EA Games were seen as the bad guys for quite a while. They managed to earn this reputation by showing little interest in the actual content of their game offerings and just churning out sequels in popular franchises every year. They’ve also had a reputation for taking master servers offline for games that are only a year or two old, meaning that these games could no longer be played online. The astute observer would probably say this is done to help sell the newer versions of their games.
However, they’ve been having a bit of a renaissance over the last few years and, compared to the other major publishers, they’ve been starting to look like the good guys. They’ve had their ups and downs with DRM just like everyone else but they’ve actually been adding some nice incentives to help tip the balance.
Both Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins, for example, contain extra content for those customers that buy a brand new version of the game. But the real brownie points come from the fact that this content, whilst requiring activation, can be used when you’re offline. I have to admit that, when I saw my copy of DA:O trying to talk to EA’s servers every time I played, I was quite appalled. However, there have been very few reports of people being unable to play offline with their bonus content (so long as you have successfully authenticated within the last few weeks or so).
Sadly, with the release of Command & Conquer 4, it looks like they might be back to their old ways. An article from PC Gamer has exposed their methods for trying to combat piracy and the secondhand market as being worse than Ubisoft’s! Not only do you have to be online for the entire time you’re playing (even if you’re just playing singleplayer) but it doesn’t even attempt to reconnect should you have any problems. Due to the way the system has been implemented, this also means that any progress you make from that point on (even if your connection comes back) will not be recorded. At all.
What they’ve effectively built is an MMO style system but where the client isn’t fully dependant on the server. If that weren’t the case, you’d at least know why you couldn’t carry on playing (no connection to the server means the server doesn’t know what you’re doing). Here, on the other hand, we’ve got the illusion that the client can do its own thing only to find out later that the server will then ignore everything since the last time it was connected.
If you’re a PC gamer who cares about their privacy or the ability to play your games on your terms, the list of suitable titles from major publishers is getting ever shorter.
On the plus side, the independent studios have been releasing some wonderful games recently and that doesn’t look like it’s going to change any time soon. So, if you want something to play whilst you’re avoiding all of this cloud gaming nonsense, why not check out The Indie Love Bundle.
So, Ubisoft have announced a new Online Services Platform for their future PC games. Some of it doesn't actually sound too bad: you don't have to worry about CD checks or activation limits and you get your saves backed up online, which you can then access from any PC.
But then you see that little thing about having to be connected to the internet for the whole time that you play a game, even if it's just single player.
Oh... really? That doesn't sound very nice.
Indeed, and here's why:
No network is perfect, particularly not WiFi ones. From time to time you might have an issue with your local network and, therefore, not be able to talk to Ubisoft's servers.
The best case scenario here is that your game is simply paused while the connection sorts itself out. Not too bad I suppose but I'm sure it would annoy you after a while.
The worst case scenario is that you have to stop playing then and there to sort out your connection and you can't carry on playing until it's fixed.
No ISP is perfect and, from time to time, you may find that you have no internet connection at all. Some would argue that these are the most likely times for gamers to turn to their single player games for entertainment. Of course, that won't be possible under Ubisoft's new regime.
Even the ISP(s) of a large corporation like Ubisoft aren't infallible and will, from time to time, have trouble connecting to other networks. Ubisoft say that they'll have 24/7 support for this system but that doesn't really mean anything if a problem takes a few hours to fix, which is not at all unlikely.
Ubisoft's own IT systems will occur problems, from time to time. As mentioned above, their pledge to have round-the-clock support means very little if issues at some random server farm mean that you can't play when your own systems are perfectly fine.
The above points only address the technical problems with a system like this. I won't even bother going into all of the privacy concerns surrounding a system that continually ‘phones home’ whilst you're playing. Nor will I even delve into the effect this will have on the modding community or even your own ability to share save files online or with friends.
Of course, what this all boils down to is a transfer of control, from the user to the publisher. It will no longer be within the user's control to ensure that they can play their games, that they have paid for, whenever they want to.
Most software companies already try to assert that you are merely buying a license to use their products, not to actually own them. This may even be the case in the eyes of the law (I'm not sure if it's been fully tested) but I would be surprised if many consumers are even aware that these assertions are being made.
With this new system, Ubisoft seem to be really testing the concept of software being sold as a license and I can only hope that consumers finally realise that this is not acceptable and start demonstrating this by not paying for any product that is attached to this or similar services.
Although it was not the first game of its type, Grand Theft Auto III would be considered by most to have started the wave of 'sandbox' games. You could even argue that the original GTA started the craze off, but it wasn't until the series gained a third dimension and highly publicised release on the consoles that the genre really hit its stride.
The defining characteristic of a sandbox game is that it provides an environment that appears to be its own living world. For a game with a contemporary setting, this means streets filled with cars and pavements swelling with pedestrians. Whatever the setting, these types of games will do their best to provide NPCs that appear to go about their lives regardless of what you, the player, might be doing.
The main supporting criteria of a sandbox game is generally that you are free to explore that living world outside of any normal mission structure. It is also common for these types of games to offer incentives for that exploration, either in the form of in-game rewards or some kind of trackable achievements.
