Stardock's Impulse DRM Is Co-Op Friendly

Nicholas "bapenguin" Puleo February 13th, 2009 at 10:51 AM    


Stardock, publishers of the upcoming co-op game Demigod, have unleashed a few details of their newest version of their digital distribution client.  Famous for their "we don't treat our customers like criminals" line - Stardock's Impulse Reactor service will be very fair in terms of DRM. 

Of course the first step to any successful method is getting the publishers to buy in.
 

...developers who use the next version of Impulse Reactor can include a small DLL that will allow developers to use Stardock servers for registration and updates. For example people who install a game with Impulse Reactor for the first time might be asked for a CD Key and an email address. Once that's done the game is registered with Impulse Reactor servers.

Great news for developers.  DRM management servers are removed from their equation as something they are responsible for.  Sow how does this help the gamers?
 

if a gamer wants to install the game again on a new PC, all he or she has to do is sign on again with just their email address. Impulse Reactor's servers will then recognize the user and allow the game to install and be played on the new PC with no fuss. Wardell told us that the Impulse Reactor software does not require the actual Impulse store client software to be installed (unlike games that use or are downloaded from Steam which do require that the entire Steam client run in the background). That should please brick-and-mortar stores that might be concerned that a competitor's software might be installed in a PC game they sell in their retail locations.

This is good news for folks that like to game on the go.  Your software isn't tied to a PC, but to an account.  As we've seen in the past, DRM can go woefully wrong, and usually ends up punishing those customers who purchase your products legitly.  Lets hope more companies come up with solutions like Stardock's.  

Source: Link

 Tags: pc demigod politics


    N4G : News for Gamers  GamerBlips: vote it up! Share

 



4 Total Reader Comments

Mrxknown_JG at 06:35 AM on 2.13.2009
So how does the DRM stop...well criminals?
 
biosc1 at 08:22 AM on 2.13.2009
To me, DRM has always been meant to stop the honest user from being dishonest. That's the reason why Impulse and Steam work so well. It's enough to stop honest users from taking the next step and pirating their games. Dishonest users will always pirate. Honest users encountering user-unfriendly DRM are being pushed to find ways around it.

So...DRM doesn't stop criminals. It should just keep honest people in check through a very simple cd-check or code check.
 
paketep at 12:02 PM on 2.13.2009
To me, DRM has always meant to stop users from selling their games. Dishonest users will always pirate. Honest users encountering user-extremely-unfriendly DRM always end up getting fed up and not buying the games. But of course, idiot publishers blame piracy and put even more restrictive DRM in their games.

So DRM doesn't stop "criminals" (criminals? really? copyright infringers, perhaps). It creates more of them. Honest people don't need even a very simple cd-check. ANYONE can download a game nowadays. When we are paying for the games, we are doing it because we WANT to, not because we have to (morals aside). Very few publishers will say that out loud.

Enough with the DRM already, publishers!. YOU are making us not buy your games. Learn from Stardock, dammit!
 
COG_Network at 12:59 PM on 3.10.2009
bapenguin says...
Yes!
 


Login to Co-Optimus to comment.



Comment
11/24/2009Book of Unwritten Tales">LINK (PC) [Google It">LINK">Coldstone Scoop It Up">LINK (Wii) [Google It">LINK">Cook Wars">
What have they started calling that? Something Tuesday or Blue Monday or some silly thing.Though I do remember many of the onli
Re: co-op search 11/22 2:20 am
i don't have any of those for the PC i play battlefield 2142 and left 4 dead 1&2 on the PC along with some random free to play r
The Hard Cast Facebook page is up and running. LINKIf you dig the podcast then you can become a fan and leave comments!
Re: Saints Row 2 11/21 11:34 pm
sent a request, if anyone else wants to play sent a message or request! peace

846 Co-Op Games
4278 Members
1726 Reviews
8103 Ratings
Detailed Stats

 RSS Feed

 News Only Feed

 

Puleo Web Enterprises © 2009


Powered by LiquidWeb