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Bioshock DRM Limits Removed

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Bioshock DRM Limits Removed

from JoeUser Forums

BioshockLast night, 2K Games announced that effective immediately, all limitations (install count limits, in particular) have been removed from Bioshock's activation system. A 2K representative further commented that the SecuROM activation system does remain, but it won't stop users from installing the game as frequently as needed.

Building on this fulfilled promise, she also vowed to users that should support for the game be ended in the future, 2K will ensure that users are still able to install and play it.

[more]

This seems to me to bode well not only for Bioshock owners, but for PC gamers in general. Might other companies using similar systems see this and join 2K in lightening, rather than tightening the restrictions on their DRM?

I for one hope that this news buoys Bioshock's sales at the very least, and sends a clear message to 2K and anyone watching that (as we've demonstrated with our own games) overly restrictive DRM is not necessary for a game to sell well. What do you think?

93,479 views 31 replies
Reply #26 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Did I mention SecuROM broke my DVD driver?


Just because a disc has strange copy protection methods on it that prevent some drives from even reading it doesn't mean the drive is broken (especially as you count only two such protected discs as evidence, and make no mention of how it handles others).
Reply #27 from Sins Forums Top
Finally. I just traded in my 360 version and now I will buy the PC one. Yes!
Multiplicity - Control multiple PCs using one keyboard and mouse
Reply #28 from Sins Forums Top
Bioshock's activation scheme has been removed? Too little, too late. It's still got Securom on it. This is a shame too, because I was going to buy Bioshock a few months ago had this DRM not been present (toss up, Bioshock or another game -- I picked the other game). Now it's no longer an appealing game. The same will likely happen to Mass Effect, which I still refuse to buy due to the DRM.

Did I mention SecuROM broke my DVD driver?
Just because a disc has strange copy protection methods on it that prevent some drives from even reading it doesn't mean the drive is broken (especially as you count only two such protected discs as evidence, and make no mention of how it handles others).
I have to point out, after reading this, that it is entirely possible for DRM to physically break drives. I seem to recall Sim City 3000 Unlimited had Securom on it which kept continuously accessing the disk and made for one nasty install and game-startup sequence as the DRM kicked in. An older computer of mine lost a CD burner right in the middle of starting that game. In another system, Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 wiped out its DVD burner because of the Securom checking constantly while building at night (a known glitch that took 3 months to half-way fix (it persists today), unless you downloaded cracks). Both drives were under warranty, but the timing and nature of the accesses when the drives failed cannot simply be coincidental.
Reply #29 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Just because a disc has strange copy protection methods on it that prevent some drives from even reading it doesn't mean the drive is broken (especially as you count only two such protected discs as evidence, and make no mention of how it handles others).

I said driver (software), not drive (hardware). It could read other DVDs just fine. That's the point, though.

It was not merely a hardware issue, since WiC would only launch with the original DVD in the drive, even though the system (file explorer) couldn't see contents of the disk. Since the same problem happened with 2 SecuROM disks, and there are accounts of people having the same problem with other SecuROMed titles, it's very unlikely the problem is due to something else.
Reply #30 from Sins Forums Top
Too little too late - I might have bought it if it didn't have the DRM, but now I have moved on to Sins!!!
Reply #31 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Bioshock is massively overrated. After all the hype I tried the demo and found the hype absurd. It's just another FPS. It neither stood out, nor offered anything interesting that hadn't been seen before. STALKER was better. And that pales in comparison to Half-Life 2 anyway.

Just don't get why Bioshock is adored so much.

Hope this Securom crap is sorted for Spore as right now, I'm seriously tempted to not buy it, simple because of this asinine treating customers like thieves. And the downloadable version uses EA's manager and gives you no files to burn to disk, so that's out for me as well.

Sure I can find something else worth of my $60 in September if EA fail to get a clue.