Bar your windows; Capcom's controversial PlayStation Network DRM has returned.
It's been spotted that the PSN description for new release Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 reads: "You must log-in to the PlayStation Network each time to play the game."
Last year, Capcom apologised for not making clear that similar DRM was present in Final Fight: Double Impact, which featured online two-player co-op.
The peculiar thing about Bionic Commando's DRM however is that it's an offline game, suggesting that Capcom may be concerned about piracy.
Comments
25 comments so far...
TheCrimsonFenix on 4 Feb '11 said:
I tried pointing this out in the EU store update thread, but it looks as though this is confirmation enough.
Laughlyn on 4 Feb '11 said:
I think companies need to get their heads out their arses and realise that not everyone is online yet and even those that are may not be allowed online all time. My lil lad has a PS3 in his room and thats not online for security mainly and i know several friends who only have broadband through a dongle and once every couple month they may come up and use my internet and i update their system for em.
Companies who want to begin using DRM connections need to be careful of alienating the small amount of gamers that wont be able to buy their games because of limited or no internet use.
The_KFD_Case on 4 Feb '11 said:
While I hate DRM and the spread of it, on the flip side, if it spreads to console gaming like it is with this game it may eventually light a fire up under the asses of lazy, apathetic millions of gamers, and we can FINALLY get some sort of reaction from other gaming brethren to combat these grievous attacks upon our costumer rights. A man can dream, right? As a PC gamer at heart who also games on the Xbox 360, I'm actually pleased to see this plague upon gaming spread - maybe now console-only gamers will start to realize the seriousness of this crap.
The_KFD_Case on 4 Feb '11 said:
Aye, and not only that, but a majority of the global human population does not have access to the internet; never mind high speed broadband.
runadumb on 4 Feb '11 said:
Isn't it enough that it's a digital game? I mean I know the days of digital only are coming and I naively thought that would be enough for the publishers but I was very much mistaken. They really do want to lock this s**t right down; No resale, no rentals and now no playing unless you are online? You joking?
Home consoles sales have crashed before, and can crash again. Oh how quickly they forget. Treat your customers right you f**king bunch of muppets.
Wonder what DRM the PC version will have. Can you believe Dark Void Zero, a poxy little £3 game has a 5 machine activation limit on steam? Lol. What are Capcom smoking up there?
PS I will soon be rocking 50MB broadband (I just like telling people that
) and have a steady connection but I avoid any game with such bulls**t restrictions. f**k'em
sleazeboy on 4 Feb '11 said:
So everyones got their arse in their hands because a game you can only purchase online has online drm?
This was always likely to happen on console games eventually and i guess those of us on the PS3 can thank our little hacker 'friends' for giving publishers an excuse to push it, as the article intimates that the 360 doesn't have the same DRM.
sonic1485 on 4 Feb '11 said:
Stupid stupid stupid stupid Capcom
alan666 on 4 Feb '11 said:
won't be getting this on principal !
Mmmmgrolsch on 4 Feb '11 said:
Very well said!
damoxuk on 4 Feb '11 said:
I hate DRM especially Ubisoft's PC s**te, however this game can ONLY be downloaded from the PSN store which requires a PSN log-in. So requiring you to log-in which most it auto does when you load the PS3 not seeing the problem.
If it kicked you out of the game if you lsot connection then yes that would be a problem (like Ubisoft's archaic crap) but it doesn't.
The day full retail games (console) require an internet connection (other than multiplayer only ofc) to play will be a shock to some people. I still have friends and colleages who either don;t want or haven't got internet access still.
Athrun888 on 5 Feb '11 said:
I don't see why everyone is making a fuss about this one particular game, I was under the impression most games from the PSN barring ps1 classics already had this, so I honestly don't see why everyone's going crazy over this one game (saw it in the info for Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, and I doubt it's the only one).
Zepf on 5 Feb '11 said:
I've bought over 50 games on the ps store over the years,(not counting ps classics) and the only 2 to have it I've seen are GT5 prologue and Final Fight Dbl Imp.
After buying Final Fight and discovering that drm, I deleted it and checked carefully the terms of service with every game I've bought since.
As Laughlyn already said, its not practical for some people to have broadband connected all the time.
Besides I buy games like these to play when I'm not online getting my ass handed to me in CoD!!
jtthegame on 5 Feb '11 said:
hmm some games on xbox that you have brought of xbox live you can play without being connected i think it should always be like that
only_777 on 5 Feb '11 said:
Although this DRM wouldn't actually effect me as I am always online, I wouldn't buy this game because I don't support DRM on console games.
Account sharing is not enough to make Capcom lose money on this game, Capcom has done a good enough job themselves with last Bionic Commando reboot to dent sales.
ricflair on 5 Feb '11 said:
To my knowledge there are no XBLA games that require you to be online. You have to sign into your account on your 360 but not actually be connected to XBL. The only time you have to (I think) is if you download a game on another 360 (i.e not the console you bought the game on) using your XBL account. That's just because they don't want people sharing games, which I think you can do on the PS3?
spam23 on 5 Feb '11 said:
No! Bad Capcom! Go to your room!
nuggit3000 on 6 Feb '11 said:
I dont get what the big deal is, everyone just seems to like whinging about how hard we have it.
I hate DRM in music and video but correct me if I'm wrong but I thought PS3 games were made to be played only on PS3 and PSN games are only to be played on the account which they were downloaded from.
This is just to stop the sudden surge of piracy on PS3. Chances are that if you download games rrom PSN you have permanent access to the internet, so this should only affect you if you are considering piracy.
Good on them for trying to combat the arseholes who are hacking their consoles.
Imaduck on 6 Feb '11 said:
More just the concept Nuggit. It's meant to be a PC only disease this DRM s**t, allowing it onto consoles = baaaad. Currently waiting (STILL) after weeks to get Assault on Dark Athena on PC, WHICH I BOUGHT LEGITIMATELY!!! to work. DRM keeps barring me out. Now I'm having to look into getting a cracked version....... Yeah, DRM is great. I'd say it promotes piracy instead of stopping it. Getting the legal versions is like just paying for useless bulls**t attachments and having to fiddle with tons of s**t to be able to play a game you bought.
In short - DRM is bad, in all ways and forms. Sometimes you can't SEE the problems, but when you do - you'll understand the hate.
TheCrimsonFenix on 6 Feb '11 said:
Yeah, see how much you stay on the pro-DRm side when you come across a time when for some reason your internet may not work, thus completely barring any chances of you playing the game. Not everyone for a lot of reasons have their internet constantly connected. There are a ton of easier ways a company could combat piracy but for some stupid reason they take the way that isn't effective, is a ball ache to legitimate purchasers, and is basically making those legitimate purchasers hate the company putting them off future releases with the same s**tty anti-piracy crap. I'd like to see surveys showing exactly how effective DRM has had on piracy. Nitto I'm guessing. Do companies not see the incentive behind piracy? Ease of access and convenience is one of them. If people want to play a game, they'll find a way no matter what. Punishing EVERY player ain't helping s**t other than piracy numbers.
monkeyd_93 on 6 Feb '11 said:
this really isnt different to some other forms of DRM i've seen, where in order to play a beta or such, required the account to be online in order to play. The only difference being that this is offline and not an online beta. So as long as it doesnt need a connection just to play it, but rather for you to sign in to acess it it really isnt a problem
ricflair on 6 Feb '11 said:
From what I can see, you have to be online when you first boot the game up. It is still s**t, you still can't play if you're interent is down or your router's f**ked.
It just seems odd considering they didn't do this on the 360 version. Signing in on your console and signing in to PSN/XBL are two totally different things.
nuggit3000 on 6 Feb '11 said:
Hang on, I didnt say Im pro DRM. I said I hate it, but when it comes to download games I can understand why a game needs to be locked to your own consoles (as long as they allow you to install it on more than one of your own machines and a PSP/NGP?)
The point about having your internet down is a fair point, maybe in future they can do something like connecting to the net to refresh 5 play credits or something.
In reality, its not much different to current PSN restrictions for most of us, and its not Capcoms fault, its the guys who have just opened up the PS3 to pirates.
ricflair on 6 Feb '11 said:
Capcom released Final Fight in April 2010 with this DRM, the first PS3 hacking didn't happen until the summer so while it might be in their minds now, it certainly wasn't when they first brought it in.
I could understand if they did it on 360 and PS3, but to do it on just the PS3 seems an odd decision. It would still be possible to write the PSN ID/console no to the game file so it can't be played on other consoles/IDs (which I think is what happens on the 360), you don't have to be online. I guess being logged into PSN, even if for a few seconds proves that your consoles isn't running anything unofficial, so there's definitely more of an incentive for them to do it now than when they released FInal Fight last year.
sonic_uk on 7 Feb '11 said:
Its pretty daft.
Seeing as the only way to get the game is to buy it through the Psn store in the first place, although not impossible its not exactly easy to pirate either. Besides it is a single player game, so why should you have to be signed in to Psn in order to play it? As long as you are using the account you purchased the game on it shouldn't matter wheather you're connected to Psn or not.
As an owner of many an old machine I enjoy visiting old games on obsolete systems every once in a while. If I bought this game today, tell me how I'd be able to access it in 20 years time when one day I feel like playing it only to find the servers have long since shut down and the Drm wont allow me to access a game on my own account which I bought with my own money.
All Drm does is actively promote piracy as it punishes legitimate customers, while the pirates can play their game for free, whenever and wherever they choose. It seems incredible then how publishers still ignore the facts, and the concerns of their own customers and keep pushing this crap, especially Ubisoft who so far are the worst offender of all.
only_777 on 7 Feb '11 said:
Not true.
Final Fight had this DRM months before USB jailbreak and even longer before Geohotz 3.55.
This is in place to stop people from doing account sharing it has nothing to do with CFW. Besides piracy won't be a problem on PS3, so forget all about the hackers, they won't cause you any problem.