More on BioShock Activation

A post to the 2K Forums by 2K Elizabeth goes a little further into how the SecuROM online activation required to play BioShock (story) works when attempting multiple installs:
first, let me say this. you DO NOT NEED TO USE THE INTERNET EVERY TIME YOU PLAY THIS GAME. it is only the first time.

second, you can uninstall and reinstall this game, and if, by chance, you have 2 computers you want to simultaneously play this game on, you also can do that.

if by some chance you are reinstalling this game without uninstalling it first, a lot, there is a chance you may have to call securom and get a key, or deactivate some older installations.

but if you upgrade your hardware next week, you'll still be able to play the game. if you revamp your system and need to reinstall bioshock, just uninstall it before you go through the overhaul, and then do your reinstall.

calling it "hardware fingerprinting" is a bit alarmist. we do not transmit any of your data to any companies.

really, the only people who will be concerned about any of these security measures are those who are rapidly putting bioshock on many pcs... if you use the game as you normally do, you won't notice this at all.
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156 Replies. 8 pages. Viewing page 4.
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96.
 
Re: No subject
Aug 22, 2007, 21:12
>U
96.
Re: No subject Aug 22, 2007, 21:12
Aug 22, 2007, 21:12
>U
 
They don't give a shit.
They don't give a shit because you idiots already game them your money, and you ain't getting it back no matter how much you complain.

And, yes, I call you who bought the game and are now complaining idiots because it was publicly disclosed that the game would require Internet activation before release. How the hell did you think it was going to work? All of these activation systems use hardware fingerprinting and all of them limit the number of activations. If it's not two, it's only three or five. That's not a big difference because no matter how many you get, it may not be enough if you upgrade often.

Why the hell didn't you people ask Take 2 or Irrational before release how many activations you would get? The time when you would have the financial leverage to change things was before you gave the company your money.


95.
 
Re: No subject
Aug 22, 2007, 21:03
95.
Re: No subject Aug 22, 2007, 21:03
Aug 22, 2007, 21:03
 
Lol! OG, he's obviously a little kid (or a self-righteous, delusional adult who never learned to write). I haven't read comments as sophomoric as his in a long time.
I had no idea I was surrounded by literary seniors like yourself. In the future I'll endeavor not to water things down for you in a sophomoric sense (yeah right). As for this venue, sophmoric is par for the course if not freshmanic, people can't even stay focused on subject. If only you could have added actual substance to the topic at hand, I may have actually been in awe of your self implied literary capabilities.

94.
 
Re: No subject
Aug 22, 2007, 20:30
94.
Re: No subject Aug 22, 2007, 20:30
Aug 22, 2007, 20:30
 
I don't think so. It was too obvious that games that required CD keys had a much more consistent sales performance.
And regarding the kids, well, when they had a school break or skipped class they often came in groups of 3, 4, 5 people. Then they were often standing in front of the shelf and debating how many copies to buy. Needless to say that if one of them with a clue knew there was a crack it ended up being one copy. Consistently. Always.
Sometimes they were even bold enough to ask if I knew if there was a way to play without the original CD.

As much as I want to argue this point I have to admit this is an issue. If my buddy john goes and buys a new game, 6 people should not be able to all play the game simultaneously.

Individually each taking a turn would be fine.

The solution Take Two/2k came up with in this case seems acceptable, I don't like online activation but I would guess that a company like SecuRom tracks sales of games using this program before and after a crack becomes widely available on the internet and I'd guess there is enough of a change to keep these companies in business.

93.
 
Re: No subject
Aug 22, 2007, 20:16
93.
Re: No subject Aug 22, 2007, 20:16
Aug 22, 2007, 20:16
 
Naw, I'm not riled...I was riled when I made my first post (ranting about the antipiracy scene), but this guy's pretty funny. Him and another guy who works in the industry.

All in good fun!

92.
 
Re: No subject
Aug 22, 2007, 19:58
92.
Re: No subject Aug 22, 2007, 19:58
Aug 22, 2007, 19:58
 
"Oh gawd! Making a hideously bad wisecrack is bad enough, but trying to deny you were attempting to make a wisecrack with yet more pseudointellectual drivel (which, once again, makes no sense) is just pathetic. Don't you have a friend who can make clever retorts for you?"


Lol! OG, he's obviously a little kid (or a self-righteous, delusional adult who never learned to write). I haven't read comments as sophomoric as his in a long time. Quite entertaining. Don't let him rile ya. Forum kooks are a dime a dozen, even on BluesNews.

Avatar 10520
91.
 
Misguided
Aug 22, 2007, 19:57
91.
Misguided Aug 22, 2007, 19:57
Aug 22, 2007, 19:57
 
This whole activation system is misguided from the start. I'm looking at the warez listings right now, someone has already managed to crack the game and it's been a little over 24 hours. A certain degree of protection is prudent (CD-keys are great for MP games, disc checks for SP games), but going overboard on protection like this doesn't make the pirated versions take significantly longer to produce. Protection on a SP game is akin to a lock on a door, it keeps honest people honest, but that's it. 2 locks won't make a dishonest person more honest, it just makes the lock's owner manage more locks for no gain.

90.
 
Re: hmmm
Aug 22, 2007, 19:55
90.
Re: hmmm Aug 22, 2007, 19:55
Aug 22, 2007, 19:55
 
Stardock just had great timing with so much starforce hate. They announced no copy protection, were applauded for it. I even applauded them for it.

The two are unrelated. Stardock had announced they would have no copy protection LONG before the whole Starforce thing ever went down. Also, people bought it because it's a great game. That's what most gamers do. They buy games that are great.

But not every game can do that today

What are you basing that on? Seriously? Your "gut feeling?" Or because of the horseshit that every publishers bleats about how piracy is costing them 847 trillion dollars in revenues each year, because every pirated game is a lost sale?

I gave you two games that did just fine without copy protection. One massively popular and highly anticipated title, and one indy game title. Both did great.

Where are the games that suffered from not having copy protection? For that matter, where are the games that SOLD MORE because of it? Because I don't think there are any? (at least, with such differences as to be statistically significant.)

I still think the solution is remove the ease of piracy

No it isn't. The solution is to stop worrying about the x amount of dollars lost to piracy, and to focus on the xxx amount of dollars gained by sales. And to do as little as possible to piss those customers off. Right now, the game industry is focussed the other way. Worry your ass off about piracy, and fuck the paying customer up the ass.

Anyone defending this either works for the publisher in charge, or was raised under Stalin.

Overall, copy protection is crap and is worthless and penalizes the buyer. I understand this quite well.

Thank you.

An online authentication is what I have been asking for for years and is far better

Not really, especially not when it only allows me to install twice without then having to beg some fucking helpdesk tool to please let me install it again. I PAID for this fucking product. How many times I install it (on my own system) is MY FUCKING BUSINESS.

Creston

Avatar 15604
89.
 
Re: The Advocate
Aug 22, 2007, 19:54
89.
Re: The Advocate Aug 22, 2007, 19:54
Aug 22, 2007, 19:54
 
Uh no all I said was that SecuROM and Starforce were the same thing.

You need to learn how to read there bub.

88.
 
Re: The Advocate
Aug 22, 2007, 19:52
88.
Re: The Advocate Aug 22, 2007, 19:52
Aug 22, 2007, 19:52
 
uhhh... we heard you the first time you said you weren't going to buy the game g_mann.


Avatar 22932
87.
 
Re: The Advocate
Aug 22, 2007, 19:49
87.
Re: The Advocate Aug 22, 2007, 19:49
Aug 22, 2007, 19:49
 
And here to think I was one day away from buying this game. Now I'm glad I didn't

86.
 
Re: The Advocate
Aug 22, 2007, 19:36
86.
Re: The Advocate Aug 22, 2007, 19:36
Aug 22, 2007, 19:36
 
Agreed. There is plenty of clear un-arguable bottom-line evidence that combating piracy boosts sales and thus revenue for the developers. I know one vgame publisher who fixed a hole in their DRM and saw a 40% increase in sales the next month.

Any links to this clear inarguable bottom-line evidence?

I doubt there is any consistent, conclusive evidence to support that statement. You can always assume that one pirated copy means one lost sale but this is just an assumption. Given the outrage that has followed Securom and Starforce, I highly doubt that adding increasingly overzealous protection makes for better sales. Pissing off your customers tends to do the opposite.

Avatar 20715
85.
 
hmmm
Aug 22, 2007, 19:33
85.
hmmm Aug 22, 2007, 19:33
Aug 22, 2007, 19:33
 
So how else are they to prevent hundreds of thousands of people downloading it and installing it without buying it on release day???
How???

Those people are STILL downloading and installing it without buying. The fact the game has SecuROM doesn't mean shit. It's already cracked.

And how to prevent it? I dunno. Make a great game that people will want to play, and stop worrying about the piracy? Oblivion had no copy protection whatsoever, just a simple disc check. It sold... what? Four million + copies?

Stardock has put no copy protection on their Galciv 2 game (nor its expansions). All they asked was that if you install it on multiple PCs, that you please don't play it on those PCs at the same time. There's no check for that. They just asked, and NICELY, I might add.

Galciv2 has sold enough that they've already released several patches that includes tons of new features, they've released a patch that implemented a whole new GRAPHICS ENGINE, and they're working on their second expansion pack.

Much as the publishers would like for you to believe it, it's definitely possible, and FEASIBLE, to release a game without copy protection and still make plenty of money. Bethesda and Stardock have done so, and made out like bandits.

Egosoft, to quote another example, chose to go with Starforce, and found their sales to be very low for X3, partially because of it.
(and partially, I think, because X3 = X2 + better graphics, but okay.)

If I buy a game I expect to be able to install it 75,000 times if I want to, without having to call Pradip in India who doesn't speak english, and having to try to explain to him that if my fucking harddisk dies, it means I have to reinstall shit.

Creston

Where is a working crack and download for the game? I am not aware a real working version is out there to bypass the online authentication yet. As for the securom disk check, yeah that does nothing and is easy to bypass.

Starforce sucked hard and needed to die, I don't really put securom into the same bag yet.

Stardock just had great timing with so much starforce hate. They announced no copy protection, were applauded for it. I even applauded them for it. But not every game can do that today, they had great timing because people were at the apex of starforce hatrid.

I still think the solution is remove the ease of piracy, something few fighting against copy protection really want to see happen. Remove the actual cause, then devs don't have to fearful of putting their business and lives on the line in trusting people not to download it for free. I couldn't trust my patrons to buy things and not steal. I wouldn't do it in a retail store by leaving it up to peoples ethics (some people don't have them), nor can you really do it online.

Overall, copy protection is crap and is worthless and penalizes the buyer. I understand this quite well. An online authentication is what I have been asking for for years and is far better, but seems to have it's drawbacks with this implementation. I Ghost too so I won't be immune, but I am not going to attack the game or devs for these decisions. I still think it makes perfect sense that 2k can have Securom pull the 2 install limit in a few months when the game sales severely decline.

84.
 
Re: No subject
Aug 22, 2007, 19:31
84.
Re: No subject Aug 22, 2007, 19:31
Aug 22, 2007, 19:31
 
Nope. It got sued out of the market (not really, there are still current games with SF like Loki). That's the only reason Ubi dropped it.

Alright, that's a fair enough distinction, but who wound up doing the suing? Gamers, right? It started with bitching, and eventually someone got so sick and tired of it they sued.

Btw, I agree with Aclaecius that there seems to be very little difference between this and a rootkit...

Creston


Avatar 15604
83.
 
Re: No subject
Aug 22, 2007, 19:25
83.
Re: No subject Aug 22, 2007, 19:25
Aug 22, 2007, 19:25
 
SecuROM, Starforce samething and that is trouble

82.
 
Re: No subject
Aug 22, 2007, 19:24
82.
Re: No subject Aug 22, 2007, 19:24
Aug 22, 2007, 19:24
 
So, this is fun.

81.
 
Re: No subject
Aug 22, 2007, 19:20
81.
Re: No subject Aug 22, 2007, 19:20
Aug 22, 2007, 19:20
 
"That wasn't a wise crack or trying to be funny. Reading comprehension and context should be your friend. It's interesting how evident it becomes that when people fail at discussing the merits of an argument, they resort to trying to insult the messenger. Feel sorry for me, good to hear it. "


Oh gawd! Making a hideously bad wisecrack is bad enough, but trying to deny you were attempting to make a wisecrack with yet more pseudointellectual drivel (which, once again, makes no sense) is just pathetic. Don't you have a friend who can make clever retorts for you?

80.
 
Re: No subject
Aug 22, 2007, 19:19
80.
Re: No subject Aug 22, 2007, 19:19
Aug 22, 2007, 19:19
 
A little birdie tells me that all cracks out are fake. Are you thinking of the HATRED one? Do an md5sum on it and then check the .exe that came with the demo. For extra humor see what is said about demos in the nfo (and note all the other mistakes).

PS I've already called the SPA about the damn little birdie.


Avatar 22932
79.
 
Re: No subject
Aug 22, 2007, 19:14
79.
Re: No subject Aug 22, 2007, 19:14
Aug 22, 2007, 19:14
 
Starforce simply got bitched out of the market.

Nope. It got sued out of the market (not really, there are still current games with SF like Loki). That's the only reason Ubi dropped it. And then the Starforce fuckers pulled that Stardock stunt and shot themselves in the foot proving that they weren't serious, reliable business partners but idiots so more publishers turned away from them. Rest assured that the whining didn't do much. It might have added a little tiny bit of pressure but if it were as simple as whining we'd live in a much better gaming world. Look at how much shit doesn't get done despite of insane amounts of whining. SF would still be here if there hadn't been legal action and the Stardock fiasco.



----------------------------
*** Born to troll ***
78.
 
Re: No subject
Aug 22, 2007, 19:12
78.
Re: No subject Aug 22, 2007, 19:12
Aug 22, 2007, 19:12
 
"I may as well communicate with a wet paper bag. Atleast it wouldn't change the topic to an unrelated plastic bag"

Dude, really, a word of advice: Get someone else to write your wisecracks for you, or at least run them by someone else first. I'm actually starting to feel sorry for you.
That wasn't a wise crack or trying to be funny. Reading comprehension and context should be your friend. It's interesting how evident it becomes that when people fail at discussing the merits of an argument, they resort to trying to insult the messenger. Feel sorry for me, good to hear it.

77.
 
Re: No subject
Aug 22, 2007, 19:12
77.
Re: No subject Aug 22, 2007, 19:12
Aug 22, 2007, 19:12
 
Actually, I'd like to point to the whole Starforce thing as a giant victory for gamers. Starforce simply got bitched out of the market.

Yeah the bitching didn't help, but their monumentally arrogant and stupid dealings with the public were also a major problem. I'm so glad they have run into so many problems with publishers of late.

156 Replies. 8 pages. Viewing page 4.
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