DRM is still one of the biggest topics this year. Some people hate it, some people don’t care, and a few people are sympathetic to the fight against piracy.

Well, it seems like EA decided to make DRM unbelievably obnoxious fun by making the game’s registration a cute little number puzzle. And by “cute little number puzzle,” I mean a bunch of copies of Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 were shipped out with only 19 characters in what is supposed to be a 20-digit serial number. EA’s first word of advice? Why, just try guessing the last number of course!

There is currently a work around that may allow you to bypass this issue. Since you have the first 19 characters of the code already, you can basically try “guessing” the last character. To do this, simply enter your existing code, and then for the last character, try the letters A-Z, and then the numbers 0-9. You should eventually get the right combination, and be able to play the game. If this does not work, you can follow the instructions below.

The instructions they refer to are other ways of contacting them (such as phone or email). So while the first reaction to EA’s “solution” might be WTF? it seems that they’re at least offering a something besides going through a half hour of pre-recorded customer service messages. In fact, you could even sit there trying to plug in numbers while you’re waiting on the line to speak to a customer service rep.

So readers, do you think this is a viable solution or a cop out? How many of you will be puzzling over the mysterious 20th digit?

Source: Gizmodo via EA

A few days ago, a long time friend of mine called to let me know that he had some positive video game related news for me, and I said “ok shoot.”

He told me that his brother had gotten his COD4 disk stuck in his recently purchased PS3, and that the system would not eject it. So he decided to give a ring to Sony’s customer service line. He explained the situation to a supervisor and was told that it would all be taken care of immediately. What Sony did next was pretty amazing.

Two days after his call in to the company, he received a package from FedEx. Upon opening the box he he was greeted with the following items; a brand new PS3 40gb console, two new controllers, a Sony Blu-ray remote control, a new copy of Call of Duty 4, and Formula One Championship Edition.

That’s a pretty nice package considering he never had a Blu-ray remote, an extra controller, or the Formula One racing game. Now that’s customer service.

Afterthought: Would you be willing to work your way up the chain of command in a company to get taken care of or is it just not worth your time and aggravation?