different methods of anti-piracy ?
 

A few years a go I purchased a tank simulation called Steel Beasts Pro, this was sold with a usb dongle which as far as i know has made the game uncrackable.

I appreciate that Steel Beasts Pro cost a hell of a lot more than the normal game but surely UBI could come up with a system similar to this without adding too much extra to the cost of the game.

what do u guys think or has Steel Beasts Pro been cracked

No crack.
Good idea.

Who knows why they haven't done it.

I cant comment on Steel Beasts Pro, but Dongled software has been cracked in the past by using a patch that fools the software in to thinking the dongle is present.
So its not uncrackable (nothing is) add this fact to the extra cost of the Dongle hardware - and I expect that is your reason why the dongle never caught on.

I think the real question here is who came up with the word dongle?

I use them regularly at work...it allows multiple users to access various systems whilst maintaining the integrity of the system and the users.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dongle

I see as a "civilised" protection FADE-system applied in Armed Assault 2... basically if .exe file is not genuine - some fetures in game behave in vierd way, spoiling the gameply... so far not cracked

But apparently it is beyond "Ubi brains"...

:haha::haha:

FADE was there already in OFP IIRC, it's cracked... ages ago. :O:

Indeed, in some rare cases it even screwed up your legit copy, where the publisher had removed the copy protection/DRM.... happened to me. :damn:

I still think the most effective way to encourage sales is to just use cd key authentication for online play and/or patching. The truth is even when you come up with something impossible to crack, the end result is those that pirate will most likely not buy the game anyway. They'll end up moving on to something else. :S But crippled functionality in game is like an itch you can't scratch. Some will pay to get rid of the itch. :)

Human make it, human break it...