Peace Phoenix

[quote]No matter what you DRM apologists say, I'm not ok with compromising the rights of the consumer and letting a company easely off the hook for doing it. [/quote] That is your choice. Personnally, as I live in France, I prefer to be able to buy games in English (translation can be sometimes awful), at the same time than everyone else , be able to download how many time I want the purchased game and not worrying about losing my serial Id. As I have written in another thread

[quote] With Goo, the key is hidden from you and you trust the system to lend it to you whenever you want to enter and start your car.[/quote] More like the first time you want to use your car but Frogboy hasn't really stated when GOO phone home. Sure it happens the first time, when entering the e-mail and serial id, but I don't see any mention about latter runs. But since Frogboy is adept of one time activation and due to item in the Gamer's Bill of Right about playing sing

[quote]The difference is that your car is not welded shut so no mechanic can pop up the hood, and they key isn't fingerprinted to you so you're the only one who can drive it.[/quote] Well, if you aren't using the correct key, you won't generally be able to enter in the car. And generally a car is registred with its owner. Goo is just doing the same thing.

[quote]When I buy a game, I give my money for the game in return. I'm not inclined to give away my rights too. I expect a game in return and not be treated as a criminal.[/quote] Well, when you buy a car, it comes with the keys to be able to start it. What is the difference with GOO?

[quote]Because it takes rights away from you[/quote] It surely takes some rights it but gives you others. For example, SD doesn't currently support second hand games (ie games whose serial id are already registred on Stardock servers with another e-mail). That can be seen as having taken the rights to resell the games. But in the same time, you have the rights to : - break/lose your CD - lose your serial Id - change your computer and still be able to do

[quote]It is a DRM like any other, a Digital Restrictions Management[/quote] Well, with the possibility to download the game from any digital provider or te be able to transfer the game to someone else (rights given to end user), the R is more for Rights (for producer and consumer) than Restriction

[quote]That only says they will use the re-sale part, though. Users being able to disable their game so another can activate it. Not that the entire scheme will be used. There's a big difference there [/quote] the only way to demonstrate point 2 is to use GOO. I don't think that Stardock will develop something else that have the same functionnality.

[quote]What made you think so? [/quote] Maybe the OP just before the item 3.

[quote]This isn't "Stardock is going to be using Goo". [/quote] I fear that Brad has stated otherwise: [quote]To demonstrate the business advantages of this, we plan to use this feature of Goo ourselves on Elemental– it lowers the risk of buying a game and thus can increase sales. [/quote]

[quote]either there is indeed no hardware tying and this goo is just a watermark which is almost useless for IP Protection and extremely dangerous for users from a legal point of view[/quote] Could you elaborate about the dangerous side?

[quote]I cringe when someone tries to say their DRM isn’t DRM and this a remarkable example of it.[/quote] Where did Brad write that GOO isn't DRM?

[quote]1. Universal Activation. If I buy a copy of a game from Steam or Direct2Drive or Impulse that is also available on one of the other platforms, I should be able to re-download it form any of the services that it’s available on. That way, if the place I buy from folds, I can still re-download my game from someone else. A Goo’d game makes this possible.[/quote] How is this supposed to work? Is there a cloud of GOO authenticating servers, registering e-mail and serial I

[quote]Here are some features the community would be interesting in modding: [/quote] Nice list. I wonder how the AI will be able to manage correctly all this kind of stuff.

try to contact [email protected] . They will surely find a way to handle your case.

[quote]I expect that there will be a beta or alpha build before the one given to the public, [/quote] I am pretty sure that there will be different betas available to people who have preordered, the first being in June. After all, the game is supposed to hit retail space in something like 18 months. And given Stardock past records, only peole who have preordered will have access to those betas. And one should really look at the OP link to be sure to understand exactly what Sta

[quote]I'm still ticked off with Stardock about the way they crapped all over the original Totalgaming subscribers. I[/quote] What are you exactly meaning?

[quote]The problem is that all comments posted after February 13, 2009 will probably be ignored[/quote] Well if you read what have been written here http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/workshops/drm/index.shtml [quote]Interested parties may submit written comments or original research until February 13, 2009.[/quote] There is also a due date set to February 13, 2009 on the submitting comment page ....

[quote]What if Stardock worked with Capcom?[/quote] Isn't Capcom the publisher of Age of Booty http://www.impulsedriven.com/agebooty that use SECUROM for DRM, even when buying with Impulse ...

[quote]Maybe thats an area that Stardock can focus on more to make it not just competitive with steam but offer services above and beyond them. [/quote] Well, if you take a look in the impulse store, you will see that there are non gaming stuff in the Desktop, Tools or Office areas. Some are published by Stardock, but not all. BTW, have you looked at the Impulse Phase 3 preview thread (link in the OP post) ? Especially the Impulse builder part ?

[quote] steam is that legitimate direct download client service [/quote] Maybe for games. But Stardock has also a non gaming side about windows customization and uses also Impulse (and that before Stardock Central) for it. And I think that Stardock Central was available before Steam. What should have done Stardock as download service for their non gaming stuff AND their gaming stuff?

[quote]the 1$ = 1€ fiasco[/quote] Are you aware that some publishers force Impulse do have a regional pricing for Europe for their titles with that kind of exchange rate?

[quote]Would Phase 4 also include the ability to register non-stardock, but impluse downloadable games, that we bought at a brick and mortar store?[/quote] Impulse has already this feature. Sadly, the problem is not on the side of Stardock but on the publishers that don't allow Stardock to have all informations for identifying retail versions as valid for download. You can check here https://forums.galciv2.com/339184 , reply #1

[quote]You could have the best of both worlds: a client and a basic website for those who don't want to deal with a client. Just musing.[/quote] Do you mean something like Impulse Anywhere as described in the Impulse Phase 3 preview thread https://forums.elementalgame.com/339314 ?

[quote]We're definitely open to suggestions. The more specific, the better. [/quote] It seems that regional pricing in Impulse isn't very easy to spot or understand. After all, you are adding items in USD in your cart. And when you are doing the check out, the price are local currency with only mention about exchange rate. The euro pricing of SoaSE: Entrechement is not very obvious for example http://forums.impulsedriven.com/338

[quote]How about Impulse has an 'On Start Up' mini app that checks if there are updates, informs the user if there is and then closes and cleans up if there isn't? [/quote] You might want to check this thread https://forums.elementalgame.com/339314 ...