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The truth behind BioShock copy protection
Author: Joe MartinPublished: 23rd August 2007
FACT: BioShock copy protection does not cause zombification.
The worries were originally bought up when rumours started going around that the PC version of BioShock can only be installed twice, after which the disc becomes little more than a coaster.
Those rumours are false. Kind of.
In a full response, 2K has explained how the copy protection system, which is provided by Securom, works.
"First, let me say this: you DO NOT NEED TO USE THE INTERNET EVERY TIME YOU PLAY THIS GAME. It is only the first time.
Second, you can uninstall and reinstall this game, and if, by chance, you have 2 computers you want to simultaneously play this game on, you also can do that.
If by some chance you are reinstalling this game without uninstalling it first, a lot, there is a chance you may have to call Securom and get a key, or deactivate some older installations.
But if you upgrade your hardware next week, you'll still be able to play the game. If you revamp your system and need to reinstall BioShock, just uninstall it before you go through the overhaul, and then do your reinstall.
Calling it "hardware fingerprinting" is a bit alarmist - we do not transmit any of your data to any companies. Really, the only people who will be concerned about any of these security measures are those who are rapidly putting BioShock on many PCs.f you use the game as you normally do, you won't notice this at all."
So, it's not exactly the problem that everybody was worried about, but there is a copy protection system in place. There is some concern, especially in bit-tech HQ where we have regular system changes and failures, that hard drive failures or formatting may cause customers to lose an 'install credit', but most normal gamers should be okay.
We'll be reporting more on any problems we have with the PC version of BioShock in our full technical review of the game, which Tim and I shall be working on in just a few minutes. In the mean time, why not drop by the forums and whinge about the widescreen problem - oh, except that's been fixed as well now with an unofficial patch.
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Comments (40)Stats: 0.131 seconds
I'm sure there will be a NoCD crack produced pretty quickly or some other workaround for those who've bought it and are fed up with digging out the DVD each time.
I had bad experience with StarForce in the past, so I am really worried about anti copy crapware.
Also, WHY having such a thing on the demo too ? I doesn't make any sense.
As long as a valid customer can easily get securom to clear old installs there shouldn't be a problem.
There are two standpoints you can take on this subject.
If they put up a barrier it will stop at least some of the casual pirates who have the money to pay for it but will pirate if it's easier than going to a store and buying it.
The other side of the coin is that this sort of copy protection does not stop the hardcore pirates cracking the game and making it easily available online.
There is no perfect solution because we don't live in a perfect world. If people weren't so cheap and payed for things they wanted then there wouldn't be a need for copy protection.
The only way i can see this copy protection system was supposed to work was to stop casual piracy, the 'proper' warez version wont even have the activation system in it therefore an activation limit is not going to affect them at all.
Its clearly to stop people taking the disc round to their friend's house an install the game there too
However, that friend still needs a legit disc (or a crack at which point any copy protection is irrelevant) in the drive to play
So if there were no activation limit you still couldnt install the same copy on your friend's PC and be able to play at the same time
It doesnt even stop casual piracy...
*Runs away very quickly, before he is shot by all the Steam haters...*
it is also limited to 2 concurrent installs
also apparently the 'backup game files' option in steam doesnt work for bioshock
Also, the activation servers are down.
If companies treated the customers better than the pirates do there'd be less desire and social acceptance of piracy.
i cast a serious BLAH on all this ****, forcing me to individually uninstall my software before doing a full system whipe
This will ONLY affect people who have paid for the game
This WILL NOT stop the game being pirated
Personally, every game i own i have No-CD cracks for, as it's just far too much hassle searching for disks everytime you want to play a game.
When will these companies learn that pissing-off your paying customers while pirates get a better deal is not good business sense... :(
The concept of activation is the worst thing to have ever happened to software. With very few exceptions, I have a paid copy of all the software I use, and those exceptions are professional tools that I use to experiment with (I won't even think about doing profitable work with them until I've paid for it, as I find it morally reprehensible to profit from somebody else's work unless you've paid for your right to do so). I own Windows, but I run a cracked corporate version on my system so that I don't have to deal with activation every few months. Likewise for Office, etc. It's twice as bad with activation systems, since they're so flawed by design. Any system where my ability to use something I've paid for is dependent on somebody else's systems to be correct, up-to-date, or some other thing that can go wrong (and will at the worst possible time) are unacceptable for me.
If they're going to punish their paying customers with this kind of thing, fine. But don't expect me to pay. If they're going to do it like Bethesda did with Oblivion and just give you a straight install disc with not so much as a serial key to muck about with, then I'll happily fork over if it's something I want/need. Partly because I want to show developers that I support that method and money is about the only way for me to do so, partly because I know it won't screw me over later on if something goes wrong their end, but mostly because they're treating me like a paying customer and not a criminal.
You know what they say - make guns illegal and then only the criminals will have guns. Well it's along the same lines here - make it so only cracked versions of your software run then only the crackers will run your software.
Just think, if a number of games went through this process it would cost you a small fortune in telephone bills just to get your system back on it's feet (assuming they're noy using freephone numbers).
How many people actually uninstall programs (or even think of uninstalling programs) before wiping their systems?
I know I don't (let's face it, usually if you're wiping your system there's more pressing things on your mind than "did I uninstall that game???").
All the same I think I'll stick to the 360 version,
The very definition of "Plug and Play"
QFT
and, there are also people who dont even bother trying to fix screwed up windows installs like me, personal data on separate partition and slimmed down / unattended install of windows (nlite / vlite forever) ftw....
Games like Galactic Civilizations II and Company of Heroes show that there is not really any advantage to copy protection, even though they have none at all, they don't even require a no-CD crack, they still sold well. Yes they were pirated, but no more than other games.
From Kotaku
LOL
It does seem that this choice of protection was a big mistake.
:)
but this new securom has more impact for bugging more norm users, why cant thay just protect the game via product activation or an online key
Acctually thinking about it the internet is widespread, but needing what is essentially internet activation to play a single player game?
try to play wtihout driver hotfix? doesnt work... reinstall game... antivir on your computer? doesnt work... reinstall game... go on internet to figure out you just ****ed up...
its the first time in history i'm glad about a far too late release in europe... that way i atleast got warned of all the trouble the game can be....
IMO, the best way to do it, is accept that the offline play is lost, but make sure people have to have the full thing for online play
Hell on Dawn Of War they gave up on copy protection in the end, and it now no-longer needs a CD or anything to play, however i think online play requires a valid licence
I have had my raid crash, killing my enitre system. End result:
calling Microsoft to have my copy of windows reactivated.
Reset Itunes since I already had 5 computers with my account.
1 month ago:
Flashed my bios
Somehow this made windows think I had 'Changed my hardware significantly' Along with Itunes....
Now Itunes has a ghost pc /playing music/....
Imagine the hassle I'm going to have to go through if I encounter another hardware failure!
Bioshock sounded like a great game, I was excited to buy and play it.. forget it now.. my blood pressure has enough issues to deal with.
And I think you're stupid also. Has this exchange of dislike benefitted us? Perhaps we should do it more often.
The best example I can think of why copy protection should exist is a third hand tale I heard about IL2, apparently Oleg Maddox was incensed to find out that most of the complainers about a copy protection feature he'd added to one of the many update patches were from people running pirated copies of the game.
Got a link on that?
http://kotaku.com/gaming/son-of-sad-panda/levine-responds-to-bioshock-copy-protecton-woes-292834.php
what he said was
its promising but until they actually state that its being removed..
They should not have to, they should not be lied too
Since I've got a 360 I've stopped playing PC games... or buying new one's at least. The widescreen thing, the drivers.. patching... activation lockouts after TWO(!) installs.. It's been out a DAY! It's all ridiculous.
Maybe I'll go back to "the PC" when they have finished it.
But I like the protection system! I mean doesn't 80% of the price covers the cost of the protection system rather then the game/software?
It's like "Buy this protection system of a software, and have this FREE game !!!"
[/sarcasm]