BoingBoing brings us word of one of the very few flaws in 2K's beloved BioShock, the presence of an insidious DRM scheme within its PC release. While the article begins with the amazingly bias heading of "
It seems that BioShock has been coated in a crunchy candy shell courtesy of SecuROM, a DRM scheme that only allows for the title to be installed on two seperate systems. To enforce this limit, the software actively reports back to the home offices and prohibits any further installation and use of the game once the two PC limit has been reached. Of course, the dubious tactics employed here cause reputable anti-virus programs to freak the hell out and warn people away from even the demo version of the title.
In response to the outcry this has caused amongst techie gamers, 2K has been shuffling the blame off onto SecuROM's customer service wonks, and almost unsurprisingly, SecuROM has been herding those same bleating sheep back towards 2K.
It would be socialist of me to decry 2K for attempting to secure their own intellectual property, but in a world where DRM schemes are broken before they're even released attempting to lock down a beloved product with a system as draconian and debilatating as SecuROM is just underhanded. Shouldn't they have enough faith in their product's mass appeal that they wouldn't have to punish buying customers in an effort to lock out the almost negligible number of people who have the technology and know-how to don the silicon eyepatch of piracy?
[UPDATE: As regards those of you saying it's as simple as uninstalling the game before reinstalling it, well it isn't that easy. I quote the BoingBoing piece linked above:
Besides that, it should be your property to do with as you see fit once you've purchased it, hence you should be able to install it on as many machines as you'd like.]
I hate DRMs, they acts the exact same as a virus, it just stops game copying. Plus it fucked up my system the one time. Fuck Securom, fuck Starforce, fuck all DRM
As far i as i heard all you need to do is uninstall it first to be able to install again on a new system. Sounds reasonable enough to me. Who plays on more than two systems anyways?
It's good to be a console gamer...
The stupid part of this is that Steam itself was created to solve the pirating issue, yet now they're shoving protection through protection. It'll be on the torrents sooner or later, but I just bought it over Steam and bit the bullet.
I think cbotwell is correct.
If you uninstall it, it will remove an activation.
It's limited to 2 PCs at one time.
Just chill. This is no different from any digital distrubtion (minus steam) This has been around forever.
umm, that picture is wrong: the rubber chicken with the pulley in the middle is surprisingly useful.
Note: Steam just updated, and the update had only one fix, the installation and removal of BioShock. Not sure if it's actually fixed, but since I'm currently on the middle of the game, I don't feel like re-installing it right now to test.
I think developers that don't have any DRM stuff in their games like Stardock (Galactic Civilizations II) and Paradox (Hearts of Iron II, Europa Universalis III) have it right.
God that's what the problem was? It took me an hour to install the game and that was only after I had uninstalled AVG from my system, it kept on saying it was some sort of trojan. What a pain in the ass.
I can't uninstall if my HD dies, the PC version ASKS for a crack to be pirated.
Hehe whoops. Read the update, sorry Nex.
This is plain and simply stupid.
We pirate in south america becase we cant buy games in stores, they dont bring any.
But in this case since it is in steam (digital distribution), you can pay for the game and enjoy the benefits of having a legal copy anyway (i did it with hl2 and wow).
BUT, having a legal copy of a game that screws your system is not funny. It takes away the privileges of having a legal copy, it gives you the trouble you are not looking forward to have since you payed for the thing.
As much as I hate the two PC limit I am counting myself lucky at this point. Neither my anti-virus or my Firewall threw a fit when I installed. I'm not to worried about the limit for myself personally as I can only see myself playing the game on this machine. It still sucks they put the limit on.
@sunami88
Twice.
Grab some popcorn, that 2k thread is the definition of entertainment.
Glad I rented this fucker on Gamefly for the 360. It's not like the greatest game ever. Adding DVR bullshit always keeps me from purchasing a program, no matter how awesome. I would never have even played Oblivion had it had that shit. Fuck. :)
@ ocelot:
digital video recorder?
Yeah, that DVR stuff is bullshit. Wha?
DAMN YOU TIVO! GET OFF MY COMPUTER!
It's not really that bad now that they've explained it, but I agree, there shouldn't be any limitations to it. What if something honestly goes wrong and you get locked out of it? DRM is being chased out of the digital music world, hopefully it'll get phased out of visual media, too.
@nex hey, I meant DRM but yeah, why the fuck not? They're recording our gameplay so they can... figure out... how we would react in that environment. So that when they create a... bathysphere (lol i love that) and stick us down there qwith mutated experiments gone wrong *cough*escapefroml.a.ripoff*cough* then they will know what to expect from us.
Or I could have just gotten the letters mixed up.
It could happen...
Hey, look at that. A ridiculously good-looking community blogger already posted this story
Also, he did it at 9:00 AM EDT
True, but what he wrote wasn't nearly as clever or vitriolic.
Yet another case where the pirated product is far more convenient than the real thing (read: dvd's and region checking).
DRM only hurts their clients.
It will die soon enough, just keep on making noise.
They really want to alienate their PC users don't they..wonderfuls
Eh. Wasn't gonna buy it when they said no multiplayer anyways.
of course its easily the most over-hyped game so far this year. Theres never been a game hyped so much, as far as i can tell. Its still bloody good, but im not sure if we'll ever be able to make a game as good as bioshock was made out to be...
<3 guybrush
I've had a problem with SecuROM where if I use MSconfig (or a similar utility) to change anything, games will not run after a reboot. I have to reboot multiple times before I can run a SecuROM game.
I boycott this crap. Yes, really.
Nex totally burned you dude.
Oh man the 2K forums have gotten even more comical overnight. I'm still not sure what i think of the whole securom issue. I probably wont care until it bites me in the ass. Some goof is even claiming hes going ahead with a class action lawsuit to get his 50 bucks back.
DRM is retarded. Still after all these years. Wait until hackers crack it, and then install DRM free.
i don't understand any of this
Point taken, that probably is more than an acceptable hassle to deal with.
This fucking sucks. Still, the game is worth it, but I want to install it on three machines, just to spite those fuckers.
Haha PC gaming. They'll never get it right. That'll always be because each PC game that's released stands alone, by that I mean that each PC game released has it's own required specs and quarks to figure out. It might work on your machine. it might not. you may need to buy or install something to run it, etc. I just play the console version, no worries. That's why console gaming will always be better in that respect.
This sucks. I probably get a copy of Bioshock for the Xbox 360.
will
Good post!
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