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Spore, Mass Effect PC to Require Online Validation Every Ten Days to Function
by Nick Breckon, May 06, 2008 1:28pm PDTUpdate: Electronic Arts has relented to the pressure.
Original story: BioWare technical producer Derek French has said that the PC versions of both Mass Effect and Spore will make use of copy protection that will require online validation every ten days in order for the games to continue working.
"After the first activation, SecuROM requires that [Mass Effect PC] re-check with the server within ten days (in case the CD Key has become public/warez'd and gets banned)," said French in a post on the BioWare forums.
If customers do not come online after ten days, the game will cease to function.
"After 10 days a re-check is required before the game can run," added French. "..An internet connection is not required to install, just to activate the first time, and every 10 days after."
The check is run when users activate the game's executable file, with the first re-check coming within "5 days remaining in the 10 day window."
According to French, Maxis' Spore will also make use of the same scheme: "[Electronic Arts] is ready for us and getting ready for Spore, which will use the same system."
French also noted that the online requirement will be clearly labeled on the games' packaging.
Comments
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.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 4 replies.
Maybe shareware needs to make a comeback. It never occured to me that Cosmo ep1 or Wolfenstein Ep 1 was somehow less than, or not representative of a whole game like demos do. I was free to pass them around, and if I wanted more, I could buy it. Major Stryker was one of the last of these I bought, as they kind of disappeared. I guess they don't lend themselves as well to narratives though, which seems to be the hot new thing.
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