Boycott Bioware!!!!

[SUBMAN1]

Ongoing permanent DRM internet checks every 10 days forever! This is rediculous!!!!!!! I know it will be cracked, but to buy the game is to support this nonesense!!!! I'll play the game, but I won't pay for it if its this bad! Its not like I can't afford it, it is the hassle of DRM when I know the pirate version will be free of it! And I won't be supporting the company with my $$$ if I don't purchase it!

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquir...award-worst-pc

-S

Mass Effect DRM goes too far

M.E. phone home (every ten days)

By Wily Ferret: Wednesday, 07 May 2008, 7:44 AM

PC GAMERS WHO have had their fill of online activation headaches with Windows will be pretty miffed to hear the latest anti-piracy scheme being dreamed up by top games publishers.


In a post on Bioware's forums, producer Derek French has confirmed that two of the biggest PC titles of the year - Will Wright's Spore and the Xbox 360 conversion of Mass Effect - will require ongoing, rolling 10-day activation over the internet.


"Mass Effect uses SecuROM and requires an online activation for the first time that you play it," French says. "After the first activation, SecuROM requires that it re-check with the server within ten days (in case the CD Key has become public/warez'd and gets banned). Just so that the 10 day thing doesn't become abrupt, SecuROM tries its first re-check with 5 days remaining in the 10 day window. If it can't contact the server before the 10 days are up, nothing bad happens and the game still runs. After 10 days a re-check is required before the game can run."


Just to re-iterate that point, you will need to re-activate your copy with the publisher every 10 days. Forever.


So a few pertinent points. If you don't have the internet, you can't play these games - probably not so much of a big deal in these days of ubiquitous broadband, but a bugbear for a few, nonetheless. Many will say that this is a pretty outrageous invasion of privacy that significantly worsens the PC gaming experience - for example, installing the games on a laptop and then heading off on holiday could result in a complete lack of gaming action.


The DRM will let you install the game on three different machines before having a paddy. Bioshock, last year's standout PC title, allowed up to five activations and only one online check at installation. And, of course, as with that title last year, if the activation servers go down you can kiss goodbye to playing your nice new game on launch day.


And if it so happens that the DRM's makers go out of business in a couple of years, you can forget about ever playing your game again in the future, as there will no servers to activate with.


It's also significantly more onerous than the DRM even on Windows installations - which, given that the OS costs around five times the cost of a PC game, seems strange. It's another reason to simply find a version of the game that is hacked to bypass activation - common sense dictates that using legit software shouldn't be more hassle than pirated software.


Gamers who are miffed at the latest move in anti-piracy measures can express their displeasure here. Or they could just not buy the game.

[Ducimus]

That is going way too far. What if you decide to tuck the game away for a few months, or even a year, and then decide to play it again?

That BS would seriously drive me into looking for a warez version then put up with that crap, and i've never D/L or used a warez/torrent distribution, EVER. This however would encourage me to do so.

[SUBMAN1]

Originally Posted by Ducimus

That is going way too far. What if you decide to tuck the game away for a few months, or even a year, and then decide to play it again?

That BS would seriously drive me into looking for a warez version then put up with that crap, and i've never D/L or used a warez/torrent distribution, EVER. This however would encourage me to do so.

Pretty much my thoughts as well. I am a stickler for owning the original boxed game to keep up my collection, but this one would drive me to download a securerom free version!

-S

[antikristuseke]

Boycot the publisher not the developer. EA should be the target in this case, not Bioware because devs dont really have a say in the DRM used in most cases. Anyway i'm probably going to do what I usualy do, buy the game but play it cracked.

Originally Posted by antikristuseke

Boycot the publisher not the developer. EA should be the target in this case, not Bioware because devs dont really have a say in the DRM used in most cases. Anyway i'm probably going to do what I usualy do, buy the game but play it cracked.

EA are great at this kind of rubbish ,To play the EA digital download of Rail Simulator you need to be connected to the internet all the time, and have their launcher active or it wont run! To add insult to injury, their charging the same price as a boxed version anyway so you dont save any money and get hassled for your troubles.

[antikristuseke]

Indeed, EA's digital distribution has been a huge stinking pile of fail.

[Ducimus]

When it comes to EA and my dislike of their practices...... words fail me. There is no way to accurately describe in the english language, my disgust of EA.

[CaptHawkeye]

Bioware and all other PC developers can blow me. I love how they piss millions of dollars into their games to get 3 extra textures out of X dude's pinky and then wonder where all their money went when they don't get Halo-esque sales. Maybe you *******s wouldn't take so much damage from pirates if you didn't bankrupt yourselves with every new game? "Nah, we'll just find more totally useless security measures that just end up being draconian."

[antikristuseke]

Bankrupting themselves with every game they develop is exactly why they are still in business. I salute your ignorance, kind sir.

[CaptHawkeye]

Originally Posted by antikristuseke

Bankrupting themselves with every game they develop is exactly why they are still in business. I salute your ignorance, kind sir.

If you have to bankrupt yourself repeatedly to stay in business, then congratulations! Your business practices SUCK. Especially if you don't NEED to spend that much money...ever. But nah, devs like to blow off millions on simple graphical boosts and then complain when they don't make instant profit. I guess I should feel bad that they're a bunch of idiots then shouldn't I?

I mean, the developers of Sins of a Solar Empire were smart enough to keep development costs low and as a result have had zero issue making profit on their game. You don't see them whining like Cevat Yerli does and complaining that PC gamers are just mean poopy heads who don't like him because he can't figure out how to develope a game without selling his house and car.

[iambecomelife]

Originally Posted by darius359au

EA are great at this kind of rubbish ,To play the EA digital download of Rail Simulator you need to be connected to the internet all the time, and have their launcher active or it wont run! To add insult to injury, their charging the same price as a boxed version anyway so you dont save any money and get hassled for your troubles.

Are you serious? Wow. All they're doing is making more and more people turn to piracy, including consumers who usually wouldn't do consider it.

[goldorak]

You know what ? I keep my 50-60 € and EA just lost 50-60 €.
You're never going to convince pirates (or the large magority of them) to start buying games, but its very easy to annoy honest customers so much that they stop buying your games. I'm in this second category and that's why in recent years I've only bought protection free games that interested me that is.

[jumpy]

Medal of Honor Airborne was the last EA game I bought; there won't be another for me.
Not because of drm, but because although the game looks nice and plays quite well in its single player format, since I had it from release the number of times I've successfully been able to connect to an online game can be counted on the fingers of one hand.
That says 'not fit for purpose' to me.
Like everything else, they knocked out an unfinished product aiming to secure as much profit as possible.
Sorry EA, I loved the MOH series (I still play Spearhead online) but you've killed it so badly that even after 3 patches, Airborne still doesn't work.

...RIP MOH franchise...

[ReallyDedPoet]

With regards to this discussion and some specific posts in this thread, I want remind
folks of the following from the SUBSIM FAQ & Rules:

SUBSIM Review has a longstanding policy against software piracy. We do NOT allow discussion or even mention of warez, abandonware, peer-to-peer game swapping, illegal download sites, or rip-off websites. Nothing will get you banned faster than pointing people to illegal software distribution sites. Don't ask for serial numbers, manuals, or cracks. Any admission that you have in your possession illegal software can and usually will result in revocation of your Radio Room forum account. Support computer game programmers buy legally purchasing their work. They have to eat too, you know.

RDP

[antikristuseke]

Originally Posted by CaptHawkeye

If you have to bankrupt yourself repeatedly to stay in business, then congratulations! Your business practices SUCK. Especially if you don't NEED to spend that much money...ever. But nah, devs like to blow off millions on simple graphical boosts and then complain when they don't make instant profit. I guess I should feel bad that they're a bunch of idiots then shouldn't I?

I mean, the developers of Sins of a Solar Empire were smart enough to keep development costs low and as a result have had zero issue making profit on their game. You don't see them whining like Cevat Yerli does and complaining that PC gamers are just mean poopy heads who don't like him because he can't figure out how to develope a game without selling his house and car.

I guess my sarcasm escaped you.