EA's new copy protection system angers PC gamers

[supafreak]

Wow this sucks. If my memory is correct the pc version of Bioshock had this in it too. I am in the midst of finishing up my Vista build on my new Dell and have installed Gears of War twice now. With this system in place I would be screwed and could only install it one more time. Yuck!

PC Gamers Angered by EA’s New Copy Protection System

Hotly-anticipated PC titles Spore and Mass Effect will be among the first wave of PC games from EA to employ a controversial form of copy protection.
Techdirt reports that publisher Electronic Arts will use SecuROM protection, a scheme that has caused technical problems with some past titles. From the Techdirt story:

This new version is causing controversy due to an online verification system connected to its CD key. The system requires a connection to the internet during installation… After this the game will try to re-check the CD key every 5-10 days… If the game can’t verify the key… it will continue to try for a further 10 days, after which it will stop working… The protection will also only allow the game to be installed three times.

So what’s the beef? According to Techdirt:

A lot of gamers consider this intrusive and inconvenient, and that the publishers are effectively assuming their customers are pirates… Other concerns have been raised over users who don’t play with machines permanently connected to the internet… or how the system will work in regards to resale.
These potential problems combined with SecuROM’s past have made some call for a boycott of the titles and others to declare an intention to pirate the game out of spite.

Cnet’s Daniel Terdiman weighs in on the brewing controversy:

Systems like this are never going to be winners for companies like EA. For every copy of one of its games that it successfully keeps from being illegally copied, it’s going to lose a good customer who’s beyond annoyed at the way the system works and the way they feel they’re being treated.

To be sure, software companies feel they have to fight tooth and nail to avoid being robbed… [but] as the Sony rootkit scandal and other DRM PR nightmares have shown, users do not want to be controlled in this way. And they vote with their wallets.

Source

[Snake1399]

hmmmm, you would think they could give unlimited installs to a single IP address, but then i guess anyone could bring over a laptop and download as well. Not sure what the easy fix to this one would be, but that does suck!

[Crippler]

EA making games angers consumers.

[Gordon]

Plus... IP changes and what not.

[Spzombie]

That's some crap right there. What if your HD goes out three times. Or you get a new computer. Well I guess that's why I'm not geting Vista. I'll just stick with XP for now.

[Gordon]

In the case with Vista, you can phone in and have your abuse level reset so you can install again. It's three major hardware changes that confuse the system, generally involving the motherboard, processor, and HD, but can also be set off by an upgrade of the video card.

Anyways, if that were the case I assume there would be a similar system for resetting the installs during the activation period like there is with lets say... Antiviruses and what not.

[lovekeiiy]

almost enough reason to completely abandon PC gaming.

[Gordon]

The copy protection has been dropped. Problem solved. Moving on...?

[WormholeXtreme]

Originally Posted by Gordon

In the case with Vista, you can phone in and have your abuse level reset so you can install again. It's three major hardware changes that confuse the system, generally involving the motherboard, processor, and HD, but can also be set off by an upgrade of the video card.

Anyways, if that were the case I assume there would be a similar system for resetting the installs during the activation period like there is with lets say... Antiviruses and what not.

I've tripped this with VISTA a dozen times betwen my 3 PCs with VISTA. Sometimes I just change one hard drive and I have to re-activate. This is the only thing I don't like about VISTA. It's rather annoying having to call and enter in all those digits. Everything else about VISTA I love. I can't stand using XP anymore.

[supafreak]

I just reinstalled Vista on a new pc that I got and I didn't have to call them to register it again. I was fully expecting to have to call MS to get a new code but was surprised when it registered fine.