CD Projekt RED announced that The Witcher series has managed to hit a major milestone: over 4 million copies sold to date. The numbers come from the collective worldwide sales of The Witcher for PC and Mac, and The Witcher 2 for PC and Xbox 360. The Witcher 2 will soon be available on Mac systems. The Witcher games on PC and Mac are DRM-free, which we'd like to believe was a contributing factor in the strong sales for the series...

Earlier this week iOS users noticed that a number of their apps were suddenly broken and unplayable. Over 70 apps including popular titles like Angry Birds were broken after a new update from Apple was deployed. It turns out the real culprit was Apple's DRM scheme, FairPlay. The short story is that, after the update was deployed, the DRM failed to recognize the game or app in question as "valid" and even uninstalling and reinstalling the app wouldn’t fix the problem.

In what can only be described as an awesome feature, Eurogamer polls developers on games that require a constant connection in order to play.

Good Old Games, the popular place to get classic PC games that have been remastered to work on modern operating systems without horrific DRM is offering two great classic Origin titles for free. For a limited time you can download Worlds of Ultima: The Savage Empire and Ultima: Worlds of Adventure 2: Martian Dreams provided by GOG and EA free of charge. The Ultima Worlds series of games used the Ultima VI engine technology to create two unique RPG worlds: the dinosaur-filled lost land of Eodon, and the bizarre landscapes of Mars.

Speaking to Forbes recently, CD Projekt managing director Guillaume Rambourg reiterated his company's stance on the uselessness of DRM in fighting piracy, how the authentication process associated with most DRM schemes damage the user experience, and that there is ultimately no future in its usage in the long run.

Everyone is getting in on the crowdfunding bandwagon. Electronic Arts announced today that it will make life a little bit easier for anyone that successfully funds a game through a crowdfunding program such as Kickstarter by letting them sell their game on its Origin digital distribution platform for free for 90 days. While 90 days might not seem like a very long time let's keep in mind that the best sales usually come in the first two weeks of a game's release anyway...

Eurogamer has two great editorials on Diablo III - one called "Always Online: What Diablo 3's Battle.net Does Right " and another called "Always Online: What Diablo 3's Battle.net Does Wrong." Both make valid points about the game and its requirement that players always be connected to Battle.net - even when playing the single-player campaign

Blizzard may have to trigger delays of up to 40 seconds when users log in to Battle.net to play Diablo III at launch on or around May 15. Those that fail to log in will get an "error 37 message," which may confuse them but they should simply try to log in again.

EA's official blog is calling on all Origin customers to let them know what you love or hate about the digital distribution platform - either in the comments section of this blog post or as part of a special chat scheduled for May 8.

EA's digital distribution platform "has a long way to go," according to Valve's Gabe Newell, who owns Steam. As part of episode one of the Seven Day Cooldown podcast, Newell gave a blunt response when asked what he thought about EA's digital distribution platform.

"They have a lot of work to do to get to where they need to be and where I as a customer would want them to be," he said.

Responding to a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, Capcom says that there is no distinction between downloadable content and content hidden and locked on Street Fighter X Tekken retail game discs. The latest argument between Capcom and consumers began when it was revealed that over a dozen DLC characters were hidden on the game discs. Because consumers paid for the game at retail and the content was on the discs already, they feel like they are having to pay for something they already paid for.

Not so, says Capcom in its response to a BBB claim:

Here we go again. Another "reliable source" - this time with inside knowledge on Sony's next console, offers some rumors that should upset a majority of the gaming public.

If you were interested in EA's new SimCity game then you may want to rethink your plans to play it when it launches sometime in 2013. According to Joystiq, EA's city building game will require that you remain "always connected" with the game in order to play it. There was some concern that the game would only be available through Origin, but apparently you'll be able to pick it up from other sources.

inXile is putting together its list of rewards for those who support the development of Wasteland 2 through a Kickstarter campaign, which is scheduled to launch sometime this month. After creating the different reward levels, InXile made a few changes at the request of the community. The most notable is that the game will be DRM-free when it is released.

The Witcher series developer CD Projekt Red said during a Game Developers Conference panel this week that all of its future games will be DRM free. The comments were made by CD Projekt Red CEO Marcin Iwinski. Iwinski said during the panel discussion that the studio wouldn't use any digital rights management software in its games again because it over-complicates things for them and doesn't really protect their games from piracy. Iwinski went on to say that the retail version of The Witcher 2, which used SecuROM as its DRM solution, was cracked in two hours of its release.

This morning Reclaim Your Game tweeted that EA and BioWare continue to use the SecuROM DRM scheme for its games. The latest to use it is Mass Effect 3, but it appears to be integrated tightly into EA's Origin client. EA has insisted in the past that it is not using SecuROM in its software releases on PC.

Video game console makers Microsoft and Sony are squaring off against enthusiast hackers, academics, and organizations such as the EFF who would like to make the act of jailbreaking legal. There is already an exception in place that allows the iPhone to be jailbroken, so supporters of gaining similar allowances for the Xbox 360 and PS3 are urging the U.S. Copyright Office to make these exceptions. The copyright office is currently accepting public input comments on the subject until Friday, and will likely make a decision soon shortly thereafter.

According to a Eurogamer report, CD Projekt RED's popular role-playing game, The Witcher 2, sold 1.1 million copies last year. Surprisingly, the first game managed to sell 400,000 units last year as well. While Steam sales numbers were not disclosed, apparently 270,000 units were sold via digital distribution, with 40,000 moved on GOG.com.

Ubisoft has issued an apology to customers who were affected by server moves this week that affected games requiring "always connected" DRM - even when they tried to play single player games. Because Ubisoft uses a DRM scheme on some games that require a constant connection, shutting the servers down that these games require made them unplayable.

CD Projekt RED, makers of The Witcher 2, say that there are real issues that could arise from Microsoft attempting to block the use of used games in its next generation console. Rumors have surfaced that Microsoft plans to block the use of used games on its new platform - a rumor many game developers heralded as a "good idea." Used games have become a punching bag for publishers and developers in the last several years who spend a lot of money developing games only to see marginal returns.

Destructoid points out in this story that Ubisoft's plan to take down servers next week shows why "always on" DRM is a bad idea. During the maintenance the publisher has planned next week, any game that has "always online" DRM will not be playable. That means that legitimate copies of games won't work. Which games will be broken next week?

As part of its earnings announcements today, Electronic Arts revealed that its digital games service Origin generated around $100 million in the 2011 calendar year from an estimated 9.3 million consumers.

The company also said that its MMO (created by BioWare) Star Wars: The Old Republic currently enjoys about 1.7 million active subscribers since launching in December, with 2 million units sold.

Speaking to Eurogamer, EA Partners executive producer Jeff Gamon says that it will not use an Online Pass or code system for the upcoming Syndicate game. This is obviously great news for consumers who absolutely loathe this new practice by publishers such as EA, THQ, and Ubisoft.

Gamon said that EA decided to leave Online Pass out of the re-imagining of the dystopian Bullfrog strategy game classic to appeal to more players.

EA's next chapter in the SSX action snowboarding game series will have an Online Pass system within. All players (both those who buy new and used) will be able to access the game's Explore and Global Events multiplayer modes, but any in-game credits earned will be withheld from the player until an online pass code is activated. That code is included in new copies of the game, but used game buyers will have to pay $10 for a code.

A dust-up over 38 Studios' Kingdoms of Amular: Reckoning locking on-disc content behind an "online pass" system has raised the ire of some gamers - which in turn has brought studio founder and former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling out of the woodwork to defend the plan.

The Online Pass Code was found in early copies of the game sent to reviewers and leaked onto the Internet. When fans found out they took to the official forums to complain about it.

The text that came with the review copies of the game reads:

We missed this a couple of days ago, but it's a pretty important story for fans of Twisted Metal. According to IndustryGamers, Eat Sleep Play's Twisted Metal for PlayStation 3 will include an Online Pass system that requires you to punch in a code to play online.

Paradox Entertainment CEO and co-owner Fred Wester thinks that digital rights management schemes are a waste of money, a hassle to users, and usually implemented to appease a CEO or Board of directors that thinks it somehow stops piracy.

Ubisoft has found itself on the defensive yet again after customers in Europe who bought the latest Anno strategy game complained about its digital rights management software. Reports surfaced last week that the DRM, which offers a limited number of activations, were being used up if users changed their hardware configurations.

CD Projekt, the oft-admired developer and publisher known for The Witcher series and its cool stance on offering DRM-free products to its customers, fell from the community's grace in December. A story surfaced that the company was using a copyright trolling law firm in Germany to send demand letters to people who had been identified as having illegally downloaded The Witcher 2. The company said at the time that it did this because, while it was all for offering its products without copyright protection, it did not support its games being pirated.

The Humble Indie Bundle 4 has ended, and was the biggest bundle offering to date, selling 435,236 bundles for a total of $2,372,194.97. By the end of the pay-what-you-want DRM-free indie games bundle event, the organizers offered a total of 12 games including Nightsky HD, Cave Story+, Gratuitous Space Battles, Jamestown, Bit.Trip.Runner, Super Meat Boy, Shank, Crayon Physics Deluxe, VVVVVV, Cogs, Hammerfight, And Yet It Moves, and a bundle of soundtracks.