C&C4 requires constant internet News

Obviously a pirate deterrent.

But it does sound somewhat interesting.

If this works for C&C I would expect more games to go down this route. You don't buy the a game, you buy an 'account' etc . . .

It would be less damaging, PR wise, to announce the features that require the constant net connection before saying that you have to be constantly online. People, probably correctly, are just going to assume it's a slightly inconvenient anti piracy measure otherwise.

Whatever happened to the good old single player games?!?!?

I fail to see what about having a constant internet connection will do to deter pirates, pirates will come up with a work around in about 2 weeks to a month. In the mean time a lot of paying customers will get pissed off having to constantly have a internet connection to play offline as not everyone will have a constant internet connection.

I'm not a fan of games that require an internet connection all the time that aren't MMOs, so I'll wait to see what these features are first before I decide if it's worth it. I bet they have some nice features though.

Mostly everyone with a 'normal' connection (this is practally everywhere in the world) these days have a permitate connection via the router which via windows at least automatically connects to even if you aren't actally using the net, so whats the problem with a game that connects to your already perminate connection? hmm...

The only people this truly screws over is mobile bb but then again isn't that normally used with laptops, which sadly aren't up to spec to game on most of the time

Sounds like an anti-piracy measure disguised as a feature to me. When EA said they were dropping DRM it was clearly because they've discovered a new way to treat legitimate customers like shit (see also Sims 3).

So if I take my laptop somewhere that doesn't have Wi-Fi, why aren't I allowed to play the game I paid for?

"In the mean time a lot of paying customers will get pissed off having to constantly have a internet connection to play offline as not everyone will have a constant internet connection."

Really? Who are these strange people who have a PC and no internet? Gordon Brown wants us all to have broadband by 2012. This news isn't going to make him very happy.

I'm sitting here trying to work out if Steam requires me to always be connected to the internet, but as I'm always connected to the internet anyway, I have no idea.

Get used to the idea of games as services. That's the way things are going to go. And it will make piracy less desirable as you are basically running the risk of having your profile wiped if you get rumbled. If you have a gamer's saves you pretty much have them by the short and curlies.

I can, technically, see both sides of the argument here. But I think that, unless you're a pirate, and you assuming you have a permanent connection via a router, there is NO reason to be angry with this.
Even if it is EA

Sometimes people do travel, and play games on a laptop. Without a net connection you don't get to play? Cheers EA, good move.

Games that require an always-on connection are the very spawn of Satan. Why the hell should I be connected to the 'net to play a game?

@septimus

I'd expect they'd manage. I'm sure many MMO players find themselves in similar situations, where they have to travel to other lands that don't have internet. But they deal with it. The ones that can't don't leave their house.

@sept after DoW2's requirements a 'normal' laptop wont be able to play C&C4, hell even my expenive one had slowdown issues with RA

I'm sure people won't like this - what if you want to play on your work computer while commuting? Why can't they just cache your progress and upload it the next time you're online?

To those saying "what's the problem," not everyone has an always-on connection. Not everyone wants one. to assume the rest of the country has the same priorities as you when it comes to internet access is a touch naive.

"To those saying "what's the problem," not everyone has an always-on connection. Not everyone wants one. to assume the rest of the country has the same priorities as you when it comes to internet access is a touch naive."

Well, naive is one way of putting it. Alternatively this might just be another case of technology rolling on, with a few getting left behind, as has always been the case.

An always on internet connection is entirely normal these days for the vast majority of gamers (or indeed the vast majority of technology using households). There will of course be those who don't want such a thing, and they are of course free to exercise their choice and embrace the consequences of their decision.

Or in this case, the consequences of EA's decision.

I don't understand the problem. As long as you know before you buy the game that it requires a constant access to the internet, you should be fine? Just don't expect to play this game while commuting. Treat it as something you can only play at home.. like World of Warcraft or something.

Well broadband isn't cheap in our country (and it barely falls into the broadband category) - wireless is even more expensive. I'm not silly enough to think that they care about smaller countries like ours but none the less it still means that the number of us that were actually into their games will shrink a little more until we actually do get more affordable bandwidth across the entire country.

Funny to think that we're going to be hosting the world cup next year...

"Or in this case, the consequences of EA's decision."

Well the two are connected really aren't they.

Given EA's decision to limit use to people with always online facilities, home users can decide whether or not to have always online facilities.

EA have to make a game with a majority audience in mind, and gamers who don't have an always on internet connection are frankly not anywhere near being in the majority. And if those gamers have CHOSEN not to have an always on internet connection, they have chosen to exclude themselves from that majority market.

"who cares about people playing games on a train... I despise those people."

???

It will get hacked anyway...

Well broadband isn't cheap in our country
Yes, because 15 quid a month (a little less than 50p a day) for unlimited wireless broadband is prohibitively expensive isn't it?
/end sarcasm

EDIT: Didn't realise the guy was from SA. Oops!

@darkmorgado

I'm pretty sure Edwardo doesn't live in the UK.

Yup, from the World Cup comments, I assume he/she/it is in South Africa - quick google found this comment - "The fact that South Africa’s incumbent operator’s premier broadband offering is over 7900% more expensive than countries like Morocco, Australia and the UK does not paint a positive picture."

Softcore DRM, that's what I call this.

I payed for my C&C3 plus expansion, but did hack my legal copy because I couldn't stand needing to insert the bloody disc every time I wanted to play the game.

And with C&C4, not only do I need to keep the disc in the drive all the time, I also have to stay connected to the internet all the bloody time??

Don't EA tend to take the servers offline for their games after a few years? Does this mean the game won't be playable if/when they do?

It's not so bad for us in the UK, but there are lots and lots of countries with PC fans that don't have fast enough or stable enough internet for this to be practical.

It's all very well calling always-on internet a choice, but we are only one small country with good broadband penetration and even we have annoyances and inconveniences with this system. Spare a thought for the thousands of people around the world for whom this game has just gone off-limits.

"And with C&C4, not only do I need to keep the disc in the drive all the time, I also have to stay connected to the internet all the bloody time??"

But you say that as if either of those is a really big effort. I see it this way.

1. Swapping discs between playing games takes a tiny amount of effort. Like, an almost insignificant amount. An amount that I have coped perfectly well with since I started playing games over two decades ago.

2. "Staying online" as you put it takes zero effort. None. Not a bit. Unless you are up on your roof fiddling with a satellite dish, I don't know what you current setup is.

"Don't EA tend to take the servers offline for their games after a few years? Does this mean the game won't be playable if/when they do?"

I would imagine they will simply patch out the "must be online" requirement, when the time comes. I'm sure some other game did exactly that recently? I am having dejaVu about it.

we've been testing this feature internally

Well of course THEY will say positive things, they work for EA!

why does EA want to record every single click I make...

Welcome to the cloud.

EA are looking at online connections as a way to combat piracy, Anyone remember the Sim3 Piracy announcement where (to paraphrase) they didn't mind so much as it gave people access to the online store. I doubt that C&C4 will have an online store, but the way Steam has handled DRM (not particularly intrusive, ability to access games from anywhere) resonates with forward thinking publishers (I believe EA have shown themselves to be open to new ideas, especially around DRM/ digital downloads, much more then many other publishers - not that they get it right all the time, but at least are innovating to directions that others aren't).

I predict C&C4 will store most of the game data on the cloud, leaving pirates little to rip from the legal versions. You will not be sold a game, but a license.

But what if your connection is quite flaky like mine? Constant restarts from the last checkpoint when you were online?

I will pass if this is true.

Not necessarily such a bad thing. Let's face it, we're all online 99% of the time (if not more) anyway. And if it helps prevent priacy, all the better.

So what happens when your internet connection dies in the middle of a game. Will it abort, refuse to save, go back to main menu/desktop?

My internet connection is quite flakey (yes, you might consider that 'wrong'), so if it has any impact on my Single Player game playing they can just Foxtrot Oscar.

For the record, Steam copes quite well with being offline actually, as long as you've been online to authorise/activate/whatever the game.

I have played games on my laptop from Steam when not connected to the internet.

But what if your connection is quite flaky like mine? Constant restarts from the last checkpoint when you were online?

This. My broadband is fairly stable, but it still goes through rough patches now and then, particularly in the evening. It seems like piracy finally is killing the PC, by making the experience intolerable for the 10% of us who actually buy our games.

The stupid thing is, the pirate version will probably work without an internet connection, making it a better product for many (most?) fans out there. This CANNOT be the right way to deal with the problem (unless somehow they really do manage to all but eliminate piracy, perhaps by storing game assets in the cloud like a poster above suggested).

So what happens when your internet connection dies in the middle of a game. Will it abort, refuse to save, go back to main menu/desktop?

What, a bit like Demon's Souls does? Probably, yes. Now, Demon's Souls doesn't actually require you to be connected to the internet to play, but if you aren't the game experience is a pale shadow of its normal self - as you get shot in the back of the head by a trap with absolutely no warning. Something that the EG review didn't even mention, assuming as they did that everyone playing it would be connected to the internet the whole time anyway. And if you lose connection while playing it does indeed boot you back to the front end.

Funnily enough though, I suspect the niche Japanese developer isn't likely to come in for even one eighth of the bile hurled at the big, evil publisher. No, just praised for their innovation.

Games are moving on. Online connectivity will increasingly become an entry level requirement for a ton of perfectly good reasons, and I get the feeling that 99.9% of people on here complaining have an always on broadband connection anyway and are just complaining for the sake of it. Even combatting piracy is a perfectly good reason. Does anyone have any figures on hand for how many times C&C3 was pirated? I bet it's pretty high. You do want there to BE a C&C4 don't you?

Broadband is good. Everyone should have it. Even Gordon is with me on that one. Instead of asking "Why do EA want me to connect to the internet?" why not ask "Why the hell doesn't this train have a wireless broadband connection?".

The problem with the UK is that the Broadband covereage isnt brilliant for all at the moment. I personally am fine with the connection speeds etc, but they are struggling to get broadband to everyone in the UK, especially those who are a distant from the exchange. Its pretty stupid that BT can only offer me 8MB while SKY using the same exchange can offer me 16MB, and there is a small company apparently offering fibre... its just an absolute mess.

Unfortunately the government is all talk with broadband... why they didnt decide to invest in fibre connection, rather than waste billions on a VAT cut, i will never know. They would have made a much better impact.

As for the game, I dont it requiring a connection, at least people know in advance... i wouldnt want all PC games to go this way though, but i guess I have an apple for travel games etc.

"But what if your connection is quite flaky like mine? Constant restarts from the last checkpoint when you were online?"

Little issues like this are exactly the sort of thing that would come up during testing, as part of normal development. Its unlikely they will take a sledge hammer approach to any issue that might come up. Rememnber, they are doing this always online thing to protect against piracy, and in response to the clear public ill feeling toward some other methods of DRM. They aren't doing it to piss gamers off.

"Its pretty stupid that BT can only offer me 8MB while SKY using the same exchange can offer me 16MB, and there is a small company apparently offering fibre... its just an absolute mess"

My pipe is 10mb, just upgraded from 2mb, and that does me fine. A system like this will be sending tiny packets of data, so the speed of your connection is unlikeoly to be relevant. I agree that broadband in the UK needs a bit of a seeing to, but the majority of the UK is perfectly able to get a connection that will be more than enough for what I imagine C&C4 needs.

Incidentally, what's the broadband service like in Russia and Eastern Europe? That's where most of the PC market is these days. Not much point wiping out piracy if you also disconnect all of your legitimate customers.

That said, I wouldn't be even mildly surprised if someone told me that broadband in Poland is cheaper, faster and more reliable than the tosh we get over here in the good old GB.

But you say that as if either of those is a really big effort. I see it this way.

1. Swapping discs between playing games takes a tiny amount of effort. Like, an almost insignificant amount. An amount that I have coped perfectly well with since I started playing games over two decades ago.

2. "Staying online" as you put it takes zero effort. None. Not a bit. Unless you are up on your roof fiddling with a satellite dish, I don't know what you current setup is.

Fair enough, but you got my argument wrong. It's not a matter of effort at all!

1. I like having my games installed on my laptop and being to travel and play them without having to bring my discs along.

2. I don't care about the effort of staying connected, as you can see from the mere fact that I'm posting in a forum. Like you said, it's painless. In fact, I often play games online when I want to play in multiplayer... But that's the whole point. Without any available WiFi, I can still play C&C3 in campaign or skirmish mode. How am I gonna go about doing that in C&C4?

It's not the effort, it's the inconvenience. I want my PC games to have an offline mode. Forcing users to log in for a single player mode that should not require internet connection in the first place is stupid.

I wonder what all these people would say if suddenly you needed your Xbox to be online all the time for your games to work? If you can't play Halo, it's your fault for not choosing to have a stable and always on connection right?

Somehow I suspect there'd be a lot more wailing and gnashing of teeth than we see here, but it feels like PC gamers' concerns get too easily dismissed (or worse, ridiculed) at EG.

"Don't EA tend to take the servers offline for their games after a few years? Does this mean the game won't be playable if/when they do?"

I would imagine they will simply patch out the "must be online" requirement, when the time comes. I'm sure some other game did exactly that recently? I am having dejaVu about it.

Googling it, I think it was the Witcher.

Unfortunately i'm not sure you can really trust the likes of EA to do this, because, well, depending on the CEO they have this week, they may or may not give a shit about their customers.

However, judging from the other recent CNC games, i think this will be mitigated by the game not being good enough for people to actually want to play it that far in the future.

@SeesThroughAll

"Forcing users to log in for a single player mode that should not require internet connection in the first place is stupid."

If there were no actual reason for doing it, I would completely agree. As it is, its being used as an alternative to more intrusive client side DRM measures. On balance, for the majority of people, it seems the lesser of two evils.


"Unfortunately i'm not sure you can really trust the likes of EA to do this, because, well, depending on the CEO they have this week, they may or may not give a shit about their customers. "

I can't imagine EA would want to spite their customers like that, given how little comparative effort it would take to patch out the requirement. They may not give a crap about the people, but they care about the peoples' wallets and simply killing the game as you suggest would also kill many sales of any future title using similar anti-piracy measures.

"1. Swapping discs between playing games takes a tiny amount of effort. Like, an almost insignificant amount. An amount that I have coped perfectly well with since I started playing games over two decades ago."

Having to swap discs when all the game data is already on the hard drive is not something I'm prepared to put up with. Not when EA games like The Sims 2 take a couple of minutes to load using the disc-in-drive method, but only take two seconds after installing a No-DVD crack.

"I can't imagine EA would want to spite their customers like that"

Come now, Kanga! You know as well as I do that EA are interested solely in making their customers miserable! Whereas Atari (who published The Witcher) are famous the world over for being in purely for the love! It's common knowledge!

"Having to swap discs when all the game data is already on the hard drive is not something I'm prepared to put up with."

Really? That's something I have to do with every X360 game I buy, and practically every PC game I buy that I don't download a hack for (and it is the use of hacks the system is kind of trying to get away from). If you can't stand for that I can't see how you can play many games.

Anyway, where does it say that you have to have the disc in? I'm kind of assuming I won't have to and there's nothing in this article to say otherwise.