I have a friend who thinks anything apple is "beast", thinks the xbox is gods gift to gaming
That's an extremely odd combination...
If I was selling a game, I'd DRM the shit out of it.
That would be a really foolish move. The DRM in Spore, et al, spurred far more legitimate customers to pirate than it encouraged pirates to go straight.
Here's the deal. The DRM that EA's been using isn't removable via standard means (it utilizes null registry keys, or something of the like, that cannot be removed with regedit), has been known to cause system instability, and is a potential security issue due to it requiring a privileged service to run at all times. Another issue is that the SecuROM system in use is that it requires you to be online when you install the game. Additionally, you are only allowed to install it a limited number of times. If you can't do a proper uninstall,
you lose an install. If you run out of installations you have to call EA, 2K, or whoever, and convince them that you're not a pirate. What if the activation servers are shut down in five years? You can't properly install the game. Furthermore, the system simply doesn't work.
Spore received harsh criticism for its use of SecuROM's online activation system. However, despite the extremely harsh (to legit consumers, that is) DRM employed, the game was still released, fully uncracked, several days
before it was slated to be released. Since EA had numerous problems keeping their activation servers up and running, many paying customers were unable to play the game. Meanwhile, the pirates were happily playing their copies of the game.
This is far from an issue with just Spore, too. Every game that was released with that nasty form of DRM -- such as Mass Effect and Bioshock -- experienced similar problems at launch. Paying customers got the shaft while the pirates can download, install, and play the game with zero hassle and without worrying that their copy will be invalidated after a few years or if EA happens to feel like revoking your key (which they claim they won't do, but who knows what'll happen down the line?).
Even if DRM had a small effect on piracy (unlikely) it wouldn't be worth the bad PR. Look at the extreme backlash that Spore received (namely, thousands upon thousands of one-star reviews), not to mention all of the negative press.
PC gaming is killing itself...pirates have nothing to do with it. Piracy is no worse now than it was during the shareware era in the early 90s.