Game News BioWare caves to pressure over Mass Effect copy-protection

[Krancor]

I wouldn't mind shit like this if they promised to put out a patch after 5 years or if they go out of business which completely removes this so you are always guaranteed to be able to play. Even big companies like valve don't last for ever, let alone crap companies like bioware who are too retarded to even continue on as an independent company. Being owned by EA you know they will axe bioware or rename it EA buttfuck egypt and completely stop support six months after their games are released, though.

The real wonder is that anyone actually gives enough of a shit to get riled up over the pathetic game offerings bioware is putting out. Who even bothers to pirate shit like this, let alone buy it? Are their new offerings any better than fable? They are about one step away from a happyface dialong minigame ala oblivion. Even their best stuff could not be considered a hardcore RPG. They made one good game with an expansian and one ok game and a bunch of crap games, all of them based on someone else's IP and displaying no originality.

I think piracy has a big effect on games, but I think the main problem is that they simply can't make any worthwhile games people are willing to pay for.

As for Morbus, traditional art costs very little money to produce. Games cost a fucking shitload of time and money to make. If you don't pay for music it will have no effect. If you don't pay for games, they stop getting made, or worse the only games that get made are mainstream, awful games that take no chances - the kind of stuff we get today.

 

[Claw]

Interesting, but I call bullshit on the games you've "purchased" when most of those titles were released prior to rampant piracy and high internet bandwidth in the first place. Many of those are 1990's titles. Video game piracy certainly wasn't as huge back then because it was only just getting started with the advent of win95 and Graphics processors.

You know, you don't usually strike me as retarded, so that post was a bit of a disappointment. Video game piracy wasn't "as huge" back then? Well, duh. Way to make a pointless observation. The video game market wasn't "as huge" either.

I know what the ratio of purchased to pirated games was among my friends and basically everyone I know: <1%. When I had a C64, I owned like four or five (I just remembered another one) games in total at the end, in contrast to hundreds of pirated games. I can't even remember a tenth, and I probably never played more than two thirds.
Moreover, the same was true for all the other kids. Heck, I hardly ever saw an "original" game. What I had were copies of copies of copies. I'm not even sure I ever considered the possibility of buying games in a store or saw a store carrying games. My first gaming store visit as well as my first purchased game came around when I had my first x86 PC.*

Personally, I think the fact that I didn't aquire any new pirated games recently is more a personal change (more money, but less time to play games) than anything else.
I don't know how exactly broadband changed piracy. What I do know is that when I was young and the C64 was a modern PC, everyone I knew had tons of pirated games and virtually no originals. Now you're trying to tell me that piracy wasn't "as huge" in the nineties? Whatever, dude.


PS: Just so there is no confusion, the rampant piracy didn't stop when I got a PC. It may have gotten mildly less, but it was still far above and beyond the possession of originals.


*Actually, that's not entirely true. I somehow got a game from a mail order game developer, I just don't remember any details. I might have bought it.

 

[The_Pope]

All the BAWWWWWWWWWWWWW in this thread just inspired me to steal a game. I don't know what game, or whether I'll even bother playing it afterwards, but I'm going to a torrent site and stealing it right now. Because I know it will annoy you.

 

[ixg]

BAWWWWWWWWWW

 

[RK47]

quick i just lost respect in the internet, what do i do?! XD

 

[Shannow]

Right Claw, exactly my thoughts. My parents bought an Atari 2000 secondhand for me. I remember that Dungeon Master and Bloodwycch were original. The other 300 games were all copies.
When I got my first PC 2 86 I only had 3 games, all copied. When I got my first computer actually able to run stuff my first 10 games were copies. That changed when I found out which games I liked and had the money to actually purchase them. Broadband may have made it easier for loosers without friends to "borrow" and copy games but from personal experience I can see any huge increase.

Morbus: You do realise that greed is one of humanities main attributes (probably a success of the free market). Your society would work like in Star Trek, everybody working for the greater good of humanity. A nice fantasy but not possible in our current world order. And I always found excuses for pirating that involve a claim to high ideals or morals quite pathetic.
Edit: And the first part of what krancor said to you. Although I thought of painting as an example of art that does not cost much and can be done in free time.

 

[Mareus]

I have high standards when it comes to games and if you want to buy every shit game out there then you do that but don't tell me what I am entitled to or not.

Wow, your high standards include such titles as these:

Tomb Raider 1,2,3,4,5
Full Throtle
Indiana Jones: Fate of Atlantis

Interesting, but I call bullshit on the games you've "purchased" when most of those titles were released prior to rampant piracy and high internet bandwidth in the first place. Many of those are 1990's titles. Video game piracy certainly wasn't as huge back then because it was only just getting started with the advent of win95 and Graphics processors. I guess we'll never know though, but it's easy to say "i pirated these and later purchased them" if it supports your argument, but it's no different than us just saying bullshit because there is no proof for either side. In this case it's not entirely an opinionated matter, or semantics, it's a matter of factual information that either leads to a conclusion of true/false. In this case, you've provided nothing to support what you're saying. *cough*Bullshit*cough*

High quality eh?

Well, obvoiusly not all titles i mentioned are high quality, but I loved those games. I replayed Lara Croft games at least 5 times. I don't know why I like her

Indiana Jones: Fate of Atlantis is one of my favorite adventure games and i have many fond memories of that game. I replayed it 3 or 4 times so far. Same goes for Full Throtle. They are great adventure games not because I have fond memories of them, but because back then they were TOP OF THE TOP in the genre and they still rock, so if you don't like the genre or if you just don't like old games shut the fuck up. They are classics, and if you don't see the difference between a classic and a great game, you really don't know much about anything. Besides saying that those games suck really makes me wonder if you know anything about games. Dont forget the personal thing that comes with all games which has a huge impact on buying the game. Furthermore there are some pretty great games which I would never buy. I ll just name Warhammer: Dark Omen. I remember it was pretty revolutionary when it came out. It had everything for a great strategy game, but man was it hard. I still remember the headaches I got for replaying the same mission 20 times until I made it with only few cassualties. Great game, yes. A classic, yes. But hey, just not for me.

Also I said there are more games I own, but I didn't want to waste time writting everything.

I am not saying I buy the game immedietly after I played the pirated version. Sometimes I wait for a year or two. Sometimes it just happens that I come to the game shop and I find the price of the game is not big so if I have money I always buy a game I know I loved. But for games that manage to inflame my imagination and who are both fun and superb I would give crazy amount of money not to own the game, but to reward the people who made this amazing thing.

 

[GeneralSamov]

All the BAWWWWWWWWWWWWW in this thread just inspired me to steal a game. I don't know what game, or whether I'll even bother playing it afterwards, but I'm going to a torrent site and stealing it right now. Because I know it will annoy you.

Actually, as long as you don't install it afterwards, you don't go against the license agreement, thus you're not yet a pirate. You're just a communist.

 

[Mareus]

It's sort of like declaring that you should be allowed to play all games for free and only pay for the ones that meet your standards after the fact.

The great part about this view is that it absolves you of all responsibility for making informed decisions as a consumer. As an added bonus you get to put on elitist airs and claim that you are supporting art and taking a stand against commercialism, and that the only people this could possibly hurt is "the big guy" who can afford it anyway.

Win/win.

Seriously, if the game developers haven't screwed me up at least 20 times with their false promises, lies, bribing the game reviewers, and other forms of cheap marketing tricks I would be the one defending game companies against piracy. Hell, if I didn't love games so passionatly as I do, I would just stop playing. But I can't do that. Therefore as long as the developers or publishers or I don't know who the hell is responisble, make shitty games who they try to sell with aformentioned tricks I will not buy a single game. If the game you make is so good, why not just allow people to return it if they didn't like it? Wouldn't that be much more fair aproach then to lie about games and then sell it?

Did you play that Retardilon of a game? Multiple choices my ass!!! Consequenses my ass!!! Character's with personality my big fat hairy ass!!! Great quests, my... you get the picture.

LIES, LIES, LIES!!!! WILL I BUY Bethseda's FALLOUT 3? Nope :arrow: I WILL GET A PIRATED VERSION JUST SO I DON'T MISS (if miracle happens) A GOOD GAME. When I finish it, if I like it, I will buy it when I have the money (unless it's so awsome I decide to buy it right away).

Will I buy your Dragon Age when it comes out... hmm... there you have me going thinking, because I have never yet been dissapointed with a Bioware game, although I have always buyed your games only after testing them... Hmmm.. and I love Baldur's Gate so much I guess you still have some credit, but that EA standing behind your company now makes me worried A LOT!... I already know you will be using a new 3D engine and that 3D thing is also worrying me, because 2D party based games just have better playability. It's been tested and tested and proven. In other words we will see

 

[someone else]

I wish I had pirated Oblivion.

Note to self: Must not repeat mistake with FO3.

 

[Disconnected]

Win/win.

And that's so much worse than declaring that you get to decide who're allowed to inform us of your games, thus ensuring the consumer is either ignorant or misinformed.

Or declaring that people who go out and buy your fucking product haven't actually bought it after all, but rather bought what's best described as the really fucking obscene version of credits on an arcade machine.

Or declaring that people who bought those credits didn't actually buy them after all, but rather bought the right to use a couple of your obscene credits at a location of your choice.

Know what? I've been a fan of your games for years. Apart from Jade Empires, I'm pretty sure I've bought copies of each & every one of your PC titles. Even that unplayable shit Lionheart or whatever the name was. Hell, I have my keys logged on your bandwidth-killing site.

But your DRM shit is not acceptable. When I buy a game, it becomes MY game. Not EAs, not yours and not your fucking dogs either. I'm ever so fucking glad I live in a country where we still have the freedom to do whatever the hell we please with the shit we own, including clicking "Agree" on an EULA, printing it out, taking a shit on it, and laugh our asses off while we systematically tear your market-undermining shit out of our property.

That said, your DRM credits shit is so far over the top that I won't even seed your game. If ever a game deserved to die in obscurity, ME is it. So from now on, I will not play your games, I will not ask about them, look for them, participate in conversations where they're brought up or anything else of the sort. I can't very well fly over there and beat some fucking sense into your thick heads, but with a bit of luck I can at least make your company & products taboo for 10-20 people, and hope they'll do the same.

 

[Chefe]

DRM is crap, but I can't understand why Mass Effect is on the receiving end of this much heat. It's not the best RPG, but it's fun, has an interesting story, and a great dialog system.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

DRM is crap, but I can't understand why Mass Effect is on the receiving end of this much heat. It's not the best RPG, but it's fun, has an interesting story, and a great dialog system.

True, it's main problems were technical, it ran like shit on the 360.

 

[Claw]

I wish I had pirated Oblivion.

Note to self: Must not repeat mistake with FO3.

Should have been:

I wish I had pirated Oblivion.


I love that video. Do what you want cause a pirate is free!

 

[Chefe]

I spent all last night playing Mass Effect. I haven't been this engaged in an RPG in a while.

 

[Warden]

The great part about this view is that it absolves you of all responsibility for making informed decisions as a consumer.

Win/win.

And how is someone supposed to make INFORMED DECISIONS about biowhore games? NO DEMOS (the idea that someone could play even small parts of your "GREAT STORY DRRIVEN" games for free is probably so repulsive to you that you'd rather shut down biowhore). 100 years old screenshots that'll end in the trash bin the day after they had been published. 2-3 months of PR hysterical euphoria full of payed recensions and false advertisement. And helpful posts about zombie kittens on the "forums".

Yes, you can judge objectively many games from various developers/publishers before you buy them, but you can't objectively judge biowhore's (unless you know someone who played them and who knows your tastes very well and vice-versa). Your "forums" (well, if you can call that fascistic place forums..) are not an option - negative comments and heated discussions (which are almost always caused by negative comments about the game) are quickly "LOCKED DOWN!"

 

[Jasede]

Ask your friends if they liked it. Read reviews. Talk to people who played it. Look at the trailer and the previews and decide for yourself if you'd like the game or not.

What is going on, why do people need other people to tell them if a game is worth buying or not? Wait, they don't, they just want a convenient excuse.

 

[Warden]

Ask your friends if they liked it. Read reviews. Talk to people who played it. Look at the trailer and the previews and decide for yourself if you'd like the game or not.

What is going on, why do people need other people to tell them if a game is worth buying or not? Wait, they don't, they just want a convenient excuse.

I don't trust anyone, especially not payed reviews. *confident in himself*

I don't buy pirated games anyway.. anymore. Maybe I will again, who knows, but I doubt it.

Reread my post, dear.