Good article….

Now EA hits the news for NOT using DRM?! They are still idiots regardless.

I'm so excited for this game to come out. And then Mass Effect 2 . . .

The boxed versions won't have DRM, does that mean Steam Downloads will? (EA/BioWare is on Steam, right?) I don't mind games that use Steam's authorization software (assuming no one gains control of my steam account), but I hate when games sold on Steam still come with manufacturer DRM.

Steam is quite possibly the best DRM software in the world. Mainly due to the fact that it's not seen as DRM by its users.

Valve is the only company which has done DRM correctly it seems, basically loading it with value added features which exceeds the inconvenience of having to log in to play your game.

If you make the process pain free and non-restrictive, people won't complain about DRM in the first place.

@grieve: You're an idiot. They fail if they do, and they fail if they don't. That makes a lot of sense.

DRM is so fucking stupid and it only affects legitimate users, u basically pay for a piece of shity software that makes your computer to run slower and cause problems to all your OS, so u pay for a shity software that fucks your computer, so why even buy it since it fucks your computer.
I don't even install games anymore on my computer.

Even disk check it's stupid everytime u wanna play a game changing discs like crazy that's just fucking retarded.

DRM does not only affect legitimate users, there are good and bad ways of doing it. Securom and in particular Spore are examples of how it should not be done. When DRM does interfere with legitimate users it is indeed a problem, this is EA's method of addressing it: offline play go ahead, if you expect to play online then you better have a legit copy.

Sounds good to me!

I wouldn't say Valve is the *only* company doing it right... Stardock is as well. SoaSE is probably the only notable, recent DRM-free game. It doesn't even have a disk check, but requires unique CD key registration to download updates and play online. I imagine many of their customers were people who pirated the game and wanted multiplayer and updates.

"No SecuROM is Dragon Age."

What, get your hands confused? You folks are professional writers, but apparently can't proof-read.

For me the biggest advantage of steam, and one that honestly makes me wish i could purchase ALL of my games on it, is that i dont have to lug around my cds/dvds everywhere. Although im glad they're not pulling the securom garbage, still having to put a DVD in EVERY time i want to play the game is going to get old, quick.

DEFINITELY, but you miss one point. They hired a psychologist to find the perfect price point on games to maximize profit. The consumer and company wins. I've bought multiple games and copies on STEAM because of the unimaginable deals. And it doesn't mess with my multi hundred frames per second on source engine =D

Well stardock does have DRM. But it's really effective and doesn't effect legal copies. By that I mean having to register your games to get patches. It was that hassle to get patches, since they released them in a way that wasn't a exe. Made me just buy the game

Also don't forget DemiGod! Pretty fun game.

oh for christ sakes get two disk drives ... sheeeeiat most comps today ahvetwo as default, are your eally so lazy you can't press abutton , open a box , insert adisk and tehn press abutton again ... damn i can hear your ass cheeks sloshing aroudn now .. christ it's not that hard to change a disk !!!

No DRM other than a disc check? Count me in for this game.

Hahahah, ". . . ass cheeks sloshing around . . ." that was good!! haha

LOL, that was epic demonhorde665, just epic.

After Spore and Bioshock and the history EA has with very invasive DRM, i simply don't belive this. Bioware used to be quite a cool company - now they are a EA brand. What that did to other companies before should be well known. We'll see.

But here's the clincher. CD's/DVD's get damaged, lost or stolen over time. I know I've bought games in the past and haven't been able to play them 6 - 12 months later because the disk got lost when i moved.

On steam, I log in, download the game and away I go... on any computer in the world that has a net connection.

That is a convenience and also very cost effective... as i don't have to repurchase the game because copyright laws don't allow me to make a backup of the game... and the stupid DRM wont let me either..

Has nothing to do with anyone's arse cheeks.

Good for Bioware, I will pick it up now, day one at the store and am looking forward to playing it now.
I was one of the people who flamed Bioware hard several times with emails about Mass Effect and being Microsofts whore, remember Mass Effect came out on the Xbox only at first.
I have Steam on my rig but only run it to play HF2 and the expansions to it. I never have downloaded anything from steam I had to pay for. With my recient love of Fallout 3 I broke down and downloaded all three expansions now from Microsuck and will never do that again. They want me to be online with Games for windows Live just to play Fallout 3 expansions. There is an easy work around for that but Bethesda is now one of Microsoft's whore and will learn their lesson like Bioware did with MS and freaking EA Games.
I will only buy games and expansion content in a local retailer now that does not require online activation, if that means having to wait or not getting a certain game then so be it. There are plenty of games out there. Gamestop already told me Fallout 3 is comming out with the first two expansions included on disk, real soon.

Just reading over the article it seems to me that the games purchased online will utilize the DRM that's native to whatever distribution platform is used. As seamless as it is, Steam is still DRM... thus the wording of the article. I'd much rather buy a game on Steam and not have to fool around with DVDs.

steam is a lifesaver for me when one of my half life 2 disks went bad. was able to download the game off of steam no problem. plus the biggest bonus i had was i was able to use my half life 1 GOTY cd key and got all the half life 1 games (original.blue shift,counterstrike, etc.)

Good move in the right direction. If you're going to court PC gamers you've got to remember that with us, the majority are the hardcore users. We are the ones that care about software being installed on our computer without our knowledge.

That's why I'm using cracks for games I legally own...