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SecuROM activation required for Alone in the Dark PC

B

Bobby1234SI

Banned
Source: http://www.strategyinformer.com/news/1429/securom-activation-required-for-alone-in-the-dark-pc

Atari has just issued a press release announcing that the PC version of Alone in the Dark will contain the SecuROM activation system, unfortunately.

The PC version of Alone in the Dark is protected using SecuROM™ online activation. This requires that in addition to the content on the game disk, players download an additional component via an internet connection in order to install and run the game. Once the game has been correctly installed and activated, it can be played whilst offline.

To install the game on a different computer, players must revoke the serial number when uninstalling from the first machine (this is an automatic option during the uninstall process).
Click to expand...
 
This is a fantastic move that not only strengthens the bond between the company and the customer, but also guarantees that pirates won't be able to crack the game and cut into those sweet, sweet profits. I mean, not even Mass Effect was cracked by the pirates. Certainly not in less than 2 days, at least. No sir.
 
So to install on an offline computer (or multiples) you must download the crack. It appears that this is standard for PC games now. Buy game, download crack, play...

Is there a service I can sign up for??
 
I don't mind when games require me to put the disc in the drive in order to play the game but any game that requires online activation I'm going to keep a crack for it handy in my patches folder.
 
Vagabundo said:
So to install on an offline computer (or multiples) you must download the crack. It appears that this is standard for PC games now. Buy game, download crack, play...

Is there a service I can sign up for??
Click to expand...
No, the standard is rapidly becoming not buying the game at all.
 
MGrant said:
This is a fantastic move that not only strengthens the bond between the company and the customer, but also guarantees that pirates won't be able to crack the game and cut into those sweet, sweet profits. I mean, not even Mass Effect was cracked by the pirates. Certainly not in less than 2 days, at least. No sir.
Click to expand...

This.

I wonder if they're really trying to stop piracy, or simply try to bother their legal customers.
 
Potential buyer: "I'm thinking of impulsively buying Alone in the Dark if I see it tomorrow"
GAF: "It contains spyware which surreptitiously downloads components onto your computer"
Potential buyer: "Oh well, tough luck Atari. I guess I won't bother. I might even download the cracked version from a warez site"

I wonder when PC game companies are going to realise that they should not raining shit down on their legitimate customers. Reward registered users with substantial new content and fixes rather than punish them with spyware or other copy protection schemes.
 
*quietly hugs Stardock*
I ... I love you guys.

I am supremely thankful that I do not feel the urge to play many contemporary PC games. I am certainly opposed to these shenaningans. My PC. My software. The very concept of begging someone to be able to install and execute software I have legally purchased a license for rubs me the wrong way.

Off topic: I sincerely hope Spore won't lock me out like that. It's the only game I'm looking forward to that I don't know if it'll be infected with DRM. It's a multiplatform title, so there's hope, I guess.
 
boring, there really is nothing wrong with this copy protection system, the games been out two days now and still hasn't been cracked, any other other protection system would have been, kinda justifies their decision imo even if it does get cracked over the weekend im sure it will have got them a few more sales
 
I love how these companies treat their paying customers as criminals when the pirated versions will eventually hit the net, even if it takes a few more days (or weeks).
 
bee said:
boring, there really is nothing wrong with this copy protection system, the games been out two days now and still hasn't been cracked, any other other protection system would have been, kinda justifies their decision imo even if it does get cracked over the weekend im sure it will have got them a few more sales
Click to expand...

It will be cracked within a week, guarenteed.

Resistance is futile.
 
CTLance said:
Off topic: I sincerely hope Spore won't lock me out like that. It's the only game I'm looking forward to that I don't know if it'll be infected with DRM. It's a multiplatform title, so there's hope, I guess.
Click to expand...
Spore will have DRM, apparently the same kind currently in Mass Effect. Annoying because that's one of the two PC games I'm planning on buying. The other is luckly Demigod, which will be free of this nonsense.
 
Even though I don't like this at all, I agree with online activation for PC games. Yes, it will be cracked, but not being released illegally before it hits the streets is a big advantage for the publishers.

However, there is no excuse for spyware, periodic reactivation or any other such bullshit. Use a straightforward client like Steam, please. Also, it would be great if these protections were removed in a later official patch (1 or 2 years after release).
 
Aaron said:
Spore will have DRM, apparently the same kind currently in Mass Effect.
Click to expand...
Whelp, one less game to worry about.

...Maybe the Mac build will be different. Would be a nice incentive to finally upgrade to an Intel Mac. Last hope, right there.
 
I'm not friend of DRM protections... BUT... I never had any problem with it.

Mass Effect runs GREAT and smootlhy on my computer. No problem with activation.
The same with BioShock, 0 problems: INSTALL & PLAY.
 
FuKuy said:
I'm not friend of DRM protections... BUT... I never had any problem with it.

Mass Effect runs GREAT and smootlhy on my computer. No problem with activation.
The same with BioShock, 0 problems: INSTALL & PLAY.
Click to expand...

I just read Bioshock recently removed all activation restrictions, so no more of that crap from Bioshock.

Seems like they just want you to wait 6+ months before buying their games.
 
"Seems like they just want you to wait 6+ months before buying their games."


Shut up. Bioshock wasn't bad at all incomparison to these other DRMs. I really doubt you guys used up the 5 installs and got locked out anyhow. They said after the main boost of sales is over they would remove all the protection and they followed through. If you dislike them acting like human beings then you're bitching just to bitch.
 
Zaraki_Kenpachi said:
"Seems like they just want you to wait 6+ months before buying their games."


Shut up. Bioshock wasn't bad at all incomparison to these other DRMs. I really doubt you guys used up the 5 installs and got locked out anyhow. They said after the main boost of sales is over they would remove all the protection and they followed through. If you dislike them acting like human beings then you're bitching just to bitch.
Click to expand...

I am still rather fond of my kidney, though I haven't put on your glasses yet where I can be spoon fed the shit they are serving to PC gamers these days and think it tastes good.
 
Oh quit whining. Mass Effect worked fine.

And Stardock and Steam authenticate everytime you launch a game, but no one complains about that.
 
Icarus said:
Oh quit whining. Mass Effect worked fine.

And Stardock and Steam authenticate everytime you launch a game, but no one complains about that.
Click to expand...

Steam doesn't, you can play offline if you want. I'm sure Stardock is the same.
 
You only need to use Stardock for the initial download and to install official patches. The same goes for Steam, after a fashion. Both services allow for offline play and multiple installs with no hassle.
 
Once again, hackers will figure out a way to break it, then it sonly serves to annoy the people who actually purchase it. I wish PC publishers would figure it out already, seems Stardock and Valve have.
 
"I am still rather fond of my kidney, though I haven't put on your glasses yet where I can be spoon fed the shit they are serving to PC gamers these days and think it tastes good."


As much as I'd like to have 0 DRM it seems you need new glasses if you think they won't keep using DRMs whether you buy the games or not. It's not like this is anything new, it's been going on for a while. You guys keep praising about how you'd be ok with DRM if it didn't punish the user yet you bitch about bioshock? What is so bad about it? Who hit the 5 installs in the less than a year time it took for them to remove ALL drm on it? Again you're bitching just to bitch, they're acting pretty civil about it with restrictions no one is ever going to hit pretty much unless they are stealing.
 
Zaraki_Kenpachi said:
Who hit the 5 installs in the less than a year time it took for them to remove ALL drm on it? Again you're bitching just to bitch, they're acting pretty civil about it with restrictions no one is ever going to hit pretty much unless they are stealing.
Click to expand...
Reread the article. It sounds as though Alone in the Dark will only allow for a single installation, not five.
 
epmode said:
You only need to use Stardock for the initial download and to install official patches. The same goes for Steam, after a fashion. Both services allow for offline play and multiple installs with no hassle.
Click to expand...

This method allows for offline play as well and doesn't appear to phone home, just one activation. The only bad part is the install provision, but this isn't as bad as what Mass Effect was going to be like before they backed down.
 
Well, at least this isn't as intrusive as Starforce...

Still, SecuROM used to be a lot less intrusive than it is now. :/
 
epmode said:
Reread the article. It sounds as though Alone in the Dark will only allow for a single installation, not five.
Click to expand...
just to make sure no one is getting confused... it allows for multiple installations, but not simultaneous installations. i can uninstall it from one pc, and then go and install it on another.

so the only real benefit steam and stardock has, is that you can have it on more than one machine. you still need to have an online connection to activate/download a game on those sevices as you do with Alone in the Dark's secuROM.

this shit doesn't really bother me because i know where to go and what to do if the copy protection starts messing up my machine when i buy the game next week... but it still only hurts consumers and makes NO difference for pirates, who just download and crack like they've been doing for over a decade.

cd keys were enough to stop people just copying the discs. all this other stuff is pointless.
 
darkressurection said:
Once again, hackers will figure out a way to break it, then it sonly serves to annoy the people who actually purchase it. I wish PC publishers would figure it out already, seems Stardock and Valve have.
Click to expand...

Yeah, this is the same protection Mass Effect use, that got cracked almost instantly.
 
For copy protection, Atari should've made the game ask questions that could only be answered by consulting a tiny picture book with hundreds of pages that came in the box.
 
Chairman Yang said:
For copy protection, Atari should've made the game ask questions that could only be answered by consulting a tiny picture book with hundreds of pages that came in the box.
Click to expand...
:)

i fondly remember those days actually... but that's pretty much where cracks were born.

a few years ago i dug out an old copy of the original prince of persia, and couldn't find the manual... so when i got to the potions room, i'd just drink potions at random until one worked... then i'd write down the page, paragraph, etc and the letter that worked.

turned out there was only about twenty variations that showed up...
 
Zaraki_Kenpachi said:
"Seems like they just want you to wait 6+ months before buying their games."


Shut up. Bioshock wasn't bad at all incomparison to these other DRMs. I really doubt you guys used up the 5 installs and got locked out anyhow. They said after the main boost of sales is over they would remove all the protection and they followed through. If you dislike them acting like human beings then you're bitching just to bitch.
Click to expand...

It was bad if you used Steam and expected Bioshock to behave like any other game delivered through Steam, i.e. install anywhere but you can only play on one machine at a time. It's a terrible precedent for a game to slap its own restrictions on top.
 
This is worse than Mass Effect... at least with that you could have it installed on your laptop and your desktop, but with this if you install it on your desktop and then you go away somewhere and then decide you want to play it on your laptop, you can't. I can understand having this sort of activation for digitally distributed stuff like Steam but it's a real pain in the arse for stuff that installs off a disc, can't we have a return to disc based authentication please? Or at least use it as a fallback when the online activation isn't available?
 
This is both better and worse than Mass Effect. It's better because once the game is installed, you can take your computer offline indefinitely.

It's even worse because if you format your HDD before "deactivating" your install, you're screwed.

Anyway, this is the strongest protection for non-online games there is. The game EXE is simply not included in the DVD. Instead, you download a DRM'ed EXE which only works on the PC for which the key was generated.
 
M3d10n said:
This is both better and worse than Mass Effect. It's better because once the game is installed, you can take your computer offline indefinitely.

It's even worse because if you format your HDD before "deactivating" your install, you're screwed.

Anyway, this is the strongest protection for non-online games there is. The game EXE is simply not included in the DVD. Instead, you download a DRM'ed EXE which only works on the PC for which the key was generated.
Click to expand...
i'm not so sure. the pirates will just be downloading un DRM'ed exes within a few days of release like they always do. i wouldn't mind being proven wrong, but that's just the truth of things. every copy protection method on the pc has been and will be defeated, unless the hardware significantly changes in the future to force the incorporation of hardware level security methods... and even then i'd say that'll odds on be broken.
 
MGrant said:
This is a fantastic move that not only strengthens the bond between the company and the customer, but also guarantees that pirates won't be able to crack the game and cut into those sweet, sweet profits. I mean, not even Mass Effect was cracked by the pirates. Certainly not in less than 2 days, at least. No sir.
Click to expand...

You are clearly well evolved.

Zaraki_Kenpachi said:
As much as I'd like to have 0 DRM it seems you need new glasses if you think they won't keep using DRMs whether you buy the games or not.
Click to expand...

You're right, it didn't work for the music industry, why would the PC industry stop...
 
M3d10n said:
Anyway, this is the strongest protection for non-online games there is. The game EXE is simply not included in the DVD. Instead, you download a DRM'ed EXE which only works on the PC for which the key was generated.
Click to expand...

Really? Downloading a cracked EXE instead would seem be a simple fix to this "strongest protection" scheme for pirates; which would no doubt be included, gratis. Not exactly fort knox here it sounds.
 
"It was bad if you used Steam and expected Bioshock to behave like any other game delivered through Steam, i.e. install anywhere but you can only play on one machine at a time. It's a terrible precedent for a game to slap its own restrictions on top."


Even with steam did you hit the 5 installs on 5 computers(? don't remember number of computers it was)? It sucks being over top but still it was there for less than a year and I still haven't had anyone say they hit five and had to argue with them to reactivate it.

"You're right, it didn't work for the music industry, why would the PC industry stop..."


You realize this isn't something new right? And with people buying games even with really crap DRM why would they stop? It doesn't seem to be affecting purchases all that much.
 
Here's an example of companies that give a shit about their end user getting business:

I bought an import copy of Space Rangers 2 when it came out. It had Starforce protection on it, and it took forever to get rid of it once I uninstalled it.

Fast forward a few years: Stardock releases the localized expansion for Space Rangers 2 last week on their new Impulse service. You can pay $20 for the expansion if you own SR2, or pay $40 for the game and expansion.

Rather than dealing with the DRM in SR2 and just paying $20, I opted to get the DRM free version and re-bought the entire package for $40.

That is how much I don't want DRM.
 
A quick search showed that this protection failed, and the game has not even been released. So much for this "strongest protection" ever made :lol
 
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