securom
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Dragon Age To Be SecuROM-Free
8:20AM Michael McWhertor | BioWare’s spiritual successor to the Baldur’s Gate series, Dragon Age: Origins, will ship without the unpopular SecuROM digital rights management and copy protection software that has been attached to previous Electronic Arts games. More »
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PC Gaming Alliance Loses Activision, Picks Up… SecuROM
12:30PM Luke Plunkett | If only that were a joke headline. When we told you yesterday that Activision had left the PC Gaming Alliance, we were told that other parties had at the same time signed up. More »
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EA Releases Tool To Bypass SecuROM Limitations
8:20AM Michael McWhertor | Publisher Electronic Arts has released a De-Authorization Management Tool for PC gamers afflicted with one of its many catalog titles packaged with SecuROM for digital rights management. This is for you, disgruntled Mass Effect owner. More »
Spore Now Graciously Allows You To Reinstall Your Own Game
4:00PM Luke Plunkett | For many of you (not many of everyone, if you look at the sales charts), Spore’s iron-fisted DRM was a big turn-off. Well, after promises, now EA have delivered, freeing up the game’s installs. More »
GTA IV On PC TO Use SecuROM
10:40AM Stuart Houghton | I’ll say this for Rockstar – they do like a controversy. Usually, though, they go in for cool controversies like sexy mini games or the sensationalised depiction of car crime and bullying. More »
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EA Boss: Nobody Cares About DRM (But I Totally Hate It)
6:00PM Luke Plunkett | For a while there, the whole SecuROM thing overshadowed the actual release of Spore. Which when you consider how high-profile a release Spore was is kind of a big deal. As a result, your thoughts on DRM are clear. But what about EA’s thoughts? Well, according to EA boss John Riccitiello, the number of people who even noticed it, let alone cared about it, was minuscule. We implemented a form of DRM and it’s something that 99.8 percent of users wouldn’t notice. But for the other .2 percent, it became an issue and a number of them launched a cabal online to protest against it. More »
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EA Responds To Spore Forum Banning Concerns
8:00AM Michael McWhertor | When Spore owners were silenced by forum moderation staff for posting one too many SecuROM/DRM complaints on the game’s official message boards, the internet-going masses were worked up into a lather. “Censorship!” they cried. “Business practices to which I don’t agree with!” they shouted. A vague warning about your Spore user account being banned in conjunction with your forum account likely didn’t help matters, giving the impression that loose talk about copy protection could render your game useless. More responsible forum moderators tried to clear the air yesterday and EA itself let us know that the warning was completely out of line and, more importantly, totally inaccurate. More »
Class Action Lawsuit Arises Over Spore DRM
1:40AM Mike Fahey | Whenever you find large numbers of unhappy people, you’re bound to find a lawyer. In this case it’s Alan Himmelfarb with KamberEdelson of Vernon, California, who has filed a class-action suit against EA over the DRM in EA’s Spore. The suit, filed Monday with the Northern California District Court on behalf of plaintiff Melissa Thomas and “all consumers globally who have purchased the Spore computer game”, addresses complaints that consumers are not fully aware of what exactly SecuROM does on their system, and also cites a separate program that installs on the control centre of the computer and can disrupt system functions. Plaintiffs demand disgorgement of unjust profits and damages for trespass, interference, unfair competition and consumer law violations. You can see the full suit in PDF form over at Courthouse News. It’s rather lengthy, containing excerpts from EA’s FAQ as well as quotes from Amazon.com reviews, oddly enough. Looks like someone’s done his homework. EA might even have to assign two lawyers to deal with this one. ‘Spore’ Hijacks Computers, Class Claims [Courthouse News via GamePolitics - Thanks Brendan] More »
Penny Arcade Digs into DRM, Now With More Crecente
12:00AM Brian Crecente | Last week Penny Arcade’s own Tycho contacted me to see if I would be interested in writing a short piece for their site about Digital Rights Management. What with the escalating brouhaha with Electronic Arts and likelihood that this won’t be the last time gamers run face first into some form of DRM they don’t like, I jumped at the opportunity. In the short essay I talk about the origins of the word piracy (Daniel Defoe don’t you know), and the absurdity of applying todays shrinking ownership rights to a situation closer to that origin. I also call for a sort of Gamers’ Bill of Digital Rights. Not that anyone will listen. If that sort of stuff floats your boat hop on over on the link to check it out. If it doesn’t interest you, hop over there to read Tycho’s take on my “wavy locks and hard-arse goatee.” The Origin Of The CD-Keys, Part One [Penny Arcade] More »
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