Wallpaper High Quality 1024×768

Okay, so today’s featured card is Whistle. But what does it do exactly you ask? It’s a major tournament use card, while we get WiFi Battles mostly, there are some communities bound to stick by official Wavemasters rules. Even then, this card is extremely useful. It drags your opponent to the front lines giving you a chance to execute a card you don’t want them to block at a split second. Perfect for Giga cards like Avalanche that do the most damage the closer your opponent gets to you.

Locations:

Star Force 2 – Blue Mystery Wave in Zack’s Bedroom

Star Force 3 – Beach Umbrella

1978. După doi ani de experimente muzicale, folosind numele de scenă The Dead Daughters şi The Future, Martyn Ware şi Ian Craig Marsh îi descoperă pe Philip Oakey si Philip Adrian Wright. Noua componenţă cere un nou nume (şi pentru ca să poată să abordeze casele de discuri dintr-un unghi diferit). Ware a propus o expresie folosită în jocul video, Starforce: Alpha Centauri. În acel joc, The Human League, un grup de exploratori care îsi petrece tot timpul în spatiu, doreşte mai multă independenţă de Pământ, si începe o răscoală în acest sens în anul 2415.

From/De: Nintendo of America

NINTENDO PRESIDENT ANNOUNCES Wii STORAGE SOLUTION, NEW ZELDA GAME AND 50 MILLION GLOBAL Wii SHIPMENT

Keynote Details Nintendo DSi News on Eve of Launch

SAN FRANCISCO, March 25, 2009 – Nintendo President Satoru Iwata today revealed surprises for consumers and an expanded palette of video game development opportunities for the industry during his keynote address at the Game Developers Conference. Iwata announced a new storage solution for Nintendo’s Wii™ home console and showed video highlights of a new Nintendo DS™ game from The Legend of Zelda™ franchise.

Video game developers now have expanded opportunities given that worldwide shipments for the Wii system surpassed 50 million units and worldwide shipments for the Nintendo DS franchise are at more than 100 million units. Iwata said, “It is in the power of game developers to invent things that gamers have never seen – or even imagined – before.”

Nintendo also noted several key initiatives that are on the way for consumers, some of which are available at the Nintendo GDC booth.

Nintendo DSi
* The new portable Nintendo DSi system goes on sale in the United States on April 5. For the first six months after launch, consumers who buy the system and connect to the Nintendo DSi Shop will automatically receive 1,000 Nintendo DSi Points, which can be redeemed for downloadable Nintendo DSiWare™ games and applications through the Nintendo DSi Shop. In order to receive the free Nintendo DSi Points, consumers must access the Nintendo DSi Shop by Oct. 5, 2009, and the Nintendo DSi Points can be redeemed at any time after that (wireless broadband access required).

* Similar to how the WiiWare™ service works in the Wii Shop Channel, the Nintendo DSi Shop will feature a variety of downloadable Nintendo DSiWare™ games and applications. These games and applications will be available at four different price categories: free, 200 points, 500 points, and 800+ points. Consumers can purchase Nintendo DSi Points in the Nintendo DSi Shop with a credit card or by purchasing a Nintendo Points Card™ at retail locations for redemption in the Nintendo DSi Shop. All points from one Nintendo Points Card will need to be redeemed at the Nintendo DSi Shop. Nintendo Points Card will start to become available at select retail locations beginning Apr. 5.

* Iwata gave conference attendees a glimpse into some of the upcoming Nintendo DSiWare games and applications such as Moving Memo (name not final) and WarioWare™: Snapped!. Moving Memo (name not final) lets users create animated digital flipbooks of their own design, while WarioWare™: Snapped! uses Nintendo DSi Camera functionality for a fresh gaming experience.

* On the show floor, conference attendees are able to experience some of the Nintendo DSiWare games and applications that will be available soon. Bird & Beans™ and Art Style™: Aquia™ are fun mini games that will be perfect to play on-the-go.

Nintendo DS & Nintendo DSi Software
* The new The Legend of Zelda™: Spirit Tracks game that Iwata announced will utilize the intuitive touch control of Phantom Hourglass in an all new adventure that will please longtime Zelda™ fans while keeping the game accessible to all DS owners. The concept behind this Zelda game includes utilizing a steam locomotive to travel around the world, switching Phantom and Link to explore the dungeons, and solving puzzles using new items.

Wii
* As the library of downloadable WiiWare and Virtual Console™ games continues to grow, Wii owners have asked Nintendo to provide easy, expanded storage space. Starting today, Wii owners will be able to save downloaded WiiWare, Virtual Console video games, and Channels directly to High Capacity SD cards, in addition to SD memory cards. To play games that have been saved to SD cards, consumers will be able to select and launch them from an SD Menu icon on the Wii Menu. (Note that when launching games or channels from an SD card, an equivalent amount of internal Wii memory is required. To clear space from the internal memory, users can transfer games or channels from the Wii Menu to the SD card). This feature is included in the latest version of the Wii System Menu Update, which owners will receive immediately after performing a system update today.

* Gamers will be glad to have that additional storage space, as the Virtual Console will expand to include the arcade versions of classic third-party games like STARFORCE by Tecmo Ltd., and Mappy, Gaplus and Tower of Druaga by Namco Bandai Games Inc. starting today.

* Upcoming games Punch-Out!!™ and Excitebots™: Trick Racing are available to play at Nintendo’s booth. Excitebots: Trick Racing, a new and refreshing take on the classic Excitebike™ series from the arcade and NES™ days, is slated to launch on April 20, while a new game in the classic Punch-Out!! series will be on store shelves on May 18.

WiiWare
* To highlight new development opportunities for independent developers, Iwata unveiled a game for the WiiWare downloadable game service called Rock N’ Roll Climber™, which uses the Wii Balance Board™ accessory to help users simulate the experience of rock climbing. The game is being developed by Vitei.

* Remember that Wii features parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about this and other Wii features, visit Wii.com. For more information about Nintendo, visit www.Nintendo.com.

About Nintendo: The worldwide pioneer in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Wii™ and Nintendo DS™ systems. Since 1983, when it launched the Nintendo Entertainment System™, Nintendo has sold more than 2.8 billion video games and more than 485 million hardware units globally, including the current-generation Wii and Nintendo DS, as well as the Game Boy™, Game Boy Advance, Super NES™, Nintendo 64™ and Nintendo GameCube™. It has also created industry icons that have become well-known, household names such as Mario™, Donkey Kong™, Metroid™, Zelda™ and Pokémon™. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo’s operations in the Western Hemisphere. For more information about Nintendo, visit the company’s Web site at www.nintendo.com.

Sigh, I really hate Ubisoft. Why do they seek to make my life a misery with their shitty copyright protection?

Okay, to start from the beginning: I decided to go out and buy Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. Edge recently recommended the game in their 100 Best Games To Play Today list and I, being the kind, magnanimous and merciful person that I am, decided to grant Ubisoft clemency for their previous crimes against humanity – or rather, PC gamers.

So, anyway, I put the DVD in and start installing. Everything is going smoothly; no hitches so far. I then get a call from my virus protection software saying, “Hey, dude, you’re installing something kinda funky on my computer – what’s that all about?”

So I look up the offending program in question and it happens to be StarForce: the notorious copy-protection software. A sinking feeling fills in my gut, as I begin to realise what I’ve let myself in for. I grit my teeth and let StarForce do its thing; after all, I’m never going to able to play the game I just bought if I don’t. The installation process having finished, I restart my computer as instructed.

“Okay,” I think, “time for some Splinter Cell action.”

“Oop, no, think again,” says StarForce.

I have to enter a CD-key – of which there are two confusingly placed in the DVD case – and hopefully it will unlock the game for me to play. No such luck, the install key doesn’t seem to like the disk. I then look up on the internet to see if anybody else has come across this, and, apparently, Ubisoft made a mistake with the keys, printing 8s when there should have been Bs. So I change it around, praying it will work and, of course, it doesn’t. I find another support thread saying that all installation keys are essentially the same – and the poster points to the Ubisoft knowledge base article which confirms it – so I copy that key and try it. It works, sort of. The game recognises it as a valid key, but it doesn’t match with my disk – so it says – and all the while, my DVD drive is making a sound like the engines of an F-14 fighter jet taking off.

By this point I have given up any notions of legality and decide to look for a no-cd crack. I plumb the depths and surface victorious in my quest: I find a no-cd crack, and for the latest version of the game. Unfortunately, though, that doesn’t work either.

So I really am out of options now. I’m sending the game back for a refund, and I’m now stuck with StarForce on my system. Great. I guess I should have known after the Double Agent debacle, but, you know, I’m a kind-hearted guy. That’s why I’m going to let the board of directors live and, instead, just not buy any more of their products.

Desde hace bastante, vengo jugando a este juego, del cual os dejé una pequeña recopilación de mods hace algún tiempo. Me encanta simplemente porque me recuerda a los viejos Need for Speed.

La primera vez que instalé el juego en un Vista de 64-bits me ocurrió el problema que a continuación voy a describir que en un primer momento no pensé que el motivo fue la instalación del juego.
Después de instalar el juego y algunas cuantas cosas más, hice un reinicio, cuando Windows intentó iniciarse me saltó la famosa pantalla de que había drivers instalados en el equipo no firmados  y por lo tanto el sistema no se iniciaría (similar a la de la imagen).

El archivo que exactamente me decía que fallaba era el “\Windows\System32\drivers\sfsync02.sys“. Si alguien ha llegado a estar en este punto, la única solución que yo encontré fue la de iniciar Ubuntu y tan simple como renombrar el archivo a sfsync02.sys_BCK. Con este cambio Windows no lo reconoce como un .sys y por lo tanto no lo carga.

Para evitar este tipo de ’sustos’ lo mejor es que antes de reiniciar el sistema, después de haber instalado el juego, accedamos a esta ruta y modifiquemos el nombre de ese archivo o simplemente lo cortemos a otra ubicación.
Pero ¿ese archivo exactamente que es? ¿funcionará el juego sin él?. Si miramos las propiedades de este archivo nos encontraremos con esto.

Al parecer el juego instala un driver StarForce para vigilar que usemos una copia original del juego. Aunque lo mejor de todo viene cuando el juego se ejecuta sin problemas (con el CD original, por supuesto) sin tener este driver.

El problema viene porque este driver es demasiado antiguo y el propio Windows cree que es un drivers sin firmar (por lo tanto incompatibe con Windows Vista x64, o al menos esto es lo que suponen los de Microsoft).

Espero que esto le ayude a alguien en un futuro

I have recently acquired a sparkling new computer-rig made of pure electric-current asskickery, so of course I looked around to buy some equally kickass games, and saw that GTA4 came out (for the PC) recently. I hurried to Amazon (Yes, i know, I’m a cooperate whore), raised my finger to click and buy, but then, just as my finger was on the verge of sending the signal to Amazon, 3rd party corporations, and probably the government for good measure, I glimpsed at the 1.5 star rating. GTA3, being something which probably cost me my soul, sanity, and prospects of a good career, demanded of my fanboy-self, that I flame and, if possible, wreak terrible vengeance on the infidels who unjustly voted on the (arguably) fourth coming of my lord. When I actually saw the complaints of the 1star-raters however, my rage was quickly extinguished and turned into the opposite: Pure frustration about the current state of PC-gaming, combined with disdain and loathing of Rockstar.

I knew that Rockstar would probably violate both my computer and my sense of self-worth with some sort of evil copy-protection scheme, but this time I was prepared to throw my ideals overboard like some stranded guy roasting his best friend on a pike, while furiously masturbating to memories of him having his way with his friend’s wife.

Despite my moral downfall, one thing I still cannot bring myself to do is to accept Windows Live. Just like Steam I reject this sort of monolithic paternalism in its entirety. I do NOT want to connect to the internet to save my game. Period. I have 1 Terabyte of storage on my PC, I can save MILLIONS of GTA4 savefiles, I want to have it on my local harddrive, end of story. After activation I want to have the game on my PC, still activated, till the day the music dies, and I want to play the game even without being connected to the internet. Why do I want this? Because I actually care about my privacy. Yes, remember that word? Privacy? You’ve heard of it, right? I will not give anyone the right to know what I am doing in the privacy of my own 4 walls, noone has the right to know when I play GTA4, for how long, and how much I suck at it. Neither Rockstar nor Microsoft is entitled to this information. They are entitled to my money, afterwards they are entitled to going away to disappear into the meadows of obscurity. And maybe come out once in a while to deliver some patches, which, reading the reviews, I think they are going to need. Wow.

Windows-Live is just another travesty like Windows Vista, which is a clunky piece of unnavigable trash. Vistas menu-structure is simply horrendous, and the control panel, no words for the control panel – I mean did their designers purposely decide to force me through 10 minutes of searching till I actually find anything? Can menu-names be any more uninformative? I don’t even want to find out. And now they expect me to welcome Live into my PC? No. Matchmaking and playing online were NEVER a problem EXCEPT in the rare occasions in which companies decided that selling out to companies, like the one behind Gamespy, was somehow reasonable business practice.

Another problem is this Rockstar “Social Club”-hogwash. Does anyone in their right mind actually give a shit about “sharing user profiles” with other people, running around virtually killing people and blowing up cars/buildings/playgrounds? What the hell is wrong with these people?

I know I could be potentially be shooting myself in the foot, since this is wordpress after all, and lets face it, it’s a platform for sexually unsatisfied losers to talk about how much Rockstar is pissing them off, but there has to be a difference! And there is of course, because I actually write here on my own free will, while this social club nonsense is imposed upon me, if I want to play the game. You simply know that a service is going to suck if they actually require you to use it, and not give it to you as an option. But of course they do force it, because if they wouldn’t, then noone would give a damn.

Rockstar, I’ve been a loyal customer since GTA1 – but there is always a time to say goodbye. I can’t say that you’ve always treated me nicely, because most of the time you’ve been a bug riddled hassle, but we all have our faults. But this time your constant bitching and jealous hand-holding was simply too much for me to bear. I really hope you learn your lesson, and if not, well then go to hell.

By the way, I tried to include some pictures to make this wall of text more appealing, but ill be damned if I have to load another one of these fucking flash animations on their homepage – HTML simply isn’t good enough anymore it seems.

In the second part of my investigation into the affect that DRM is having on PC gaming, I take a look at StarForce, one of the big DRM systems used with PC software. The official StarForce website boasts of ‘hundreds of millions of protected copies’, ‘guaranteeing high reliability’ and ‘technologically perfect products’.  Let’s examine these latter two claims, and in doing so call upon my personal experience with StarForce and upon feedback from end users.

What brought StarForce to my attention?

I first became aware of StarForce a few years ago, when my old PC developed a technical fault. The fault was unusual, and took a lot of effort to resolve. My computer would intermittently fail to detect the presence of the CD drive in Windows. It would always find it at the boot screen and in the BIOS, but randomly Windows would not show the D drive, meaning that I could not use the PC.

An odd problem! The BIOS always detected the CD drive on boot up, but Windows would sometimes be unable to recognise it. Opening up the case and refitting the cables etc. made no difference. Rebooting Windows once or twice in a row would fix the problem, but it came back again and again, every few days. Very annoying, and wasted a lot of my time. I tried everything to fix the problem, and was on the verge of wiping my computer and doing a full reinstallation of Windows. As luck would have it, I stumbled upon some online information about StarForce DRM.

The online information explained what StarForce was, how to see if StarForce is installed on your PC and more importantly, how to remove it. I followed the instructions and found to my surprise that StarForce was installed on my PC without my knowledge. I followed the instructions for manually removing StarForce. I rebooted. The CD fault never came back after I uninstalled StarForce, ever again. I suppose this could be a coincidence, but what do you think?

How did StarForce get on my PC in the first place?

Well, I never did find out which game first installed StarForce. I have purchased a lot of PC games over the years, and have subsequently discovered that some of the come with StarForce. I can say for certain however that:

1. I have never taken a conscious decision to install StarForce on my PC.
2. I have never noticed a StarForce logo prominently displayed on the packaging of a game.
3. At the time of purchase I have never been aware that StarForce was included with a game.
4. There was no Uninstall option in Windows Control Panel to cleanly remove StarForce.
5. I have never been aware that a StarForce setup program was running on Windows; it has always installed covertly. The only exception to this is when I was forced to manually download a StarForce update in a futile attempt to get Spellforce 2: Shadow Wars DRM to work – see below for more information.

Later support problems

Sometime later I was asked to fix another computer in order to get a child’s game to work on a family PC. I get this sort of thing a lot because people think I am ‘good with computers’. I must be a sucker for a compliment. I took a look at the machine, and found that the game had StarForce protection.  I did some more research. I found some home DVD editing software on the machine. I think it was called DVD Lab, but it has been a few years so forgive my memory. Anyway, the point is that it was perfectly legal home DVD authoring software and not PC game or DVD copying software.

I emailed the company support address and waited a few days for an answer. The problem turned out to be this. The DVD authoring software had used something called a VSO driver I read online that VSO is an alternative to Adaptec’s ASPI driver for talking to the DVD drive. This seems fair and reasonable. The problem turned out to be that StarForce identified that a VSO driver was installed on the machine, and blocked the game from running.

Why on earth did StarForce do this, I wondered? I did some googling and found out that some DVD copying software such as Blindwrite also used a VSO driver. So in effect this was a false positive on the part of StarForce, which decided to block the gamer from playing the game they had purchased because it detected a driver on the machine which had the potential for being used for piracy. The truth is that no piracy was involved, but the game would not work anyway.

A solution was offered by tech support. Go into Windows Device Manager, select the option to display hidden Windows devices, and disable the VSO driver. I did this, it worked. StarForce DRM no longer blocked the game, which then ran OK.

Of course the DVD authoring software no longer worked. It turned out this solution was unacceptable, so the game was returned to the shop and exchanged for a different game that the kids wanted. Effectively StarForce DRM cost a sale on this occasion, and wasted my time.

A lesson learned

I made the mistake of buying Spellforce 2 as a Christmas present. I really regret this. I wasted two evenings trying and failing to get this to work. JoWood tech support did not respond to any of my support questions in trying to make the game start.

Had I known that the game used StarForce DRM I would have chosen a different game, due to my past experiences. Again, the StarForce DRM software had been installed covertly on the PC. There was no DRM information supplied on the packaging. I really do think that the DRM system included should be listed alongside the other info in the technical details section on PC games packaging for all games.

I installed the Spellforce 2, but it refused to start and kept insisting that I insert the disk into the drive. The disk was inserted, but the game still did not work. The DRM software failed to recognise that the original game disk was in the drive. No amount of reinstalling would do the trick. Of course there were no piracy tools on the PC, but from past experience I looked for VSO drivers regardless, and found none.

The only support I could find at the time was on the game forums. It seemed I was that I was not alone; other people had the same problem. The only practical information I could find was that I had to download and install a StarForce update in order to make the game compatible with more machines. I tried this, it still did not work. I gave it several attempts but I could not get the game to recognise that the disk was in the drive, despite the StarForce update.

In the end I received no personal support whatsoever from JoWood. The Christmas present was totally wasted, all due to a DRM system that refused to let the customer play a game. After two ruined evenings trying to update StarForce so that it would allow the game to run, I gave up, dismayed. Admittedly I later found a website called GameCopyWorld which contains all manner of patches to let people play their game without a CD in the drive, but I am not sure of the legality of this in the UK. To this day Spellforce2 sits on a shelf in its original packaging, unplayed and gathering dust. What a waste of my money, all due to a DRM error.

From my experiences with StarForce I learned a valuable lesson. To this day I have learned never to impulse buy PC games again, but to check the DRM system online before deciding to purchase a PC game. If I see that StarForce is included with a game then I choose not to make a purchase. Despite the official StarForce website using phrases like, ‘guaranteeing high reliability’ and ‘technologically perfect products’, I prefer to use my own judgement based on personal experience with this product.

I have suffered so much nuisance at the hands of StarForce DRM that I prefer to avoid the product. After all, it’s my money I’m spending. I just wish PC games companies were more honest on their packaging so that honest customers can make an informed decision at the time of purchase.

Other gamers’ reactions to StarForce

So much for my personal stress with this product, what about other people’s experience with StarForce?
Well, it would seem I am far from alone in suffering stress caused by StarForce. Here is a list of relevant websites.

Please note, I am not affiliated with any of the following sites, we can only judge for ourselves whether they are accurate or reliable. However, there does seem to be some consistency between these sites and other online resources. I have just picked out a few to highlight. As always, I encourage you to form your own opinion. Do you think StarForce DRM is benign to gamers?

http://www.onlinesecurity-on.com/
An official removal tool to take StarForce off your computer.  If you scroll past all the unhelpful rhetoric criticising other companies drive emulation products, there is a link to an official download for the removal tool buried near the end of the page. I wish this tool had been available when I first had to uninstall StarForce while fixing PCs all those years ago.

Seems like an odd technique for software though – to fail to uninstall the DRM when you uninstall the game it came with. To fail to provide an uninstall option in Windows control panel. To put an uninstaller online for download, but on a different website and not on the StarForce official support pages. In my opinion there is scope here for StarForce to be more helpful to game buying customers.

Actually, think about that for a minute. From the perspective of StarForce the company, members of the public are not paying customers are they? I think they are actually end users. The ‘paying customers’ would be big software companies who license StarForce DRM to protect their games. Am I right? If so, who then is actually responsible for paying for the provision of support to PC gamers?

http://www.glop.org/starforce/

I stumbled upon a public ‘Boycott StarForce’ campaign!  Wow, it looks like I am far from alone at having experienced problems with StarForce. There are allegations of StarForce damaging CDs and  DVDs – both the media and the drives. Some people are complaining that having StarForce installed on their PC caused their DVD writers to malfunction (they use the phrase ‘irreversible hardware failures’).

There is even a movie recording of a PC being forcibly restarted in the middle of a game, allegedly due to the StarForce DRM software.

Something that might prove useful is the page showing how to detect whether your PC has had StarForce installed without your knowledge. If you have had problems with your PC then it might be worth checking.

http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/Starforce-enforces-DRM-by-instant-reboot-without-warning.html
Well worth a look. Provides some information about what StarForce is programmed to do to your PC. It might explain the video on www.glop.org showing a PC rebooting itself in the middle of a game.
Just a thought.. In my experience Windows PCs have a shutdown routine to ensure that all data is saved and Windows closes in a clean fashion. This avoids data loss and the possibility of file corruption on the hard disk. I would be distressed if a DRM system made my PC repeatedly reset in the way shown on the video; it seems to me to be potentially damaging.
Several of the published comments on this StarForce related page are worth a read, such as shaolin007 quoting a definition of a computer virus, or dvdfaetter reporting serious technical problems with his PC which he thinks may be related to StarForce.

http://wiki.boycottstarforce.net/index.php/Game_list
A list of games which use StarForce DRM. If you have found StarForce on your PC and are wondering where it came from, this list may help.

From browsing online forums and other web sources, I found several mentions of the StarForce games list. It seems as though PC game buyers are checking the list before purchasing a game. Reassuring that I am not alone in my buying preferences!

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060313-6365.html
The publishers of Galactic Civilizations II had decided not to impose a DRM system on their customers, and released the game accordingly. Reports have it that the game sold very well indeed, and generated a lot of good will from customers. It seems this provoked a reaction from StarForce.

Check out the final paragraph of the ars technica article. This refers to a news story that you can read about elsewhere too.  It says that StarForce published on their own website forum a working link to download a pirated version of Galactic Civilizations II, via torrents. Thereby encouraging and facilitating piracy of the game because it did not use the StarForce DRM system. Shocking!

http://www.boingboing.net/2006/01/30/anticopying-malware-.html and
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/01/31/starforce-threatens-.html
First  the a short web article provides a screenshot showing hidden StarForce drivers installed on a PC, and information about the behaviour of StarForce. There is some encouragement for  people to join the boycott, and the blog has been given a provocative headline.

In response to this article, it says that the PR Manager from StarForce wrote back with an email that is very enlightening. The site published the email in January 2006. Would you feel intimidated to receive an email such as this? Please take a look and judge for yourself. I have no idea whether or not Cory Doctorow’s article does violate approx eleven un-named international laws as stated, but the response from StarForce is very clear: their company’s corporate lawyer is going after this guy because of what he said. Oh, and the email said that the FBI will also be involved.

If you have read some of my other articles, you may have seen my definition of bullying: the act of intimidating others, especially weaker people.  I must confess to feeling somewhat intimidated when writing online about my own honest experiences with StarForce, in the light what I read in Cory Doctorow’s article. According to http://gamepolitics.livejournal.com/193154.html  other people have received similar correspondence from StarForce.

Conclusion

Let’s wrap up part two of my investigation into affect of DRM on computer games, ‘Is DRM killing PC games?’ Well done if you made it this far!

I have recounted my own personal experiences with StarForce, and looked briefly at reports from other people. You can read these accounts online for yourself.

I had never taken issue with older copy protection schemes on computer games. From the annoying Lenslok that came with Elite on the Spectrum, the colour coded card from Jet Set Willy, the spinning Code wheels that came with Pool Of Radiance, even the occasional ‘now type in the word found on page x of the manual’ type of protection on the Amiga and PC. These were minor inconveniences, and as a paying customer I tolerated them because I understood the need to protect the company’s revenue from piracy.

On the Amiga and on the PC I was dimly aware that games were using copy protection techniques such as formatting floppy disks and CDs in unusual ways. These never noticeably interfered with my computer, and I blissfully ignored them and played the games I had purchased.

When StarForce DRM came out though, things changed. I only noticed these changes when I encountered computer problems which coincided with StarForce.

1. I found that this DRM system was invasively making changes to the way my computer worked, by installing hidden files and drivers which affected the way Windows and other applications run.
2. I became annoyed when a game required administrator privileges on my PC in order to secretly install a DRM system without my permission.
3. I began to suspect that the DRM system was leaving some aspects of its software running constantly on the PC in the form of drivers. I lacked sufficient technical knowledge to be certain of this, but I could certainly see hidden device drivers visible in Windows when I looked for them.
4. I realised that the DRM system was being left behind on the computer even when the game itself was removed, a practice I find unacceptable.
5. I found out that DRM software was now spying on what other software was installed on a PC, and then refusing to allow a purchased game to work. Even though there was no attempt at piracy. As a paying customer I find it unacceptable that a game does not work because of this invasive DRM practice.
   I found myself wasting hours of my time delving into the workings of hidden Windows drivers, system files and new registry keys that I previously new nothing about in order to get games to work.
6. I found myself for the first time being unable to get a game that I had paid for to even start.
7. I found myself for the first time having to download and install software updates to the DRM system itself in the hope that it would fix the game.
8. I found I had wasted time and money due to DRM when all I wanted to do was play games I had legally purchased.
9. I found that I wanted to avoid buying games which used StarForce DRM because of the risks to a computer costing hundreds of pounds, for the sake of installing a DRM system protecting a game worth a tiny fraction of that amount.

Therefore I found that my game buying habits had been changed by DRM such as StarForce, and from what I have read online, I am far from alone! People are saying ‘DRM is killing PC games’.  Well, I conclude that if DRM is changing people’s game buying habits, then there might be something to this complaint.

I will continue my report on DRM in computer games in Part three of ‘Is DRM killing PC games?’ coming soon, when I shall look more closely at another widely used DRM system called Securom.

(c) Copyright Talkjack 2009

See also:

Is DRM killing PC games? (part one – The DRM Charter)

Is DRM killing PC games? (part three- Securom)

When I was a kid I was an avid PC-Gamer. I got my first computer in 92, me being about 6 years old. Over the years i played great classics like Commander Keen, Monkey island, Betrayal at Krondor, Quest for Glory, Duke Nukem, Robot, and so on. The first experience with copy protection at that time was probably in “The Settlers”. You needed to put in a list of symbols at the start of the game, and if you got it wrong the game simply quit. Other means of copy protection were typing in certain words in certain parts of the game-manual, answering questions whose answers you needed to extract from an extra sheet or the manual again. All fine and dandy. As time moved on, games required you to put in the original CD, which I always found a huge hassle, needed you to put in codes, needed you to register at some on-line service. I still don’t have any problem with that, after all, I understand the developers need to obtain lots of money to buy whores and expensive wines. I have slight problems with this on-line verification aspect (because it renders the product useless should the service be canceled, and limited activation tries are a big no-no), but I can manage. What really pisses me off is, when hackers and other freeloaders are actually getting a BETTER deal than an honest customer, going into a store and actually PAYING MONEY for their games. What am I talking about you say? Well read on:

I went into town today and bought some games and hardware. One of these games was Colin Mcrae Rally 2005, for about 10$ from the rummage bin. So of course I went home and installed the game. But to my amazement the game needed to install “Copy Protection Drivers”, namely Starforce. If you don’t know what this means, just google Starforce. Like any sane customer I felt raped and violated, why oh why I asked myself, must a developer force me to install Starforce drivers TO PROTECT A 10$ GAME FROM 2005 I OBTAINED FROM THE RUMMAGE BIN? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE? You might say I’m being overly melodramatic, after all they are just kernel drivers being able to wreck all sorts of havoc in my finely tuned system, right? Wrong, there’s a reason I mentioned these old copy protection methods, none of them were system intrusive. They didn’t force me to install any kernel drivers of questionable origin (except maybe DirectX, a graphics library worth trusting), which are capable of compromising my entire system. This is my computer, this is my platform I play your shitty game on! My platform, my rules, bitches! And the funny thing is, it just protects games being burnt to CD/DVD. Who the hell gets their illegal games from discs these days? There’s something called the “Internet” you dipshits! And the hacked versions of this game have this copy protection removed, which means that people who don’t spend money on product are actually better off. What kind of a logic is that? It’s no wonder the industry is complaining about bad sales of “top games” on the PC, if the customer has to put up with this shit. Yes, I’m sure all these hackers are the cause of your dwindling sales morons, how about giving people incentive to actually buy your games by providing a trustworthy copy void of viruses and other malware aka Starforce?

But the biggest complaint is still coming: I downloaded the Death Track Demo a while ago, and guess what? It had Starforce copy protection. WHAT THE HELL? Are you telling me I just wasted 2GB of bandwidth downloading a shitty demo needing me to install copy protection drivers? I looked around and it seems the demo needs copy protection to prevent hackers from reverse engineering the demo, and thus also cracking the “real” game. Anyone with a little bit of knowledge in this area knows: This is a steaming pile of shit, aka lies. They just want people to “accept” these drivers, because they are everywhere and you can’t get around them. But you can get around them, by playing hacked games, or in my case, by not playing them at all. Indeed, this copy protection is really worth its money.

The fact that I’m simply addicted to the whole MegaMan Battle Network series is nothing new for most of the people who know me. Quite obviously, this addiction has followed eve nafter the series has ended, spawning in to it’s not-so-different sequel series MegaMan Star Force.
Episode two of the “100 years later” series has finally been released in the land of the free and I, as any fanboy worthy of the name, have got my paws on a copy of the game.
This time around, the series has only two twists available (in comparison to the 3 available in the first Star Force game). In my case, I’ll be playing the Zerker x Saurian version. Expect a review once I’ve played enough!

The DRM Charter is found here, below the introduction. Please scroll down if that is what you are looking for.

Introduction

The old phrase in common use prior to the term DRM was ‘copy protection’. Nowadays, publishers want to stop people doing more than just copy something, they want to impose further restrictions upon their customers too.

Digital Rights Management (DRM) is the benign sounding term used to restrict what customers can do with digital media they have purchased. By ‘digital media’ I am referring to music, movies, TV shows on DVD or iPlayer, electronic books, games, in fact pretty much anything these days which can be run on a PC, TV, games console, PDA, mobile phone etc.

The PC games market is big multi-million business, dominated by a few wealthy publishers. Companies like Electronic Arts (EA) are in the habit of taking over successful small games companies and assimilating them into the EA collective, Star Trek Borg fashion as it where.

I believe that DRM in PC games is typically imposed upon paying customers to limit customer’s freedom with the game they have purchased in order to make more money for big business. This is in addtion, not purely to trying to stop theft (piracy) in order to make more money. That might be reasonable if the DRM methods being used were respectful and fair to paying customers, but this does not appear to be the case any longer.

Following the release of a new PC game, the largest amount of revenue is earned in the first 2-3 weeks. After that revenue tails off dramatically over time. Typically after 2-3 years customer support is reduced, saving ongoing maintenance costs for the game. .

The technical methods currently being used with PC games have become offensive, frankly, to paying customers. In a later article I have investigated more deeply the reports of DRM systems like Starforce and possibly Securom causing damage to customer’s computers. For now, I have decided to publish my version of a PC Gamers’ Charter, clarifying what current practices are unreasonable from the customer’s perspective. Here goes:

PC Gamers’ DRM Charter

1.    Stop the practice of covertly installing DRM software on a customer’s PC. Dishonest, malicious software such as viruses and spyware install themselves covertly and offer no removal mechanism in Windows control panel. You should be open about what you are doing to customer’s computers. Always list the DRM software in Control Panel so that users can uninstall it at will, knowing that the game requires it.

2.    Show me the logo! You are quite happy to smother the box with logos, copyright notices etc. for companies who contributed to the software on the game disc. You should print clearly on the packaging the name and logo of the DRM system you licensed and bundled with the game. This will allow customers to make an informed choice when they purchase your product, and not have a nasty surprise when they get home and find you have imposed restrictions upon them which were not clearly available at the time of sale.

3.    Instil confidence in your paying customers by removing your DRM when it is no longer necessary. After all, if sales have tailed off six months after the release of a game then the DRM is no longer protecting your income, so it is no longer required. It won’t cost you much to do this as customers will gladly download your patch at their own expense.

4.    Do not modify your customer’s PC by installing applications that run constantly. Your DRM system should only be running when your game is running. Otherwise you are slowing down the gamers’ PC and risking unnecessary conflicts with other programs they have purchased. You should not be stealing their CPU time and electricity when they are not using your product.

5.    If you require someone to connect their PC to the internet in order to ‘activate ‘ the single player game they have purchased then do so in such a way that they do not need to lower their hardware or software firewall protection just to allow your traffic through. If you require a customer to open ports purely to activate your game then you are putting their PC’s at risk of being compromised by hackers. Recognise that most of your customers are not PC experts, just people who want to play.

6.    Do not disable or ignore the keyboard and mouse when your game is loaded. Most people do not want to sit staring impatiently at the screen waiting for the EA, NVidia and numerous other animated logos and movies to finish playing. If they press  the escape key then let them jump to the main menu without wading through adverts beforehand. By the 10^th time they have loaded the game you customers will not be watching with interest, but with boredom or animosity

7.    Do not use corrupt registry keys or secret files created in a way which violates the rules of the operating system simply to prevent a customer from deleting your files or keys. It is their PC not yours, and they should be able to manually empty folders and tidy their Windows registry whenever they want, without needed special software or hacker-style techniques to do so. See point 1 above about providing uninstall options in control panel. See my article on Securom about how this messed up my data backups.

8.    Do not repeatedly scan the CD or DVD in the customer’s PC while the game is playing. This technique wastes electricity (you eco-criminals, you) and causes unnecessary wear and tear on customer’s PC drives. Eventually you could cause the operating system to step down the performance of the customer’s drive permanently. By all means check gamers have a valid disk when they start the game, but then leave it alone. All you are doing is driving customers towards sites like GameCopyWorld to get no-cd patches for games, which make gaming a better experience.

9.    When someone uninstalls your game from their PC, always uninstall all traces of DRM software from their machines, and do so in a clean fashion. Do not leave remnants behind anywhere.

10.  Do not install device drivers secretly.  It is not your PC so stop installing hidden device drivers on it which may conflict with other legal software that the customer owns. If the customer is not using your game at the time then you have no right to be monitoring what discs they are using in their drives, or what applications they are running.

     (See my part two of this article to read about StarForce and the CD / DVD drive issues I had with Starforce drivers on my computer.)

11.  Do not refuse the game to start just because the customer has perfectly valid software such as drive emulators or Microsoft Process Explorer on their machines or in memory. By all means detect whether the gamer is using the software to run a pirate copy of your game. However, just because they have got that perfectly legal software installed on their machines does not mean they are actually stealing the game you are supposed to protect. This practice is tantamount to treating all these customers as criminals, not just those who really are pirating your game.

12.  Answer your tech support emails about DRM. Be helpful. You are supposed to be helping your paying customers, not treating them all like suspected thieves until they can prove otherwise. Do not ignore customer emails to tech support.

      (JoWood, are you still there? I have been waiting 2 years for a reply about Spellforce 2 not running because of some unknown error with your DRM system.)

13.   A customer should never be required to download and install DRM system updates in order to get a game to work, e.g. Tages and Vista, Starforce and Spellforce2. If you are causing this much inconvenience to your customers then you are killing the fun of a gaming session and losing reputation and future business.

14.  If you are going to require a customer to key in long codes of letters and numbers then print them clearly. Do not use hard to read fonts such as Spellforce 1, where customers could not tell I’s and 1’s, 0’s and O’s apart and then force them to retype the whole thing if they make a typing mistake.  Do not hide the code inside the packaging such as Starcraft budget edition. Do not print the code on the back of a manual in ink which rubs off on the customer’s thumb when they are readying.

      (This actually happened to me with Neverwinter Nights!)

15.  If you are going to require customer’s to go online to activate their software then do not impose draconian limits on the amount of times they can do so, e.g. Mass Effect. If you are going to refuse to activate a paying customer’s game, making it unusable then the game is not fit for purpose because it cannot be played, and your customer should be able to return it as such. You could just as easily reduce piracy by allowing three installations a month for each key code, not three or five activations period as you do currently.

16.  If a customer is unable to activate their game because their activation code has been used by a pirate with a random key generator, then you should be helping your customer, not forcing them to jump through hoops. Do not force them to buy a scanner to scan and email their receipt, plus buy a digital camera to take a photo of their game packaging. What will you do next, force them to take a photo of themselves holding both receipt, game box, disc, manual and copy of today’s newspaper? Just apologise for the inconvenience, give them an RMA code and ask them to freepost you the unusable game for a free replacement. Or give them a letter instructing them to take the game back to the shop for a free replacement, and give them a voucher off a future purchase of one of your games by way of an apology, and to cover their travel costs. Or how about giving them a free electronic copy of an old game from your back catalogue to cheer them up? 

17.  Be up front and honest if you are going to limit the number of times a game can be installed or activated. Print this information on the retail packaging. When you advertise a game, say, for example,  ”R.R.P. £29.99 for 5 activations”. If you prevent a customer from making an informed choice at the time of sale then you could be accused of misleading your customers. If a customer is not aware of the limit you have imposed then they will feel cheated by you when they are unable to play the game they have paid for. If you are not imposed installation or activation limits on a game then say so proudly! Print something like “R.R.P. £29.99 for unlimited installations and activations in accordance with license agreement” on packaging and advertising.

I think point 16 sums it up – customers are feeling that they are regarded as potential thieves, and not as valued customers. The only way they can stop this treatment is to vote with their wallets. That is why I am not buying Mass Effect – the DRM is too draconian. For me, DRM is killing PC gaming, because I am being put off buying games! Other people have said the same on forums; go see.

You will notice that I am not supporting or endorsing piracy in any way here. A typical tactic used by big companies to counter anyone who speaks up against DRM restrictions is to suggest they are a pirate. This dirty trick is insulting, so do not be gullible To be pro-customer is not to be a pirate!

If you buy a PC game in the UK and it does not meet the PC Gamers Charter then consider whether the game is fit for purpose, and is compliant with the Sale of Goods Act and the Distance Selling Regulations. As a paying customer you have rights – learn them and use them!

(c) Copyright Talkjack 2009

See also:

Is DRM killing PC games (Part 2 – Starforce)

Is DRM killing PC games (Part 3 – Securom)

Finally done with Mahoraba ~Heartful Days~.

My opinion about it

A nice fluffy anime about the people living in the place Narutaki-Sou, showing their daily lives as they show the different relationships between all the characters. More funny moments than serious moments, but still a nice series none-the-less. The show was mostly episodic, but it didn’t detract so much from it.

All-in-all, an anime to watch if you enjoy your slice-of-life comedy anime.

Now currently watching: Shugo Chara!

Bought myself two volumes of this manga that got translated by Del Rey, so decided to start watching the anime. Have to say it’s extremely pink at times. But a fun mahou shoujo series so far  so far.

Currently on episode 07.

Curent games I’m playing:

Mostly DS games including the following:

Megaman Starforce Leo

Pokemon Diamond

Space Invaders Extreme (Quite an interesting retro feeling)

Well, that’s all from me for now. Till next time.

Scan.

Kita tau bahwa megaman star force 2 udah di release di jepang, katanya ada rumor yang mengatakan Star force 2 ga bakal keluar di versi inggris itu bohong, versi inggris bakal keluar diantara bulan Juni-Juli, pada game kali ini kalian akan diberikan kekuatan bernama tribe on. dengan ini kalian dapat menggunakan masing masing kekuatan dari o-parts, ini membuat kalian lebih kuat, tribe on yang ditawarkan ada 3 macam pertama green shinobi, fire dinosaur, dan thunder berserker, elemen sesuai dengan namanya, kekuatan lain bernama double tribe ini dengan mengkombinasikan 2 o-parts, dan yang terakir adalah tribe king ini adalah kekuatan terbesar dari kekuatan yang tadi tapi hanya berguna untuk beberapa putaran, setelah itu kamu akan balikjadi megaman normal lagi.

Letztes Wochenende installierte ich mir das Spiel “Rush for Berlin”. Dabei geschah folgendes … noch bevor ich die erste Grafik zu Gesicht bekam sollte ich den mitgelieferte Starforce-Kopierschutz installieren. Also beherzt JA geklickt und Neustart. Danach ging erstmal garnichts mehr! Vista meinte der sfdrv-blabla sei nicht zertifiziert und ich sollte doch die Windoof-Installations-CD benutzen um Vista zu reparieren. Die Reparatur entfernte schliesslich den Treiber wieder. Also alles von vorn. Lösung war die Installation des neuesten Patchs von RfB und UPDATE von STARFORCE + Neustart (der 3. mittlerweile). Das Spiel hat mich schliesslich auch nicht vom Hocker gehauen! Als ich mich dann näher mit dem Starforce-Kopierschutz beschäftigt hatte (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/StarForce) wollte ich das Ding so schnell wie möglich loswerden. Aber wie? Auf der Herstellerseite findet sich zwar ein Tool zum Entfernen … Problem … es funktioniert nicht (unter Vista). Prima! Ich fand dann noch ein anderes Tool was scheinbar irgendwie etwas entfernte. Danach schien mein Rechner aber irgendwie instabil zu laufen und es gab immer noch Registry-Einträge von Starforce.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\Root\LEGACY_SFDRV***

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\Root\LEGACY_SFHLP***

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\Root\LEGACY_SFSYN***

und die konnte ich auch nicht so einfach löschen, da die Keys dem SYSTEM gehörten. Für alle die also irgendwann auch mal etwas ähnliches erleben hier eine kleine Anleitung:

1. Regedit als Administrator öffnen

2. Key suchen

3. Rechte Maus -> Berechtigungen ändern

4. Erweitert -> Besitzer -> Besitzer der Objekte und untergeordneter Container ersetzen + OK

5. Benutzer “Jeder” anwählen und Vollzugriff einstellen

6. jetzt kann der Registryeintrag + Unterobjekte gelöscht werden