New game releases of May 20-26
Killzone: Mercenary shoots onto Vita on September 10
Trion Worlds hit with more layoffs, Defiance team impacted
Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault defending Vita next week
Game & Wario was originally going to be pre-installed on Wii U
The Last of Us digital download lets you start playing sooner
Weekend PC download deals: Borderlands 2 for $11
Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection coming to PS3 in July for $50
Madden NFL 25's $99 'Anniversary Edition' includes Sunday Ticket
Final Fantasy 8 getting PC re-release (in Japan)
Simultaneous Installgate 07: 2K Ups BioShock Install Limit, Plans FOV Adjustment Patch
by Chris Remo, Aug 23, 2007 6:24pm PDTWith a swathe of announcements sure to send shockwaves reverberating throughout the BioShock internet community, publisher 2K Games has replaced BioShock's initial limit of two simultaneous PC installations with what community manager Elizabeth Tobey calls a "5 by 5 plan." Under the new terms, users will be able to install the game on up to five computers, with the ability to reinstall the game on each computer up to five times. 2K will release a "revoke app" that should address issues resulting from the original limitations. In a stunning reversal, 2K also announced plans to release a patch allowing PC users to adjust the game's FOV despite claiming the existing widescreen implementation was by design, as documented in our coverage of Aspect Ratiogate 07. An Xbox 360 patch is under consideration as well. Prior to today's announcement, resourceful gamer Racer_S took matters into his own hands, applying a digital brand of widescreen vigilante justice and creating an unofficial patch. Tobey tipped her hat to the fan's efforts. Along with the patch and policy changes, 2K is strengthening its tech support team, and has posted a technical FAQ addressing numerous concerns regarding SecuROM DRM and other issues. The company pledged a more streamlined experience with 2K and SecuROM tech support. Finally, 2K has fixed its momentarily inactive activation server, allowing those previously unable to finish their game installs to do so. 2K appears to be proactively plugging holes, but Shacknews remains vigilant as Bioshockgate 07 continues to unfold. Stay tuned.
Comments
As someone who only has one PC for gaming, I don't see any problem with this. With pretty much everyone nowdays having broadband, being able to download and pirate games is a big problem and I don't think you should expect devs to not implement some form of anti piracy. With the limit being upped to 5, I guess now I could technically give the game to 5 people and theres goes 5 sales for one of the best games I've ever played. Good luck getting more games on the PC. If they just released it for the 360 they'd have none of these headaches.
Lastly, if theres every a BioShock 2 or whatever the next game is Dahanese is working on, I hope she doesn't come here to answer any of your questions or give you any exclusive info on it. And i dont mean that to the writers on this site, I mean that to the rude people in the comments, some throwing personal insults for no apparent reason. Way to shoot the messenger over something the messenger has no control over.
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SecuROM does not fingerprint the hardware. When an activation is performed, a unique ID is generated to identify the system being used for the activation process... The only data collected is the serial being used for activation, the IP address used for activation, an identifier for the software being activated, and the hash of the machine ID.
See? It doesn't fingerprint the hardware! It... fingerprints the hardware! And sends it out over the intertubes! For a company to catalog, profile, and exploit!
And it's not a rootkit, but it installs a Windows service to allow a non-administrative account to do things that would normally require administrative access, and it inserts Windows Registry keys with embedded nulls, making them undeletable without special tools! Just like a rootkit!
*head explodes*
make up your minds fools.
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I understand your need to try to protect your product, but fuck you for treating me like a criminal and limited my rights after I purchased your software.
Also even bigger fuck you for wasting my time making me think about this shit, and worrying about having to uninstall the damn game when I'm done with it.
The last thing I want it to try to go play BioShock again a few years down the road, only to have it not work because I forgot to uninstall it after I was done.
biggest fuck you to SecuROM, if this shit becomes common place, and I have to worry about uninstalling ever game I play, I'm going to be really pissed, hell I'll probably stop buying games with that copy protection.
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What I really really want is something to totally disable mouse acceration!
So, here is what I've come across from the discussions, and please point out whether or not I'm on target with them.
1. You can install Bioshock up to 5 times on a single computer
2. You can install Bioshock up to 5 times on 4 other computers IN ADDITION to the first one
3. Irrational/Boston 2k is working on a "recredit" system so that you can "installation credits" back when you uninstall while connected to the internet, which they are calling a "revoke application"
4. they are releasing a patch so that people may manually adjust the games Field of View, which will greatly benefit widescreen users
5. You have a lot less to worry about than if there was still the "2 installation" limit, which may have caused serious mental harm, and -2 cash flow points due to a semi-annual system format/cleansing, and having to repurchase Bioshock.
Do I have these down correctly, or did I misunderstand/misinterpret a few, such as #3?
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Why bother when you can get a console and pop the disc straight in?
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Yeah, a lot of you think that this is just retarded, why are people so up in arms about it, but if it had been any other product except video games, you would be "wtf, no that's just not right". What if your new HD DVD you just bought could only be played 5 times on your player? It's... just... blech. Consumers getting fucked in the ass makes me a sad panda.
And good luck with this shit storm, dahanese. I hope you haven't started clawing out your eyes yet.
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is that completely retarded? even 5 times? do they realize that someone like me reformats their pc like 5x a year...
I think I have reinstalled half-life atleast 20x... and other blizzard games like diablo, starcraft, wow, etc atleast as many times also.
Im happy with my bioshock for 360, atleast they dont have to go paranoid about the warez on it yet.
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Installation of the demo version, like the retail version, includes SecuROM but also creates a number of registry entries which are undeletable even with full administrator rights on Windows, short of a reformat. These entries apparently store DRM information to prevent people from breaking the time limit or engaging in other unauthorized manipulation of the demo version of BioShock.
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Then you have people questioning others as to why they need to install it X number of times in a day or over a period of time or why do you need to format X times a year. You should be questioning 2k as to why they're employing such draconian restrictions to a game that you paid $60 for.
From pcgamer.com
"So I called the Canadian number, which went through. After four minutes on hold, I was told that the only way they'd unlock it is if I take a photo of the disc and the manual and email it to them."
"It's now been more than 24 hours since I sent 2K tech support a photo of my BioShock disc and manual, and I have yet to hear from them about my code being reactivated. Luckily I work in a magical computer game wonderland, and there happened to be an extra copy here.."
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When you've used up your 5x5 reinstalls, at least BioShock will be in the bargain bin.
P.S. This system is retarded.
For example, after 180 days your Windows XP key's activation resets. Yes, this means if you were devious enough then you could use it on another PC in six months but in practice, it just makes it easier for those of us who reformat semifrequently.
In the case of this game, it would alleviate the issues of "oh shit I forgot to uninstall before I wiped my hard drive" because you know it's been six months since the last time you installed, so one of your activations restored itself. And it would still alleviate the piracy issue because how many pirates do you know that could wait six months for something?
Also if SecureROM/2K could make the something-happened-please-contact-us issue automated, like Microsoft did. If you change too much stuff and have to reactivate then you call a number, punch in a bunch of digits you see on screen, then you type in a bunch of numbers that they send back to you. SecureROM/2K can still use this method to track which keys are being overused (in case the whole "release tool" thing gets hacked)
Can Bioshock can't be installed without an internet connection?
Its a single player game right?
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Videos can be seen here: http://pebui.shackspace.com/Video/BioShock
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With all due respect to the 2K peeps, because they otherwise released a great game, a big F*U* needs to be sent in their direction about this whole thing. :(
And again I feel for Dahanese, I've been in her shoes before and if she hasn't tied a rope to the ceiling yet, her Mental_Strength skill must be through the roof..
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*looks at box art*
Games for Windows, eh... Coincidence? Dumb luck?
Anyways... limiting the installs on a singleplayer game, nuts. I AM glad though with the rapid response. It's been three days since launch, and they're already answering gamers wants and needs. At least 2k is listening and doing something about it. Better than nothing at all I feel.
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As anathema as the idea of de-authorizing a game might be, 5 concurrent installs & the ability to gain them back as you de-authorize isn't that tough. If they only added iTunes like web administration, where you could de-authorize all installs to regain your tokens and start from scratch, I'd be pretty content.
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either just report the damn news normally, or if you think it's ridiculous don't report it. also it's possible to be clever and witty without all of this cheese.
this is so opposite to what the shack has become in recent months.
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