to use its features or other non-related aspects of the courthouse; nor does the police officer stop your car from working after doing his tests.

The bottom line is: Paying customers are sick and tired of holding the bag... and now we're taking it from multiple angles, since we get to pay to have our systems tampered without knowledge of it and with said software makers taking access liberties that don't seem legal to take.

So who wins in this current envrionment?! Only the pirates...

So again, stop the madness... If you're a developer/publisher that really still feels you have to go to all this extra effort and work just to make your honest paying clients suffer (since the pirates still end up with their copies anyway.) then by-all-means, go ahead... but you'd better make dang sure you let them know what they're getting when they license your product!!!

If not, you'll continue to feel it in the wallet, as EA has been... because those that want to pay you for a good game, are done paying you to break their systems and live in fear that the next game they purchase will be installing software they don't want/need on their system that has nothing to do with the game itself.

Oh, and for the record, I've bought several DRMed videos and music from online stores in my day, and never once has any of them ever done naughty things to non-related hardware/software in the device(s) I use them in.

I'll draw my own counter-analogy to the ones from the Steam thread. I don't remember using a copy-protected DVD movie or music CD with the extra copy protection that has made my fridge stop working, my toilet stop flushing, or my surround-sound system stop producing sound. Nor will it ever.

One last point to address that I don't think I have in other DRM rants. There is the issue of game publishers wanting to product resell of their games because they think they deserve a piece of the action if that's done... and some have rumored that this may be another reason why the over-the-top DRM has appeared in newer games.

I've got news for those companies that are that greedy... No one else in the world in any other industry gets a chunk of the revenue when their products are resold. You don't see auto-makers whining when a car is resold time and time again over its lifetime, for example. Get over yourselves and move on.

DRM - It's gotta go... Keep your paying customers happy and they'll keep paying you. Piss them off like you're doing with these way-overboard and too costly DRM schemes and you can kiss the paying customers goodbye.

I'll stop... for now... but be warned Red Alert 3 fans... If you were waiting to purchase from Steam so you could get it sans-SecuROM; you'd better wait til you get POSITIVE confirmation from Steam that it's truly gone.

In the famous words of the classic video game "Smash TV":
"Good luck!!! Yooooou'll NEED it!"

Mirror's Edge FINALLY Available on Steam (and WITHOUT DRM!)

At least they didn't wait until the END of January.

I'm downloading my Steam-purchased copy of Mirror's Edge right now and will be trying it out today. I've been dying to play this since I found EA was releasing their games on Steam without the SecuROM that we all loathe so much.

I just wanted to make everyone aware as soon as possible so you could also go get it if you're interested. I'll review it later (if I can take myself away from it and Prince of Persia long enough to blog about it...) :)

For now, enjoy!

EA Offers Newest Games on Steam (WITHOUT SecuROM; pending confirmation)

Thundr saw the following announcement 20 December 2008 after we all finished playing TrackMania United Forever for FNG:



This of course came as a pleasant surprise, as long as we know the games come without the SecuROM that has caused many in the gaming community to boycott EA by not purchasing their games. Ars Technica published an article about it that stated: "The product pages for each game reveal that all traces of the much-loathed SecuROM have been eradicated."


This puzzled me, as I saw nothing on the product pages that indicate anything for/against SecuROM being eradicated. After further investigation, which is why I'm so late posting about this, I found a game on Steam's product pages that DOES mention third-party DRM... Grand Theft Auto IV.

Notice the "3rd-party DRM:" section in the information just above the rating, that mentions SecuROM and Unlimited machine activations.


Looking at the Spore product page on Steam, we see that it lacks a section like that. I'm assuming this is what Ars Technica meant by showing that "... the much-loathed SecuROM have been eradicated."

It has yet to be confirmed that this is true and not just an oversight by Steam to mention it on the product pages yet... but I looked at several EA product pages on Steam, including Mirror's Edge; which will be my first EA purchase on Steam if the DRM is truly gone. None of the pages included information mentioning 3rd-party DRM like the GTA-4 page did.

I trust EA did the right thing here. I sure hope none of us are disappointed.

Please comment here if you've downloaded any of the EA games on Steam and can confirm that they are, in fact, without the nasty SecuROM we all hate so passionately.

Kudos to EA if they've truly seen the light. Myself and several others I know will go back to purchasing multiple EA offerings on Steam to get sans-DRM licenses that we won't have to worry if we'll be able to play or not.

Game on!

The War Against DRM - How the Prince of Persia is Fighting For Right

Digital Rights Management - In the software development community, it started as a way to slow down pirates in hopes that it would frustrate them and turn them into paying customers.

Like radar jammers and radar detectors, however, the DRM game is just another game of leap-frog. A DRM developer comes up with a newer, shinier, fancy-pants version that will "sure-fire show those blasted pirates this time!!!"; only to be disappointed when within days they've already cracked through and had their way with it.

So the game developers spend who knows how much in time and resources either developing their own or integrating with a licensed one; in hopes that this is the time that no one will pirate their game.

The problem is, there seems to be a misguided notion that DRM acts like locks on a car-door... keeping the honest, honest. I certainly don't believe this is the case. The pirates are already pirates; and most of them are likely to always remain pirates... until their conscience kicks in and they decide to turn around. Likewise, paying customers believe in the game developers and want to reward them for providing them with kick-butt entertainment.

That is, until it gets so freaking hard to install/play a game that it's not worth their hard earned money anymore.

See, it was one thing to start implementing CD-keys and disc authorization... those posed some annoying traits, but were manageable and easy to get passed. But when today, we see things like "You can only install 3 times before you have go on a wild-goose-chase to try to find someone from our support so we can play judge and jury to decide if you're worthy of more activations... and, oh, by the way, did I mention that if you're not connected to the internet, you can't play?!" I'm seeing it drive those who were happy to be paying customers running to the pirates to get a working version of the game that is much more worth their time because they can get it to work on their machines without the mayhem that is today's DRM.

The industry has seen a shift... but I think in the wrong direction than what their goal was.
See, paying gamers, when starting to have enough with the DRM bull would go purchase the game, install, then immediately go find a no-CD crack somewhere on the web so they could enjoy their game without having to find their CD. But they felt justified because they still paid their money.

Now that the DRM is getting harder for the paying customer to deal with... I dare say some of them are frustrated enough to just not even bother paying anymore and just go download it free anyway since they know they won't have the same hassle and can still play the game.

All the while the true-blue pirates have been doing the same thing they always do... no difference there... just now the paying customers are defecting; instead of the desired result of pirates converting to paying customers.

Now, the ones that really do desire to remain honest in their licensing of games have had enough. Many of us are boycotting the big companies that insist that this mega-restrictive and sometimes system-hijacking is necessary to stall the pirates... when really all it's doing is hurting the paying customers.

Why do these companies think that just because something may be easy to copy, that the paying customer is going to all-of-the-sudden lose their conscience and go get their game for free, just because it's easier to get free now? They need to realize the pirates ALWAYS provide the free version, but we, the paying customers, WANT to support the developers!!

But not when they make it so hard/irritating to try to get past the DRM to play the game that it's not worth the time/money we're spending on it.

Enter Spore from Electronic Arts (EA.)

Click to enlarge

This is a game I was looking forward to. That is, until I was looking to order off Amazon and saw the following list of discussions going on about it's new DRM; the newest version of SecuROM. When I heard about a limit of 3 activations, a requirement to be connected to the internet for forced "phone homes" and what not... all sorts of red-flags went off in my head. What if I'm on an airplane with my laptop? What if I'm at a mechanic, waiting for my car to get fixed and have no internet connection?! I can't play my game?! You've got to be kidding me!

There are other scenarios that make this extremely frustrating too, like having a gaming desktop and gaming laptop that one gamer decides to take the game on the road with some synced saved gameage ... but now can't because of the restrictiveness. It also goes without saying the number of complaints that have come from games like this where the DRM jacks up the system some so other functionality doesn't work quite right anymore either (but their system worked fine before installing said game.)

Ok, so some it is somewhat speculation since it needs to be solidly proven to be concrete evidence, but you get my point. The trend has proven to NOT deter the pirates, but has seriously hampered the honest gamer from having full enjoyment of the game they paid to play without countless extra hurdles to jump through that the pirates don't have to deal with since they've hacked past the DRM folly.

A very nicely written article about Piracy and PC gaming was written at the StarDock "Sins of a Solar Empire" forums.

I'd like to interject here that GameSpy released their picks for the 2008 PC Games of the Year today. Spore was #10 (congrats on still landing there even though EA is much hated by the DRM-frustrated) right now... However, Spore was beaten by both of StarDock's major players that are BOTH non-DRM.... Sins of a Solar Empire came in at #9 and Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor came in at #7. Fallout 3 came in #1, and it doesn't install any DRM. It uses SecuROM for disc checking... but it's all on the disc, it doesn't get installed on your computer.

Both have had killer sales... why?! Because honest gamers LIKE to play their game... not spending their time trying to get past DRM so they CAN play the game. Good games will make money because the honest will continue to pay for them... We don't rush to go pirate a game becuase we find out the developer made it easy to copy...

I not only buy one license for the games I really like, I buy a few licenses so I can play with my kids on our LAN. I know other gamers that do the same.

EA, sad to say, has lost out on quite a bit of money from me lately... because of my boycott, I've been deprived of the joy of playing Mirror's Edge, Red Alert 3, Need for Speed: Undercover and Spore. And EA has lost out on all the money I would've spent on those games (including multiple licenses for the likes of Need for Speed and Red Alert 3)

It's too bad because I'm VERY interested in Mirror's Edge... but I want to play it on PC because my PC's waste the consoles; but I'm sick of being the one to suffer the DRM plague because the publishers feel the need to punish the paying for the sins of the pirates that continue still to get away with (and now provide an easier-to-get-working copy of their games) it, regardless.

The bottom line is... the paying consumer is the only one that gets hurt from this. The pirates have, and always will, relish in the challenge of cracking the latest DRM... I don't even think some of those that crack the DRMs even play the games... I think they just conquer the challenge and move on to the next.

It's funny. because the game industry isn't oblivious... the reactions vary as you look around... PCGamer now provides a DRM Alert in all of their reviews, so you're not caught with your pants down. (Thanks PCGamer!)

And of course there are rebuttles from the game companies that usually claim the whiners are the pirates... but I don't understand how they even go there, since the pirates don't feel the pain of the DRM, remember? They get CRACKED copies!!! Anyway, they're either ranting about the whiny customers, ranting about how they won't back down because they have to protect their assets... or they have to make posts defending their position of why they used their DRM and how it's not as bad as the next guy's... (see Bethesda's post about the before-mentioned Fallout 3 and the SecuROM for disc check only)

xkcd put out a hilarious comic about DRM in general, but it totally applies to my feelings about PC gaming and DRM. It's my perception of what this hell-bent attitude that DRM must be more encroaching because it gives some CEO a warm fuzzy that it's protecting their assets. I'll say it again... you're only hurting the paying customers.

Here's another joy of EA's new DRM for those that took the chance on purchasing Red Alert 3. Bless your hearts. At least the workaround will work in no more than 36 attempts... hope yours is at the left-end of the spectrum... Out-of-control.

So... why have I been so long-winded; and how the freak does this all tie in to the Prince of Persia?!

Simply this... my friend Joe sent me a link to an Ars Technica article mentioning that the new Prince of Persia (retail box) contains NO DRM!!!!

The article is pretty funny, because it mentions reasons why Ubisoft may have made this move... and I've had discussions with others about it.

Some say it's because they had an "epic fail" on Assassin's Creed and their implementation of the DRM there (problems like unto the Spore and Red Alert 3 frustrations, if I understand correctly.) Some say it's a "challenge to the community" to see if the honest will run pirate the game "just because they can."

Well, I'm fed up with that B.S. attitude. If that's how these companies really feel, they might as well close up shop now... because if you're going to insult your paying customers by basically telling them they're a bunch of dishonest buttholes, how much loyalty can they expect?

I'm hoping this is Ubisoft's way of saying "We're a big publisher and we want to show some faith in the community and PROVE there are good honest people out there and we can stop this DRM madness and still make money."

StarDock has already proved it with their 2 top games of 2008... Sins of a Solar Empire has already sold well over 500,000 units. If the honest want the game, they'll pay for it.

This is our chance now to prove that no DRM CAN make them money. I was tempted to buy the entire Prince of Persia pack on Steam because they offer all for games for only $15 more than the new game as a stand-alone.

But I'm willing to buy the retail box version (heck maybe even 2 or 3 and give them as gifts) so I can show that I support the non-DRM revolution. I think we'd all be wise to do the same.

And not only support Prince of Persia, but Stardock and their games! There are good game makers out there that deserve to be paid for doing good things... and this display of trust by both Ubisoft and Stardock are well deserving of proving that they can be profitable without killing the paying customer.

Now, that all said... I'm going to say that, realistically, I'm not seeing Ubisoft completely ripping DRM completely if Prince of Persia kicks butt in sales... But I'm hoping they'll at least tone it back down to just CD-keys and what not ... things that are bearable on not system-intrusive.

No game is worth having my system scanned for specific hardware and all that other BS that these guys think they need to do nowadays. Ease up!

Down with the DRM! Go Prince of Persia!

---------------

For the record, I am a software developer... so I understand the perspective these game developers are coming from... But I also understand the perspective of a customer who doesn't want a game getting intimate with my computer and making itself such a hemorrhoid to work with that it's not worth messing with...

I advocate legitimate licensing and I pay for licenses for the games I play; and will continue to do so for the game publishers that will make it easy for me to play their game.

When publishers like EA will realize this and go back to easy-to-use software, I'll start buying their games again... not a second before. I hope you other legitimate paying customers will join me in boycotting all publishers that continue this madness until we send the message loud and proud that we're not going to put up with it anymore. (This goes for boycotting the console versions too... buying those doesn't help the cause.)