Command & Conquer Copies Ubisoft's Awful DRM

[Ironman273]

Command & Conquer Copies Ubisoft's Awful DRM

Well, here's something that slipped through the cracks. While we were all busy condemning Ubisoft for its restrictive, must-be-online PC digital rights management, EA has crept in and done the exact same thing.

In a post over on Command & Conquer 4's forums, EA community manager Apoc writes "First thing to be clear about, Command & Conquer 4 has NO DRM. Zip, zero, zilch, none."

Sounds great! Until, a few lines later, he says this. "To play Command & Conquer 4, the computer needs to be connected to the internet."

Uh. Apoc. If the publisher is imposing limitations on when and how a game can be played, it's DRM. While it's unclear how often you'd need to be connected - whether it's just at startup, or whether it requires a constant connection - what is clear is you'd still need a connection at some stage. So laptop gaming is out. As is playing when your internet connection is down.

It's sad to have to highlight this only a day after giving EA a pat on the back for removingsome DRM from Battlefield Bad Company 2, but hey, I guess different arms of EA do things in different ways.

Source: Kotaku

[Xilo]

Oh well. One less game to spend money on.

[+John. Subscriber¹]

Thanks for the heads up. Shame.

[InterceptorX]

Game sucks anyway.

[jamesclarke555]

That's the final nail in the coffin for this game then, what with no base building etc, is anybody going to buy this? I'm certainly not.

[theclueless]

if i want to play a game online, i would rather play mmo or modern warfare with friends; strategy game is for leisure aka when im stuck with no internet

[hjf288]

Errr wasnt this known already (Old News)?

They said youd have to be online for the persistant stats system or whatever it was

[PreKe]

Pirates will work around this, and will be able to play the game at all times. Paying customers are screwed again. Well done, EA!

[melted98]

Well I was going to buy it, guess i'm saving some money. Well Done EA you screwed up big time.

[ahhell]

Dumbasses just won't learn.

[clotz2000]

Who cares, that's what the cracks and patches are for, fix that "Non-DRM" right up. Again before the flamers get on me, I don't condone piracy, but if I'm going to spend the money ($40-60) on the game I will play the game and edit any part of it I want without the restrictions!

[Draconian Guppy]

They haven't heard about people complaining on ubicrap?

[iamwhoiam]

Who cares, that's what the cracks and patches are for, fix that "Non-DRM" right up. Again before the flamers get on me, I don't condone piracy, but if I'm going to spend the money ($40-60) on the game I will play the game and edit any part of it I want without the restrictions!

It's what I do. All the games I have that I actually play online, I don't touch. Games that I like for the single player aspect and couldn't care less about the online portion, I get a patch for them.

[Ambroos]

I still don't have any problems with the DRM. I've bought AC2 and it's been one of the smoothest installs/runs I've seen.

[intrinity1]

I guess it's really not that big a deal since most people are always online anyways but still. I am definitely not paying for this mainly for that reason.

[scokem]

Arrrrrrgh! 3 times within 10 minutes I've gotten the stupid "You've been randomly disconnected from the Internet, your progress will not be saved blah blah blah" message (when my web access is actually perfectly fine) so I've not got past the first 3 minutes of gameplay yet as I refuse to lose what I've done. Why oh why EA?! Stupid ****ing move :angry: Never have I regretted a purchase so quickly :(

EDIT: Oh and it gets even better - the commandandconquer.com website is now down so I can't even go and rant at the official support forums.

[Ironman273]

Arrrrrrgh! 3 times within 10 minutes I've gotten the stupid "You've been randomly disconnected from the Internet, your progress will not be saved blah blah blah" message (when my web access is actually perfectly fine) so I've not got past the first 3 minutes of gameplay yet as I refuse to lose what I've done. Why oh why EA?! Stupid ****ing move :angry: Never have I regretted a purchase so quickly :(

EDIT: Oh and it gets even better - the commandandconquer.com website is now down so I can't even go and rant at the official support forums.

:no: what an incredible clusterf**k this has become. It's such a shame to see a beloved brand get so totally wiped out by not only a change in format, but DRM also.

[Xilo]

People with massive botnets need to unleash them on these ****ty DRM servers for as long as possible.

[rajputwarrior]

:no: what an incredible clusterf**k this has become. It's such a shame to see a beloved brand get so totally wiped out by not only a change in format, but DRM also.

they are probably getting ****ing hammered/owned by a DDOS right now...

[Roberticus]

Got it today. Haven't had any problems with the connection, plays really fine.

When I first read about it I was convinced this game was lost, got even more convinced when I played the first version of the beta (Although I only played with myself).

Then when the beta was about to end I tried again (against other players this time), and boy was I in for surprise! I loved it. And I still do.

I welcome the change that there is no more base building, no more the same downtime at every C&C beginning where you build: Power plant > Barracks > Refinery > Power > Refinery > War factory etc etc. Now you just go right into the action. As a plus: You don't lose if you build in the wrong order.

The always Internet Connection is a double edged sword, it works great with the leveling stuff, but I am afraid of what happens when EA pulls the plug on the servers... :s

You all may say what you will, but I enjoy this game. :)

[CentralDogma]

Wow. It's sad to see so many things go wrong to what used to be a great franchise. It's hard to imagine EA screwing up this release anymore.

[iamwhoiam]

Wow. It's sad to see so many things go wrong to what used to be a great franchise. It's hard to imagine EA screwing up this release anymore.

IMO, C&C died when Westwood was bought by EA, which is why I won't purchase this. The no base building would be another reason.

[ANON86364]

Who cares, that's what the cracks and patches are for, fix that "Non-DRM" right up. Again before the flamers get on me, I don't condone piracy, but if I'm going to spend the money ($40-60) on the game I will play the game and edit any part of it I want without the restrictions!

Agreed.

[.Neo]

Say again? You can't build your own military base with C&C 4?! :|

[-Dave-]

i didnt realise the laptops couldnt connect to the internet....