BioShockers delivered from DRM hell After howls of pain from gaming addicts everywhere, 2K Games has eased the draconian DRM restrictions on its much ballyhooed new title BioShock. In the wake of the game's launch earlier this week, countless users - including a senior associate editor with PC Gamer - complained that BioShock's SecuROM copy protection software …
I won't buy something with DRM but I will steal it.
This is exactly the reason software companies use DRM
Being able to install uninstall the software 3 times is sufficient for 99.9% of users.
The fact is 99.9% of people ARE dishonest if they think they can get away with it, thats human nature.
DRM has been around for a long time and is here to stay
[quote]The fact is 99.9% of people ARE dishonest if they think they can get away with it, thats human nature.[/quote]
No. Actually, they are not. If you can't look around your own life and figure out why this quote is total and complete nonsense, there is no point in me pointing it out to you. It would be over you head.
Frankly, DRM has been responsible for spawning more pirates than it prevented. How many people have been in the situation where they buy a game, install it and then try to run it only to have the copy protection prevent it from running on their system?
What do they do? Normally, they call a friend or relative that knows a lot more about computers than they do. And this person shows them how to "get it running" by downloading and using a cracked executable. Now, they are happy. They are playing the game they bought.
But the next time a game comes out (especially by "that' publisher), they might just check to see if a crack is available before they buy it. Just to be sure.
And what do they find? The entire game ready for download. And who knows? They might be tempted to download it and "try it" before they buy it. And that is where the true human condition comes and makes them a full pirate: laziness. Why would they go to the store to buy the game when they are busy playing it already? It's not that they don't INTEND to buy it, it just they never get around to it. One sale lost.
Of course, the next time one of THEIR friends calls with a problem on a game, they know just what to do to get it "working".
Frankly, the game industry is in worse shape now than they would be if they had just left it alone. The downloads are STILL available, but now you have people who download the game simply because they are still pissed at you because of all the trouble your last copy protected game caused them.
Plus, I find it amusing that EVERY SINGLE GAME just HAS to be worth $50 (in the US for a "standard" PC game). Oh really? I have seen plenty of games that I would be happy to spend $20 or may be $30 on, but in no way would I spend $50 on it. Some of those games, I have purchased when they got dumped into the bargain bin. Others, by the time they hit the bargain bin, I had no desire to even try them. Not even for $10.
Is every single car on the road worth $400k? There are a few cars that sell for that much, so why don't car makes price ALL their cars that high? If they thought like the game industry does, they would try it.
No, atually the general posting here seems to be 'I was going to buy this, but you've locked it down so tight I no longer want to'.
This game was the top of my list of PC titles to purchase, but if I can't even reinstall the bloody thing after five installs (and I often DO go back and play old games, or uninstall due to space restrictions) then I certainly won't be shelling out good cash for this.
It would seem most folks don't appreciate basically renting a game for $60; if their company's idea of saving money is losing sales, then bravo to them I suppose.
I agree wholeheartedly with all the comments posted so far, I am totally against DRM in any shape or form.
Saying that, I remember reading somewhere that games companies tend to put heavy copy protection on their products when they are launched due to the massive number of people anxious to play the game, thus making sure they get the maximum number of people buying their own copies of the game. Then after a year or two they remove the copy protection through the latest patch as the demand for the game dwindles.
I suspect the same thing will happen with Bioshock, although rather than just discontinuing a simple CD/DVD check, they will have to disable the SecuROM protection too. I suspect they probably pay SecuROM for providing this 'protection', so they will probably discontinue it once the sales of the game drop below a certain point where it doesn't make financial sense to keep paying for the SecuROM functionality.
The whole 5 installs/5 reinstalls business is absolutely scandalous. As a former top-end gaming rig owner (I have a Mac Pro these days, with a Xbox 360 for gaming), I understand a lot of people like to rebuild their PCs regularly, or reinstall Windows from time to time. This will do nothing but totally rub their top customers up the wrong way.
Another nail in the coffin of PC gaming I think... the 360 version is as always far simpler for the consumer and the graphics are still amazing on a big HDTV.
Lets see, DRM is designed to prevent piracy.
BioShock is already cracked and available as WAREZ: Check.
Honest Customers that have bought the game are annoyed by this scheme: Check.
Company is going to loose sales because of this DRM: Check.
So tell me again why anyone sane would put this junk into their product? The only thing it achieves is annoying th f#$%k out of people that actually spend money on the game...
You have to love it when they screw over the few people who actually pay for legit copies of the game.
They are ensuring that there are widely available cracks and warez copies available for this game. So, where-as the newb little warez want to be might not have been able to find a working version and might have had to resort to begging mum and dad for a legal copy, now there will be an amass of easy to find cracked and ripped copies.
Personally, I don't deal with technical support unless I'm trying to get a replacement for a broken legit cd/dvd. If something doesn't work, I'm going to find a fix or a crack online.
And yes, after reading this, it discourages me from purchasing a copy.
1. I won't buy something with DRM but I will steal it.
i does not matter if i buy or not, DRM FORCE me to use alternate version if i want to enjoy the product. As the store legal version is so cripple with illegal DRM that is it unusable.
2. This is exactly the reason software companies use DRM
Company use DRM (in this particular case) to mimic the MPAA/RIAA way of doing business: STEALING MONEY FROM CONSUMERS. after 3 installation you have to buy again. in other words: PAY PER USE. if this is the case why not make the game the price of a rentel: 4$?
3. Being able to install uninstall the software 3 times is sufficient for 99.9% of users. Ask any REAL gamer, how many time they un-install/re-install they whole computer/Games in a year.
4. The fact is 99.9% of people ARE dishonest if they think they can get away with it, thats human nature. Before accusing your peers of been all a bunch of whould be criminal. Look at the clearly criminal activities of certain companies: Sony, MPAA, RIAA, 2K games, Macrovision etc.,,, and try to figure out why they have not been stop yet!
5. DRM has been around for a long time and is here to stay. I might be so. but even if DRM is becoming very complex it seem that by-passing them is becoming easier each year
Wow, man! Are you a 3rd Reich freak or somewhat? Btw, in 1000, 99.99% of people thought the Earth was flat. So it is flat, then?
>>Being able to install uninstall the software 3 times is sufficient for 99.9% of users.
99.9% ok for most users... most users without children I guess then.
>>The fact is 99.9% of people ARE dishonest if they think they can get away with it, thats human nature.
God, pity yourself. What a prose. Hopefully "Jonathan Samuels" is a nom-de-plume... But I'm afraid you just blew up your chance with that one.
>>DRM has been around for a long time and is here to stay
Yeah. Are you the new Nostradamus? BTW, you just miss this news (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/02/06/apple_jobs_drm-free_call/).
But I'm a fool. It's clear now that you're a troll, and I've just been trolled.
Turned off the lights, put on the studio headphones, and fired up the demo.
I *hate* having to run from things in the dark, making strange noises, while I'm unarmed...brrrr.
Tho I'm tempted to wait a while, since I also gotta make room for Starcraft 2 when it comes out-I pray Blizzard doesn't pull a stupid stunt like this.
'At least these dudes are going to supply a "removing tool" for licensing. I remember reading somewhere that a dad was pi**ed off b/c his kid installed HL2 on his brother's machine, but couldn't install it later on his own machine, *even if the damned game was uninstalled on the other one*. Sierra basically told them "you're screwed".
That's the main reason I have not bought that game.'
This is complete FUD. You can install HL2 on as many computers as you like. That's the joy of the steam system. It won't let you play two copies of the same game simultaneously, but it will let you install the game on as many places as you like.
I think whoever told you that story is just full of shit and trying to stop people playing HL2. It's simply the exact reverse of the case.
Lets just see how well that copy protection stuff works on wine..........
Oh -- darn - Not implemented?
drat -- have to skip this one too..... .bye!
(and as more users head for linux .....
sure -- its a trickle now -- wait till you **cannot** buy XP any more ....)
..of when i bought FSX not to long ago, installed once, machine couldn't hack it, upgraded my machine (new motherboard, different RAID controller, therefore full reinstalled), reinstalled, it activated, upgraded again (another new motherboard, gfx, processor, pretty much everything), reinstalled, activation failed, phoned up, told there was no way to reactivate as I'd used my installs up and there was nothing I or they could do.
So I spent £60 ($120) for a 1 hour time limited demo.
Well, they had said there was nothing I could do. That wasn't strictly true, 10 minutes later I had the full version running again with a crack. Never again will I buy a DRM protected game.
Just buy the game, install it, play it, enjoy it and then forget about it.
Anyone who comments on a "REAL" gamer uninstalling and reinstalling their PC numerous times a year isn't a "REAL" gamer. A real gamer would be up on their system enough to know that they will always need massive harddrives and know how to maintain their system properly so that they don't have to keep formatting their machine every 6 months.
These people write games for a living, now grow up and pay them their dues for it. Otherwise - shut the hell up.
even if they completely remove the "5 installs only" DRM, I still wouldn't buy a piece of software that installs a rootkit that can't be uninstalled when I uninstall the product. if I uninstall a game, I don't expect parts of that software left behind clogging up my system - I wonder how much information this spyware would collect even if the game it was designed to monitor wasn't installed!
windows apps are bad enough at leaving crud behind in the registry and hidden files/folders without this sort of behaviour.
no thanks.
A REAL gamer will make sure is system is running at its peek, and anybody (including those who hate little girls) knnow that windows slow down over time just by normal use.
I have no problems paying game writers for they work (very good work in this particular game) but if nobody buy that great game because of the ILLEGAL SONY DRM infesting it. next time 2kgames will think twice before using product from a openly criminal company such a SONY.
It is not about getting the game for free, it is about not paying for having your machine infested with rookit, malware and illegal DRM. i wonder how welll will be the sell with a big Sony securom logo ont the box?
Copy protection has ever worked... how much cheaper the game will have been with no Sony infection on it?
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