News Valve: "DRM damages value of games"

I had some issues with Steam's offline mode being retarded recently.
Was working away from home Mon-Fri staying in hotels and quite often, I'd fire up steam fully expecting the option to work offline.
Click the work offline button and it comes back with a connection error.
Well duh!!??

So while Steam isn't perfect yet, it is very nice to use IMO.
I just hate that some devs are fording more and more DRM crap on top.
GTA4 anyone??
Steam+Rockstar lounge pish+GFWL sh1te!!??
No thanks!

I must say though, judging by the reported reaction from the developers in the crowd, most of them would be happier without DRM too.
Must just be the greed of the publishers?

 

I'm not a fan of Steam either, but at least I can play Steam game offline.

 

Disc check makes me angry. Insert disc, start install, insert further discs if there are any, insert the first disc again to finish the installation, HEY YOU NEED THE DISC TO LAUNCH THE GAME WHY DID YOU PUT IT AWAY? Okay go grab the disc again, play, finish playing and launch another game UH OH WRONG DISC BUDDY

**** that.

 

But it doesn't "just work". Modern Warfare 2 was ripped from steam and cracked the moment it came out. Assassins Creed 2 hasn't been cracked yet. Thus publishers will continue to throw crap at the wall to see what sticks.

 

Steam is pure win, I hesitate to even buy games that are not on Steam.

Steam has helped the PC Gaming genre immensely, one huge example being their sales, where you can pick up 5 games for the price of one.

Gabe Newell for Supreme Overlord!!!

 

AC2 has been cracked. Just not off Steam.

You think that distinction matters to pirates? Or to the publishers? They just want to bleed us dry.

 

I got GTA4 from steam and it still has the rockstar lounge and GFWL, They dont impede on my gaming, i dont even notice them except the initial rockstar 'play' window.

Id rather they werent there but in this case i think people were bitching just for the sake of it.

 

The cracks available are barely functional, letting you play certain sections of the game and breaking if you go into others. That matters to pirates, some of which are lazy enough to just buy it if they can't get it to work for free. And that matters to publishers.

And this is a thread about DRM, not DLC. I don't see how publishers wanting to enforce us paying for a full game they spent millions to create as "bleeding us dry".

 

Ditto until recently they started massively jacking up the price for new releases. Case in point: DoW II: Chaos Rising. £29.99 on steam, £17.99 mail order. Now, why do they need a nearly 50% markup on a system that is virtually overhead-free (yeah, there's server running costs, but compare that to running a shop -- no comparison)? Still, I continue to buy from steam as a first preference, and will gladly pay a SMALL premium for the privilage.

Having said that, I haven't got around to buying AC II yet precisely because it's not currently on steam. Now I hear all these issues, it seems like a bit of serendipity.

Having said that, the AC II problems seem to pale compared to GTA IV's DRM. GTA DRM is, I think, the worst example I've ever seen. Anything that forces a piece of software into my startup tray, and tries to make me log in every time I turn on my computer is BAD. It's a shame I love the game so much, or the I could claim that, combined with the obscenely bad optimisation (I can't max out the settings with a GFX 275, 4GB of RAM and a Q9550!! WTF?) had caused me to boycott the game in a show of consumer protest. I suppose I could always lie...

 

Thing is, DRM of any sort is destined to fail.
It all very well encrypting a game or film on a disk but consumers then need it decrypted to access the content they paid for.
So basically, there is no logical way to protect something using DRM.

 

I cannot buy games from steam dont know why but it just wont let me sigh never mind when I go to my account i cannot login but im already loged in???? why why do things just not work???? Anyway im a fan off what steem can do im not a fan of the way its setup at pressent. To expensive and two many logins. You even need a login to ask for help that was just sad.

 

I don't even see Steam as DRM, its just the best place to buy all of my games.

What I cant stand is games that sell through Steam yet choose to bypass the whole steamworks operation and say, install GWFL or some other awful app/DRM. Only reason I haven't got Dawn of War 2, or GTA 4.

 

Believe me, they aren't. I've a friend who's nearly completed the damn game, and he's cackling about the DRM issues Ubi's facing.

Where did DLC come from? And by bleeding us dry, I meant the price of games. I don't know how long you've been playing (and paying for) games, but they've only gotten pricier with time, and the only thing that's really changed is that they look better and take a little bit of your soul every time you want to get them to work.

Yep

 

? You got freaked over a simple thing? Juts get a No-CD crack or copy the CD/DVD to ISO. Problem solved.

 

+1

 

My hard drive crashed beyond repair the other day (only three months old too) and I had to get a new one and start from scratch. First thing I reinstalled after all the drivers was Steam. Shocked that some of my games are missing from the Steam games list. Aghast that the games will only show up when GFWL is installed. Beyond belief; I hate GFWL - why should I not be able to save games without it? It's not as if the saved games are still there after Windows is reinstalled or did I miss something.

 

+2.

Steam is great when friends list isn't down for maintenance.

i don't understand why Ubisoft doesn't just use steamworks, have to make their own DRM

 

horray for valve!

 

Cartridges > any other format

 

Which is why it's useless as a DRM and simply an annoyance to users, imo.

Hmm, I bet you'd like the format with lots of blowing!

Zing?