OK, I didn’t. Time was, copy protection didn’t inspire such anger in power consumers, probably because the schemes were too ridiculous to be taken seriously. Oh, they were a nag. But holding up a piece of coloured film to your screen to read off a secret code, Transformers tech-specs style, was kind of a novelty. My brother and I also repurposed a few codewheels for our own stabs at cryptography

Royal Pingdom took a look back at early forms of PC game copy protection. I’d have to guess that the reason none of these ever raised the kind of anger that DRM does today is because there’s no real big brother aspect to it. There were things like parameter codes and read-only copy protection, but nothing was ever put on your machine (although, without a hard drive, I guess it’s a moot point). Furthermore, some of these methods – such as the code books or history guides – were at least themed to the game, making them seem like real life extensions.

But it’s probably because we were dealing with PC gaming before the explosion of the Internet, and the copying and file sharing over it made publishers get tough, some to the point of heavy-handedness, with protecting their sales.

Wacky Copy Protection Methods from the Good Old Days [Royal Pingdom]

Cheshirec_the_cat posted a thread on September 4th in the official Eidos forums for Batman: Arkham Asylum, requesting help with a peculiar problem with the PC version of the game.

I’ve got a problem when it’s time to use Batman’s glide in the game. When I hold , like it’s said to jump from one platform to another, Batman tries to open his wings again and again instead of gliding. So he fels down in a poisoning gas. If somebody could tel me, what should I do there.

As another forum poster points out, the game isn’t out until the 15th, so the question is a bit suspect right off the bat, no pun intended.

Eidos admin Keir responded to the thread before closing it, explaining that the glitch wasn’t so much of a glitch.

The problem you have encountered is a hook in the copy protection, to catch out people who try and download cracked versions of the game for free.

It’s not a bug in the game’s code, it’s a bug in your moral code.

Ouch. Brilliantly done, Rocksteady! Applause all ’round!

Eidos plays trick on Batman: Arkham Asylum pirates [Afterdawn.com]

What’s the point of fighting PC game piracy? According to Stormrise developer Creative Assembly Australia’s communications manager Vispi Bhopti, there isn’t one.

Speaking in an interview with VideoGamer.com, Bhopti revealed that Creative Assembly had no plans for additional copy protection for the upcoming PC release of their new real-time strategy game Stormrise, explaining that pirates will be pirates, and them’s just the breaks.

That’s not that much of an issue. There’s no additional thing that we’re going for with that sort of stuff. That’s pointless. If people are going to pirate a game they’re going to pirate a game. All you can do is delay the piracy, really. But that’s just the nature of the beast. We are a PC developer, that’s where we started, so you do what you gotta do.

Hell, I’d even take things a step further here and say that the tougher the digital rights management include with your game, the more likely it is that people will pirate it, just to show that they can. Game pirates are almost like muggers. Just hand over the goods, and nobody gets hurt.

Creative Assembly: Piracy ‘nature of the beast’ [VideoGamer.com]

Lame kerfuffles about copy protection schemes just seem a bit off-message, somehow. C’mon chaps, you’ll not get many tabloid headlines with this nonsense! Get back to the prostitute murder and leave the customer-punishing DRM nonsense to your competitors.

Yes, another high profile PC release - GTA IV this time – will be shipping with SecuROM. The usual arguments are being trotted out – on the one hand it is the publisher’s best defence against piracy (the copyright infringement kind, not the Somali kidnappy variety) while on the other it is a horrible mess of code that will taint the PCs of legitimate consumers like digital scar tissue.

C’est la vie.

GTA IV jumps on SecuROM bandwagon

Along with a reset of the competition ladder, the patch removes the game’s ancient copy protection. If this gives you any trouble, Blizzplanet has a fix that should sort you out.

Diablo II Patch Information [Blizzard]

The announcement comes on the heels of news that Mass Effect will also be ditching the ten day re-authentication.

We wanted to let you know that we’ve been hearing your concerns about the online authentication mentioned earlier this week. I didn’t want to head into the weekend without getting back to you with some information about how Spore is planning on using this new system.

A few things we wanted you to know:

— We authenticate your game online when you install and launch it the first time.
— We’ll re-authenticate when a player uses online features, downloads new content or a patch for their game.
— The new system means you don’t have to play with the disc in your computer. And if you are like me, always losing discs, this will be a huge benefit.
— You’ll still be able to install and play on multiple computers.
— You can play offline.

We do hope that players will play online – sharing creatures, buildings and vehicles with other players is something that is unique to Spore and one of the coolest features of the game. Every day, when I play the Creature Stage, I get to see wacky and awesome new creatures from my Buddies on the team coming over the hill at me and I can’t wait to see what happens when our creative, passionate community starts sharing their creations.

Sounds like Electronic Arts got the message, here’s hoping that other publishers do too.

The developer said the decision came after listening “very closely” to its fans and that the new system will also allow gamers to play the game without the DVD in the drive.

The system will allow gamers to authenticate their game on just three computers, but EA does have the ability to give additional authorisations if they are warranted.

Hit up the jump for the official FAQ and to let us know what you think about this change of heart.

The official Mass Effect FAQ explains it all.

For instance, you can install your copy of Mass Effect on three separate machines, but all must be internet enabled if you expect to play the game you paid for, as SecuROM will check every time you run MassEffect.exe. This sort of overprotection is nothing new, as “Neverwinter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, and Mass Effect all use SecuROM in some manner” says the FAQ.

Concerned? Pssh! Don’t be! The Mass Effect PC FAQ says EA Support is ready for a beating.

EA is ready and we are confident there will be no server problems. EA has assured us that they have their authorization systems and customer support staff in place and ready for the launch of Mass Effect for PC. Anyone having issues with getting the game activated will be able to contact EA Support and get their problem resolved.

Spore is similarly planned to take advantage of the SecuROM copy protection system, one that we’re sure is going to eliminate every illegitimate copy of the game from appearing on torrent trackers for at least 48 hours. Take that, piracy! RIP! Owned! Etc!

Mass Effect for PC System Specs, SecuROM and FAQ [Mass Effect Community via The Angry Pixel]

Blizzard has seen fit to reward their loyalty by removing the initial CD check from the game’s start-up. That… and the company realised the game has been out so long, that those who wanted to pirate it did so a long time ago.

You may remember Blizzard removed the CD check from its RTS Starcraft late last year. Seeing as players of both games spend most of their time on Battle.net, which requires a legitimate CD key to use, the check has simply become an annoyance for paying customers.

Warcraft III Patch Announcements/Updates [Warcraft III forums]