The long and the short of it is is Spook Central posted some overview details on the games last week, including the sad news that the PC version has DRM (practically a given in PC gaming these days, as publishers desperately try and minimize pirating in the first three months after a game’s release) and there is no multiplayer gaming. At a guess, given Atari’s recent belt tightening, maintenance of a matchmaking servers was cost to be cut, whereas Xbox and Playstation have that infrastructure already in place, constantly.
I haven’t confirmed this, but Paul’s a solid source, and it’s an important fact to keep in mind if you were considering choosing between the PC and console versions. It would also explain why the PC version is so ridiculously cheap to buy (like, nearly DS cheap.)
[via Spook Central]
[UPDATE]
Multiplayer developer, ThreeWave comments on the lack of multiplayer action in the game.
“Then we looked at the resources necessary to pull off multiplayer on the consoles and the PC, it became a question of what could we do and still be excellent in our execution. We couldn’t do all versions with multiplayer simultaneously with the resources that we had available – there was simply too much to do.”
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I was curious as to why it was cheaper then the console versions. I’ll be picking this version up, as well as the Wii version at some point. Loss of the multiplayer doesn’t bother me to much, I’ll be to inthraled with the single player!
I’m not much of a gamer, what is DRM?
Oh well, go figure i guess. I have no choice but the PC version seeing as I own nothing but PS2 and it’s not in my room so why bother?
DRM is no big deal right? I mean, it’ll still work right? I don’t care about the multiplayer. Don’t have time for that anyhow!
Toquot Wikipedia:
“Computer games sometimes use DRM technologies to limit the number of systems the game can be installed on. Most games with this restriction allow three or five installs. This limits users who have more than three or five computers in their homes (Seeing as the rights of the software developers allow them to limit the number of installations). These technologies tend to benefit publishers from blocking sales in the second hand market more than stopping piracy. In 2008 the DRM scheme backfired and a large number of users decided not to pay for the game, seeking a pirated version instead.”
I’ve heard that the DRM being used can cause hardware/software problems and does more harm than good.
EDFX, DRM is Digital Rights Management. Allegedly used to prevent piracy, although it typically causes more headaches for legitimate buyers.
oh well. I’m still going to buy the PC version too. mostly because I won’t be able to play the PS3 version until the “red ring of death” problem is fixed on my PS3. sucky! so the PCDVD version will have to just be enough to keep me from going insane while I wait for sony to fix my baby.
Well honestly they may implement Online play at a later time via patch / game update , ive seen this in several games . But if no online play i wont be disheartened , single play for me will be good enough.
Does DRM write the game onto one PC or something? Thing is I want to buy the PC version but planning on buying a new PC in the Winter – don’t tell me I need to buy it twice.
I’m not sure what kind of DRM this game has, but the most common form of DRM is the kind that requires that you have the disc – as long as you have the disc, the game doesn’t care what machine you’ve installed it on. I’ll see if I can find out more.
I think that’s right. The DRM forces you to have the disc in the DVD drive; prevents copying of the disc; and limits the amount of installs to 5. Most likely… That’s what the current Sony versions tend to do on game discs. Not sure if any damage is done to your pc; I think there hasn’t been a real report on any damage since 2005. So it should be fine.
I just posted a little more info on the SecuROM DRM that the game uses.
I think DRM was a bad idea.One time,my mother had to uninstall a program so she could free up space on the computer.When she tried to re-install it,it wouldn’t work.She got ticked off,broke the disc and threw it away.
What can you do when you can’t freely uninstall and re-install your
purchased software?
Why buy something that won’t work for you?
This just in – Ghostbusters game might be coming to Steam;
http://protoncharging.com/gb/2009/06/15/ghostbusters-coming-to-steam/
So, if you’re not happy with the SecuROM DRM (which, frankly, is the least painful one out there), you might consider waiting and getting the game through digital download. It’s SecuROM v. Steam’s Loaderchecker. Pick your poison.
How can a CD limit installs at all period? It’s Read only, not a ReWritable CD, so there’s no way it can tell the CD how many installs have been made on how many different computers. And if it did, like Drakorix has pointed out, it is more or less illegal for a company to deny you its product after you have paid for it. His mother should have called the company and demanded they fix the problem.
I will NOT be buying the computer version. I’d rather wait a year or two until I have enough to buy an X-Box 360 and then purchase the game, despite the lack of any internet connection in my house for multiplayer. Meh, I’m not sure if my computer can run it anyway. It’s 3 Gig RAM Quad processor, but for some reason it doesn’t play 3D games without lagging and skipping like heck. I have no idea why.
Looks like I’m stuck playing the Wii version. I had otherwise vowed not to touch it until I played the realistic one. I’m sad now.
Thanks Dreamstalker!
Apparently SecuROM counts hardware changes…so if the hard drives dies or you upgrade the motherboard or RAM it may eat an install. Not sure on that as I haven’t actually dealt with it myself (although, as someone who upgrades my rig semiregularly, it worries me a bit).
All this copy protection is ridiculous. I’m not saying companies shouldn’t protect their properties, but not at the expense of the legitimate consumer. It has the complete opposite effect! I’d rather have a pirated version I can install whenever I like than a ligitimate version that wont work if I change/upgrade my computer too many times.
Sony are the worst at this. I bought a CD from them not so long ago that wouldn’t rip onto my PC so I couldn’t use the MP3 tracks on my ipod. I had to return it and then find a copy of it instead – ironically copy protection actually encourages piracy.
OK I got the PCDVD Version today. I’ve installed it on a Compaq Presario F700, with a AMD 64 Athlon X2, 2GB of Ram, and Vista Business 64bit O.S.
The Box says 9GB of free disk space is needed. When you are installing it says it requires over 11GB. And, if you read the book; you need a minimum of 4GB of free space after install to save games. So make sure you have like 15-16GB free before installing!
It seems with my setup it took about 1 hour and 15 minutes to install. (maybe the longest 1 hour and 15 minutes I have ever spent in my life!!!)
but it gave time to read the book twice! LOL!
Then I had to browse to the atari folder in program files to get the activation screen; where I put in the code on page one of the manual.
when the video started it was slightly off sync. and now in gameplay I feel I am going to have to uninstall my AntiVirus and kill some other processes in the background to get it to stop being so slow and choppy.
(update) that didn’t help yet. gameplay is slow, audio skipping, etc.
Can’t you just turn the graphics down?
tried graphic settings. stopped every extra process, service, and application. optimized the performance levels on all. did virus and malware scans. Still the game plays slow motion, 3 to 6 second delays in reaction to a command, audio chopping in and out. Very sad! can’t play either version; what are the odds? lol
Well according to the system requirements on the box I should be perfect!
Could I have gotten a bad copy? is the download version better?
I wanted to confess that I did eat my words and eventually buy the PC version about 10 days after the release. I had to turn down all of the graphics to low or off and the resolution to the lowest wide screen possible, but I finally got the game without choppiness or lag. But it’s really sad because, like other people, my computer should run it at full force fine. It’s a 3GB RAM, Core Intel Quad Processor, 500 GB of space, and has a video card with 1.5 GB of RAM. So why the heck won’t it work right with ANY of my 3D games???