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.