The Oculus Rift is experiencing what some would call a rocky first few months on the market. What was once one of the most hotly anticipated pieces of consumer technology is now becoming a lightning rod for controversy. The most recent bolt to strike Oculus tower is only three letters long but could be the most damaging barrage yet: DRM.
DRM stands for digital rights management. DRM is used by companies that distribute non-physical goods via the Internet and it is essentially a way to make sure that customers are getting what they pay for…and only what they pay for.
The top software distribution platform for PCs is Steam. Oculus already rattled that particular hornet’s nest by choosing to launch its own system for content management – Oculus Home – rather than push the Rift’s games through Steam.
Now, a recent patch to Oculus home has further complicated the situation by disabling – whether directly or indirectly – a third party application called ReVive. This program allowed Oculus Home games, such as Lucky’s Tale to be playable on the Rift’s chief competitor: Valve and HTC’s Vive.
Gamers are not happy with what they perceive to be Oculus’ attempts to be needlessly commercial, unfairly restrictive, and contrary to the vision they initially preached during development.
The backlash has been severe, but is it deserved? Is this DRM situation a play by Oculus to bleed consumers dry, or is it a necessary step for launching a successful product in a competitive marketplace?
We dive thoroughly into the debate on this week’s episode of GameCast.
GameCast Ep. 10: Smashing The Walled Garden
Cast:
Joe Durbin – UploadVR staff writer and GameCast Host.
David Jagneaux – UploadVR Games Editor and All-Around Heart-throb.
Jamie Feltham (pronounced Felth-Um) – Upload VR’s UK Staff Writer and Fallout purist.
In this episode David and Joe are joined by the British bomber himself Jamie Feltham. Together the new allies of VR tackle the murky waters of Oculus’ recent DRM controversy in order to determine whether or not it deserves the hate it’s getting.
Some highlights include:
- Our hopes and dreams for Pokemon GO
- Jamie’s unpopular opinions on the Fallout series (and a truly delightful accent)
- David’s secret past as a bully
As always, thanks for listening and don’t forget to rate and subscribe to this nonsense on iTunes and Google Play.
We also just launched our Steam Community Page and we hope to see all of you on there as well.
Until next time!
