[starbug]

i had heard rumours that you had to be connected online at all times to play, like assassin creed 2 and then i found this

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=239548&site=cvg

and with all the bad points i have been hearing i will not be getting this.

[ShadowGorrath]

Yeah, I too have heard rumors that CnC4 savegames are stored on the net, and not one's PC/whatever

And eitherway, it's just a small delay to "pirates", so why bother making a stupid mess like that ( stupid mess being the DRM thing ).

[TESLA]

If thats true, i wont be buying it

[ShadowGorrath]

It seems it's true.

EDIT: Hopefully, this will be better than EA's CnC4.

[Triple Ace]

Confirmed. http://forums.commandandconquer.com/jforum/posts/list/35920.page

I've read elsewhere other EA titles will use this DRM. First UbiSoft and now EA. Anyone care to guess which company will be next to use this new DRM? An Xbox 360 is looking pretty good right about now.

[SpardaSon21]

I'm not even going to bother pirating C&C4.

[Droid803]

I'm not even going to bother pirating C&C4.

This. QFT.

And eitherway, it's just a small delay to "pirates", so why bother making a stupid mess like that ( stupid mess being the DRM thing ).

You mean no delay? The system's already cracked as they ran a Beta. Unless they radically change their entire system, I expect pirated versions to be circulating on or even before the release date.

It's all part of the plan though. They want to be able to call PC gaming officially dead, and tell everyone to buy consoles. **** those bastards!

[Mongoose]

With the "hardcore" PC market as small as it is (excepting WOW, of course), do you really think there are many companies out there who can justify jumping through thirty hoops to placate it?  And if you were in their position, could you justify it yourself?  I'm not condoning Ubisoft's/EA's actions in this specific case, as the system they've set up truly is utterly asinine, or even the overriding concept of restrictive DRM in general.  But there's always this element of head-in-sand denial that seems to pervade discussions like this, and I'm not really sure where it comes from.

I know the vast majority of the people in this forum are full-bore PC fans, and that's fine.  I've been playing games on the computer for many years myself.  But you have to look at what the market has become.  There will always be games created and released for the PC, but with the exception of certain genres and a few certain publishers, big-budget AAA titles are no longer aimed specifically at that platform.  Nor, realistically, should they be.  No company should excessively bend over backwards to concern themselves with a few hundred thousand players on one platform when several million await them on another.

[Liberator]

But neither should the companies involved go out of they're way to piss off the people who will buy their stuff.

[Mongoose]

Of course not, which is why I said that this system that Ubisoft and EA have cooked up is asinine.  But to treat it as some sort of evil-mastermind attempt to choke off the PC market for good is rather absurd, because--let's face it--for your average AAA title, the PC market isn't all that relevant anymore.  There's no need to ascribe to maliciousness what the natural progression of time and market conditions has done.  Developers wouldn't even have any need to make a willful effort to piss off the PC fanbase, as it isn't a massive factor in their sales either way.

[Klaustrophobia]

the PC market is not going away.  it is the bleeding edge, dragging console progress along with it.  i mean look at "old" games like crysis, still blowing the hell out of new console games. 

[Mongoose]

the PC market is not going away.  it is the bleeding edge, dragging console progress along with it.  i mean look at "old" games like crysis, still blowing the hell out of new console games. 

Um...no.  High-performance PC games may contribute to the development of new graphics technologies, and new generations of consoles may utilize these same technologies, but there isn't some locked-in-stone correspondence between the two.  More widespread applications like rendering would still provide a need for faster and more advanced graphics solutions, even without high-performance gaming, and the console market is lucrative enough that it could drive innovation on its own terms.  Even when you look at the entire spectrum of people who play games on a regular basis, what small percentage do you think has any need for a brand-spanking-new Nvidia card, as opposed to something like an integrated graphics solution or low-end dedicated model?  When you look at the raw numbers out there, the "hardcore" PC market simply isn't that relevant anymore, whether you want it to be or not.

And it's funny that you cite Crysis, which was as much of a tech demo as it was a legitimate game.  From everything I've heard, it wasn't that fantastic of a game anyway.  I'd gladly take something like Uncharted 2 over it.  And as far as appearances go, if you plopped both Crysis and a brand-new AAA PS3 title on 1080p displays next to each other, I doubt I'd be able to see much of a difference between them.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Of course not, which is why I said that this system that Ubisoft and EA have cooked up is asinine.  But to treat it as some sort of evil-mastermind attempt to choke off the PC market for good is rather absurd, because--let's face it--for your average AAA title, the PC market isn't all that relevant anymore.  There's no need to ascribe to maliciousness what the natural progression of time and market conditions has done.  Developers wouldn't even have any need to make a willful effort to piss off the PC fanbase, as it isn't a massive factor in their sales either way.

as long as there's a market people will produce stuff for it. Even if today's big players leave. They'll only be replaced by new players. So maybe we won't see big-budget titles for a while? Is that bad? I don't think so. What comes up as a replacement might be innovative instead.

[Mongoose]

That's a point where I'd actually agree with you.  I think we're at the point where it will be incredibly rare to see a top-tier PC-exclusive release, outside of genres like real-time strategy and MMOs, but that hardly precludes innovation on the PC as a platform.  The potential of modding and total-conversions is only going to increase as time goes on, and there's a massive independent-games movement out there producing some fantastic and innovative stuff (some of which sometimes manages to find its way over to consoles via WiiWare or XBox Live).  The PC market as a whole still makes a very large amount of money (though granted, The Sims and WOW account for a hefty chunk of that)...it's just that less of that money comes from titles like Modern Warfare 2.

[CP5670]

as long as there's a market people will produce stuff for it. Even if today's big players leave. They'll only be replaced by new players. So maybe we won't see big-budget titles for a while? Is that bad? I don't think so. What comes up as a replacement might be innovative instead.

Exactly. The big budget developers seem to be gradually moving away from the PC, but I don't think that is such a bad thing. The most original games I've seen over the last year or so have been various free mods and lesser known games from smaller developers. They are a lot more willing to take risks and try something new than the big companies, who tend to stick with tried-and-true formulas that they know attract casual gamers and result in big sales.

And it's funny that you cite Crysis, which was as much of a tech demo as it was a legitimate game.  From everything I've heard, it wasn't that fantastic of a game anyway.

Crysis was a good and solid game even if you ignore its graphics. It had more gameplay depth than most FPSs and nice variety in its levels. However, it hasn't had a lot of competition after it came out. There have been other good FPSs, but not any that were clearly better than it.

[Liberator]

...the big companies, who tend to stick with tried-and-true formulas that they know attract casual gamers and result in big sales.

Unless it's friggin' EA Los Angeles and you just wanna get something out the door.

[TrashMan]

[Thaeris]

Nice work, TrashMan... 

[BengalTiger]

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/pc/commandandconquer4

The user score is 2.6.
The Metascore is 67.

I don't think this even needs a comment.

[TESLA]

This has really put me off buying PC games.

All this DRM bull****e

Pirates and crackers will always find away around the security. Its a hobby for them!!!

I buy my games, but out of principle I will not buy any more games with this DRM! Had enough of UbiEA-Big Brother ****e!

May they burn in a fiery hell or at least be stuck with windows Vista for life.