EA Chief Hates DRM

[Amnestic]

I own an aweful lot of EA games ;\ Is boycotting even worth it? I was hoping to get Mercenaries 2 and Deadspace...

Maybe I got a little too hot under the collar- just, this and the Take Two story, WOW. The mans arrogance and condescension just hit a nerve, and I wanted to chew out his larynx. It really offended me- but I still want to play some of their games, so I dunno what to do. Just not buy them?

Just boycott the DRM games if you're fussed about it. If they see a drop in game sales with DRM, they *might* get the picture.

Not likely though.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Anyway I apologize for the coarse language I used to describe Mr. Riccitiello and EA, he just jammed a button of mine REALLY HARD and it set me off.

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

It's hard to have your cake and eat it too. Dead Space looks really good but it's gonna have that unskippable "EA" every time I boot it up. It's gonna have DRM which I'll have to crack if I buy it. It's gonna have horrendous support. It's going to be extremely unpolished (for PC) - and it's success would warrant downloadable content that's fucking pointless. Oh yeah, Dead Space has a "Scorpion Suit" or w/e for sale.

EA has just surpassed "Horse Armor" - they have made "Armor Armor".

 

[Amnestic]

but it's gonna have that unskippable "EA" every time I boot it up.

Guarantee there'll be a crack to get rid of that within a week or two. There was for C&C3.

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

Yeah I had to do it for Ubisoft games. They don't let me skip their intros either.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

I'm sure as hell not getting any EA game with this new system for the PC. I might pick up one or two games for console.

 

[spartyblb]

MY problem with his argument (DRM is like a lock for my car or house)
no, it's not, see you own your car or house, DRM is like selling me your car but keeping the keys and saying I can only use it every second Tuesday even though I bought it for full price and I can't let any of my family or friends drive it (or two of them, then maybe four if I ***** about it and rate you as an one star seller on amazon a million times)

Problem is Game companies are trying to say they still own the product they just sold you. EULA's are scary, and unconstitutional.(also unethical, if the USA is not your home country)

 

[Royas]

Now, I'm really offended. So, I'm a pirate or an idiot, is what this jackass is saying. He can take his stinking company and go to hell for all I care. I thought I was done with EA before, this just puts the lock on the door. What an ass.

 

[stompy]

Hey, wasn't this 'SecuRom' business more to do with companies trying to crack down on the pre-owned industry, and not actually pirates? It's more effective in that sense, as pirates have already cracked the DRM, while the DRM means people can't kend these games to their friends.

 

[BleachedBlind]

DRM like SecuRom is absolutely faulty. Pirates get around it, legal consumers suffer from it, and it comes to a great mess all in all. A great multiplayer component requiring serial registration and login has always been the best way to combat piracy in my opinion. I believe people are more likely to pirate a game like Spore, which has no real online interaction, than a game like Call of Duty 4, which has great online play. But what do I know? I'm just the consumer.

 

[Doug]

Hey, wasn't this 'SecuRom' business more to do with companies trying to crack down on the pre-owned industry, and not actually pirates? It's more effective in that sense, as pirates have already cracked the DRM, while the DRM means people can't kend these games to their friends.

Yup - EA aren't trying to kill piracy with DRM, just cripple any chance of reselling a game later because they don't get any cash from that.

Its really sad that EA have so many titles under development and a fair few of the good upcoming ones - Mirrors Edge, FarCry 2 (ok, I didn't really like FarCry, but alot of people like it), the C&C series (although I think RA 3 will be bad with insulting virtually softcore porn cutscenes), and who knows how many millions of Spore expansion packs they'll release.

Combat piracy, fine, fair enough - I've no problem with that. But don't shoot your customers in the thighs whilst doing so, and use something that actually works on pirates, not on resellers.

 

[stompy]

[Yup - EA aren't trying to kill piracy with DRM, just cripple any chance of reselling a game later because they don't get any cash from that.

Its really sad that EA have so many titles under development and a fair few of the good upcoming ones - Mirrors Edge, FarCry 2 (ok, I didn't really like FarCry, but alot of people like it), the C&C series (although I think RA 3 will be bad with insulting virtually softcore porn cutscenes), and who knows how many millions of Spore expansion packs they'll release.

Combat piracy, fine, fair enough - I've no problem with that. But don't shoot your customers in the thighs whilst doing so, and use something that actually works on pirates, not on resellers.

It's a shame that EA, the monolithic empire in the video game publishing industry, can buy out all this talent, and then kill them with things like DRM. People would love to help out developers that make great games, but they don't want to compromise the security of their computers, nor do they want to be lied to.

If you're going to fight the re-seller, don't punish the consumer.

 

[SmugFrog]

John, here's where your metaphor breaks down: the difference with locks on doors and keys for cars versus DRM is that those are actual deterrents for theft. The difference is that you can't use the same key for everyone's door or car. As opposed to when someone with dishonest intentions cracks your awful DRM, which they can use on any version of the game, ever. It's the equivalent of you putting the same lock on every house in the neighborhood. No wonder it's not secure.

I don't think it can be stated better than that. Absolute BS that he "hates it".

 

[Sensenmann]

Where does limiting the times we can install it come in?

Why dont they just do where a cd can be used for one account and leave it there?

 

[Frederf]

Unless you really get serious about DRM, it's really clear that the majority of DRM in place only does the following:

1. Prevents customers with reasonable access to their purchased product
2. Decreases the facility of game re-selling
3. Gives the pirate programmers something to do on their lunch break

I can't count the number of times I've used DRM-bypassing techniques to get at software I bought legitimately or similarly aiding someone else.

P.S. Back in the day paper manuals were things of beauty like Falcon 4.0 or the original Homeworld. You can't download paper.

 

[LordCraigus]

I won't pretend to understand the workings of it but it's obvious to anyone that EA's DRM in it's current form has not and will not work. The only people it hurts are the paying customers when it's so easily cracked. I'm not a pirate at all but this whole bitter DRM 'business' has actually made me consider aquiring some of the newer releases illegally.

 

[Elurindel]

Isn't Spore the most piratted game ever because of this DRM crap? If it was at all effective and easy, then fewer people would complain. But then of course the pirates don't need to use the DRM, and aren't limited in any way when it comes to piracy, other than download time and number of people willing to share on P2P networks.
I love how he states that people "voted with their wallets", whilst paying absolutely no attention to the half a million copies of Spore that were downloaded.