- February 21, 2010 1:21 pm
Remember that little article we highlighted a couple days back concerning Ubisoft and their new anti-consumer DRM? Well, what’s a good debate without hearing both sides to the story. An Ubisoft spokesperson went on the record defending their DRM stating that it’s for the betterment of us all. Right. Per Ubisoft Spokesperson by way of interview with PC Gamer:
So what’s in it for gamers?
Ubi say there are three advantages to their online services. The first: you don’t need a disc. The second: that you can install the game on as many PCs as you like, as many times as you like. And the third: the automatic uploading of savegames to Ubisoft’s servers.
Hmm, they’re terrible at jokes — cause this one isn’t funny. As CrunchGear notes, installing and playing a game without having to actually keep the disc in the computer is far from an “advantage” as it should have been that way since day 1.
As far as that little diddy on cloud-based backups compliments of Ubisoft — I’m pretty sure that’s on the far bottom of the totem pole of most gamers. What is much more important to gamers? Hmm, perhaps backing up our own games without having to fall into the “thief” category thanks to the BS “DRM Circumvention clause” in the DMCA. Not to mention, the backups that are sent to Ubisoft aren’t anything important. They’re simply the local game saves backed up a second time to Ubisoft. And seeing as how you have to have an internet connection to even play games such as Assassin’s Creed II and Settlers VII, the whole point of backups in the unfortunate event of a network failure render your little gaming session useless.
Yes, “Made for PC guys, by PC guys”. What a friend indeed.
CrunchGear > PC Gamer
While the war against illegal downloads rages on between consumers and the organizations suing the pants off of everyone, one can easily see that this “war” will never end. It is and always will be a constant cat and mouse game. Many consumers however opt to avoid confrontations and instead go the legal route by paying for their digital downloads through the online media store of their choice. However, if you work for the U.S. government, prepare to sing a new song — a song that says any and all downloading, no matter if you pay or not, is illegal. Say what?
If you’re into the world of tech, gadgets, electronics, and politics, especially politics pertaining to technological issues, the ongoing battle the Associated Press is waging on pretty much the entire internet just goes to show you how terrible and outdate some businesses really are. Instead of embracing the internet for what it is and what it can help you achieve, companies such as AP are instead trying to make the internet conform to outdated business practices and policies used on older business models. Such mashups simply won’t work. It really is quite stupid and revolves around AP’s claims that everyone else steals their news. (In reality, news is not a single person’s property — heck it isn’t the “property” of anyone. We all know this. Except the AP seems to think they’re in their own little world where they rule all). One with even a sliver of intelligence would think that they would see how beneficial DRM has been to the music industry (extreme sarcasm) and learn from their mistakes. Obviously we assume too much. But I digress.
For the past several weeks, the AP has been hard at work pushing their DRM laced news services in hopes that they can get a cult started in which they’re the ring leader. In order to “help” us thieves, the AP has kindly provided us with the graph shown above (lightly altered by the oh so funny crew at Crunch Gear). The sooner that outdated and bass-akwards companies such as the AP either adapt or die the better off we will all be. Actually, if you look at the AP’s heavy lobbying for DRM, one could see the similarities between them and other crooked organizations such as the RIAA. Let’s hear it for the RIAA/Satan of the news industry: AP! *applause booooooooo* (Real image after the jump — bigger images also for those of you with less than stellar eyes *winky face*)
