Sorry, another piracy/DRm article...

[Jake]

PAL vs NTSC isn't as big of an issue with digital SD formats, and I think completely inconsequential in HD -- in a region-free DVD player I can play PAL DVDs just fine on my NTSC TV. There is a little bit of unexpected interlacing especially when there is scrolling text, due to the different rate of fields per second, but it's totally clear and watchable.

[syntheticgerbil]

I've had better luck with a region unlocked DVD player as well. I don't think I can wrap my head around all of the problems between the formats and why they sometimes exist and sometimes do not.

For instance when I load up one PAL game on my PS2 with swap magic, it flickers like crazy until I switch to 60 Hz, whereas other games will be off center, cutting off the bottom until I recenter the screen. This all depends if I'm given the option or not.

I've also read on a few Blu-ray forums about situations where a non region locked Blu-ray disc will not play on some players because of PAL video and it not being able to render it. I don't really get it though. It all seems archaic.

[kuddles]

I thought it was a very well written article. I agree with a lot of points he made. In particular, how people prefer to take only part of Brad Wardell's arguments that they see fit, pointing to Stardock as part of their argument as to why a game like Mass Effect or Far Cry 2 shouldn't contain DRM, and ignoring the part where Wardell argues that making games like that for the PC is part of the problem as well. Not to mention that Wardell also isn't fully anti-DRM himself.

The only thing I somewhat disagree with was I think his discussion of Steam was a bit too harsh. It's true that some people seem to give it a free ride, some not even making the connection that Steam itself is a form of DRM. But I think that has much more to do with how people are less against restrictive DRM if they feel they are getting some kind of benefit in return and/or it's a much smaller hassle to deal with.

Of course, I also think what people consider as a "good" company also plays into it. For instance, most casual game companies such as PopCap have DRM in their games that force an online activation and provide a limited number of activations, without any ability to revoke them. Purchasing either of the Penny Arcade Adventures games from their Greenhouse distribution site has the exact same restriction. Granted, these titles are lower profile, but you would think if any group of hardcore gamers would be most likely to complain about something, it would be Penny Arcade fans. I'm sure the Spore outrage had as much to do with the names "EA" and "Securom" attached to them as anything else.