The Needles: How Dumb Do They Think We Are?

[Weaver]

So what if you went to the library and read a book you were never going to buy? Let's say you heard great things about Timeships by Stephen Baxter and you spend all day in the library reading it. Half way through you realize you don't like it so you put it back and leave. By your own moral standards you should go out and buy that book so the author gets money, right?

Except the author already got the money (as did the publisher) from the original purchase of the book. You're trying to compare piracy to things like "lending a movie to your friend". No one in their right mind (no true Scotsman, and all) is trying to argue that sharing with your friends/family is wrong. But you're talking about (basically) copying and mass-distributing a book, letting many people read it, even own it permanently, and the author gets nothing.

If this is okay then why can't I rent PC games? Why can't I borrow them? I know why and you know why; game companies want second hand sales to be removed, on all platforms.

http://www.thatvideogameblog.com/2008/08/28/ea-says-second-hand-sales-are-a-critical-situation/

for instance.

 

[LewsTherin]

A: About that stupid.

My issue isn't with the install limits, but with GFWL and any other hell-spawned corporate software that sees fit to lay a lesioned claw on my hard-drive, RAM and most importantly my processor. These hangers-on stop me from pirating the games, sure, but they also, in some extremes, prevent me from actually playing the damn thing in the first place. IE) My machine can run Dawn of War II without a hitch, but when I attempt to play online, the addition of GFWL sucks the rest of my precious bandwidth into its gaping maw and hits me in the crotch with a blackjack full of lag.

I used to like Ubisoft, with all their silly Quebecois accents, but now this means war.

 

[DancePuppets]

I'd like to point to the PS3. Prices haven't fallen on PS3 games, nor have the profits risen proportionally, so the losses to piracy are obviously very small compared to development costs.

I think the thing here is that the pirates in many cases would not have bought the full copy of the game anyway and are only playing it because they got it for free. My view on piracy, however, is that it is wrong, I know that copyright infringement is not theft, but the company making the game is a business and as such has a right to charge for the products it makes, it is not fair for someone to rip them off by taking what they want for free. If you're not willing to pay for the product then you should not be playing it as that is unfair on people like me who do pay for their games. Of course the current system of DRM only really stops those who know very little about computers from pirating the games, while inconveniencing those who pay for them but I am willing to put up with a little inconvenience even if it only discourages one person from pirating the game, but I am in the minority and accept that it is still a very irritating system.

 

[Void(null)]

The original BioShock still requires activation today, even though the game isn't even on the shelves anymore and the only place you can get the game is used or from the pirates.

Wrong wrong wrong oh... and wrong.

I can absolutely, positively, 100% confirm that not only does Bioshock not require activation via digital distribution... it also has zero traces of SecuRom.

[...]

Retail versions may require SecuRom to call home on install, but it should be a simple case of calling home to be told to no longer worry about machine activations, and SecuRom will be removed without consequence when the game is patched up. There is simply no way around this without recalling all of the discs and reprinting them.

The battle against DRM is uphill enough as it is, without us being made to look like a misinformed idiots clinging to disinformation.

So you told me I was wrong, and then confirmed everything I just said? And then called me an idiot? I've been following this story since day one and I banged out many, many articles on it as the story unfolded. Feel free to step up if you think you can keep up, but you'll mind your manners or piss the hell off.

I was talking about the boxed copy. You can tell because I said it was "no longer on the shelves". Digital copies do not appear on shelves. That boxed copy will now and always require activation. That's my point. The game was cracked right away, but the DRM is with us forever, protecting a game that isn't for sale from piracy that has already happened. That game will turn into a coaster if they ever take down the activation servers, which must happen someday because servers cost money and the game that requires them has stopped making money.

The fact that the digital copy doesn't have these problems does nothing to help the loyal fan who put up $60 for a physical copy of this on launch day.

How can you be both an informed journalist who has been following this form of DRM since day one, and an ill informed consumer who not only supported this form of DRM with their wallet, but from a distribution source that had no realistic way to remove all traces of this DRM?

You can't be both Shamus, it doesn't work that way, and actions speak louder than words.

Its because of the loyal fan who put up $60 for a physical copy of this on launch day, that Publishers believe they can continue bending legitimate customers over and cramming invasive copy protection down our... throats.

You personally supported this form of DRM by purchasing it for $60 on release, You and people like you are the reason that 2K thinks this form of DRM is acceptable and that it can simply pull the wool over our eyes with BioShock 2.

As for the "no longer on the shelves" comment, did you miss the part where I pointed out where you can still purchase physical copies of BioShock at Walmart & Best Buy.

Perhaps if your PC gaming is limited to your local GameStop I can see BioShock no longer holding space on the half a shelf they charitably give us poor PC gamers, but Walmart and Best Buy are not exactly hard to come by.

If you want a retail copy to this day, you can still purchase one with little effort from a giant chain store.

The original BioShock still requires activation today, even though the game isn't even on the shelves anymore and the only place you can get the game is used or from the pirates.

So that's yet another erroneous statement.

Now onto another:

The game was cracked right away, but the DRM is with us forever, protecting a game that isn't for sale from piracy that has already happened. That game will turn into a coaster if they ever take down the activation servers, which must happen someday because servers cost money and the game that requires them has stopped making money.

Perhaps this was something you should have thought about before supporting limited install DRM? Perhaps you should have done all of that research and put a little thought into your future gaming and came to the same conclusion many others did... that it was a really bad idea to buy titles with install limits.

The retail version of BioShock now scales down to online activation instead of limited install. You will always need an internet connection to install the game, and if you purchased:

Alone in the Dark {2008}
Blood Bowl
Borderlands
Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3
Crysis Warhead
Dead Space
Far Cry 2
FIFA 09
FIFA Manager 09
Flock!
Ghostbusters: The Video Game
The Godfather II
Grand Theft Auto IV
Heroes of Might & Magic V
King's Bounty: The Legend
Littlest Pet Shop
The Lord of the Rings: Conquest
Mass Effect
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
Mirror's Edge
MySims
Need for Speed: Undercover
NHL 09
Sacred 2: Fallen Angel
Sacred 2: Ice & Blood
The Sims 3

or

Spore

Then you also gave your support with your wallet, in regards to SecuRom being used as a form of Online Activation at install.

The only way to fight restrictive DRM, is with your wallet. And as long as people continue to buy these games en-mass, only stopping to ***** about the DRM after they have made their purchase... then Publishers will continue to use it, and they will squeeze, and squeeze and squeeze.

Feel free to step up if you think you can keep up, but you'll mind your manners or piss the hell off.

Right back at ya buddy, right back at ya, contradiction and all.

 

[Fromez]

When have you last seen a game journalist...

100% agree, there doesn't seem to be any challenging from the game media on anything let alone these issues - apart from RPS and here. Seems to me like some of these online publications are too afraid that they'll lose their pre-release exclusives. Surely it's easy enough to ask difficult questions without being biased?

@ Void(null)

Why are you being a over-zealous against someone who's on your side? Shamus asks the question why not patch out a game's DRM when the sale cycle is basically over? In my entire city, there is one Bioshock/Oblivion double pack for sale. That's it. GTA 4 illustrates this even better, still requiring a release date check but it's more elusive than Bioshock.

Battlefield 2 and The Witcher are available on Amazon et al but both have DRM patches.

And buying/not being games...sometimes you have to buy a game to realise how bad the DRM is. Once bitten twice shy and all that.

 

[Seldon2639]

So what if you went to the library and read a book you were never going to buy? Let's say you heard great things about Timeships by Stephen Baxter and you spend all day in the library reading it. Half way through you realize you don't like it so you put it back and leave. By your own moral standards you should go out and buy that book so the author gets money, right?

Except the author already got the money (as did the publisher) from the original purchase of the book. You're trying to compare piracy to things like "lending a movie to your friend". No one in their right mind (no true Scotsman, and all) is trying to argue that sharing with your friends/family is wrong. But you're talking about (basically) copying and mass-distributing a book, letting many people read it, even own it permanently, and the author gets nothing.

If this is okay then why can't I rent PC games? Why can't I borrow them? I know why and you know why; game companies want second hand sales to be removed, on all platforms.

http://www.thatvideogameblog.com/2008/08/28/ea-says-second-hand-sales-are-a-critical-situation/

for instance.

It's possible to accept as reasonable one part of the game companies' position without accepting all of it. I can bifurcate the issue, split the baby, and do everything else under the son to (Solomon-like) decide that the companies are right to assert the wrongness of piracy, and take measures to prevent it, while also being wrong about some of their other beliefs.

I'm fine with renting games I'm fine with borrowing games. I've done both. But there's a difference (and we all really do know this) between "I'm using a pirated copy as a demo, but I'll only use it temporarily", "I'm borrowing the game from someone who already bought it, so the company did get paid, and we can't both use it at the same time" and "I'm pirating, keeping the game as long as I like, and the developer can suck it".

If you want to claim that most pirates are under numbers one or two, that's at least a valid assertion, but I don't buy it. Piracy I've seen is mostly (and I emphasize mostly) "well, I want the game, but it costs too much" covered with a smokescreen of "I'm protesting something"

 

[Mikkaddo]

Another problem with the whole DRM phenomenon is the history PC games have . . . look at the old days of PC games, before this whole Steam era. The only time games were pirated was when there was a game no one could fucking find, or it had gone into the abyss of obsolescence (roms anyone?) there was very little pirating of PC games because people knew that minus the annoyance of needing a disc in the drive they didn't have to worry about what would happen to their game when they got that shiny awesome new computer that they've been drooling over. Or if their computer's Hard Drive melts and has to be replaced, or if they get a nasty virus and have to do a full wipe . . .

Piracy back then was a means to get games to the people that they generally couldn't get on their own. Sure people would sometimes pirate new mainstream games but that was usually because they'd modified them in some way, Heavy metal FAAK 2 I recall having a slew of pirated copies released right away but that was because the targeting system in the game was complete shit, the platforming was subpar AT IT'S VERY BEST and the combat was at it's best boring and at it's worst monitor smashingly frustrating.

These days the games that get Pirated are because no one wants this DRM shit hiding in the back messing with their machines . . . the only reason we keep going along with it is like it's been said in this thread no matter what people WILL keep buying the games. Because honestly, the way they're DRMing things now . . . if you download a pirated copy, it'll crash or at least not work right, so you have to go DRM. Sure you can try for a console copy, but there's the chance that it means buying a different console (like a 360 if you're a Mass Effect fan . . . and knowing that your install limit is up means you now have go to in for another $300+ BEFORE the cost of another brand new copy of the game is NOT going to endear anyone).

But that still doesn't compare to the fact that DRM software has a bad habbit of messing with your computer regardless. Alot of DRMs these days don't run only with the game, they turn on when the computer turns on, and run CONSTANTLY on their own.

Meaning no matter what you do, it's there. Even if you uninstall the game, since the DRM is considered a different item, it'll still be there . . . if you isntall another DRM game, itll have 2 DRMs on the machine instead of one . . . pretty soon your computer starts running slower then a quadriplegic Corgi in a puddle of molasses.

 

[erethizon]

It is really a bummer how tolerant gamers are of these things. I refuse to even buy games with DRM features (other than insisting that the disc be in the drive) and the result is I do not buy many games anymore. The last game I bought with DRM is the third splinter cell game (which I purchased from a private citizen on ebay because I refused to help a company that uses DRM make money) and I still have never even installed it on my computer because I do not want to infect my computer with that DRM garbage.

Sadly my taking a stand has no effect because few others are joining me. Players buy these games even though the DRM is in them and so the companies have no reason to stop. If we are not willing to do without until DRM goes away then DRM will always be with us.

The new install limit DRM is particularly annoying. I would love to own a copy of Bioshock, but unfortunately there are none for sale. I can rent a copy of Bioshock, but as soon as I install is a few times my lease is up and I am without a game. When I buy a game I expect to be able to install it on every computer I ever get for the rest of my life. I still install the Thief series of games every time I get a new computer. That is not possible with install limits even if the limit is 15 times.

Since I do not pirate games I really am forced to do without. But I have to admit if anything will ever get me to start pirating games it will be DRM. If a boycott does not have an effect then it may be necessary to join the dark side.

 

[veloper]

You guys keep mentioning piracy, but DRM has very little to do with piracy and everyting with destroying used sales and old copies.

The industry already knows there's little they can do about piracy. Piracy here is just an excuse. They DO know that if we sell our used games, this is perfectly legit, only the publishers aren't making any money of it.

 

[WafflesToo]

I've said it before and I will say it again: Piracy is an industry straw man - DRM is only marketed as anti-piracy, the real goal is to cut down secondary sales and starve the second-hand games market. Pirates just help that goal along by providing a convenient target that also lets publishers take the moral high ground.

This is probably closer to the truth than most of us want to admit. I beleive that there was a handful of articles on the Escapist itself just a few months ago that were claiming "that secondary sales were hurting mainstream gaming".

I'm baffled though, do they really intend to increase thier volume by taking actions that will decrease thier market pool? The number of AAA-listers that I buy annually is already way down; I prefer the more laid back indie market anymore.

 

[Andy Chalk]

Hey if you think the Bioshock DRM is bad, you should check out Ubisofts new take on DRM. You now have to be online at all times.

by the way why can't we code links?

Maybe you should try linking to the coverage that's already here.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/97778-Ubisoft-Details-New-Anti-Piracy-Plan [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/97778-Ubisoft-Details-New-Anti-Piracy-Plan]

 

[bachterman]

i usually buy my games, and use nodvd cracks. fuck the drm.

 

[Andy Chalk]

Could you expand on this? I don't see how its shooting themselves in there own feet to try and get people to buy new rather than renting...

Digital distribution is growing by leaps and bounds but conventional retail is and, for the foreseeable future, will remain far and away the number one method for getting games into the hands of consumers. But margins on new game sales are razor thin, and by trying to eradicate used game sales, publishers are quite literally putting the gears to their primary sales outlet.

Game publishers also benefit in less tangible ways from used game sales. EA got my money for the collector's edition of Mass Effect 2 because I was able to pick up the original game for about 17 bucks, ages after it came out. It's not a zero-sum game. But nobody seems willing to look for a different, better way to address the industry's concerns. Instead, they just talk in absolutes - "A used sale is a lost sale" - and do nothing to actually make things better.

 

[Caliostro]

I've gotta give you credit for following the exact logical chain that I suspected (and addressed). A Ferrari is worth more than just the materials that go into it. It's why the models are patented. If I tried to make an exact copy, they'd have me arrested.

No, if you tried to SELL an exact copy they'd have you arrested. Hell, they couldn't even touch you if it was only very similar, unless they had proof you clearly plagiarized the original AND you were selling it to people, because then YOU would be making profit out of it.

Thus, then, if I steal a Ferrari, by your argument, I should only have to pay Ferrari the cost of the actual materials in the car. But the materials in a Ferrari cost maybe 1/10th the selling price of the car as a whole. 9/10ths is the intellectual property. If we're talking about harm only being in the actual loss of materials (ignoring, of course, man-hours as well), then there's nothing really worth as much as it sells for, and I should be allowed to take it, and replace only the original materials (as that's the only harm to the company).

Fallacy again. You go to jail because if people were allowed to simply pay the exact price AFTER they were caught nobody would pay. They'd just steal it and IF caught they'd pay.

There's also the fact that sending for a new model to replace the old one costs time, and time costs money. None of this is even remotely relevant towards piracy.

If we accept the basic assumption that the only "harm" to a company from theft (and thus the only true theft) is the loss of the resources which went into the product, then my analogy makes perfect sense.

Again, fallacy. I said the only verifiable damage is from the tangible property in question. I never said there is no other form of damage.

...yes, feel free to re-read my posts and check...

...done? good.

Yes, there is the potential loss of a sale, maybe. But that's speculation. On the other hand, we do know there is a synergistic relation between piracy and sales. Piracy lengthens the knowledge "reach" of your product to pretty much every area with internet, and word of mouth is STILL the best way to publicize a game. How much does a company gain from this? Equally speculation.

There's also a difference in the economic "dynamic" behind it. Each individual game copy moves considerably less percentage of the final profit, and consequently represents a considerably smaller percentage of possible loss, than the Ferrari (or any other car in general). Perhaps losing 1 potential for potential game sale is worth the publicity it gets, perhaps not. We don't know.

And that's my point. As I mentioned before, piracy comes with both negative and positive impact in the industry... How much of which is anyone's guess, which means that ultimately we haven't the slightest clue whether it's actually harming anything at all.

Once again, though, you have to fall back on "you weren't going to buy a Ferrari anyway". If I was going to buy one, but you offer me a free one you made (an exact replica), you're guilty of the theft of intellectual property, and have taken a sale away from them. If I wasn't going to buy one, and you give me one, you've devalued the actual product.

Actually no. If I sell you that car, then I'm in trouble. If I give out free oranges in front of a shop selling oranges, they legally can't do more than shake their fists furiously and curse at me.

 

[Seldon2639]

No, if you tried to SELL an exact copy they'd have you arrested. Hell, they couldn't even touch you if it was only very similar, unless they had proof you clearly plagiarized the original AND you were selling it to people, because then YOU would be making profit out of it.

Profit is irrelevant. The theft of intellectual property is the theft of intellectual property whether I sell it or not. You're assuming that the end product is the only thing that can be stolen, but the actual designs themselves have "value" under the law, and are protected the same as property. Lemme put it more directly: stealing the "knowledge" of how to make the car itself is itself theft. Stealing the "designs" of the game (whether one steals an actual CD of it) is theft.

Fallacy again. You go to jail because if people were allowed to simply pay the exact price AFTER they were caught nobody would pay. They'd just steal it and IF caught they'd pay.

There's also the fact that sending for a new model to replace the old one costs time, and time costs money. None of this is even remotely relevant towards piracy.

Fallacy. You're making an assumption as to "why" I'm being arrested for stealing the car, but that assumption isn't supported by existing case law. Plenty of people have gone to jail for the theft of knowledge (corporate espionage and all that), not just of the final "good". Replacement of the actual physical product is not the issue in play.

Again, fallacy. I said the only verifiable damage is from the tangible property in question. I never said there is no other form of damage.

...yes, feel free to re-read my posts and check...

...done? good.

Fair point

Yes, there is the potential loss of a sale, maybe. But that's speculation. On the other hand, we do know there is a synergistic relation between piracy and sales. Piracy lengthens the knowledge "reach" of your product to pretty much every area with internet, and word of mouth is STILL the best way to publicize a game. How much does a company gain from this? Equally speculation.

There's also a difference in the economic "dynamic" behind it. Each individual game copy moves considerably less percentage of the final profit, and consequently represents a considerably smaller percentage of possible loss, than the Ferrari (or any other car in general). Perhaps losing 1 potential for potential game sale is worth the publicity it gets, perhaps not. We don't know.

And that's my point. As I mentioned before, piracy comes with both negative and positive impact in the industry... How much of which is anyone's guess, which means that ultimately we haven't the slightest clue whether it's actually harming anything at all.

This is a decent point, at least in part. Shouldn't it be the choice of the individual company whether the added publicity is worth the cost of piracy? Shouldn't an individual distributor be the one to either say "we have enough publicity, since it's friggin' Spore, so we don't need "word of mouth", and no free samples" or "we're a small company, let's give some people free samples, to see if they'll spread the popularity of the game". That's a business decision.

You also assume that the promulgation of pirated software is somehow going to encourage others to buy the game, which flies in the face of common sense. Even if it encourages them to play it, the access to pirated copies will more likely encourage them to pirate it than pay for it.

Whether it's worth it or not is a question for each company to answer for itself, not for us to answer for them. How would you feel about me taking your car from you (without your permission) by explaining that I think that walking will be better for you in the long run?

Actually no. If I sell you that car, then I'm in trouble. If I give out free oranges in front of a shop selling oranges, they legally can't do more than shake their fists furiously and curse at me.

Yeah, but it's a bit differently if you take their oranges and give them away in front of their store. One is legitimate competition. But you're not talking about me making another game like Spore and releasing it for free. You're talking about me taking Spore and releasing it for free. That's blatant, isn't it?

 

[Shamus Young]

You personally supported this form of DRM by purchasing it for $60 on release, You and people like you are the reason that 2K thinks this form of DRM is acceptable and that it can simply pull the wool over our eyes with BioShock 2.

Never did. Boycotted. Publicly.

And you have the nerve to call me ill-informed.

You're still throwing inaccurate insults my way instead of talking about DRM.

Now you get to piss off.

 

[Void(null)]

The original BioShock still requires activation today, even though the game isn't even on the shelves anymore and the only place you can get the game is used or from the pirates.

That game will turn into a coaster if they ever take down the activation servers, which must happen someday because servers cost money and the game that requires them has stopped making money.

The fact that the digital copy doesn't have these problems does nothing to help the loyal fan who put up $60 for a physical copy of this on launch day.

Never did. Boycotted. Publicly.

Feel free to step up if you think you can keep up, but you'll mind your manners or piss the hell off.

Now you get to piss off.

Would you kindly, Not resort to such uncouth language as "Piss off" when in discussion with others? It lessens the both of us. You for resorting to such, and me for responding to it.

I have provided you with responses based upon the information you have presented here in this thread. What you have presented is riddled with misinformation and contradiction.

Are you now stating that you are advocating for the poor misinformed gamers, whom made their choice to purchase BioShock at launch from retail?

And if so, why is BioShock requiring online activation more noteworthy than the other 28 games I listed?

The point is no longer the limited machine activation DRM (which is now defunct in BioShock) but rather Online Activation which is an entirely different kettle of fish.

You have made several erroneous statements, as well as slippery slope style arguments none of which are defensible, so you have instead resorted to such base retorts as "Piss off."

I can most certainly "Keep up" as I have been following DRM with a microscope since publishers began using limited installation DRM. Unfortunately this seems to be a rather one sided affair.

So you purchased BioShock only after the DRM was removed?

1: Retail or Digital Distribution? 1a: If retail, why did you knowingly purchase a title where there was no physical way to completely remove the activation? 1b: If Digital, then why is an online service like Steam or Impulse which requires you to connect to its service at least once to download and activate the title ok, but unlimited activation via SecuRom is not?

2: Did you purchase any of the other 28 listed titles that require online activation? If so, do you have a problem with those?

3: Why did you state BioShock can no longer be purchased in brick and mortar stores?

Inquiring minds wish to know.

 

[Void(null)]

The reason I am on you like this, is because as a journalist, people look to you for information and to keep them clued in on the pulse of the gaming industry.

You have an moral obligation to provide clear, clean, precise and accurate information on the issues which you write and comment upon. In the war on DRM, it is not people like me whom write letters and phone publishers to let their issue be known, to which the publishers listen to... but rather people like you (And other VG Journalists) who can drastically affect sales via the press and bad publicity.

2K doesn't give two tugs of a dead dogs dick [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider_Jerusalem] about what me or user297 have to say, we are the bartering chips, piggy in the middle. We have been screaming into the void for a while, but its a raw numbers game. 490,000 people buy the game, 10,000 boycott then the ayes have it.

Spore demonstrated the power that the media can have, they can slap the sheeple around a bit and as more of them begin to wake up and make better informed decisions, publishers begin to take notice and move into damage control mode.

You have an obligation, a role to play, and if Ars, Kotaku and The Escapist are going to be the voice speaking for me in the great DRM debate... you can be damn well sure that I do not want them making me, and all the others whom have been campaigning against DRM for years, sound like fools.

All I want from you, is more well reasoned arguments and posed questions, rather than angry ill-informed rants. You are in a position to actually do something. An avalanche begins with a single snowflake... do not squander that opportunity.

 

[Fromez]

I'm not replying for Shamus but I will for myself.

Firstly, you're not perfect yourself. In your list, Far Cry 2's DRM is now patched out.

I hate on Bioshock (of which I own 2 copies...) because it still requires the disk in drive, several megabytes executable download, and a serial activation. Yes, the activation gives me unlimited installs but that doesn't mean to say it doesn't limit me. Once when I tried to activate, servers were down, as was the website that 2K offer up as an alternative. The game also randomly decides to de-activate itself.

Conversely, I like Mass Effect, Burnout Paradise, Mirror's Edge and Dead Space because they are single activation games. No release day or executable bollocks. EA have made a promise to patch out the DRM if their servers go down.
http://support.ea.com/cgi-bin/ea.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=20763&p_created=1225317481&p_sid=SysX*3Tj&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPSZwX3NvcnRfYnk9JnBfZ3JpZHNvcnQ9JnBfcm93X2NudD0zNTcsMzU3JnBfcHJvZHM9JnBfY2F0cz0mcF9wdj0mcF9jdj0mcF9zZWFyY2hfdHlwZT1hbnN3ZXJzLnNlYXJjaF9ubCZwX3BhZ2U9MSZwX3NlYXJjaF90ZXh0PWRybQ**&p_li=&p_topview=1

In the case of Dead Space, they promise on its forum to patch out the DRM when the sale cycle is over. That time is up, but that's beside the point, at least they've made a promise. 2K haven't. And at least I have signal of intent from EA with friendlier DRM systems as actually seen in their games.

And by speaking out against this DRM on these forums and highlighting this issue in an article, I don't know about you but The Escapist is representing real PC gamers' views just fine.

 

[TheSeventhLoneWolf]

Things like SecuROM worry me, not being able to uninstall them and all.