When it was first revealed that BioWare and Electronic Arts would both be using a new SecuROM program that would require reauthentication every ten days, PC gamers were somewhat peturbed (read: massive understatement), since it basically disallowed for long-term offline play. Well, EA has folded under the pressure of we, the people and have announced that both Mass Effect and Spore are now SecuROM free. Kind of.
You’ll still have to reauthenticate the game when you download patches or new content offline, but no longer will you have to do so every ten days. The clarification was made on the Mass Effect FAQ:
Q: If the game isn’t going to require an authentication every 10 days, will it ever require re-authentication?
A: Only if the player chooses to download new game content.
Score one for the good guys. Both Mass Effect and Spore are titles that I, as a PC fanboy, are dying to get my hands on. Even if I have to upgrade my PC to play either of them (damned Vista).
via Shacknews
Popularity: unranked [?]
Loading ...
Still NOT buying Spore. SecuRom still is going to be installed and junk up your PC.
just wait for a proper crack
Installed Spore yesterday morning. Went smooth as silk, played for 13 hours straight (Yeah I know, I have no life), not a single hick-up or crash. My computer is 64bit Vista Ultimate, AMD 6000+ 4GB Ram, Dual ATI 3850’s. Again, zero problems. While I am not a fan of how mega EA is,I have to give big praise to them and especially Will Wright and his team for making a great game. I personally think too many people are using this as an excuse to justify pirating the game. A lot of people worked really hard to make this game. If you want it, please, just buy it. — Kiteless
WTF does your pc stats have to do with securom or any other authentication being installed in your pc…..are you an idiot or have you been reading the what the topics about?
What the hell does you having a high end pc have ANYTHING TO DO WITH this BS being installed?……It retarded people like you that just ruin it for everyone
Wow, welcome to 5 months ago. I posted my PC’s stats because I think its good to get a little slice of what folks are running. As a community we are troubleshooting a potentially wide spread problem. I troubleshoot PC’s for a living. If someone comes to me with a problem I ask questions like. When did this start happening? What was the software you installed recently? What are the specs of your PC? Things like that. Now that I have answered your question, please answer mine.
How do “retarded people” like me “ruin it” for everyone? I am retarded for posting my oppinion about something on an open forum and trying to provide a little bit of information to potentially help the gaming community? And what am I ruing exactly? You are the one bitching and moaning, not me.
- K
title seems to be a bit misleading, like EA for not writing on it’s product that it leaves you with limited installs and the fact that securom will still be installed when you buy EA products, like spore and mass effect. Why the writer chooses such a title makes me wonder? surely it was not it’s meaning getting it’s headline wrong? This product is still brings a customer a heavy DRM and makes it nothing more than a 50 dollar rental or a 50 dollar coaster if you run out of installs.
kiteless it isnt the fact that it will break your cd roms… its because:
1: bloatware and performance decreasing crap installed on your computer
2: your only able to install it five times if your outside the U.S
3: if your in the U.S you have to call them to get another key.
4: breaks shit
its like renting a game for 50$
wait for a proper crack…
its stupid to put security crap on your computer because sooner or later crackers WILL crack the game
I won’t defend SecureROM. But I have not had any problems at all from it. It is possible to unregister computers and honestly for me I don ever see myself installing it more than 5 times anyway. If I do I can unregister. And I agree with you, no matter what, the game will be cracked. But I have to support the PC Gaming industry and buy my games. Steam has made this extra easy for me. I can’t even remember the last time I purchased a PC Game on a disc.
- K
Most people have the whole idea of SecuRom and the x amount of activations all wrong.
It’s not just a simple DRM, it installs separately to the game without your knowledge…if you un-install the game…it DOESN’T un-install the SecuRom, which makes it a rootkit (malware), so if you don’t know this, you will think it’s gone because it hides in “hidden folders” and in your “Registry”, not to mention disabling of some AV’s ,the damage it does to some PC hardware, and stops you from being able to use legal software that SecuRom has been programmed to black band. EA deserves to be sued over this issue alone.
The other issue I have with this type of Draconian DRM is that when you can’t afford the internet anymore, you can no longer Play a Game you Paid for, and that is wrong…most games aren’t played over the Net so why do we have to be connected to it. ( It’s to Spy on PC users, that’s why it Phones Home with Encrypted Data.)
There is a lot bigger picture than what we’re seeing here right now, this is only a baby step to the end plan. This has nothing to do with piracy, because we know that the pirates will never be stopped and it is proven once again with the amount of torrented copies of Spore downloaded so far in less than a month. Why is EA adamant about continuing to use SecuRom when they know it’s not doing what they say it was intended for and is only effecting the paying customers. I will not buy anything that is put out by EA or Sony anymore, even though I would love to buy Sims2 IKEA, Sims2 Apartment Life, Spore and Red Alert 3, but I just don’t trust EA or Sony. All they have done for the last 18 months is lie through their teeth to save their neck and not a bit of concern for their paying customers.
I’m a member at Reclaim Your Game: http://www.reclaimyourgame.com/ and we’re dedicated to helping other gamers with their issues with SecuRom and get info out to educate the public. We also have a SecuRom Removal Instruction Walkthrough Tutorial on the site for people to use and we’re in the process of updating it.
So please feel free to visit our site and see for yourself.
Finkelstein Thompson LLP is a law firm that represents consumers who have been harmed by unfair business practices. We are currently investigating claims that computer games with an irremovable anti-piracy program called SecuROM may cause computer problems. These video games include: Spore, Mass Effect, The Sims 2, BioShock, Need for Speed, Medal of Honor, Armed Assault, Neverwinter Nights 2, Overlord, World in Conflict, Supreme Commander, Command & Conquer 3, and Stalker.
Some Customers have complained that when they purchase and install these video games, SecuROM is automatically installed onto their hard drive with no warning, and they cannot remove the program. According to these complaints, SecuROM can cause a number of computer problems, including: the disabling of software and hardware operations, the disruption of other computer programs, and possibly making the computer more vulnerable to hackers.
If you have purchased computer games with SecuROM and wish to discuss your rights and interests in this matter, please contact us toll-free at (877) 800-1450 or by email at contact@finkelsteinthompson.com.
Responding to this advertisement does not, by itself, create an attorney-client relationship between you and Finkelstein Thompson LLP.
Very truly yours,
Mark Punzalan
Finkelstein Thompson LLP
100 Bush Street, Suite 1450
San Francisco, California 94104
Toll Free Telephone: 1-877-800-1450
Securom is not uninstalled if you uninstall a legitimate copy of Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3. Securom is not uninstalled because Electronic Arts needs to know whether or not you re-install your copy again or not in the future. Securom communicates back by using certain ports. Leaving certain ports open poses a security problem for potential hackers using trojans, packet sniffers that will sniff out information and then piggyback the information being transmitted inside. An uninstall process is not provided, nor are instructions provided anywhere. The average pc user would not know how to uninstall securom manually. An average pc user could be a parent who shares the computer with their children while the children play such games, and the parents conduct financial business. Furthermore, what should happen if Electronic Arts decide to drop support for the game? If the game has limited installs and the owners has used up all installs and support was dropped, how would the legitmate owner of a legally bought video game install his copy if support was dropped?
FYI, kiteless. I did pirate crysis just because it had securom, but I had so much respect for crytek and I understood what it took to create a game over a period of several years, that I went out and BOUGHT the game. That’s right, I bought the game after I pirated it, out of respect for the developers. The torrent version is still infinitely better. Securom is intrusive and it will mess up your computer. It runs in the background and can’t be removed conventionally. On top of that, they don’t even tell you they’re installing this crap into your machine. Do you really want to just accept this kind of bull from these multimillion dollar companies?
Well I can appreciate and respect that. Crysis is certainly more than just a pretty face and I agree with you that not being more open and truthful with it’s customers is bad practice. I think that Secure ROM should not be installed. It will just get cracked and pirated anyway by those that refuse to buy games. The way I see it PC Games Piracy is hurting this industry more than anything else. I urge all my friends to buy their games. But it doesn’t do much good. I don’t think piracy or systems like SecureROM will totally kill the PC Gaming industry, but things will continue to change and evolve.
Anyway I have totally strayed from your question. While I disagree with how SecureROM is installed on my computer, yes, I am willing to accept this kind of bull to place the games I want to play. ;p
- K