No Barriers to Fun!

We met our friend Giddeon at the AbleGamers Accessibility Arcade in Atlantic City, New Jersey. When he first sat down with the AbleGamers crew, Giddeon didn't want to play any games. He told us that with his disability gaming was difficult. Giddeon has a rare disease that caused the growth of his arms .. Read More
A Window to the World

Shepherd University invited the AbleGamers Foundation to come on campus and do one of our Accessibility Arcades for the students and local disabled community. The event was a roaring success with hundreds of children and adults coming out to see the technology and in some cases experience gaming the first time. Read More

About the AbleGamers Foundation

Since 2004, the AbleGamers Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity, has served more than 56 million members of the disabled community by advocating greater access in video games. Today, AbleGamers is a leader in the development of equipment, programs and services to those living with disabilities, hardships, and quality-of-life issues that are a result of chronic illness or trauma. It is our goal to ensure that all people, regardless of their disability, can use gaming as a tool to have enriched social experiences with friends, family, and the world at large.

DRM, Back on the Front Line

Written by Mark C. Barlet

Published on 21 September 2008

We all know why Digital Rights Management schemes are in place, to make sure that you buy the game, not just download it from a file share program. That said, what does this digital padlock cost you, the legitimate paying customer? Well, you do not have the free use of the software you paid for, for many if your PC crashes and needs to be rebuilt, or you get yourself a new one, you may have to jump through hoops to get your old game to install on your new PC.

Why is this topic coming up again, easy, two hot games on the market right now are full of DRM software. EA's Crysis Warhead, and EA's SPORE. Each with a 5 PC install limit, a game changer in the DRM space.

Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli released a letter

Our passion is making quality games. We put our heart and soul in every game and hope that our fans will enjoy them as well. For years, Crytek fans have been passionately supportive of our efforts and we appreciate all of your dedication.
We realize that copy protection and piracy is a very emotional and hotly debated topic. It is very hard to find a solution that fits both our needs. We need to make an effort to limit piracy but we do not want to limit the experience of our fans.

Warhead uses online authentication and allows up to five activations. This gives you the opportunity to install the game as many times as you want on five different machines. We also know that multiplayer gamers have different needs, so Crysis Wars does not have an activation limit, but requires the game to be unlocked online once you start the game for the first time. Afterwards it will be possible to play in LAN without any online connection. The CD-key is only required when playing online.

I sincerely hope that you will enjoy playing Warhead as much as we enjoyed making it. We are very proud of it. Our community is the main reason we make games. If there is something you feel we could improve, please tell us what and why and we will do our best to listen to you.

Sincerely, Cevat Yerli

They followed up with a FAQ on their site to help make you at ease with the DRM software they installed. EA has added to this, they have stated that in the coming weeks they will be releasing a tool that will allow users to deauthorize old PCs, much like itunes does right now. Seeing is believing, let's face it, there is no reason for EA to rush this thing out, and I am not sure if we will ever really see it.