Why DRM sucks Part 72824384 - "Gears of Wars" PC goes dark

[Stone_Cold_Sisko]

Yup, you can't play Gears of War on the PC anymore.
At least not without a workaround (you basically have to screw around with your system's clock)

You see, the DRM attached to the game had an end-date on it. It's unclear if its a mistake or what, but so far there's been no "fix" yet.

This is why server authentication sucks. You paid for the game. But now you can't play it because there is some problem with the server. What happens when your DRM server shuts down? You're SOL!

DRM "doesn't bother me"................ until you get it up the poop chute, UNWILLINGLY!

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/...-causes-title-to-shut-down-starting-today.ars

 

[LutherSloan]

Wow. Has this ever happened before?

I agree completely, DRM sucks. It took me 4 days to play my LEGAL copy of Fallout 3 because the DRM was screwed up. Morons.

 

[John Clark]

Yeah - Just ran into that problem with Gears this afternoon.

Of course, they don't make it obvious that it's a drm/server problem that can be fixed by changing your clock. Instead, the error message says reinstall. I'm just glad I took a quick look online before doing the reinstall thing

 

[SGCSG1]

I was a computer gamer for over 15 years. I'm done. Finished. No more. I do NOT BUY computer games anymore. Got tired of being screwed. Starforce. Securom. Rootkits. Online authentication for single-player games. SCREW THESE GAME PUBLISHERS.

 

[John Clark]

I've got to admit, there's a part of me that feels the same way.

I'm thinking Securom stopped certain things working right on my computer at one point (Add/remove programs froze, windows search, spybot, ad-aware all tended to freeze on one the securom games)

 

[Kadratis]

Ever since the Spore debacle, I've been boycotting buying PC games that have DRM built into them. Waste of time and money. Even so, it's not a rationale to pirate the game. Thank God for consoles because I'm fed up with this bullshit.

 

[Brent]

DRM will kill PC gaming if this continues.

 

[Rii]

Those who pirated the game, as usual, continue to play with no issues.

Of course. Those anti-piracy ads occasionally attached to DVDs and seen only by those who've legitimately purchased the title are bad enough, DRM on PC games is much the same except it often actively interferes with one's ability to use the product. Fucking 'tards.

 

[the Dagman]

Isn't it great how these companies treat their paying customers like criminals?

 

[Hitman]

Before this bullshit began a few years ago, I was buying games in the triple digits. Now, it's in the low double digits, and it is only games from companies like Stardock, who still make quality products free of malware.

Shit making mastodons like EA, sometimes not even merit a download, better yet a buy.

 

[Jono]

Before this bullshit began a few years ago, I was buying games in the triple digits. Now, it's in the low double digits, and it is only games from companies like Stardock, who still make quality products free of malware.

Shit making mastodons like EA, sometimes not even merit a download, better yet a buy.

I agree with the Stardock comment. I think they have the right mindset in terms of DRM with their games and would like to see others undertake it.

 

[dragunzng]

I agree that for the most part DRM sucks, but there's no need to go overboard, Epic are already working on a fix and I doubt it'll be long.

I was actually thinking about picking up Gears for PC, is the online community healthy (apart from this recent blip of course).

 

[Rii]

I agree that for the most part DRM sucks, but there's no need to go overboard, Epic are already working on a fix and I doubt it'll be long.

Epic can go fuck themselves. That a fix is required at all is unacceptable. Even if Gears of War were free, Bittorrent would be the superior option. It's not only more convenient than anything out there bar Steam, it offers the superior - which is to say functional - product.

 

[DBR]

Hrmmm..... I'm almost a little embarrassed to say this:

I bought Gears about 3 months ago for like 5 bucks (I though, 'hey, I might play this one day') at Staples, but haven't even opened it yet.

I wonder if in that mountain of other games (all unopened, of course ) I bought on the same day, there are others with similar issues.

 

[Timby]

Bittorrent would be the superior option. It's not only more convenient than anything out there bar Steam, it offers the superior - which is to say functional - product.

You would encourage theft. To hell with that.

Epic can go fuck themselves. That a fix is required at all is unacceptable.

I agree that it's unacceptable, but given that this is a VeriSign problem, it's likely that the blame is shared by Microsoft (which actually published the game) and Epic, equally.

 

[Twilight]

Yup, you can't play Gears of War on the PC anymore.
At least not without a workaround (you basically have to screw around with your system's clock)

You see, the DRM attached to the game had an end-date on it. It's unclear if its a mistake or what, but so far there's been no "fix" yet.

This is why server authentication sucks. You paid for the game. But now you can't play it because there is some problem with the server. What happens when your DRM server shuts down? You're SOL!

DRM "doesn't bother me"................ until you get it up the poop chute, UNWILLINGLY!

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/...-causes-title-to-shut-down-starting-today.ars

I have GoW PC - haven't played it in forever though.

I just popped it in my comp now to test it out - yup, it's DEAD.


Fucking ridiculous. DRM is an absolutely broken paradigm. I haven't seen it implemented in a fair way, ever (okay, there are a few exceptions, Steam being one of them).


The #1 rule of DRM: Treat all of your customers as if they're criminals.

I payed $60 for GoW PC last year. Now it won't work unless I effectively break the built-in DRM with a workaround. So DRM forces your customers to become criminals.

 

[Rii]

Bittorrent would be the superior option. It's not only more convenient than anything out there bar Steam, it offers the superior - which is to say functional - product.

You would encourage theft. To hell with that.

Stating a fact, not encouraging theft. I've no doubt that I could, if I were of a mind to, locate and begin downloading Gears of War for PC within two minutes, and it would be finished before I could return from the closest store. Steam is the only legitimate platform that can even begin to approach the ease of use of Bittorrent.

When the illegal option is, in addition to being infinitely cheaper, easier, the last thing you want to do be doing is throwing even more (useless) obstacles in the path of legitimate consumers.

 

[trekkerguy]

Shoulda been playin it where it's meant to be played.


Sorry bout the problem though, all should bask in the Gears Glory.

 

[Capt. Vulcan]

Ugh, I hate steam. I have to have a superfluous advertisement infested resident program online just to play a single player game I paid for? Three hour install while the system unencrypts the data? Yeah, just great.

Six months later I decide that I want to play the game again on a fresh install, and I get a message that my cd-key is no longer valid. After about a week of e-mails to valve they finally tell me that someone else has tried to use the key, so I have to fucking call valve because some fucking douche with a keygen randomly used my cd-key and I have to get a new one... but not without having to scan my jewel case insert to prove I bought the game. In the end I had to download a crack just to play a game I paid for just so I wouldn't have to deal with the bullshit.

I'm still a proponent of pc gaming though. The flexibility and ability to mod put's it above console games for me. That and not having to pay a monthly fee to play online while still getting bombarded by advertising make it a better experience for me overall even with the drm BS.

 

[Rii]

Shoulda been playin it where it's meant to be played.

Epic claims that the reason GoW2 didn't get a PC release is because of rampant piracy of GoW1. Given the utter indifference with which the news was received by most PC gamers, though, I suspect it was more that the game itself didn't hold much appeal for them.