Red Alert 3 DRM to Be 'More Lenient'

Oh well, EA must really love the pirate scene, if they're driving their potential customers to warez their games.

Chalk up -2 sales for me.

I just don't get it.

Are we not allowed to install a game more than once? Why the hell not?

From the linked forum post that describes the new SecuROM measures:

"I’m a lot less respectful of those people who take the position that they will illegally download a game simply because it has DRM."

That is absolutely hilarious, this guy should be a stand up comedian.

He doesn't like people downloading a game because of the DRM that is there to stop them from downloading it.

Why anyone would not only keep something, but continue to add it to each and every game even though it annoys customers and doesn't actually do what it was made to do is completely baffling.

After having researched something similar to this exact subject for a few weeks work related, I am absolutely convinced this DRM is not intended to stop piracy what so ever. It's simply what EA hides behind to cover up it's actual goals.
What they are basicly trying to accomplish is completely nullify 2nd hand trade in it's games. With a limited number of activations per game which are bound to an online account the buying and selling of EA games won't be feasible anymore. While I personally don't buy or sell my own games 2nd hand I still find this absolutely outrageous. First of all for proof behind the above statement check out the following link: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/ea-second-hand-sales-are-a-critical-situation
Yes. EA calls 2nd hand sales in it's game a CRITICAL situation, you might be able to see their point if you feel that their 'we sell a licence, not the game' scheme is valid. However, even US law sides with the customer on this, which you can see in the following article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine
US law, which is generally not very customer friendly/protective, so imagine how much more strict it is in Europe. In short: Selling games, or even just passing 2nd hand games on to friends/family, is perfectly allowed and one of your rights as a consumer.
To come back to one of my earlier statements that this DRM is not to combat piracy, I can indeed confirm that Spore which uses the same DRM system in essense as Red Alert 3 will use, had it's million dollar Securom cracked within hours- and the game was available to the public for download a week before the game became available in stores in Europe.
The thing that makes me angry about this is that the regular customers like you and me are disadvantaged twice by this now. Not only do we pay for the game, we are the only ones inconvenienced by these redicilous install limits and online activations. Pirates do NOT have any of the securom protection(install limits etc) in their FREE version of spore, which is fully functional and can add user created content nearly as easily as paying customers.
What makes it worse, (can it get worse?) the line which I often see people use to 'make things right' i.e. You can simply contact EA customer service to get extra credit, let me explain on this subject: Mass Effect, an earlier EA release uses the same install credit system and has been out for some time now. Users at a respected technology website in my country, who legitimatly purchased this game, have had a need to contact EA to request these new install credits, and have come with some very disturbing reports. Some of these users have been simply told that their stories are not good enough, and if they wish to continue playing the game they will have to purchase it again. Other users have had more luck, but even in the best case scenario it took 25 minutes on a long distance (extra charge) phoneline to get a single install credit back. More then that is not even negotiable.

I don't like being treated like a criminal, while pirates get a better treatment, the world upside down if you ask me.

I would like to know if this is 5 installs per hardware ID.

If so, then if you're just reinstalling on the same PC, it's unlimited. But you change the hardware, well, then you only get 5 of those types of installs before contacting EA.

EA has listened and is getting better. When a company goes from only allowing 3 installs to allowing 5, that's an improvement.

5 > 3

Thank you EA for giving me 2 more activations, (which I most likely won't ever need).

And honestly, I've installed my XP so many times now, and I build a new machine every year, that I always have to call MS on the phone to get a new activation. It's not that big of a deal. you sit on the phone for 20 minutes maybe. Big deal.

Be happy. And if your attitude doesn't suck and you support them then maybe in future titles they'll increase it again.

All future EA games? Good thanks for letting me know so I don't buy anything from EA until its' gone. Why should I be able to run what I want to run on my system as I build it and install whatever security and utility software I select? 1 dam virus on all my systems over 20 years and thats it, know why? I like to know what is on my system always and whats running or installed. And the one that got through was back in the dos days so a reformat was nothing. Shutoff AV or firewalls to just get a DRM check to work before it loads a program? Great software engineers they employ there no wonder so many malware/virii get through nowadays with idiot programmers and development companies pushing bad software out. But then their PR department will spin it to high heaven how it's all to prevent piracy and the like.

Ok, another game that I'm not going to buy.

When are you going to learn, EA?

no disk needed and 5 installs (which thye wil likely lift in a year) bioshocks got lifted after its main sales were done

im ahppy with that,, steam would be better but im not complaining

Not requiring the CD to play is a step in the right direction. Laptop gamers should be happy with that one.

For me this all comes down to the process of " Contacting EA customer service". If it is a simple automated process online then this limited install stuff is fine with me. If it has to be a phone call or an email I have to wait to get a reply to (in effect making me wait before I can install my game) then I think I'll just find ways around the process.

Does anyone know just what needs to be done when you "contact EA customer service"?

I'll think about purchasing it after the install limit is lifted. I'll do the same for Spore if they come around. I really liked RA2 and played the absolute piss out of it for years. I never got into any of the other C&C games.

It would be interesting to see sales data when (if) the limit is removed.

Btw, i was reading earlier in another site how this DRM thing is not done against piracy. In fact Spore has been cracked fairly fast.

It's against the second hand sales. Now with this protection one copy of a game can be reselled in Gamestop again and again.

First Spore (but it's not that great after all, so no loss there), now this. EA must really hate my money.

Can't EA put their stuff simply on Steam and be done with it :/

Holy fucking shit - thank god you sluts haven't found the goods yet. This is nearly as bad as youtube comments.

SecuROM = no purchase.

I'm curious about what "all PC titles coming out of EA" means (particularly: whether it includes EA Partners titles). If it does, then this means that Crysis: Warhead (Crytek), Rage (Id Software), and the unannounced title from Epic / PCF will have similar DRM.

Looks like I should get cracking on my "I am deciding to refuse to purchase your game" letters.

The music industry is learning (albeit slowly) that poor DRM is a huge pile of shit. Why must the PC industry go through the same process? ARGH. EA can eat a dick.

So how long before we see an article on shack with EA blaming pirates for Spore and RA3 not selling well but in reality its because no one buys them because of the DRM BS. :\

I've installed 10+ year old games repeatedly due to new system builds, etc. The thought of minimum installs just is a complete deal breaker. EA needs to stop now. They are completely out of touch with their customers.

what? he doesn't support people pirating the software? how odd

I've never been burned by DRM, so i'm clearly bias.I don't think having to contact EA after 3 or 5 installs to install again is a big deal, MS makes you call them after 2 office activations, and i've had to do that a number of times for clients of mine and it's not much trouble at all. How many times do people uninstall re-install games that 3-5 times leads to major issues? Also this limit is will almost certainly be removed as the product ages. the solution if you don't like the DRM is simple, don't buy the game or pirate it. YOU HAVE A CHOICE!

I won't be buying this game.

So what should we be thanking them?
Wow, up to 5 whole installs? Golly gee. Now we'd be only a little less screwed then if we bought spore. This is the reason I didn't buy Bioshock until they removed that limit. I was already skeptical of RA3, but now its just out of the question. I'd rather never play it at all then support EA's DRM crap. As others have said here why can't they just put it on steam and be done with it? PC gaming now a days is a crap shoot. Every new game I have to read tons of reviews just to find out if it has DRM or not.

sadly, i won't be purchasing this anytime soon. Maybe in 4years when it's in a best of pack.

So do they have a special phone number to call to handle these DRM cases, or do you open a "support" ticket and get the runaround for a few days / weeks before someone flips a magic switch giving you permission to install your legally purchased game?

I really wanna know how this system works.

Wow, 5 installs. That's only $10 per install. How generous.

I've owned the Orange Box since January and I've already installed it 4 times. I would be seriously pissed if I started having to call in to every game publisher every time I re-image my gaming PC. Hell, if it wasn't for all this DRM crapware that comes with games I wouldn't need to re-image it so often.

The 2 version old Safedisc from some game I installed in January (the game was removed but the crapware is permanent) replaced the driver for my optical drives and new version of SecuROM doesn't like it so my shiney new game wont play. Re-image. Some game installed Starforce and now I get a BSOD when I try playing DVD's. Re-image. Turbo-tax just overwrote my FAT table and corrupted my hard drive. Re-image.

Any one of those scenarios would cause me to burn 2-3 activations in less than a week. And this happens. A LOT.

Thanks. Won't buy this.


I pay for the game because I want to keep it. Not for 5 installations. And I don't see why I should take the hassle and contact somebody to allow me playing the game I bought.

The equivalent of stealing your lunch money and then letting you borrow it.

Its like they are turning retail games into consumable items, which is ridiculous considering the cost continues to rise.

I would really like to know who suggested this as a way to combat piracy, all it has done is make it easier to pirate a game than to buy it.

What needs to happen is some disgruntled customers whom have actually been screwed over by the system for perfectly legitimate reasons (their own PC, their own use) needs to start a class action lawsuit of some kind.

Fact it, this does not even smell of being lawfully right. EA's lawyers may drown out a single customer, but a group could make a serious head way. Hell they could take a look at that EULA and change the whole ball game.

They should make no-cd retroactive for all their games.I'm so pissed I can't play 2142 anymore because my computer hangs every time it tries to load disc for the billionth time. the game already has cd key auth why the fuk do you need a cd.

Wow, five installs! Thank you so much EA!

Seriously, this makes me want to throw bricks at EA executive's cars. Treat me like shit, don't be surprised if I do the same to you.