Spore, Mass Effect PC to Require Online Validation Every Ten Days to Function

yay another game I won't be buying now. thanks for the asinine copy protection!

Compare to the music industri...

The also fight piracy in many different way and then we got artist for example Nine Inch Nails with trent Reznor.

Instead of putting alot of drm sheit on they released the music for free download and then sold copies with nice stuff added.

I would gladly buy a game if it had something around that made it worth it, like including nice box, map, poster or some other treat. Not just a crappy plastic box a cd/dvd and a pdf manual.

I want more than that for my money, or lower prices. just a disc and a plastic box isn´t worth 50$ for me
Especially not when the put this drm crap on.

Piracy has always existed and will always exist, so instead of putting alot of amny in anti-piracy sollution give something back so the legal buyers instead like nice exclusive editions with extras.

We've been through this kind of argument before, and experience shows there are really only two ways to look at it:
1) This is fucking retarded, (usually goes with: fuck these guys now I won't buy the damn game)
2) You people who thinks this system is retarded are retarded/broke/behind the times; go get an internet connection. ((usually goes with: and go get a life while you're at it.)
And because the positions on this argument are so clear cut usually people on each side can never convince people on the other side.
Personally I've stopped even trying to win that argument.

BTW people who think #2 are wrong. ;)

If this is a single player game why on earth would you need Internet Access? :(

Whats incredibly amusing about this is how within a couple days of this protection being released it will be broken and nullified
so in the end it will only screw the people who buy the game lolol

funny.. they used to think hardware dongle would protect things too..

sad.. I am betting the money spent on copy protections amounts to the same actual loss of revenue from piracy. ( keeping in mind the avg theme that 85% of people who pirate softare would not have purchased the software to start with had they had to pay for it so that isnt lost revenue )

lol poor folks will never win

Isn't Mass Effect a single player only game? Single player games are great for people without internet.....

AHH I know people have said this already in much kinder words, but this is just SO FUCKING STUPID.

NO copy protection system is uncrackable!! Have they not learned this? Not even Steam games are pirate-proof! Why do they keep spending money on this tech!?!? It's completely pointless and just pisses people off!

The only copy protection system that works is for games that are online-only, such as WoW and Counter-Strike. EA might as well make Spore an online-only game - they're requiring a fucking internet connection anyway. That would be much more effective and people would understand.

But this - what does EA hope to gain from this? I'd like to know. I'd really, really like to know.

Bah. I don't know what to think or who to blame. I love PC games. I hate piracy, because I want to see game developers rewarded for their efforts. However, I also hate DRM since it assumes that every legitimate customer is a thief, and has a horrible track record of making life more difficult for legitimate customers who bought their games with their hard-earned money.

Lately, I have to say that gaming on consoles has been more appealing, and I have been playing PC games since Zork. I can rent console games to try them out, resell my games when I'm done with them, and share my game discs with my friends. Games have far fewer bugs because of the standard hardware of the console, and updating the sofware is effortless and done in the background. The graphics of the current consoles (excluding the Wii) on a nice widescreen HD set are nearly as good as the PC, and consoles now support online play nearly as well as the PC. Actually, with my 360 and Xbox Live, the online support is almost better than the PC, since there is a consistent gamertag system and voice chat across all online titles. The one final feature that keeps me using the PC for some games is the mouse/keyboard control option which isn't available on the 360 and isn't well supported on the PS3.

You know, this isn't as big of a deal as people are making it. If you don't like it don't buy the product. Being in the video game industry for 25 years now and seeing piracy steal millions of dollars from the pockets of hard working men and women who produce something they have a strong personal connection to... not unlike an ARTIST.. it's hard to see.

Entire companies have been shut down for good due to piracy alone.

If you don't have an internet connection that is always on, sure this is a bummer. Don't blame the company though blame the pirates.

No one is treating you like a criminal. It sucks that criminals DO make it harder for legitimate people to do the things they want to do but this is a truth in almost all industries.. not just gaming.

Besides I doubt 99% of the people complaining are truly "innocent" of piracy. They own every single mp3 or movie you have on your computer.. right? Sure they do...

Finally, when speaking of computer software.. you have never owned the game itself. You own a license to use the software, and the company reserves the right to stop supporting it, to remove features or to add features you don't like. Same with DVDs.. you don't own the movie. You own the disc it comes on and a license to view it. Ownership would entitle you to a host of benefits that you will never recieve from buying a DVD or game software.

Lighten up about it. Mass Effect is great and I am sure Spore will be incredible.. and for the .0001% of the population of the market they are sold to that don't have Internet connections it will be a sad day when they realize they can't play their games.

The alternative? Charing 75$ or more for a game to protect their (publisher's) investment. I think I would rather they do something like this.

There *is* one reason for the 10 days to reactivate method. It's one that's been used before on programs other than games. Can't guess what it is ? Simple.

Game creator/distributor uses periodic reactivation DRM.
Game creator/distributor, for whatever reason, decides to sell game.
New owner/distributor is assured he has also purchased the current user base.

After that, new owner/distributor can charge, say, a subscription for the game. Touting, of course, "support for the game and new features/upgrades".

This makes the game *much* more valuable to the new owner/distributor and makes it possible for the original creator/distributor to sell it for a much greater sum, making it more valuable for *them* as well.

Moral of the story is, there is a whole lot more to DRM than simple piracy prevention, kiddies.

I'm also worried about another aspect of the problem...

Lets just say that I'll buy this game. I do have an "always on" connection to the Internet, so ok then! (but less than a year ago, i didn't have any internet connection at all, so I wouldn't have been able to play that kind of game, but that's not my point).

I have a connection to the Internet, so the game has the possibility to do its little online verifications... ok...

but what if, one day, the EA verification server gets offline (because EA goes broke, for instance)... how will i play my game then?

I have bought a lot of games, and I like the idea to be able to play them once more if I want to... but with this kind of "protection" tool, there will always be the risk that, one day, your game won't work anymore, because it won't be able to do its online werification... because the verification server won't exist anymore...

what then... (well, maybe the game will be totally retro by then... but I still find myself to play Doom once in a while)

When I buy something, I want to own it, and I hate the idea not to be able to play whenever I want, in addition to the fact that my game could just go "poof"

At least, a steam game can be played offline

Ok! I'll just download the CRACKED version via torrent U.U

Why are they so hard on PC games?! You can pirate console games too, I could prove it to you but...that's illegal.

Copy protection is MURDERING pc gaming. Back in the 90s when pc games could be loaded on multiple pcs and lan gamers could share games freely and play multilayer matches and check out the games, pc games used to sell a whole hell of a lot better.

I'm my early days of LAN party's the multi payer portion of games could be spawned to different pcs. We would have a great time and if the game was worthy people would go buy their own copy for the single player aspect.

Today at our party new games are hardly ever introduced. Most of our attendees don't want to fork out $40 to $50 to find out they don't like a game. It sucks that every title has to authenticate online or have its own cd key (for multiplayer). A father and son both have to have their own copy to play multi player. This is total BS IMHO. I'm not spending $100 for one game. It's a bad business model.

Call it pirating if you want. But it worked and pc games did sell better when people could really try out the games. NO, demos don't work. People are to lazy to bother with them and most of the time the demo doesn't give you enough substance of the game to entice you to buy it.

Short of it. At least give us gamer free reign of the mulitplayer again like they did in the past. If they want to lock down the single player then thats fine with me.

All in all this kind of thing will just lead me to do the same thing I did for Bioshock. I bought them game, had so many issues (and you cant get your money back after its opened) I just went and got a cracked version. Plays like it should now. Oh yea and I can install it more then 5 time like I should be able to with software I have actually purchased.

Those kind of limits are unnecessary. Yes piracy is bad, yes I wish they would not do it but I really wish that game creators would just suck it up and quite trying to beat them with all these methods that just hurt us that actually buy the games. Look its simple, no mater what is done at some point, some how the game is going to get cracked.

Worse yet what happens when the server I am supposed to authenticate with goes down? Even if its just a day its down that means I have just been robbed. That would be the same as me buying something at the store then one day they grab it out of my house to return it the next day. ITs going to happen to. Hell knowing how things go you might hit a week or two every now and then where its down. Really going to make a lot of people glad they spent that $50 on your product.

This is dumb. I have 3 copies od Starcraft and Broodwar which I could have easily pirated ... no protection. Same for Worms Armageddon. Wish PC game companies would look back to those days and get a clue.

I only purchase games that I want developers to make more of. I do not want more developers making $60 malware.

There are someone that hears "Microsoft Play for sure" in this model of protection?

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/04/22/2130225
MSN Music DRM Servers Going Dark In September

Does this mean you can only install the game on one computer? Or will it be similar to Steam where you can install on many computers and only play on one at a time?

Wait...so let me get this straight.

If you don't play the game for ten days, you can't access it anymore??

So, theoretically, let's say I purchase this $50 game. I have a busy week, so I'm not able to play for 10-12 days. One day, my internet dies for a while and I decide to play Mass Effect since I don't need the internet to play it.

But wait....

Let's just go all the way and throw in RSA-secured USB dongles for games.

since when is it a big deal for a game pirate to simply remove the jump to the activation code? they do this all the time, it's the whole idea behind no-cd patches

by the way, if this is an inappropriate comment, nuke away, however, i'm not trying to defend piracy, i'm just wondering how this is any harder for a pirate than any other form, sure you can't get by with just a keygen or something, but that's never stopped anyone in the past

FINALLY!

I've been wondering when games would take the steam approach. Hopefully this will severely hinder people who will try to steal the game. I've been getting a little more and more worried about the PC as a platform (I don't own any consoles). With games getting more and more complex, it will cost increasingly more amounts of money to create AAA quality games. With the small amount of PC Gamers (relative to consoles) it will get harder and harder for the companies to make money. Hopefully this will hamper pirating of the game and keep companies interested in making games for the PC.

What this means is that these are the first steps towards games as licenses (that are tied to an identity and must be renewed after a certain period of time) instead of a one time purchase.

Remember that a while back Sony wanted to tie their PS3 games to the owner. (which they dropped afterwards)

I would like to add to my previous comment and just shows how not so smart these game companies are.

Why do they need to validate the game every 10 days? If you have the legitimate key the first time the game validates, you would think that would be good enough. You honestly think a person is going to replace the legitimate key with a pirated key? If you have a legitimate key, then why would you need a pirated key?

I think this will be good. Here is a "intrusive copy-protection" that the publishers think is un-crackable. And they put it on two "blockbuster" PC games. Ok, now we will really see just why console to PC ports and Innovative PC games don't see that well (as I expect to hear from the publishers after release). IF (and I know this is a big IF) this does work and is not hacked (lol) then developers can finally stop blaming Piracy for low PC game sales. I am so sick of game resources going into Anti-piracy when the product and distribution does not meet the needs of the consumer.

I am all for the growth of the PC game market but I do not think Piracy is the problem with PC game sales. I think it is a scape-goat and the solutions to it are punishing regular users and poor people who can't afford your game (probably the majority of pirates).

If some rich kid who could afford your game decides he wants to pirate your game, he is going to do it. His motivation is probably that he has several consoles and is just not that interested in your game. And your game had no built in reason NOT to pirate. If your game was the gift-that-keeps-giving and has value long after a one-time play-through, then its worth a purchase. Instead, he plays Crysis through once, deletes it, and goes back to playing COD4 online on his 360 with an extra $50 in his pocket. Of course his console games are pirated, too, so don't blame pirates for the success of consoles.

Encourage people not to pirate. Pack in more value. Give people a reason not buy into your product/company. No more crappy, < 20 hours, "by the formula" video games to sell to the masses and pay for your money hats. If you do not have an innovative product or something people WANT to support, then they will not.

Same problem with music. I stopped buying CD albums for $20 long before it was cool to download them because it is stupid to pay $20 for a CD that gets scratched/lost and that I can listen to on the radio / just don't need to LEASE the RIGHTS to the IP. Stupid, I just wanted to listen to a song, shouldn't need to be that hard/expensive.

Do I cry at night that super-mega-pop stars get a few less millions of $$ to blow in dramatic ways and make the cover of gossip mags? No, I do not. Do I cry for big game publishers who can't ride the wave of Video game popularity into fortune 500 companies? Not a chance. Do I want good, creative game developers to make a living making video games that they believe in and enjoy making? Yes. I will continue to buy every Blizzard/Relic/Valve game that comes out. But I'm not spending any money on soulless games made by EA for $$. Not a chance.

For games. Make it easy. Make it worth the money. Price it appropriately for value and distribution. Lower distribution and advertising costs by going to online distribution/torrents and market to the community, not the masses. PC games are niche, they don't have mass appeal like a Console. But we will support our industry, we will buy games that are good, and we will support hard working, creative developers.

AND we will be here when that console looks AGED and everyone still has a PC. And we will be here when that Console is just a PC that plays games....(duh i think....)

To the people who say that the people who don't like this new copyright are just pirates, you don't have a clue. I am NOT a pirate and still don't like it. You can say if you don't like it, don't buy the game. While this maybe true, just think what happens when people don't buy the game. We are talking about economics here. The more strict copyrights they put on the game, the less people buy it, the less the game makers will support the PC platform. All you people who play games on your PC are going to be out of luck.

Just think about it for a minute. BioWare is telling you that you can't play the game unless the game can do a online check. Say if your away from and don't have access to the internet, your out of luck. So basically you just waisted $50+ for a game that is useless till you can find internet access. This is not enhancing the gamers experience, this is just plain stupid.

BULLSH!T!!!!

PC users just keep getting punished and screwed.

I won't buy spore or mass effect, I was considering getting it for the 360, now I think I won't.... i might just download a hacked version that doesn't online validate....

I would only ever consider pirating software from a company that insulted me. Often times I suspect the game in question would be crappy anyway, some kind of a console-port like Assassins Creed (which predictably failed hard with CTD's on the PC... worst money I ever spent on a "PC" game).

So um. Yeah.

Its bull, no matter what they do some stupid idiots are going to work past it. As much work as there is being done to make new security mesures you have just as many working to break them. This is yet another thing that is going to make it difficult for those of us that actually buy the game.

Ah! The wonderful sound of whining thieves. Hopefully all games will have something that makes them theft-proof, sooner than later. Perhaps the computer game design community will finally fight back. I mean, really, did everyone think the people who are smart enough to make these fantastic works of art we play weren't smart enough to come up with a way to keep them from being ripped off? This is fantastic! It's wonderful! And it's a great big ripe fuck you to the dirtbags who think they're entitled to steal because they own a computer. I would wholeheartedly encourage anyone who finds this concept offensive to stop buying PC games all together, and go buy a stinking console. Welcome to the future, crack whores.

Hmm... buy a PC copy with the new rig I have, and enjoy the copy protection and worry about my internet connection being online and how long its been since I played the game, and authentication, and all that? Or just pick up the console version and play.

"SEE!! PC gaming is dead! Console version WELL outsold the PC version!" (not that it wouldn't anyway)

you know that the day this game isn't on major b&m sores shelves EA will shut off that activation server and effectively kill the game... except for the pirate copies.

Seems like overkill. I hope the future Sims titles include this. What we need is a good female uprising.

Seems to me this might just be the way all software is headed, especially since people are only going to get more connected as time goes on. I'm sure many of us use professional software at work that authenticates & checks your license EVERY time you run it, and has for years.

There is a lot of anti-PC sentiment in the ol'gaming market. It probably started much earlier, but to me, it began with Oblivion.. And then on to Bioshock whose DRM WAS problematic. This will invariably be problematic as well.

The big problem with Spore is that the content people create will be shared over some sorta network, if the user ticks that option Yes, anyway. Soooo, the spectre of DRM failure hangs overhead despite the fact that most users will have an internet connection to play Spore with. How-ev-er much the industry believes in DRM and how much money will be wasted into its improvement, hopefully they're set aside their eternal fetish with experimenting so freely with it and just come to terms with the fact that people love to break their shit.

I dunno why they're pushing this on Mass Effect other than as a test bed to see if they really, REALLY, want it on Spore. For Spore, it makes more sense. Because. Yeah. Content via Net.
But w/ Mass Effect? What?

And what else will their DRM sniff for in addition to its game check that'll no doubt end up being widely disabled by the ensuing cracks?

SecuRom can also f*ck up your PC.

I'm going to pirate both just to help kill PC gaming. Then I'm going to give the pirated copies to all of my friends. And my cat.

This shit is just dragging it further into the depths.

What I don't understand that the pricing model in asia already takes into account piracy lowering prices of software across the board because piracy is so rampant. This game will be cracked only punishing the people who purchased. This is a good reason to just stay with consoles.