Forum > Gaming Discussion > DRM has gone nucluer
DRM has gone nucluer
aspro
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Sat, 31 Jan 2009 20:21:52
#1
This was in the big board of news:
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/01/pc-gears-of-war-drm-causes-title-to-shut-down-starting-today.ars
Presumably because of a screw-up Gears stopped working on Jan 28 for PC "owners" of the game. This is scary stuff to me, because it underscores that whenever software has a EULA you really don't own the game, you own a license to play the game that can expire, be revoked or otherwise taken from you at the real owners whim.
You just KNOW they are going to start throwing EULA's onto console games at some point and they can build all sorts of kill switches into the games (or in the case of the big three the hardware).
Why would they do that? I dunno. Maybe they drop the game price to $40 for a version that can be played for 120 days and raise the price to $80 for "permenant license editions (to kill off the second hand market). It's nuts.
Sorry about the title, I was using my W dictionary.
What it looks like has happened here is that it's connecting to a remote server authenticated using a digital certificate. These have to be assigned and updated by a root certificate authority (in this case VeriSign) to ensure they're trustworthy and valid. If this wasn't in place and required, then someone could crack the game by connecting to a false server for validation.
What this means for the user, though, is that this will, unless the DRM methodology is recoded (i.e. never going to happen), this certificate will have to be periodically updated. Ultimately, that means you will eventually not be able to avoid this issue because the developer/publisher doesn't care anymore and doesn't bother.
The only upside is it has to base the date off of something external from the certificate (your computer) so resetting your system time is a workaround to connect.
What I find is more of an issue and completely unresolvable is that this leads me to believe you require an internet connection to play the game. So if the verification servers shut down, or you want to play without being online, you're out of luck.
What this means for the user, though, is that this will, unless the DRM methodology is recoded (i.e. never going to happen), this certificate will have to be periodically updated. Ultimately, that means you will eventually not be able to avoid this issue because the developer/publisher doesn't care anymore and doesn't bother.
The only upside is it has to base the date off of something external from the certificate (your computer) so resetting your system time is a workaround to connect.
What I find is more of an issue and completely unresolvable is that this leads me to believe you require an internet connection to play the game. So if the verification servers shut down, or you want to play without being online, you're out of luck.
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Tell me to get back to rewriting this site so it's not horrible on mobile
DRM is a goddamn joke. Just another stupid way to give people a hard time. It doesn't help anything.
Yodariquo said:...
What I find is more of an issue and completely unresolvable is that this leads me to believe you require an internet connection to play the game. So if the verification servers shut down, or you want to play without being online, you're out of luck.
I smell some freebies coming from Microsoft Gaming.
It had to happen eventually...
Follow-up on the issue, apparently an e-mail response has been made from Epic
This makes sense (and I feel stupid for not noticing this prior) but the certificate is authorized to Epic Games, which means implementation in the DRM scheme in terms of preventing unauthorized copying would be weird unless they used their own DRM software.
However, the given explanation is still bizarre. The reports on the problem are that the game won't launch. This still says to me that this may be a Games for Windows Live issue and not entirely just the anti-cheating software.
This makes sense (and I feel stupid for not noticing this prior) but the certificate is authorized to Epic Games, which means implementation in the DRM scheme in terms of preventing unauthorized copying would be weird unless they used their own DRM software.
However, the given explanation is still bizarre. The reports on the problem are that the game won't launch. This still says to me that this may be a Games for Windows Live issue and not entirely just the anti-cheating software.
Edited: Sun, 01 Feb 2009 06:05:38
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Tell me to get back to rewriting this site so it's not horrible on mobile
PC gaming. Why damnit. Way back when you had to have 20 floppy discs to load up a game.
Awesome.
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