Is EA's DRM killing PC gaming?

Have you tried MGO? they only let you have one profile on your PS3, so any other user on your PS3 has to "purchase a new profile" WTF!! and they're $8 each, i just spent $155 on the LE and i'm only allowed one profile?
This is a very disturbing trend, what happened to buying the game retail and being able to do whatever you wanted with it? This needs to stop now and we all need to complain more instead of being drooling fanboys who'll sell a kidney to get the latest DLC.

I was highly pissed at this as well.  I have PC games back from 1997 I still play (I've reinstalled Half Life 1 over 10 times!), and I'm really f*cking angry that I will only ever get to play this gem 3 times over a coarse of a long time.  Thank f*ck I got this on the 360 first.  

But don't worry your little head Chris, this silly stunt pulled by EA has just made the hackers more determined.

this is very sad...a dark age it is for gamming...like with some companies survive off rip-off priced stuff..things which aren't real....

And from what I have heard PS3 a huge rip-off, it has many features of the wii...but the charge for basically everything...is this correct?

Does any think EA gone a bit to far of the edge? Like this is the most extreme way of stoping privates. Why couldn't they do what Bioshock did? Use the internet to sign up, like I know its annoying but at least they can track game copies.

I don't work for an EA studio, but as a developer who works at a studio that has made its success in PC gaming, I will confirm that what Ben's call is pretty much how it is. PC is now being considered the lesser SKU, because sales are continually dropping on PC, and piracy IS the key reason. The AVERAGE console gamer (i.e. the bulk of the market) does NOT ever think about getting their console modded to play pirate software, while PC gamers can easily download pirated gamers and use readily available software to play them.

As much as I'm not a big EA fan (I find them to produce polished, yet formulaic games), to believe they have malevolent plans is just paranoid rubbish. NOBODY in the gaming industry WANTS to ramp up copy protection for PC games for ANY reason other than the FACT that PC games piracy is driving most PC developers bust. Expectations for what a game delivers now are high to the point where you need to spend millions to realise that mark, and unless you sell through well... You go bust. The only PC game developers making serious profit are folks like Blizzard, who make a killing on subscriptions, and Valve, who have set up an online delivery and authentication system that keeps the money coming in.

Despite thinking there's something very odd about you if you need to install a game 3 times to finish it (come on - what hypothetical guff is this?), I  do agree with CS's take that a hard limit on reinstalls is ludicrous and draconian. The simple work around is to allow an uninstall to go back to an 'install counter'. If you REALLY need to reformat your HD, uninstall first. Another work around is registration - It's common for a lot of consumer items to need to register to get ongoing support. If you've got enough spare time to be finishing video games, you've got enough time to fill out a form.

But as I stated at the start - I frankly lean towards BM's take.
Firstly, if you want to bitch and moan about this - Do it to your friends who pirate games (or look in the mirror if you're the guilty party). If these people stop, things will go back to how they were. Setting up copy protection and authentication costs money that developers would LOVE not to have to spend.

Secondly - If you're an avid PC gamer, you WILL have internet access. If you do, you should be ALL for online authentication. People cried about it when Steam first started, but a whole mess of people who swore they'd never buy another Valve game again because of it have since clocked up hundreds of hours playing Valve games. It works. Only casual PC gamers are likely to be short on Internet access, and frankly, these people aren't going to be bothered by stuff like this.

Thirdly - Gamer's rights? Do you realise how precious that sounds? What's the first ammendment on that bill of rights? "I have the right to self indulgently escape into an alternate reality and pretend the industry that entertains me doesn't have to protect itself from death."??
Gaming's a hob

I have been gaming since the Vic 20.  Thirty + years and yes I  have pirated some games but for the most part I buy my games.  I under stand that a company needs to make a buck for their work.  The problem I have  with this form of copy protection is that it treats me like a thief.  If you do not respect your customer then you will lose them.  I am a great fan of stardock and their philosophy that you make your product for your paying customers and ignore the rest.  Steam is fine once you sign on after installing then after you can play offline, and no disk in the drive minimal hassle.  Minimal hassle to make the customer happy.  Happy customers buy more products  from you and tell others who also buy from you.  Pissed Customers DO NOT COME BACK!!!

Keep treating me as a thief and I will not be returning.  How many sales are lost because of that?
I know of one.

I buy every game I pirate. Honestly, the problem isn't in pirating, it's in not supporting the authors. People steal music all the god damned time. But the difference is that if the music is good, often people will go out and buy the CDs to "support the artist". That kind of a try before you buy system doesn't exist for PC games. and don't you go blabbing about demos... demos are like iTunes and their previews of songs, you get only so much time in a random part of the song that doesn't really give you a feel for the artist. Besides, The DRM utilities in place on Mass Effect and Spore are just downright ludicrous. Three installs? Are you serious? I wipe my hard disk once a month or so. THREE INSTALLS? I have an unopened copy of Spore on my bookshelf, but I play the ratted version because it has zero DRM.

What my point is, is it's not all the crackers' fault, it's how their services are abused.
IF YOU LIKE A GAME, BUY IT. EVEN IF YOU'VE ALREADY BEAT IT.
And get Mordor: The Depths of Dejanol 1.1, Great old-school dungeon romp.

Anyhow, I've left enough info on this account that you could look me up if you hate me enough, but I doubt you will. This post will probably just be deleted.

As if I cared,
-Nez

Well, I'm from Buenos Aires, Argentina, in the South American Continent. I bought Mass Effect, and palyed it for almost one week, when I got a SO problem. After formatting my pc and reinstalling the game, it turned out that the problem was in my HARDWARE (in my GeForce 7600GS to be precise) and, for it to work, i finished buying a new Motherboard.
I wasn't able to install the game again, because I've been sooooooooooo fool to play it at a friend's house while my PC was getting Fixed.

Well, the game costs here around $230 argentinian pesos (about USD 75, which is about half the money a teenenger like me can earn in a part-time job), so I called to EA (yes, from Argentina) and after about 5 minutes (U$D 7,50) waiting in the phone, a customer's service guy told me I should BUY AGAIN THE GAME.

After about 10 more minutes of insulting him (poor guy, I know it wasn't it's fault), I did the only thing i coud do:
1st: THROW THE DVD THROUGH THE WINDOW
2nd: Downloaded a "RELOADED" crack, and finished the game 4 times.

I've got more than 300 Original Games, including all Commandos saga, Need For Speed (exept Prostreet), ALL Tom Clancy's Games, All Warcraft games... and i've bought them all because THE GAME WAS WORTH IT. even AFTER downloading it and finishing it, if a game was REALLY worth it, I'd buy it... 
BUT FOR ME, FUCKCKCKCKCING Mass Effect Game was the last EA game i'll ever buy. After this problem I've downloaded Need for Speed ProStreet and Battlefiend 2 with crack, and they gave me less than half the pain-in-the-ass, even counting the time i've spent in looking for the Serials and cracks over the internet.

PLEASE, STOP THIS KIND OF PROTECTION.

this is'nt going to stop piracy,just make it more likely that people will download a hacked version.here's a crazy idea,why not charge a nominal sum for your online game,say £5 then charge a couple of pounds subscription every month to keep your account open?i'm sure a game like call of duty 4 would have been very well supported because it's a quality game.the reason people don't buy games is because a lot of releases are of dubious quality.play for a couple of hours then discard.if they charged say a £2 subscrition every month it would also incourage them to keep releasing patches/mods etc.ah well,just an idea.

this isn't going to stop piracy just encourage it.here's a crazy idea,why don't they charge a nominal fee for their games,say £5, then charge a small subscription every month to keep your online account open.i'm sure cod4 would have been very well supported by fans,as would cod5 when it comes out.it would also encourage them to keep releasing patches/mods etc to keep interest going.i'm fed up with buying games with little longevity or content so perhaps it would also increase the standard a little bit.i've been playing games since the atari 2600 and you will always get pirates so instead of penalising the gamers who do like to buy their product they should support them,not drive them away.or perhaps they want us all to have consoles so they can charge more?i recently bought lego indiana jones for my son for the pc.it was £20,for the consoles it was £30 plus.a sad day has arrived i think.

Finkelstein Thompson LLP is a law firm that represents consumers who have been harmed by unfair business practices. We are currently investigating claims that computer games with an irremovable anti-piracy program called SecuROM may cause computer problems. These video games include: Spore, Mass Effect, The Sims 2, BioShock, Need for Speed, Medal of Honor, Armed Assault, Neverwinter Nights 2, Overlord, World in Conflict, Supreme Commander, Command & Conquer 3, and Stalker.

Some customers have complained that when they purchase and install these video games, SecuROM is automatically installed onto their hard drive with no warning, and they cannot remove the program. According to these complaints, SecuROM can cause a number of computer problems, including: the disabling of software and hardware operations, the disruption of other computer programs, and possibly making the computer more vulnerable to hackers.

If you have purchased computer games with SecuROM and wish to discuss your rights and interests in this matter, please contact us toll-free at (877) 800-1450 or by email at contact@finkelsteinthompson.com. Responding to this advertisement does not, by itself, create an attorney-client relationship between you and Finkelstein Thompson LLP.

Very truly yours,

Mark Punzalan

Finkelstein Thompson LLP
100 Bush Street, Suite 1450
San Francisco, California 94104
Toll-free telephone: 1-877-800-1450