Did Hell Just Freeze Over?

I'm not sure if you have heard, but the latest EA game from Sid Meyer's game called Spore and the latest EA/Bioware game called Mass Effect were slated to have a new form of DRM that would dial home every ten days to validate the software as legitimate. After 10, it would try again in 5 more and etc, etc.

This is nothing new to those of us that have a personal relationship with EA, but it is a very disturbing trend for games that have large Single Player elements.

But wait.... EA has a change of heart....

EA now says that validation will now only occur when a user attempts to download new content for either game.

http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/05/ea-loosens-spor.html

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/52618

Wow! Is this a newer, kindler EA? Can we expect more "intelligent" moves for other games?

Atomm wrote:I'm not sure if you have heard, but the latest EA game from Sid Meyer's game called Spore and the latest EA/Bioware game called Mass Effect were slated to have a new form of DRM that would dial home every ten days to validate the software as legitimate. After 10, it would try again in 5 more and etc, etc.

This is nothing new to those of us that have a personal relationship with EA, but it is a very disturbing trend for games that have large Single Player elements.

But wait.... EA has a change of heart....

http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/05/ea-loosens-spor.html

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/52618

Wow! Is this a newer, kindler EA? Can we expect more "intelligent" moves for other games?

Didn't they get a new CEO a year or so back? If so, maybe he's finally making an impact, and maybe there's hope. I'll reserve judgment either way.

There was quite a backlash when reports of the constant 'calling home' came out. A few days ago, I was going to link to a lengthy post over at "the straight dope" msg board where many ppl posted "I was looking forward to one/both of these games, but I'll not buy it now.", but I figured it was old hat to us.

For those who remember this was contributed by Duck...

My pointed stick and my map to EA.






In that thread I saw an old name... Brules.

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