Nobody like DRM, AKA Digital Rights Management. Game companies, however, seem to think they need it. Japan-based game company SEGA has come up with its own in-house DRM solution and has explained what exactly it is.
The DRM solution will be included in SEGA's espionage-themed action role-playing game, Alpha Protocol. Here is a breakdown on what SEGA's solution is and how it works (via website GamePolitics):
• Alpha Protocol uses Uniloc: SoftAnchor.
• Uniloc: SoftAnchor requires an internet connection to activate, though you don't need to always be connected to play the game, and the web site offers a work-around if you don't have an internet connection on the PC you install it on.
• The PC version of Alpha Protocol uses an internet based licensing system, where, after installation, the user is required to enter a product registration code (license key) in order to begin playing the game.
• You do not have to have the disc in your drive to play the game.
• The game does not user SteamWorks, and the Steam version of the game will use Uniloc DRM.
• The game can be installed on up to 5 different computers at any one time using the license key the game comes with.
• There is a limit to the number of computers you can use Alpha Protocol on at any one time, but Sega says that the company is not restricting the number of computers you can install the game on over the life of the product.
• SEGA will provide a version of the game without DRM using a future patch that it expects to make available 18-24 months after the game's release.
More details here. Nice to see SEGA get out front and explain what its DRM does. Transparency!
Sega Details Alpha Protocol DRM [GamePolitics]