I don't see this as a problem at all. Piracy of PC games is out of control to the point that you can easily get just about any PC game BEFORE it's release date. There are ways to get around any kind of copy protection, and people feel no guilt in stealing every single title that comes down the pipe.

PC gaming -will- die if things keep going the way that they currently are.

Time to take pirtes to work around this: 9 days
Time until honest buyers without internet to get screwed: 10


How will i play when the people i steal wireless from start protecting their connection?

The only way I will buy these games now is if they are released over Steam. I won't pirate them if they are not, I just won't play at all. I've stopped pirating games actually, I've stepped it up to $2k + software!

Something that game companies just haven't been able to wrap their minds around yet is that this doesn't stop piracy.

These games will be cracked DAYS before they come out, and then the cracks will be made freely available online for whomever wants them.

This is gonna screw customers that pay for the game, and ONLY those customers.

Every piracy conversation turns into "those damn buccaneers don't buy anything!" Fact of the matter is I wouldn't be into gaming if it wasn't for piracy, I had bought this many pc games before piracy: ZERO!

I bought a total of 6 games from Bioware but never again, not even on consoles. Not even the ones I was looking for like that Sony RPG on the DS.

So how is that for protecting your profits you idiots? I guarantee every single Raider is just like me.

People need to just not buy the game. If you don't like this "protection", don't buy the game and support these dicks. Unfortunately, nobody does that though, they buy the game anyway, so companies can still do whatever they want because people still buy it. Don't support them!

Defending piracy is plain dumb.

And defending copy protection by treating every potential customer as a pirate-wannabe is just as dumb.

so that means i'm screwed if I have to wait for silly internet services to fix my net connection? phail.

let alone this is just a stupid idea anyway.

@John B

Well duh.

I never defended it. Only gave the developer/publishers rationale behind this stupid decision. I'm not buying those games.

Well unless they go Steam like somebody mentioned.

PC Gaming is dead anyway.

I don't understand this. The people who pirate software weren't going to buy it in the first place. It's not like they'll sit back and say "CURSES. DEFEATED BY SECUROM. I SUPPOSE I'LL GIVE UP MY HARD EARNED CASH NOW.

I'll not-pirate something thats available just to play it. If I can't find a pirated version then I generally don't buy it. I'll continue to buy the titles I really want and really anticipate though.

I reiterate, the people who pirate weren't potential sales in the first place. They either lack the income or desire to purchase the product in question.

-1 Sale

The great thing is I know people who don't have net connections and just get their fix in internet cafes..WHAT ARE THEY MEANT TO DO?!

Chances are this is fixable via a simple host.txt hack to make the game call in to a fake "server" running on the machine of the game owner.

Shit, it's not even out and I just cracked their DRM.

Now, as for spore, I was going to buy it before because it looked fucking incredible. But I don't even think I'll PIRATE it now. Much less buy it. Way to be douchebags, EA.

*sigh*

PC Gaming is not dead, and those people that honestly think it is are just...well, stupid, I guess.

All this kind of idiocy does is encourage piracy. Pirates go out of their way to circumvent challenges like this. It may take a couple of days longer, but Mass Effect will get cracked just like everything else. Is it annoying? Obviously. Is it NECESSARY? Again, yes. Because PC game piracy is out of fucking control. EA/Microsoft/Vivendi/etc really need to invest a substantial amount of money (lets say several tens of millions combined) in developing a method of protecting their games from piracy, one which will take too much work to circumvent. Say, for example, encrypting all the data of a game with a randomized 4096 bit key, with pre-determined solutions that can only be obtained through registering the game. OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.

Until they're willing to put enough money into it, all of these anti-piracy gimmicks they choose to force people to put up with is just completely pointless.

Fucking brilliant idea if they can get it to work without bugs.
I really love PC gaming and I want to make games one day. If the industry can get some control on the piracy, well maybe more developers might actually be willing to release their games onto the ol' personal computer.

congrats, this just convinced me to not get spore, one of my most anticipated games of the year. Thank you Bioware, for letting me keep my $50

I was actually going to buy those games, but now I'm not. I'm not buying a game when I can get a version that works BETTER for FREE.

Does EA not understand how this works? Give us a product worth paying for, and we will pay for it. Fuck us over, and you don't get shit, but we still get to play the game.

It's not rocket surgery.

Copyright protection that does more cockblocking than it actauly does protecting copyright is the cancer that is killing PC gaming.

Annoying Copy Protected games don't get bought... they get even. No, wait. They get copied, cracked, rinse-wash-repeat.

Happened with most Starforce protected games (some real gems on that list), and now with securerom.

Bio need to check out a little company called Stardock that made much more profit in proportion to its development, without invasive copy protection!

My comp isn't anywhere near being able to support either of these games, but I think I may pirate them out of spite and then pass around copies.

Fuck You

why is the dude on the right sporting feminine boobs?

It's the wrong solution for a real problem... Developers have tried to come up with a method to prevent piracy on PC since the "security codes" printed in the manuals already 20 years ago.

The activation every 10 days it's reasonable on paper (came on guys... we are in 2008, if you are in a place without internet you probably have no electricity as well :))

They always ended up pissing the honest buyer more than anything. When I buy a game the first thing I do is check for the (almost always readily available) crack, since it's the only way to avoid 30 seconds security checkings, cd scratching and the like.

But I CAN'T really blame the developers for doing that. PC gaming is not dead, but it's changing since the only really profitable games are becoming casual games (low price and low budget, and appeal to people with absolutely no knowledge of P2P and torrent) and MMORPG (that you cannot pirate by definition)... it's ironic really, since PC has always been the platform aimed at the most "hardcore" of gamers, with complex and cutting edge games.

I think the solution has to be radical, like hardware checking (like consoles), or content streamed directly from internet even for single player games. You would lose some customers, of course, but many more people that would have pirated the game would buying it... If a strong, PC only franchise like Stracraft 2 would start the trend than it would become normal for PC gamers to deal with it.

Seems to radical ? Maybe, but I love PC games, and I can't stand to see PC gaming as I knew it die a slow death. But I really think it's too late, strong "PC only" titles are scarce and given the choice they would buy the console equivalent.

Oh, and this idea is total bollocks, but you already knew that. Plenty of people are going to pirate this just out of spite of those twats at EA.

I'm not a PC gamer so much...and what I do enjoy playing on the PC I don't exactly need to buy. I can say I've never pirated console software...And I was thinking about spore...Both in buying it, or finding it...This kind of sounds like a ridiculous measure that will punish honest folks as opposed to those with my moral ambiguity when it comes to PC games...And that sucks...And I'd say that within 10 days there is a crack that will be done and both Spore and ME will become free. I'm not saying that is the right thing to do here...But at least you wouldn't have to worry about the potential for fucking up and getting screwed by EA b/c they lost your Key Validation.