I guess I can see that. Some boxes have launched successfully sans DRM (e.g. Torchlight). I suspect any boxed copy with have a DRM stripping patch made available shortly after release, but obviously I have no way to assure anyone of that as it's only a guess.

Don't know if I would go that far, but yes they certainly seem to want everyone to buy the game here. It's odd then that they would have even the standard retail edition come with a lot of goodies... you would think that like Valve they would make the retail edition as pointless as possible.

Anyway I don't want anyone to be confused, I am not angry about the DRM on the retail edition. A little disappointed maybe, but not overly concerned. DRM does not concern me, for reasons I have written about countless times.

My main issue is wanting to support CDPR and GOG as much as possible, but also wanting the collector's set.

Actually in fairness to Apple, that's only mostly true. :) They had made moves to ditch DRM even before they grew to be the music giant they've become which took actually longer than people remember. People tend to remember the massacre the MP3 market became, but that process didn't really start until late 2005. Apple started going DRM-free officially in Jan 2007, mid-late massacre, but it took over 2 years from starting the process before they had all the publishers on board to go DRM-free when the dust had essentially settled. So going DRM-free wasn't actually some sudden reversal for them. They had already begun to establish dominance, but the roots of going DRM-free do predate the total capture of the MP3 market. Not that possible anti-trust investigations weren't something they were concerned over. ;)

Also remember it was the music industry like the game, book, and movie industries that wanted DRM. The irony is that Apple had to convince the music industry to let them drop DRM in the iTMS. Weird to think, but the music industry would've been quite happy for Apple to continue with its DRM. But then I've not seen reason to give much credit to the content providers for brains when faced with the dawn of digital distribution. :/ Apple could've even gone with simply a less restrictive DRM for its music. In some respects it was only because Apple was big in that space that they could make a DRM-free case to the music industry.

I would also like to note that the argument Apple used to promote DRM-free music to the publishers was that it would be in the end more profitable. Such arguments will be made for the other media as digital distribution of movies, books, and games become more prominent and eventually I see those arguments winning out.

So ... eh ... don't get me wrong, while I'm indeed a Mac guy, I'm far from comfortable with all of Apple's policies/actions. But given the end result of that particular era was a DRM-free music industry, I count it as an overall win for the consumer.

Well, you should be. I am. :-P

However, I have decided to preorder here on GOG. I'll be cancelling my preorder for the collector's edition of the disc version of TW2 this Monday. I am *not* happy about this, mind you. Piracy is fair play in cases of required online authentication or activation imo, but I like CDProjektRed and want to support the team, the game, and the DRM-free stance, so I've preordered here.

Still irritated tho.

If you mean without buying the game then I highly disagree.

The only reply so far from the GoG staff on this issue is slapstick humor?

http://myfacewhen.com/404/

Doesn't matter. They obviously didn't have an obligation to tell us they were going out of beta either now did they. And it does involve GoG since GoG is the only place that The Witcher 2 will be available without DRM (on PC anyway, which is probably how many customers will end up buying it since the first was a PC exclusive). Whether or not it was their decision to do so does not matter, I realize they're not technically obligated to do so, I'm just quite surprised that the only response has come in a humorous manner, and obviously if someone replied midway through the thread they actually read through the thread of what we were talking about.

1. Say /care to GOG.

2. Go buy yourself the CE.

3. ?????

4. Profit!

It just amazes me that people think they are entitled to the creative works of others for nothing is all. It consistently baffles me over and over and over again.

And it amazes me that sellers feel entitled to treat buyers however they please, and that creators feel entitled to a profit from a single creative effort for the rest of their lives.

But that's all I'll say in response to your clever bait, you sneaky bastard. That's a compliment, btw. ;-)

I might be up for debating this in a copyright/piracy thread tomorrow, but it's about 20 min shy of bedtime for me now.

I agree... the not buying part I understand, it's the playing it anyway part I don't.

Yay!

I know what you mean. The moment you step into the creative industries the amount of people expecting something for nothing fly's upwards in an obscene fashion.

If I got a penny every time some entitled twat expected an artist, and anyone in the creative industries, to work for free, or very little, then I still wouldn't be rich because I'd be handing that money over to the people who deserve it for their work. Unfortunate it's not just a mentality of the consumers at the end of the line. It starts right from the people offering up the "jobs", or maybe I should say expected charity work.

It's not all the time but it's enough that it's one of the struggle of people trying to make a living, especially those just starting out.

It's a sad state of affairs when some of the advise you hear is to make sure you get some of the money upfront for the work you are about to do so at least you have something in case they just take the work and run. And that's when they are actual offering money and not some BS like; but you'll be seen which means you'll get other jobs and they will give you money, or it's good experience.

It just amazes me how many publishers think that they are entitled to the money of others for nothing at all. It consistently baffles me over and over and over again.

Well, I didn't take the time to read through the whole thread. I am of the opinion that any media that requires an internet connection, even for just a phone home, should not be allowed to sell in physical form at retail markets. It should be digital distribution only. It's the whole reason I haven't bought a new pc game since I bought Gears of War four years ago (no, I don't pirate either.) I'm fucking tired of that shit. I don't have to deal with that bullshit on consoles, unless I want to play online multiplayer, which I don't.