QuikSsurfer
05-06-2008, 05:49 PM
This is ****ing ridiculous. Love being treated like a criminal or Krogan scumbag
http://theangrypixel.com/blog/2008/05/06/mass-effect-pc-cd-protection/
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.
In all honesty, I don’t really mind an online activation system, even one that requires me to reactivate every time I reinstall the game, but online checks every 10 days for as long as I want to play it? Seems more of a marriage license rather than an End User agreement. And God forbid if EA decides, a couple of years down the line, (like they usually do) to discontinue support for their older titles. Does that mean I can’t play the game that I paid for no more? I still bloody well play Quake II, thank you very much, without having to jump through flaming hoops. What happens when this so-called perfect activation system messes up and sends me bouncing back and forth between the publisher’s and SecuROM’s customer support, like Bioshock ended up doing. Even Steam’s Offline Mode allows me to play the games that I paid for without an internet connection, if need be, without the undue hassles of having to assure Valve every couple of days that I am not pilfering their precious little game.
http://theangrypixel.com/blog/2008/05/06/mass-effect-pc-cd-protection/
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.
In all honesty, I don’t really mind an online activation system, even one that requires me to reactivate every time I reinstall the game, but online checks every 10 days for as long as I want to play it? Seems more of a marriage license rather than an End User agreement. And God forbid if EA decides, a couple of years down the line, (like they usually do) to discontinue support for their older titles. Does that mean I can’t play the game that I paid for no more? I still bloody well play Quake II, thank you very much, without having to jump through flaming hoops. What happens when this so-called perfect activation system messes up and sends me bouncing back and forth between the publisher’s and SecuROM’s customer support, like Bioshock ended up doing. Even Steam’s Offline Mode allows me to play the games that I paid for without an internet connection, if need be, without the undue hassles of having to assure Valve every couple of days that I am not pilfering their precious little game.