It may sound fair from concept. But we know how these things will work out. Once you give me a little bit of power like this. They go and add things like: 5 installs maximum. No installing on other computer. Gotta install it again for different used on the SAME computer. Can't let your friend borrow it. Internet is down when u go buy your game from the store and now you can't even play what you paid for yet. The concept sounds nice but the execution is always where things go wrong.

Lol somehow i don't think that'll help!

Please... do this. I'm sure SCII will provide amazing online gaming so that no one would want to pirate it.

Unfortunatly, it's going to come down to something like that. DRM results in massive backlashes, and seems to only fuel piracy. CD keys are too easily defeated as well.

I'm not a fan of that game model though, as what happens when the game servers go down after X many years?

I'm not sure what can be done about the PC gaming industry, but something needs to happen soon.

*ah, them a little bit of power.

Would that mean that to play a game regardless of playing multiplayer or not I would have to be online. Cause that would kind of suck if your on a laptop or something.

Makes perfect sense to me. Though really I don't buy PC games because I don't want to bother with installation and setting up games to make sure I get the best performance. I'd much rather just slap the disc in and go.
I'll make exceptions for some games, but mostly I'll just get console games these days.

Games aren't cheaper on consoles and there is hardly any piracy on them, yet we are suppose to believe that it will be different for the PC? Give me a break.

@Phoenix Wright:
Agreed, it'll just end badly for gamers.

queue the "I'm not a pirate but this is horrible!" comments.

I personally don't like the thought on having to log onto somebody's sever to pay my own game. I prefer to be able to play my games where and whenever I want to play them and not just when a certain server is up.

They fix the hacks, hackers rehack. It's how the tech world works.

The only possible thing they could do is force the user to be online or sign in to verify every time they want to play. You need to be online to verify your copy. And even that would be tricky, you may want to use Apple's method of validating PCs so you can only use it on certain comps.

And if they did, do they set a limit on PCs to be used? If they set a limit, will the users revolt (yes, yes they will)

They need a new business model.

That is why no one cared when Bioshock came with all the DRM. It's good to know that people will tolerate a bit of inconvenience for the greater good of... HAHahah... oh, sorry. I tried but I couldn't finish that with a straight face.

It may lower prices, but it's also going to keep some from buying who just don't want the hassle DRM brings with it.

The problem I have with all these online authentication systems is they work just fine until a company goes out of business.

How do you play your game when there's no server to authenticate you? (I'd say before they go under or stop supporting something, the company would release a patch, but how many would really take the time to do that?)

Or you could just use something like Steam.

@Phoenix Wright: With the current PC sales, and rate of pirating, they have every right to implement strict anti piracy measures.

Whats fair? These developers losing millions cause every person with internet can steal your game for free or that they put anti theft protection?

Cause seriously you know what happens if they can't protect their investments? No more games.

I agree that it needs to be secure but they need to find better ways of doing it. The way he brought up is fine unless the company goes out of business. That happens your screwed because you cant contact their server to ask permission to play. We have seen it happen before. Also I call bullshit on the lower price point.

"games hosted on a server that require player authentication in order to play"
> this means you won't be able to buy games but you will only rent them because games won't be stored forever (e.g. EA who stops online support for its games one year after their release).

Quite personally this is the exact shit that is driving folks to piracy.

Its when people who buy their shit proper get one up the bum when all the CP BS screws them over.

Nothing ever becomes cheaper. Nothing.

I would be ok with such a thing if a trust could be set up to release a games drm if the company goes out of business and the server goes black. I have to say, I really like steam and just being able to download and play.

@mrantimatter:

A lot of 8+ year old games don't run in XP/vista anyway, are at least well. I have no idea if this would work, but I do agree that PC gaming is in rough shape.

100% agree, it is killing the PC market, even more so for non multi player games. Some, like the PC Fable, were released a full MONTH ahead of retail.

It's hurting consoles too. Why should I pay for a console game (which costs 10 dollars more then the PC edition in some cases) when I can download it for free? CoD4 alone could have sold atleast 100k on consoles if not for PC piracy.

The solution is no better either. Piracy hurts gamers. WE don't want to be treated as thieves when we buy a legit game. Bioshock and F.E.A.R is the classic example of it screwing over the common buying man with excessive protection, which didn't even work half the time to stop the pirates.

The solution? Either don't make it for the PC (which most developers choose) or use an alternative in which piracy is not an option. Services such as Steam I love. It's hardly intrusive and it simply work. Gametap, a model which offers free games for a moderate subscription, is also a stroke of sheer brilliance that could be huge if it could get some titles exclusive to it. But until developers use steam/gametap measures, the market is dying to the cancer of piracy.

Haha, no.
Steam is the bane of my computer, not to mention...what about those people who either dont have or dont want an internet connection on their gaming machine?
Believe it or not, there ARE still people out there who go for the single-player aspect of games. SOME of us got out of multiplayer back in the 56k era when we got tired of being accused of hacking for the Nth time in Dark Forces II.
And, last but not least, I like having a hard copy of my software. I like knowing that the company cant arbirarily decide to 'stop hosting' a game in favor of newer, more profitable, games.
I like knowing that companies with a reputation for doing whatever they can to make a buck (cougheacough) wont be able to force me to pay for patches in order to even access the content.

Basically, should Chris Taylor's little fantasy come to pass, I'm going to be booting up DOSbox and playing Sword of the Samurai for the rest of my life.

There's no easy solution to this, gamers want full control over a product they purchase, and developers just want people to stop pirating.

If they could find something to lower the effects of piracy it might be for the best. I highly doubt they will be able to totally eliminate piracy from the PC market.

@lonkley:

blank media has gotten cheaper ;)

@Witzbold: Oh please you can not say that this is causing ppl to pirate when only a handful of games have had such strict anti piracy measures. Seriously pc game pirating has been around a long time before any of these measures stopped.

I'm rather sick of copy protection. All it does is inconvenience the paying customers, and NOT the pirates. It also doesn't circumvent anything.

Also, server authenticated passes is a really awful idea. What happens when the server goes down? Or the company goes out of business? Then you can no longer play the game you paid for. And what are the chances that the company would give you a universal key so you can play after they're out of business? None!

Syncrosoft dongles and iLoks are probably the best form of copy protection. I used to hate dongles because they'd take up ports, but you can just get a hub. They sit there, and you don't have to bother with it. In fact, I actually much prefer them since I can install the software on any computer and just carry the dongle with me and use it where ever I go without maximum installs. However, even those are cracked at some point. Still, they're the best method since you don't have to register, don't have to have crappy drivers like starforce or tages ruining your PC, and you don't have to register online or be connected so a program can check your validation.

Its really ridiculous the lengths that are gone to inconvenience the paying customer. It sickens me, and I'm so tired of having this junk clog and fuck up my pc just because some asshole out there is getting it free and without all the copy protection hassles.

Bah!!

@Phoenix Wright: Your excessive use of periods is annoying. Maybe you should cut back. It might help. You know. Make it easier. To read.

It'd be nice if they could create a crack-proof method of playing games, because I hate knowing I spent a good sum of money on a great game while some cheap bastard just stole it, but it's nigh impossible. It'd be nice if every PC developer would offer up something like a 2 hour demo so that it could eliminate fears of wasting money on what could be a bad game (in one's personal opinion), but there are always those jackasses that need that "extended demo."

Secure gaming leading to lower game prices makes as much sense as trickle down economics. Game companies aren't benevolent saints who want to lower prices for the game thirsty masses. If they can increase their profit margin by cutting costs they will.

I'd like to see what kind of economists he's been talking to.

The reason PC games are $40 these days as a starting point is because of competing with the rampant piracy.

The prevalence of the casual game as something studios are leaning to is also due in part to piracy, since you can make your money back on a paltry number of purchasers.

It sounds interesting, but I agree with the first post about installing on a second personal computer, etc. I like digital distribution, but at the same time I do think not having physical copies of my games is annoying. It's much easier for me to pop in a DVD and install fresh no questions asked rather then remember passwords, dig up authentication keys, etc. Parents just need to raise kids to not pirate games : ) Right up there with no drugs.

If its like Steam I'm fine with that, but if they push shit like Bioshock did them I'm just going to pirate it. If you put severe limits like 5 installs with no revoking tools thats just going to piss people off.

they have that already It's called Steam, i remember trying to crack Half Life 2(i bought it used) and it was a bitch and a half, thought i was going to become an anti-DRM activist then i scoured the steam forum sent a picture of me holding up the 5 cd's; the box and the CD key and 2 days later i was a "Free Man" (lousy & corny pun intended)

anyways they do it right, were even if your purchase doesn't contribute to the developers directly (though i did promise to download Ep 1) they'll hook you up.

So farm out authentication to third party servers that won't go down or expire if a company is out of business?

Meh, I don't play that many pc games to begin with so whatever.

I pirate a game when I look at the price sticker, look at the game, and chuckle to myself. Give me epic games and I'll pay epic prices for them. That's just me, naturally.

@Morberis: Not cool, just for even thinking of pirating a game.

All I know is that Total Annihilation was one of the least protected games I ever owned. You could basically just change one text file to be able to play it without the CD. Even so, only one person in a match online had to have the CD.

The best anti-piracy measures in PC games is to limit online multiplayer for pirated users. Games like Battlefield 1942 did this pretty well. The only way to play that game online with a pirated copy was to buy or otherwise obtain someone else's CD key. And if it ever showed up twice on one server it would just get banned forever. I imagine piracy of Battlefield 1942 wasn't as rampant as some other PC games.

Which will just drive more people away from PC games.

Tying the game to online authentification might be a good way, register the user with login password etc. Some how tied to the physical copy of the game.

Quite frankly the biggest turn off is the price of upgrading hardware. PC is going to be a niche platform. It's never going to go back to the fore-front.

The whole premise is ridiculous. Does anybody remember when Command & Conquer came out? And it came with two disks? And the features of the game specifically stated you could lend one to a friend and play against each other?

But hindsight is 20/20. We all know that Westwood was wrong. They should have protected their investment. The simple history of Command & Conquer tells the tale of what happens when you don't!

@dowingba: Online only type games are the easiest to protect, it's those single player heavy games that are hard to protect.

I can't think of a single instance where this type of thing hasn't been eventually defeated by pirates, which only results in more frustrations for the legitimate paying customers.

I think what's REALLY hurting PC gaming is that technically, there IS no platform. You are designing a game for literally THOUSANDS of possible configurations, which adds to QA and Customer Support costs.

This is a band-aid. What is needed is a paradigm shift.

On-demand movies and music are already upon us. It makes sense from a business standpoint to move gaming to a similar model. Steam already illustrates this somewhat, and its success will continue to build momentum in this direction.

Also, people are quick to blame the downward swing PC gaming is experiencing on "piracy", however, the greater culprit is the lack of genre innovation. For every one BioShock there are ten Sims expansions. Innovation is the key to the industry's continued relevancy.

@Asper: So because you can't afford a car or think it's to expensive, it's ok to steal it? What gives you the right to just steal something just cause you don't feel like paying.

Also, the cost of PC games will go UP. They'll need to increase prices to compensate for running authentication servers.

No matter what is done, the paying customer eats it in the end.

Also, many of these companies are wrong saying they're losing sales. People who pirate aren't going to purchase the game in the first place. And I totally agree with Witz that these types of measures are driving people to piracy rather than from.

@Degringolade: So if a game is innovative the pirates will suddenly stop pirating games? Give me a break. If a person pirates games, he will always pirate games. Pirates are not stealing software out of some moral obligation of fighting the system that is not giving out innovation.

@mrantimatter: @Witzbold: Yea, the only thing that will stop piracy is to reduce cost a lot, i would not mind to buy a very basic pc game without box and disc art, and in a gray box with just the name of the game and a basic black a white manual...

FYI steam does have an offline mode for those of you with dialup.

@Kyle81: The fact that the game is simply a game from last year with a few changes is a big one. Why buy the same game but with updated stats?

As with previous comments, the only DRM solution I've seen so far that even comes close to "working" IMO so far is Steam. Anything less will be inferior and insufficient. But again, I echo Witzbold's sentiments: if/when whoever provides the online authentication goes bottom-up, the game will be unplayable unless the developer provides a way to unlock the game for free.

Although if the developer DOES go under, I suppose they wouldn't have any qualms with giving the game away anymore.... interesting thought.