I am honestly surprised at Capcom's reaction to the legion of unfavourable fan responses they got across the intertubes. Actually reaching out to fans and saying "if not this, then what else?", as a marketing tool, can't be beat. Personally, I like this guy's take on it:
And that was something like the third response to Sven's original posting.
I am really hoping that Capcom takes on board these suggestions, because if they truly choose to Ubisoft themselves, it's going to end badly. Last I checked (a week or so ago), RE5 and SF4 were STILL in the top ten most played list on GfWL. Actually I think they were in the top 5, but I'm not certain. The point is that their games are loved by PC gamers, including myself, and opening a dialogue could be the start of them really moving into the "big leagues" of this platform I do so love.
I was overwhelmed by the (mostly) intelligent and reasoned out responses by the fans on the capcom-unity board where all this took place. I agreed with a lot of them, and all of them understood that they want Capcom to feel secure in releasing their software. Hell, the guy I linked to above suggested handicapping any non-network authenticated copy to two characters on a vs. mode, or even just the benchmarking tool. Without SSA authentication, the game would be completely useless.
This kind of talk I can get behind, as it slaps pirates in the face as best they can, whilst avoiding damage done to legitimate customers. I think one of Valve's guys mentioned that the ideal pricing system is one that charges sociable people less, griefers and trolls more. With DRM, what we need is a system that restricts pirates WITHOUT restricting legitimate users. Unfortunately, like the pricing structure, we've not yet come up with the how for that system.
Obviously I'd prefer it if I had absolutely no DRM on my games. But then again, I would also like it if I had no locks on my car door. And while you can argue that the consumer is losing when a car is stolen, and the developer/publisher when software is pirated, the point I am trying to make is simple. In order for my property to be secure, I have to accept the loss of some liberties. Capcom wants the same, but unfortunately the only way to do so is if the consumers lose that liberty. At least, so far as we've seen. Hopefully a better method of fighting piracy will come about eventually.
CD Projekt, meanwhile, continues to sell The Witcher 2 like hookers at a sex-addict relapse convention. Does that metaphor make sense? I've been listening to a lot of Yahtzee recently (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation). This despite the fact that they are removing the DRM with the latest patch from all copies of The Witcher.
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