Magister Lajciak

I found it quite interesting that they did this. Looking at it from one perspective, Ubisoft basically called the bluff of many pirates ("We only pirate because of the eeeeevil DRM")... and judging from a few torrent tracker sites I looked at, the pirates were basically proven to be full of sh*t. Actually, according to a number of posts/indications on the Ubisoft website, the piracy rate for the Prince of Persia has been unusually low.

Great news!

Versus bugs that make your games unplayable right ot of the box. Bugs are a problem too, but there is a key difference. Draconian DRM (DDRM), such as online activation and limited installs, makes the game defective by design whereas bugs make it defective unintentionally. There is an easy solution to the draconian DRM problem - don't include it with the game and only include Friendly DRM (FDRM) that won't make the game expire (CD-keys, disk-checks, or perhaps artificial degradation of gameplay of pirated copies...). Bugs, however, are much more difficult to remove, because they require a lot of playtesting and coding. Adding DDRM, if anything, might or might not add new bugs, but it certainly won't remove them. On that matter, I don't really know of many games at all that are so buggy that they are unplayable, but sure, I agree that more emphasis on playtesting and bug removal would be welcome. Perhaps part of the money saved for not licensing DDRM systems could be spent on removing some bugs?

Two additional questions: 1) Does Linux/Ubuntu have a forced folder/file structure a la My Documents/My Pictures/My Games/My Music/My **** in Windows? 2) What characters can be used in filenames and foldernames in Linux/Ubuntu and how many?

I am not sure I understand how this WINE thing works. Is it some kind of Windows emulator? Also, I presume Ubuntu is a version of Linux, right? If it's free, I might give it a try (on a separate partition) when I next do a complete reinstall. I am very used to Windows, though, so I don't know how easy it would be for me to get used to a whole new operating system. Windows is OK for the most part, though the whole forced folder/file-structure (e.g. My Documents, My Music, etcetera) thing does annoy me.

I have only had computer problems due to DRM once and that was not with games but with music. It was thanks to Sony's music DRM and my sister's Sony MP3 player. Suffice it to say, I have become much more cautious about DRM since that time - it was a real eye-opener for me that cost my family a great deal of frustration and also some money (the Sony MP3 device was rendered unusable). This was many years ago, and I have never had problems with DRM since then, since I simply don't buy any music or games that has DRM dependent on outside stuff (online activation...) and am very careful before buying any Sony equipment (well, to put it simply-my family no longer buys any Sony music-related equipment, though we are still fine with Sony TVs and so on). And, of course, there is the longevity issue of draconian DRM (DDRM) that requires company servers to exist for online activation. As for normal DRM, such as disk-checks, I have no problem with that whatsoever. Regardless, there seems to be experimental movement away from draconian DRM by Ubisoft and perhaps even the EA. I really hope it works out for them and if so, than this topic will, of course, lose its relevance. That would be a win-win for all, I think.

There is going to be a new update for Dragon Age today: Click Here After the recent string of good news, I am really hoping that it's going to be an update to the FAQ and the update will mention that Dragon Age will not use DDRM! Who knows, the thread being not stickied might mean that the issue will soon not be relevant! I am fighting my hopes getting up too high, so that I am not disappointed.

A new magic item web-enhancement has been released: https://secure.paizo.com/download/pathfinde...gicItemsWeb.zip

Interesting - I am mostly playtesting the ruleset and have not actually played any of Paizo's campaigns or adventure paths. Perhaps once I finish running my current two homebrew campaigns I may give theirs a try - I keep hearing good things about them.

I am happy to report that the PC version does not have any DRM! The no DRM statement applies to the retail version. The Steam version, of course, has Steam, which is a form of DRM.

Great news - the retail PC version of Prince of Persia apparently won't have any DRM at all! Source: http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/8.../6971093507/p/1 It seems that Ubisoft is experimenting with what impact this will have on sales. Let's hope for the best!

By 'disappeared', I mean that it probably slipped some pages back. Yes, that's why I think it is such a good thing that Ubisoft is moving away from DRM with Prince of Persia. I really hope it works out for them!

Just wondering, how good is driver support for graphics cards (I have the Mobile NVIDIA Geforce 9800GTS) on Linux? Not that I am planning a switch away from Windows any time soon, but some 'features' of Windows annoy me somewhat, such as the forced file structure (My Documents et al).

Since the old DRM thread has disappeared, I thought I would start a new one. I was also prompted to do so by some joyous news: Ubisoft's retail version of the new Prince of Persia will not have any DRM! Link: http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/8...6017#6721096017 Go Ubisoft! I really hope this works out for Ubisoft!

I agree with some of his points, namely when the developers just decided in the game to make you kill every soldier in the area just to keep moving. But the ones about not really explaining things (particularly what you were carrying) I'm annoyed at because he seems to have not watched the cut scenes or taken the game anywhere beyond the first level as the first level is the only one where the message you were carrying was unexplained and the police chase seemed to be for no good reason. After that the cops just chase faith because she is a suspect in a criminal investigation, and most levels she's not even carrying a message. Personally I liked the game, And if EA had some better combat in the thing it might actually be a pretty good contender, but as it is with combat that is harder to play than Contra without codes and a few pants on head retarded puzzle, I think overall it's a pretty average game for most people. His review always mocks the game he is reviewing - that's part of the entertainment value. Oh, and I am not the only person who remembers Contra? I enjoyed that game back in the day!

Mirror's Edge: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/vie...57-Mirrors-Edge I found this one to be particularly funny, but it might be just that I have been missing these reviews after taking a few week hiatus.

I prefer a mixture of randomization and control over character creation in PnP RPGs. In CRPGs I don't care. When I DM D&D or the Pathfinder RPG I make players roll their character's stats (I don't like nor accept point-buy). When I am a D&D/Pathfinder player, rather than the DM (which rarely happens), I also prefer to roll for ability scores, but I, of course, submit to whatever system of character-creation the DM devises.

Pathfinder RPG for the win! I must say I am not a fan of Steampunk - it is just not something I am thematically into.

Please stick to 3.5E. I can't stand 4E!

Since SoZ is out now, it can inform our suggestions for further expansion packs!

Are GameStop stores open on Sundays? I want to get the game, but I am new to the U.S., so I am still unsure about when what stores open/close.

Weekend is fast approaching, which means I will get a chance to buy the game - hopefully it will be in stock by then!

MMOs are like vampires sucking in the creative energy of the company concerned and leeching of all story elements of the franchise to feed their habit. Because of their pervasive nature (and the heavy resources/concentration expended on them by the developers), they automatically render other games in the franchise unlikely. Calax has pointed out the reasons for this succintly and eloquently.

Yeah, this is true - Icewind Dale comparisons were plentiful, as was the emphasis on the gameplay/party system/overland map, rather than story/dialogue. It will be an interesting test whether Obsidian can shine in those areas, because other Obsidian games were particularly strong on the dialogue/story and MotB was absolutely superb in these. Indeed, it is these aspects that attracted me to Obsidian's games in the first place, so it will be interesting to see how well you guys have pulled of a less story/dialogue driven game.