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The Almighty Buck Games

EMA Suggests Point-Of-Sale Game Activation To Fight Piracy 244

Posted by Soulskill from the new-ways-to-break-things dept.
Gamasutra reports on a set of standards (PDF) published by the Entertainment Merchants Association to promote the use of technology that would "disable" games and DVDs until they are activated when purchased. "The effort is codenamed 'Project Lazarus,' and the EMA says it's assembled a consortium of retailers, home video companies and video game publishers to see how easily such 'benefit denial technology' could be implemented, and to evaluate possible cost-benefit analyses. The initiative is similar to security tags used in clothing retail that spill ink on garments if they're forcibly removed, thereby destroying the item. In such a situation, shoplifting is discouraged by implementing a solution that only the retailer can remove at the point of sale."
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EMA Suggests Point-Of-Sale Game Activation To Fight Piracy More

EMA Suggests Point-Of-Sale Game Activation To Fight Piracy

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  • NO DRM! Can you hear us now? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by mrbcs ( 737902 ) on Monday December 01, 2008 @11:50PM (#25955625)
    These guys just don't get it do they?
    Make the games good, remove the damned drm and make them affordable. How is that difficult to understand?

    I will buy games after a half year or so, so that there is a good no-cd crack and the price is about half. I can't afford $60+ on a game. $20, ya no problem. I'll wait for the price drop, but drm, shit that's a deal breaker, I won't even bother with a hacked version.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Corpuscavernosa ( 996139 )
      Call me lame and perhaps not a true enthusiast to the cause, but the DRM I've encountered hasn't really bothered me. I only have one gaming rig and I have a reliable internet connection (although Steam pissed me off once when my service was down). I understand and am against DRM in principle, but I'm just saying that in my day to day gaming, DRM hasn't really affected me. Your average gamer probably hasn't encountered a huge amount of problems which is why it has continued. Also, maybe I haven't played

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Lord Kano ( 13027 )

        Call me lame and perhaps not a true enthusiast to the cause, but the DRM I've encountered hasn't really bothered me.

        You've apparently not played any game that used StarForce.

        LK

        • I played X3 which used StarForce, and it never gave me problems, despite its rumors as the DRM of Satan. What I saw of it was a dialog box showing up for 1-2 secs before game launch. Later I uninstalled the game though, because of ridiculous system requirements, and StarForce too. Yes, it can be uninstalled too.

        • Seconded. I can't play _any_ game that uses Starforce because I have the temerity to own a DVD burner...

      • Re:NO DRM! Can you hear us now? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by pushing-robot ( 1037830 ) on Tuesday December 02, 2008 @12:45AM (#25955993)

        To be fair, activation-requiring games haven't been around very long. You might have a different opinion in a few years when EA decides old games are past their "support date" and turns off the activation servers, or you've upgraded your PC a few times and run out of re-activations.

        Many game publishers regularly shut down all online support for their games a few years after release. Services like Direct2Drive and the Microsoft Store limit your activations or remove downloads after a certain period of time. Steam is the exception in this case, as they explicitly state that they will never remove or disable your games, but many publishers insist on adding their own activation scheme on top of Steam's DRM.

        Claiming that DRM hasn't bothered you reminds me of the optimist falling from the skyscraper: Every few floors he tells himself "I'm feeling fine, so far!"

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by PC and Sony Fanboy ( 1248258 )
          activation has been around, just in different forms. think starcraft. Yeah, you could play the campaign, but to get on battle net, you needed a CD key.

          Everyone I know that got a burned copy of starcraft (and used the 00110011 code) eventually bought it. Why? It was worth the price to get on battle.net

          • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

            by PainKilleR-CE ( 597083 )

            CD keys being authenticated for online play has only been around a few years longer than activation, though. In many ways, it's exactly the sort of thing people have encouraged because a good online component does lead people to buy the game, if they want to play online. It extends the life of the product (really, who would still be playing Starcraft if it had been a single-player only title?). That system was basically the first step towards activation.

            With activation, though, you have to have an internet

          • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

            by petermgreen ( 876956 )

            I wouldn't call what starcraft did activation.

            Firstly there was no install limit or anything like that, the only thing it enforced was that each CD key could only be used for one login at a time.

            Secondly it only affected play on battle.net which would go away anyway if blizzard took the servers offline. Activation extends this point of failure to single player and lan play.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by CFTM ( 513264 )

          Direct2Drive limits installs but if you call them up/email them they're pretty easy to work with; I've had two PC's stolen from my apartment (being robbed three times in 18 months is an experience to be had, I suggest everyone try it some time!) and when it does happen I just call Direct2Drive up and tell them what happened. They give me more activations and I'm on my way...it isn't the easiest thing in the world but at least I don't have the overhead of Steam...

          I hate Steam and its memory leaks....leave i

      • Forget games; Have you ever tried to migrate some applications you bought on Apple's App Store thru iTunes from one computer to another. I can do it, you probably will be able to do so, but my wife with her BA degree is not prepared for such a challenge, and her solution proposal was to re-purchase some material, when I was expressing my sincere emotions about the situation. We are talking about a professional movie butcher, you know Avid and massive computers and storage in the work place...

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by node 3 ( 115640 )

          Really? If you 'rebuy' them, iTunes tells you you've already bought them and asks if you want to re-download them again for free. Plus, if you sync your iPhone or iPod Touch to your new computer, it will automatically copy all of your apps to your new computer. Lastly, when you copy your iTunes folder to your new computer, your apps come along anyway.

          Did what you wrote really happen? Or did you make it up to scare people about DRM?

          • Nope I did not make it up, there is no need for horror stories while talking about DRM issues, thanks to real-life cases.
            iTunes deletes applications from the phone and do not copy them to local applications storage, if you have not "authorized" it to work with App Store. There is not a warning big enough that draw user's attention to that issue... There must not be the need for a warning at the first place, because there is no need to delete user's software from user's phone, unless user explicitly asked

      • Re:NO DRM! Can you hear us now? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Kreigaffe ( 765218 ) on Tuesday December 02, 2008 @01:39AM (#25956303)

        I hope you know you can run steam in offline mode, and still have full access to all your single-player content. In fact, when I recently had an interruption in service while I switched providers, all I really played was single-player games I had previously purchased via Steam.

        People on slashdot CONSTANTLY complain about that, and I can't help but facepalm. Has it really gotten to the point where the vnboards are better able to understand the programs they use every day than slashdot? FACEPALM

        • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

          by KDR_11k ( 778916 )

          Only works when you had online at the time you installed the games though, I was on a university network once (dorm) and they didn't allow using Steam (or anything else except http and email), couldn't install Half-Life 2.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by tepples ( 727027 )

          I hope you know you can run steam in offline mode, and still have full access to all your single-player content. In fact, when I recently had an interruption in service while I switched providers, all I really played was single-player games I had previously purchased via Steam.

          Previously purchased, yes. But could you install a new retail game disc while you were between providers? Even the game consoles, with their anti-homebrew measures, don't restrict that.

          • I hope you know you can run steam in offline mode, and still have full access to all your single-player content. In fact, when I recently had an interruption in service while I switched providers, all I really played was single-player games I had previously purchased via Steam.

            Previously purchased, yes. But could you install a new retail game disc while you were between providers? Even the game consoles, with their anti-homebrew measures, don't restrict that.

            Umm ... I don't know about Steam games requiring

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by tepples ( 727027 )

              I don't know about Steam games requiring a live internet connection to install them, but console games CERTAINLY DO NOT.

              Which was entirely my point. Thank you for expounding on it.

      • I don't mind Steam. I do mind some of the other systems -- SecuROM has been getting a lot of attention recently, and it has many things to hate. Becoming part of only one botnet, or acquiring only one virus/trojan, might not do anything that you'd notice immediately, but it's not something I would do deliberately.

        This is worse than all of the above, if implemented in software.

        If implemented in hardware -- I can imagine a system that might be harmless, where a DVD is "activated" by burning it, for example. I

      • I only have one gaming rig

        What do you do when friends or relatives come to your home to play video games with you? Or when other people who live with you want to play video games with you?

        and I have a reliable internet connection

        What do you recommend for gamers who cannot afford to purchase real estate and find employment in a place where the cable TV or telephone company is willing to install "a reliable internet connection"?

        • I only have one gaming rig

          What do you do when friends or relatives come to your home to play video games with you? Or when other people who live with you want to play video games with you?

          Use a console?

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by harl ( 84412 )

        What happens when you wake up one day and ask permission to use the product you purchased and no response comes back? Why do you feel it's ok to ask permission to use things you bought? Would you be ok with calling Ford/Honda to ask permission to drive to work? How is that acceptable DRM?

    • Re:NO DRM! Can you hear us now? (Score:5, Informative)

      by cliffski ( 65094 ) on Tuesday December 02, 2008 @03:41AM (#25956891) Homepage

      dude, this is not DRM, this is to stop people shoplifting. You might as well rant and spit about security tags on clothes.
      try reading the article before you hit the "OH NOES TEH DRM" button.

      Plus who the fuck buys games for $60? The only place I ever see $60 mentioned is by people complaining about not buying them.

      • It isn't very hard to stop people shoplifting though. Do what they do with the console games, keep the disc behind the counter until the game is paid for. Just put the shiny box out front. Course, you would have to get rid of CD keys, since the box would now have to be open, or keep the keys behind the counter as well.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by sanosuke001 ( 640243 )
        No, this is to stop people from reselling because the game companies get no $$$ from second-hand sales.

        This has nothing to do with shoplifting. That's why there's those security strips in the packaging.

  • MMO/Online Key Use (Score:5, Insightful)

    by binarylarry ( 1338699 ) on Monday December 01, 2008 @11:53PM (#25955643)

    This sounds like a solution for people who steal keys out of retail boxes.

    If the key isn't activated due to a sale, it can't be used online.

    I see no problems with this. I hope they don't think it will actually affect single player game piracy.

    • I wouldn't necessarily say this is problemless. I've gotten some of my favorite games form a place that buys goods with damaged boxes or whatever. If this is stuff comes prepackaged with the games, it's going to be kinda annoying when customer support tells me I shouldn't have stolen the game I just bought.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Goldberg's Pants ( 139800 )

      No kidding. This is yet another backward ass "protection" mechanism that won't actually do anything except inconvenience legit customers.

      The industry needs to figure out HOW to offer the ease of use and pleasant experience of piracy. Steam is as close as we get right now.

      Seriously, are these people THAT deluded that they believe this would do anything to fight piracy?

    • I am forever amazed (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Shivetya ( 243324 ) on Tuesday December 02, 2008 @06:13AM (#25957561) Homepage Journal

      at the number of big box stores which don't lock these game cards up. The problem is especially bad at Target, where more than a dozen of different games were obviously "opened" along the seam. Even after explaining it to the the customer service people I swear they didn't care or understand. I did get them to allow for my opening the box in front of them to confirm if it had a game card in it, took three of the ones that looked sealed to get it.

      Stores need to understand, these things are as valuable as the gift cards they sell. They are real money.

      Any subscription based game should follow the activation method, it will save a lot of grief for the customer. It really helps us more than the stores because it isn't easy to get the store to refund it (I would hate to see what BB would think if you told them the game card was missing and you had left the store already). Yet for stand alone games I don't think it is necessary

    • I mean, putting the key INSIDE the box instead is too difficult, isn't it?

    • The REAL problem will come when you try to resell the used game to someone else. That is the TRUE intention of most of this "anti-piracy" nonsense, to bring an end to the secondary market for games (something music/movie/software studios have been trying for years).

  • So once again the legit customer is screwed over (Score:5, Insightful)

    by afidel ( 530433 ) on Monday December 01, 2008 @11:56PM (#25955669)
    So basically the pirates will have a version that has nothing to trip people up but the legit customer who happens to not get activated by the minimum wage clerk is screwed and must wait AND waste gas to take it back? Yeah, please video game industry, make it easier and easier to justify piracy. I have plenty of money and like to support the people who make games I enjoy but it's really easier to just pirate this stuff since the game industry is more and more anti-consumer all the time.

    • Re:So once again the legit customer is screwed ove (Score:4, Funny)

      by calmofthestorm ( 1344385 ) on Tuesday December 02, 2008 @12:06AM (#25955729)

      Remember, no refunds on opened software. Have a nice day, thank you for shopping Super-Duper Mart!

    • I'd like to know when internet piracy and shoplifting became the same thing. It's not like someone swipes a legit copy of the shelves somewhere everytime you download a game.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Kohath ( 38547 )

        It's not the same thing. But this solution is aimed at both problems.

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by Nazlfrag ( 1035012 )

          How is it aimed at all at piracy? Pirates don't use activation keys, they use cracks. It's a shoplifting measure at most, and retailers already keep games and keys behind the counter with empty boxes on the shelves. It's a solution to a non-existent problem that will just cause more hassle for the legitimate consumer and be bypassed as usual by pirates.

  • Interesting idea (Score:3, Informative)

    by scubamage ( 727538 ) on Monday December 01, 2008 @11:57PM (#25955689)
    However, not everyone has an internet connection. For those who do have an internet connection, blocking it from being accessed is just a short hosts file edit away. From there, a single crack and your game is playable single player. It also requires all servers to be hosted by the game maker and their licensees because otherwise the server software will be cracked within two hours of it being released to the public (that's actually assuming the crackers are lazy). This is highly unlikely to work.

    • You forgot to mention that it only takes one rip of the game to get onto a million hard drives in just a few hours. This 'protection' is just another fancy and useless system to control copying, an effort sure to end in stockholder misery and my personal amusement.

    • It'll work better than cdkeys at reducing multiplayer online piracy and resale, and screw fewer people due to stolen/generated keys.

      As was said above, they're idiots if they think this will work on single player modes.

      • That's true - however if they start using this sort of authentication for multiplayer I can only imagine that cracked servers are going to spring up across the tubes. Just like they did for every MMORPG in existance, except the software to replicate a FPS server is most likely a whole lot simpler to reverse engineer.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Kohath ( 38547 )

      This is highly unlikely to work.

      Unless they put more thought into it than you did.

      And it only needs to work somewhat better than the current DRM and anti-shoplifting systems. If it prevented 15% of the piracy and worked better than the DRM everyone hates, they'd implement it tomorrow.

      • Unless they put more thought into it than you did.

        Since DRM can never work, it doesn't take very much thought to realize that any given DRM system is unlikely to work.

        And it only needs to work somewhat better than the current DRM and anti-shoplifting systems. If it prevented 15% of the piracy

        It may have a chance at anti-shoplifting, though I doubt they have many problems with shoplifters breaking into the locked glass cases where most games are kept.

        It really has no chance at preventing any of the piracy. There may be 15% fewer people who might attempt to crack it -- meaning it still takes exactly one person to successfully crack it, and create a torrent. Once there's a torrent,

  • " EMA Suggests Point-Of-Sale Game Activation To Fight Piracy"

    "...shoplifting is discouraged ..."

    "...Piracy..."
    "...shoplifting..."

    I can only assume that the title of the article refers to the actual "ARRR I GONNA STEEL YER GAMES!" piracy - which i think is a lot more similar to shop lifting than to copying bits.

    Now it all makes sense - this isn't about people ripping then torrenting the latest games (bit copying piracy), it is about preventing physical copies being stolen (by pirates...presumably)

    • Re:awesome idea (Score:4, Insightful)

      by hedwards ( 940851 ) on Tuesday December 02, 2008 @01:43AM (#25956329)

      It's pointless, pirate buys one copy breaks the protection than uploads that to the web. Congrats EA, you've managed one additional sale at the expense of many dozens of sales to people who now are unable to run the software.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by crossmr ( 957846 )

      This goes hand in hand with the new sign they've got out front of the local ebgames which says "No Galleon Parking"

  • Bad analogy (Score:4, Insightful)

    by subreality ( 157447 ) on Tuesday December 02, 2008 @12:09AM (#25955755)

    The initiative is similar to security tags used in clothing retail that spill ink on garments if they're forcibly removed, thereby destroying the item. In such a situation, shoplifting is discouraged by implementing a solution that only the retailer can remove at the point of sale.

    But it's not similar at all. Similar would be putting an acetone-filled tag through the hole in the CD that only the retailer can remove, to destroy it if it's shoplifted.

    The reason the difference is important is this scheme isn't to fight shoplifting, the theft of a physical item. This is to fight copyright infringement, and it's like fighting people who make cheap knockoffs of designer clothes. Admittedly, this is much easier to do on a large scale than copying a physical item, but the scale of it does not magically make it become theft.

    And the other part of where the analogy breaks down? I don't need an internet connection to put on my clothes after the retailer takes off the tag.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by trawg ( 308495 )

      The reason the difference is important is this scheme isn't to fight shoplifting, the theft of a physical item.

      Actually reading the standards, I think it looks like it's an attempt to combat both copyright infringement AND physical theft/shoplifting. One of the items listed (albeit the last one, in the 'valuable additions' section) is "audible notification at store exit if not deactivated", which reads to me like a normal anti-theft device. Although I suppose it could just be a courtesy thing for the customer to let them know their game has not been properly 'activated' after their purchase, also is it odds with th

  • ...after the first AAA "must have" title that comes out using this for a crack to appear. As said in the past DRM is defective by design, it simply will never work if the end user is the person who needs to both use and read the data. You can not then hide the data from that user. You either have access, or you do not have access, you can't have partial access in this case (i.e. read access, but not copy access), it simply does not exist. If you can read it, you can save it or copy it...

    At most, the only

    • Re:Like all DRM, I give it about 2 weeks... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by cliffski ( 65094 ) on Tuesday December 02, 2008 @03:44AM (#25956899) Homepage

      *HEAVY SIGH*

      This is NOT DRM The story is NOT ABOUT DRM. DRM is not the issue.
      This is about preventing shoplifting.

      Is it not possible for there to be ANY story ANYWHERE on-line about games, without people gushing about how they hate DRM, even when the story is NOTHING to do with it?

      • Is it not possible for there to be ANY story ANYWHERE on-line about games, without people gushing about how they hate DRM, even when the story is NOTHING to do with it?

        Is DRM still in use for all AAA titles?

        Has even one major publisher rejected DRM? Or even SecuROM?

        Then no, it's probably not possible, no matter how offtopic it might be. This is a real, immediate problem which must be dealt with if PC gaming is to continue as an industry. Shoplifting really isn't.

        Oh, and it's not clear either from the summary or from TFA -- or, even, from the PDF -- that this is not DRM. It could be what you're describing, or it could also include DRM. It seems like a list of wishful-think

      • Shoplifting is a solved problem. (Score:4, Insightful)

        by argent ( 18001 ) <peter&slashdot,2006,taronga,com> on Tuesday December 02, 2008 @08:31AM (#25958365) Homepage Journal

        This is about preventing shoplifting.

        You prevent shoplifting by putting the games behind the counter and putting the empty boxes on the shelf. It's low tech, reliable, and not a lot more manual than activation.

        Provide the dealer with a printed card the size of the jewelbox they can put on the shelf without having to open the game and put the CD into storage like they do now. Problem solved, cheaply.

        I hereby donate this idea to the public domain.

  • I'm sure the companies losing oil tankers right left and center will sleep well tonight, know that someone's come up with a viable way of fighting piracy.

  • A solution in search of a problem... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by mlts ( 1038732 ) * on Tuesday December 02, 2008 @12:48AM (#25956015)

    I know a number of retailers stop this problem by using locking DVD cases that set off the door alarms. Usually the ones that have another alarm if someone stomps the case open. Shopperinc.com, the first site I hit on Google offers plenty of low cost ways to ensure that either a would-be shoplifter is going to have to be good at sneaking in the key equipment needed, or be able to run through the exit with security guards hot on their trail (and risk robbery charges as well as larceny).

    Since effective technological measures are in place for this, why bother with screwing around with CD keys?

    It is a *lot* harder to shoplift successfully media in one of these cases than it is to hit the usual sites, download a patch or a torrent. This is the old security adage of why add layers of protection to a door when the burglar can just enter through the window?

  • I'm guessing this is how this idea works:

    1) The game is on the shelf and has a CD Key.
    2) The store clerk registers the CD key at the time of purchase, making it valid. (Much like a Gift Card)
    3) The game won't install without a valid CD key, which it checks over the internet or with an over-the-phone verification (much like the current Windows activation).

    Unless they have some much more elaborate plan, this is probably the method they're going to use... Now, what's wrong with this plan?

    1) What happens 10 yea

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mlts ( 1038732 ) *

      This reminds me of some of the old Apple ][ abandonware games where the only copies still in existance are cracked copies. Maybe 10-15 years down the line when PCs have long since lost DVD drives, the accepted "industry standard" copy will be one either encased in a VM with a DVD emulator a well done pirated rip, or perhaps encapsulated in an app virtualization method like Thinstall.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tepples ( 727027 )

        Maybe 10-15 years down the line when PCs have long since lost DVD drives

        Compact Disc is two generations behind Blu-ray Disc, and BD drives can still read CDs. What makes you think drives for the optical disc tech after BD won't read DVDs?

  • Here in Germany, such technology has been in use by media retailers for about 20 years now!! When you walk into a media shop, items usually have a thick, metallic, self-adhesive tag on them (with white plastic casing), that is made inactive at the cash register. At the entrance and exit, there are detectors that use a magnetic field to see if someone walks through with a shoplifted item. An alarm goes off if that happens. I'm not sure whether that is using RFID or a similar technology. But it seems to work

    • This is different, we've had stores using that technology for many years. I can't even go into certain stores because the equipment triggers severe tinnitus. This however is different, it doesn't use the tag, but registers the software over the network so that once it's out of the shop it can't be used. So sneaking it around the detectors wouldn't work. At least in theory, it's a given that it won't work correctly.

  • If you're a game maker (Score:3, Interesting)

    by sleeponthemic ( 1253494 ) on Tuesday December 02, 2008 @01:29AM (#25956245) Homepage
    and you're truly worried about pirating, quit the futility and put out an online game. Sure, sounds like a mindlessly trivialised suggestion, but really, any online account based game has basically the least complained about, but most restrictive DRM running. You have zero ability to play anywhere but online after logging in and you don't complain about it. Genius.

    Why do few people chip their xbox 360's? Because they are afraid of detection on xbox live. Same with the Wii. The only true, accepted DRM is one that protects online usage.

    Not atall saying that there isn't a veritable mass of problems accompanying such a notion, just saying, look at what works, rather than this silly nonsense that makes almost no headway.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by cliffski ( 65094 )

      this is to stop shoplifting

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Khyber ( 864651 )

      Most peoploe that Chips their 360s won't bother connecting to the network anyways since they can get all updates needed from the mod manufacturer.

      And most buy the modchips to be able to tool around. They're just nerds, not hardcore pirates. They don't care about online.

      Just speaking as someone that's had to install dozens of modchips in dozens of systems over the years.

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by Amphetam1ne ( 1042020 )

        But there's no chip available for the 360 that lets you "just tool around" with it. Aside from a now close exploit, there is no way to gain full control of or run unsigned code on a 360. The chips and drive flash mods only allow one thing: Backup games to be loaded. That's it. Piracy is the only reason for chipping/flashing a 360.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Aladrin ( 926209 )

          Piracy and backups. The same method that pirates use will always be useful for people who want to make sure that $60 game continues to play after the neighbor's kid uses a key on it. (Because it's never YOUR kid, no!)

          'Just buy another, it'll be cheaper by then' isn't a valid argument either because there are tons of games on EBay that are more expensive than they were originally due to stopped production. Try to buy Final Fantasy 7 or Suikoden 2.

  • How will this affect secondhand game sales? If it somehow manages to screw them over, I bet we'll see every game publisher implement it before this time next year.

    • It won't.

      It cannot be reliably enforced. If there is a key, in any form, it can be cracked and someone can figure it out using a few copies and a keygen.

      Trying to hide things in the code is a failure in all programming (you cannot hide things in the code to anyone who even knows stuff as basic as well, basic or pascal).

      Meanwhile, nothing new, just fud and "oh my god piracy" spewing. Having a system that triggers when someone tries to leave a store with something stolen has been around for 20-25+ years. This

      • If there is a key, in any form, it can be cracked and someone can figure it out using a few copies and a keygen.

        Almost. If the keys are generated with a digital signature mechanism such as RSA or ECC, you need the private key in order to make a keygen. If you replace the entire key verifier, you can't play online, just like you can't play online with a game using the system from the article that hasn't been activated.

  • Seriously, stealing from a B&M? The only reason to steal a key is to play a multi-player game.

    The solution for the PC is digital downloads. The xbox on the other hand is getting so cheap now that you can play burned games on the thing and make up the cost of buying a second xbox in single-player 3 games.

    With torrents, rapidshare and usenet, why steal media from a store? I guess life is hardest for the stupid.

  • ...which will save me lots of money.

    I'm more and more and turning away from major game companies. There were quite a few games I really wanted to buy (Bioshock, Silent Hunter 3, Spore, GTA 4, and quite a few others) and then couldn't, due to ridiculous copy protections (Digital Restriction Management going nuts, no thanks).

    Thus I sniffed around the indy games market more and more, and found some really nice ones. Simple Flash shoot-em-ups like Robokill (http://www.rocksolidarcade.com/games/robokill/ [rocksolidarcade.com]) or won

  • I foresee a day when (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Travoltus ( 110240 ) on Tuesday December 02, 2008 @03:03AM (#25956725) Journal

    All games have to be played online. There won't be single player games anymore, there'll just be web based games or virtual worlds you can play single player-style or massively multiplayer style, but in either case the data for the game world will only be on the server.

    Then there'll be web based word processors where you can only store your data online, and you have to pay for it. No method to download it to your hard drive, but you can email it to people and they have to pay to use the app you need to read the document. If you need to move your data around in other ways, you probably are a pirate (in their mind).

    The RIAA and MPAA then pull all their content and make it available only online. For a fee. You'll never touch that data again without the authorization of the server. (I actually see this coming first.)

    In short, I could see companies making sure all of their copyrighted data is only available on their servers.

    • All games have to be played online. There won't be single player games anymore, there'll just be web based games or virtual worlds you can play single player-style or massively multiplayer style

      Due to laws such as COPPA in the United States, you can't sign up for one of these games until your 13th birthday. How will publishers work around this in order to deliver E-rated games? And how will publishers work around North American ISPs' utter failure to serve rural customers?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by jmauro ( 32523 )

        And how will publishers work around North American ISPs' utter failure to serve rural customers?

        They simply won't. The number of players in rural areas wouldn't generate enough revenue to even care about so they'll just ignore them or tell those customers to get a better ISP.

        There is a reason the Federal government needed to handle rural electricfication and mandate rural telephone service (and generate a seperate fee paid by all users to see that it's done). Basic economics dictates that serving rural

  • If the DVD contains a mechanism that has to be activated before it can be used, then damage to the DVD is more likely to render it unplayable. I wouldn't buy a DVD on that basis. It's not like I have to buy DVDs, after all... they're a luxury good.

    And the only computer game I regularly play is open source. The games I've paid for mostly sit on the bookshelf, so I more or less quit buying them.

    And... how on earth would this fight piracy? It's just another copy protection variant, and it's inherently impossib

  • This is to make them money on used games sales. It has nothing to do with shoplifting. The game companies make $0 when a game is sold used. They're trying to figure out a way to make those people who buy games used have to pay them in order to play a game. If you need to activate it via online to get the game working at all, then even used single player games will require a payment to the game company to activate it.
  • It's to eventually tie your game sales to a real person. This is one step away from requiring the store clerk to see a valid driver's license before validating the game. Once real people can be identified (even if they give it away as a gift) in-game advertising becomes more profitable.

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