At GDC, GamesIndustry.biz had the opportunity to talk to EA Labels president Frank Gibeau about SimCity and its always-online requirement, which caused a considerable amount of grief to many players at the game's launch. Gibeau acknowledged this, but insisted that what SimCity had wasn't DRM.

Welcome to DRM, a regular look at the ongoing war against piracy.

Their message is clear: What happened with SimCity is not okay.

A couple weeks ago, the SimCity gang at Maxis held an AMA at Reddit. That may not have been such a smart idea. They don't like DRM over there, for any reason, and SimCity's gonna require an always-on Internet connection to play it, in any mode. It's no surprise that this comment, a compendium of anti-DRM remarks, was…

Game Maker is a useful tool for indie developers, allowing them to craft simple games made from 2D sprites. Over the weekend, it got a whole lot less useful, as the program's digital rights management system went haywire, branding many people's artwork with a giant skull and crossbones.

Earlier this week, Hotline Miami released and very quickly became the indie flavor of the minute. Then the story emerged that the game's maker went into the forums at The Pirate Bay, home of, well, pirates, and provided technical support to people who were, technically, stealing the game.

For the last few years, Ubisoft's attempts at battling piracy have been something of a running punchline, seeming to achieve little but annoy the company's actual paying customers.

There are a few dozen games in our home that I haven't really ever been able to play. The same goes for my spouse. It's not a lack of interest, time, or ability that keeps each of us from experiencing these games; it's Steam. Although Steam is hardly the only culprit, of course. Origin now plays the same role, as do…