More Xbox One Disappointment

Remember a while back I said next gen didn't work properly and it was a big disappointment?  Well yeah, time for more of that!

Although this time it's not really about things that work, we're going to be talking DRM again.  So today I came across an article (which I will link at the bottom) which describes an occurrence that happened during a Killer Instinct tournament.  Basically, during the matches, the Xbox One check in DRM kicked in and just ended the match then and there to make sure that they owned the game that they were playing.  It didn't warn anyone that this was going to take place, it just booted them right out of the game with no regard for what they were doing.

I thought that Microsoft had done away with the check in DRM thing, but it turns out I was wrong.  The way I now understand it is, if you have a disc and it is inserted into the Xbox, then this doesn't happen.  However if you are playing a game that does not have a disc (So anything off the marketplace then), then the Xbox will just boot you out of the game so you can do the little check-in procedure.

If you go click the link at the bottom of this thing and check out the YouTube video in the article, it LOOKS like they were between matches or something, I'm not sure I've not played the new KI, so it looks more inconvenient than anything else, but this might seriously have an impact on Killer Instinct making an appearance at something like EVO, because I'm sure both tournament organisers and players won't be happy if the Xbox decides that it wants to do it's little DRM check during a battle.  I'm sure someone would be pissed if they were winning a match that's stopped due to DRM, then they lose their mojo and get trounced in the re-match; that shit ain't fair.

But even if your not into fighting games or the competitive gaming scene, it's STILL a problem.  Imagine if a little way down the line something like an RPG comes out on the marketplace.  Imagine if this RPG doesn't have checkpoints or something bullshit like that, it just has good old fashioned save spots.  Then imagine if you're doing a dungeon, a long dungeon, maybe the final one, you're near the end and you're having a hard time making it through but just before you can go fight the final boss BAM! DRM check kicks in an you lose all that progress for fucking nothing.  I wouldn't be too happy about that if it was me.

This is even going to have an impact on people who enjoy speed running because during a good run you don't want to have all that effort killed because of something you can't control.  If there are multi platform digital distribution games that look good for a speed runner, they will more than likely go buy it on a system that doesn't threaten to kick you out if you don't confirm you own it every 24 hours or whatever it is.

So yeah, more next generation disappointment.  Microsoft need to sort their shit out, I thought this DRM check in stuff was done with, but now it's here just ruining fighting game tournaments and being a bit of a bastard.

Here's the link to the original article I heard this on.

http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Xbox-One-24-Hour-Check-DRM-Returns-During-Killer-Instinct-Tournament-61114.html

Steam Sale! DRM discussion inbound!

Well shit, I'm surprised it's not started already, I was really hoping it would have happened by now.

Anyway, if you are not a user of Steam, at certain times during the year Steam do this massive sale thing where they will slash the prices of pretty much all their games by huge amounts.  I'm talking about being able to get games for insane things like 75% off the original price, it's a great time to get some cheap games if you're on a bit of a budget.

So I want to take this moment to talk about Steam itself, since there are a number of communities that like to yell "fuck Steam! fuck DRM!" and this tends to people on the other side of the camp getting all overly defensive and everything turns into a massive rage war between the two sides.

Well lets face some facts, Steam is essentially a form of DRM.  You buy a game and you can only use it on your Steam account, you can't lend the games to anyone or even sell them back (although I've heard about people in the EU getting refunds).  If something happened to Steam, you are more than likely going to lose your entire library and all the raging in the world wont return your collection or your money.

So from that brief paragraph describing Steam as a form of DRM you might think that anyone who uses Steam a lot must be fucking stupid right?  Well no, not really.  You see, while there is all these drawbacks with Steam, the software does offer you quite a lot.  It gives you everything in one place and provides a shit ton of feature for connecting with people and playing with friends.  But none of that really matters when you look at the prices of shit on Steam.

If you're willing to have some patience with it, Steam will give you a massive amount of games for basically no money.  Off the top of my head, I can't think of a single game in my entire library that I have paid over £20 for and with the introduction of the Steam Marketplace, I've been able to sell my virtual items and use that money to get free games.

So Steam is essentially DRM done right in a way.  It's annoying that I'm limited with what I can do when it comes to my collection but I paid so little for the 200 games I've bought over 7 years that I really don't care.  As long as you follow their rules then Steam is a great, cheap gaming platform that you can have a lot of fun with for very little money.

Ideally, no DRM would be best but in this day and age we know that's never going to fucking happen, so long live steam and their insane sales!

Unless you're GoG, those guys are great

The Xbox One (Eighty)

We finally have our first blog post that comes with a theme song

Well, maybe only the chorus.

ANYWAY!  News is that Microsoft have pulled the biggest backpedalling 180 degree turn and basically removed their DRM plans from the Xbox One.

So from what I can figure out by looking at various news sites, they have got rid of the 24 hour internet connection things and the limitations on game sharing and used games.

What they have said about the 24 hour connecting thing is that when you first set the console up, you will have to do a online set up thing and after that you can play it on or offline as much as you like.  The first time set up thing still sounds like a pain in the arse for me because those things never go smoothly, but it'll probably be fine for most people.

They have also said that games will work the same way that they do today.  There won't be any of this install the game to the system and then never need a disc again bullshit.  You throw the disc in the tray and play the goddamn game.  When you are done playing the goddamn game, you can trade it in or lend it to a friend or do whatever the fuck you want with it, and that's great.  Also games that you download will be playable offline but you will not be able to share them, but we weren't able to do that with the 360 so it's not so bad.

Finally they got rid of that stupid fucking region lock thing.  Originally they were planning to only allow the console to work in something like 21 countries, but now that they got rid of that 24 hour connecting thing they don't have to do that, so now the Xbox One will work wherever the fuck you are.  However I don't think it means that imported games will work, I think region locking on games is still the same.

So well done game fans, you did a good thing!  All the rage that came from E3 caused Microsoft to take a step back and realise that they can't just abuse consumers like this.  Maybe this outcry will also send a message to publishers that we won't stand for bullshit season pass stuff too!

Of course, the Xbox One is far from perfect and there are still plenty of questions to be answered, but at least this news is a step in the right direction.  Within the space of a couple of news articles I think Microsoft got a lot of people to at least consider buying the thing now.

Why the Sony Used Game Announcement is Sad

Don't freak your shit! I'm not against used games or anything like that, in fact I'm super happy the PS4 is supporting used games, in fact I was happy with pretty much all of those announcements they made at that press conference.

But the reaction to that news struck a nerve with me and while it was good news the crowd reaction to it made me a little upset.

Think about it, used games have been a thing since gaming was a thing, people sharing their collections and enjoying games together or trading in old titles to play the latest ones, it was great.  But it has now gotten to a point where companies have gotten so greedy that they don't want us to do that anymore and they are willing to force any amount of bullshit on us to make us shell out top dollar just to play their games.

The PS4 supporting used games shouldn't have been applauded because it's fucking STANDARD and it's a shame that the industry has got to the point where something as normal as used games has become big news.  You don't see the movie industry desperately trying to stop used DVDs like the games industry tries to stop used games and it's sad.

So good job Sony, not doing this whole used game DRM dogshit, and hopefully the reaction at E3 painted a good picture to the rest of the industry of how that crap will not fly.  Looks like the WiiU, PS4 and PC are the ways to go for this coming generation.

Doing DRM Right

While I was staring at my Facebook last night I came across an article on the PCGamer website talking about a little trick that the developer of a game called Game Dev Tycoon played on it's user base.

For those that want to read the whole thing, you can find it here http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/04/29/indie-development-sim-game-dev-tycoon-gives-pirates-a-taste-of-their-own-torrenting/

For those that just want a quick summary, the deal is that in this game you run a team of game developers.  The idea is that your supposed to make games and make money to build a decent game development company.  At least I think that's how it works, I've not actually played it.  Anyway, the developer released a cracked version of the game to torrent sites where if you had torrented the game, after reaching a certain point all your releases would be pirated, you would make no money and go out of business.

This is fucking DRM done properly, it's not fucking over any legitimate players are is giving hilarious results to those that did pirate the game.  My personal favourite quote from that article was a screen cap of a guy saying "Can I research DRM or something?"

The other awesome anti-piracy measures mentioned in that article was Serious Sam 3s immortal scorpion that will chase you for eternity if it recognises a pirated version.

Although my personal favourite subtle DRM comes from Earthbound on the SNES, where if you were playing a bootleg cartridge it would ramp up the encounter rate and then crash and delete your save if you managed to get to the end.  Hell, even Metal Gear Solids "Meryls codec number is on the back of the box" was fucking genius.

Whats NOT cool is shit like Sim City and other crap "always online" DRM that does more harm to the paying customer than good.  Just look round the internet and see all the people raging at the "always online" rumours that were going around about the next generation systems.  People aren't mad about developers protecting their games from pirates, it makes sense that they want to be paid for their work.  What people get mad about is when we do support them and get fucked over anyway.

So try using these imaginative ways to stop piracy rather than just fucking over entire user bases of people because of paranoia about pirates.  Also, even if something does go wrong and paying customers for Serious Sam 3 somehow got the scorpion, at least you have a hilarious story to tell as you get it fixed rather than just being locked out of the game you paid full price for. 

Always On DRM is Arse

The new Sim City game came out recently and before I even start this post I want to have a little rage about the name.  This is what?  Sim City 5? so why the FUCK is it called Sim City?!  I hate when games do this and it's been a thing for far too long.  Even recently we've had Tomb Raider and Devil May Cry despite not being the first one.  Stop doing this shit, it's needlessly confusing.

Anyway, I felt bad for people who bought Diablo 3 at launch.  Not because I think the game isn't all that great, that's just my opinion but because that people weren't able to fucking play the damn thing because the servers were being overrun with people trying to log in.

So we have a case of history repeating itself, and now there are shit tons of people who can't play their new copy of Sim City because there are too many people trying to log in at the same time, and they are shoved into never ending queues.

What makes the whole thing really bad about both Diablo 3 and Sim City is that these are single player games, and people who paid top price for these games are being fucked over because EA are worried about a few pirates.

They really need to find another way to deal with piracy because at the end of the day, the pirates will still find a way to acquire the game for free and the only people that are being affected by this shit are the people who actually paid for the damn thing.

There is more to the Sim City story than just people not being able to log in, but the big point here is that always on DRM needs to fuck right off.  Find away to protect your games without hurting the paying customer or just don't fucking do it.