Mass Effect Requires Online Validation Every Ten Days to Function

Bloodshot said:
That article pretty much confirmed what I said; MMOs are keeping the PC market alive :P. While those games may have ranked highly, their sales figures in comparison to something on the same level for 360 or the PS3 will be very low.
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What you said was,

PC games just don't sell as well nowadays - the current generation of consoles has pretty much killed PC gaming.
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Which just isn't true. PC games are selling as well today, if not better than they ever have.

Developers and publishers can make more money and get their games out to bigger audiences on a console
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Tell that to Blizzard.

And what MMOs are going to consoles?
 
Can someone please explain to me what is the difference between:

1: Having your 360 connected to XBL with the game DVD in the drive.

2: Having your PC ME-DVD in the drive.

All I can think of is that the PC is calling home to see if it is valid every 10 days. 360 is calling XBL to see if it is valid all the time it is connected.

Never had any problems with Bioshock protection and they also upped the limit so that you can install it 5 times concurrently. Doubt very much that people can play it on 5 machines at once can they.....

Don't see how people can say they are being penalised for this type of activation as the game box or website will clearly state this as a requirement so if you do not like it stick with the lesser console version instead and use your £300-400 gfx card as a paperweight.
 
AWPC said:
Can someone please explain to me what is the difference between:

1: Having your 360 connected to XBL with the game DVD in the drive.

2: Having your PC ME-DVD in the drive.

All I can think of is that the PC is calling home to see if it is valid every 10 days. 360 is calling XBL to see if it is valid all the time it is connected.

Never had any problems with Bioshock protection and they also upped the limit so that you can install it 5 times concurrently. Doubt very much that people can play it on 5 machines at once can they.....

Don't see how people can say they are being penalised for this type of activation as the game box or website will clearly state this as a requirement so if you do not like it stick with the lesser console version instead and use your £300-400 gfx card as a paperweight.
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Their completly different; The 360 isn't validating that your game is legit when its conencting to Live, the 360 also works indefinately offline. This states that if you dont connect to the internet your game will cease to function after 10 days.

I think most people will stick with the far superior "pirate" edition, which doesn't rely on this nonsense and lets you play whenever you want without any hassle.
 
Ulfhedjinn said:
Sounds like a plan to me. I'd even pay extra for a Steam version.
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Arf!

"I do not like this format of a game that requires me to be connected to the internet. I would much prefer to download it from the internet, using a usually-permanently-connected program, that is in turn designed to be used on an always-on broadband connection."
 
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Steam's offline issues are a thing of the past really - or at least far far better than before.

That's coming from dealing with 50 PCs all desperately trying to get CSS auth'd for an offline LAN party btw :)
 
Bloodshot said:
That article pretty much confirmed what I said; MMOs are keeping the PC market alive :P. While those games may have ranked highly, their sales figures in comparison to something on the same level for 360 or the PS3 will be very low.
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That is because *bangs* the PC gaming market *head* is much *repeatedly* smaller than *against* the console market. *Desk.*

What those articles clearly show is that a.) the PC market is keeping itself afloat quite nicely and is actually increasing in overall market share, and b.) MMOs are not the only genre of game dominating it. While I'd like to see less "Sims" on there, there's still a lot of variation.

NokkonWud said:
I already own it, but if I was going to get it on PC it wouldn't bother me, after all, I'd have nothing to hide.:)
And of course, it's always on the Internet.
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I already own it on the 360 too, but I stopped playing it as soon as I heard there was a PC version coming with extra content and better graphics. Having a decent PC, all the disgusting cache/snap-in should be gone, I will actually be able to use antialiasing, and I won't be driven to almost biting off my thumbs anymore with having to use a gamepad to aim. :D

It's not about having anything to hide though, what a strange twist you put on that. I've already expressed quite clearly in a number of posts now how I don't appreciate being pre-emptively treated like a criminal and forced to prove I own the game. :)

Flammy said:
Conan, for starters
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How is Conan moving to 360 when it's not out yet and it's multiplatform? Multi-platform MMOs have been done before, Final Fantasy for example, and it didn't kill the MMO genre on the PC one iota.

Weebull said:
Ah fair enough. I haven't had the problem of needing to use it offline for some time. :)
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What Aekeron said, it doesn't force me to be online, but to expand on it: -

I use Steam because I can get lots of great games from one place online, on-demand with no need to go up town or wait for post. Same reason a lot of people pirate games, but not only that, it's legal and it keeps my games up to date with a full match-making service as well.
 
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How does it keep your games up-to-date then?

Oh yeah, of course, by you being near-permanently connected to the internet!
 
Weebull said:
How does it keep your games up-to-date then?

Oh yeah, of course, by you being near-permanently connected to the internet!
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You really are dense aren't you.

There's a difference to me between mandatory calling out over the internet to prove I own a game, and connecting to the place I bought the game to, at my own discretion, receive new content and bug fixes that enhance my overall gaming experience.

Hint: One makes me feel like I am under suspicion, the other does not.
 
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This is a pathetic idea. When will they learn that all they are doing is treating their paying customers like crap. The pirates ENJOY cracking things like this, it's what they do.

There is no way I'm buying something that treats me as a criminal even after I've parted with £30.
 
dbmzk1 said:
This is a pathetic idea. When will they learn that all they are doing is treating their paying customers like crap. The pirates ENJOY cracking things like this, it's what they do.

There is no way I'm buying something that treats me as a criminal even after I've parted with £30.
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To me it's as if you just bought a new TV and some men come knocking on your door asking to see the receipt, otherwise they're going to take it back to the shop.
 
Ulfhedjinn said:
How is Conan moving to 360 when it's not out yet and it's multiplatform? Multi-platform MMOs have been done before, Final Fantasy for example, and it didn't kill the MMO genre on the PC one iota.
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I didnt say any of those things. What Conan does show however, is that genres that have long been considered only possible on the PC, are now going to be available on consoles too. Console technology is catching up fast to the PC whether we like it or not...
 
Ulfhedjinn said:
You really are dense aren't you.

There's a difference to me between mandatory calling out over the internet to prove I own a game, and connecting to the place I bought the game to, at my own discretion, receive gameplay enhancements and bug fixes that enhance my overall gaming experience.

Hint: One makes me feel like I am under suspicion, the other does not.
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How on earth does it make you feel under suspicion? Please, explain that one to me.

Do (or would) you feel "under suspicion" every time you connected to an MMO server? Or every time you play any other online game in fact? Do you feel "under suspicion" every time you install a copy of Windows and have to validate it? Or every time you have to enter a CD-Key? "I ain't entering no number for you! I AM NOT A CRIMINAL!"

I really don't see what's so bad about it. It's a bit of a silly system, yes (since what could make the game less legal after twenty days that it wasn't after ten?), but it's not actually doing anything remotely intrusive to you. All it actually is is a single-player game that requires come kind of internet connection every few days. It's not scanning your bios, or shutting down apps in the background, or even sending personal reports to Bioware/MS about your PC. It just sends a simple message to a server, which responds, and a counter is reset. Big whoop. Hell, there are tons of processes that do things like that, and more.

And please, you don't connect Steam at your own discretion, don't try to pretend you do just because you can. If you did, there really is little difference between using that and simply downloading patches when they become available. Even if you did, what's to stop you simply starting up Mass Effect during this period of being connected?

If you said you didn't have an internet connection on your gaming PC, I could understand, but the very fact you stated your apparently extreme dislike for this piracy system, and then proceeded to sing the virtues of a version you will almost undoubtedly use mostly online, plain amuses me.
 
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