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Steam usually offers the same prices as the local stores, but success lies in keeping your eyes open for the better deal, as always. To return to an actual DRM title, AC2 is 49,99€ on Steam and around 30€ in one of the stores I know. The Orange Box cost 15€ in the same store when I bought it, and went down to 7-8€ the following month (it's still 22,99 on Steam). So it seems prices are relatively low around here, compared to "global average", but I think it's a new phenomenon, most people are not aware of it yet. |
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I'm talking more about making a trend out of owning the original box... distributed by the game company and it's publisher. They could even put something on the box as a nifty proof that you own the legal copy(like those 'holograms' on money bills/credit cards/passports) ... I'm just saying that with proper marketing and planning, this could actually maybe work. This idea mostly stems from this thing me and a friend had, where we both kinda competed who had the most original items. So amongst us, pirated games were sort of taboo. If people could make this work on a global plan, then things like the dreadful DRM and shit could be set aside. |
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I think the amount of people who still want their games in original cases isn't big enough to warrant a marketing strategy like that. If anything, digital distribution is getting a very good foothold on the market and more people are using it every day.
Over here we also have a dedicated video game store where you can trade in used console games and use the money you get in return to buy a new game. They have a huge amount of second hand games for dirt cheap prices. And you get to save up points every time you buy something and when you have enough you get a €15 coupon. That store + Steam has pretty much made me turn my back on every other store where I used to buy my games. :
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One could maybe receive something nifty even with online bought games... Say a little card or a small gift. But it would of course be country restricted as shipping costs a lot.
And for each card/thingy you receive, you receive points which you can redeem online. There are lots of possibilities, and you never know until you actually do the research. Which is I think jumping directly to something like DRM is bad. They should really try to reward honest buyers, rather than punishing them. DRM is just the most easy to use and most cost effective I guess... I mean no necessary market research there, and no need to change plans too much. |
Legal buyers already get rewarded by being able to play online, use the achievement systems, unlock new items, etc etc.
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And I've read that Ubisoft offered a free game of your choice (from 4 options) if you buy AC2, as a compensation of sorts for the servers being down. Though I don't know how this helps those who suffered from the server downtimes, seeing that they already possess the game. That's "legal copy rewarding" for you...
EDIT: Cancel that, it's actually those people already possessing a copy of AC2 who are supposed to receive e-mails which enable them to download one of the four games for free. Then again, I've seen on some forums that not a lot of people have seen these e-mails yet. |
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IMPORTANT EDIT: I'd like to point out that I got this posrep from Havoc for this post; "God, you're a dense troll..." Which is a bit daft really as he was trying to troll me, and instead of providing any valid input keeps making up facts. What a complete bitch eh? |
In addition to what happened a few weeks ago, when the AC2 servers went down, blocking everyone from playing the game, a software bug is blocking legitimate Australian owners of Settlers 7 from verifying themselves.
Havoc, do you still think that this form of DRM works? |
I believe that of all the methods of DRM that have been tried so far, this has the most potential to actually work. Keep in mind that only a few game developers have dared using this method, it's no surprise it won't be without hiccups. And a bug is a bug, it's not supposed to be there. There are plenty of bugs in games without DRM too.
In the past few weeks I've played C&C 4 and Settlers 7 a lot and only once did I have a problem where Ubisoft's servers were down for like 15 minutes. I call that a good record for an experimental method. If this method is invested in (read, adapt the server for this specifically so they don't go down anymore) then this will be the future of PC gaming. Like it or not. |
Yes, it has the most potential to work. But it has the most potential to go cock-arsedly wrong. What they're essentially saying is that the minor amount of money they'll save due to a reduction of piracy is worth more to them than an acceptible customer experience.
They're a business, that's their choice to make. I just don't have to agree with it. |
The permanent connection thing is crap IMO.
Though I did get myself an original version of Assassin's creed 2, 4 days after release. |
So... What about when/if Ubisoft disappears from the market and stops all support for the games?
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They release a patch to disable the DRM?
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What if, what if...
If they don't you can hack away for all I care. And write a complaint while you're at it. |
Someone's grumpy today :)
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Not more grumpy then usual. :p
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Although i support the idea of an uncrackable drm, I don't approve of ubisoft's approach. Games have to have to be "run as administrator" in order to be able to make saves and update themselves etc. So, when a game has unlimited access to the internet, privacy becomes an issue. There have been games that look at your computer's memory to check if you are using any cheats. This drm allows companies to see what you run on your computer, the websites you are visiting, even the contents of your hard drive. Not to mention any security holes they might create for hackers to exploit. This drm is not only offensive but also dangerous. That said, i did buy AC2 because i like the game, but i don't support their decision.
Steam's drm, or a drm that needs an encrypted usb key are far better. :
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*Or equivalent directory names in Vista/7 |
leocrow, why would they care what you're running outside of your game?
Aside from cheats |
I think I may have adult-ADD.
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Or to check if you run any software they don't like (clone cd etc). Or to see what type of users play their games. Or to check if you have illegally downloaded any other of their games. Do i need to say more? I can! :
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No chance of me reading all that. Nope.
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Also it was too long and I don't care.
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With as much info people put of themselves on the internet(And im not even talking about pics, and personal info, but rather what browser version you prefer, what plug-isn and what skins as rarely do two people have the same exact stuff), it is really easy to do pattern recognition for certain people. This could come it handy both for us, and other companies, but put in the wrong hand it may not be so good. Who knows. |
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I am not saying that Ubisoft is doing that, but this DRM opens the door for them to do anything they want. Don't ignore the facts just because they don't agree with your world view |
What the fuck is wrong with you, they're collecting data for perfectly reasonable purposes... Why do you even care, it's anonymous...
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Far from reasonable and the worst part is that they don't care asking you before they do it. they believe that it's better to appologise than ask for permission (and ofcourse, they don't even apologize, they just hide an option to disable it, but it doesn't stay disabled if you go to another computer).
Anyway, i've stated my opinion and the facts that support it. Ignore it if you wish or learn something from it. Either way, i've done my duty |
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FREE SHIT FOR EVERYBODY! CORPORATIONS NOW CHARITIES AM I RIGHT BITCHES?!
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Well... To use a product one must agree to their terms, whatever they may be. If you don't agree, simply don't use it. Make your own web-crawler.
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Not quite true, you agree because they tell you you can disable it BUT they don't tell you that you have to disable it for every account you have, on every browser you use, on every computer you use and every time you clean your cookies. It doesn't stay disabled.
Anyway, to get back to the topic of the DRM, nowhere in ubisoft's eula does it say that they have the ability or right to spy on you. In fact, you can't read the eula untill you buy the game but after that, you can't return it even if you don't agree with it. So, it's not really a choice |
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However, all these EULAs can probably be found online. It's not their fault people don't do the necessary research before buying their games. You already know what UBI's DRM is about. Either you buy it, and agree to only being able to play it when they allow you, or you simply don't buy it. Same with google. If you don't like that your stuff is getting logged, either secure your browser better or don't use it. |
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In fact there was a company not too long ago who did almost exactly that. I believe that they changed their terms on April 1st to include this: "By agreeing to these terms you sell your soul to this company." They were trying to prove that no one reads the damn things and no-one did. Two weeks later they offered everyone who sold their soul to them to get it back for free. |
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However it's most likely also because of the extreme length and difficulty of the language. Sometimes I think it should be a law to keep these things under a certain length and to use more understandable language. Or have a short version of it. It's kind of unfair to people who just wanna use a product. But it's really a fine line between it being their product, and being their say how they wanna present it, and how they'll allow you to use it, and the average users feelings they deserve something too. I think in the end it probably is the company's choice, but on closer thoughts, they could actually pose a potential danger by having EULAS/ToS that are too long and difficult to read. Thus rather purposely 'trapping' people with them or something. I don't bother with them. I mostly already know what they contain. And of course they can't put anything in there that conflicts with the law(hopefully o_o !! ). It's quite obvious that google would track my behavior and shit like that. |
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Still a fucking stupid idea that only Havoc gives a shit about, because he fantasizes about being fucked by enormous tiger dicks. |
Hah ^^ Leto's back! Wooh.
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