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Who is responsible?

One of our forum members found an absolutely horrendous example of bad customer service involving Ubisoft, Direct 2 Drive and a game which would not activate due to Securom. Neither Ubisoft or Direct 2 Drive are taking responsibility for assisting this client to activate the game, and both companies are refusing to provide a refund to the customer.

Someone needs to take responsibility and assist this gamer! We also encourage anyone who goes through an experience like this to contact the lawyers involved in the Securom lawsuits and seek redress.

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Let's talk about Ubisoft

Hi Guys

As most of the original people who started this site have come to this issue from dealing with EA, we focused almost exclusively on the problems that have generated with the implementation of Securom. It is only recently we have begun to realise that we've been unfair to the Ubisoft fans, and that Ubi has been getting away with behaviour which is reprehensible.

Revisiting Ubisoft's behaviour on the DRM issue will be enough to give you pause. Firstly, Ubi have been pushing malicious DRMs far longer than EA. Ubisoft previously used Starforce in its games and only chose to dump this form of copy protection in April 2007 after ending up in class action over damage caused by Starforce. However, when choosing an alternative they chose to use Securom version 7, beginning with Heroes of Might and Magic V. Ubi have since been deluged with the same complaints about Securom that we hear being directed at EA, but they only appear to have dodged another lawsuit in this instance because everyone's attention is focused on EA at this point.

They appear to show very little insight into the impact of this software on their legitimate, game-buying public. As recently as August this year, the CEO of Ubi was quoted as saying that DRM protests were due to people being “angry if you don't let them pirate”. Considering the length of time that people have spent explaining to Ubi that it's their legitimate customers that are angry, and explaining at length about the technical issues that Securom and Starforce causes, this statement is the height of rudeness.

Finally, and most brazenly, they waited until EA is now immersed in 4 separate lawsuits to introduce a more “lenient” version of the limited activations system to their own games. It is a crafty move which simultaneously manages to make them look like good guys despite carrying out the same terrible behaviour, while attempting to kill the secondhand market, which is something that both EA and Ubi would dearly love to do.

Perhaps the only positive I can state about Ubi is that they are now advising people about Securom on their box art (as at the release of Far Cry 2) which is something that gamers have been asking ALL game companies to do for quite some time. However when stacked against the above this is only a minor positive and should not redeem them in anyone's eyes.

So let me make this clear. RYG will not be overlooking Ubi's behaviour anymore. We apologise that it's taken us this long to bring it up. And we encourage every single Ubisoft player who has been bitten by Securom due to Ubisoft to contact one of the lawfirms handling the other Securom cases and ask them if they are prepared to take Ubi to court too.

Reading Materials

Ubi CEO on PC Gaming, DRM and More

Ubisoft Dumps Starforce

Boycott Starforce

'Far Cry 2' doesn't want to fall into 'Spore's' DRM trap

Introducing Crayon Physics Deluxe!

There's a brand new game coming soon called Crayon Physics Deluxe which is DRM free and looks like an enormous amount of fun! You can see the video at the game designer's website here.

The game won the Grand Prize at the independent Games Festival 2008, and after watching the video, we can see why! It looks like a phenomonal amount of fun! It is now also available to preorder at a discounted price of $15 dollars US. The game will still be phenomonal value once released at a cost of $20 dollars US.

We also will let you know as soon as Crayon Physics Deluxe is released, and we encourage everyone to go out and buy this very cool game On a personal level we also want to thank Petri the game designer for making everyone's day at Reclaim Your Game!

A New Lawsuit on the Horizon?

Friday, 07 November 2008 20:17

We recently discovered that Finkelstein Thompson, LLC is investigating into SecuROM, and into EA's games. This firm say they represent consumers who have been harmed by unfair business practices. On their website, the page is timestamped October 15. That page says they are looking into Spore and Mass Effect, but on a comment from one of their lawyers on a BingeGamer article, it seems that this could be a very wide investigation. Mark Punzalan — one of their lawyers — stated that they are investigating into 'Spore, Mass Effect, The Sims 2, BioShock, Need for Speed, Medal of Honor, Armed Assault, Neverwinter Nights 2, Overlord, World in Conflict, Supreme Commander, Command & Conquer 3, and STALKER'. From what it seems, this could be an interesting investigation, and lawsuit if things start to roll. They are looking into some games from EA, Sierra, THQ, Atari and Codemasters! So go ahead and contact these lawyers!

'Elemental' announced by Stardock!

Wednesday, 05 November 2008 15:52

On Tuesday, we learnt that Stardock (of no-DRM fame!) had announced their new, fanatasy-themed, 4X turn-based strategy game: Elemental: War of Magic. Anyone remember Master of Magic by MicroProse? Well, Stardock are developing a new game which is like a rebirth of that game, which many 4X fans could be raving about now! The official website, linked above, has more on the game, and there are also many previews out there already. So check them out! Also worth noting that — for those eager people like myself and fanboys/girls — the game is set to come out for February 2010.

GameSpy preview
IGN preview
Edge Online preview