Game News Mass Effect (and Spore) copy protection PHUN

[Saint_Proverbius]

Tags: Mass Effect

There's <A href="http://masseffect.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=628627&forum=125">a thread</a> on <a href="http://masseffect.bioware.com/forums">the Mass Effect forum</a> about the copy protection <a href="http://www.ea.com">EA</a> will be using on it's upcoming titles. Here's the clip of it:
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<blockquote>Mass Effect uses SecuROM and requires an online activation for the first time that you play it. Each copy of Mass Effect comes with a CD Key which is used for this activation and for registration here at the BioWare Community. Mass Effect does not require the DVD to be in the drive in order to play, it is only for installation.
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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.</blockquote>
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Hooray for BULLSHIT! And people wonder why PC gaming is dying out.
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.bluesnews.com">Blue's News</A>

 

[Hümmelgümpf]

Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.bluesnews.com">Blue's News</A>

No need to look that far.

 

[Noceur]

And all it does is delay the cracked version slightly and inconvenience the paying customer greatly.

Look at it from the bright side though, if PC gaming is dead, at least you won't have to upgrade your computer as often. The indie games aren't that demanding on your hardware, plus some of them are of equal quality content-wise, if not bloom-wise.

Indie games are sort of what PC games where back in the old days (economy-wise, etc)... and when the big dev-houses stop making games for PC, the indie devs will probably get the same amount of customers as PC games had back in the early days (a bit more than they have now, that is). It's like... going full circle.

Heck, maybe Jeff could hire a decent 2D artist at last (and/or a writer to make new franchises).

Anyway, EA is aiming higher than just killing development houses now, it's aiming at PC gaming as a whole, eh?

 

[Morbus]

Double post!!!

B&

 

[pkt-zer0]

Well, if the online activation is transparent enough, I don't see this working that terribly. Add an option to activate your game offline somehow, so people lacking net access don't get screwed too bad, either. Paying consumers don't get inconvenienced too much, pirates won't have to deal with it anyway, so it's a win-win situation.

 

[Herbert West]

Well, if the online activation is transparent enough, I don't see this working that terribly. Add an option to activate your game offline somehow, so people lacking net access don't get screwed too bad, either. Paying consumers don't get inconvenienced too much, pirates won't have to deal with it anyway, so it's a win-win situation.

So why not make it far less intrusive right from the start? Pirates are going to pirate it anyway and it shall become as easy to download as any other game. People who buy original games will buy it. In this world where even the most sophisticated DRM gets destroyed and invalidated nigh immediatly, what's the point of intrusive protection that makes using your legaly purchased software difficult or impossible [example: Bioshock activation].

I know that if I buy this game the first thing I'm going to do is to get a proper crack. It should be out when the game hits the shelves anyway...

 

[elander_]

If they want me to pay 60E for a game they better start making some decent demos and provide much better consumer info or that copy protection won't last very long.

 

[pkt-zer0]

So why not make it far less intrusive right from the start?

That's the "if online activation is transparent enough" part. The good part is that you don't need a no-CD crack anymore.

 

[doctor_kaz]

And all it does is delay the cracked version slightly and inconvenience the paying customer greatly.

Look at it from the bright side though, if PC gaming is dead, at least you won't have to upgrade your computer as often. The indie games aren't that demanding on your hardware, plus some of them are of equal quality content-wise, if not bloom-wise.

Indie games are sort of what PC games where back in the old days (economy-wise, etc)... and when the big dev-houses stop making games for PC, the indie devs will probably get the same amount of customers as PC games had back in the early days (a bit more than they have now, that is). It's like... going full circle.

Heck, maybe Jeff could hire a decent 2D artist at last (and/or a writer to make new franchises).

Anyway, EA is aiming higher than just killing development houses now, it's aiming at PC gaming as a whole, eh?

Indie games are the fat chicks of gaming. If you get one you try to tell yourself that it's what you really wanted all along because of her personality.

 

[inwoker]

I know that if I buy this game the first thing I'm going to do is to get a proper crack. It should be out before the game hits the shelves anyway...

fixed

 

[Shannow]

Well, I'm not really in the warez business but, iirc, games like Sacred took 6 months to get cracked and the add-on wasn't cracked at all, last time I checked. So from a devs point of view, you have made a great game. Everyone will want to play it. If you manage to delay the pirates for a few months at least, your sales will triple in that time...
Of course, I will probably already disagree with the great game part in ME's case, but I do understand the devs.
Now the question is whether we're a complete minority and sales will not suffer from intrusive DRM and the delay of the cracked version will promt pirates who cannot wait to buy a legit version or whether the devs (or better producers) a so far removed from their audience that they actually hurt themselves.
Since I'm not really interested in ME I'm looking foward to see how this plays out. Hopefully, it will take long to crack the game.


Hehe, invoker just read your fix. If it's not leaked it is improbable

 

[mondblut]

I firmly believe in "people who pirate a game wouldn't buy it anyway" theory. I am a walking, living proof of it

Anyway, I *might* consider purchasing some particularly outstanding game I really want to play, not just to have in storage to maybe take a peek at it someday. But if it involves having to fuck with some sort of drm, they can suck my dick. I'd sooner torrent and seed it just in spite, even if I have no intention to ever install it.

 

[WalterKinde]

Well, I'm not really in the warez business but, iirc, games like Sacred took 6 months to get cracked and the add-on wasn't cracked at all, last time I checked. So from a devs point of view, you have made a great game. Everyone will want to play it. If you manage to delay the pirates for a few months at least, your sales will triple in that time...
Of course, I will probably already disagree with the great game part in ME's case, but I do understand the devs.
Now the question is whether we're a complete minority and sales will not suffer from intrusive DRM and the delay of the cracked version will promt pirates who cannot wait to buy a legit version or whether the devs (or better producers) a so far removed from their audience that they actually hurt themselves.
Since I'm not really interested in ME I'm looking foward to see how this plays out. Hopefully, it will take long to crack the game.


Hehe, invoker just read your fix. If it's not leaked it is improbable

Sacred wasn't a popular game and you can get it for 4.95 now from online retailers, 9.95 with the addon.
Mass Effect and Bioshock on the other hand were/are hyped games so interest in being the first the crack Mass Effect will be very high.
They might stomp the crackers and pirates for lets say 3wks maybe it might give them a grace period and they will claim success but lets not forget Bioshock's publisher was claiming a victory too (at least on the official forums) with the new protection conviently ignoring the piracy of the xbox version and the trouble legit users were having with the copy protection which was probably the worst thing to happen now folks are leery of picking up titles from them, maybe EA will do the same but does the cost of this new copy protection cover the troubles and bugs that will pop up with use by legit users?
NWN2 drm killed some dvd drives.
Hell i can say the drm on the new Gothic 3 game collection while it didn't fuck up my system made installing the game a hassle not to mention in the end the whole drm scheme had to be removed with a patch from jowood because the disc the game shipped on failed the drm check, and this was your normal run of the mill albeit complicated disc checking drm.
How much more complicated will be the one EA is using?

 

[Xor]

How much more complicated will be the one EA is using?

Well, they could put critical game files on a central server and require you log into it to play.

 

[WalterKinde]

Similiar to having to download the exe for Bioshock yet within 7 days the game was cracked and available on p2p networks.
So who is exactly losing out when they do all these crazy drm schemes?
Not the so called pirates apparently.

 

[aries202]

Similiar to having to download the exe for Bioshock yet within 7 days the game was cracked and available on p2p networks.
So who is exactly losing out when they do all these crazy drm schemes?
Not the so called pirates apparently.

Yes, that may well be, but as I understand the first 7-14 days are the most crucial when releasing games today. Somehow publsihers think that they need to get an 'all in' -
during the first 1-2 weeks of game sales; noone ever seems to think that a game earn money in the long run anymore.

I'm still not supporting the EA/Bioware securom thing; trying to explain why it has to be in there...

 

[tunguska]

Well, they could put critical game files on a central server and require you log into it to play.

That seems very clever to me. I wonder if that could be beaten. Has anyone tried that before with single player games? It would definitely affect speed, but even the devs don't worry about such things anymore anyway. Sounds like a good idea for a patent. Then charge licensing fees to all the publishers that will be lining up to do it. Of course those without internet connections (and there are millions) would be SOL. You would essentially be converting an offline single player game to an online single player game. As much as I hate the idea I would prefer it to all developers just doing MMORPGs which I truly despise. Another advantage to this scheme from the publisher's POV is that they could charge for the use of their servers, maybe even as much as MMORPGs do. $69.99 + $30/month to play Mass Effect anyone?

 

[Elwro]

With the limited number of installations, I'm not sure if "selling" the game is the best word for what EA'll be doing - it'll be more like "renting", especially when you think about reselling your copy.

On second thought, it perhaps won't be a problem when a crack is ready a day after (or even before) release. I'm not too interested in the game anyway.

 

[NiM82]

Well, they could put critical game files on a central server and require you log into it to play.

That seems very clever to me. I wonder if that could be beaten. Has anyone tried that before with single player games?

It's been tried and beaten, a few small casual type games (poker, pool type things) have had streaming content, all that happens is someone with an account records the stream and hacks the exe to use the data from a local point.

 

[Halenthal]

Well, I'm not really in the warez business but, iirc, games like Sacred took 6 months to get cracked and the add-on wasn't cracked at all, last time I checked.

Add-on doesn't need to be cracked since the latest patch, which is required to play online, removes the copy protection altogether. But yeah Sacred took a while to crack, and that copy protection was not only the standard types of commercial copy protection but also some built into the game code itself by the devs...and all that copy protection caused about three out of every five tech support issues, with the other two usually dealing with device drivers. Believe me, I'm their unofficial international tech support.

So from a devs point of view, you have made a great game. Everyone will want to play it. If you manage to delay the pirates for a few months at least, your sales will triple in that time...

Sacred's devs repeatedly told me they only hoped the copy protection worked for the first month after the game hit the shelves. Anything longer than that they considered a bonus.

I have not purchased games simply because of the copy protection, though there have been a few-very few-games that I thought were good enough to make the copy protection hassle worth it (Space Rangers 2, for instance). I'll buy Spore, but only after I've read a lot of reviews from normal people about it (check out warez forums for great reviews-those guys tell it like it is, though they tend to be an immature lot).

 

[MetalCraze]

I don't see how piracy can be a trouble in EA case. come on its EA - the only thing piracy does to them is making them not buy another private plane this month. and besides that I don't see what else bad piracy does to EA. its not like EA actually was making good games and piracy changed that.
also in the case of EA piracy may be even a healing thing. probably if they'll lose enough money on their shit-sequels they will finally make something new. or at least not stupid. but considering that we will still have our annual Fifa and yet another C&C shooter this year - people must torrent MOAR. also they deserve it for their new anti-consumer protection.

 

[aron searle]

Believe me,

Nope

 

[Lingwe]

Anyway, EA is aiming higher than just killing development houses now, it's aiming at PC gaming as a whole, eh?

The master plot of the PC Gaming Alliance is finally revealed!

 

[FireWolf]

I heard about Bioshock, read some previews, read some reviews and was mildly interested in the title. Was intending to buy it to see what all the fuss was about it, but I heard terrible things about the copy protection. So I've never bought it, I don't feel I've lost out by not playing the game. There's a lost sale for you and I didn't even pirate the title. I like to think it's a bit poetic, excessive copy protection to prevent losses in sales due to piracy being the reason why there are lost sales.

If they really think people who have been waiting months for the release of Mass Effect to come out on the pc are going to be terribly concerned about waiting a week or more for a version that won't cripple their pc/will be able to be installed numerous times, then they're kidding themselves and sales will suffer significantly because of it.

As someone stated some people will not buy a game but will pirate it. If they can't pirate it they're not necessarily going to go out there and buy the game, it's not a lost sale. Lost sales are when customers are put off from buying something because: reviews are biased and bought out by publishers (fucking 10/10! Five Stars! It's better than Sex and Meth and religious bliss!), games are overhypped to saturation point, the constant drive for shinier graphics using increasingly more powerful and more expensive hardware (instead of maximising existing hardware, wait only a tenth of the pc gaming market has a computer that can run this? Why are we not selling?), the elimination of niche gameplay due to skyrocketing prices, mega-publishers releasing iterations of the same game over and over. half-broken titles being released and patched later, the complete lack of proper demonstration software 'try before you buy' on some titles, cross-platform releases that're awful, release dates staggered to favour consoles, and probably more issues I can't think of right now.

But of course, it's PIRACY that's causing a PC sales decline, since that's blame that can be shifted away from the companies and their practices and instead shifted onto the consumer. Because all our customers are dirty fucking pirates and they should be thankful that these mighty companies even deem us worthy of this digital entertainment!

Copy protection that inconveniences and scares off legitimate customers is worse than no copy protection when the PC game buying public has got to deal with all this other shit ontop of it.

 

[Norfleet]

Meanwhile, Pirate Cat still won't pay for his downloads.