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SecuROM Grows Up, Marries Spore and Mass Effect - PC

7th May 2008, 5:22pm

Copy protection! Yay! Kudos for stamping out all those nasty pirates! It's so totally not annoying and because of that, the latest SecuROM update totally won't annoy anyone, especially those of you who are planning to get Spore or Mass Effect for the PC!

BioWare's technical producer Derek French talked to Shacknews and had this little nugget:

"After the first activation, SecuROM requires that [Mass Effect PC] re-check with the server within ten days (in case the CD Key has become public/warez'd and gets banned). After 10 days a re-check is required before the game can run. An internet connection is not required to install, just to activate the first time, and every 10 days after."

Yay! Wait, what?

by Anthony J Scarcella » Author's Blog

Latest Reader Comments:
Posted by insanopointless 07/05/2008 9:30:11pm
Can't remember what game it was, but SecuROM screwed up something awful and I couldn't even play it in the end.
Posted by Ant292 07/05/2008 9:10:59pm
Not like Microsoft aren't still trying to implement it *cough* Vista *cough*
Posted by G-Train 07/05/2008 8:53:35pm
In actuality, these kinds of anti-piracy technologies hurt the industry more then help it IMO.

This is simply going to deter normal buyers by creating obviously problematic gaming, and as said, what of the people who don't own the internet?

Piracy is always going to be around, game developers just need to deal with it by easily preventing online play. They can't prevent single player piracy due to the fact that "piraters" are usually ex-developers, or atleast skilled programmers, and know how to bypass security just as well as the guys who create it. But this is beyond too far.
"After 10 days a re-check is required before the game can run" - So everyone who buys this game get a free PO?

Either way, I am remembering back to when Microsoft proposed the introduction of "piracy-proofed" windows, that took all of a month to sink when they realised it couldn't be done.
Posted by Ant292 07/05/2008 8:15:08pm
Quite possibly one of the stupidest things I've ever heard. I'm already pissed off at SecuROM for not allowing me to run Process Explorer if I load a game that uses it, which is absolutely ridiculous. There's a backlash against this already, but I'm fairly sure the pirates have already got around this.
Posted by zen 07/05/2008 8:03:16pm
what dvd rom have you got and where can i get one? :D
Posted by moodycj 07/05/2008 6:55:41pm
That is so retarded, what if you have it on a laptop and want to play it where you don't have the net?
Posted by RJG 07/05/2008 6:46:49pm
I was gonna buy both games. But now I won't. Because I'm not paying for something when I can get a better working copy for free.

Besides, buying retail won't work, because my DVD ROM maker didn't pay a ransom to SecuROM to get their hardware non-blacklisted, so it's listed as "pirate" hardware.

Great.