EA has publicly defended its use of the crippling SecuROM DRM used in games like “Mass Effect” and more notably, Spore saying that it is necessary to prevent piracy.
Last week we reported that Amazon users were systematically rating the game Spore 1-star (out of 5) with most users blaming the low rating on the DRM and not the actual gameplay.
The DRM only allows the game to be installed three times total where afterwards you are forced to call EA and beg for another serial. The game only allows for one user profile as well, so households with multiple kids are forced to purchase the game multiple times.
“EA has not changed our basic DRM copy protection system… We simply changed the copy protection method from using the physical media, which requires authentication every time you play the game by requiring a disc in the drive, to one which uses a one-time online authentication,” says Mariam Sughayer of EA’s corporate communications, however.
Sughayer also says that their research shows that three installations is more than enough for the average customer, who will only ever install their game once. Of course she does not mention that the “average” computer user may need to reformat at some time, or may even more than one computer in their household.
The DRM is a waste of money however, as Spore was leaked to torrent and P2P networks four days before the retail date and has been downloaded over 200,000 times according to Big Champagne, a peer-to-peer research firm.
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The UK retailer Woolworths has declined comment on the rumors that have been swirling for days after scans from the company’s upcoming holidays catalog showed a UK price cut across the board for all the Xbox 360 models.
The scans show the price cuts for the UK as GBP 129.99 for the Arcade model, 169.99 for the Premium model and 229.99 for the higher-capacity HDD Elite model.
“Woolworths will not comment directly on the speculation that has appeared on various gaming websites as it is commercially sensitive information,” said the company.
“The Christmas 2008 Woolworths Big Red Book is not released until the first week of October and, until that date, remains a confidential document.
“There are several draft editions in existence, with prices, products and descriptions varying dependent on the draft.”
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The video-sharing site YouTube has added new stipulations to its community guidelines, this time banning terrorist training and ‘drug abuse’ videos.
However, the entire system will be based on users reporting videos that infract the new guidelines. This will of course be an impossible task, judging by the fact that 13 hours of new video are uploaded every 5 minutes to the site.
An AP report showed that the battle will be an uphill climb as there was at least 10 videos available using a quick search that showed how to make bombs.
The new guidelines specifically bans videos “that incite others to commit violent acts, videos on activities such as how to make bombs and footage of sniper attacks.”
“It’s good news if there are less of these on the Web,” FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said, speaking about terrorism training videos. “But many of these jihadist videos appear on different Web sites around the world, and any time there is investigative or intelligence value we actively pursue it.”
