[beverheim]

Norwegian IT web magazine digi.no says that Dreamfall/Longest Journey developer Funcom will stop making boxed PC games for distribution on CD/DVD. Reason is to prevent pirate copying. For future games, a subscription is needed, and the players have to be connected to Funcoms servers to play. This will make piracy much harder, says Trond Aas, manager for Funcom. No reference is made to Dreamfall Chapters, but the news earlier that the Dreamfall sequel will be released as an episodic adventure, and distributed through internet, makes is reasonable to assume that this will apply for Dreamfall Chapters.

At least we avoid the crappy Star Force protection, but I don't know if I'm too happy about having to be connected to the net to play

Here's the article in digi.no, for those of you who can read Norwegian: http://www.digi.no/php/art.php?id=373140

[Gonchi]

Meh, no big loss, their games never clicked with me anyway. I think a counter-title is in order.

Traditional PC Gamer drops Funcom
"So long, farewell, can't say I give a damn"

if that what they fell they have to do. Then that's what they have to do. I won't buy dreamfall chapters, but I hope others will. It's a sad day when people are so afraid of piracy that they rather pull out of a market instead of trying to find better alternatives.

[serious guy]

damn u funcom..that's a lot of trouble

[Gonchi]

Originally Posted by marsan

if that what they fell they have to do. Then that's what they have to do. I won't buy dreamfall chapters, but I hope others will. It's a sad day when people are so afraid of piracy that they rather pull out of a market instead of trying to find better alternatives.

Well, I guess they just consider this to be a better alternative. I don't agree, particularly based on the reason behind it.

After I lost interest in Ultima Online I vowed to never again purchase a game that requires me to be connected to play. That it also doesn't come on a CD/DVD in a Box/Case only helps to further kill any interest I might have.

Can't read Norwegian but is it possible that Funcom is planning to do this only with that Dreamfall MMOG ( ) they mentioned a while back?

[jannar85]

This still makes me laugh. What a bad move... They could at least released a boxed version in the end.

[Christian IV]

That is sad news indeed. The actualy hold in your hand PC CD DVD in a box is the best form for games, IMHO, and always will be. I have played some of the on line verification games and feel they are definitely a step WAAAYYY down from the industry standard. I feel that a poor product should not be misinterpreted as an indication of piracy, i.e. poor sales for Dreamfall causing an assumption that people are pirating it instead of buying the retail. It was and is a poor game, for many reasons, inspite of having some fine qualities and aspects. I hope they change their minds in the future.

[aries323]

I have read the Norwegian newspaper and it taks about Funcom's
upcoming MMO game, Age of Conan. And Ragnar himself has in his blog
stated that this game is a onlinegame, where you need to connected to
Funcom's servers to play. Basically, this is the same you need to do when
you play, WOW, afaik, as you also is required to be connected to Blizzard's servers to play WOW. In WOW you will also need to subscrine to play the game.

I think maybe the big difference between Age of Conan and WOW is that Age of Conan might only be offered as digital download. (but I could be wrong).

I don't think this will effect Dremfall: Chapters in any way...

[byf43]

And when your internet connection crash you can't play the game....That sucks. Plus when the games get older and most people loose interest the company will - at some time - stop supporting it thus making your investment useless. I'm still playing some of my *very* old games today so it matters to me.

I prefer a cardboard box with a manual and a CD in it.

[Hysteria]

All I have to say is...farewell, you bastards... And I hope you will earn no profit.

[jannar85]

When I first heard about Dreamfall: Chapters, I believed it to become something like WoW, with puzzle elements. I still do.

Next time you run around in the next Dreamfall episode, you might see me.

[Dasilva]

Subscriptions?! Funcom can shove it if they want to be so selfish, their better off selling the TLJ rights to a real developer, I'd love to see what Bathesda would do with TLJ.

[Melanie68]

I love all this outrage and telling Funcom to piss off based on one article and no further information (especially with no mention of Dreamfall as beverheim clearly stated). The rest is pure speculation.

Originally Posted by byf43

Plus when the games get older and most people loose interest the company will - at some time - stop supporting it thus making your investment useless.

It looks looks like funcom still keeps AO(Anarchy Online) alive at least.

Originally Posted by Melanie68

I love all this outrage and telling Funcom to piss off based on one article and no further information (especially with no mention of Dreamfall as beverheim clearly stated). The rest is pure speculation.

true. I also want to point out that funcom has made a lot of good stuff in the past. That probably won't change even if they release games only online. It really depends on all that fine print not even funcom have decided yet.

[halpme]

Well, as I have a really sucky connection I don't think that I would buy the game. I really enjoy(ed) playing Dreamfall and soon I'll also buy TLJ, but I don't want to play a game if I'll disconnect every ten minutes..

[jannar85]

But... Subscriptions? :| And myself, who like to play the games over several months or so, as I'm pretty preoccupied. So this means I either have to subscribe for several months or prioritize Dreamfall: Chapters instead of the other stuff that occupy me? (I've just started on S&M episode 3, even though episode 4 is out!)

Bah, hope they will change their minds.

[Melanie68]

Originally Posted by jannar85

But... Subscriptions? :| And myself, who like to play the games over several months or so, as I'm pretty preoccupied. So this means I either have to subscribe for several months or prioritize Dreamfall: Chapters instead of the other stuff that occupy me? (I've just started on S&M episode 3, even though episode 4 is out!)

Bah, hope they will change their minds.

This is just irresponsible speculation for now when nothing (as far as I understand) has been said about Dreamfall: Chapters.

I just have a pet peeve about assumptions being made on just a little bit of information.

[numble]

Originally Posted by jannar85

But... Subscriptions? :| And myself, who like to play the games over several months or so, as I'm pretty preoccupied. So this means I either have to subscribe for several months or prioritize Dreamfall: Chapters instead of the other stuff that occupy me? (I've just started on S&M episode 3, even though episode 4 is out!)

Bah, hope they will change their minds.

"Subscription" can mean many things. For instance, you probably have a subscription to Sam and Max: Season One, but you can play them at your own pace.

[Eivind]

What Melanie and Numble said.

There's no reason to believe that the Dreamfall chapters would be distributed in any other way than S&M, or even the Half-Life episodes. However, the chapters could be the last Funcom games that are _not_ played on an online server, against/with other persons.