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Oh yes, "evil" EA is gone for good...
Xenogears of Bore
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According to Derek French, Mass Effect, scheduled to arrive on the PC this 28th, will employ the same SecuROM online activation system that was initially put into Bioshock, allowing the buyer to activate his copy of Mass Effect for 3 times before politely asking to him / her to go to hell, that is, contact the customer service “helpline” to get it reactivated. And while the game itself wouldn’t require the DVD to be physically present in the drive, it goes one step further and phones home every 10 days and re-authenticates just to make sure legit customers are not the worst form of criminal scum publishers swear we are.
The authentication, which will be initialized every time you run MassEffect.exe, will send the CD Key and a unique machine identifier to the activation servers, which will be cross-referenced with the data that was sent when the game was initially activated. Well, actually, it runs screaming to Mama every 5 days, but if it can’t connect, it will still allow you to save the galaxy and sleep around with Asari consorts for another 5 days, presumably reminding you to re-activate often with the dogged persistence of a James Bond doomsday death clock
Internet down for two weeks but want to play ME the whole time? Sucks to be you.
Have to reformat a PC a few times? Buy another copy.
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Can it even get any worse than that?
And here I was thinking that Mass Effect on PC would solve all the problems of the 360 version, but I didn't think it'd create new ones.
Right now my purschasing model goes like this:
1) Buy game from retailer
2) Download warez version of exact same game from bittorrent
3) Don't even bother installing the game off the DVD, leaving it shiny and pristine and my machine free of starforce/secuROM
Proper.
Anyways, an example from the offical forums.
Q:Sure, I have an always-on net connection but what happens if I don’t play for 11 days and the moment I want to play my connection is down? Are you saying I’m not going to be able to play my perfectly legitimate purchased copy of the game, even the retail version, until I get permission?
A: That is correct. And I would suggest that you contact EA Support the moment this happens (once you get your internet back) to report the issue. If there are people having problems with the system as designed, then Support needs to hear about it so they can help us evaluate it for the next game title.
People without internet don't know this game exists.
It's almost always the publisher.
Well it's not their fault they want to protect themselves from pirates raping and pillaging the PC industry to death! With lasers! I saw 'em!
The use of shoddy online activation systems is an offense against the cosmic order itself and surely EA will be sent to the very bottom most levels of Hell for their ghastly deed! Also, against my sense of nerd entitlement and let me tell you that's quite the thing to offend.
Rabble rabble rabble.
Conclusion: This sucks, oh well.
There, I just played out this thread's future in one post.
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Especially considering Spore will have it too. Bioware != Maxis, but EA = EA.
Yes.
They WANT people to pirate this don't they?
Has someone figured out how to make money off people bitching about the PC market being dead because of pirating or something? Is this some sort of Evil-Genius/James-Bond-Villain style plan to make billions?
Maybe it is some kind of move to push people towards consoles.
Sales of our game have tanked on the PC. We will no longer be making games for the PC. Personally, we blame our customers.
"We'll put new security measures on our games which will be a pain in the ass for legitimate buyers, exclusively."
Ten minutes later...
"WTF? Everyone's pirating our game?"
And then we'll have a new thread here about some stupid developer douchebag claiming that PC games piracy will be the death of the market.
Regicid3 how many of your innermost fantasies involve BioWare employees
You . . . you don't want to know.
You're so right
The studio that is porting the game is Demiurge Studios and not Bioware.
Well.... uh... it's still not the same studio...
GG, EA!
Pirate: Download it and play it without internet...
This is fucking idiotic.
Just
God fucking damn it
PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
No really, the only games I pirate are the ones I already own. Mainly to be rid of the hassle of having to swap out CDs, but in a lot of cases having the protection taken off not only gives the game more functionality, it also lets the game run faster.
I love Steam because it avoids all that hassle automatically.
Fuck you EA. Fuck you and your stupid shit.
That goes for any other piece of software out there too. I don't care how awesome spore might be, If they are going to make it a hassle to use my own legitimately purchased copy then I don't care to buy it in the first place.
Also with American ISPs like Time Warner and Comcast looking at volume oriented pricing schedules, this amounts to a subscription fee that doesn't even benefit anyone associated with the game.
This move is so sure to shoot EA in the foot it's a wonder if they aren't hiring former Democratic party strategists.
The only thing that gives me hope is the possibility that there will be a podcast along with the inevitable PA comic.
If Spore even hints of this,i will not buy that either. I mean,didnt they look at the example of RIAA in what sueing/screwing your customers is a bad idea?
On the bright side,this will allow Stardock to achieve a larger marketshare and hopefully bring more studios under its umbrella.