Soooo much BS here

[Raptor Jesus]

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/01/pc-gears-of-war-drm-causes-title-to-shut-down-starting-today.ars

This is complete bullshit. How could they make a mistake this big? Also, why hasn't it been fixed? This should be one of their top priorities to fix this. How hard can it be to change one tiny value??

Looks like pirates win again against DRM.

[xbolt]

...

http://shawn-knight.net/photos/truckoffail.jpg

[Doom_Dude]

Wow... major fail. Thanks for the link Raptor, added to my MGE news post just now.

[Raptor Jesus]

Thank GMan. He sent it to me on MSN.

How many more years of this bullshit do you think we'll have to deal with until they realise DRM is complete bullshit that only effects the people who give them money?

[g6672D]

They keep shooting their feet. Sooner or later, they either stop doing that, or they bleed to death. :)

I'm interested what the cert is used for. In any case, it cannot "simply be changed" because it invalidates. In the meantime, just do the date thing if it means so much to you.

[Nomad]

Welcome aboard the failboat, Epic!

[FATAL]

What you turds need to learn is not to buy any games that use any kind of online checking or otherwise intrusive DRM no matter how delightful it might be.

[CrazedImp]

This is stupid. Just let me buy my game, put in a CD-key to install it and then never have to see the disc again unless I want to reinstall and no online activation junk.

[Darkwave0000]

Hmmm.
I am not understanding the concept standing behind DRM for computer games. Aren't pirates immune to DRM while the paying player is affected? So would not DRM techniques like this increase piracy, probably, since pirates do not worry about these events?

[Raptor Jesus]

Pretty much, Darkwave. We should all send a letter (letter, not email) to all the major companies (especially EA) and try to prove this fact to them. They won't listen to falling sales. They'll just blame pir@s like that did in the first place and put stronger DRMs. If this rate stays like this, in 10 years, you'll have to have an EA employee standing over your shoulder to play the damned games.

[ghost]

Oh the irony!

I still think as of now, Steam is the best method of overcoming pirates, albeit there are still problems with using steam, arrrrrrrrrr!
Funny how when people are so caught up into making money, they are virtually blind to simple solutions, lol. You would expect university educated, la-de-la workers/bosses/companies to come up with better solutions and perhaps tolerate compromises and sacrifices.

[Giftmacher]

People are getting so idiotic with these DRMs that now I think they just deserve to have their games pirated, it's putting so many stupid, needless inconveniences onto the shoulders of the true paying customers.

That's just Asinine!

[Aliotroph?]

This is where I feel obliged to point out how Bethesda's games are pretty hassle free. :D

[Raptor Jesus]

THIS JUST IN! According to OXM, GoW2 won't be coming to PC "due to piracy"!! God damn pir@!!! stole my vidja games :C

[ghost]

Lol. The perfect fool-proof plan.. Soon.... ALL of the video games will be withdrawn! Soon, there will be nothing to pirate, you pirates! *diablo* MWUAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAZZZZZZZZ! *cough*

That's bad. Can't they face the fricking truth that any programs and games can be hacked?!?! Technology and computing skills have advanced so far, it's impossible for anything to not be cracked/pirated. Shame on you Epic(Fail)!

[Nemesis]

What you turds need to learn is not to buy any games that use any kind of online checking or otherwise intrusive DRM no matter how delightful it might be.

Like Steam.

Honestly, I got a chuckle out of this. I also laugh heartily when I talk to people who've found ways around both SecuROM (which is what GoW on the PC uses) as well as games that require Steam.

Now all I'm waiting for is someone to crash/hack/infect the Steam servers, thereby rendering any game using that form of DRM useless, and I can die a happy man.

I know, I sound really hateful and malicious about this, especially toward Steam. However, when someone (in this case game developers/publishers) does something like use DRM and act like 'hay guise u cnt pir8 dis gaem nao kthx' and a pirate finds a way around it and they're all like 'orly', in the end the developers/publishers are asking for it, I think. Tell someone they can't do something and/or will have a hard time doing something and there's always going to be that handful of people who'll prove them wrong.

Honestly, I think this site has the right, better idea:

http://www.gog.com/en/frontpage/

[Giftmacher]

THIS JUST IN! According to OXM, GoW2 won't be coming to PC "due to piracy"!! God damn pir@!!! stole my vidja games :C
Bullshit, that's unfair and they know it. It's probably just a sneaky reason for them to not have to bother with a PC port, since PC gamers officially don't matter anymore. (http://www.eurogamer.net/forum_thread_posts.php?thread_id=137375&start=0)

[Aliotroph?]

I never understood why this screen thing is a problem with 3D games. They all use GL or DirectX. Just gotta change a couple numbers and all is well. Sometimes you can find the settings and hack olde games to support widescreen.

[Giftmacher]

Yeah, but people shouldn't have to screw around in a game's files to be able to enjoy it.

[Aliotroph?]

That's what I just said. The fact that they can should mean that crap should just work without even having to do it, since it's clearly not difficult in most cases.

[FATAL]

Now all I'm waiting for is someone to crash/hack/infect the Steam servers, thereby rendering any game using that form of DRM useless, and I can die a happy man.
How about Valve goes down or gets bought and the servers close permanently.


I'll die in delirium then.

[Falci]

Mark Rein claims the problem isn't DRM... the expired certificate was actually related to the anti-cheat software. :P

Now... if you excuse me:

EPIC FAIL!

I've always wanted to do it! :D

[Aliotroph?]

I heard somebody on a forum (possibly here) claim Gabe Newell is on record saying if Valve ever goes down they'd kill the DRM on their games.

[Potnop]

WHAT!?!? I was playing it like 2 days ago with no problems.

Is this fixed already?

[Mr. Chris]

I am glad I am selling my copy since it didn't want to play due to wanting some updated driver installed, which still asked when I installed said drivers!

Thumbs down for GoW's developer and publisher.

[Potnop]

Heh it's a fun game although I hate the stuttering issues. The solution that everyone says to do makes the game completely unplayable for me so yeah...

And I more than meet all requirements, oh well...

[Nemesis]

How about Valve goes down or gets bought and the servers close permanently.


I'll die in delirium then.

I love that even more. :D

[CrazedImp]

If a company goes under, they aren't going to sit back and tell you "Sorry, you can't play your games anymore". My guess is that before they close everything down they'd change the format of the games so they don't require online activation in the future, so you can still actually play them even after the company has died.

Seriously, the mentality some people have that they will be screwed and can't play their games one day is stupid.

[Aliotroph?]

No it isn't. Several music services have done exactly that to their customers.

[Mystic]

Basically once they have your cash they dont give a rats ass about you, they prove that by inflicting those crappy protection schemes on you.

I still think starforce should be illegal and those dirty scumbags dragged through the courts for making folks dvd writers useless. The Law should at least force them to put a warning on the box if their protection messes your system up or has a time limit hard coded into it.

[Giftmacher]

No it isn't. Several music services have done exactly that to their customers.
Yep, happened to my uncle, right after he'd bought $300 worth of music too. However, I'm confident that Valve will be nice about it and let you play your steam games without steam should they go under. They're nice like that.

[Aliotroph?]

Stuff like Starforce, once proven, is illegal in the US. Sony got busted over the mess they made of people's computers. The Starforce guys got off because they were doing it with a niche thing (in the eyes of politicians).

Things like this make open-source software attractive.

[DaniJ]

I am quite sure that once this sort of thing becomes more common place we'll see XBOX 360 "emulators" for PCs ;)

[Mystic]

Im surprised they dont have xbox emulators already

[Potnop]

Im surprised they dont have xbox emulators already


Really? They don't?

[g6672D]

Steam does not have a universal policy, as some games were not available in Australia, some come with their own DRM and so on. How about conditions of hosting certain games? We don't know.

It's lovely to think Valve will unlock your games, or Epic/Microsoft will re-sign Gears of War when it expires again, or EA will not limit the number of game installs, or WGA's activation servers will stay up, or that Apple will not brick modded iPhones, or that an old game will continue to work under a new platform, or your PVR will consitently record TV shows, or your DVDs will play in any player, or... I think that's enough examples. Why do we still trust these people?! In effect, DRM and/or propreitary software gives a few control over the many, and accepting it says "I want artificial restrictions and uncertainty and I want to be reliant on you to fix any problems that happen".

There's too much to write about here. But they are not the only important people. You also deserve rights, like being able to play a game you bought and fix/improve it if you are so inclined.

[FATAL]

^^^^^^^^^^^^ Is the truth. As Mystic said, there's no reason for them to care about their customers a single bit once they've gotten their product sold.

[Nomad]

False. Businesses would never get repeat customers if they treat them all like shit. The only reason they're getting away with this shit is because of how few choices customers have in acquiring the products. It's either deal with the DRM, download an illegal cracked copy, or not have it at all.

Sooner or later, the customer abuse will come back to haunt them.

[Mystic]

we can only hope. what really annoys me is that some of my recent purchases have that effing starforce but there is no warning on the box ('cossacks 2', trackmania sunrise). One purchase did have a small warning but I never noticed it until I got it home (Imperial Glory)
Yes Ive been raiding the bargain shelf.

[Big_al]

we can only hope. what really annoys me is that some of my recent purchases have that effing starforce but there is no warning on the box ('cossacks 2', trackmania sunrise). One purchase did have a small warning but I never noticed it until I got it home (Imperial Glory)
Yes Ive been raiding the bargain shelf.Been trolling in PC world?

[FATAL]

False. Businesses would never get repeat customers if they treat them all like shit. The only reason they're getting away with this shit is because of how few choices customers have in acquiring the products. It's either deal with the DRM, download an illegal cracked copy, or not have it at all.

Sooner or later, the customer abuse will come back to haunt them.
Oh yeah, but that's only while they're in the business, although even that hasn't stopped EA. Try to get support for any "old" (even around 2000 is enough) EA game and get ready for disappointment.

[REoL]

Times are tough, so they're forcing you to purchase the game every month. :D

Yeah, that was a stupid mistake. Wonder howmany people will stop purchasing their titles? I know it won't be many, but I'm sure there will be quaite a few.

[Falci]

The GoW patch is already out. It's a combinations of the previous ones + the signature fix.

[g6672D]

How long is the signature valid for this time?

[Aliotroph?]

December 21, 2012 or whenever the company gets hacked. Whichever comes first. ;)