EvaUnit02 on 20/12/2008 at 16:11
For North American customers, some EA titles have been released onto Steam. -Spore, Spore Creepy & Cute Parts Pack, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, Mass Effect, Need for Speed Undercover and EA SPORTS FIFA Manager 2009 (Lord knows why they thought that Yank audiences would care about a glorified spreadsheet program for soccer statistics.).
Thus far it's been confirmed that Spore and Mass Effect lack 3rd party DRM. We've yet to hear confirmation concerning Red Alert 3.
june gloom on 20/12/2008 at 18:11
WTF? That's out of the blue, considering some big name games on Steam got their own (shitty) DRM on top of Steam's (effective) DRM, which I always thought was needless. Glad to see EA's learning.
NamelessPlayer on 20/12/2008 at 22:05
One of my friends notified me yesterday that Mass Effect was released on Steam without extra DRM. I was naturally skeptical, since Crysis Warhead's Steam release was purported to still have SecuROM.
Spore's on the list, too? I wonder if this will curb some of the DRM complaints, to a degree. (It's still DRMed, being a Steam game that pretty much requires a constant Internet connection with short periods of offline play, but at least you don't have any goddamn install restrictions or other BS.)
If this is true, I might add a few games to my collection-when I get the money, that is.
What about the older, double-DRMed games like Crysis Warhead, though?
june gloom on 20/12/2008 at 22:49
Steam's DRM is acceptable for two reasons: it works and does not operate under the assumption that the average customer is a criminal who is not to be trusted. Authentication is quick and painless and you barely even realize it's happening.
Steam's had its ups and downs but I think it's turned into a model for what other publishers and developers should strive for. Valve has really managed to turn it into something worthwhile.
Shadowcat on 21/12/2008 at 00:45
Quote Posted by dethtoll
Steam's [...] Authentication is quick and painless and you barely even realize it's happening.
I once timed Steam starting up and getting to the 'now launching your game' part at more than one minute (from double-clicking the game's icon on my desktop). I know it works like a dream for many people, and that's great, and I'll happily buy games there if the price is good enough, but it's far from my favourite solution.
june gloom on 21/12/2008 at 00:47
The login is slow, yeah. Small price to pay, IMO.
Matthew on 21/12/2008 at 17:26
I don't get that when I make it start with the system :cool:
Now if only Company of Heroes would actually work, along with HL2 in 64-bit mode.
june gloom on 21/12/2008 at 19:51
My only beef is that it conflicts with Peerguardian2, which I have to turn off before starting Steam. Adding Steam's range of IPs does nothing.
Jason Moyer on 21/12/2008 at 19:51
Can't say I've had a problem with the DRM in recent EA games since they backed down from some things after the Spore fiasco. Having to activate a game one time and then never having to worry about copy protection again (untill I uninstall it, of course) is pretty damn nice.
gunsmoke on 22/12/2008 at 03:27
Quote Posted by dethtoll
My only beef is that it conflicts with Peerguardian2
:cool:
