Electronic Arts now on DRM-free gog.com

[qubit]

I think this will help expand the DRM-free market and having a major publisher on board, known for putting restrictive DRM into their products go DRM-free for their older titles can only push things the right way.

Here's hoping for the day that new A-rated titles will come without DRM one day, but I don't hold my breath.

Click on the pic for the GOG original.

[erocker]

Oh my, I'm going to be broke before my next paycheck!

*You get four free games when you sign up! They seem pretty lame though.

[qubit]

Originally Posted by erocker

Oh my, I'm going to be broke before my next paycheck!

I tell you what, it's Steam that's really good at separating my wallet from my money!

All those deals they have going. Here's my confession with the SplinterCell offer they had the other day:

Splinter Cell 1.69 GBP
Ghost Recon Pack 10.19 GBP (there were 5 games in this pack)
SplinterCell: Double Agent 3.39 GBP
Splintercell: Chaos Theory 3.05 GBP
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction - Deluxe Edition 6.79 GBP
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction - Insurgency Pack 1.69 GBP

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Subtotal 22.33 GBP

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Total 26.80 GBP


...not to mention the various other games I bought recently! Each game on that list was really cheap, yet I spent the same as one full-priced game. Very clever (Steam that is, not me).

[AsRock]

I boy i loved playing Privateer and Crusader. But dayum their old as hell lol.

Like hell they should be giving them away for free too lol...

[Neuromancer]

im buying alpha centauri for shizzle

[qubit]

Originally Posted by AsRock

I boy i loved playing Privateer and Crusader. But dayum their old as hell lol.

Like hell they should be giving them away for free too lol...

Now, there's merit to that give 'em away free argument. But they obviously must update them just enough to strip out the original DRM and make them compatible with Windows 7, multicore CPUs, modern graphics cards etc where necessary.

Anyway, Unreal Tournament is still my hot fave from this era (1999) and it plays smooth as silk on modern hardware. Heck, hardware from 5 years ago could play it smoothly. I do still play it, too.

[Red_Machine]

I don't like the way GOG's heading now. They're supposed to sell old games, but they sold The Witcher 2 at launch. What the hell's up with that?

[qubit]

Originally Posted by Red_Machine

I don't like the way GOG's heading now. They're supposed to sell old games, but they sold The Witcher 2 at launch. What the hell's up with that?

It was DRM-free. That's a big win for all of us. gog.com insist on not putting in any DRM, so that's a significant positive shift in the industry.

[FordGT90Concept]

Originally Posted by Red_Machine

I don't like the way GOG's heading now. They're supposed to sell old games, but they sold The Witcher 2 at launch. What the hell's up with that?

The Witcher 2 GoG was DRM-free and, as of 1.1, all versions of The Witcher 2 are DRM-free. I suspect the decision to release on GoG caused all versions to move to DRM-free.

I'm eyeing a few titles on GoG that the DRM forbids them from running on 64-bit OSs including XIII and Beyond Good & Evil.

[RejZoR]

Originally Posted by Red_Machine

I don't like the way GOG's heading now. They're supposed to sell old games, but they sold The Witcher 2 at launch. What the hell's up with that?

That's because developer of the Witcher is the same company as the one running GOG webpage. As far as i know...

[FordGT90Concept]

You are correct. GOG.com is owned by CD Projekt and CD Projekt developed The Witcher and The Witcher 2.

[AsRock]

Originally Posted by qubit

Now, there's merit to that give 'em away free argument. But they obviously must update them just enough to strip out the original DRM and make them compatible with Windows 7, multicore CPUs, modern graphics cards etc where necessary.

Anyway, Unreal Tournament is still my hot fave from this era (1999) and it plays smooth as silk on modern hardware. Heck, hardware from 5 years ago could play it smoothly. I do still play it, too.

Ok thumbs up to GOG and thumbs down to EA for selling games near 20 years old.. If EA's asses get any tighter they be totally constipated.

But sure it's nice of EA to remove DRM, but to be honest i was hoping it was with newer games.

[RejZoR]

Well, i don't mind paying again for the old games if they are properly supported on modern systems. I've made few compatibility patches even for EA games (NFS3 and NFS4) and creating them is not easy. So that does add some extra cost. And my patches were sort of hacks and i released them for free. What GOG usually does is full proper support. So that's kinda understandable really. Besides, all games on GOG have a price tag, not just those from EA.

And again, even EA is giving away games for free. NFS World is free to some level and they also released many C&C games for free (original C&C, Red Alert 1 and Tiberian Sun). So EA isn't always pure evil. They also do good things here and there.