CMBN 2.0 - are you kidding me?

[Nefaro]

Byzantium 1908 for warships and zepplelins

Heh!!   ;D

[ArizonaTank]

Clearly BF could have evaded much of the criticism if they had just added in some new content as a sweetener.  Some new maps, a few more vehicle variations, some map tweaks etc. 

However, personally, I'm OK with paying the $10 for the patch as it is.

You get the Lynx in Quick battles, I hear.

LOL...it such a little tank...I missed it...:) 

[Staggerwing]

Yeah but it was fierce. Rowr!

[ArizonaTank]

I'm giving them a special pass because they created CM 13 years ago and have kept improving things.  That's a great model: just keep making better games in your niche.  I wish there was a game company like Battlefront or RoF for every niche I like to play in.

Agree.  I'm also giving BF a pass because CMBN and CMFI are just the best games in their category.  The best mix of realism, eye candy and great squad level game play out there.  The PC based wargaming universe would be a shallow place without them. 

I think it's great that they are keeping the engine fresh.

I wish Tiller would do a major update to his game engine....I'd gladly pay for that as well.

[Longdan]

Please MJ what are TotalProvince?

[jomni]

BF has spoken about the issue... "Take it or leave it"
http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=107549

[Nefaro]

BF has spoken about the issue... "Take it or leave it"
http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=107549

Yskonyn posted that on Page 4 of this thread.

[jomni]

Ah missed it.  This thread has grown so long already.

[Boggit]

While we're at it, would anyone like me to anger them with criticism of Apple or some other company I've not been terribly happy with?   :-*

Yeah.. Go ahead ;D. A bit of venting steam is healthy. DRM is always a good target.

As a bona fide customer I hate it, but developers seem to buy into the idea that it reduces piracy, which somehow I doubt. A friend of mine did some research of various torrent sites which belie the effectiveness of so-called anti-piracy measures. As gamers of course we should and most do act properly, and buy our games to keep the hobby alive. It's quite shocking how many "cracked" games you can get on some torrent sites. I suspect that the people who use them never buy legitimate copies anyway, so are not really ever going to be in a developers customer base and don't care if the developer stays in the marketplace or not. On the flip side, I guess that a lot of the torrent sites are riddled with malware, so in a sense nothing comes free.

[Tuna]

Took the plunge this afternoon.. ordered CW bundle and the upgrade... I hope I get into this!!!.. LOL.. 65 is so painful, with all the great deals on Steam and GamersGate these days... but a lot of the bargains, I get, I don't even play.. just grab them cause they're bargains.... Sometimes you find some Gems.. Sometimes they're just crap (but if they're crap, at least they didn't cost you a log).. I know this series ain't crap... I have the ShockForce Bundle... I just hope I really get into it.. cause even though I like ShockForce, I really don't play it a lot.. Hoping this theatre and the enhancements will turn on the charm!..

[smittyohio]

While we're at it, would anyone like me to anger them with criticism of Apple or some other company I've not been terribly happy with?   :-*

Yeah.. Go ahead ;D. A bit of venting steam is healthy. DRM is always a good target.

As a bona fide customer I hate it, but developers seem to buy into the idea that it reduces piracy, which somehow I doubt. A friend of mine did some research of various torrent sites which belie the effectiveness of so-called anti-piracy measures. As gamers of course we should and most do act properly, and buy our games to keep the hobby alive. It's quite shocking how many "cracked" games you can get on some torrent sites. I suspect that the people who use them never buy legitimate copies anyway, so are not really ever going to be in a developers customer base and don't care if the developer stays in the marketplace or not. On the flip side, I guess that a lot of the torrent sites are riddled with malware, so in a sense nothing comes free.

Yeah, the DRM is the biggest obstacle for me buying this... I have no problem with schemes like Steam or Matrix, but this limited activation thing irks me.  I don't want to have to worry about hard drive failures, machine upgrades, etc "stealing" my activations.   I might give in once I upgrade to a new machine and OS, but just can't pull the trigger before that....

Edit:  oh, and yeah, it's out on torrent sites, so it's not like they've solved their pirating problem anyway, just ticking off current and potential buyers.

[Nefaro]

While we're at it, would anyone like me to anger them with criticism of Apple or some other company I've not been terribly happy with?   :-*

Yeah.. Go ahead ;D. A bit of venting steam is healthy. DRM is always a good target.

As a bona fide customer I hate it, but developers seem to buy into the idea that it reduces piracy, which somehow I doubt. A friend of mine did some research of various torrent sites which belie the effectiveness of so-called anti-piracy measures. As gamers of course we should and most do act properly, and buy our games to keep the hobby alive. It's quite shocking how many "cracked" games you can get on some torrent sites. I suspect that the people who use them never buy legitimate copies anyway, so are not really ever going to be in a developers customer base and don't care if the developer stays in the marketplace or not. On the flip side, I guess that a lot of the torrent sites are riddled with malware, so in a sense nothing comes free.

Yeah, the DRM is the biggest obstacle for me buying this... I have no problem with schemes like Steam or Matrix, but this limited activation thing irks me.  I don't want to have to worry about hard drive failures, machine upgrades, etc "stealing" my activations.   I might give in once I upgrade to a new machine and OS, but just can't pull the trigger before that....

Edit:  oh, and yeah, it's out on torrent sites, so it's not like they've solved their pirating problem anyway, just ticking off current and potential buyers.

I'm with you guys, there.   

I think the complaints about Battlefront's release schedule/contents/pricing/whatever would be fewer if it weren't for the DRM scheme (and the limited download time to d/l the program).   

The types who pirate the stuff aren't likely to buy it in the first place.  And spending time and/or money on creating, implementing, and providing customer service for the draconian DRM schemes is just a waste of resources that could probably be better used towards development rather than pissing off legitimate patrons.  I think the DRM companies, who profit from selling their versions to publishers, have ratcheted up the pirate & reseller paranoia for years in order to make better bank.  Enough so that it's become the norm to force customers through hurdles & headaches because the scare tactics have worked so easily.  A good example of that flowing over into the public eye happened years ago when the StarForce employee, who was arguing with paying customers on a forum about their crappy DRM damaging hardware and providing false positives for customers, posted a link to a pirated copy of something with little DRM at the time (Was GalCiv or some such) in a fit.  Of course, the d-bag didn't mention that their own crap was also being pirated, I'm sure.  There was - and has been- money to be made off of marketing DRM.  Some companies have even started creating their own so they don't have to pay as much. 

It's a sad state, and if the DRM continues to build there will be some big consumer rights cases vs IP Law going on.  Hell.. special interests companies have already tried to enforce their own control over the internet, via political cronies, more than once, and failed.  All because they claim that they need it because of Piracy.  Looks like some have learned from the DRM companies' brainwashing..

(Where's the 'Rant Off' smiley?)

[Yskonyn]

I been through the hassle of their DRM with issues when I tried to reinstall CMSF and its modules on a newly purchased laptop.
Turns out the games can only be installed on two different PC's.

While it was a pain in the behind to have to contact them in the first place, I must say that their customer support was quick and efficient. My licenses were 'reset' within 24 hours and I could proceed with my activations on the new laptop.

There was a warning though, that this kind of 'reset' can only be done a few times. Has to do with the DRM system itself.
Activations themselves are replenishable, though and they can do it for you might you have run out.

So as far as the download/activation limits I see no real danger in losing your bought software, but the 'reset' do bother me a bit. Especially since there is no (easy) way to unlicense your games. That stinks.

[jomni]

Well it's  a trade-off.  In the old DRM with manual unlicense, people forget to do that step when they uninstall or when their computer dies.
The new DRM with limited activations makes it easier for people because there's no extra step.

[Bison]

I didn't think there was a way to unlicense the CMBN or CMFI like you can with CMSF.  I think it's crap that the customer cannot unlicense the game on an old rig before installing on a new one.  I've never had an issue with CMSF or CMA, but I'll be damned if I didn't have to contact them when I wanted to install CMBN and CMFI on my new desktop.  If you are going to go the licensing route fine, but there needs to be a means to unlicense the game too.  That is just poor planning.  No way around it.  And yes I like Battlefront's games and no the $10 engine upgrade doesn't bother me at all.