Tag: DRM HELL

Mourning the Loss of An Era

I wasn’t too invested at the time, as I essentially skipped the sixth generation of consoles when those were the state of the art in gaming. I did know about them, of course, and I did play on them occasionally, over at friends or perhaps borrowing a console. But when the seventh and eighth generation came around, I was intrigued, and eventually got an Xbox 360 and a PlayStation 4—to once again join the console community with my own machine. 

Now, consoles have been part of me since earlier on too, but I feel those generations are more abstract, even if one knew about the eternal battle between Sega and Nintendo. The seventh and partly eighth generation made it feel more like a real thing, as suddenly keeping the games around even when completed had value in itself. The point I want to make: from being a magical backdrop when I was a kid, to something more tangible, purchased with my own money—consoles have always been there, regardless of where I was in life. But all that is coming to an end…  

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Michal Kicinski on buying GOG

Last week or so, Michal Kicinski, one of the original founders of GOG, bought out GOG from CD Projekt Red—making it a private company under the ownership of one. It was still private under CD Projekt Red, but it operated under a public company, which comes with uncertainty. Especially, when GOG showed not to be a company that exactly earns a lot of money. Shareholders hate that, so, it was just a matter of time before CD Projekt Red decided to cut them loose—to sell it to a horrible company that would have turned GOG into an abomination of a store within a year.

We got lucky here, let’s just say that, yet things are still uncertain—what kind of plans does Michal Kicinski have for the company? Could he be the chosen one, or is he just another rich villain—grabbing something good to corrupt it in making a quick buck? Well, we finally got an unofficial statement on the GOG forum by the man himself:

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Stop Killing Games – Video Games Europe response

As many of you might have noticed, the Stop Killing Games movement created by Ross Scott has reached over 1 million signatures, forcing the European Commission to take a look at the issue. The movement is altogether good, despite what certain questionable YouTube e-celebs say about it. Essentially, it’s a big consumer movement, trying to make sure we get to keep playing the games we buy, without dystopian publisher interference. Like removing access to our purchases. However, that is not my main concern with this post…

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GOG launches a game preservation program

It sure is interesting times. However, jaded as I am when it comes to this industry, I can’t help to think this is being made in response to the Steam/DRM/ownership debacle as some kind of business opportunity. Regardless, it’s a good initiative, with their mission consisting of making sure the old classics work forever and ever. To be a little crass, perhaps, but shouldn’t that be a thing already for GOG? Once again, not trying to be negative here, seeing as this is a good thing. Yet, I can’t help myself to ask these questions.

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You will own nothing [DRM Hell]

Thanks to a new California law, as far as I understand, Steam is now required to present the games for sale as a license purchase in California. Instead of having it say, you are buying the game. Now, this is not news to me, considering the games you buy on Steam, and other digital stores are firmly locked to your account. Meaning you have no ownership over the product, with no means to sell it to someone else.

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