StarCraft II is finally launching next month, and thankfully, with some reasonable DRM. Though publishers like Ubisoft and -- in one instance -- EA are going for extreme approaches in protecting their PC titles by requiring constant Internet connections, Blizzard co-founder and SC2 executive producer Frank Pearce says this is futile.
"The best approach from our perspective is to make sure that you've got a full-featured platform that people want to play on, where their friends are, where the community is," he says. "That's a battle that we have a chance in."
EA seems to have found great success with this approach, using community features like custom screenshots and stat tracking in games like Dragon Age: Origins and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 -- the platform doesn't necessarily have to be an application or client, it can simply be a website linked with the game. Not only do approaches like this make the experience more rich (potentially across multiple titles), it does seem to make for great sales on the PC.
"If you start talking about DRM and different technologies to try to manage it, it's really a losing battle for us," comments Pearce. "Because the community is always so much larger, and the number of people out there that want to try to counteract that technology, whether it's because they want to pirate the game or just because it's a curiosity for them, is much larger than our development teams. We need our development teams focused on content and cool features, not anti-piracy technology."
If you don't know by now, StarCraft II will require a one-time online activation and of course a registered Battle.net account, which is reasonable enough in this day and age, and a method we're sure most people won't mind given multiplayer is where the series has always found the most action. Still, there are those who prefer single player, and even just for those who play it through once, it's nice to not have to worry.
Of course, Blizzard had unfortunately announced the removal of LAN support to fight piracy, which is a real downer, especially for tournament-goers. Following outcry, the company said they were considering a "pseudo-LAN" solution -- the scenario would involve something like authenticating on Bnet once, then being given LAN "permissions." We'll just have to see what happens come July 27.
Source:Videogamer.com
Alternate Source:shacknews
Section:PC Games
|
New ‘Eclipse’ Trailer Premieres On ‘Oprah’ And OnlineBungie Signs Deal With Activision
