Spore Now With Extra DRM protection (And No Demo)

AlwaysOn222 · 08-15-2008, 03:27 PM

Over at Eurogamer you can read an interview with Spore executive producer Lucy Bradshaw. We learn that there will be no specific demo except for the Creature Creator and that the game will include DRM protection:

Quote:

"We do have copy protection, it is a necessary part of our biz, but we've worked to make it something that does not punish the legit owners," Bradshaw said.

"You need to authenticate once at the first install. This happens online. You can install on three separate computers and you do need to register for the online features."

I wonder why they even bother with DRM anymore? Pirates will break it anyway and the only customers that will be bothered with it is the legit ones. Way to go...

Heretic Machine · 08-15-2008, 04:49 PM

Keep in mind that if you make slight changes to your hardware, you will be forced to reinstall, using up another one of your three installations. The three separate computers comment is extremely misleading.

I won't be buying it.

H.Bogard · 08-15-2008, 04:50 PM

And being able to install on 3 computers at once while playing with online features is bad... how exactly?

H.Bogard · 08-15-2008, 04:51 PM

Edit : Ah... they haven't fixed the hardware changes thing yet? Damn... NoCD FTW then.

Heretic Machine · 08-15-2008, 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by H.Bogard

Edit : Ah... they haven't fixed the hardware changes thing yet? Damn... NoCD FTW then.

As far as I know, they haven't, but it's not like they're talking about a bunch of specifics here. I've heard how SecuROM works in general, and I don't like it, not one bit.

Delenda · 08-15-2008, 04:59 PM

Haven't we known this for months now? And haven't we already had the thread where some people whine and other people tell them to stop whining for 10+ pages?

Fonz · 08-15-2008, 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlwaysOn222

I wonder why they even bother with DRM anymore? Pirates will break it anyway and the only customers that will be bothered with it is the legit ones. Way to go...

They haven't broken the Alone in the Dark SeCurom protection, I doub't they will for Spore, the game auto updates the installer every time you install it. People give the piracy scene too much credit, its not the same as it use to be or ever will be 3 or 4 years ago. I hate DRM but I also hate pirates, the whole argument of people who pirate don't but games is utter BS too.

Of course they wont buy every single PC release, but they might buy a game if there is no other alternative. Not having something easily available on pirate bay for Joe blow who doesn't want to spend 40 bucks on a game will help in sales.

Amalor · 08-15-2008, 05:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fonz

They haven't broken the Alone in the Dark SeCurom protection, I doub't they will for Spore.

Did anyone bother to try to crack Alone in the Dark? j/k

Seriously though I think a dedicated and competent pirate can crack pretty much anything out there. Shame they are using their talents to wreck PC game sales though.

Windsong · 08-15-2008, 05:10 PM

The groups havent cracked Alone in the Dark bc they don't give 2 shits about the game..and neither does anyone else.

Mass Effect and Bioshock otoh work just dandy

walkstheplanes · 08-15-2008, 05:15 PM

I don't plan on upgrading my computer any time soon, but someone, somewhere will be actually impacted by this and that possibility is going to anger a lot of people. Maybe if they bumped the number of installs to 5 or even 10, people would feel a little more secure with their investments.

Evil Avatar · 08-15-2008, 05:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amalor

Did anyone bother to try to crack Alone in the Dark? j/k

I was thinking the same thing. Not really a good stick to measure by.

Delenda · 08-15-2008, 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by walkstheplanes

I don't plan on upgrading my computer any time soon, but someone, somewhere will be actually impacted by this and that possibility is going to anger a lot of people. Maybe if they bumped the number of installs to 5 or even 10, people would feel a little more secure with their investments.

They need to at least have something like Bioshock (after launch, but before they removed it completely), where you could run a utility to redeem an activation before uninstalling. Otherwise 3 seems problematically low.

karak · 08-15-2008, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amalor

Did anyone bother to try to crack Alone in the Dark? j/k

yep.
But the scene moved and where they moved too they don't post half as much stuff as they used to. You can still get the stuff in the same channels.

Chaos Machine · 08-15-2008, 07:41 PM

really no need to crack it when a clone works fine

AversionFX · 08-15-2008, 08:08 PM

Definitely won't be bothering with Spore now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lucy Bradshaw

"We do have copy protection, it is a necessary part of our biz, but we've worked to make it something that does not punish the legit owners," Bradshaw said.

Bullshit. Tell that to Stardock. DRM does nothing but get in the way of legit customers trying to enjoy their product.

Feltoar · 08-15-2008, 08:10 PM

This notion that DRM only hurts legitimate consumers is total BS. I wont deny that it does, just that it only hurts us. Every kid and their dog knows how to burn a CD. If it were that easy to pirate a game the piracy problem would be so much worse. Just because it doesnt totally eliminate piracy doesnt mean its still not acting to illeviate it. There are still plenty of people in this world who want to pirate entertainment and havent even heard of BitTorrent, and plenty more who have who do not know where to download, which distribution to get or how to be sure that the next game patch wont lock them out.

Yes it hurts honest consumers, but it is still effective against piracy even if it doesnt stop it completely. Alone in the Dark appears to be a good example.

AversionFX · 08-15-2008, 08:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Feltoar

This notion that DRM only hurts legitimate consumers is total BS. I wont deny that it does, just that it only hurts us. Every kid and their dog knows how to burn a CD. If it were that easy to pirate a game the piracy problem would be so much worse. Just because it doesnt totally eliminate piracy doesnt mean its still not acting to illeviate it. There are still plenty of people in this world who want to pirate entertainment and havent even heard of BitTorrent, and plenty more who have who do not know where to download, which distribution to get or how to be sure that the next game patch wont lock them out.

Yes it hurts honest consumers, but it is still effective against piracy even if it doesnt stop it completely. Alone in the Dark appears to be a good example.

So misinformed it hurts. Basic protection that eliminates the ability for unintelligent people to simply copy a cd is fine. But forcing online registration and limiting the number of times you can use software you purchased is totally different.

And piracy is so easy it's ridiculous. Every release a group makes has a readme that tells you what you need to do to be able to make use of whatever you just downloaded. So complicated!

Don't post if you don't know what you're talking about, you're just spreading FUD.

divinechaos · 08-15-2008, 10:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Feltoar

Alone in the Dark appears to be a good example.

I think we already settled that no one would even bother with that game. I played the 360 demo and there were SO many things wrong with it.

hotdrop · 08-15-2008, 11:22 PM

I bet the cracking community welcomes the challenge 90% chance they will crack it in a week 96% in 2 and 99% in 3 and probably a 50% chance it will leak out cracked even before its on sale

tombofsoldier · 08-16-2008, 12:23 AM

Yo ho maties!