Hackers didn't DDoS the servers because they were "dissatisfied" with DRM in the same way a bank robber isn't "dissatisfied" with customer service, they hacked it because they could do it, the more people they impact the better. That particular "protection" was the weakest possible link and in consequence it was bound to be hacked, more so, as long as it remains up, there will be hackers trying to bring it down and they'll succeed from time to time.

The point of any protection mechanism is to prevent an easy theft (and even then it is debatable if it really helps, re: amazon and others who sell mp3s without DRM), but when said mechanism prevents regular use then the only thing done is annoy legitimate customers (the ones paying for the product). Sufficiently annoyed customers start looking for alternatives and stop buying products. This isn't rocket science is simple logic and common sense. If DRM is transparent to the end user then the great majority of customers wont mind it's use, but so far most DRM schemes are NOT transparent, some are better than others but a percentage of legitimate users _will_ experience issues, the higher the percentage and the frequency of fatal issues (ie: I can't play the game I bought) then the more customers you lose.

Personally I pay for my games because I want to support developers working in more games, therefore it's a mutually beneficial arrangement, they get paid to make games and I get to play nice games.

When those able to afford* the game pirate it the game, then the developers get deprived of the money that allows them to keep making games. BUT when developers make playing the game a complete hassle or try to double billing me to play their game, then they also are deprived of money: an annoyed customer wont pay from now on.

In my mind piracy is more a matter of education, if someone loves your product surely (s)he will be willing to pay for it, no draconian protection measures needed. Make it a pain and people will do it less (like flying).

*when the product you are selling costs as much as the average monthly wage you are bound to have pirates. It is no coincidence that companies like Microsoft have significantly lower prices in India and China, if the product isn't affordable it will be pirated and games in the 3rd world are incredibly expensive for the average guy.

Customers are people who pay for youryproduct or who use it for free with your consent. Making sure that users of your product ARE customers in this sense is a legitimate part of the customer experience!

How you go about it is a different question - but hacking and denial of service is a childish response to dissatisfaction with the exercise. And is illegal, of course.

The Cancer known as Steam was the beginning in Games using Digital Restrictions Management.

It is true that you don't need a net connection to play the Game, but you need it to install the game. Valve can easily switch on such functionality. And they will do this, it's just a matter of time.

One who accepts Steam but adjudges UBI for their DRM System is insane.

Open your Eyes: STEAM is the same bull***t!

I find buying games a very hard decision since you first have to search the net to see what mad crap it installs in your system, and often it takes a while to even find out what, and I'd have more confidence in pirated stuff being clean than most games I'd buy, a sad state of affairs.

However steam has nasty sides too, like their forced 'updates' that basically can change something nice in something useless, like how they added in-game ads or modified games to be dumbed down and more console-like and no fun, plus steam tracks every second you play and that's not nice if you like privacy.

Brad: I can play L4D in single player mode without an inernet connection. Steam does not refuse on the basis of no internet connection.

As for Steam, anyone with a Steam account can log into Steam on my PC and play L4D using their account... but game developers have a right to get paid for their work. I think it is a content delivery system not a rights control system. My $0.02.

Don't know what you Steam fanboys are going on about.

Firstly Steam is a load of garbage..the fact that you keep the Steam program running...and it needs to be connected to the Internet to start up before you can even launch your game. This is my biggest gripe with Steam.

How does this make Steam any different than Ubisoft's DRM?

Okay Steam will let you game on different computers with the same account still it's a a nasty pile of DRM restricting you.

What's the point of buying games through Steam? They come with DRM in the retail box & in Steam as well. In a way it's useless.

I'll never install that garbage which is Steam. There are plenty of other DRM free games & you can game online with them.

Wolfenstein comes to mind. Yes it has SecuRom protection but it doesn't limit you to install the game or something.

That's acceptable. DRM/CD-protection should be dropped all together.

They should just stick to the key type system for people who wish to game online. It's as simple as that. No other hiccups like insert DVD in drive & non-sense.

Why should we even bother with No-DVD/CD cracks it's beyond me.

Ubitsoft's 3 games, Call of Juarez - Bound in Blood, H.A.W.X & Prince of Persia. They have 0 DRM the DVD isn't even needed to play the game.

You just need a key to play Call Of Juarez Bound in Blood online. Simple as that.

Here I thought Ubisoft was one publisher on the right track! They just shot themselves in the foot.

Yes, steam is a form of DRM, it is one a lot of people are comfortable using, and that's the key.

Most game dev's now won't release without some form of DRM, steam is probably the least nasty out there, you can use it on multiple computers, you can use it off-line you can even move files around between steam installs and it deals with it pretty well.

As for VAC, VAC is the anti-cheat system valve offers, it is very similar to punkbuster (but is less prone to problems, or so I have found), it is not a form of DRM. Maybe you were using an aimbot when your account got banned? :P

I'm already burned with Bioshock 2. Steam + Securom + Games for windows live, what a great idea, who would think it wouldn't work?

After playing a couple of time GFWL decided to crash the game miserably, the result: I can't save my games. Perhaps it's the profile, so I load steam from a different user in the same computer and -surprise- I'm now asked to enter my key by securom (which prevents multiple installs). Heck, if I'm going to burn an installation then I should try on a different computer, right? Wrong, Bioshock 2 doesn't show up in the list of games in Steam in any other computer.

I paid for a game and as a result I can't play it. What are my alternatives, pirate the game and become a thief, or buy the game _again_ to play in a bloody console with a controller (which I despise).

Are they aware that they are killing PC gaming? Perhaps they are, perhaps playing a $10 a pop tax to a console maker is better than the off chance of someone pirating a game because everybody knows that no one has made a successful modchip to play pirated games in a console before. Or perhaps they are tired of the validation for a PC game in different platforms and hardware?

Nope, They simply don't care about their customers, the game is great so what problem could it be if a percentage of users experience issues when they are laughing all the way to the bank?

I hope nVidia and ATi get a clue and stop giving money to developers that include draconian DRM in their games. If games are made for consoles and are a pain to play in a PC why buy a cutting edge video card?

everyone should just start paying for games and stop acting like jakie tramps.

Valve makes games: HL, HL-2, TF2 etc.

VAC is an online cheat prevention system. Valve's games use this.

Valve makes Steam, a service that other companies can use to digitally distribute their games.

Steam in of itself is a form of DRM but a very nice and user friendly kind of DRM.

Steam games can be bundled with the publisher's DRM. For example, Bioshock had DRM in it. Batman: Arkam Asymlum has SecureRom.

Talk about a failure in comprehension.

Let's get this clear:

Valve publish games, and Valve distribute games. Valve also offer VAC.

The games Valve publish don't contain any DRM other than the fact that you require Steam installed to play them. No DRM in Valve's games.

Games distributed by valve come from other publishers. Those other publishers determine what, if any, DRM goes into those games. So if publisher X wants to stick SecuRom in his game, and distribute it via steam, he can. But, and here's the difference, it's not Valve's game, it's publisher X's game. Understand?

As for VAC, that's Valve anti-cheating service. It checks to see if you're running a game with hacked files, and if you are, you get banned. Simple. VAC is not DRM.

Okay? All clear on that?

As well as the MW2 nonsense, how about the fact that VAC allowed the DLC for Borderlands to include DRM when the main game under Steam didn't require it.

There was no mention of it when you purchased it and many people got stung when they suddenly found SecurROM garbage all over their PCs

@brad

since when was VAC DRM ? ???

I think you need to get a grip of what you are talking about before you make sweeping statements.

Are you a bitter banned CS:S player perhaps ?

The only good thing I have to about it is it had in nice easy to read letters on the front of the box that you had to be connected to the internet to play the game.
I will never buy it and always take my reading glasses to read the fine print on the back of game boxes before I consider buying. If I need to use Games for Winblows Live, Steam or any other online service to play a freaking offline game I don't buy it, period!

thats the reason why i, and all my gaming mates never bought MW2 - DRM drove us to play the singleplayer game in a pirate capacity.

so thats a big EPIC FAIL to infinity ward - youve created more pirates!!!

This is worthy of ridicule. Everyone who plays MW2 knows that valves VAC (Valve anti cheat) system sucks hard. IT ruins the gaming experience for everyone playing. Valve should get the big ZIT off of their forehead before calling someone else "Pimples"

I would wager that VAC has done more dmage to the gaming community than Ubisoft..