DRM has been a continuing subject of controversy for the past year, with many publishers persisting with the use of anti-piracy measures despite their ineffectiveness and tendency to piss off the legitimate consumers. If the words of an Ubisoft community rep are correct, however, then it would seem that Ubi is taking the plunge and releasing Prince of Persia without DRM for PC.
The subject came up on the Ubisoft forums, where a number of gamers asked after the anti-piracy measures that Prince of Persia would be using. Representative "UbiRazz" addressed the concerns, claiming that PoP would not ship with any nasty surprises.
"You`re right when you say that when people want to pirate the game they will but DRM is there to make it as difficult as possible for pirates to make copies of our games," UbiRazz explained. "A lot of people complain that DRM is what forces people to pirate games but as PoP PC has no DRM we`ll see how truthful people actually are. Not very, I imagine."
If this person is correct, then PoP will certainly represent a moment of truth for PC gamers. Will the old "I would buy this game if it didn't have DRM" argument be honored, or will piracy rates for Ubisoft's latest title be just as high as any other? We shall see.
[Thanks, Spartan]
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
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Contest:
8:28 PM on 12.11.2008
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Shame its another shitty Ubi port that crashes every 15 minutes.
You shouldn't boast about being free of something that shouldn't have been integrated to begin with.
Not saying Ubisoft is breaking about it, I just kind of see a trend emerging here.
Aaaaaaaaaaugh. This is the problem. This shit right here. DRM does NOTHING to prevent piracy. Nothing at all.
I'd feel differently about the DRM situation if it actually kept games from being pirated, because then there would be a semi-logical reason for including it. But the simple fact of the matter is that it DOES NOT WORK.
I have it, it has no issues at all.
The hardcore pirates will still download it claiming:
1. It is too expensive
2. There is no multiplayer or I don't buy single player games.
3. This game sucks, I won't pay for it.
In other words, the hardcore pirates are assholes
Ironic. It sucks but they still play it. I also like how a bunch of you just comes by, say PoP sucks when the topic is more about DRM and piracy than the game, and vanishes into the night.
something about the line "well see how truthful people actually are. Not very, I imagine" tells me ubisoft may not have the publics interest at heart here.
? What are you talking about? lol. If you are mad about the statement I made above ask yourself "Will it get cheaper if the pirates stop?" I can answer that for you and that is no... no it won't.
Already said, but yeah, that's really it. DRM is not related to piracy, despite that being the official stance of why it's there.
why?
Think what you want of the game, but I'd figure everybody here would agree that this is a good thing and a step in the right direction. Ubisoft has been a tad harsh with the DRM trend, right up there with EA.
This is a ballzy move, seeing as most "DRM free" games are not usually this high-profile. It also demonstrates that Ubi is willing to show some respect to gamers; all that's left is to see if their money is where their mouth is.
If they REALLY want to judge whether DRM-free is the way, they need to do it on different games of different genres then look at the results collectively.
If they have any brains at all, theyll come to the realization that they shouldnt bother with DRM because, well, it does nothing. Except maybe make a few legal customers say 'fuck you' and get on the torrent sites.
This is how PC gaming should be. Not only is it DRM done right (ie, not at all) but it is a damn fine game to boot.
It will still get pirated to hell, that's a sad fact, but the port is good, so good that it runs better on PC than on console, as far as I can tell (higher resolution and framerate etc).
- No DRM
- You can get the game for $30
- It's a fairly good port with a few minor issues
- Destructoid gave it a 9.5/10.
- Did I mention it was one of the best games this year with no DRM for $30?
The port controls perfectly and the frame rate for the most part is really smooth. The only problem I've found is that there might be a minor memory leak. After 2 hours I had to restart the game because it got laggy. It was back to normal instantly though. I made a post about it on the official forums so hopefully it gets patched.
Buy it people. Support the developers. When they come up with a really good product that is hustle-free, I see no reason not to buy it. Well, besides not liking the game that is... :/
It's a nice idea, but this game will still be pirated.
The only close-to-scientific-method to tell about the effects of DRM on sales is to pit one group of similarly priced, similarly scored games against another, and you'd need to have more than a handful of games to make your results statistifically significant.
That was a funny little rant :)
DRM will never stop pirates. If you can find a way to make it, some one else can find a way to break it, and that will always stand true. The only effect DRM really has is limiting the enjoyment of legitimate consumers and making them feel like criminals even though they actually purchased the title!
Nope. Like all other pirate excuses, it's just a way for them to avoid mentioning the real reason they steal games: They simply want them for free. Cognitive dissonance does wonders for some people, I guess.
Anyway, you'd have to be a total jerk to want to steal a highly reviewed game that's only $30.