Games for Windows Beefing Up Anti-Piracy Measures

[cracklint]

This sucks for me because I buy a game new, play it, finish it, sell it. Most of the time I recap about 60-70% of the value. then I keep that money in a paypal account and wait for the next title I want and do the same. That way I can game on the cheap and buy games new to support the industry. 50 and 60 bucks is a bit much for a guy with a household of 3 with a 26k income. Games cost too much to make a mistake on an over-hyped, sub-par game that has no value once it is purchased. It's hard to agree with the statement that PC games have no resale value. I just depends on the title, or whether or not it has DRM or not, which I will never buy.

 

[tenor77]

I've thought of this before. The problem is you can still hack it if you know what you're doing. The true anti-piracy is online gaming. If you can't play online with a pirated copy, they'll buy a copy.

 

[HolyCrusader]

This proposed solution from Microsoft is far less intrusive than many other forms of Copy Protection out there currently. It's certainly not Impulse, but it's thousands of times better than anything EA has come out with.

There's always going to be piracy, and those people that come up with whatever rationalization as to why it's right for them to steal other people's work.

It can get rather frustrating with how us legit game owners are treated because of the pirates. Some of the means even I agree are overly severe (SecuRom anybody?), but instead of pirating those games, I simply boycott them. There's more games out than I have time to play - so if I boycott EA Games for instance, I always have alternatives to play. I'm not rich, in fact I'm 35 and struggling to make a living with the loss of my previous job, but I'm not pirating games.

The one concern I do have is that increasing threatened Used Game Market. I rarely ever sell my old games (I occasionally like to go back and replay them), but I have a friend that runs a used console game store. As various companies (not just Microsoft) look at more ways to eliminate that market, it will eventually impact his business.

 

[tenor77]

[citation][nom]HolyCrusader[/nom]The one concern I do have is that increasing threatened Used Game Market. I rarely ever sell my old games (I occasionally like to go back and replay them), but I have a friend that runs a used console game store. As various companies (not just Microsoft) look at more ways to eliminate that market, it will eventually impact his business.[/citation]

This has already started. Gears 2 comes with a code for maps, and of course Capcom with game modes having to be purchased at launch-calling it DLC. Your friend has time but they're already looking to take down the used game market.

 

[bustapr]

I hope it isn't like steam which needs online registration to play. I don't have internet but I like to play some games on campaign mode. the only reason I haven't played half-life 2 is because of steam. Valve should follow in GFW footsteps and require registration for online play oly.

 

[funkjunky]

fyi if their is an online connection to a server that is required to authenticate the game, it's not a matter of seconds to crack it.

That is why native steam games are extremely rarely pirated.

They would have to ensure every time the game was installed that you were connected to the internet and could get a new decryptor, otherwise it would be crackable. So it would have to be dynamic, otherwise this will be in vain.

Hmmm I suppose is they randomized the encryption and seeded it with time, then maybe they could make it so a crack will never work the same twice. Will none the less a step in a good direction.

We need to stop video game piracy so the PC game markets can keep getting money to make games for the best platform .

 

[waikano]

"Such a system would also destroy the used games market, but that is less of an issue since PC games practically have no resale value."...FAIL!!!

I just sold several Classic PC games on EBay and some of them went for more than I paid for them in 1985. Granted this may not seem like a HUGE deal to some of you, but I am a collector and this would kill some of my collection. Not that I am opposed to limiting Piracy. Seems like this would be a decent start, just need to fine tune it a little.

 

[plbyrd]

For me this is love hate. I hate having to use a CD-ROM to boot a game, and with children in the house (and seeing what they do to XBOX 360 discs), I refuse to install games on their computers that will not work with either Game Jackal or CloneCD/Virtual Clone Drive. For those games I get them through Steam and install the games on all of our computers which allows the kids to play them whenever they want EXCEPT at the same time. I can only see this GFWL technique working it eliminates the need to use the CD-ROM to boot the game. Hopefully Microsoft will also allow non-priveledged accounts to run any game as currently there are several games on Steam such as Lego Batman that won't work on non-priviledged accounts without running the game as administrator (and thus requiring me or my wife to go type a password...yuck).

 

[megamanx00]

I sometimes get the desire to play an old game, like Quake II or Unreal Tournament the original and 3004/2004. I played the PC version of FF7 more than once, even though initially I couldn't believe I had just bought a game that had problems with my TNT2. To me things like this lower the amount of money I am willing to pay for a game. The more inconvenient the DRM, the lower the value for me and the more likely I am just to wait until Newegg has it for $20 or less rather than going out to Best Buy (no more Circuit City) to get it that day. The last two games I bought at launch were Gothic 3 and it's expansion. I waited for Crysis Warhead to drop in price just because of the DRM, even though I initially wanted to get it at launch just because the original Crysis was so great. Didn't get Bioshock till it was $30 and they changed the activation policy either.

There are many games I would have bought on a whim if they didn't have DRM, but inconvenient DRM has caused me to buy less games, and pay less for those I do buy. This isn't going to stop piracy, just inconvenience customers and loose sales.

 

[Guest]

It has the same problem as DRM. If I want to install my game released in 2009 when its 2019 I simply cannot. Why? Because the activation server no longer exist. It cannot check whether the game has been released or not.
Also this kind of protection has no value. What it does is simply stop premature use of a game, which in itself isn't a bad thing at all. I mean, whats bad in giving people what they want earlier?

When people want to play an online game on a good server or have a ranking on offical website or otherwise find the game a master piece... they don't even think how much money did they pull from their pockets while staring at the screen. I mean look at WoW for example.

People will pay what it is worth. Worth isn't measured with number of copies sold on first weeks. It's more like, how many keep playing it after months and years...

When creating something like games, you are not the one to decide how much money people owe you. People decide that. Feed the fans, that is the key to just about anything in digital world.

 

[cichy69]

[citation][nom]CosmosX[/nom]Is the real issue here who is pirating and how? For crying out loud release a "mature" and stable game for once at reasonable prices and then more people are going to buy it.Latest example is Empire Total War with all the issues gamers have been having. When will you guys get it? It's not the piracy that kills the gaming industry, it's what we get for the money we pay. Maybe instead of spending money on "protections" you should invest your money into customer value proposition and take back the market share.Good luck Microsoft.[/citation]


someone is thinking right.. totally agree on that one

 

[righteous fury]

First off, as long as Stardock's answer is superior to Steam, and could quite possibley put Steam out of business. Second, CosmosX is correct. I know of many people who, at some point, pirated a game or two simply because that same company released some half-baked game they actually paid for and felt justified in pirating their next release. Third, I honestly see a place for Onlive, but not for the DIY community... it's just not us.

 

[Abaddon]

I don't know why nobody has commented on this yet but...
Games for Windows Live!!!
PC gamers are not your average console tard. We're smart enough to know when we're being bent over. There is no way I am going to pay for a subscription to a Microsoft service just so I can install new games. This is the reason why Games for Windows Live is never going to work. Overall this is a very bad idea, Steam is free, Live is not. This is why one works and the other doesn't.

 

[anamaniac]

I like it.

My pre-release was windows 7, however now I have a legit beta copy direct from Microsoft. It kinda spoils the fun though.

The copy-as-many-times as you like legit is nice.
Be even nicer if, say, I bought Halo and Mass-Effect for xbox, but I wanna play them on PC without paying again, so just download them direct from Microsoft.

 

[hardwarekid9756]

I think account-locked game-play is really and truly the only way to combat piracy. If you can make a license code remove/delete method, too, that lets you delete a license code from your account via a lengthy (and thus deterrent) removal process, this would save the resale market. If you link a code to an email, and require Live!-style authentication, I believe this is the best way to maintain legality.

It does suck for the internet-less though, however, if plans go swimmingly, we can hopefully have a really high-level internet penetration to make it workable.

 

[bad_code]

[citation][nom]HVDynamo[/nom]Agreed, if I buy the game and decide I want to play it 20 years down the road, I should still be able to install it on a computer and play it, This relatively new bout of activation bs and buying digital games from steam and other digital providers is only as good as the company is around, and companies don't last forever. I only buy games digitally from steam if they are on sale for $15 or less because that is the amount of money I am willing to part with for the risk of not being able to play it down the road. Otherwise I buy the disc, because someone will crack it if steam whet under and I would still (hopefully) be able to play the game should I desire to.[/citation]



I also agree. I play Quake 2 still. I love old school. Its like listening to music from when you were in high school. Every young punk out there will understand one day. Well, maybe not because they probably deleted all their muaic off their iPod to make room for more.