EA laces C&C4 with Ubisoft-like always-on DRM

[Matthew DeCarlo]

Ubisoft caught some serious flak over its controversial DRM, but it seems EA's not afraid of a few pitch forks and torches. The company has reportedly included a similar always-connected DRM mechanism in its latest Command & Conquer title. According to a moderator on the official C&C4 forums, the game "has no DRM. Zip, zero, zilch, none" -- but a few lines later he said it requires a constant Internet connection. The post has since been edited to exclude that faux pas.

In a review of Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight, Eurogamer highlighted some of the game's issues -- most of which should sound familiar if you read anything about the Ubisoft debacle. The site says that C&C4 is constantly monitor and uploading your experience-point count, and thus the game is always online. If your connection drops for any reason, you will be kicked from the game -- even in single player -- and the game won't attempt to reconnect, so your session is totally lost.

It's also noted that C&C4 plays well on a mid-range laptop, which would make it a great title to pick up while traveling, but without a strong Wi-Fi signal that isn't currently possible. It's unclear whether EA will incorporate these limitations into other titles, and let us pray that other companies won't resort to always-on schemes.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/38287-ea-laces-cc4-with-ubisoft-like-always-on-drm.html

 

[Clrabbit]

STRONG wi-fi!? were I live there IS NO Wi-Fi. Most my friends I LAN with don't even have Internet or we're playing in a park "Thous the Laptops and not a LAN box" why do you think we LAN?

Oh~ well I don't like C&C any ways give me empire earth any day. But that is 100% pure BS for a RTS to have such things, I've been to LAN parties were there are 100 's of people playing a single RTS, I can only image then nightmare I could cuss trying to keep all the systems so the DRM doesn't flake out on your mid game. seeing as most huge LAN parties don't even have Internet connections expect on one or two systems... and that just sounds like a Royal pain to Nat 100+ systems though 1 for DRM crap.

 

[Guest]

Like always with DRM I will buy the game and install a crack to disable it.
I own my equipment and internet connection and don't like it when more and more companies take liberties with my machine and it's connection. Not everyone can afford an always on connection or have access to high speed internet.

 

[Burty117]

Ha ha! i just realised, this type of DRM completely renders "gaming" laptops useless!

TomSEA - you can't still believe This type of DRM is the way to go to protect developers work?

 

[flukeh]

burty117 said:
Ha ha! i just realised, this type of DRM completely renders "gaming" laptops useless!

TomSEA - you can't still believe This type of DRM is the way to go to protect developers work?

Gaming Laptops are still just as relevant as desktops, they do have an Ethernet port as well you know =P

 

[boyese]

i hope they release a 'patch' to get rid of this or everyone will just get a cracked exe.

 

[rufio]

so in other words, you can't play this game if you don't have access to internet wi-fi? not even for single player? that is just plain stupid.

 

[ToastOz]

good way to stop illegal copy's, bad because it hurts those who paid for it.

 

[mystic420]

ToastOz said:
good way to stop illegal copy's, bad because it hurts those who paid for it.

You must be joking... Within a week of any game release there is always a hack or patch. Truthfully, I think they should just give up on protection all together and put their efforts into making the games better and bigger. I patch all my games so i don't have to put in the CD every time. It's a waste of time and damages the CD over time. Want good copy protection, wait a few years and it will all be done online. The game will never be in your system drive and we'll have to pay for a per use or recurring payment to play and hacking or patching will be near to imposable... Just my 2 cents...

 

[cyrusjumpjet]

This is ridiculous -- and, sadly, expected.

I don't care too much in this instance because I played the beta for this game and it was really disappointing. EA will not be receiving any of my hard-earned cash for this.

 

[Burty117]

flukeh said:

burty117 said:
Ha ha! i just realised, this type of DRM completely renders "gaming" laptops useless!

TomSEA - you can't still believe This type of DRM is the way to go to protect developers work?

Gaming Laptops are still just as relevant as desktops, they do have an Ethernet port as well you know =P

Not really, if i'm going to be on a train or boat for a couple of hours they don't really have wifi or lan cables to use. Or even a long car journey!

 

[Relic]

This was already announced last year much to the dismay of die hard C&C fans everywhere. I was extremely disappointed in EA's decision to take an RTS game and force it to an always-online format DRM. Then spinning it in a way that benefits the consumer because it'll keep track of achievements, statics or any other non-essentials.

When this game was announced I was looking forward to finally finishing off the series and seeing how they would conclude it. Then the bad started to emerge leading with this...which completely put me off. Followed by them completely turning around the established gameplay of C&C, dropping resource gathering in favor of nodes, taking out base building and replacing it with an everything movable unit that if killed will be replaced and with units that don't have the right feel or look. If I wanted to play an RTS like DOW2/COH I would, changing something that has been established just hurts the franchise imo. Even though it was well received they should have just made a new game instead.

Overall I am sad with the direction C&C 4 took for closing out an amazing franchise. I am more disappointed that companies think an RTS game needs an always-online DRM and I hope more don't take this route in the future. RUSE by the way is coming out this summer from Ubi which I was really looking forward to but if it includes the same always-online DRM I guess I'll have to pass. In the mean time I'll keep playing C&C3 Tiberium Essence which is one awesome mod . [Link]

 

[gwailo247]

I recently had issues with a newly purchased game. Basically everyone was passing the buck and putting the compatibility issues on the other company. So I obtained another copy, loaded it up and am having a blast.

I made the choice to pay for the game to support the company so they make more. Obviously I don't have to. Pirates will always pirate, no amount of DRM will stop them. Then there are people who can pirate, but choose to buy the games. These are exactly the people who may stop buying these games with schemes like this.

 

[elroacho72]

I wouldn't have a problem with it if you didn't lose your season.That totally sucks... to be blunt.

 

[mrtraver]

Damn, I was really looking forward to this game, but to hell with it now. I was hoping to play a little on a laptop during lunch hour, but now I won't even play it on my desktop with its always-on connection. And I don't give a rip about online play, let alone online stat tracking. I don't mind a one-time check online to authenticate, but always-on is verboten.

Screw you, EA. Right back at ya.

 

[seefizzle]

DRM is stupid for everyone. People will always find ways around it. I had over two hundred gigs of music that I legally downloaded from the Zune Marketplace. Then canceled my subscription and stripped all the DRM off of every MP3.

This always on type of DRM will only succeed at being annoying to paid customers. The people who rip this off will find ways around it. I have zero interest in playing this game, and even less knowing about the always on DRM issue. Now if you told me that Modern Warfare 2 was going to utilize this type of DRM it might break my heart, even though I paid for a legitimate copy of the game.

DRM will never stop pirates. Only make things a hair more difficult for whoever cracks it.

 

[Eddo22]

I can't really say I'm interested in the game, but I hope the legit purchasing customers can hold out long enough to see this crap DRM forgotten about.

I do want Assassins Creed 2 but I currently have no plans to purchase it. Good to see it's not selling that great.

 

[levar]

say whaaat thats even worst that Ubisofts this will be a pain, you know what I think its time I grab myself some cat5e cable and buy some Rj-45s and make myself an Ethernet cable my PC is currently on wireless and every now and then I get cut-off, it won't be that messy trying to go fully wireless in my house. Anyways this is crazy at least have a limit before it cuts you off, because this is crazy.

 

[pipopaz]

I heard some really horror tales from some of my friends about it, if your internet signal drops down and you haven't save you can kiss goodbye to your playtime. So now that it's going to be in more games I hope it won't be widespread...

 

[Timonius]

"If your connection drops for any reason, you will be kicked from the game -- even in single player -- and the game won't attempt to reconnect, so your session is totally lost."

This is a MAJOR game design flaw. I won't be buying this game anytime soon anyways (I usually wait for a good sale as I already have a backlog of older games I want to play). Hopefully by the time I get around to it it won't be an issue. And if everyone is so upset about it then DON'T buy it (and DON'T torrent it either - sheesh). A massive lack of sales might scream at EA to fix the problem.

 

[Guest]

Personally I feel DRM is not good for the future of computer gaming, this is not the solution to stopping piracy. Why support these big companies that don't even trust their own companies such as EA? I will never install any game that has DRM on my computer, besides old school C&C is much better than this EA crap version after playing the demo,

 

[Guest]

Personally I feel DRM is not good for the future of computer gaming, this is not the solution to stopping piracy. Why support these big companies that don't even trust their own customers such as EA? I will never install any game that has DRM on my computer, besides old school C&C is much better than this EA crap version after playing the demo,

(Sorry about double posting, don't know how to correct my previous post)

 

[Thompson]

So it begins...
Of course it'd be EA who'd pick up a crappy idea and run with it.

 

[TomSEA]

Sign of the times folks. I'm not a proponent of this level of DRM. But on the other hand, considering the insane, and I mean INSANE amount of PC game theft going on, it's hard to fault publishers for going to this extreme..

For those who steal - don't do it. It's killing PC gaming. And tell your friends who do it too to knock it the hell off.

It can't get more simple than this. You don't steal, we don't get DRM.

 

[Yoda8232]

That sucks for mobile gamers but for most this is SOMEWHAT better news. I'm still not going to buy the game, but I did enjoy the beta. Well it's not that bad really because you can't build a huge base so if your net crashes it's not that big of a loss.