Last week, PC game Mass Effect’s producer Derek French confirmed that the game would have rolling DRM, meaning every 10 days you would need to activate the game again over the internet. If you couldn’t, you would not be able to play the game.
According to a new Q&A on the company’s official forums however, BioWare will be scrapping that type of DRM and giving gamers back their freedom to not phone home if they do not want to.
“BioWare has always listened very closely to its fans and we made this decision to ensure we are delivering the best possible experience to them,” says BioWare community manager Jay Watamaniuk in the post.
“To all the fans including our many friends in the armed services and internationally who expressed concerns that they would not be able re-authenticate as often as required, EA and BioWare want you to know that your feedback is important to us.”
That “feedback” was of course, hostile reactions from every community that posted the news, including here at AfterDawn.
For the time being it seems Mass Effect gamers will only have to authenticate their game once (during original installation) and re-authentication will only be necessary to download extra content or official patches.
Result for: official forum
This morning, the popular software maker Nero AG announced the launch of three new exciting products, Nero TiVo PC, Move it and an updated media suite, now known as Nero 9
If you are interested in purchasing Nero, please visit their site while supporting AfterDawn by using this link: Download Nero 9
If you have any questions about Nero or need help, please visit our unofficial forums here: Nero discussion forums
Nero TiVo PC
TiVo PC brings users the capabilities of TiVo without the need for a set-top box and comes in two varieties. For $199 USD you can purchase the software along with a TiVo PC remote and a TV tuner card. A $99 USD software download is available from their site as well if you already have a TV tuner card. Both versions come with 12 months free of TiVo service, which is a considerable savings considering the plan normally costs $129 USD annually.
The software has all the standard DVR features like pausing of live TV, recording shows right to your HDD and the ability to skip commercials. Other notable features include “Season Pass” recordings which allows users to type in the name of a certain show and have it recorded every week for the entire season, and TiVo Suggestions. Even more importantly, the software allows for HD viewing as well as recording and allows you to transfer the recordings to portable devices, namely iPods, iPhones and Sony PSPs. You also have the option to convert the recordings to MPEG-2 and burn them to DVD-Rs.
Order the program here: Nero.com
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Result for: official forum
Electronics Arts has threatened users on its official forum boards with a ban if they continue to talk about the crippling SecuROM DRM that has been as much of a headline this month as the release of the hit game Spore.
Although it appears now that the company has backtracked on their threats, the fact that it occurred at all is alarming. The SecuROM DRM used on Spore limits a buyer to five installs over the lifetime of the game and only allows for a single user profile.
“SecuROM has been discussed and discussed so much and it causes arguments in threads,” commented a moderator on the forum. “If you want to talk about DRM SecuROM then please use another fansite forum. If there is any change you will be able to read it on the official Spore site.”
“Please do not continue to post theses thread or you account may be at risk of banning which in some cases would mean you would need to buy a new copy to play Spore.”
Later in the conversation however a producer for EA Maxis changed tones when he said that the discussion was fine as long as it was “civil.”
“We are happy to support healthy exchanges on the forums. And people will only get banned for breaking the rules,” read his post. “Discussing DRM is not breaking the rules - and as long as it is a civil conversation, it’s cool with us.”
