Fallout 3 Vs DRM: ULTIMATE BATTLE

I know this probably sounds like paranoia, but sometimes I wonder if there's some people predisposed to dislike the forthcoming Fallout 3. Yes, I realise what you're thinking: But this is from Bethesda, who make those incredibly popular Elder Scrolls games, and the Fallout series is excellent and deserves a new game from a stand-out development team. But despite all this, my gut just tells me that there's a dissenting voice, quiet as it might be, out there. While I'm here, another prediction: I think DRM will soon become a hot-button issue amongst PC gamers. Time will prove this. I laugh to think what would happen if you combined the two topics, were my instincts to prove correct.

Wait, what's this?

Fallout 3 will have minimum DRM. Possibly just a disc-check. And no install limits. As with Oblivion, Bethesda don't intend to impose any mad restrictions on their legitimate customers. That's rather lovely. But they're still concerned by the subject. Talking to Shack, Pete Hines explained,

"[It's] pretty similar to what we did for Oblivion, which was - we basically don't do any - we do the mildest form possible... We try to be really non-invasive when it comes to that stuff. And it is a pain in the ass - it is a pain in the ass that we have to do it at all in the first place. But when you spend tens of millions of dollars, we don't think it's right to just put something out there and let everybody do whatever they want and pass it around."

I like this response. It's not, "RAH RAH IMPRISON THEM ALL!", but more a reluctant, "Oh, I wish they wouldn't." He continues,

"But no, we're pretty mild about how we do it, and we try to do it in a way that prevents folks from exploiting and distributing our games that we worked very hard on, and that we feel we have a right to try and sell and not have distributed free without our okay. It's very important for us not to ruin the experience for the person who did buy a copy, so we try to be very careful."

It's then confirmed that there will be no install limit on the game either. Hurrah! It's worth reading the whole, interesting interview. (And of course to read our own with the man). There's more discussion of piracy, which we all love to talk about so much. And they go on to discuss the nature of developing for the PC, and all that sort of thingamy.