For anyone (like Doom) considering Mass Effect for the PC:



This sounds like a crap idea to me.

Thoughts? Compliments? Critiques?

This is exactly why I do not own any Valve games. They require you to be constantly connected to Steams even for offline single-player games. There's no nice way to say it, it's ******* retarded.

What's the big deal? I would have thought that it wouldn't be too much trouble just to authenticate every 10 days, given that broadband is so prevalent in this day and age. And FYI WoogieMonster, Steam is not retarded. It _is_ flawed, and the release of HL2 was a shambles, but Steam has since picked up the slack with aplomb. Flawed, but still the best free download ever.

I can hardly see MEPC getting 0/10 reviews and no-one buying it (instead going for massed "AARR! SPLICE TEH DRM!") because " OMG TEH DRM SUX LOLOLOL". Sadly, that seems to be the main response I've seen from others on the internet, but why should a small case of stupid DRM put you off a good game?

Some people play their games on their laptop, and people don't always have internet access on those, especially when they're not at home. Being unable to play the game after 10 days just because you don't have an internet connection (We're talking about a offline single player game here after all!) is just ridiculous.

Apparently your hardware is checked as well, to see if the game is installed on the same computer the second time it is installed. It shouldn't be a problem to upgrade a part or two, but if you get a new computer or upgrade a lot of parts you'll have to contact tech support to prove that it is still your computer and that you own a legal copy...

And the protection it's not going to help. By giving fair customers such a hard time with the verifying every 10 days they are kinda encouraging people to get a pirated version, which is much more convenient because it will certainly get rid of that verifying stuff somehow. Nothing is unhackable.

Spore is going to use this protection thing as well...

I don't support piracy, but this type of copy protection is bad.

Eh. I guess you're right in that respect.
I wonder which maniac decided to put SecuROM and this <expletive> stupid authentication on MEPC, anyway? Someone at EA? Or mabye <shock, horror> somone at Bioware, betraying their oldest fans?

I did not say Steam is retarded. I said having to be constantly connected to it for an offline single-player game is ******* retarded.

@ Povuholo, I think you are correct, this is going to encourage piracy.

To be fair, Steam does have an offline mode that doesn't require an active internet connection- even though it isn't activated by default. I use it all the time to play my singleplayer Steam games without having to be connected to the service. I'm not too fond of the fact that the games I install with Steam are locked to my account and my account only, but I do like that I can install them to any computer I want to as many times as I want to and never need a disc to reinstall. That, and games tend to be somewhat cheaper over Steam than at retail. Yes, the service has its flaws, but it is far, far better than any other method anybody's come up with to "protect" their software (aside from, y'know, just releasing it DRM-free.

THIS, on the other hand, is absolutely ridiculous. Worse even than Bioshock's version of SecuROM, which required the software to phone home in order to activate, and worse than Half-Life 2's 'validation' of all its files back in 04. I was giving a little thought to buying MEPC for the possibility of mod content later, but I think I'll just be sticking with the 360 version now. Microsoft and Bioware win First Prize for Worst, Most Draconian DRM Since Sony's Rootkits.

I totally agree with Wrath - in fact, I couldn't have put it any better myself. It is an outrage, imo.

I think the real question is how will it affect their sales over the long run.


If it doesn't then they will continue the practice, and other company's will follow suit.

If the gamers really pitch a fit and it hurts sales they will probably take note.

And the other company's will take note of that too.


Sadly, I don't think anyone is going to wipe out the pirates any time soon.

But these paranoid measures that invade our privacy could hurt sales.


And thats the bottom line. Money.

In my opinion anyway.

Storm Raven



PS - As if we had any privacy in the first place.

Hm.

Honestly, I wouldn't go as far as outrage. No, I don't like the idea of having these kind of restrictions imposed on my entertainment, but I understand software developers must do what they must do to protect a profit. Neither will I pass judgement on so-called pirates (who're probably itching to crack MEPC's protection). Rather I mourn how entertainment grows more and more like airport security: paranoid and grossly ineffective, all the while forcing the average consumer to jump through myriad hoops to enjoy her/his purchase.

People who are going to pirate the game (this one or any other) are going to do so regardless of what steps they take to prevent it. This serves absolutely no purpose beyond annoying the hell out of the people who are honest to begin with. On some other forums (that I can not name here), people are beginning to fall into groups: those who are going to try to boycott and those who are now going to pirate the game anyway out of sheer spite. What's funny to me is that a lot of them are admitting that this is a game that they would have gladly paid for legally... until this crap was announced.

Oh, I wouldn't go so far as to pirate a game that I really wanted- but I would search high and low for a way to bypass the phone-home DRM and absolutely refuse to install the software until I had exactly that. There aren't many games I'd do that for, seeing as how I'd still be giving money to- and thus supporting- the company that used DRM in the first place, but there are a few games (Fallout 3 by our own dear Bethesda among them) which I most certainly would buy despite the copy protection (if anything that bad existed). I wouldn't let the DRM serve its function on my system, but I'd still pay money for the game. However, I'd not only find a reliable way to bypass that DRM- I'd then pass that knowledge on to any of my friends who had an interest in that game.

On the other hand, I'm perfectly willing to boycott most of the industry over stuff like this- because, honestly, there aren't many PC games coming out this year that I want badly enough to put up with the hassle of finding a way to disable something this nasty. Hopefully, that'll become the case with enough others to put a serious dent in somebody's profit, and eventually they'll figure it out and stop putting crap like this in their products. More likely, they'll make it even more obnoxious and blame their falling sales on increasing 'piracy.' Maybe that's what's happening already- in which case the only logical end result is a collapse and rebirth of the commercial gaming market.

I really don't like the idea of this. I understand that developers have to protect their interests, but constantly regisetering for a single-player game is just a frustrating pain-in-the-ass. If i've already paid for the game, I shouldn't have to tell Bioware that fact every week.

http://masseffect.bioware.com/forums/viewt...9&forum=125

YAY!!!

Great!

Spore will probably follow.

Now I can continue to say it:

Bioware has yet to let me down.

What's this ( http://masseffect.bioware.com/forums/viewt...&forum=125)?
...
Hooray! Break out the cake and pop! Cheese for everyone!

I think it's interesting that they took the high road of moral concern for members of the military and others. But I have some difficulty buying that story. It's true that it would have caused some hardship for members of the military without the ability to phone home in order to play their game. But does anyone here really believe they didn't know that in the first place. Without a doubt it was the uproar of their customers at the idea of such draconian measures.

You know they must've spent a lot of money researching this software security option before deciding to announce it publicly. I'll bet there's a lot of head scratching going on over there about how they could have been so wrong. Well, maybe the next time, they will think twice before alienating the very people that keep them in business. What's even better is that as I said before, other companies will take note.

Storm Raven

I think it was the MASSIVE number of "proven" hackers promising to crack the game within hours and passing it along to every site that would allow them to provide it. If you can't outrun the bees, don't throw stones at the nest.


No, they just picked a guy, blamed him and fired him. Why? Failure to properly research, gauge and respond to market-base. Yes, really.


Again, the answer is no. Next time they just will not announce what they are planning (ala Company of Heroes, Bioshock, etc).

A realistic point of view my good friend Woogie,

But I can always hope they learn something good for the users from the experience.

An optimistic point of view is the only way I can keep, what little sanity Chesto has left me with.

You know about his "claws" I'm sure. LOL

Storm Raven

BTW, Mass Effect is a great game. I have it on my XBox. I agree that they shouldn't go with a 10 day authentication. However, it isn't quite as bad as Bioshock PC where you can only install the game once or twice, PERIOD. (That is at least what I read from a few people who bought it for the PC).

I do NOT support any game that is loaded with spyware or uses anything like Steam or allows you only to install it twice or less times. Just not worth it. The PC gaming world is dieing, slowly but surely because of junk like this on top of Vista and DX10 issues.

might be considerd spam
but this kind of garbage is exactly the reason i favor console gaming over pc gaming
there are many many more reasons but this is just one of the larger ones

Still, I'll take all those disadvantages of pc gaming if that means I can make/use mods.

For what it's worth, Mass Effect PC is very, very good. I bought it, and I'm finding it to be a lot more fun than most of my collection put together, including vanilla Oblivion. If you're going to buy it though, be sure to have a SM3.0 graphics card.

I am playing the PC version and have had no problems with the authentication process. It is a great game and I find it's storyline more interesting then I did with Oblivion. Game play is a lot smoother as well.

What about lands like south africa, where I live? We don't have internet so readily available. This is just another case where pirates no problems and we who bougth the game has to deal with this crap. I agree, these people are killing the PC gaming scene.

HAHAHA. Just cracked it now I don't need to register my legally BOUGHT game online. Sucks to be you bioware!

I can't believe they'll do this. I always plays games in my laptop and definitely I'm not always connected to internet.
These kind of issues are the ones that justify cracking!

You read the rest of the thread, correct? Bioware has since resolved the issue.

I actually sent a few complaints to the Steam management trough email, postal mail, and couple of phone calls
the mails and emails were 5 pages long and contain exessive amount of complaints about the "copyright protection" that's just plain bs
and the reply was....

"we are sorry for your inconvinience, we will look up the matter as soon as possible"
yea.... right.... it's about 1.5 year at least with constant complaints now.... congrats steam for your awesome costumer service

I dont understand, they work their behind off to create some incredible security system and some punk comes up and cracks it up

Oh BTW Halororor, I hope you cracked with a proper crack, I dont know if you managed to pass the galaxy map, some cracks just give black screen and you cant access galaxy map properly...

I beat the game and I have to admit it is an excellent game try it out if you didnt already, especially the last boss fight was great...

Nah, mine didn't have any problems, finished it about a week ago.
Sorry for my poor friend though, he took his back to the store because that happened to him just as the Normandy goes to land on the Citadel straight after the tutorial. But I supplied him with the crack as he doesn't have internet at all, so it's kinda strange.