So, Atari has come forward and announced that Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena for the PC is going to come with some DRM. DRM in the form of an activation system. An activation system that lets you install the game as many times as you want on 3 machines, and then it stops working. As you might predict, a lot of people are upset about this.
Atari tried to assure people that it really wasn't that bad, that no one would REALLY need to install it on more than 3 machines anyway, and that anyone who hit the install limit and had a legitimate reason to put it on a 4th computer could call them and get it all sorted out. However, it's doubtful that explanation will appease anyone. PC gamers are notoriously resistant to any form of DRM, especially when replacing a component in your computer can mean using up another game install because the DRM thinks that the hardware change means you're on a new computer.
Atari claims this is to prevent "early piracy", but sadly for them it will probably just result in an increase. A lot of game comapnies have finally realized how much the inclusion of DRM hurts them, it makes me wonder why certain publishers just can't seem to figure it out.
[Via Ars Technica]
Jonathan Ross is an Associate Editor in Los Angeles who is obsessed with capybaras. Like, seriously, obsessed. If he's not playing Team Fortress 2 or getting into arguments about why PC gaming is superior, he's either off having a fancy dinner with lots of expensive wine, or sitting on the Destructoid IRC complaining that's he's not off having a fancy dinner.
Likes: Chrono Trigger, Street Fighter, Steam, everything Blizzard and Valve have ever made, playing Angry Birds on the toilet.
Meet the rest of the team
| BBcode help |
| [b]Bold text[/b] |
Bold text |
| [i]Italic text[/i] |
Italic text |
| [url]http://www.dtoid.com/[/url] |
http://www.dtoid.com |
| [url=http://www.dtoid.com/]Web link[/url] |
Web link |
|
| [img]http://www.example.com/robot.jpg[/img] |
 |
Post a comment! You can also post a photo below:
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
24 comments | showing # 1 to 24
|
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
Comments policy
Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?
Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!
Contest:
3:20 PM on 04.10.2009
| 
Digital distribution only or just forget about releasing on pc in my opinion.
Moronic game companies, on the other hand, do...
They're never gonna get it, are they...?
My days of bying a legitimate copy of a game and then downloading the pirated version of the same game so that I can play it without having to put up with stupidity, are over...
To the moronic game companies:
Make a great game, respect your customers and you're gonna sell a shit-load of copies. It's as simple as that.
Suck less. That is an instruction.
I don't know why people keep overlooking the fact that piracy on a console is much, much easier to do. You just take the console, go to the "chiper guy", pay him 50 Euros (That's less than the price of a SINGLE AAA title, in case someone's wondering), he "hard-chips it" and you're set. Now you can put anything in it and the console will play it. There's no need to know anything, damn, you don't ever need to apply a cracked game patch. Ever. You pop in your pirated game, and, well, you play.
But, I don't see any game companies complaining about console piracy. And make no mistake, "hard-chiping" a console is very, very common...
But, no one is bitching about it... On the contrary, everyone's partying about game sales on consoles...
Mmmm, I wonder why that is...
Maybe, just maybe, when active network connections on consoles will have become mandatory and the operating systems on consoles will have evolved, there will bitching... And DRM. And stuff.
Also, there will be cocks.
Oh, companies. When will you ever learn that DRM is just a shaft in the legit users ass...
If people can get an unrestricted copy of the software for free, why on God's green Earth would you think them more likely to buy it when their rights are being restricted? The gaming industry is every bit as bad as the music and movie industries. If they don't care about the user, why should the user care about putting money into a faceless corporation?
Someone should sit these people down for a chat with Trent Reznor, he seems to have the right idea when it comes to dealing with the internet.
This has me worried, no matter how many promises they make of "Don't worry, guys! We're only as bad as the worst the GOOD publishers attempted last go around!" they make.
World of goo numbers were exaggarated. They said it was based on IP checks, and I contributed 4 of those IP's, from different computers in different locations, but I had actually bought it. (And I wouldn't buy it if it was DRM's, I wanted to support the developers for their vision)
No-DRM may not reduce piracy, but certainly, it DOES NOT increase it (I can't provide numbers to back it up, but there's no reason it should).
As for your deadbolt analogy, it does not work. The hackers remove the deadbolt FOR you, and instance that door millions of times on the internet so everybody can enter. The only people who has to work with deadbolts is the paying customers, and hackers.
But I don't know if it also can solve the drm from game.
there are many tool,such as there is article presents you a easy way, such as Wondershare Media Converter to convert your protected files to DRM-free ones.
here is its info:
http://www.removing-drm.com/drm-tips/remove-drm-protection.html#146