Galatekinc.com

So, I was going to try out the Demo of Bioshock today. I downloaded the demo through Steam (even Steam has some uses) and got all ready to see what all the hype was about. Now, I have listened to various pod casts this week and read some articles which painted Bioshock in a great light - while also noting that the game ships with that lovely (and controversial) protection schema known as SecuROM. Apparently, a few issues have come up dealing with the decision by 2k (or whoever made that decision) to use the SecuROM protection system - one of which is tied in with how you not only have to have this SecuROM installed -but you have to activate the game online.. and, get this, you only have 2 activations PER KEY. Thats right, as of right now there is no method to ‘un license’ a PC, and installing too much new hardware can invalidate your key activation (much like with Windows activation).

Of the prominent people to talk about SecuROM (which included Leo Laporte and a few other ‘names’ in the ‘biz’) the one that struck a deep chord was Dan Stapleton - Senior Associate Editor at PC Gamer Magazine. In the PC Gamer Blog In Depth coverage, Mr. Stapleton talked about his trials and tribulations with the games DRM; and how, in order to get 2k/SecuROM to unlock his key again, he had to take digital photos of his DVD & User Guide to prove he owned the game.. wow right? This was multiplied as more and more reports came in from users having trouble authenticating their copies of the game, having troubles with SecuROM errors, etc. In its defense, 2k Games has come out and said that they are changing the # of activations from 2 to 5, and are going to be providing a tool to ‘un license’ a computer so that the key can be used again if the game is uninstalled.

Ok, now that some back story is out of the way - I downloaded the demo on Steam; I figured, hey Steam has its own DRM right? The first time I launched the demo it was fine - the initial graphics were amazing and the game was running very smooth. I closed out the demo so that I could get away from the PC to do some things, came back in a bit and launched the game again - should be pie right? Nope. Guess what I was greeted with when I launched the game again?

Thats right - a lovely SecuROM Error. Here is what SecuROM’s website has to say about this error:

SecuROM™ has determined that a Process Explorer program is running in the background.

• Please close this program and reboot your machine before you start the application.

If the application still won’t start, please send a SecuROM™ analysis file to support@securom.com (see Support Info section on how to prepare and send an analysis file).

Well, isn’t that nice? SecuROM doesn’t like Process Explorer because it has capabilities to dump process activities to file - so people could figure out what SecuROM is doing I guess; Ya wanna know the best part? I DIDN’T HAVE THIS PROGRAM RUNNING! I run it now and then, but it was not running when I went to launch the demo - the ONLY way for SecuROM to know it was there would be to do some snooping in my registry; something that I am not too keen on.

So thats that, I am not even going to think about playing this demo - or even consider purchasing (when I have cash) the game; no matter how great it looks and how great the game play reviews are. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for game developers not getting screwed out of revenue by Pirates - even if it means using annoying DRM schemes; but this is just too much (I am not alone, a Google search for this type of issue brings up tons of pages - 2k’s forums are abuzz with complaints [very little company response as well - but at least they did announce something]).

You lost me at the Demo 2k. You lost me at the Demo.

I will close with two hypothetical musings: 1) Why the hell does a DEMO have a full SecuROM schema active? and 2) Why in hell does the Steam version use this damn DRM when it has its own?

Technorati Tags: Bioshock, 2k Games, SecuROM, Steam, Demo