Reply With Quote
I condone piracy of EA.
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2...n-internet.ars
Forced to connect: C&C 4 requires always-on Internet
Command and Conquer 4 will require gamers to have an active Internet connection at all times, even when playing a single-player campaign. EA says not to worry, but gamers wanting to play on the go are sure to be annoyed.
By Ben Kuchera | Last updated July 15, 2009 9:40 AM CT
The issue of LAN play has become a hot-button issue for PC gamers ever since we found out that StarCraft 2 will have no support for it. Be prepared for an even larger backlash against a well-known RTS franchise however, as EA has confirmed that Command and Conquer 4 currently requires an online connection at all times... even when playing the single-player game.
"As of right now, you need to be online all the time to play C&C 4. This is primarily due to our 'player progression' feature so everything can be tracked. C&C 4 is not an MMO in the sense of World of Warcraft, but conceptually it has similar principles for being online all the time," Community Leader APOC wrote. No matter what mode you're playing, no matter what you're doing, if you want to play Command and Conquer 4, you're going to need to have a working Internet connection.
If you're already enraged, don't be. We're assured that this is no big deal. "While some may be taken aback by this, we've been testing this feature internally with all of our world-wide markets," APOC continued. "We wanted to make sure it wouldn't take away any significant market or territory from playing the game. We have not found or seen any results that have made us think otherwise." You won't need a broadband connection, in fact you'll be able to use a dial-up connection to get the game to play.
EA is arguing that you'll like what it's doing with the game enough to put up with this inconvenience. This is reminiscent of Blizzard's insistence that the new Battle.net will make up for the lack of LAN play. "What we are doing for multiplayer for the game and with our infrastructure for this game is unlike any we've produced before and I think you will finally see the culmination of a lot of key learnings from past projects in C&C 4, in this respect," APOC finished, before saying we can expect more details as upcoming gaming magazines hit the newstands.
While online connections are becoming more plentiful every day, can EA honestly not imagine any scenarios where a gamer might be away from an Internet connection and want to play the game? Without more information about the game's mechanics, it's hard to know if this move is a shady excuse for extreme DRM... but we're going to go ahead and float the possibility.
In fact, in a prior interview, Designer Samuel Bass claimed "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."
RTS games are great for laptops, and a natural way to pass the time while traveling. For Command and Conquer fans, though, it soon might be crucial to make sure your flight features Internet access.
-------
I'm getting to the point where I will never buy another EA le.
I condone piracy of EA.
What's going to happen is that there's going to be a cracked version that does away with this 'minor thing' and will end up being a superior product because of it.
These people just really never learn.
Unfortunately Blizzard is doing something similar with Starcraft 2 as its been announced it will not have a LAN option; forcing people to go online in order to play against an opponent thats sitting literally right next to them.
Same. Of course, I buy games routinely on Steam, so I really shouldnt have a beef with something like this.
It is what it is, I cant remember the companies name, but theyre rolling out a streaming gaming service next year where you can play most major les on your TV without a console. If I am not mistaken, its subscription based, too.
I long for the times where you used to OWN what you paid for. No artificial restrictions, no paying through the nose for merely renting a product, no lock-in restrictions and bersome DRM.
Then they wonder why piracy is so prevalent...
Meh. I can play Steam games while offline. And Steam puts out a TON of quality games each year.
This announcement doesn't effect me, I hate RTS games.
I have been privileged to be part of 2 small LAN parties. They were both a blast. We were limited by our computers to Unreal Tournament 1, but it didn't matter. I'd to that again, any time, any place.
This doesn't seem to be practical anymore.
To be fair, you never really 'owned' the games. You owned a license that was granted to you by the company to install and play the game.
We set up a Warcraft 3 LAN overseas during a deployment, and our squadron got 8 to 10 people together to play Defense of the Ancients All-stars. It was awesome and really helped waste time.
I know. Although now I'm wondering if the package on my Commodore 64 copy of Bruce Lee in cassette tape included any kind of EULA. Probably didn't.To be fair, you never really 'owned' the games. You owned a license that was granted to you by the company to install and play the game.
What a waste of programming effort. Some cracking group will probably zero-day release the game without the online checks, just like virtually every single game that has ever come out for anything.
They are very talented people. Most big games in the past several years have been 0-day releases with a lot of early releases too. With more games shipping with DRM software, these hackers are needed more than ever.
What is sad is that the legitimate user gets hurt in the end. I doubt I'm the only one here who has installed something and had DRM problems, especially related to reading the disc from a legit drive and virtual CD emulation.
Every game I install gets a hacked .exe for no disc check.
www.gamecopyworld.com
I'm sure someone will find a way to patch it to play offline.
The anti-lan stuff is pretty lame though. I've never actually played a LAN game but if I gathered around a bunch of friends I'd hate to have to be on a router with them trying to play.
Anti-lan isn't too bad depending on the number of people. I was at a LAN party in houston a few years back and we had some 12-16 people all going through the router and big hub. Didn't have any problems at all with a standard broadband connection playing FPS games on servers.
The annoying thing is now you have cd-checks for going online. I grew up in an era where you could give all your siblings and friends your copy of the game and play together on a lan without needing a $50 game for everyone. That's dead now.
Yeah I loved Tribes for that.
Yet we can all still buy one dvd and show tons of our friends a movie and it's okay(isn't it?!)...the gaming industry is evil!
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
