I don't buy retail PC games in 2012.
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Rayman Origins PC - March 29 - Retail copy no DRM, Steam copy no 3rd party DRM
- Thread starter V_Ben
- Start date
I don't buy retail PC games in 2012.
It was just a general question for why Steam DRM should be so great. It's still not user-friendly. And well, I bought it for Wii as it's much cheaper on there and has a multiplayer mode. And guess what, there's no DRM on that platform.
Sentenza
Member
I don't like to buy retail.
This could sound a bit strange to someone, but a piece of plastic in my hands to me isn't an added value at all.
I prefer to know my games are bound to my personal account (preferably my Steam account) and I will be able to access them at any given time in the future without worrying about how well I preserved my physical copy.
Well, just because it's Tages doesn't mean it'll have activation limits, if I'm not mistaken the publisher can choose if the Tages DRM has activation limits or no, even though it's really hard to trust Ubisoft in this.
See, I was stopped by a one-time registration with my copy of SWAT 4 from Direct2Drive. D2D was purchased by Gamefly and my game has been lost in the transfer. Even though I have the install files, the authentication servers have been shut down so I am 100% unable to play my game even though it's "only" a one-time activation.
I trust Valve to be around in 10 years but who the hell knows when it comes to TAGES.
I guess it's too much to ask for a company to strip DRM like this out of a Steam release? You know, since Steam itself can already be used as DRM.
edit: And what the fuck @ including DRM in a digital release but not retail. Makes no sense whatsoever.
You can't be a PC gamer. No chance.
I trust Valve to be around in 10 years but who the hell knows when it comes to TAGES.
I guess it's too much to ask for a company to strip DRM like this out of a Steam release? You know, since Steam itself can already be used as DRM.
edit: And what the fuck @ including DRM in a digital release but not retail. Makes no sense whatsoever.
You can't be a PC gamer. No chance.
Maybe, but the account specifically says that the download version won't include any "complicated" DRM, which we can assume includes TAGES.
nincompoop
Banned
Ubisoft's idiocy aside, I'm not seeing what the big deal is over buying the retail version, either. Did you people forget to put in a disc drive when you were building your computers or something?
jim-jam bongs
Member
Yes? I play all my boxed games using ISOs.
You don't even know how happy it makes me to throw away the discs of my old games once I repurchase them on GOG.
nincompoop
Banned
...until GOG gets bought out by Gamefly and you find that you can't play half of those games any more
point being, you can't take it for granted that your digital games will always be available for you (unlike retail CDs)
It's 2012, optical media is pretty much dead to me.
Sportbilly
Member
Why? As long as you download the installers and keep a copy, you're fine. Hell, burn them to a CD, they'll last just as long as the retail versions, even if you can still buy your GoG game at retail.
nincompoop
Banned
What if GoG goes out of business/gets absorbed by a shit company and they take down the original servers? Like I said, you can't take anything for granted.
faceless007
Member
Nooooooooooo. People who throw media away are bad people. If you don't want them, sell them or trade them on Goozex or donate them somewhere. But old games should still be preserved in physical form somehow.
*hugs fancy boxed copies and manuals of '90s games*
And yes, I do still buy some retail PC games even today, if I want to be able to sell/trade it later. <3 Goozex.
CecilRousso
Member
Tages on Steam version = no buy. You gotta have some principles when it comes to DRM, otherwise we would have Starforce on all PC dd game.s Stop hating your customers Ubisoft.
I haven´t bought a game requiring the optical disc during play for years, and I don´t want to do it for Rayman Origins.
I haven´t bought a game requiring the optical disc during play for years, and I don´t want to do it for Rayman Origins.
jim-jam bongs
Member
Frankly, anyone talking up the longevity of optical media in 2012 is an anachronism at best, and pig ignorant at worst
What is this, some kind of recursive argument? He answered your question in the post you quoted.
GOG's nice since you can easily back up the installers and be free of online authentication, and Valve isn't going anywhere. I don't trust any of these other guys.
faceless007
Member
The "we can't keep the site going" stunt from last year proved most people don't have the common sense to do that. People's faith in the cloud is a little misplaced.
Burned CDs are likely to deteriorate within 5 years, pressed CDs last way longer.
I have 15 year old burnt CDs that are still fine.
Can't say I've had any CD deteriorate on me outside of scratching or me losing it.
faceless007
Member
Actually most newer Ubi games on PC don't require the disc during play, just for installation (obviously).
So if the retail version is DRM-free it probably won't even have a disc check.
faceless007
Member
I said "are likely to." Depends on quality of media, storage temperature, light exposure, etc.
Variables which, as far as I know, don't affect pressed CDs.
CecilRousso
Member
Well, of course the other games doesn´t require the disc since they come with shitloads of other DRM.
If the retail copy of this would come without any DRM and no disc check, then TAGES on the Steam version would make even less sense (if that´s possible).
Which makes the online-only DRM even more ridiculous.
The only thing most DRM stops is casual piracy. In other words, your average mouthbreather won't be able to give the disc to a friend so they both have a copy installed. But when your disc has no protection at all... God, Ubi sucks.
He already said it: burn yourself a copy. It's just as safe as a retail DVD would be. Plus you can have an archival copy on a separate partition (or two).
If you are smart enough to back up your tidy little GOG .exes, GOG could move to the moon and it wouldn't matter. They will always work.
Backing up the installers to a hard disk or two is much safer and will last longer than DVDs anyway, which get scratched.
I'm sure they do affect pressed CDs...to what degree I don't know. There were quite a few reports of rotting 360 discs a while back.
I think if you get damage at just the wrong place it'll allow that rotting to occur, even if it doesn't immediately ruin it.
Man, I need to check on the older 360 games, though I don't believe any of them are rotting. If so, wow, Microsoft really does seem to be the worst in durability yet.
AbsoluteZero
Banned
Except that if the plug is ever pulled on steam all your purchases are useless.
True. And if your house is swallowed up by a sinkhole, your precious Uncharted 2 is gone gone gone.
jim-jam bongs
Member
Pros back 'em, ready to crack 'em.
Stamped CD discs have the reflective layer exposed which means they can oxidize and form little pinprick holes making it unusuable. Stamped DVDs/BDs have the reflective layer protected and most will usually last a very long time, maybe even your entire lifetime(there are exceptions of course); eventually though the glue holding the layers together will rot.
The dye on recordable discs will last 5-10 years but this wildy varies depending on the quality of the recordable discs.
Any physical or economic catastrophe that is likely to suddenly and irrevocably render Steam permanently inaccessible is of such a scale that I would have much larger things to worry about.
You're basically going on and on about the video game equivalent of keeping all of your money under your mattress instead of in a bank or credit union because if the thing suddenly disappears all your money is gone.
Madrugador
Member
What's the point of having DRM in the digital version anyway?
I mean, pirates will get the retail copy anyway. It doesn't make any difference, right?
I mean, pirates will get the retail copy anyway. It doesn't make any difference, right?
IrishNinja
Member
if this pans out...goddamn Ubi, i thought you were at least trying here.
also: haha, you guys are taking AbsoluteZero seriously.
also: haha, you guys are taking AbsoluteZero seriously.
Because they're paranoid fucks who think people are going to pass around their Steam account like it's PSN. Nobody who has a collection worth a damn is going to give their accounts to others to use.
Spectacular Dr Dawg
Member
Fucking hell Ubisoft. I feel so sorry for BlueByte, Ancels team and the team that made Heroes of Might and Magic 6. I'd like to play their games but the higher ups are trying their hardest to stop me from buying them.
LiquidMetal14
hide your water-based mammals
I'm getting it on Vita so DD version when it's 5-10 it is.
I didn't forget, no. It was an intentional move.
StoppedInTracks
Member
- Valve isn't going to go bankrupt
You cannot rule that one out. No company is unsinkable. (Gabe can go crazy one day and just spend all the money on whiskey & whores. You never know.)
- Valve isn't going to get bought out
You cannot rule that one out either. Everybody has its price.
- The DRM never interferes with them in their actual playing of the game
Agree.
- Typically it is coupled with automatic patching, so insofar as they might have a pang of fear, they're also getting a benefit.
Agree.
Additional point:
- lots of their pals play on Steam (as in "playing on a console") so they jump in to not be left out
There is really no point in NOT using Steam but hey it is still DRM. DRM-lite I'd say.
ScepticMatt
Member
Ubisoft why?
I've stopped buying Retail because I've lost so many CDs.
I've stopped buying Retail because I've lost so many CDs.
Yoshi
Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
DVDs get scratched? I don't own a single scratched DVD (or CDs) out of all DVDs that I bought new. They only scratch if you tread them badly.
Or accidentally drop them, or lend them to a friend, or have a kid that gets in your stuff, or an earthquake knocks over your shelf. Don't be dense.
SapientWolf
Trucker Sexologist
Like a chargeback on your payment?
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