Saracen

DRM is a shaky future I feel. One of the biggest Markets in this very industry is the pre-owned games market. Sooner or later, if this DRM was to work its way onto consoles. The result would be a sure-fire economic collapse of many industry retailers. Independents would go bust and even the big guns such as Gamestop and GAME would suffer huge losses. This (from my Manager friend at the local GAME) is what EA and Konami particularly want since developers and publishers do not make any money on the pre-owned games market. The sooner they can destroy the market, the sooner (they believe) more people will buy the full priced products, shift more units, and gain larger profit margins. The pre-owned PC games market is extremely close to dead. The only pre-owned games that are available are those that don't have such protection. In the future, digital downloads will be the industry standard, disc based media will be over-ruled, and by then, There won't be any Gamestop or GAME stores on the high streets and malls. The end result is that many casual gamers will possibly refuse to buy games at full price. It would potentially spell disaster in the long run, and as a result it's possible that this industry could bury it's own grave within the next 25 years. If this is the way forward, and the pre-owned market is the target for abolition, then there's a lot of trouble on the horizon. It's started with the PC Pre-owned market and is affecting general full priced PC sales. Who's to say it will not continue elsewhere with other formats?

I'd have to check, but I believe reformats are not a problem either. If you're changing hardware, it should in theory remain unlimited so long as the machine doesn't have an online presence. You could call the DRM spyware if you will. It works along the same principle to transmit information to the EA servers regardless if you allow the game through your firewall or not. This is why, and I quote: And that is the fundamental flaw in this copy protection, and it's why you could still download the game from a torrent and play a single player offline game as normal without online enabling cracks. It does nothing to affect the pirates, just the legitimate user.

This is really no different from the Spore DRM protection. The difference being Spore only has a 3 computer install limit instead of 5. Personally I really do not see the point in this copy protection. Like Spore you can keep the game in an offline state forever and never have to have the key checked online at all. By going online, that's when you put yourself at a serious disadvantage, cos that's when the key is activated, and that's when you can have problems. Re-installing windows though doesn't affect the install limit. Unless you're one of those people who have Vista illegally for example and have to create a virtual motherboard, then it can be regarded as an issue. But in order for it to be an issue, you technically need that machine to be online too so the generated file can upload the discrepancy. That's just based upon my findings of using Spore anyhow. Cos I have a friend who has installed Spore on 6 other offline machines already to test this so called install limit, and he's found no problems. He's one of these pirates who finds the flaws in DRM protection and exploits them. He doesn't provide torrents, just helps to work with creating the cracks. He's also managed to crack the Wii to play copied games without getting it chipped! It is kinda ironic though... by doing this EA are really kicking the legitimate users in the balls. Cos the pirates have the brains to get past anything.

I can see this thread so heading south. So Acerz any other questions for this fine (take that with a pinch of salt) community you call home?

I'm now into the space phase! I had to restart the damn civilisation phase, because it was just going no-where. Despite what some of you have said about it, I quite enjoyed that phase. My second time around proved rather easy, but I wasn't going to repent that time. And so I put an even more aggressive stance on, and swept the planet in under half hour! But I've found it the most enjoyable mode so far. From what I've played of Space, I'm quite enjoying it. It's different, and sure, while it's been done before, it feels fresh. I think taking my time through this game is actually making me enjoy it more. Sure you could probably hammer through this game easily within 1 or 2 days tops which is rather crap for a game supposedly of this scope. But as I get into the home straight, I'm rather satisfied with what I've played.

I've been supremely aggressive all the way through, and now it's coming back to haunt me in the Civilisation mode. I'm toe to toe with the final civilisation, and Spice is running rather thin. All attempts of diplomatic alliance have failed, the enemy is far from prone to religious takeover, and economic victory is far from possible given I'm having to defend heavily right now against attacks on my main city. All good fun though. I'm enjoying it, even if it's a bit thin on fun at times.

On the same subject. B3ta.com's image challenge this week is "Extending famous film scenes"... this was an entry from one of their member's...

Maybe not, but I have It never ceases to amaze me how many old faces suddenly appear on the Horizon of a new game. Most end up disappearing again though. You're not going anywhere this time Acerz. As administrator I officially Ban you.... from leaving again!

Already reported on, it was on Gamespot before the official site: http://forums.cncnz.com/index.php?showtopic=10461 Topic locked.

It's, It's.... what the hell is it!? Looks like an old member to me, age unknown... whatever it is it doesn't appear hostile, and is rather hospitable in nature. It doesn't appear to have evolved either like some of us beings here. A strange species. I've played too much Spore today! How ya doing dude!?

There's currently a problem with Online Key authentication for Europe... I'm on the EAUK official Spore forums right now, and the EA Community Manager there is going nuts trying to resolve the problem. You can play it offline, but you'll be severely limited to what populates your game world, and it won't be long before you see the same creatures over and over.... So I'm not starting a new game until a resolution is found.. I'll keep this thread updated if a work-around or patch is released. There's a hell of a lot of angry customers out there right now, that's all I can say! Update: At around 22:35 GMT, the server is up and running perfectly... EA once again prove that they can do what they set out to do, and a good job they've done too.

Hey guys, I have it in my hand! It's gonna be a long weekend that's for sure... I haven't picked up just spore, I've picked up the "Galactic Edition". I have to say this is a pretty damn neat package in comparison to some Special Editions I've picked up over the years... here's the contents: Full Standard DVD Edition of Spore A Making of DVD detailing every step of the long development cycle "How to build a Better Being" DVD - A National Geographic documentry on Spore with references to real life beings The Art Of Spore - A 120 Page Hardback Book Fold-out Spore Poster A Premium 100 Page Galactic Handbook - The Manual, but about 60 times more in depth. (Effectively a Game Strategy Guide) 3 DVDs, 2 chunky books and a poster... That's Sporegasmic!!! (see what I did there!) But yeah, when you go to pick up your copy, be sure to look out for this Galactic Edition in your Region. You certainly get your money's worth! Right, I'm going to install this sucker on my machine!

It's the end of another month, and that only can mean one thing. Edition number 11 of our popular Roundtable Discussion is now here on CNCNZ.com. Instead of asking numerous questions on different topics this month, there's only one that matters. This month we have a dedicated Red Alert 3 Special. Here's this month's Roundtable Panel line up: Saracen - CNCNZ.com Co-Webmaster Sonic - CNCNZ.com Webmaster Chickendippers - CNC World Banshee - Project Perfect Mod Chronojam - A Path Beyond Raiden4900 - BattleCast Primetime Denmark TheBlackOut - CNCNZ.com Forums Moderator Many Thanks to everyone for taking the time to participate this month. Click here to read Roundtable Discussion #11.

Us British hold high respect for you Kiwis and this is how you repay us!? Just remember where your modern day Caucasian culture came from!

That's a classic... Make sure to read the 3rd page where they phone up the company as well, that for me was the funniest part!

Yeah, but the Krauts aren't happy unless they're murdering robots in an RTS fashion... they're not partial to killing animals or humans... and well, strange creatures are OK, but they act like real organic matter! They don't die like robots do! Looks like I might give this a quick review when I get it... If I give the game a real critical hammering, then we'll see if the top UK gaming mag is correct, or these robot slaying sauerkrauts. I love Sim/God games, and I love RTS games. So I'll play it over the weekend and give a proper verdict.

If there's a Great British Rock Song which sounds like it's asking to be covered in a live show. For God's sake! Don't give it to Metallica! It almost scarred me for life! Talk about Murder a Dire Straits Classic! So, after that sheer mess of so called acoustic and lyrical madness, they say they need to cover some Metallica songs.. That was the best thing I heard in that clip! To recover from it, I needed to see and hear it done professionally... Presenting, how it should be done on a live show: The original, best and only!

I can see where Chronojam is going with this. I had the same problem with Red Alert 2. Back then though, it was more of a shock to the system than it is now. In fact now, I don't really notice the so-called sex appeal since I was half expecting it in this game. Even though the huge majority of gamers playing C&C are male, there are still plenty of females about who get into it. The likes of my own sister and DonCarlo of the XWIS strike team are just a couple of women who play C&C. Somehow I don't think they'd like to see women's boobs half on show. If the table was turned in the expansion pack, and the male commanders had giant cod pieces, socks rammed down their crotch area to make them look "big", and the cameramen emphasised that fact by making a man's crotch the centre of attention, there'd be an uproar in the community! Sure, my sister and DonCarlo would probably like it very much... but really, is the scenario any different? To be honest, it's an old and tired thing now. I'd say get the focus of the boobs and make something with actual depth. It's not really the Westwood style that people are after. People are after quality. Why should a company spend thousands (or even Hundreds of thousands) of dollars on FMV development if no-one can even pull off a decent performance. What makes C&C is not just the classic sidebar, the gameplay, and a twist of new features per title. It's the traditional FMVs and story, and the convincing roles that make you feel like a War Commander, and not some average Joe gamer playing an RTS. If EA cannot pull it off, then they need to learn to hire someone who has the skills, has the movie direction ability, and can make it work. In fact, EA need to clear out a room in house, and make their own FMV production studio... The foundations are there with BCPT already. But the advantages are not just about filming movies for a single franchise. With blue screen abilities and such, there can be room to allow animators in to create life like CGI animations and plenty more besides, it would be an extremely powerful tool for all future EALA titles. It would certainly outweigh any financial disadvantages in the long term.

Nod Zealots works well. Brings a new spin on something old.

A bodyguard eh? OK guys, all those in favour of Masked Shah being Mina's bodyguard say "aye!"

A rather good satirical dig there at George Bush it seems. That made me chuckle. Nice reference to Iraq in there too. Acting still seems very solid. There's a very good mix of everything here from CGI to news reports. I'm beginning to think EA have nailed the FMVs down rather well. Yet another strong trailer in the bag. It's good to see some great quality oozing from this game. My only concern still are these symmetrical maps though, with them making an appearance in the SP campaigns. However I've read elsewhere that the Co-op mechanic plays well, and is cleverly done. So that may be the redemption for the lack of campaign map design.

Never any pleasing you guys is there! I think for April fools next year we'll convert the CSS file to show a nice pink colour. Then we'll add content and exlusive pages for the My Little Pony PC Franchise and we may just get the CNCNZ.com to redirect to CNC-MLP.com... in fact we may just make it a permanent fixture, my little cousin enjoys My Little Pony, she can be the tertiary co-webmaster, and what she says, goes! Let's just thank god Sonic is the founder eh? Cos I'd do it!

Time to show off I think I pre-ordered, and will be getting this phone (Blackberry Bold 9000) when it comes to the UK on September 5th... I just have to remember that Spore is out as well. I fear I could become a Crackberry addict!!! I'm only getting this cos the Mrs works for Vodafone. She's getting a brand new spanking 8GB Nokia N95 on Monday.....And no, I can afford a few things right now, but I cannot afford a BMW M3!

To be honest I find this game the most innovative thing to come out of the industry in perhaps the last 10 years. The only thing that matches it is the creation of the RT4X genre.

Jesus Holy Necro Batman!!! I've bumped a 2 year old topic! It's relevance is clear though. It's been long in the process of development. A lot of blood, sweat and tears have gone into it. And now it has been gold for some time. Next week, Spore finally hits store shelves across the planet for the PC and MAC! So, let's get this topic pumping once more. Who is getting it? What are you looking forward to? And for those who aren't.... why the hell not!? Mine's pre-ordered, and it's going to cause many, many late nights! PC Gamer UK gave it a 91% score, and it appears to be living up to the hype... Let's discuss.....