Looking forward to Mass Effect on the PC? You better be looking forward to re-validating your CD-Key every 10 days or you won't be able to play it anymore.
Here is BioWare's plan for copy protection:
"Mass Effect PC uses SecuROM which requires an online activation for the first time you play Mass Effect PC after installation. After the first activation, SecuROM requires that it re-check with the server within ten days in order to revalidate the CD key. If it can't contact the server before the 10 days are up, the game still runs and it will re-check until it is successful. If the check is not successfully performed within the 10 day period, Mass Effect will not run until an online check is successful."
Basically, this will punish paying customers while pirates merely circumvent the authentification process altogether (probably). The plan will also allow the game to be activated on 3 PCs at one time.
This almost seems like a Microsoft Windows level of copy protection and we all know how well that works... hint, it doesn't.
Mass Effect on the PC releases on May 27, 2008 and features an updated UI. Check out a Q&A on the copy protection at the BioWare Forums.
Comment(s)
a what if your pc aint hooked up to the net yes i know its 2008 but still you could be playing on a pc not connected to the net then what!
b) the to crack windows is set it makes it get a false signal back from nowhare so it thinkgs it has been activated when its not so the hackers will break this in oh 2 weeks tops. though they get a 4 out of 100 for thought but being Nazis just put bioware below EA on my list.
All Bioware is doing is trying out a new anti-piracy deal with there game, that is all, it might work, or it wont. Bioware is not any form of a Nazi. They are just trying something to protect their product and trying to make sure they get the mony for said product.
Piracy is bad for any software company. Its like you goto a really good resturant, the food is great and the prices are cheap, then pirates come and steal food from the resturant day after day. the resturant ends up raising the price of the food for the paying customers, but pirates keep taking the food. Then eventuly the resturant closes down because the cost of the food replacement was getting to the point where ppl could not afford. So eventuly the good place with the good food is no more.
So dont dis Bioware for trying out a new anti-piracy deal. They are only trying to make a profit to make more games.
PC Gaming the New Music Industry?
yay for *TRYING* to stop so much pirating but its not going to work. these stupid systems where you have to be online to play your single player game is crap. i shouldnt have to connect to someones website to play their game.
this is a very scary direction to be taking that is going to lead down a road of more and more restrictions on the BUYER and more rights being sucked away.
PS systems like steam and the ea downloader are BS annoying piles of useless that do nothing but suck up space on your task bar and waste your time. Really so now to play my games i need the ea downloader, steam and at least 2 other taskbar programs for other publishers and probably that stupid gamespy comrade, god forbid you have an antivirus and firewall, your sound controls, internet connectivity icon, your hopefully only 1 messenger and video card drivers. thats more than 10 right there.
Woot.
till we are allowed to rent a game for the pc i will be ok with piracy becuse what the game companys do to us is just as bad
Really, what this is going to do, is to force those that would normally not think about cracking there game.. to become pirates.. just to get what they PAID for..
And as for the steam system.. you have steam.. EA.. how many other random apps do I need running all the time, just to play games..
What are the game companies "Doing to you"? If you don't like it, don't play it. They are games, not food. Not a necessity, so if it's too expensive for you, just don't play it. You don't have the right to steal it.
Go for a walk. Read a book from the library. Those are free. But don't steal. If you steal, then you suck.
Game piracy has been around for a long, long time. It's not new.
Honestly You take and install the game, then go to a hack site to download the 10K crack that bypasses the check and boom your good to go.
Previously maybe 1 out of 10 people went to the hack site to pirate the game. Due to constant harrasment, 7 out of 10 will go so they can actually play the game when they want with out hassle.
Problem #2 It's 6 months later and BioWare has been bought by another company and changed thier name. So your copy goes to the intranet looking for bioware.com and won't play because it can't find that name anymore, you now have a Coaster.
Problem #3 It's 5 years later and BioWare decides they don't want to pay for the re-curring cost of operating the server to authenticate your game anymore, you now have a Coaster.
im sure there are people that still play Goldeneye JKA TES III but good luck finding one for a un inflated price online and stores wont have them. yet in this case your number wont activate a new disk.
i dont download new games but after i bought it if something breaks yeah expecialy if its older i wont pay $60 for KOTOR aganin!
Acctuly unlike many other ppl i still have all my games for my PC packed nice and fine in there original package. I might not play all of them now a days but i still have them. I also have lots of other programs i paid for and have patches i saved from each company that passed them out for said products. Any upgrade or patch I needed i was still able to get. I just know where to look.
I buy every game i want to play and buy every program i want to use for the conveniance of having customer support from the company i got the product from, and any other free bit they offer me without the fear of keylogging, spyware ridden, virus laden websites.
But as for downloading/pireting games, I have not. Most of the time the games out there that a can pirate are ether old and dont hold intrest for me, or are just not worth getting.
http://masseffect.bioware.co m/forums/viewtopic.html?topic= 628724&forum=125&sp=0
So what they are saying is, if you are not connected to the internet, you don't have the right to play this game.
FAIL.
How many years will Steam keep its servers up & running?
I'd be extremely vexed if a game I'd bought & payed for stopped working for such reasons...
I was planning to purchase Mass Effect, but having learned my lesson, I waited for the review. EA keeps doing this, so they will soon be losing my gaming dollars.
Since I spend about $3000 a year on PC games for myself and family, that's a small dent, I'm sure.
that is all.