Its easier to pirate.

[Shep_Cobain]

How can you dislike having a boxed copy?

Example, I went to the shop, bought Orange Box, now its sitting nicely on my shelf and the key is registered to steam so I can download it whenever I want / play without disks etc.

Win!

Because it takes up room and its an unnecesary piece of plastic sat on your shelf.

 

[Margaret]

I assume that all that companies know that their games will get cracked...but they make most of their money from the first few weeks after release and so the copy protection will stop the game being cracked straight away.

Pretty sure most games get leaked and cracked before the release date.

 

[Kalpsn2000]

Pretty sure most games get leaked and cracked before the release date.

Not for the masses. The 'No-DVD' cracks I know about usually become available after release. You must know of some great hacker site's, lol!

 

[.Lethal]

I've always bought my PC games. I really hate the fact you need to keep the CD in the drive though like many others here I download the dodgy/risk of virus NO-DVD patches.

That can potentially have some negative effect on how the game works and even possible slow it down.

I've been looking at BIO-SHOCK recently and I could not believe it when I red 3 instals only. I seriously thought that is some p***-take doing that to a game I buy to play. Although recently they removed the number of instals but there are still a handful of restrictions via Secure-rom or whatever that annoying little thing is on the disc.

 

[SlyReaper]

The thing that really gets my goat is that you don't get any warning that the game comes with SecuROM or other DRM **** until you've already installed the game.

I bought a game called Dreamfall a few weeks ago. I installed it (which took a while), it all went smoothly until I actually tried to play it. It popped up a message saying I had to install some security software before it would allow me to play. I had another look at the box, and it made NO MENTION of this. If it had mentioned this on the box, I could have saved myself 20 quid by not buying it. As it stands, I've been cheated out of 20 quid because I've broken the seal on the box and can't get a refund. I can't play the game I PAID FOR because I refuse to install the highly suspicious security software.

 

[Amnesia]

you dont need the disk in for hl2/orange box
i dont think you even need the disk for a reinstall....you can probably download the games u own from steam.

thats the way ^^^ it should be.

 

[Amnesia]

The thing that really gets my goat is that you don't get any warning that the game comes with SecuROM or other DRM **** until you've already installed the game.

I bought a game called Dreamfall a few weeks ago. I installed it (which took a while), it all went smoothly until I actually tried to play it. It popped up a message saying I had to install some security software before it would allow me to play. I had another look at the box, and it made NO MENTION of this. If it had mentioned this on the box, I could have saved myself 20 quid by not buying it. As it stands, I've been cheated out of 20 quid because I've broken the seal on the box and can't get a refund. I can't play the game I PAID FOR because I refuse to install the highly suspicious security software.

sony did something like that with their music in the past

 

[Ogs]

This is 1 reason why im slowly moving away from PC gaming, this DRM crap is seriously starting the take the mick, especially when your in the know how about how to obtain it by other means.

That and a whole bunch of recent games annoying me with issues that i dont get on a console (mostly stuttering related).

 

[Neil777]

These anti-piracy protection methods have always caused more trouble for the legitimate customers going all the way back 20 years or more to Elite on the Spectrum with the hopeless prism you had to hold up to the screen to try and make out what characters were being displayed.

 

[Littlenose]

These anti-piracy protection methods have always caused more trouble for the legitimate customers going all the way back 20 years or more to Elite on the Spectrum with the hopeless prism you had to hold up to the screen to try and make out what characters were being displayed.

damn that prism was annoying... a mate and i worked out which vertical lines to read in the end without using the prism and all issues were solved... I think that game still the has biggest amount of time played tally for me

Wish I'd had the bbc version though... played that on a mates machine once, and loved the way the police chased you down on that one.

 

[Metalface Mark]

This is 1 reason why im slowly moving away from PC gaming, this DRM crap is seriously starting the take the mick, especially when your in the know how about how to obtain it by other means.

That and a whole bunch of recent games annoying me with issues that i dont get on a console (mostly stuttering related).

I have gone the other way and have slowly moved back towards pc as the pc has the lead again in the graphical stakes that the consoles had eroded away at launch.

 

[Deks]

Anyone who loves PC games but pirates them instead of buying deserve what they get. Already companies are looking at poor sales on PC games and developing straight to console, Before long there will be few stores stocking PC gmaes and you will have to buy online or use something like steam. The writing could be on the wall for future PC only games if people think it is acceptable to pirate games erather than supporting the developers

<---rant off

Deks

 

[tommy6206]

I use the cracked .EXE so I dont have to keep putting the disc in.I rename the old 1 first

 

[Final8y]

I'd rather have them focus on importing things rather than your average joe downloading an album or a game.

Importing things? =Important im guessing.

Anti theft is important to everyone.

Software makers have every right to put copy protection in place as a deterrent.
Just like you having a lock on your front door that can easily be kicked through in one go by a determined thief, but that's all it takes to stop most people trying to take what you have.

 

[Streeteh]

I decided anti-piracy was a pointless cause a few years back when i bought prince of persia for my PC. I installed the game fine, but when i went to run it it claimed i had a fake disk inserted, i used a crack and it claimed the disk was unreadable and failed to load. Eventually i ripped the disk and then mounted it on a virtual drive, that combined with the crack allowed the game to finally work.

There i was, £25 out of pocket and with a game disk that was utterly useless due to over the top piracy protection. I may as well have downloaded it, as i was running it in exactly the same manner as an illegal download would have anyway.

 

[Final8y]

I decided anti-piracy was a pointless cause a few years back when i bought prince of persia for my PC. I installed the game fine, but when i went to run it it claimed i had a fake disk inserted, i used a crack and it claimed the disk was unreadable and failed to load. Eventually i ripped the disk and then mounted it on a virtual drive, that combined with the crack allowed the game to finally work.

There i was, £25 out of pocket and with a game disk that was utterly useless due to over the top piracy protection. I may as well have downloaded it, as i was running it in exactly the same manner as an illegal download would have anyway.

So all games that have copy protection behaved like that on your set-up ?
Also at least you paid for the game & the developers are not out of pocket.

 

[davecarter]

If a games good enough it will sell regardless, take Oblivion for instance , had no copy protection whatsover but was hugely successful.
I wish other companies would take note

 

[Streeteh]

So all games that have copy protection behaved like that on your set-up ?

No. There are many different types of copy write protection out there, some work fine, some kick up fuss at me for having things like drive emulators installed and some just don't plain work. It's hassle that shouldn't exist for the consumer, even if that was the ONLY time i've had a problem it would be unacceptable as people who DO pirate games on a regular basis will typically have an easier time with games that are causing problems for legitimate owners. I admit titles that do cause problems are in the minority, but it's a minority that shouldn't exist at all.

 

[Final8y]

If a games good enough it will sell regardless, take Oblivion for instance , had no copy protection whatsover but was hugely successful.
I wish other companies would take note

Ofcorse a good game will sell & get copied allot.

But just because it will sell allot that does not mean that they don't have a right to try & stop the amount of coping.

Maybe i should stop by your place of employment every week/month to relieve you of some of your wages as your well paid & you would not notice the loss in real terms you if i took some.
I wish other well paid workers would take note & not try to stop me taking some.

 

[Streeteh]

Ofcorse a good game will sell & get copied allot.

But just because it will sell allot that does not mean that they don't have a right to try & stop the amount of coping.

Maybe i should stop by your place of employment every week/month to relieve you of some of your wages as your well paid & you would not notice the loss in real terms you if i took some.
I wish other well paid workers would take note & not try to stop me taking some.

What you seem to be overlooking is the fact that games are pirated regardless of whether they have copywrite protection or not. Look at Bioshock: legitimate owners had heaps of problems getting it activated when it first came out, but a pirate version with a simple crack came out within the first week that worked off the bat.