PS3 Joins The Xbox in Having Needlessly Poor DRM Thanks to Capcom

Consoles look to be signing up to the completely successful PC DRM model of demanding you have an internet connection. After all, if you don’t have your console connected to the internet you’re probably a thief. The Xbox demands you have an internet connection to play all Xbox Live Indie Games, and now it seems the PS3 is jumping on the bandwagon.

Final Fight: Double Impact requires you to not only have a fully working internet connection whenever the game loads, but you also have to be using the account that downloaded the game, or have that account’s password saved on the console. Previously, games could be enjoyed by anyone using the console, as you would expect.

As somebody who frequently moves consoles around, the fact I’m increasingly forced to connect them back up to the internet to play already downloaded, already bought games is ridiculous. Hopefully this is some oversight by Capcom and they aren’t simply shafting their customers to please a backwards board of directors.

Thanks to ParaParaKing for the tip.

Edit: A poster on the IGN forums got a reply from Capcom over the issue. Yes, they are taking away your rights to the software as an experiment to find ways to make more money.

I’ll try to be short. Yes, there is DRM. This was employed to combat the rampant “PSN Sharing” that has been going on over the last year. We’re sorry that your family cannot play the game on their individual accounts (same console). This is a limitation of the Sony network. We are not committed to do this with all titles moving forward but the only way to evaluate impact was to try it with one title first.