EA's new anti-consumer tactic? C&C4 to always require active internet connection.

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Originally posted by: 1LordEmperor1
Legitimate customers will be inconvenienced if their internet breaks.

Pirates will just patch the game to send this traffic to lo and run some kind of daemon. This should be easy to accomplish with minimal packet sniffing.

Originally posted by: videogames101
Except that steam has an offline mode.

Steam used to require you to enter offline mode while your connection is active, didn't really work when some drunk dude crashes his truck into a utility pole. Is this still true?

Last time I did it, pretty sure after attempting to connect and failing it offered to go into offline mode.

 

[ZzZGuy]

Please please let them go through with it and use this DRM. This is just the thing to get the average Joe Smho to care what DRM is in a game (usually only take a quick google search) and put EA six feet under within 2 years because everyone will take "EA" to mean their game won't work right. It'll also serve as a warning to future publishers and developers as to can happen if you make your DRM too hostile to legit consumers.

And here I thought the 10 day ET phone home or you're not playing my (EA's, not yours) game was bad enough.

DRM is getting steadily worse with no benefit gained after putting in measures to prevent a CD from being copied and burned (not cracked and put on the internet). It's just a matter of how far they will go and how big the back lash will be when they go too far (for average Joe Smho).

And go laugh it up those who have no problem with this, we will all be laughing as you bunch come on here whining that your game isn't working and EA calls you a pirate and won't offer help. I'll be laughing my ass off personally while playing my large backlog of PC games without hostile DRM that I can put on whatever PC I damn well want, play when I damn well want and install when I damn well want(I travel from time to time staying in locations with hard to get internet). And pirates will be laughing the hardest with the copy they got for nothing that works better then what people are buying. Cry some more.

 

[mindcycle]

From the article..

EA is arguing that you'll like what it's doing with the game enough to put up with this inconvenience.

But why should we have to be inconvenienced at all? Why not just make your customers happy? That's what I don't get here.

If they go through with this ridiculousness the game is an automatic no-buy for me.

 

[lupi]

Originally posted by: Lonyo
Until we know more, this doesn't really scream Steam style anything per-se.
If you can resell it and just then have to give the other person your account, then it's not really a big deal in terms of stopping sales. Sure it's a pain that you require an internet connection even for single player, and it's probably the first game to require one all the time for SP, but there are many games overall which pretty much require an internet connection, so in that sense it's nothing new.

It sounds horrible in concept, but I will wait until the execution is clearer before passing a damning judgement on it.

I'd be willing to bet the game will require log on with your ea account info.


Now I can guess that you could start a second one just for the game to resell, but then the buyer would still have to assume he's getting a good logon/pw.

 

[ZzZGuy]

Originally posted by: TehMac
This is to me the best way of doing it--CoH does the same thing. And in terms of money loss, most people have an internet connection--look at WoW's success.

CoH didn't require a internet connection, the first expansion would work offline if it didn't detect a internet connection (fixed by telling your firewall to block all Internet access to the program). So both work without the internet.

Originally posted by: EvilComputer92

Originally posted by: Modelworks
As long as people keep buying their products they will continue to pull this crap. Complaining on forums will do nothing. Hit them where it counts, stop buying anything EA.

You can boycott all the PC products you want, but EA will not give a damn. They make almost all of their revenue off their console titles like Madden and NCAA and the rest comes from Sims. I would say they get about 5% of their profits out of PC games besides Sims.

Anyway, DRM aside I hope this game is awesome. CNC3 was the best RTS I played in many years. Although RA3 sucked.

Sounds like boycotting is working if their profits from PC gaming are that small. And I wish people would stop the "But I'm a drop in the bucket!" mindset. If only all the drops in a tidal wave thought like you people do.

Well, sooner they get out of PC gaming and stop buying & destroying PC gaming companies the better. They will not leave a void that can not be filled by better companies.

 

[mindcycle]

Originally posted by: ZzZGuy
Well, sooner they get out of PC gaming and stop buying & destroying PC gaming companies the better. They will not leave a void that can not be filled by better companies.

:thumbsup:

 

[Modelworks]

Originally posted by: EvilComputer92

Originally posted by: Modelworks
As long as people keep buying their products they will continue to pull this crap. Complaining on forums will do nothing. Hit them where it counts, stop buying anything EA.

You can boycott all the PC products you want, but EA will not give a damn. They make almost all of their revenue off their console titles like Madden and NCAA and the rest comes from Sims. I would say they get about 5% of their profits out of PC games besides Sims.

That is because too many think like you do. I really wish people would just shut up if they are going to support the companies that do things like this. All the whining about DRM then people go and give them money , but complaining on a forum, yeah that will show them who is boss.

 

[OCGuy]

Dont care, I only play the multiplayer aspect of PC games.

 

[shortylickens]

Originally posted by: BladeVenom
"The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."

If you can blow them up in a single shot, you wont give a damn.

EA is the Death Star of computer gaming.

 

[Golgatha]

Originally posted by: Modelworks

Originally posted by: EvilComputer92

Originally posted by: Modelworks
As long as people keep buying their products they will continue to pull this crap. Complaining on forums will do nothing. Hit them where it counts, stop buying anything EA.

You can boycott all the PC products you want, but EA will not give a damn. They make almost all of their revenue off their console titles like Madden and NCAA and the rest comes from Sims. I would say they get about 5% of their profits out of PC games besides Sims.

That is because too many think like you do. I really wish people would just shut up if they are going to support the companies that do things like this. All the whining about DRM then people go and give them money , but complaining on a forum, yeah that will show them who is boss.

Hmm...I didn't buy FEAR 2 since it was Steam only and I bought a used copy of Riddick DA. In the first case both of us lose out, in the second one I win. I put my money where my mouth is.

Also, I've purchased nearly every C&C game that's worth playing over the years, and I'll be sorry to skip this one if they follow through with this foolishness...but I will skip it over. I'll be glad to boycott any other EA game that uses these potentially anti-consumer tactics as well.

 

[Maximilian]

Dont worry you guys, Starcraft II should be out before this garbage. There is no need to purchase C&C4 when RTS perfection is just around the corner

 

[ryan256]

Yet another reason while EA will never again see a single cent of my money. Oh I might play their games once in a while. I may even play this one. But I'm not paying for a game that I will no longer be able to play several years down the road when EA decides that its no longer profitable or feasible to keep the authentication servers online.

 

[Ackmed]

A LOT of our guys sat around playing games (tons of Diablo II and DoTA) such as C&C in Iraq. There is no getting online, so they would be screwed by this then? How annoying.

 

[Bateluer]

Won't be buying it until its been cracked or the DRM removed.

 

[Sylvanas]

Originally posted by: Bateluer
Won't be buying it until its been cracked or the DRM removed.

Won't be buying it at all.

 

[ZzZGuy]

Originally posted by: Bateluer
Won't be buying it until its been cracked or the DRM removed.

Buying game with DRM = "Thank you EA, I love this game and the DRM you put onto it"

As a consumer, you speak with your wallet.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: AyashiKaibutsu

Originally posted by: 1LordEmperor1
Legitimate customers will be inconvenienced if their internet breaks.

Pirates will just patch the game to send this traffic to lo and run some kind of daemon. This should be easy to accomplish with minimal packet sniffing.

Originally posted by: videogames101
Except that steam has an offline mode.

Steam used to require you to enter offline mode while your connection is active, didn't really work when some drunk dude crashes his truck into a utility pole. Is this still true?

Last time I did it, pretty sure after attempting to connect and failing it offered to go into offline mode.

Not mine

it locked me out and insisted i reconnect before i could go BACK into offline mode
- i *usually* am in offline mode and every so often it *requires* i log back in with my username and PW to re authenticate

and you wonder why i HATE steam

 

[skace]

I bet everyone bitching will have 24/7 internet access the entire time they'd play this. I'm trying really hard to get worked up into a tizzy, but frankly I'd rather have a persistent world over an offline mode that I'd never use (I have a DS for 'those times').

 

[Krakn3Dfx]

I'm fine with this for the most part. Hitching the single player experience to a constant internet connection is kind of an irritation, but it's not a deal breaker for me.

When it comes to trying to save PC gaming, you have to choose your battles. I think this is a battle I'm willing to lose if it means keeping the C&C universe on the PC.

 

[slightlyhuman]

won't be buying, fuckers.

 

[minmaster]

fuc em. never give in.

 

[drebo]

Wow, you guys are a bunch of freaking drama queens.

As said before, I'd be willing to bet that ninety-seven times out of a hundred, anyone playing this game will be sitting at a computer with an active internet connection.

Why is PC gaming going down hill? Because consumers demand everything and expect to pay nothing for it.

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

"as a nice side effect, since C&C4 requires players to be online all the time in order to prevent cheating, we'll be shipping without any form of DRM."'

That seems fair.

 

[PieIsAwesome]

Originally posted by: ZzZGuy

Originally posted by: Bateluer
Won't be buying it until its been cracked or the DRM removed.

Buying game with DRM = "Thank you EA, I love this game and the DRM you put onto it"

As a consumer, you speak with your wallet.

Yarr, what ye be suggesting?

 

[Qbah]

Who doesn't have broadband today Seriously, I would say this is the best way to fight piracy - the game has been built around the fact that you need to be online for whatever reasons. Surely, there are times when your internet conneciton is down or the server is down, but there are also times when electricity is down (VERY rare, but still) or there's something wrong with your rig. So it's not like a typical game is always playable and because of this there will be times it won't be.

Best thing is, a simple crack won't solve this as the game will revolve around the connection. And to the guy writing about packet sniffing etc., all the pirating folks, who can't even type properly, surely won't know how to make it work. They have problems running a simple crack ! This thing, if it would be possible, would be so far beyond their comprehension ...

So there won't no SecuROM, Starforce, TAGES and all the other shit in this one. Everything so "wrong" has been potentially removed. And yet, people still complain. How do you think they should fight piracy? Are you that naive to think that if they make a very good game, people will just buy it and not download - especially if they won't use any copy protection at all? How old are you? 10?

Blizzard got smart too and removed LAN both from Diablo3 and SC2. So there's no multi without connecting to Battle.net. And you can be sure multi is the biggest focus for those games (well, for D3 at least).