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Ubisoft’s idiotic DRM strikes again!
If you were planning to buy Anno 2070, you should know that it is limited to only 3 activations and if you replace your, say, graphics card more than thrice, you can say goodbye to the game.
What exactly is Ubisoft’s thought process behind such a strategy for the PC market?
Yes, we know they have been talking about how piracy is rampant, and how almost “95% of the PC gamers would pirate it” anyway, and other nonsense. This to us, shows an utter lack of respect for the PC market, and while plenty of publishers are affected by piracy, they have shown us that there is a way to succeed and gain a lot of goodwill in the process.
Guru3D found out about Anno 2070′s DRM, Ubisoft’s response to that was… well, terrible.
They said:
“Sorry to disappoint you – the game is indeed restricted to 3 hardware changes and there simply is no way to bypass that. We also do not have 7 copies of the game for you.”
Source: GamingBolt
Origin to power Wii U online
Electronic Arts is helping Nintendo in development of the Wii Uonline service, according to reports, and is bidding to make its Origin service a key part of the upcoming console’s online offering.
According to an EA intern, speaking to WiiUGo, the console’s online service will offer voice and video chat, leaderboards and friends lists. Nintendo has previously said its approach to Wii U online will be "much more flexible," which the source claims is a deliberate attempt to differentiate the service from Xbox Live.
"Many publishers are happy with Xbox Live’s features, but they aren’t happy with how strict Microsoft’s guidelines are," said the source. "Nintendo went with an open, flexible approach to online because when it asked developers and publishers what they wanted in an online service, that was the number one thing they asked for."
The prospect of EA powering Wii U online apparently appeals to Nintendo, too, with the source claiming the company sees it "as an opportunity to rebuild relationships with western gamers because they feel that only a massive western company such as EA understands what is needed to make an online service attractive to western gamers."
Valve is also apparently bidding to make Steam a core component of Wii U online, but the source says EA is "aggressively persuading Nintendo to go Origin-exclusive so they can gain a competitive advantage over Steam."
All of which is to be taken with quite the pinch of salt, of course, but it would go some way to explain Peter Moore’s enthusiasm for the console. In August he said EA was "relieved…that they have made a huge commitment [to online] that they have presented to us."
Source: WiiUGo
Capcom tries to kill used video game sales with the one-save game
The punishing legal users seem never to stop. This is another idiotic idea how to piss off users who really buy games. Introducing – one save per game! Only one play through, one save. Want to play one more time? Go and buy new one! Praise the Capcom gods!
Fortunately it applies currently only to Nintendo 3DS game Resident Evil: Mercenaries 3D.
Read more here:
Buying used video games is great for gamers who don’t want to pay full price for the latest hits. You know who doesn’t like used video games? Game publishers. In a very sad twist, Capcom’s fighting back against the second-hand game market with a game that can only support one save file — for life.
It’s been confirmed that Resident Evil: Mercenaries 3D for the Nintendo 3DS is a game that once finished, cannot be reset for complete replay. According to both the U.S. and U.K. game’s instruction manual “saved data on this software cannot be reset.”
Basically what Capcom has done is make Mercenaries 3D a one-time play affair. Once you’ve unlocked all the goodies and played the entire game, you will not be able to erase the game’s save data and start fresh as if it were a new copy. Consider this: lending Mercenaries 3D to a friend, a little brother or sister will be worthless because they’ll only be able to continue playing the game with your saved settings and create their own.
While it can be argued that used video game sales are actually more damaging than piracy, it’s still a lowball move for Capcom to make, especially with a franchise as large and significant as the Resident Evil series. Will other publishers follow in Capcom’s footsteps to take a stand against the lucrative market of used video games? We really hope this isn’t a sign of things to come.
Source: Dvice
Non-steam Dragon Age II PC DRM has online check
Sad news, all non-Steam versions of Dragon Age II on PC will require an online check “after a select period of days”. But how many days you’ll be allowed to play offline before being locked out, BioWare hasn’t decided.
“We’ll have more info on this closer to release,” posted BioWare producer Fernando Melo on the official forums.
“Not trying to avoid the question, we honestly have not settled on this yet – but also did not want to further delay getting the rest of the information out to you.”
These bespoke anti-piracy measures don’t do a game-disc check and there’s no limit on total game installations. You won’t be able to start and play Dragon Age II on more than five PCs during 24 hours, though – as if you possibly could.
Each time you install Dragon Age II you’ll need to log into your EA account to verify game ownership. BioWare forum members are automatically EA account holders.
“The login checks are light,” Melo added. “It would not be a problem on dial-up, and should not hog up bandwidth or create a noticeable impact on an connection that has a limit imposed by your ISP. You are likely using more bandwidth currently just by surfing on this site.”
In other words, gaming laptops should cope just fine on the move.
The non-Steam PC version of Dragon Age II will also include Release Control: software that stops anyone playing the game before street-date release in their region. Release Control does not install anything to the PC; checks only whether the game’s territorial release date has passed; unlocks the game when that date hits and removes itself afterwards, BioWare community manager Chris Priestly explained.
Steam versions of Dragon Age II use only Steam DRM. Console versions of Dragon Age II use console-specific DRM.
Source: Eurogamer
R.U.S.E. will not utilize Ubisoft PC DRM
Good news, the PC version of R.U.S.E. will not use Ubisoft’s 24/7 always online DRM, instead it will use Steamworks.
Aymeric Evennou, Ubisoft senior community developer, stated on the official R.U.S.E. forums: “When R.U.S.E. is released in September, it will benefit from Valve’s Steamworks API to offer the best community experience to players. Consequently, a Steam account and Internet connection will be required to activate the game, as per Steam policy. For this reason, R.U.S.E. will not use the Ubisoft protection. Single player can be played offline.”
Hopefully Ubisoft will patch all their old games to no longer use their DRM.
In Brazil, users can break the DRM
Brazil just changed it’s approach to DRM.
Under the law recently passed the content provider may not use mechanisms to block access to files, which you can dispose by so-called fair use.
The rules in Brazil are very different from the rules applicable in such countries like the USA. Americans in contrast to the Brazilians may be convicted for breaching security each time in some way to circumvent the DRM locks.
Even if the song, software or the book is its author.
Meanwhile in Brazil everyone can purchase their music or book or software, do whatever they want – of course if they does not break the Brazilian law. It is possible to break the DRM and other activities to which you are entitled under fair use.
Moreover, the publisher, who by the use of DRM restricts users to their right to dispose of the purchased asset, may incur a fine.
Now we can only hope that other countries are going to take an example from Brazil and modify their law in such a way.
Source: boingboing
The DRM Monster
Source: reddit.com
Latest on Sat, 04:44 pm
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: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2521400
: http://login.ign.com/prime/promos/rochard/?display=notAuth
: new indie gala bundle later this week at www.indiegala.com/
: money money money
: can anyone explain what's the friggin' deal with Age of Empires III, a 5 years old game being sold as new @40$/€ on almost every DD platform?
: Facebook is archiving the old Facebook group of ours, here's new one https://www.facebook.com/pages/SteamUnpoweredeu/260963810615450?v=wall
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: Checkout Crytek's GFACE, a new social platform for gaming http://www.gface.com/closed-beta
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: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Jnk8n3WrXU
: new humble bundle live
: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMWW92UhpZs&feature=player_embedded
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: http://www.tumblr.com/photo/1280/epic4chan/15893009078/1/tumblr_lxkmq8V94p1r9t8yb
: http://www.avaaz.org/en/eu_save_the_internet/?tta
: http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/oxzje/official_steam_app_for_android_and_ios/c3l34d2
: there's still hope, first ratification of ACTA in polish parliament and even if it passes european parliament has to vote on it then
: yep, another protest today in Warsaw, and next one during National Stadium opening on Sunday
: So PL actually did sign ACTA? :( Is it right that those guy said sth like "i'll not be extorted by those inhabitants"? o.O
: the next indie royale bundle is live (serious sam indie bundle)
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: 
: http://mygaming.co.za/news/news/31078-valve-developing-steam-for-linux.html
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