DRM Thread

[Calax]

Heh, I always thought zone restrictions were silly. Although doesn't MI5 have the technology to mod his DVD player?

 

I'm not really sure if zone restrictions have anything to do with fighting piracy though.

I honestly can't think of a reason for zone restrictions... except to prevent americans from getting their hands on Japanese games that might actually be good once in a while. And preventing an unlocalized version from making it in austrailia or some thing because the unlocalized version is too violent or sexual for those "We take a bandwagon and go way to far" guys... but of course the people who actually want these games will just mod and buy from amazon.

[Hurlshort]

I think it mostly has to do with marketing and maximizing release dates. Sales numbers are a bit silly, in that it isn't just about how many units you sell. They track all sorts of weird factors to determine goals. Because if your DVD is the number one seller during a weekend in Zimbabwe, that is a big deal, even if it is tanking everywhere else.

[alanschu]

Do the zoning restrictions get copied if you just make a blind copy of a disc? Curious if they exist to prevent someone from copying the European version and then selling it in Europe and the United States.

[Mamoulian War]

i bet, that was the original reason to put that **** on DVDs in a first place...

[Magister Lajciak]

I bear good news!

 

EA has decided not to use online authentication on Sims 3! Rather a traditional disc-based authentication will be used and it will not be SecuROM!

 

Links: (Taken from BioWare boards)

 

http://thesims3.ea.com/view/pages/newsItem...item=-608201177

http://bbs.thesims2.ea.com/community/bbs/m...dfc6c17cf007a2b

http://bbs.thesims2.ea.com/community/bbs/m...65b437b65c7932e

[Magister Lajciak]

I bear good news!

 

EA has decided not to use online authentication on Sims 3! Rather a traditional disc-based authentication will be used and it will not be SecuROM!

 

Links: (Taken from BioWare boards)

 

http://thesims3.ea.com/view/pages/newsItem...item=-608201177

http://bbs.thesims2.ea.com/community/bbs/m...dfc6c17cf007a2b

http://bbs.thesims2.ea.com/community/bbs/m...65b437b65c7932e

 

To give credit where credit is due, I originally found the information here: http://forums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?t...65&forum=22

[Magister Lajciak]

Heh, I always thought zone restrictions were silly. Although doesn't MI5 have the technology to mod his DVD player?

 

I'm not really sure if zone restrictions have anything to do with fighting piracy though.

I honestly can't think of a reason for zone restrictions...

 

I think they were instituted to artificially split the market into different segments, so that different prices can be charged to different segments depending on what each segment will bear. Frankly, I am surprised that the European Competition Commission has not yet jumped on this issue - the most likely reason is that they have more important cases to deal with.

 

I do think, however, that piracy might be partially responsible for region-zoning too. Maybe the movie-companies believed that in the absence of region-zoning, there might be widespread movement of pirated DVDs prevalent in Asia also into the European and North American markets, thus decreasing profits there.

[neckthrough]

This is great news! I can live with serial keys just fine. Now, if only they'd do this for a game I actually cared for...

[Magister Lajciak]

Hopefully, it's the start of a new trend! We will have to wait and see.

[Hell Kitty]

I imagine it's more about not wanting a Spore like backlash from the enormous Sims fanbase.

[Mamoulian War]

some article about ECA jumping into DRM discussion organized with FTC.

 

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/03/halpin.ars

[Magister Lajciak]

Thanks for the article.

 

As to the possibility that the EA is reacting to the backlash - well, that's fine by me. As long as we get to purchase their games without the need for online activation and limited installs, as far as I am concerned they might as well be reacting to anything they want, so long as their reaction entails removing these anti-features and keeping them removed.

[Azure79]

This is good news. I hate the idea of limited installs and online authentication. I bought a product, I want to play and install it as many times as I want without jumping through hoops.

 

Also...why do people like the Sims so much? I don't get it.

[neckthrough]

From the article that Mamoulian posted:

 

So what if these companies no longer are able to support the games? One intriguing bit of news Halpin heard from the FTC meeting was the idea that any company who uses DRM must give keys and access codes to the Federal Trade Commission to hold onto. "In the event of a company going under, the FTC would step in," Halpin told me, keeping the games open and playable. In other words, if you're worried about EA shutting down the servers for Spore, you could trust that the FTC would make sure your game remains playable.

Interesting.

[Mamoulian War]

From the article that Mamoulian posted:

 

So what if these companies no longer are able to support the games? One intriguing bit of news Halpin heard from the FTC meeting was the idea that any company who uses DRM must give keys and access codes to the Federal Trade Commission to hold onto. "In the event of a company going under, the FTC would step in," Halpin told me, keeping the games open and playable. In other words, if you're worried about EA shutting down the servers for Spore, you could trust that the FTC would make sure your game remains playable.

Interesting.

 

Yes that could be interesting solution to Online Activation, but FTC is USA only

[Mamoulian War]

QQ

 

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/04...stall-limit.ars

[Jaesun]

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

Oh dear god.

[Syraxis]

CD activation keys are just fine but nowadays I keep wishing for a steam version.

[Deadly_Nightshade]

CD activation keys are just fine but nowadays I keep wishing for a steam version.

 

I don't. Steam is just another form of DRM, albeit a slightly more attractive one than most.

[Magister Lajciak]

CD activation keys are just fine but nowadays I keep wishing for a steam version.

 

I don't. Steam is just another form of DRM, albeit a slightly more attractive one than most.

 

I agree that Steam is just another form of DRM, but I think it is less attractive than most. Most games of the past few years have still used CD activation keys and I find those to be far more attractive as a form of DRM.

[Magister Lajciak]

 

ROFL! I am so going to use this image if Dragon Age does turn out to have restrictive DRM (if it does I will also stop buying games from EA on an indefinite basis, but that's another matter)!

[alanschu]

CD activation keys are just fine but nowadays I keep wishing for a steam version.

 

I don't. Steam is just another form of DRM, albeit a slightly more attractive one than most.

 

I agree that Steam is just another form of DRM, but I think it is less attractive than most. Most games of the past few years have still used CD activation keys and I find those to be far more attractive as a form of DRM.

 

 

 

I love the Steam one because when I reformat my computer getting all my Steam games back is uber-easy.

[Deadly_Nightshade]

Most games of the past few years have still used CD activation keys and I find those to be far more attractive as a form of DRM.

 

True. But I was comparing it to the limited activation versions of SecuROM, etc.

[Maria Caliban]

 

Did you do that?

 

Cause the photoshoping is horrible, but I won't comment if you did it.