EA Copies Ubisoft's Restrictive Internet DRM
Command & Conquer 4 "has no DRM," except for Internet-required DRM.
It's no secret that Ubisoft's latest DRM scheme isn't one that's garnering any fans. The requirement for a constant and stable internet connection constantly for one to play Silent Hunter 5 or Assassin's Creed II or the upcoming Splinter Cell Conviction means that gameplay can be halted with any break in connection or fault on Ubisoft's end.
Despite the public backlash over this system, it seems that it is gaining some popularity over at EA. In a forum post by a C&C Community Manager Apoc, it was revealed that Command & Conquer 4 "has no DRM," but gamers must be connected to the internet. Check out the post below. (Emphasis added by Tom's Hardware.)
First thing to be clear about, Command & Conquer 4 has NO DRM. Zip, zero, zilch, none. We already made this clear.
Second, you do not need the disc in the machine to play Command & Conquer 4, however the following is how it works:
-AFTER you install Command & Conquer 4 with the disc on your machine, when you try to LOGIN at the Launcher for the first time, it will ask you for your serial key. You will enter in your serial key to activate your Master EA Account. The serial key, like in our past games, can only be activated for 1 master account. You cannot install multiple EA Master accounts on one serial key. You can create multiple Commander Personas however, so if you and your brothers each want your own Persona account with experience, etc, you can do that. Just has to be under the same Master EA account as in our past games.
-You can install the game from the disc as many times as you want on any machine. Re-install, etc.
-You do not need the disc in your machine to play. Your EA account just needs to have been activated by your serial key. After that, you can play Command & Conquer 4 on ANY MACHINE that has it installed. All you need to do is login.
-To play Command & Conquer 4, the computer needs to be connected to the internet. We've always made that clear as well.
So there ya go, no DRM, no disc in the drive necessary, just activate your account with your serial key and presto, you're ready to go. It's actually much easier than before.
It does appear that the internet connection is required to authenticate upon program launch, so it's possible that the game can continue being played even if the master server or your internet connection dies. We've contacted EA for clarification.
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- copy-protection ,
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- c&c
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These money making corporates *** !@*!*@*!@#*!*# !#* !#*!#*! *!*#!*#!@*#@!*
How can they claim to have no DRM, yet insist you have to be on the internet to play?
I wonder if you can log into your master account at the same time off 2 boxes? I know from the old games with 2 disks it was possible to get some nice small scale lan games going using the 2nd PC in the house
Personally I'd take internet "DRM" over having a disc in the drive any day
I wonder if you can play withthe disc in if you have no internet...
These money making corporates *** !@*!*@*!@#*!*# !#* !#*!#*! *!*#!*#!@*#@!*
Uhmmm you expect them to develop these games for free? They have every right to protect their intellectual property and prevent piracy. Unfortunately piracy has forced companied to impose more and more restrictive DRM which adversely effects paying customers.
Don't get mad at the companies, get mad at the pirates
The way EA imposition of anti-piracy protection is rightful and but Ubisoft's isn't, why? Because Ubisoft "makes" the consumer to be connected to internet at all times while playing the game which may not be possible for some, thus making the fun spoiled. C&C 4 as far as I understand require just "1" time of connection which is in the beginning of the game that "should be" fair to the buyer. Other than that, making some criticism about protection trials are nonsense IMHO. On the other hand, it will eventually decrease official n. of sales since it still requires internet connection, which EA've taken into account.
The way EA imposition of anti-piracy protection is rightful and but Ubisoft's isn't, why? Because Ubisoft "makes" the consumer to be connected to internet at all times while playing the game which may not be possible for some, thus making the fun spoiled. C&C 4 as far as I understand require just "1" time of connection which is in the beginning of the game that "should be" fair to the buyer. Other than that, making some criticism about protection trials are nonsense IMHO. On the other hand, it will eventually decrease official n. of sales since it still requires internet connection, which EA've taken into account.
This has only a small amount to do with piracy, there are easier ways to cripple pirated versions of the game, like reducing levels without correct registration ect, look at Batman Dark Asylum pirated copies cannot get past a certain level.
No this is also about protecting themselves from competing against thier own products in teh second hand market where they gain no income and the second hand product of thiers is cheaper.
i dislike this direction totally and am now only supporting sensible developers.
Look at Civ 4 no crappy drm there, sure its pirated sure its sold second hand, but I paid full price happy to support them, good game good customer ethics, and I will carry on paying full price for developers like that!!!
Maybe it would matter if C&C4 wasn't such a horrible game. They've completely ruined the franchise by removing all the best/core parts of the game, ie. Base building, harvesting, and lots of units.
Sucks so much!
Maybe it would matter if C&C4 wasn't such a horrible game. They've completely ruined the franchise by removing all the best/core parts of the game, ie. Base building, harvesting, and lots of units.
I agree, Red Alert 2 and Tiberiam Sun were the best two games in my opinion (while westwood was still in charge oddly enough). Its all very well trying to update the game and keep it feeling fresh but changing the whole core gameplay defeats the point of a game being a sequel. Your only meant to update and add new features, remove ones that didn't work, not change the whole game.
I think something needs to be done about the second hand market, i used to work for GAME in the uk. if a customer came in and traded in a newish game that looked like new, we where made to sell it as new, which i think is just wrong when you consider that we would only buy back the game at less than half price.
I am sure this happens a lot.
now i only buy games full price from shops if they have tamper proof plastic on them like new ps3 games.
i think game publishers should make shops sell games full price only if they have tamper proof plastic around them otherwise they should be sold as pre-owned.
my net is often too bad for me to be buying such games
I don't always wanna be connected to the web to play games, ASS!!
I understand they wanna protect their software, but surely there's another way.
This sucks, i was just really getting into PC Gaming again with my new AM3 Rig, and so far everything i've played has run really well, i was itching to see what Conviction and AC2 would run like on the PC, luckily Mirror's Edge doesn't have the DRM, but this will put me off buying those titles unless they remove the heavy restrictions.
If this particular drm trend carries on in PCs and consoles remain pretty much free of it then Im pretty sure it will kill pc gaming this time. I know people will reply that every so often people complain something will kill pc gaming and it hasnt happened yet. DRM and console gaming has seriously affected it. PC gaming is ill. This DRM trend will send it to its grave if its not checked and if consoles remain pretty much free of it so people can still consistantly swap their console games so cheaply through legal outlets that it makes no sense to be limited by pc games.