Ubisoft has dropped its draconian DRM policy, which forces PC gamers to be online the entire time they want to play, from its upcoming game R.U.S.E. Instead the game will use the Steamworks DRM method used by Valve, which requires players to check in online before allowing them to continue their games offline. [More]
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Apple Won't Let Me Re-Download My Lost Movies After Hard Drive Crash
By 6.22.10
Adam is frustrated that his hard drive crashed and took out $15 worth of downloaded Apple movies with it. He writes: [More]
FCC To Control What You Can/Can't Record From TV
By 5.12.10
At the MPAA’s behest, the FCC granted Selectable Output Control, which means you won’t be able to record certain “high value” stuff off your TV, ZeroPaid reports: [More]
Earn $200/hr Teaching Angry Man To Use Apple Products
By 5.7.10
I guess Apple products aren’t idiot-proof after all. We have found your idiot nonpareil. There is a man in San Fran who needs help using Apple products. He is wiling to pay $200 an hour. This is his NSFW Craigsist ad/rant about how he is too busy to figure out how to get his credit card number from auto-populating when his kids buy stuff on iTunes, but has enough time for you to come over to his house and teach him how to use his devices. [More]
Downloadable PS3 Game Requires You To Be Online To Play
By 4.22.10
Sony has taken a page out of the Ubisoft DRM-bungling playbook and required gamers playing the downloadable retro game Final Fight: Double Impact to be online in order to play. According to Joystiq, this must be a Sony-only thing because the game plays fine offline on the Xbox 360. [More]
Insane PC Game DRM Drove Me To Piracy
By 4.5.10
An anonymous gamer wrote in to tell us why he felt justified to illegally download a copy of Red Faction: Guerilla: He bought it on one computer but found the DRM locked him out of re-activating the game on his new computer. When customer service couldn’t help him, he went rogue. [More]
Erotic Japanese Game "Cross Days" Tricks Pirates Into Posting Personal Info Online
By 3.31.10
If you’re trying to pirate the Japanese erotic manga game Cross Days–and I don’t care what people say, I love that I live in a world where I can type that phrase–you should know that the game’s developers are wise to you, and they’re going to do their best to shame and embarrass you. [More]
Ubisoft Apologizes For Hosing PC Gamers By Offering Free Downloads
By 3.26.10
Ubisoft had the fantastic idea of forcing gamers of Assassin’s Creed 2 to stay online while they played, to ensure via DRM that players weren’t pirating their wares. Then hackers brought down the servers, rendering the game unplayable. [More]
Ubisoft Authentication Servers Go Down, No One Can Play Anything
By 3.7.10
Hey, remember a few weeks ago when we posted about Ubisoft’s draconian DRM measures that keep players from saving their progress if their Internet connection goes out? Today, players found out what’s even worse than that: the authentication servers going down. [The Escapist] [More]
Stay Online While You Play Assassin's Creed 2 On PC, Or Ubisoft Will End You
By 2.19.10
Ubisoft is so bent on stopping piracy that it has turned itself into a virtual nanny, peeking over your shoulder at all times to verify that your PC copy of Assassin’s Creed 2 isn’t a torrented file. Shacknews reports that if gamers go offline while playing the game, they’ll have to stop immediately and no recent progress will be saved. [More]
Sony Blocks Online Play On Used Copies Of PSP SOCOM Game
By 2.18.10
Video game publishers generally aren’t too happy that companies such as GameStop reap huge profits from buying and selling used games, and Sony has devised a way to hobble the system from sapping away sales of its newest PSP shooter — slap DRM on the game’s online mode. [More]
Sony Replaces Customer's Broken Reader
By 12.30.09
Earlier this week, I posted about Kate’s bad experience getting her Sony Reader upgraded. She hadn’t asked for an update, but was told by Sony to send it in, she says. What she got back was a busted Reader that wouldn’t work, and a demand from Sony to pay for any repairs.
Happily, over the past two days Sony reps have been in contact with Kate and made things whole again.
Borders Gets Into Ebook Business, Relaunches Shortcovers As Kobo Books
By 12.16.09
Shortcovers, an ebook retailer that I recommended to a Sony Reader owner last month, has morphed into something called kobobooks.com, and it’s now partially owned by Borders. If you own an ereader other than a Kindle, or if you read ebooks primarily on a smartphone, you might want to add it to your list of sources for ebooks. [More]
Apple And Audible Refuse To Sell Author's Audiobooks Without DRM Or Abusive Licensing Agreement
By 12.11.09
Cory Doctorow is self-publishing a book and documenting the process for Publishers Weekly. His latest column is about selling audiobook versions of his past works, and how both Apple and Audible have refused to budge on their anti-consumer policies when it comes to digital rights management (DRM) and end user license agreements (EULAs). Even though both companies get paid the same either way, and even though both Doctorow and his publisher, Random House, want to sell the content without these restrictions, Apple and Audible have said no. [More]
Stardock CEO Takes Responsibility For Broken Game
By 11.23.09
After a reader complained that a computer game he downloaded from Stardock was broken, company president and CEO Brad Wardell refunded the money but said the problem was probably caused by a fan-created patch.
UPDATED: Stardock Takes Care Of Gamer Who Downloaded Messed-Up Game
By 11.19.09
Tim downloaded a computer game from Stardock but found that it’s been crippled by DRM issues that treat him like he’s a common pirate. At first he found customer service unresponsive and thought he would be out $10 (Stardock ended up refunding his money).
Barnes & Noble Says They'll Accept Gift Cards For Ebooks Before Christmas
By 11.16.09
Apparently Barnes & Noble meant it when they said that they were looking into the gift card issue for ebook purchases. Currently, B&N gift cards can’t be used to buy ebooks, but a new post on one of the company’s blogs says that should change by mid-December.
Sony's Ebook Store Prices Too High? Try Shortcovers
By 11.11.09
Michael bought a Sony Pocket Reader last month, but with the exception of $10 bestsellers, he’s finding that other books he wants are priced higher than he’s willing to pay. For example, Tad Friend’s memoir Cheerful Money is $10 on Amazon and at Barnes & Noble, but $17.49 from Sony. Michael wants to know if we have any advice on how to get Sony to lower their prices.
