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Geek Culture / Mass Effect PC

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Sasuke
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Posted: 28th Apr 2008 15:52
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Early previews say that this a good port from the 360. We know in the past that’s not always the case, but lucky Mass Effect doesn't fall under that category. The high res textures are in, extra content, but the really kicker is performance. If you played it on the 360, you’ll know about long pause, the in your face background texture loading and the constant stuttering in large areas, not that noticeable with blur on. Same thing happened in Oblivion (except the constant stuttering).

With the PC we have no worry in this department, just a host of new ones. If all is well then we will only proberly see a drop in frame rate, low res texture, low shader quality due to old hardware. If you have upgraded above the following specs then you’re laughing.

Minimum System Requirements for Mass Effect on the PC

* Operating System: Windows XP or Vista
* Processor: 2.4+GHZ Intel or 2.0+GHZ AMD
* Memory: 1 Gigabyte Ram (XP)/ 2 Gigabyte Ram (Vista)
* Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 6 series(6800GT or better)/ ATI 1300XT or better (X1550, X1600 Pro and HD2400 are below minimum system requirements)
* Hard Drive Space:12 Gigabytes
* Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card and drivers


Recommended System Requirements for Mass Effect on the PC

* Operating System: Windows XP or Vista
* Processor: 2.6+GHZ Intel or 2.4+GHZ AMD
* Memory: 2 Gigabyte Ram
* Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX or higher/ ATI X1800 XL series or higher
* Hard Drive Space: 12 Gigabytes
* Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card and drivers - 5.1 sound card recommended

So it only comes down to controls, how will the keyboard and mouse rival the 360 controller. I know you can use a 360 controller on your PC to play it and there no harm in doing so. But for those that stick to keyboard and mouse, will the game change to suit it. Since we're using a mouse, you can kiss soft camera movement good bye, like in Bioshock, this is nothing new to PC gamers. The reaction time, precision and accuracy of a mouse are far superior to the 360’s thumb sticks. Using a keyboard means will move instantly at a set speed, but I’m guessing there will be buttons allocated for walking and running. With any PC shooter, auto-aim is out of the question (though there’s been a few in the past, not so much now). Many 360 titles adopt auto-aim, even if it’s used a tiny amount, Mass Effect does us a small amount depend on which gun you’re using. But this raises some questions:

* Will the games difficulty be buffed up since we could shoot everything a mile off with speed and precision?

* Will the games AI be speeded up?

A dream is a fantasy, if you achieve that dream it was never a dream to begin with.
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GatorHex
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Posted: 28th Apr 2008 17:28 Edited at: 28th Apr 2008 17:29
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why do they wait so long to bring them to the PC you just think "bah! did that on the XBOX already not buying that again!"

DinoHunter (still no nVidia compo voucher!), CPU/GPU Benchmark, DarkFish Encryption DLL, War MMOG (WIP), 3D Model Viewer
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Jeku
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Posted: 28th Apr 2008 21:06
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The expansion pack from the 360 will be included in the full game. Also, the inventory system, which was largely despised on the 360, has been reworked for the PC. I'll probably pick this game up


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Agent Dink
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Posted: 28th Apr 2008 21:12
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I might get it for PC since I don't have a 360...

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Zaibatsu
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Posted: 29th Apr 2008 01:40
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I might considering buying it, even though I played and hated it on a friends 360 (might be because I despise the 360 controller).

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SunnyKatt
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Posted: 29th Apr 2008 04:59
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I'll consider after reading a gamespot review upon it's release.

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Sasuke
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Posted: 30th Apr 2008 03:44
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I hope it get high cause I really enjoyed it on the 360 (borrowed it off a friend). I only got about a third of the way though, so I would like to continue it on the PC.

A dream is a fantasy, if you achieve that dream it was never a dream to begin with.
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Darth Kiwi
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Posted: 1st May 2008 20:29
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Quote: "The expansion pack from the 360 will be included in the full game."

I don't have a 360 so I haven't played it - what was in the expansion pack?

I'll definitely pick this up: I've wanted to play it ever since it came out on the 360.

I'm not actually a Kiwi, I just randomly thought it up one day.
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Cian Rice
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Posted: 1st May 2008 21:55
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The expansion will be available free but no actually in the game.

It's a good expansion. Only like an hour and half to two hours long but it's pretty fun. The Batarians are pretty sweet.

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/10/mass-effect-pc-wont-bring-down-the-sky-at-launch/

I can't wait for the sequel. I'm just curious where the story goes from here:



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Sasuke
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Posted: 2nd May 2008 01:16
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I can't wait ever, though I haven't completed it, but I reviewed it and I know the story from beginning to end(won't stop me from playing it as soon as it hits the PC though), I wonder where this three part saga is going, maybe it would be three seperate stories. It's abit like Crysis, it's also three parts (they say), but Crysis's end tell you what the next is about, unless theres some twist I don't know about.

A dream is a fantasy, if you achieve that dream it was never a dream to begin with.
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Sasuke
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Posted: 9th May 2008 10:59 Edited at: 9th May 2008 10:59
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What the hell is EA thinking, your not going to believe this. Have you heard about the DRM being used on Mass Effect (and Spore). Similar to Bioshock you have to activate online and limited installations. But wait, get this... you have to validate it online every 10 days. This is a joke, they must of made alot of money of the xbox 360 cause they've cut the PC's profit in half. I know this is stab at stopping priracy even for a month before that crack comes out, but this is ridiculas. This will just drive consumers to the consoles or not even bother and the PC gaming platform is in the crossfire.

Most hardcore gamers won't have a problem with this, but many people who buy a PC game without looking at the box will be dissapoint to find that you need a internet connection just to play the game.

There are some pluses to those who have an internet connection and surf regularly. Once you have installed and validated you don't need the disc in your drive to play. It will also validate itself in the background whenever your online, first within 5 days, if not then you've still got 5 more day to get online.

Before I send my email of complaint, whats your take on this?

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Jeku
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Posted: 9th May 2008 11:16
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For every 1 valid copy of Crysis purchased, something like 2000 copies were pirated. Companies need to take piracy control more seriously.

That being said, once this is cracked, legitimate users will be the one's hurting. What's the alternative though, absolutely no copy protection?


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Sasuke
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Posted: 9th May 2008 12:01
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Yes, but they need to do it without hurting the gaming platform. Greg Vederman of PC Gamer(US) said a good point, that we're not buying games anymore but renting them. If there servers went down, then the consumer is stuck with an unusable product. A crack version which as you say puts legitimate users in harms way(very true) or the Xbox 360 + and new copy of the Mass Effect is the only way to play the game.

I agree with Greg that it should be done though steam or something, I like the once online validation and decryption. Using more drastic methods of piracy control just pushes people to piracy. I know alot of my friends couldn't stand how Bioshock was handle and switch to a cracked version. I've never gone to the dark side and never will, but if this the future of PC gaming, that dark side is looking pretty light right now for many people.

What companies need to do is group together and crack down on pirates. Just look at where people are getting there cracked games from, mostly torrents. There must be away to stop torrent sites, you could sue the host of the site couldn't you, I really don't know how this works so i'll stop there. Thats got to be a better approach though, hasn't it.

A dream is a fantasy, if you achieve that fantasy it was never a dream to begin with.
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RalphY
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Posted: 9th May 2008 13:35
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Quote: "For every 1 valid copy of Crysis purchased, something like 2000 copies were pirated."


I'd be interested to know how they obtain these sort of figures. I mean, how do they know how many people are playing pirated copies of the game? Is it based on projected sales figures or something?

http://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/post.aspx?postid=303512 - interesting article on piracy.

Oh boy! Sleep! That's when I'm a Viking! | Super Nintendo Chalmers!
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Osiris
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Posted: 9th May 2008 19:43
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Quote: "For every 1 valid copy of Crysis purchased, something like 2000 copies were pirated."


They basically gave you the game for free with the demo, giving people the editor and stuff. Thats all a lot of people use, like me, I never actually played the demo, because the game was really boring to me.

RIP Max-Tuesday, November 2 2007
You will be dearly missed.
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GatorHex
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Posted: 9th May 2008 19:48
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The demo was too hard to complete for many.

I never buy a game unless I can beat the demo, why bother if you can't get off level one LOL

I did complete the Crysis one though you find a boat on top of a hill at the end, you start chatting to your team and then a big freaky alien squid like thing kills one of your team.

DinoHunter (still no nVidia compo voucher!), CPU/GPU Benchmark, DarkFish Encryption DLL, War MMOG (WIP), 3D Model Viewer
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bitJericho
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Posted: 9th May 2008 19:51
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Quote: "What the hell is EA thinking, your not going to believe this. Have you heard about the DRM being used on Mass Effect (and Spore). Similar to Bioshock you have to activate online and limited installations. But wait, get this... you have to validate it online every 10 days. This is a joke, they must of made alot of money of the xbox 360 cause they've cut the PC's profit in half. I know this is stab at stopping priracy even for a month before that crack comes out, but this is ridiculas. This will just drive consumers to the consoles or not even bother and the PC gaming platform is in the crossfire."


Haha, the crack will be out 2 weeks before the game's released, guaranteed Doesn't matter what they try doing to it.

While legitimate users suffer under faulty copy protection, the pirates will be playing happily away, just like when Bioshock was released.


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Jeku
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Posted: 9th May 2008 21:55
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Quote: "I mean, how do they know how many people are playing pirated copies of the game? Is it based on projected sales figures or something?"


I heard an interview with a dude from Crysis, and they have their ways. For one thing they can see how many people are trying to play online with pirated serial numbers. They can also see how many times the patches were downloaded from their own servers. Sure, an honest purchaser could have downloaded the same patch 3 times, but the amount was something much greater than that. They also visit the pirate torrents and at one point they saw thousands of people simultaneously downloading the game at any one point.

Obviously there is no way to get an exact number, but they can approximate.

-----

I like the way Stardock is handling the issue. With Sins of a Solar Empire there's no copy protection, but they update and patch their games quite a bit and the only way to download the patches is to sign on with your Stardock account and a legit key.

None of the companies think they will stomp out piracy 100%, but they make the hackers and piraters jump through more hoops to get their games to run.


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bitJericho
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Posted: 9th May 2008 21:59 Edited at: 9th May 2008 22:00
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None of the companies think they will stomp out piracy 100%, but they make the [strikethrough]hackers and piraters[/strikethrough] customers jump through more hoops to get their games to run.


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Sasuke
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Posted: 9th May 2008 22:14
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All we can hope for is the PCGA coming through for all of us.

Oh... the PCGA (PC Gaming Alliance) is a nonprofit organisation dedicated to "driving co-ordinated marketing and promotion of PC gaming... and creating forums for member companies to co-operate on solutions to challenges facing the PC gaming industry, such as hardware requirements and anti-piracy".

They even made an official website:
http://www.pcgamingalliance.org/en/index.asp

A dream is a fantasy, if you achieve that fantasy it was never a dream to begin with.
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Jeku
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Posted: 9th May 2008 22:39
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Quote: "but they make the [strikethrough]hackers and piraters[/strikethrough] customers jump through more hoops to get their games to run."


Actually I PREFER this new EA method, because it doesn't require you to put the DVD in the disc drive when you start the game. To me, THAT was more intrusive than a simple phone home every 10 days. This is no more hoops for customers to jump through than before. If anything, it's less.


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Jeku
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Posted: 9th May 2008 22:44
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This just in, Bioware has backed down on this method. Now you only have to connect online when you want to download a patch. You will still not need to have the disc in the drive (yay!).

http://kotaku.com/5008452/bioware-backs-down-from-draconian-mass-effect-authentication


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bitJericho
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Posted: 9th May 2008 22:53
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Now that's what I call nice

That's how it should be.


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Sasuke
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Posted: 9th May 2008 23:19
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I guess all the chatter about it worked, though I do like the regular patches idea Jeku. But it's good to here and we don't need the disc in the drive, great

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Osiris
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Posted: 9th May 2008 23:38
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What if, however. You don't have internet where you live? Then they will force those people to crack it anyways. To me, if I buy a game, its mine, I can crack it to my hearts content if I own it.

RIP Max-Tuesday, November 2 2007
You will be dearly missed.
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Jeku
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Posted: 9th May 2008 23:48
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Quote: "What if, however. You don't have internet where you live?"


I think there's not a single place in the free world that doesn't at least have dial-up access. There are several companies that will even give you free dial-up, so I don't think that's an issue.

Quote: "To me, if I buy a game, its mine, I can crack it to my hearts content if I own it."


Technically you do not own the software, but a license to use it the way they prescribe it to you. It's the same reason why you can't technically make a backup of your game. Not saying I agree, but that's the way it is.


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Chenak
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Posted: 10th May 2008 00:37 Edited at: 10th May 2008 01:32
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I dont mind online verification as long as it freaking works. Bioshock didn't work for weeks, I wanted to slap them in the face.

edit:
To add to this every time the bloody thing failes to connect to the internet (not because it is not connect but just randomly fail) you have to install the ENTIRE thing over again. You need to patch it as well or it won't install. It irritated the crap out of me.

It also will NOT validate if I have nero or daemon tools installed, what the hell!!! I'm trying to install it now, it takes 30mins to install then it crashes saying I don't have a valid CD... this is retarded. I then have to install it again. This level of copy protection is why PC games are going to die. Console games are easy to just put in and play. Copy protection is a pain and only serves to confuse and annoy casual PC games. Either get it to work or get rid of it.
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draknir_
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Posted: 10th May 2008 01:22
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valves steam is a pretty good anti piracy system, because with the constant platform updates, the cracked steam systems are outdated every few months, and it prevents cracked serials from playing on regular servers. (and of course, cracked servers are full of cheaters who dont want to buy the game ) Unfortunately, it does mean you have to have an internet connection. The Sins of Solar Empire had the right idea too.

For the rest of the developer world, they all seem to think that jamming more and more intrusive copyright protection systems on their DVDs wll do the trick, but its a clear pattern to me, these developers get to see cracked and ripped versions of their games within weeks of release.
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SunnyKatt
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Posted: 10th May 2008 01:31
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Steam is good for anti-piracy, but for everything else in the world it is "The Devil". I mean, people with dialup or no internet can't play those games AT ALL!

ZEKEGAMES FORUMS-GOOGLE "Zekegames"
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Jeku
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Posted: 10th May 2008 01:34
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Well, life isn't fair


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bitJericho
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Posted: 10th May 2008 01:37
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Quote: "Well, life isn't fair"


And then the games companies complain when their games are pirated, crying, "it isn't fair".


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GatorHex
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Posted: 10th May 2008 02:09 Edited at: 10th May 2008 02:10
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I'm all for copy protection but EA overdid it on BF2142 I had to buy it twice because the preowned copies needed the usename and password of the original owner, and you even have to enter it to play the single player mode

DinoHunter (still no nVidia compo voucher!), CPU/GPU Benchmark, DarkFish Encryption DLL, War MMOG (WIP), 3D Model Viewer
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Mr Makealotofsmoke
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Posted: 10th May 2008 03:21
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i think the only way to stop pirating would be to either:

1.Ban CD Burning
2.Delete the internet

or

making a key system thats way more secure and is a lot harder to crack. Or something like a usb dongle, because u cant download those


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Osiris
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Posted: 10th May 2008 05:13 Edited at: 10th May 2008 05:14
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Well Mass Effect no longer has the Draconian Authentication software. So at least someone somewhere had some sense and actually was like "oh, this will piss people off...we better remove it".

http://kotaku.com/5008452/bioware-backs-down-from-draconian-mass-effect-authentication

[Stupid Link thing is not working!]

Article there.

RIP Max-Tuesday, November 2 2007
You will be dearly missed.
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Jeku
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Posted: 10th May 2008 07:26
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Dude, I already linked to that


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Osiris
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Posted: 10th May 2008 08:22
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Didn't even see it lol.

RIP Max-Tuesday, November 2 2007
You will be dearly missed.
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Darth Kiwi
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Posted: 11th May 2008 01:16
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I read an interview with Ken Levine (the guy that made BioShock) and he said that, although the game had been cracked, the devs were happy because the first week after release had been crack-free due to the (rather irritating) copy protection. It didn't matter so much that there was a crack because the first week of release is when the majority of copies are bought - and they'd increased sales due to the fact there was no crack at that time.

So it seems that the ideal solution would be to send out the game with the copy protection - but, once a crack becomes readily available, to remove the copy protection because it'll just annoy people plus it now serves no purpose.

Of course, the game would have to connect to the internet to discover that the protection was disabled, so I'm kind of back where I started...

I'm not actually a Kiwi, I just randomly thought it up one day.
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NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
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Posted: 11th May 2008 01:26
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Quote: "I think there's not a single place in the free world that doesn't at least have dial-up access"


You've never played a game on a long car journey to the middle of nowhere, then.


I fail at life. No, really.
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Accoun
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Posted: 11th May 2008 01:47
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Quote: " Or something like a usb dongle, because u cant download those"

There are always emulators...

Make games, not war.
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bitJericho
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Posted: 11th May 2008 01:52
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Or you can just strip out the code in the exe that requires the dongle.


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Chenak
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Posted: 11th May 2008 02:13
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Quote: "I read an interview with Ken Levine (the guy that made BioShock) and he said that, although the game had been cracked, the devs were happy because the first week after release had been crack-free due to the (rather irritating) copy protection. It didn't matter so much that there was a crack because the first week of release is when the majority of copies are bought - and they'd increased sales due to the fact there was no crack at that time."


How could they possibly know that? How could they know a later release for a crack would affect sales in anyway? Do they have a time machine? I like how companies try to justify insane copy protection by making stuff up. If you could return PC games in most stores (which you rarely can now) then their sales prolly would have dramatically fell.

I bought bioshock as soon as it came out and I couldnt play it for TWO weeks because I could not connect to their verification website thing. Not only that it wouldnt even let you install it because of the compulsory patch during the installation.
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Jeku
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Posted: 11th May 2008 03:19
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Quote: "You've never played a game on a long car journey to the middle of nowhere, then."


They give you a 10-day window to activate. If you're on a road trip without staying in a hotel with a phone jack for over 10 days, then you'll be screwed. What are the odds of that? 1% of 1% of 1%? Come on, don't be crazy.


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bitJericho
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Posted: 11th May 2008 03:25
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Quote: "They give you a 10-day window to activate. If you're on a road trip without staying in a hotel with a phone jack for over 10 days, then you'll be screwed. What are the odds of that? 1% of 1% of 1%? Come on, don't be crazy."


I don't think it should be up to the game companies to choose if, when or how I get online.


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Osiris
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Posted: 11th May 2008 05:10
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Well both Spore and Mass Effect don't have that stupid 10 day thing anyways. So we are all good now. Besides if it was cracked anyways whats the point in validating every 10 days? That wouldn't do anything...

RIP Max-Tuesday, November 2 2007
You will be dearly missed.
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BiggAdd
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Posted: 11th May 2008 07:08
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Not sure if it would be legal, But I think game companies, if the game is purchased online, should write the credit card number used in a secret location in the game's files, so when or if a game is cracked, the company will be able to track down who has done it.

People will be less inclined to share software online if their credit card info is buried somewhere in the files.

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Osiris
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Posted: 11th May 2008 07:53
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But then people could still find it. It would be easier if they just put your MAC address in a hidden and encrypted file, they could still easy enough track you down with no horrible possibilities.

RIP Max-Tuesday, November 2 2007
You will be dearly missed.
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Jeku
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Posted: 11th May 2008 20:58
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Quote: "I don't think it should be up to the game companies to choose if, when or how I get online."


The online requirement is the same as any other requirement (graphics card, CPU, RAM, etc.). If you are stuck in 1995 without an internet connection, don't buy a game that requires online activation


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bitJericho
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Posted: 11th May 2008 21:03 Edited at: 11th May 2008 21:03
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The problem is it's *not* a requirement. It's a request by the games company to help them in their fight against terro-- piracy.


Hurray for teh logd!
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Jeku
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Posted: 11th May 2008 21:31
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Quote: "The problem is it's *not* a requirement."


Yes it is. If this piracy prevention was put in place, they would display the internet requirement right on the box.

People are more angry over this because it's EA I've been listening to my usual dozen or so weekly podcasts and not one of them had any issue with calling home every 10 days. At least it's relieving us from having to put the DVD in the drive, which is better in my opinion.


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tha_rami
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Posted: 11th May 2008 21:54
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Nope, I disagree completely with Jeku. I prefer putting in something in the PC of which it's my responsibility to maintain and keep working instead of having to rely on Internet accessibility, my computer working and a server they maintain. It's kind of like that music service that died recently - maybe it works now, but what about in 20 years, when I want to relive a bit of nostalgia?

This stuff isn't killing the industry, but it sure is making cracking stuff far more feasible.


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