Posted 10/19/08 at 05:53:31 PM by Paul Lilly

Much has been made in the media over Spore's DRM scheme, which now limits gamers to five activations (recently pushed up from three activations amid an intense internet backlash). By and large, Electronic Arts has caught most of the criticism for saddling Spore with a modified version of SecuROM, arguably the most hated form of DRM in the gaming community. But should some of the ire be directed at Will Wright as well?

"It was something I probably should have tuned into more," Wright told Jim Reilly from Kotaku.com. "It was a corporate decision to go with DRM on Spore. They had a plan and the parameters, but now we're allowing more authentications and working with players to de-authenticate, which makes it more in line with iTunes. I think one of the most valid concerns about it was you could only install it so many times. For most players it's not an issue, it's a pretty small percentage, but some people do like wiping their hard disk and installing it 20 times or they want to play it 10 years later."

Take from that what you will. While it sounds like Wright has been drinking some of John Riccitiello's Kool-Aid, who recently downplayed DRM with claims that it's only an issue for 0.2 percent of gamers, at least Wright acknowledges the other side of the coin, which is that gamers tend to be enthusiasts who frequently change around their system.

Does EA deserve all the blame on this one? Hit the jump and let us know what you think.

Read More

Comments 

8

TAGS 

games, drm, Software, copyright, Electronic Arts, EA, Videogames, spore, will wright, securom, digital rights management

Posted 07/14/08 at 07:59:40 PM by Norman Chan

Just for you, because you're awesome: new screenshots from two of our most highly-anticipated PC games of the year. Spore and Left4Dead look much more polished and graphically improved since we've last seen them. In the case of Left4Dead, all the character models have been revamped as well. The L4D screens don't actually show the new character design. For a peek at those, you'll have to hit up our liveblog of the EA press conference.  

Click the jump for the rest of the screens!

Read More

Comments 

0

TAGS 

gaming, Valve, E3, EA, spore, e3 2008, will wright, left4dead, screenshots

Posted 07/14/08 at 06:23:19 PM by Norman Chan

We just arrived at the EA press conference at the Orpheum theater. Lots of news being released, including the announcement of Sims 3, coming out in 2009. EA demos Dead Space, Spore, Mirror's Edge, NBA Live 09, Dragon Age: Origins, Left4Dead (characters redesiged), and id's Rage! Click through for our liveblog!

Read More

Comments 

5

TAGS 

gaming, Software, Valve, E3, Rage, EA, spore, press conference, liveblog, sims 3, dead space, mirror's edge, will wright, john carmark, left4dead