News StarForce copy protection blasted

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2006/03/16/starforce_copy_protection/

 

pritty much exactly how i feel.
Publishers will find that if their game has had quite a bit of hype. but totally sucks, there will be lots of people downloading it.
Halflife 2 was available on torrent sites just as easy as most of ther games. But they made a good game worth buying and I dont see them complaining about piracy at all.

The ones who are complaining are the ones that create a failed game, they need to blame their failure to their boss on someone so they blame piracy rather than lose their job over it like they should do.

I personally feel totally cheated when I buy a game that turns out to be crap after it has been hyped so much. Its why i enter betas for MMORPG's to see if they will be worth playing. some are and some arnt. Torrents on single player games are mainly used for that same purpose, to see if its worth it if the game has had mixed reviews.

UT2007 is going to be a huge game, based on the success of UT2004 I dont need to see a demo or download the game illegally. I will buy the game when its out in the shops because I think its worth it.

 

he's hit teh nail on teh head in my opinion...

can't be much true'r.

 

TBH, I'm starting to seriously consider getting pirate games rather then originals for fear of what DRM software on an original media will do to my machine.

 

OMG OMG, HELL HAS FROZEN OVER AND THE SKY IS FALLING!!!!! this is GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!

 

It's just the way it is today, we get sucked into buying a product because the people maketing it and some of the media are saying "oh wow its the best thing ever", we then spend our hard earned cash and its crap...

I don't see a problem with people *trying out* something before they buy it (downloading), then if its a great product then they buy it. It will only benefit us because the people making crap products will either have to get there act together and make a better product or go bust. However, I don't agree with people just ripping everyone off just because they can, wether it be music, films or games.

The consumer is now dictating the market, we've been screwed around long enough TBH. Lets just hope we don't shoot ourselve's in the foot...

Or have we already?

 

Thats exactly my view, I "tried out" Rome TW, really liked it, waited for the Gold Edition to come out then bought it. People don't mind spending thier cash if they know they like what they're getting.

I didn't "try out" B&W 2 before I got it, paid a hell of alot for it and it turned out to be really crap (at least, no-where near the "Best RTS ever" as it was said to be).

Also, there is ALWAYS (almost) a way around every DRM, I've heard with the latest version of daemon tools you can get around starforce, so whats the point in driving up the price of your game by putting draconian copy protection which can be bypassed by anyone but the average joe.

 

I bet you that 99% of the the people who download stuff, no matter how good it is do not go out and buy it.

If you have a game/film/whatever on your computer that is pirated, if you like it are you really going to spend money buying it? Lets face it, if you already got it for free and it all works, why are you going to go and pay £30 for nothing? You're not. If you do then I applaud you but the fact is that most people don't.

One reason Valve games aren't heavily pirated is because of Steam. If other games companies started to use similar systems then I'm sure piracy would fall - especially today where there is a strong emphasis on multiplayer action over the net.

 

Sorry eek, but I think your alittle wrong about steam. Getting around steam is about as easy as spending 5 minutes googling.

And for the record, I am one of those people who download before they buy. Here's a couple of examples:

Half-life 2: demoed, Torrented, played, enjoyed, bought.
SW Battlefront 2: bought, played (barely, wouldnt even run) traded in.
SW Empire at War: demoed, torrented, played, deleted. (too repetative)

and the same gos for movies. I missed seeing Jarhead in the theatres, downloaded it, watched it, and went out and bought it. Same with the first season of BSG. I know alot of people who torrent and then buy to support the developer if they enjoyed it, so I really don't think its fair to say 99% won't buy. Maybe 40-50%.

 

Far Cry, "demoed" then bought.
Movies, they dont need all that copy protection, if you like the movie you will rent or buy it or the HD version. It would take so long to download it wouldnt be worth it to me. I wont touch HD until the format is decided on but there are a few movies I want to see in HD. What Im trying to get at here is that if the content is worth it, then it will be paid for. HL2 was more than worth it for me, FC was worth it, FEAR was worth it. I probably wouldnt have got any of those games, except HL2, if I hadnt "demoed" them first.

And with steam, having your games updated automaticly is nice once your used to it. Thats why I like it.

 

I love StarDock for many reasons; this is one of them. StarDock simply "gets it". They create customer loyalty by releasing great products and actually rewarding legit customers, as opposed to punishing them. *gasp*

I'm glad that this is getting so much exposure. It's about time publishers sat up and took notice of Starforce's effect on their customers. In fact, quite a few studios are already dropping it from their games. For example, while The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind was "protected" by Starforce, Oblivion will not be (according to the devs). The Spellforce 2 demo was protected by Starforce, but the devs assured worried forum-ites that the full game will not be.

Aww heck yeah.

 

Umm exactly how do you get pass personal account authorization such as Steam with 5 minutes on google? Steam varifies every genuine key with an account, if the key is reported stolen with legit proof to back up the claim the account is canceled and the key is made invalid. Steam monitors every account for authenticity cracked accounts are deleted, the only way is to play on private hacked servers. I think eventually all games companies will begin to move towards sustained service and account validation for updates and continued support on products. One day all games will become a service anyway that day has yet to come, there's an old saying that you can cheat the whore but you can't cheat the pimp LOL. The move to towards game service will only become more enphasized as bandwith becomes cheaper.

 

gotta agree with this.

BUT i would also say that those 99% that pirate and do not buy, dont make up a very large number. you see the leachers and seeders on those torrents, they hit what? 250 people? maybe very rarely as high as 1000? thats really not that much considering how many are sold.
its just that those "pirates" always download EVERY new game. so when a game doesnt sell well and the same ammount of pople still pirate it, its like, "WOAH! pirates make up 80% of the people that have our game!!! piracy is killing us!!". its skewed statistics.

 

Whoever says protected cds are hard to copy, needs to take a look at alcohol 120%. I use it to back up all of my (legally bought games) to my HD. At the moment I have 19 virtual drives, taking up about 30Gb of space. The only effective systems are those that restrict online play - it is very hard to get pirate games to work online. Out of 19 games I play, about 3 are pirate, and will be bought soon, because I like the game.

 

I love Alcohol 120%, best thing since cracks. It makes it so much easier at a lan party, you dont have to bring a case full of cd's just your computer.

And the piracy statistics are very skewed, if a game or movie sucks and isnt worth buying or even renting then pirates will be the only ones to have it.

And Kaze brought up somthing that most likely will happen and in a way I hope it dosent, I really like to try out my games before I buy, not just the crippled demo but the real version. HL2 was good enough where I didnt care that I didnt get to try it first but all games are not like that.