They're getting much heat apparently. But with choosing a copy protection like that, they deserve it. Man the guns!

I wonder what they're going to do... I doubt they could do much with the games already manufactured. I really doubt any company would release a copy-protection remover, but~....

Figures securerom is a Sony subsidiary

[flameshield]

at least they're doing quick responses though. much better than if the company had radio silence over this issue but i wonder who's call it was to have such crazy copy protection.

Ken is really trying to give gamers what they want. But I think this one is out of his control. At the same time he doesn't want to slam the company that took a chance of making his masterpiece.

I still love Bio but I hope he talk 2k to drop this crap from the PC version. Thank god I was to lazy to try to upgrade to play this on my PC, so I just picked up the 360 version.

Fantastic game but I wouldn't purchase it on my PC unless this rape of DRM is taken out. Plus people on steam are fucked twice.

Guess I won't be buying the game until they fix this CP crap. The most preferable method is they just remove it since the only people who get boned are those who try and be legit. My other option is to buy an eye patch and parrot to sit on my shoulder. I wonder which one 2K prefers more?

Good god this better not be the legacy of this game. While I have to finish it, I'm still willing to call this one of the better games I have ever played (playing the 360 version).

@neshcom: Actually they could easily release a patch that contains the unprotected executables. That happened by accident btw for some games in the past.

i forsee an answer such as, 'one was the correct amount given initially and how we intended it to be, 2 is just a larger number so that's how it was made.'

The problem with this issue is that they want (and have a right) to protect their IP. The implementation kinda sucks, but you have to draw a line in the sand somewhere and just do it. This will end up being a lesson for all involved and they'll try something new the next time. It's always the legitimate customer who is getting inconvenienced by these protections. Helps keep honest people honest. It rarely deters crooks.

BioshockClassAction sounds like a long time, understanding, level headed forum poster.

As always, Levine is my hero for his relatively quick and alert responses.

Atleast they are looking into it and he had a timely response last time. What more do you want

@neshcom: I would guess this wouldn't even take a patch to the actual game. It most likely just performs a check online that will see how many installs have been made by that serial number. They could simply take off the check, or up the threshold.

Just a guess of course.

The worst part is that somewhere, someone has probably already cracked this and is playing a pirated copy of Bioshock; meanwhile people like me are holding out to buy it until this issue is resolved (If it ever is)

This is a case of big-buisness buying out an independent company and shitting all over their products.

I think I changed my mind over this. I might just pass on the game entirely now, since by the time this is sorted out I'll have a game I've been waiting for years to play. I don't have time like I used to for bothering with Securom and Gameguard. You guys may not know this, but back when Loki did Linux ports all you had was a serial number check. No connecting to remote servers, no bullshit memory management, no bullshit drivers to fuck up the OS. This is coming from a long time PC gamer too.

At least Epic and id still know better.

From what i hear it actually needs to connect to the internet before you can even play the game. I'm sure that 2K, realizing that this is a single player only game and more susceptible to being passed around than a multiplayer game, really tried to prevent "casual" copying... but in the process has really burned a lot of users.

Wow, the guy actually stated his real opinion. It sucks.

That's. Well, that's respect for sure. Game's still fucked because of the rootkit, but man, you'd expect a PR team to stuff smelly roses of evasion techniques up your ass.

Good form, so far.

i posted my thoughts on another kotaku post about this, but i think theyre worth repeating (im very important ya know!)

ya know, i dl a lotta ripped games. i PAID for this game (and oblivion, and half life2, and a few others) and im being treated to this securom crap. i shouldve just dl the pirated version. it woulda costed less, and i wouldnt have to have the securom police monitoring my every move.

the game works great for me, i have no reason to install it on multiple computers... but just seeing my firewall pop up requesting access for securom pissed me off. sadly ive already given them my money, so i cant vote against the ridiculous "protection".

This issue is a pain, but if they fix it we will all forget about right away. This game is soooooo sweet. I really, really am supprised as to how well it runs on my PC with setting on high at 1200 x 1024. It's really too bad a couple of issues tarnished the PC launch of this game.

I loved the demo, and would really like to get this game. I hope they get this all sorted soon, as I will not be supporting this title if they are going to treat every paying customer with that much distrust.

The funniest part of all of this is that this is more encouragment to pirates to crack the game. All they are stopping at this point is my installing it on both of the computers in my house.

I agree, it sucks, and we need to get that sorted.

I'm super glad he agrees on that.

@BD:

'good form, so far'

I suspect that the game maker is worried about this issue. But dont expect anything but the worst form from the big business people. I dont want this game to be another phyconauts. But at this rate. i dunno. maybe.

Just a heads up.

@Mongoosekun: I think I changed my mind over this. I might just pass on the game entirely now

Don't. Bioshock is the front runner for Game of the Year. If you deny yourself this game because of some silly copyright protection nonsense, you're only cheating yourself.

And it's not like this is preventing anybody from playing the game. It's just preventing you from installing it on more than 2 PCs at once.

@BD: Please explain which part of SecuROM is a rootkit.

Hint: definition of a rootkit: [en.wikipedia.org]

P.S. Buy the 360 version, no hassle! Put the disc in, and play!

It probably wasn't his idea to begin with, the publisher decided this, not him. And in the end, he may as well say anything, if 2K doesn't want it removed, he can't do a thing about it.

@Havok154:

Why? Do you need to install it on 15 machines at once to play through and enjoy it?

I seriously read "I've followed up on the circular email with scrotum and we are working on this issue."

Note that he said he's following up on the "circular email" issue, not necessarily the entire copy protection issue. So the resolution, at this point, will probably be establishing a dedicated email address for people who've used up their 2 install slots. Or maybe they'll exceed my expectations and remove SecuROM altogether in a patch. *crosses fingers*

Scrotum certainly sums it up.

I doubt people would be so vocal if this wasn't the best game of the year.

@gils0n: Well for people like me who like to reformat at least once a year and clean up the hard drive it's a big inconvenience.

I almost wish I had held out for a pirate copy now. Unfortunately I had made the purchase before I knew about the 2x install limit bullshit.

cough class action cough.

Great news for those of us who refuse to purchase this game until this is taken care of.

Kudos for the quick response, but the damage has been done.

Dear Ken,

I want to buy your game.
I will wait for the CP to be removed.

I don't have internet at home because
I have too much internet at work already.
Your game poses some problems for me.

Help out someone who wants
very badly to give you money.

Unless you plan on... reformmating anytime soon, or expect your HDD to die on you sometime in the near future, all your doing is putting off from buying one of the best games thats been released in quite some time.

Yeah the securom thing sucks, but its not crippling to the point where it affects your enjoyment of the game.

what sucks is that the publishers insist on this shit but it ends up being the developers who have to face the shitstorm. a simple CD check and serial combo is enough to prevent 90% of the casual piracy. The other 10% are never going to say "fuck it" and run out and buy it. They'll wait for the crack even if it takes a few weeks.

@kwant:

If that's the case just pass on the game, or wait for it to hit the bargin bin. Pirating games doesn't help anyone. If you liked the game buy it, and then download it like most other people do.

@baberg:

1. I was only semi-interested to begin with.

2. I have to not only crack it, but likely have to patch much more code to make it run on my OS. I'm running shorter on free time now work is starting back up.

3. I have canceled orders and subscriptions over this kind of thing before. I buy a game for entertainment, and that's not my idea of entertainment.

Given this it's not worth wasting my free time over. Hell, posting on kotaku is a better way to spend free time than writing patches for free as I see it. I might pick it up in a bargin bin next year, since I normally give games like this a second chance when they hit $20. Like I said before some college kid will do the work instead of me at some point. It's time for the next generation to step up.

@ARboom: Ya think?

I mean, common sense would tell you that most [all] would not give two flips about this issue if the game was a steaming pile of crap, like..oh I dunno, say that Left Behind game.

Hopefully the weight of it's own popularity will be the deciding factor in swaying 2k to pull the plug on this nasty SecuROM debacle.

I just got a steam update with the description 'fixed install/uninstall issue with Bioshock'. Maybe they're already on it?

Use Steam or 360 in the meantime.

bottom lines.

1.people dont want hassle, im not a pcgamer, but you know those that are love to reinstall windows/ add remove hardware as often as a baby shits its pants.

2.if bioshock was a dinosaur, it would definitely be called a radasauras rex because the game is fucking awesome.

3.widescreen debacle is bullshit, and 2k knows it.

4. in case you didnt see the [www.widescreengamingforum.com], that is some funny stuff, kids.

I'm surprised people like video games the way people post here, if they aren't complaining about Wii graphics, red rings, lack of ps3 games, delays, and when there's nothing left to complain about they turn to the little stuff, like this, oh noez, I cant install it more then once and it's already been 3 days! AHHHHHHHH!!!!

@fdisk: The worst part is that somewhere, someone has probably already cracked this and is playing a pirated copy of Bioshock

Take a quick gander at the "yarr me hearties" release sites, there's no validated release of the PC version from what I can tell. However, a multilanguage PC Euro version was uploaded via standard peer-to-peer means as of 48 hours ago and is currently trafficking quite vigorously. Whether this is Bioshock or six gigabytes of lesbian porn I can't say, but there it is.

I agree with everyone here that it sucks but i don't agree that if the problem is sorted and/or patched out that we should forget it.

The biggest problem is that this method was not advertised. Not anywhere by anyone.

The reason? Call me a conspiracy nut but if they had put this on the box (like they should have done) then many people would never have bought it. I wouldn't have bought the game. I wouldn't have a problem with this whole mess if they had been transparent but they tried to fool all of us and (like Sony's CD rootkit) they got terribly burned.

It should be mandatory that any requirements like this are advertised in plain language on the internet where the game is available for purchase and on the box. Whether i'm against DRM or not (and believe me i am) this issue stems from an act of deception.

@gils0n:
Nope, just one, but I'm sick of all the games I've bought over the years and end up having to jump from hoop to hoop just to play, then there are those games I got through "other means" and I install and just play them without issue. Every time I buy a PC game, I end up feeling like it's just wasted money because I end up either not being able to play without going through a bunch of DRM crap or I can only play it for a certain amount of time because if I end up upgrading my OS or anything else, the DRM won't work correctly and these companies don't feel it's necessary to release a patch to fix the issue. So far, Steam games are the only ones I don't have an issue with but now if I buy Bioshock over steam I still have their DRM on top of the fact I can only use it while on my account and I honestly don't want to have to put up with it.

I may just end up buying on the 360, but why should I have to settle for buying a game on a system I would rather not have it on because they feel it's necessary to punish their legal customers when the people who don't want to buy it, still won't. Cracks come out all the time for new games, which means that if anyone wants to download it, instead of buying it, they can. I keep trying to stay the path of legal gaming but companies like this make it very hard.

Hm, I wouldn't be so fast with calling GOTY on this. Despite the issues, it still has to take on Halo3 and Mass Effect. Those games are hyped to death :p

If they can fix it and make sure that you get your token back when you uninstall then I don't see what the big deal is. Hell, you're lucky you get to install it on two computers at once. Most licences speciffically say one at a time.