5
02
2013
Another day, another example of a DRM scheme punishing legitimate users instead of actually stopping people from pirating software. The newest case comes from Game Maker Studio, a popular game prototyping and development tool that is reportedly adding an unremovable skull and crossbones symbol to some users’ created images.
The Game Maker Blog recently reported widespread complaints from Game Maker Studio users who saw the international pirate symbol unexpectedly and irreversibly added to the assets they created for their projects. The move, meant to discourage piracy, was instead ruining the hard work of people who had paid anywhere from $50 to $500 for a legitimate version of the software.
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The content in this post was found at http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/11/drm-error-causes-problems-for-legitimate-game-maker-users/ and was not authored by the moderators of freeforafee.com. Clicking the title link will take you to the source of the post.
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Categories : Digital Rights Management
4
02
2013
The
new Nintendo Network ID system that debuted on the Wii U is a sign
of progress for a company that has, historically,
not shown a lot of savvy in setting up its online systems. The Wii U lets users connect up to 12 separate Nintendo Network IDs to a single system and use those IDs to easily connect with online friends and strangers. The new Wii U eShop includes many retail games for download on the same day they reach stores, and does away with the “Wii Points” virtual currency that characterized Nintendo’s previous console. The company has even promised to
roll out a cloud save feature sometime next year.
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The content in this post was found at http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/12/wii-us-restrictive-drm-is-a-baffling-throwback/ and was not authored by the moderators of freeforafee.com. Clicking the title link will take you to the source of the post.
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Categories : Digital Rights Management
4
02
2013
Last month, when a combination of overly stringent DRM and aging hardware
trapped $400+ of my purchased downloadable games on my old Wii, I promised I would give an update on the results of Nintendo’s $65 repair program. Well, the repaired system came back this weekend, and I was finally able to transfer most of my saved and purchased content over to the Wii U. Of course, the ordeal wouldn’t be complete without a few final hassles for good measure.First, the bad news: the memory problem afflicting my launch-era Wii meant Nintendo had to replace the main circuit board for the system, including all the save data and personal settings that were contained on the Wii’s internal system memory. Most of my important save files were backed up to an SD card, but I did lose the uncopiable save files for games like
Super Smash Bros. Brawl and
Super Mario Kart Wii. I’ll have to play through those games again if I want to re-unlock the characters and courses I had already earned. Such is life. Frankly, I’m more relieved that my 100 percent completion files on games like
Super Mario Galaxy and
Punch-Out! were safe.
On the plus side, Nintendo also replaced the disc drive and cleaned the exterior of the system, so my six-year-old Wii is now practically factory fresh. The system came back with a new serial number, too, making me wonder why they didn’t just give me an entirely new console when it was clear the memory was shot (then again, maybe they did).
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The content in this post was found at http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/12/the-long-frustrating-road-to-recovering-my-wii-downloads/ and was not authored by the moderators of freeforafee.com. Clicking the title link will take you to the source of the post.
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Categories : Digital Rights Management, Terms of Service
3
02
2013
So maybe you were lucky enough to get an e-reader for the holidays. In fact, maybe you’re reading this article on one right now! Maybe you’re cozying up to your fire and you’re considering what e-book you want to download to get through these dark winter days.But you’re an Ars reader, and you actually know (and care!)
what DRM stands for. After all, we’ve been covering digital rights management for years, ever since it was a contentious issue in the music industry. You may recall that Amazon itself led the charge against Cupertino,
challenging iTunes with cheaper downloads and a lack of DRM. But Amazon’s lead in the fight against music DRM was a business decision rather than an ideological stance. You may remember our story from late October 2012,
detailing how to strip DRM off of Amazon Kindle purchases as a means of backing up your titles and preventing Amazon from
deleting your entire library on a whim.
And that leaves this question: where’s the DRM outrage over e-books? Or put another way, why doesn’t Amazon care about eliminating DRM for books, when it did for music?
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The content in this post was found at http://arstechnica.com/business/2012/12/the-music-industry-dropped-drm-years-ago-so-why-does-it-persist-on-e-books/ and was not authored by the moderators of freeforafee.com. Clicking the title link will take you to the source of the post.
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Categories : Copyright, Digital Rights Management
4
01
2013
A newly published patent application filed by Sony outlines a content protection system that would use small RFID chips embedded on game discs to prevent used games from being played on its systems, all without requiring an online connection. Filed in September and still awaiting approval from the US Patent Office,
the patent application for an “electronic content processing system, electronic content processing method, package of electronic content, and use permission apparatus” describes a system “that reliably restricts the use of electronic content dealt in the second-hand markets.”
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The content in this post was found at http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/01/examining-sonys-internet-free-method-for-blocking-used-game-sales/ and was not authored by the moderators of freeforafee.com. Clicking the title link will take you to the source of the post.
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Categories : Digital Rights Management, Fair Use, First Sale Doctrine, Patent, Software Piracy
