This kind of copy-protection scheme would achieve that if it offered more to legitimate players than just enabling them to use the product they purchased. If Mass Effect included downloadable content that factored into -- instead of layering on top of -- the game, it would be a lot easier to take (and would make the game more fun and intriguing).
Not if it's just an add-on that would fit every game, because then it can be pirated too. If it's something made in a variety of iterations that are designed to fit into a game and improve it as it's being played, then yeah.But I think it's just what you're talking about, right?
Thank goodness I've already played it on xbox.
By the way, I think 10 days should be enough to finish the game for the majority of players, pure storyline is hardly more than 15 hours, and there might be up to 10 hours of sidequests - but they are so repetitive that only xbox achievements freaks can do them all. So playing a couple of hours each evening you'll beat it in a week or so and won't need to reactivate unless you start 2nd walkthrough immediately.
Yes, the game might only take 25-30 hours for some, but for other gamers, it would probably take like 50-60 hours. And yet other gamers might simply not have the time to play 2-3 hours a day (or more). I know I certainly don't have the time for this anymore, except maybe in weekends.
As I said on the Bioware forums for Mass Effect PC, I think Bioware and EA still thinks that PC gamers are either kids or at least 18-25 year old male college students that have all the time in the world to sit around playing videogames. Not so - not anymore.
I bought Jade EmpireSE (for PC) in february 2007. And I have only played a small part of it. If this system had been place at that time, my firing up Jade Empire now would probably have led me to 1) a need to re-activate the game or 2) at least a need to re-authenticate the game.
Bioware/EA is probably trying to get people away from using nocd cracks for their games (not that I support these) by using this copy protection system. Many people seem to like to be able to play without the dvd in the disk drive; not me, though.
I'm just worried that we will have the a repeating of Bioshock's incident from August/September 2008...when the 2K forums were swarmed with people that couldn't get their games to activate because the servers were down - due to the many people truing to activate all at once...
I read this thread and all I hear is Abe Simpson saying "I'm old and change frightens me!".
For once I think other people are over-reacting (instead of it being me).
I have zero problem with this. I mean really, what's the big deal here as long as they're telling you up front it needs to do this?
It checks when you first run it (just like Bioshock and pretty much ALL Valve games). Then it has to check ONE more friggin time before 10 days is up to verify.
Oh, and the big problems people had getting Bioshock to work were because the server it needed to connect to was overloaded and kept going down the first few days (they underestimated how many people would be nailing that server at the same time). Now, if there is any problem with it, you just reboot and try again and it works fine (did for me anyway).
How is that such a major deal?
You're all being paranoid, overreacting, hammerheads.
It checks when you first run it (just like Bioshock and pretty much ALL Valve games). Then it has to check ONE more friggin time before 10 days is up to verify
It's more than fine with me - I'm happy to support a game that has a copy protection system designed around consumers concerns. The vast majority of complaints I personally hear about copy protection are to do with problems playing the disk or people not wanting to use the disk in the first place. Nearly all the complainants have asked for steam or another online based authentication system instead, and in MEPC it looks like they've been listened to. Kudos BW.