Kotaku
As if 2K wasn't taking enough flak from yesterday's widescreen debacle, now gamers who have spent their hard-earned cash on the PC version of BioShock are finding that they can only install the game twice, ever. The game uses SecuROM copy protection, which verifies the install of the game remotely, disabling further installs once the game has been installed twice. This means if you are the type of person like me who formats your computer frequently to to get rid of generic crap buildup, you are screwed. If you frequently shift around games to free up space, you are screwed. If you are a pirate...well, you'll probably come up with a work around, so at least the criminals are safe, right? Be gentle with the link below. Seems 2K's forums are getting slammed for some odd reason.
UPDATE - Elizabeth from 2K has repsonded on the forums, clarifying the copy protection issue. The key lies in uninstalling before you reinstall. Uninstalling registers the same as installing does, so if you do not perform an uninstall first SecuROM thinks you are just installing the game on different systems over and over again. Hit the jump for the full text of Elizabeth's message, and thanks for everyone who followed up on the issue.
hey guys,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... if you use the game as you normally do, you won't notice this at all.
How many installs do we get ? Transfer of ownership ? [2K Forums - Thanks Seiru!]
Comments
I expect this will lead to some pretty quick "community fixes".
This is one of the cases where I can fully understand software piracy. Hmm. One of many. Don't want to sound like, you know what, but... you know.
Really, limiting you to a number of installations per piece of software is the point where I will decline to buy my software.
I actually think this is what Ken Levine was responding to in ya'lls post from this morning. He mentioned nothing about widescreen issues or 360. He was talking specifically about problems with the PC version of Bishock.
Wouldn't buying this through steam bypass that stupid rule?
As always, the best way to stop criminals is to treat everyone like one.
God it feels good to be a gangsta'.
Software protection seems to be getting more intrusive each cycle. I really think a game standard needs to be introduced for these single player games. (may be a games for windows thingy)
The only problem is, with all the money that the developers would save, would they lower the price of the game? or keep all of it for themselves.
@jonnypage: That would be "No"
props to 2kgames for turning what everyone is calling the game of the year into a huge fiasco on the PC
Someone's got to ruin it for all. They could have done the same thing with online codes, or something of the sort- but making software that's worthless after 2 installations?
That's what you call strict.
That's ok - I read you can only power up the 360 version 12 times. After that, you're a dirty criminal.
Seriously though, the type of people this is designed to prevent, are the same type of people that are going to find a way around this first. So basically, money just got thrown right out the window.
Wow, this is probably one of the most extreme cases of anti-piracy measures I've ever seen on a game. Although this will be "fixed" either by the developers due to pressure or from the community itself it still doesn't take away the fact that these guys are trying to do something that is completely wrong. I bought the C.E. yesterday and I love this game....LOVE this game, however I can not see any reason to do this when reinstalls for new hard drives, complete builds, or going out and buying a new computer are commonplace practices. Again, this move =/= sense. Not only do I suspect a large amount of diggs/comments/coverage on this development, but I also suspect a serious backlash from the community, as well as comments from other developers denouncing this harsh action.
It's sad to see such a well thought out, graphically impressive game go through the publicity it's had in the past couple of days. Really sad.
WE.TODD.ED. Guess I'll get it on X360...as much as I hate using a controller for FPS, this kind of clinches it. Of course, my computer is kind of old as well, this just seals the deal as it were.
I'm actually pretty upset at this. My computer is complete trash, but I was going to buy Bioshock today, install it on my computer to see how well it runs, play through a bit, etc, and then come back to it in a month when I build my brand new comp.
Under this rule that'll be my last install. God forbid I format once in a while. Hopefully a unofficial fix'll come out before too long.
Now that's the sign of a good game. :puke:
These are the reasons I like to own a hard copy of a game. One solution would be to install the game on an external hard drive.
@Uncalm:
You sure? Isn't that the whole point of Steam? Other Steam games are linked to your account, so you can download them on any PC.
Buying it through steam DOES bypass it uncalm. Don't post about things you don't know about. Either way has silly things like this ever stopped hackers? Seriously i buy most of my games in the bargain bin but if i really can't find a game i do pirate it (yarrrr) ss2 and quake 2 mainly. I always get a no-cd crack hell there was one out for CoH a few days after it was on sale. As with oblivion and every other so called "uncrackable" game. Why can't they get rid of this serial nonsense and leave it only for games with multiplayer so we don't have to put a cd in every time to play so we don't have intrusive computer breaking software so we feel like we own the game for once. Quit screwing us pc gamers over we're gonna get pissed eventually. Then what will you do with millions of pasty nerds at your front door?
Shit... i installed it on my laptop and my desktop... so that's it? What if i want to make some space for it and delete... and someday want to play it again? I have to rebuy it? What is that bullshit, it's my game, i payed for it, i'll install it however many times i want. I think i'll send them an angry letter.
I don't know if "linked" is the right word (english is not my native language), but you know what i mean.
@ CreepyP:
"I actually think this is what Ken Levine was responding to in ya'lls post from this morning. He mentioned nothing about widescreen issues or 360. He was talking specifically about problems with the PC version of Bishock."
He first posted that reply in the giant thread about widescreen, then it was reposted as it's own thread. Just for your information s'all. :)
Defective by Design. I hope this backfires like crazy.
Also, yes, this doesn't make any sense seeing as on the 360 counterpart, no such measures exist. Just because PC games are prone to heavier acts of piracy doesn't make this right, nor doesn't it even fall within the reach of making any reasonable sense. If it bothers you enough, hire some quantum computing wiz to do your next encryption job (just kidding) But yeah, way to screw your customers 2k. I'd put this up there with Microsoft knowingly shipping defective products to millions of loyal customers and then denying anything was wrong. Hell at least China's government admits when they're wrong for not overseeing shoddy business practices, and that's something I would have never expected.
That's the first time I've heard of that - I know some software (such as Adobe's) will let you install on up to 2 computers but will allow you to re-install it on those same systems if need be - same for Windows.
To not even allow that is a bit crazy but I'm also sure they would deal with it on a case-by-case basis (possibly "unregistering" one of those PC's to allow you an additional install)
@Chimaera:
Except the criminals can bypass that SecureROM shit in about 20 minutes. So it just screws over the regular consumer who actually paid good money for it.
Go fig.
Hurray! I LOVE punishing everyone but the guilty!
Doesn't make much sense and ends up being a waste of time.
This almost justifies piracy, hacking, etc.
"If you are a pirate...well, you'll probably come up with a work around, so at least the criminals are safe, right?" Made me laugh. :D
What if someone buys it second hand? This is a fucking joke right? No pc version for me.
@BD: Ha!
I personally don't see *anything* wrong with this. We pay 4x the price of many forms of popular entertainment (movies, music) but we get only a fraction of the freedom regarding how we put it to use/how we enjoy said huge investment...oh wait theres a lot wrong here.
Kotaku you are wrong.
1. Steam and retail allow up to two machines to be licensed to run BioShock at the same time.
2. You can reinstall on any machine as much as you want.
3. If you upgrade your machine it'll still work. If you reformant it'll still work.
4. If you want to change it from one machine to another then you only need to uninstall it first. Sort of a deactivation method.
Read a little bit and have some integrity on what you report instead of going straight for the balls on this one. "...only install the game twice, ever" my ass.
I cannot BELIEVE how clueless these freaking companies are when it comes to this stuff. Like many others have said, I give the hacking community MAYBE a week to find a way around this. Like you've said, it's punishing the people who do it the right way. BRILLIANT, really.
Maybe for the sequel we'll all be forced to bring our PC's to the store, and we just have to install it while being rung up? Cashier puts the disc back in a drawer and we're sent on our way.
I'm waiting for fingerprint sensors in mice, so then they can verify that the person who payed for the game is the only one playing it.
Seriously though, this copyright thing is going way too far. It's reached the point where it's almost better to get a warez copy of a game because at least you know all the craps been taken out of it.
Entrusting your game's copy protection to SecuROM is like hiring a narcoleptic security guard to work at the Open Air Gold-Smelting and Diamond-Display Emporium and expecting everything to be fine and dandy the next day.
My guess is that we won't even have to wait around for a workaround. The amount of publicity and pressure this will get will almost garauntee that this will be removed.
Any bets on how long it'll be?
Me? 2 days. Tops.
It's like those "do not pirate" messages you get at the start of bought DVDs. Real and smart pirates extract all that bumpf!
Oh, Bioshock. You disappoint me so. :C
SecuROM should be banned from the industry. It's nothing but troubles. Only marketing people would buy into this crap. It takes a week or less to crack and yet they're still able to market it as world class copyright protections.
@absentblue:
Uninstalling will deactivate it and allow you to install it on other machines? If that's correct, then that's fine with me :x
@absentblue:
If this is true, I have no qualms. This seems a more sensible solution to me. :)
@absentblue:
Hope.
Mr. Fahey you got sum 'splainin to do.
Suddenly I feel my joy from playing Bioshock is turning to anger, as if someone used a Rage plasmid on me ...
That makes things easy. Guess I'm not buying Bioshock. I'll just download it illegally so I have unlimited installs instead.
*fondles 360 copy*
And now I remember why I never really bothered to keep up with the PC side of gaming.
just register it with steam and you'll never have to worry about it.
@Sharpfish: Thanks for the clarification on that. What can I say? I'm form Atlanta. Believe it or not, 'ya'll' even comes naturally when I'm typing :)
Wow, seeing as I don't own a 360, 2k just lost my business. I was 100% absolutely going to buy this game, but I install and uninstall games all the time. I don't know who the idiot was that thought that not only would this be a good idea, but that people would not be upset by this on a large scale, should be fired.
The irony of this is that many people who WERE going to buy the game may turn to pirated copies now so that they don't have to deal with this BS. You know that your anti-piracy efforts aren't working when they are DRIVING people towards piracy.
Yup, you have to deinstall the game first, before you can use it on another PC again. No big deal, but still annoing
@Starsmore: My point exactly.
Next up - BioShock is being ported to PS3 without trigger button functionality.
Just something from the 2k forums:
Originally Posted by 2K Elizabeth
hey guys,
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... if you use the game as you normally do, you won't notice this at all.
[forums.2kgames.com]
Well, I was going to buy it, but I guess I'll be pirating it instead. Too bad none of the major public BitTorrent trackers have it. (Yet!)
@absentblue: What if you don't 'uninstall'? What if your hard drive crashes and you simply reformat?
My instincts tell me no one would implement such an absurdly restrictive copy protection mechanism, despite what the ill-informed gaming community seems to think on the matter.
Wow.
This is the most ridiculous "Anti" piracy measure i have ever come across. it even beats the rotating code wheel from Zool 2.
i say "anti" because all it really does is encourage people to hack it so they can actually use the game they thought they bought.
this was on my list of must-by games. i was even thinking of spending a silly sum of money on my pc to let me play it well. but it seems that people don't want me to play it after all.
thing is, there are perfectly legal, logical reasons as to why you would want to install on more than 2 machines. the definition of a machine in this case is simply a serial number buried somewhere in the motherboard (i think that is how Microsoft define it). but the sort of people who play PC games like this tend to be the types who upgrade their PC every year, if not more often than that. if this is such a great game surely i will still want to be playing it in a few years time?
Apparently not.
That is not even factoring in the frequency with which the "hardcore" gamers reformat their PCs, to keep them running smoothly. we're talking every 6 months here.
For a game that has had this much attention (it was even on the BBC website...) this seems like madness. Good job they didn't have the same idea for X360 - who here is on their third one of those?
Sorry for the rant, but this is crazy
---------
B06r011
---------
(please help me... i twisted my ankle getting off my soapbox...)
Yes, I'm also hearing that the deal is you can only have it installed on 2 computers AT THE SAME TIME. Need to install it on a third? You must UNINSTALL it from one of the first two.
But you can reinstall it as much as you want on the same PC. That's all.
BTW Isnt that exactly the same deal as with Vista activation?
If you buy a new PC, you have to delete the licence from the old one and then activate vista on the new one?
This is the clearest case for piracy I've ever heard, ironically. Nothing justifies wrongdoing better than bad treatment at the hands of a provider.
Punishing legitimate users like this simply provides a stronger rationale for the pirates and causes people to support them.
I bought the 360 version this tuesday. I was thinking of buying the PC version at some point in the future, but unless this securerom B.S. gets fixed, I might just wait for the crack.
@Outsider: And if your computer dies, and you have to replace it because it will no longer boot, you're screwed. You can't uninstall from a dead machine.
Does anyone know if the Steam version has this nonesense involved?
@b06r011:
in light of other people reading the link, if it is actually the case that you can only be playing it on up to two machines at a time, then that is not so bad.
otherwise, i stand by my comments.
---------
B06r011
---------
Remember - never let the facts get in the way of the argument.
On the one hand this SecuRom seems a wee bit overboard in trying to prevent piracy, but --- playing Devil's advocate here --- it also goes to show that if it wasn't for rampant piracy of PC games publishers and developers wouldn't have to go to lenghts to protect their product.