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DRM Getting out of control? C&C 4.

S

StruckANerve

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 31, 2008
392
0
Rio Rancho, NM
I have slowly been getting into RTS games. It started with Halo Wars on my Xbox and I have explored from there playing Age of Empires and C&C 3 and RA3. I was pretty excited to try out C&C 4 until I heard about what EA had done to the series which is essentially killing the franchise.

EA requires a connection to their servers at all times to play the game. That includes single player campaign. That means that If I were on a road trip or somewhere where I had no connection to the internet I would be unable to play the game. To me that is far overstepping their boundaries as far as preventing privacy.

The fact that a person would not be able to play content that they payed for is outrageous to me. Some of the stuff Apple does with their hardware irks me but what EA has done is absolutely ridiculous. Anyone else think companies are getting out of control?
 
Ubisoft is doing the same with Assassins Creed 2. So I won't be buying it until a no internet patch comes out from Ubisoft or by some cracking team:p.

Such a shame as I bought Assassins Creed 1 and own several other Ubisoft titles.

Just go back to entering a CD key and being able to play without a CD or internet connection. People whom pirate will still pirate they are just making things more difficult for legitimate buyers. All the games I buy that require a CD to be inserted I just download the no CD patches anyways as I prefer keeping my game boxes stored in file boxes rather than cluttering up my space. Nor do I like having to switch CD's back and forth just to play different games.
 
nmrrjw66 said:
EA requires a connection to their servers at all times to play the game. That includes single player campaign.
Click to expand...

Wow ... I didn't realize that - Ubi is getting loads of bad press, didn't know EA was pulling the same crap. Yes, it is unacceptable.
 
Ubi's DRM is truly awful.

It would make me want to download a pirate version to avoid it, which is kind of stupid of them.
 
I was looking for a good RTS to play on the train (40 minutes each way). C&C was going to be it.

Looks like that idea is out the window.:(
 
This kind of DRM would only make sense if the game in question was something like a MMO or big online shooter.

When it's on primarily single player heavy titles there is no reason for using such heavy handed DRM.


It's bad enough that we can't trade in old pc games in Europe (not sure about USA) because part of the agreement when you install the game in the terms and conditions prohibits the re-sale, so they may be initially cheaper to buy, but with no trade in value they actually end up costing more than console games overall.

And now this ridiculous scenario of always on connection required to play ?

I think they want to kill PC gaming for once and for all.

If EA or other's follow suit - it'll be the death of pc gaming for many.
 
This kind of DRM needs to die now. Still I'm glad that the majority of my PC gaming time is spent on Valve titles and their DRM is nothing more than; online? log in and play. Offline? play.
 
It makes me worry about all the talk of "the cloud" and things like the Chrome OS. Games require you to be online, your OS will require you to be online.

Unless they want to start doling out cheap/free wi-fi, we are going to be screwed.
 
This isn't like UbiSoft's F* in the ARSE method. You had me worried there for a bit, since EA has published some of my favorite games in recent years, so I did some digging.

An online connection is "not" needed in order to play C&C 4. It can be played offline.

"The online requirement is tied directly to your player profile login, stats/achievements, and experience progression. That's it."

The above is a quote from a post by EA on their forum.

If it's like the other recent games, an online connection is required to unlock DLC content, so there's still some limitations, but it's only an initial check. This is how it is for Dragon Age and it seems to be the case for Mass Effect 2 -- which I've not played offline yet.
 
In your dreams. You need a connection to play C&C4. And yes, I just tested it 2 minutes ago. Won't even load the launcher.

If it dies in the middle of a single player game, it gives you some time to get your connection back, but doesn't record any progress you make. That might be what your quote refers to. Which is just another example of how they try to spin this as a good thing. I had this with Ubisoft too. They tried to convince me they were doing me a favour with AC2. No chance. They must think we're all real idiots.
 
In my dreams... That brings me back to my childhood. :)

Well, that sucks! Reading further, I see that this game's DRM is completely jacked.

I'm not buying this game and I don''t want this BS to spread over to other games they publish.
 
Isn't Blizzard doing the same with Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3?

It really gets me that content I've paid full price for (especially for SC 2, where you have to buy 3 $50 expansions to get the whole thing) is being restricted.

A post on the Bioshock 2 boards really illustrated the problem with these ridiculous DRM things.

A day before Bioshock 2 was release, laden with DRM nightmares, someone posted a link to a complete game crack in the main forums to prove a point: The day before the game was released, every single one of their DRM measures were rendered completely and totally pointless. The only people that hit by DRM are the paying customers.
 
MacRumorUser said:
This kind of DRM would only make sense if the game in question was something like a MMO or big online shooter.

When it's on primarily single player heavy titles there is no reason for using such heavy handed DRM.
Click to expand...

I would think those are exactly the titles you would, as a company, want the heaviest DRM on. If there is no necessity to run through their servers then they can't even put a speedbump in the way of pirating or multiple installations.

When you buy software from a company, you are purchasing it with the understanding that you will follow certain guidelines in using it. There is an implicit contract (not necessarily a paper one) being made between you and the company that dictates use of the software. Since so many people don't follow the contract and it's very difficult to enforce, companies are forced to lock things down tighter from their end. Yes it sucks, but what else can they do? We can complain, but ultimately it's their product, their conditions, and we paid for it.

The only thing I can say is: If you don't like it, don't buy it. Hopefully they'll find something that consumers find more reasonable that still preserves their rights as creators and distributors who deserve to be paid.
 
Rule #1, If you don't like the DRM, don't buy the game or any other game from them until they drop the stupid DRM.

Rule #2, goto Rule #1

----

If enough people refuse to buy the game because of their nightmarish DRM, then they will listen. Unfortunately the way it is, 95% of the people will still buy it and the 5% who were the die hard fans, get shafted.
 
I personally don't mind DRM, as long as it's transparent, or offers a clear advantage. So like STEAM as an example, or even iTunes.

I certainly won't buy any game that requires a constant leash beyond a DVD check. I don't mind a log-in, but it has to be optional for the times I have no connection. I recently moved from a place that for 2 years had the most unreliable connection from Time Warner -- much older cabling I guess. It would time-out on me when doing something as simple as sitting in a chatroom in BNet, so games like this one or UbiSoft's vomit would have been impossible for me to play.

I stopped buying UbiSoft's games the other year, because of their attitude towards the Wii, but did buy Assassin's Creed for $5 on STEAM, which really wasn't worth it looking back. And now that they've taking such a ridiculous approach with their PC DRM, I can't imagine every buying another one of their published titles, no matter who developed it.
 
velocityg4 said:
Ubisoft is doing the same with Assassins Creed 2. So I won't be buying it until a no internet patch comes out from Ubisoft or by some cracking team:p.
Click to expand...

The June2010 PCGamer Magazine delivers a rant on the subject (Soapbox, p24). Their bottom line: don't purchase Ubisoft games. If I missed it in another reply, their DRM requires that you maintain an internet connection to play on games with no multiplayer!!

Titles include: Assassin's Creed2, Silent Hunter 5, The Settler's 7, Splinter Cell: Conviction. If good cracks are available, after purchasing, these titles would be candidates. For the sensitive types, this is not pirating. I would most likely avoid purchase in the first place

Although I hate DRM, (when done with a game, I want to be able to sell it) it mentioned that EA is doing it right with Battlefield: Bad Company 2 which gives you the choice between a disk check (not sure if that is online or offline) or 10 activations. Being able to sell a game is why I'd never buy a new AAA game via Steam if I had any other purchase options. My major involvement with Steam has been playing the Half Life series.
 
velocityg4 said:
Ubisoft is doing the same with Assassins Creed 2. So I won't be buying it until a no internet patch comes out from Ubisoft or by some cracking team:p.

Such a shame as I bought Assassins Creed 1 and own several other Ubisoft titles.

Just go back to entering a CD key and being able to play without a CD or internet connection. People whom pirate will still pirate they are just making things more difficult for legitimate buyers. All the games I buy that require a CD to be inserted I just download the no CD patches anyways as I prefer keeping my game boxes stored in file boxes rather than cluttering up my space. Nor do I like having to switch CD's back and forth just to play different games.
Click to expand...

Yet another reason why PC gaming is dying a slow, horrible death. There is always rediculous DRM that only hurts the legit buyers.
 
chrono1081 said:
Yet another reason why PC gaming is dying a slow, horrible death. There is always rediculous DRM that only hurts the legit buyers.
Click to expand...

Aren't you the guy who said this before and when presented with evidence of PC game sales increasing year on year said nothing?

Incase it wasn't; just a few hours ago there were 2,461,458 people playing games on Steam. They're just 1 DD channel out of 18 major ones and that doesn't even include store bought games. PC gaming is dying my arse.
 
nmrrjw66 said:
EA requires a connection to their servers at all times to play the game. That includes single player campaign. That means that If I were on a road trip or somewhere where I had no connection to the internet I would be unable to play the game. To me that is far overstepping their boundaries as far as preventing privacy.
Click to expand...

Guess you never bought Battlefield 2142 ?? EA has been like this for years.

Like many others I like to protect my original DVDs. I've never had an original CD/DVD go bad on me, until BF2142. Bought another after about 8 months away from the game, starts perfectly but crashes as soon as I sign in to their servers. No messages, nothing. The Mac Pro hasn't changed, same OS, the game is unchanged, no more patches. Punkbuster may have changed, but I don't even get to join a game - which is when PB would act up.
This is when you realise how awful EA are.

Ironically, I could get the cracked game off pbay meaning I don't need the DVD inserted, I don't need to be connected to their servers, and I can play all the single player maps. And it's free.
 
MyDesktopBroke said:
Isn't Blizzard doing the same with Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3?
Click to expand...

No...

"In order to install the game, “you need to connect once to install the game,” StarCraft II lead designer Browder revealed. A player will also either have or sign up for a Battle.net account during the installation process."

That's nothing like what C&C4 has.

--Eric
 
Eric5h5 said:
No...

"In order to install the game, “you need to connect once to install the game,” StarCraft II lead designer Browder revealed. A player will also either have or sign up for a Battle.net account during the installation process."

That's nothing like what C&C4 has.

--Eric
Click to expand...

And how many registrations are allowed I wonder? If they are pulling a Valve and attaching the serial number to your account, precluding resale then it still sucks.
 
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