Irene's Weblog

Since Mass Effect 3 is on PC, it’s easy to dig deep into the code and expose this sort of stuff.

Definitive proof that the “From Ashes” DLC character is on the disc:

1. Open Coalesced.bin with this.

2. Search for this:
“MemberValidCID=22, MemberAvailablePlotLabel=IsSelectableProthean,”

3. Replace with this:
“MemberValidCID=, MemberAvailablePlotLabel=,”

That’s it. Javik the Prothean is now unlocked. “From Ashes” not required.

Video Mirror.

This is why so many have objected to Bioware/EA’s actions in this fiasco. Unfortunately, Bioware/EA no longer cares for gamers, they are targeting the mainstream consumer, who just shells out the cash.

Bioware and EA have responded to this video. You can read the article on Forbes and some discussion about it on reddit as well as an article with IGN defending Bioware.

Over on joystiq, there’s an article about the Witcher 2 developers and the future, non-use of DRM. They get it, for the most part. DRM is restrictive crap and isn’t necessary. It’s also a complete turnaround from CD Projekt’s former stance on the situation.

“Every subsequent game we will never use any DRM anymore, it’s just over-complicating things,”

“DRM does not protect your game,” Iwinski told Joystiq after the presentation. “If there are examples that it does, then people maybe should consider it, but then there are complications with legit users.”

This is what people have been saying for years. Every single time you stick some sort of DRM bullshit into your game, it’s the legitimate users that get screwed over, not the people who pirate the game.

What CD Projekt Red CEO Marcin Iwinski doesn’t understand, however, is exactly how pirating works.

“We release the game. It’s cracked in two hours, it was no time for Witcher 2. What really surprised me is that the pirates didn’t use the GOG version, which was not protected. They took the SecuROM retail version, cracked it and said ‘we cracked it’ — meanwhile there’s a non-secure version with a simultaneous release. You’d think the GOG version would be the one floating around.”

While GOG don’t have any kind of DRM protection, this is not what release groups are about. They don’t take games, crack them and then re-upload them. Scene groups are about being the first to release a game and cracking a game for the fun of it. The “oh no the game fell off a truck and we have a retail version to crack” is how the scene operates and Witcher 2 was actually released by the scene groups a week before the official release date. GOG may not have DRM, but it was also only released on release day.

Every single NFO that is included with a cracked game says, “If you like the game, support the companies that make them. What every developer, studio, and publisher needs to learn and understand is that cracking games is far more about pride and recognition than anything else. Once the understand this, they, too, will know why DRM is garbage and only hurts the paying customer.

TotalBiscuit talks at length of what Bioware’s launch DLC and how it has crossed the line of what is acceptable.

More here and here.

Bioware has issued a response and you can read some thoughts on their response as well.

After Ubisoft said only a few games would be affected in their server move due to DRM hassles, it’s now come to light that Driver: San Francisco and Anno 2070 are also being affected, even in single-player mode.

Ubisoft has issued a half-assed apology on twitter.

Given that Ubisoft requires such restrictive DRM, many of their games won’t be playable next week, including in single player mode, because of a server move.

Tom Clancy’s HAWX 2, Might & Magic: Heroes 6 and The Settlers 7. The Mac games that will be broken during this period are Assassin’s Creed, Splinter Cell Conviction and The Settlers.

Any game that makes use of Ubisoft’s Uplay software will also be affected. If your game has been activated previously, then offline play will still be possible – though online won’t be – but if you’ve not activated yet, you won’t be able to play single player either.

Ubisoft informed its customers through a letter.

Starting February 7, Ubisoft will be transitioning the hosting of many of its online services from a third-party data center to a new facility. During the transition, some Ubisoft services and online games will not be available. We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience. This move ultimately will help us improve the maintenance of our infrastructure and deliver better uptime and greatly improved services for our customers.

What is confusing is that moving servers is a simple task. I recently performed such a move with no downtime at all. In Ubisoft’s case, it would be a bigger task, but it’s still achievable with no more than 10-15 minutes downtime while the DNS migrates instead of Ubisoft’s claim of unknown downtime.

If Ubisoft would see that these DRM restrictions aren’t needed at all, there wouldn’t be such problems. Ubisoft will continue to take the cheapest, stupidest route to accomplish their tasks because they don’t care about their customers. They only care about the bottom line. As long as there are millions of people who put up with this sort of behavior from companies, don’t expect this sort of asinine behavior to change any time soon.