Groups | Search | Server Info | Login | Register

Groups > comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg > #361

Re: The Witcher 2 and why I dislike physical DVDs

Show all headers | View raw

In article <sqo0t69c68to5a8egn1e319s2svo5it6dq@4ax.com>,
Rin Stowleigh  <rstowleigh@gmail.com> wrote:
>This afternoon I got a reminder why I switched to buying games
>exclusively through Steam about 3 or so years ago.
>
>With Witcher2 close to release, I decided to pull out the original
>Witcher, which was one of the last games I bought on physical media. I
>was just going to load it up and play for a half hour or so, to
>re-familiarize myself with the story, maybe look around the paper user
>manual a bit (remember those?).
>
>Well the user manual will kill your eyes if you try to actually read
>the tiny text which is in a narrow font with dark grey lettering on
>medium grey background.  This, I'm sure was to thwart photocopying the
>manual, at the expense of making the manual itself useless.
>
>Next, my plans to actually play the game on Windows 7 64-bit by
>something called Tages SA drivers, that Windows 7 decided should not
>be allowed to run.

I think this is connected with the awful DRM scheme used on that
disc.  When I first installed The Witcher, I had to actually swap
out my DVD-ROM drive for a newer model to pacify the ridiculous
protection scheme, which simply refused to validate the disc in the
older Sony EIDE drive I was using at the time.

>At that point I was tempted not to go any further, but the game
>menu was already loaded, and there was an option to "check for
>updates".. maybe the patch removed the copy protection?  I will
>never know, because the game menu link took me to softpedia for
>download, yet the 1.5 patch could not actually be downloaded,
>linked to a dead page.  Screw it, I just uninstalled it.  At some
>point I realized that this entire exercise was not really worth
>the time or trouble I had put into it thus far, so I decided to
>simply cut my losses and just wait for the Witcher 2 release on
>Steam.

I don't know when Steam will get it, but you can buy a downloadable
copy of Witcher 2 now through gog.com for $45 or so (at least until
the Tuesday(?) release date; also comes with a free older RPG),
which has the advantage of not being infested with any sort of DRM
nonsense.

They also have the original Witcher, sans DRM for $4.99, which
might be worth it just to avoid the Tages headaches.
-- 
Jordan.

Back to comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg | Previous | Next — Previous in thread | Next in thread | Find similar

Thread

The Witcher 2 and why I dislike physical DVDs Rin Stowleigh <rstowleigh@gmail.com> - 2011-05-15 19:46 -0400
  Re: The Witcher 2 and why I dislike physical DVDs jnh@VictorTangoEleven.net.invalid (Jordan) - 2011-05-16 03:30 +0000
    Re: The Witcher 2 and why I dislike physical DVDs Rin Stowleigh <rstowleigh@gmail.com> - 2011-05-16 00:09 -0400
      Re: The Witcher 2 and why I dislike physical DVDs "Matt v3.3" <ethers.tragic@paradise.net.invalid> - 2011-05-16 20:04 +1200
        Re: The Witcher 2 and why I dislike physical DVDs Rin Stowleigh <rstowleigh@gmail.com> - 2011-05-16 08:36 -0400
      Re: The Witcher 2 and why I dislike physical DVDs WDS <Bill@seurer.net> - 2011-05-16 08:13 -0500
        Re: The Witcher 2 and why I dislike physical DVDs Rin Stowleigh <rstowleigh@gmail.com> - 2011-05-16 09:39 -0400
          Re: The Witcher 2 and why I dislike physical DVDs WDS <Bill@seurer.net> - 2011-05-16 08:58 -0500
            Re: The Witcher 2 and why I dislike physical DVDs Rin Stowleigh <rstowleigh@gmail.com> - 2011-05-16 10:25 -0400
        Re: The Witcher 2 and why I dislike physical DVDs mcv <mcvmcv@xs4all.nl> - 2011-05-17 08:46 +0000
        Re: The Witcher 2 and why I dislike physical DVDs Werner Punz <werpu@gmx.at> - 2011-05-17 23:08 +0200
    Re: The Witcher 2 and why I dislike physical DVDs mcv <mcvmcv@xs4all.nl> - 2011-05-17 08:44 +0000
  Re: The Witcher 2 and why I dislike physical DVDs Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com> - 2011-05-16 23:54 -0500
    Re: The Witcher 2 and why I dislike physical DVDs mcv <mcvmcv@xs4all.nl> - 2011-05-17 08:41 +0000
  Re: The Witcher 2 and why I dislike physical DVDs Werner Punz <werpu@gmx.at> - 2011-05-17 23:07 +0200
    Re: The Witcher 2 and why I dislike physical DVDs Rin Stowleigh <rstowleigh@gmail.com> - 2011-05-17 18:06 -0400
      Re: The Witcher 2 and why I dislike physical DVDs Werner Punz <werpu@gmx.at> - 2011-05-18 00:12 +0200
        Re: The Witcher 2 and why I dislike physical DVDs Rin Stowleigh <rstowleigh@gmail.com> - 2011-05-17 18:52 -0400
          Re: The Witcher 2 and why I dislike physical DVDs Werner Punz <werpu@gmx.at> - 2011-05-18 07:54 +0200
            Re: The Witcher 2 and why I dislike physical DVDs Werner Punz <werpu@gmx.at> - 2011-05-18 09:20 +0200
              Re: The Witcher 2 and why I dislike physical DVDs David Lamb <dalamb@cs.queensu.ca> - 2011-05-18 17:25 -0400
                Re: The Witcher 2 and why I dislike physical DVDs Werner Punz <werpu@gmx.at> - 2011-05-19 10:14 +0200
                Re: The Witcher 2 and why I dislike physical DVDs "Andrew Rybenkov" <arybenkov@gmail.com> - 2011-05-19 14:53 +0400
                Re: The Witcher 2 and why I dislike physical DVDs Werner Punz <werpu@gmx.at> - 2011-05-19 13:21 +0200
                Re: The Witcher 2 and why I dislike physical DVDs Frank E <fakeaddress@hotmail.com> - 2011-05-19 07:57 -0400
                Re: The Witcher 2 and why I dislike physical DVDs JAB <nochance@nohope.com> - 2011-05-19 20:29 +0100
                Re: The Witcher 2 and why I dislike physical DVDs Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com> - 2011-05-19 17:56 -0500
                Re: The Witcher 2 and why I dislike physical DVDs JAB <nochance@nohope.com> - 2011-05-20 18:45 +0100
          Re: The Witcher 2 and why I dislike physical DVDs mcv <mcvmcv@xs4all.nl> - 2011-05-20 09:12 +0000
  Re: The Witcher 2 and why I dislike physical DVDs Werner Punz <werpu@gmx.at> - 2011-05-19 23:38 +0200
    Re: The Witcher 2 and why I dislike physical DVDs Florian Schaetz <iryan@gmx.de> - 2011-05-19 23:49 +0200
      Re: The Witcher 2 and why I dislike physical DVDs Rin Stowleigh <rstowleigh@gmail.com> - 2011-05-19 19:29 -0400
        Re: The Witcher 2 and why I dislike physical DVDs Florian Schaetz <iryan@gmx.de> - 2011-05-20 11:53 +0200
          Re: The Witcher 2 and why I dislike physical DVDs Rin Stowleigh <rstowleigh@gmail.com> - 2011-05-20 07:07 -0400
  Re: The Witcher 2 and why I dislike physical DVDs noman <no_m_an@zzzyahoo.yycom> - 2011-06-08 00:27 -0700

csiph-web