Anno 2070's Draconian DRM: Guru3D's Graphics Card Review Killed Off

[Easy Rhino]

oh hey look, another thread where people bitch and complain.

[ViperXTR]

Rayman, FarCry 1, Sands of Time, Warrior Within, Two Thrones (Starforce) good tiemz

[ET3D]

Game developers would be better off just making their titles worth buying

It's not the developers who demand the DRM, it's the publishers. It's unfortunate that people don't make this distinction.

Regarding the DRM, Ubisoft should take a clue from Microsoft. Just changing a single piece of hardware shouldn't cause a license problem. I changed graphics cards twice and the CPU and Vista didn't even blink. I once changed MB+CPU+graphics on XP and had to call Microsoft, but that was sorted out without a problem. People should be allowed to change any number of graphics cards without this requiring a new activation.

This DRM is basically equivalent to renting the game. You know that at some point in the future you will no longer be able to play it. Many gamers upgrade often, and for them that time will come sooner. At least provide a way to deactivate, like Mass Effect did. Not perfect, either, but I can accept it better.

[qubit]

Originally Posted by ET3D

It's not the developers who demand the DRM, it's the publishers. It's unfortunate that people don't make this distinction.

Regarding the DRM, Ubisoft should take a clue from Microsoft. Just changing a single piece of hardware shouldn't cause a license problem. I changed graphics cards twice and the CPU and Vista didn't even blink. I once changed MB+CPU+graphics on XP and had to call Microsoft, but that was sorted out without a problem. People should be allowed to change any number of graphics cards without this requiring a new activation.

This DRM is basically equivalent to renting the game. You know that at some point in the future you will no longer be able to play it. Many gamers upgrade often, and for them that time will come sooner. At least provide a way to deactivate, like Mass Effect did. Not perfect, either, but I can accept it better.

I agree with your post - Ubisoft should be reasonable the way Microsoft are and there would be no problem. I myself have activated Windows many times over the phone just fine.

However, for your first line, really it doesn't matter who demands it, the end result is that the customer is stuck with DRM, so the distinction isn't all that important. I wouldn't buy products with such DRM, regardless of whether it was the publisher or the developer that demanded it.

[xenocide]

I acknowledge the problem is with the Publishers, but Developers need to start throwing their weight around, and stop allowing Publishers to completely control them.

[ET3D]

I think publishers usually have the developers by the balls, unfortunately. I agree that in terms of boycotting a DRM it doesn't matter if it's the publisher or developer who wanted that DRM, but it's still better to put the blame where it should go.

[DannibusX]

Most developers that I can think of really can't throw their weight around, after all they're wholly owned subsidiaries of the publisher, or the publisher is funding their entire project.