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Last week, gamers got rather angry when they found out that EA is implementing the controversial SecuROM DRM system in their upcoming PC games such as Mass Effect and Spore. EA's plan was to use this DRM system to carry out online verification of the CD key every 5 to 10 days to ensure the key has not been published online or used in some form of piracy. If the key cannot be verified, the software will try again over the next 10 days, after which the user will be prevented from using the software until it can successfully authenticate the key again. The key is registered to the PC during installation to limit the number of installations to three.
After an overwhelmingly negative response from the gaming community, EA and BioWare have decided to relax the anti-piracy system to just requiring authentication during the first play and again when ever the user downloads new content for their game. The CD key will still be registered with the user's PC and the online authentication server will only permit up to three installations. Should a user need to activate their title a 4th time, they will need to get in touch with EA's support.
We have yet to see what will happen during the first few days of these games’ launches, such as whether we will see more examples of what happened with “BioShock” where users were unable to activate their title due to the overloaded activation servers. On the other hand, it is quite likely that EA’s support team are going to get overwhelmed with calls about the online activation, particularly where customers try playing their new game at their various friends’ places without realising the restriction on the number of installations they are allowed.
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This message was edited at: 12-05-2008 17:54
Don't believe their lies saying "you only own the physical media, we own whats on it, we can change terms at any time, you have no rights, we have absolute power".
E.A SUX! It's in the game.
F!@# them.
This message was edited at: 12-05-2008 22:23
So legally you not own the game you buy.
But I agree with other comments
So legally you not own the game you buy."
So why in the heck do I have to pay sales tax then?
Calm down!!!Calm down!!!...Why should EA allow people like you to download their games via bittorrent? If you want it Buy it...Cheapskate.
"Calm down!!!Calm down!!!...Why should EA allow people like you to download their games via bittorrent? If you want it Buy it...Cheapskate. "
Cheapskate? Blome! I've PAID for too many of EA's carp products only to have the usless DRM and other issues interfere with my ability to use what I PAID for. The saddest part is that the pirate community gets the products functioning in spite of the DRM, so only the paid legal customers are harmed. I'm sick of companies and idiots like you assuming I downloaded the product. If I had, instead of wasting my money, I wouldn't have had all the problems. So it isn't about being cheap. It's about being tired of getting screwed and treated like a criminal. So I choose to vote with my wallet, and I won't be wasting any more money on EA products ever again.
It is EA policy to give their legitimate customers a less desirable product than the one pirates get.
So, knowing that, which do you want to be?
