I need to rant. I play a lot of PC games and it seems companies are taking crap way out of hand these days. Mainly how the install process goes, and it pisses me off.

Lets go back to 1999. You put the game in the disk, install the game, maybe it updates your directX real quick, and then you play it. That was it. No fancy activation, no crazy amount of third party junk, and most of all NO HASTLE.

Now lets go to present day and take a game like say, GTA IV. Just got released for PC, new features and a video studio. lots of people looking forward to it thinking "this is why I still play PC, cause we get the best versions." Turns out it's the worst version because of all the crap it needs.

GTA requires service pack 2 for XP. No reason why, I've seen better looking games that only require Service pack 1. It also requires Windows Media encoder which ISN'T ON THE DISK. Then it uses the Social Club which is their online system, and then uses Windows LIVE with is Microsofts Onlie system (2 online systems? WTF?) Then it uses SecuROM for the protection.

Why does it need all this? Why make all of it mandatory? I don't want a Social Club or Windows Live system. I have a computer to save all my files and I have the internet. Windows Live is not required. Why have the social club as the starting point of the game? Why not just a separate program or something embedded directly into the game? Why use SecuROM and limit the amount of people that can actually RUN your game and piss off
people to want to pirate even MORE?

FarCry 2 for PC installed SecuROM as well, then it installed some anti-cheat software (which strangely isn't built into teh game like most other have). It attempts to install some UbiSoft online system and GameSpy arcade as well. Annoying.

This is my biggest issue with PC gaming now. Before it was easy. You looked at the back of the box to see what you need, and it just listed the computer specs and the OS it supported. You have that, your good to go. No online update to go to. No third part software to install with the game. And my favorite, not links to an online site to find what you need to install cause it's all ON THE DISK. A CD Key and the Disk was all that was needed for security with multiplayer.

I want normal installs again. Just have the game and that's it. If there's extra stuff that can add features, give me the option to install them but don't require it. Get rid of SecuROM cause it doesn't work and it doesn't protect anything. Stop installing big online systems if you have one game. Bring us back to the old days of installations, and the PC market will be much happier and people will start buying games again.

/Rant

Ubisoft and Rockstar are crap on PC... we've seen Ubisoft's crimes for a few years now, but Rockstar joins the list....

Basically I cant see this rant really pertaining to anyone else (EA if you want to go off on SecuROM use specific, but...)

I know what you mean. GTA wouldnt run 'till I had BETA drivers for my graphics card, and at one point asked me to insert a new disc (wouldnt be so bad if I hadn't bought it from Steam).

Far Cry was a pretty average install, it took a while though.

As far as the installs for the games, they have gotten way easier. I remember the days where they made you choose, small, large or full install onto a computer.

But with the activation crap, as far as I see it, it's good companies wasting their money on things which are usually cracked before they are even released. Maybe they should save that money, and actually build games with more compelling story lines. Where you can't describe the game story with a 4 word sentence.

Not all games are bad. Some install in just 1 or 2 clicks.

I guess the install problem is caused by all the different stuff available for PC's. With, ay a 360, everyone is playing with the exact same software and hardware. But on PC, everyone has different stuff. So to make sure everyone can play the game, developers include YET MORE STUFF that they know works with their games.

But I'm not a games developer. I'm just guessing.

I know what you mean. GTA wouldnt run 'till I had BETA drivers for my graphics card, and at one point asked me to insert a new disc (wouldnt be so bad if I hadn't bought it from Steam).

Far Cry was a pretty average install, it took a while though.

It does that too? Jeeze, so now we have TIME SHIFTS issues too!

As far as the installs for the games, they have gotten way easier. I remember the days where they made you choose, small, large or full install onto a computer.
Definitely. Installs did get better, as they didn't need as much information and now the games auto-configure to your hardware. However, the recent year things have been turning towards the worse. With broken DRM solutions, multiple separate installs that are required, and a ton of "accept this" and "accept that," it's getting annoying again.

There's also tech support problems. Say there's something wrong and you can't start the game. Who's fault is it? Is it the game, the online service program, the DRM protection? Suppose one of the updates (they all pretty much force an update now anyways) and it breaks one of the three games that it installs with? Suppose a normal user keeps installing these extras and it slows down their computer with multiple services running?

Well, we'll see how it goes. I'm pretty sure in a year we'll be seeing a major change in PC gaming. Don't know if it'll be good or bad, but it's gonna see one :/

I hear ya.........they claim to do this to prevent piracy, but it prevents more copies from being sold.....why bother with GTA IV and all of it's issues if you already have a next-gen console(I don't, but I can't imagine I would haggle with the PC version if I did.). They need to stop punisheing the people who buy the game and just let it be.

I don't see why companies bother with preventing piracy... those who don't want to pay for games will pirate and those that are willing to pay won't pirate...

The mad hackers of the internet find a way to get past the piracyy countermeasures anyway, on top of that it seems like they pay more to prevent piracy than the actual thing harms them...

On top of that we pay A LOT of money for our computers... which the stuff in our computers is what will be used in future consoles so really it's like the beta version of gaming in general... why shouldn't we get free games?

It's only a matter of time that all developers go the way of Steam. Steam is the best option going for developers to minimize there game from being pirated. I don't believe that it's 100% secure as of yet but the more closed they make it, the more closer they'll get to further preventing pirating. I won't be surprised if they do the same thing MMO currency sites do. When you buy something from them, you have to place an order & leave a valid address & contact number to be reached. They'll call & ask various questions to confirm who you are before they send the product in question. That may happen someday =).

-LatinLegacy

It's only a matter of time that all developers go the way of Steam. Steam is the best option going for developers to minimize there game from being pirated. I don't believe that it's 100% secure as of yet but the more closed they make it, the more closer they'll get to further preventing pirating. I won't be surprised if they do the same thing MMO currency sites do. When you buy something from them, you have to place an order & leave a valid address & contact number to be reached. They'll call & ask various questions to confirm who you are before they send the product in question. That may happen someday =).

-LatinLegacy

Steam is all well and good, but just remember, not all countries have high speed internet. For example, down in Oz, I'm on 512 kB/s. And a 5GB data limit. One small game = hours, and no data left.

On top of that we pay A LOT of money for our computers... which the stuff in our computers is what will be used in future consoles so really it's like the beta version of gaming in general... why shouldn't we get free games?

We pay because we like making our own machine and/or know just how much more power we have over the alternative. THAT is reason enough.... unless you mean LEGALLY free games. Then Im with you all the way. (I DONT back piracy.)

I don't see why companies bother with preventing piracy... those who don't want to pay for games will pirate and those that are willing to pay won't pirate...

Big companies need investors, investors need security/insurance DRM is that insurance to the people who understand how money works, but dont understand how the gaming industry works. There's a really good explanation of this on the site somewhere, I'll try and find it.

EDIT: here

SecuROM is basically a system which removes accountability from staff at EA. EA is a publically held company, ultimatley it is the shareholders who decide that there should be security on every disc. If EA did this, it would mean someone being held responsible when that copy protection fails. Enter SecuROM: They tout their product as "super-awesome-wtf-bbq" and EA say "OK".

When the protection is broken (as everyone knows it will be) EA now has someone to sue. This doesnt mean that SecuROM lose out though (oh no, this goes further). Say AIG insure SecuROM: SecuROM go out and claim on their "legal bills" meaning that no one loses out. Except you, because general premiums on your insurance is higher now.

EA doesnt lose any money, because they claim it back from SecuROM. SecuROM don't lose money because they claim it from AIG. AIG dont lose money because they redeem it by charging their customers 0.001% more next year. DRM stays for Spore2.0.

So really it's not a matter of preventing piracy, just making it a touch harder so you can point the finger elsewhere and avoid losing money.