Warhawk is an aerial combat game focused on multiplayer battle, either online or offline. The offline battle will have four players sharing the same screen at a time, while the online dogfights will contain a maximum of 32 armchair pilots.
The downloadable version costs around $40, while the Blu-ray Disc pack adds another $20 to its price tag. Then again, the pack comes bundled with a Bluetooth headset and additional bonus video, so some player might think it’s worth the extra cash.
And now, the bad news. The downloadable version of Warhawk is not the subject of Sony’s policy. Previously, gamers were able to purchase one game and download it onto five different consoles.
The offer still stands, but it now has a nasty twist attached, as GameSpot reports:
“GameSpot: What’s different about Warhawk’s DRM?
Sony representative: The downloadable version of Warhawk, which is available from the PlayStation Store, will be directly tied to the registered PSN account that purchased the game. Only that registered PSN account will be authenticated for gameplay. You will still be able to download the game to up to five PS3 systems. However, if a user downloads Warhawk onto a different machine, he/she will only be able to play via the original PSN user account on that machine and could not play on a different machine for 24 hours.”
And more bad news gather to fill up the page. The Sony representative also stated that chances are that each game arriving on the PlayStation Store would feature its own DRM policy, based on development costs, maintenance cost, server costs and so on. The company would like everyone to believe that this flexible approach might turn out to be a good thing after all, but then again, history shows that “changing the rules” is almost every time the equivalent of “adding more restrictions”.