DRM, PC

Perhaps it's appropriate, given that fans first expressed their desire for Dark Souls PC with a petition, that another has already appeared imploring Namco Bandai to ditch GFWL and instead use Valve's Steamworks. More >

The upcoming SimCity reboot will require a constant internet connection to play, developer Maxis has confirmed. Lead designer Stone Librande confirmed to Joystiq that, while the game will be available to purchase from a number of digital distribution platforms, players will need to be constantly connected to Origin to play the game. More >

Ubisoft has confirmed that Michel Ancel platformer Rayman Origins will be released for PC on March 30. Even better news for PC owners: the digital download will only require a single activation, while the retail version will not feature Ubisoft's dreaded DRM at all More >

Like most PC games, Ubisoft titles carry a limit on the number of machines on which they can be installed. However, Guru3D has found that the limit also applies to hardware components. The site set out to perform one of its regular VGA and graphics performance analyses on the recently released Anno 2070, testing the game on two graphics cards in three different PCs. That proved impossible when, after activating the game on each rig, he switched graphics cards only to be met with an activation prompt and subsequent message that he had used his entire allocation. More >

Croteam, the Croation developer of Serious Sam 3: BFE, has a novel take on PC DRM: a super-fast, immortal pink scorpion. More >

PC RPG The Witcher 2 has been illegally downloaded 4.5 million times, according to Polish developer CD Projekt. Speaking in an interview with PC Gamer, CEO and co-founder Marcin Iwinski explained that he had calculated the figure by monitoring stats on torrent sites. More >

Ubisoft says Ghost Recon Online represents a shift in thinking in its strategy to combat piracy on PC after its use of DRM was roundly criticised. The publisher's upcoming Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, due next March, will only be released on consoles. Ghost Recon Online, a free-to-play shooter that is currently in closed beta, will be exclusive to PC. More >

Bethesda Softworks has admitted that developing for the PC is a "headache" compared to consoles due to differing hardware configurations and the threat of piracy hampering sales. The PC version of the recently released Rage, developed by Id Software and published by Bethesda, was beset with issues at launch, requiring a post-launch patch to fix driver-related bugs and add advanced graphics options. At the time, Id co-founder John Carmack admitted: "Half our PC customers got a product that basically didn't work." More >

Rock Paper Shotgun reports that Ubisoft has fulfilled its promise to remove From Dust's always-on DRM in a patch; update the game through Steam now and play offline to your heart's content. Meanwhile, Ubisoft confirmed yesterday that the Eric Chahi god sim will finally be released for PlayStation 3 on September 14 in Europe, and September 27 in North America.

Martin Edmonson, founder of Driver San Francisco developer Ubisoft Reflections, has thrown his weight behind the publisher's controversial always-on DRM that has been a constant source of frustration among PC gamers since its debut last year. "You have to do something," he told Eurogamer. "It's just, simply, PC piracy is at the most incredible rates. This game cost a huge amount of money to develop, and it has to be, quite rightly, quite morally correctly, protected. If there was very little trouble with piracy then we wouldn't need it." Edmonson also defended the recently introduced Uplay Passport, saying: "If people don't buy the game when it first comes out and wait and pay for rental or for second-hand usage, then the publisher sees absolutely nothing of that. [The online pass is] just one of those things we have to get used to. It's going to happen."

The publisher has pulled a series of volte-faces regarding From Dust's PC DRM, with conflicting statements and forum posts promising the DRM would be removed or toned down. If the latest one is to be believed, however, the controversial always-on DRM is to be removed. "We recognise that one of our posts in the From Dust forum regarding the need for authentication in the game was not clear," it reads. "We sincerely apologise for the misunderstanding. Our tech teams are working on a patch that should release in approximately two weeks that will eliminate the need for any online authentication."

Ubisoft has been busily raising the ire of PC gamers for some time now, delaying the release of many of its games and, in Driver San Francisco's case, requiring a persistent online connection for the game to be played. "We've heard your feedback requiring the permanent internet connection requirement for Driver and have made the decision to no longer include it," the publisher told Rock Paper Shotgun. Instead, the game will only require an internet connection for a single check when the game is launched.

The publisher once again got on the wrong side of PC gamers this week when it was revealed that the PC version of the upcoming Driver San Francisco requires a constant internet connection. Speaking to our friends at PC Gamer, an Ubisoft representative said the end justified the means, with the publisher seeing "a clear reduction in piracy of our titles which required a persistent online connection, and from that point of view the requirement is a success."

Ubisoft has confirmed, in a tweet from the game's official Twitter account, that the PC version of the upcoming Driver San Francisco will require a constant internet connection to play. Ubisoft's PC DRM has been the source of some controversy since its debut in 2010 and in January, the publisher said the inclusion of its DRM in future titles would be decided on a case-by-case basis. In a bizarre attempt to head off a fan backlash, a subsequent tweet reads: "Bear in mind though that the PC version of Driver San Francisco is released simultaneously to consoles."

Corporate officer and senior VP Chris Svensson confirms plan to patch out DRM shortly after launch, following outcry over requirement for constant Internet connection that restricted offline players to 15 of 39 characters. "We had it wrong...The argument that legitimate users would have a worse experience than pirates was the loudest and most convincing."