Comments on Tales of the Rampant Coyote: Class Action Lawsuit Over Invasive DRM in Spore

>> Granted, the budget of these 10 titles won't be...

2008-09-25T03:19:00.000-07:00

>> Granted, the budget of these 10 titles won't be as high but the games won't be worse.

These are actually the only PC titles I have been buying for the last few years. I love low budget games because they usually have to compensate their graphics for better game play in order to sell. Eschalon, Depths of Peril, Vogel's games, and several others. The last PC game I bought was Oblivian, and my hardware couldn't handle the outdoor environment on the lowest setting.

@t-boy EA doesn't just do sports, they publish several FPS's and fantasy action titles based on movies. These are the gamers that have half a chance of getting curious and finding small titles like the ones mentioned above. As it is, I don't even pay attention to mainstream PC gaming anymore. I did buy a few consoles because the publishers I loved on PC either left or changed direction.

>> It just may require using different methods to reach that consumer if the mainstream retail shops give up on PC games entirely.

If they all packed their bags, I think there are several smaller distributors that would be able to jump on board and get things rolling. I can't say there is a single big PC gaming company that I would miss their titles, with exception to Blizzard.

It's not like all people with PCs are going to tra...

2008-09-24T18:15:00.000-07:00

It's not like all people with PCs are going to trade their PCs for a new console if the latest 'cool game' isn't available on PC. People have PCs for plenty of other reasons and will still be there, ready and able to game.

It just may require using different methods to reach that consumer if the mainstream retail shops give up on PC games entirely.

@Coyote: I'm more or less at where you are; I figu...

2008-09-24T15:49:00.000-07:00

@Coyote: I'm more or less at where you are; I figure that if EA and other big-name publishers can't stand the heat, then they should damn well get out of the fire; basically stop hogging shelf and attention-space, as calibrator might say.

@codeugly: You're of course making the assumption that the only effective economic model in PC gaming is the hardcore and sports market, and without it, the 'industry' is doomed. In actual fact, it is actually still possible to make money in the business: ask PopCap and people like Stardock.

Actually, i think that the complaint is that secur...

2008-09-24T15:16:00.000-07:00

Actually, i think that the complaint is that securom is effectively a trojan rootkit. at the very least, they can say that it is somthing which alters the function of the computer which they are not warned about prior to purchase, even if it's in the EULA. And i'm not sure they can get out of this with a blanket clause, seeing as EULAs have been successfully beaten in court.

If the only real complaint is that people are anno...

2008-09-24T14:27:00.001-07:00

If the only real complaint is that people are annoyed that SecureROM lives on their hard drive, I am not sure that really is compensable. I am all for sticking it to EA over this stuff, but I am yet to be convinced this is the proper way to do it.

> As much as I would like to see EA quit flooding ...

2008-09-24T14:27:00.000-07:00

> As much as I would like to see EA quit flooding the PC with half bakes, I don't think it would be good for the PC gaming industry as a whole.

The game industry is even nastier than the movie industry in its current state.

I think megalomaniac companies like EA and Activision-Blizzard are actually killing the PC games industry.
They acquire more creative and daring studios and then milk one idea until it's dead and the people gone. Then they close the aquired studio and repeat.

And the market isn't only nasty - it's downright perverse with its endless lust for faster hardware while they have no resources to really optimize for existing components.
How many programs really do use a quadcore CPU to its full potential after more than a year
How long did it take advantage of a dualcore CPU? Shader potential is wasted by bloom shaders running amok and only few games try to really advanced not only the amount of polygons but their use.

I often dream of a hardware sabbaticel - three years no new graphics cards and CPUs - and existing hardware would be used to its fullest potential!
Of course this won't happen - Intel, ATI and Nvidia will do everything to prevent that and try to sell you two new systems in that time.

> As choice gets slimmer on the platform, so will the gamers.

I strongly doubt that.

As long as there is hardware that one can freely program and publish for (vs. paying licence fees like in the console games market) there'll be suppliers who try to participate.

> Before EA says good bye to the PC, we need a few good commercial companies to step up to the plate.

The companies will be there and they will risk more than the big players do right now.

Today it's EA clobbering up shelf space - tomorrow it's ten small companies producing 10 creative titles instead of 1 derivative EA title.

Granted, the budget of these 10 titles won't be as high but the games won't be worse.

> It just doesn't look like a field of flowers right now. :)

Not for EA (you saw their desperation while they tried to take-over Take2) but I cannot await them leaving the PC market for good.

The last time EA was true to their name were the mid-eighties to early nineties with titles like Marble Madness, Seven Cities of Gold, Skyfox, Pinball Construction Kit (bought from BudgeCo), StarFlight and smaller titles like Axis Assassin, Skate or Die! and Hard Hat Mack.

Good riddance to them!

The complaint doesn't say that the game wipes the ...

2008-09-24T13:55:00.000-07:00

The complaint doesn't say that the game wipes the harddrive, that's a mistake in the article (as far as I can tell).

What the complaint actually says is that the only way for one to remove the offending SecuROM software is through a complete wipe of the harddrive (again, as far as I can tell).

As far as EA getting out of the PC business: We can only hope and pray :) I'm sure the market would regenerate itself just fine and possibly even end up better without the cancerous influence of decay that is EA.

There's weird wording in the lawsuit. namely, they...

2008-09-24T13:40:00.000-07:00

There's weird wording in the lawsuit. namely, they claim that it completely wipes the hard drive, which is totally nuts.

As much as I would like to see EA quit flooding th...

2008-09-24T13:01:00.000-07:00

As much as I would like to see EA quit flooding the PC with half bakes, I don't think it would be good for the PC gaming industry as a whole. As choice gets slimmer on the platform, so will the gamers. Before EA says good bye to the PC, we need a few good commercial companies to step up to the plate. It just doesn't look like a field of flowers right now. :)

Wow. Shamus Young will have a field day with this....

2008-09-24T12:03:00.000-07:00

Wow. Shamus Young will have a field day with this. I can't wait. XD

t-boy:I kinda agree, though I don't know which ang...

2008-09-24T10:57:00.000-07:00

t-boy:

I kinda agree, though I don't know which angle you are taking with it. For me, I figure the sooner the dinosaurs die off on the platform, the better for the mammals.

Personally, I do not see how a platform that can sell 400,000 copies of a hard-core but lower-budget game with NO DRM (or disc checking!) this last year (Sins of a Solar Empire) can possibly be dismissed.

You are going way outside of my field of professio...

2008-09-24T10:53:00.000-07:00

You are going way outside of my field of professional expertise, here, so I can't answer any of those questions. To be honest, I would have expected this with the Starforce crap from about three years ago before this one - but I'm very curious how it turns out.

My favorite game-related class-action lawsuit so far has to have been the "hot coffee" lawsuit - the one where nobody came. Not that I want to defend Rockstar or Take Two on what happened there. They definitely screwed up, but I was very impressed with how the media, government, and lawyers blew it completely out of proportion.

not the least of which could be EA swearing off PC...

2008-09-24T10:51:00.000-07:00

not the least of which could be EA swearing off PC games forever

Good. The sooner the better.

Wow. I never thought my professional career would...

2008-09-24T10:26:00.000-07:00

Wow. I never thought my professional career would intersect with this website, but now it has. I work for a firm which does a lot of class action litigation, though mostly defense. Did EA really not mention SecurRom at all in the literature or agreements? Did they at least (though it might not avail them) have a blanket clause (other software might be installed, etc.)? Can someone somehow post the user's agreement just for my curiosity? In my expert but very uninformed opinion, IF the users actually suffered affirmative harm (i.e., had their hard drives wiped, and not just couldn't enjoy the game), and IF there was no warning, or an insufficient warning, then there just may be something to this. For this kind of case, wait and see if the class gets certified (that is, if they are permitted to act as a "class")--that is the first, and one of the most major hurdles. Thanks.