March 26, 200916 yr 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. Victor of the 5 year fan fic competition! Kevin Butler will awesome your face off.
March 26, 200916 yr 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.
March 26, 200916 yr 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.
March 26, 200916 yr i bet, that was the original reason to put that **** on DVDs in a first place... Sent from my Stone Tablet, using Chisel-a-Talk 2000BC. My youtube channel: MamoulianFH Latest Let's Play Tales of Arise (completed) Latest Bossfight Compilation Dark Souls II - Scholar of the First Sin - New Game (completed) Let's Play/AAR Europa Universalis 1: Austria Grand Campaign (completed) Let's Play/AAR Europa Universalis 2: Xhosa Grand Campaign (completed) My PS Platinums and 100% - 30 games so far (my PSN profile) 1) God of War III - PS3 - 24+ hours 2) Final Fantasy XIII - PS3 - 130+ hours 3) White Knight Chronicles International Edition - PS3 - 525+ hours 4) Hyperdimension Neptunia - PS3 - 80+ hours 5) Final Fantasy XIII-2 - PS3 - 200+ hours 6) Tales of Xillia - PS3 - 135+ hours 7) Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2 - PS3 - 152+ hours 8.) Grand Turismo 6 - PS3 - 81+ hours (including Senna Master DLC) 9) Demon's Souls - PS3 - 197+ hours 10) Tales of Graces f - PS3 - 337+ hours 11) Star Ocean: The Last Hope International - PS3 - 750+ hours 12) Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII - PS3 - 127+ hours 13) Soulcalibur V - PS3 - 73+ hours 14) Gran Turismo 5 - PS3 - 600+ hours 15) Tales of Xillia 2 - PS3 - 302+ hours 16) Mortal Kombat XL - PS4 - 95+ hours 17) Project CARS Game of the Year Edition - PS4 - 120+ hours 18) Dark Souls - PS3 - 197+ hours 19) Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory - PS3 - 238+ hours 20) Final Fantasy Type-0 - PS4 - 58+ hours 21) Journey - PS4 - 9+ hours 22) Dark Souls II - PS3 - 210+ hours 23) Fairy Fencer F - PS3 - 215+ hours 24) Megadimension Neptunia VII - PS4 - 160 hours 25) Super Neptunia RPG - PS4 - 44+ hours 26) Journey - PS3 - 22+ hours 27) Final Fantasy XV - PS4 - 263+ hours (including all DLCs) 28) Tales of Arise - PS4 - 111+ hours 29) Dark Souls: Remastered - PS4 - 121+ hours 30) Mortal Kombat 11 - PS4 - 200+ hours 31) Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin - PS4 - 246+ hours 32) Star Ocean: Faithlessness and Integrity - PS4 - 185+ hours
March 26, 200916 yr Author 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
March 26, 200916 yr Author 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
March 26, 200916 yr Author 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.
March 30, 200916 yr 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...
March 31, 200916 yr I imagine it's more about not wanting a Spore like backlash from the enormous Sims fanbase.
March 31, 200916 yr some article about ECA jumping into DRM discussion organized with FTC. http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/03/halpin.ars Sent from my Stone Tablet, using Chisel-a-Talk 2000BC. My youtube channel: MamoulianFH Latest Let's Play Tales of Arise (completed) Latest Bossfight Compilation Dark Souls II - Scholar of the First Sin - New Game (completed) Let's Play/AAR Europa Universalis 1: Austria Grand Campaign (completed) Let's Play/AAR Europa Universalis 2: Xhosa Grand Campaign (completed) My PS Platinums and 100% - 30 games so far (my PSN profile) 1) God of War III - PS3 - 24+ hours 2) Final Fantasy XIII - PS3 - 130+ hours 3) White Knight Chronicles International Edition - PS3 - 525+ hours 4) Hyperdimension Neptunia - PS3 - 80+ hours 5) Final Fantasy XIII-2 - PS3 - 200+ hours 6) Tales of Xillia - PS3 - 135+ hours 7) Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2 - PS3 - 152+ hours 8.) Grand Turismo 6 - PS3 - 81+ hours (including Senna Master DLC) 9) Demon's Souls - PS3 - 197+ hours 10) Tales of Graces f - PS3 - 337+ hours 11) Star Ocean: The Last Hope International - PS3 - 750+ hours 12) Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII - PS3 - 127+ hours 13) Soulcalibur V - PS3 - 73+ hours 14) Gran Turismo 5 - PS3 - 600+ hours 15) Tales of Xillia 2 - PS3 - 302+ hours 16) Mortal Kombat XL - PS4 - 95+ hours 17) Project CARS Game of the Year Edition - PS4 - 120+ hours 18) Dark Souls - PS3 - 197+ hours 19) Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory - PS3 - 238+ hours 20) Final Fantasy Type-0 - PS4 - 58+ hours 21) Journey - PS4 - 9+ hours 22) Dark Souls II - PS3 - 210+ hours 23) Fairy Fencer F - PS3 - 215+ hours 24) Megadimension Neptunia VII - PS4 - 160 hours 25) Super Neptunia RPG - PS4 - 44+ hours 26) Journey - PS3 - 22+ hours 27) Final Fantasy XV - PS4 - 263+ hours (including all DLCs) 28) Tales of Arise - PS4 - 111+ hours 29) Dark Souls: Remastered - PS4 - 121+ hours 30) Mortal Kombat 11 - PS4 - 200+ hours 31) Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin - PS4 - 246+ hours 32) Star Ocean: Faithlessness and Integrity - PS4 - 185+ hours
March 31, 200916 yr Author 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.
March 31, 200916 yr 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.
March 31, 200916 yr 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.
March 31, 200916 yr 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 Sent from my Stone Tablet, using Chisel-a-Talk 2000BC. My youtube channel: MamoulianFH Latest Let's Play Tales of Arise (completed) Latest Bossfight Compilation Dark Souls II - Scholar of the First Sin - New Game (completed) Let's Play/AAR Europa Universalis 1: Austria Grand Campaign (completed) Let's Play/AAR Europa Universalis 2: Xhosa Grand Campaign (completed) My PS Platinums and 100% - 30 games so far (my PSN profile) 1) God of War III - PS3 - 24+ hours 2) Final Fantasy XIII - PS3 - 130+ hours 3) White Knight Chronicles International Edition - PS3 - 525+ hours 4) Hyperdimension Neptunia - PS3 - 80+ hours 5) Final Fantasy XIII-2 - PS3 - 200+ hours 6) Tales of Xillia - PS3 - 135+ hours 7) Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2 - PS3 - 152+ hours 8.) Grand Turismo 6 - PS3 - 81+ hours (including Senna Master DLC) 9) Demon's Souls - PS3 - 197+ hours 10) Tales of Graces f - PS3 - 337+ hours 11) Star Ocean: The Last Hope International - PS3 - 750+ hours 12) Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII - PS3 - 127+ hours 13) Soulcalibur V - PS3 - 73+ hours 14) Gran Turismo 5 - PS3 - 600+ hours 15) Tales of Xillia 2 - PS3 - 302+ hours 16) Mortal Kombat XL - PS4 - 95+ hours 17) Project CARS Game of the Year Edition - PS4 - 120+ hours 18) Dark Souls - PS3 - 197+ hours 19) Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory - PS3 - 238+ hours 20) Final Fantasy Type-0 - PS4 - 58+ hours 21) Journey - PS4 - 9+ hours 22) Dark Souls II - PS3 - 210+ hours 23) Fairy Fencer F - PS3 - 215+ hours 24) Megadimension Neptunia VII - PS4 - 160 hours 25) Super Neptunia RPG - PS4 - 44+ hours 26) Journey - PS3 - 22+ hours 27) Final Fantasy XV - PS4 - 263+ hours (including all DLCs) 28) Tales of Arise - PS4 - 111+ hours 29) Dark Souls: Remastered - PS4 - 121+ hours 30) Mortal Kombat 11 - PS4 - 200+ hours 31) Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin - PS4 - 246+ hours 32) Star Ocean: Faithlessness and Integrity - PS4 - 185+ hours
April 10, 200916 yr QQ http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/04...stall-limit.ars Sent from my Stone Tablet, using Chisel-a-Talk 2000BC. My youtube channel: MamoulianFH Latest Let's Play Tales of Arise (completed) Latest Bossfight Compilation Dark Souls II - Scholar of the First Sin - New Game (completed) Let's Play/AAR Europa Universalis 1: Austria Grand Campaign (completed) Let's Play/AAR Europa Universalis 2: Xhosa Grand Campaign (completed) My PS Platinums and 100% - 30 games so far (my PSN profile) 1) God of War III - PS3 - 24+ hours 2) Final Fantasy XIII - PS3 - 130+ hours 3) White Knight Chronicles International Edition - PS3 - 525+ hours 4) Hyperdimension Neptunia - PS3 - 80+ hours 5) Final Fantasy XIII-2 - PS3 - 200+ hours 6) Tales of Xillia - PS3 - 135+ hours 7) Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2 - PS3 - 152+ hours 8.) Grand Turismo 6 - PS3 - 81+ hours (including Senna Master DLC) 9) Demon's Souls - PS3 - 197+ hours 10) Tales of Graces f - PS3 - 337+ hours 11) Star Ocean: The Last Hope International - PS3 - 750+ hours 12) Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII - PS3 - 127+ hours 13) Soulcalibur V - PS3 - 73+ hours 14) Gran Turismo 5 - PS3 - 600+ hours 15) Tales of Xillia 2 - PS3 - 302+ hours 16) Mortal Kombat XL - PS4 - 95+ hours 17) Project CARS Game of the Year Edition - PS4 - 120+ hours 18) Dark Souls - PS3 - 197+ hours 19) Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory - PS3 - 238+ hours 20) Final Fantasy Type-0 - PS4 - 58+ hours 21) Journey - PS4 - 9+ hours 22) Dark Souls II - PS3 - 210+ hours 23) Fairy Fencer F - PS3 - 215+ hours 24) Megadimension Neptunia VII - PS4 - 160 hours 25) Super Neptunia RPG - PS4 - 44+ hours 26) Journey - PS3 - 22+ hours 27) Final Fantasy XV - PS4 - 263+ hours (including all DLCs) 28) Tales of Arise - PS4 - 111+ hours 29) Dark Souls: Remastered - PS4 - 121+ hours 30) Mortal Kombat 11 - PS4 - 200+ hours 31) Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin - PS4 - 246+ hours 32) Star Ocean: Faithlessness and Integrity - PS4 - 185+ hours
April 10, 200916 yr Some of my Youtube Classic Roland MT-32 Video Game Music videos | My Music | My Photography
April 10, 200916 yr Oh dear god. "Alright, I've been thinking. When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade - make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don't want your damn lemons, what am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life's manager. Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons. Do you know who I am? I'm the man who's gonna burn your house down! With the lemons. I'm going to to get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that burns your house down!"
April 10, 200916 yr CD activation keys are just fine but nowadays I keep wishing for a steam version.
April 10, 200916 yr 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. "Geez. It's like we lost some sort of bet and ended up saddled with a bunch of terrible new posters on this forum." -Hurlshot
April 11, 200916 yr Author 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.
April 11, 200916 yr Author 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)!
April 11, 200916 yr 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.
April 11, 200916 yr 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. "Geez. It's like we lost some sort of bet and ended up saddled with a bunch of terrible new posters on this forum." -Hurlshot
April 11, 200916 yr Did you do that? Cause the photoshoping is horrible, but I won't comment if you did it. "When is this out. I can't wait to play it so I can talk at length about how bad it is." - Gorgon.
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