The games I did not buy...

And how much money it saved me.

Published on June 21, 2005 By ins11 In PC Gaming

It should come as no surprise to anyone who have in the past read my "blog" or to anyone I have talked with on other forums that I have a ... issue.. with regards to games requiring cd-in-drive, games that install hidden drivers on my operating system(s) or offline games that require internet authentication/validation and contain time-consuming validation processes to install/extract the game [not to mention being difficult to operate in a no-internet-lan environment]. (To cover all bases, that would include StarForce games, Valve STEAM and any other implementation past-present-future).

While checking a list of some copy restricted games on nforce today, to check up on somebodys statement regarding the game Knights of Honor, recently reviewed at the Adrenaline Vault (www.avault.com) I thought to myself - How much money have I saved by not buying any more computer games because of the ..issue.
And more importantly, which games.
And why.

1. Battlefield 2 - Securom, GameSpy Linking, EAs issue with 12-minute modified demo servers, Past Experience with BF/BFV and cd-in-drive.
2. Half Life 2 - Valve Steam
3. Knights of Honor - Securom
4. FlatOut - Safedisc 4
5. Silent Hunter 3 - StarForce
6. Sacred + Addon - Cd-in-drive
7. Beyond Divinity - Cd-in-drive
8. Psi-Ops The Mindgate Conspiracy - Starforce
9. GTA3 San Andreas (PC) - Securom7
10. Stronghold 2 - SecuRom 7
11. KOTOR 2 - SeCurom
12. Doom 3 - Cd-in-drive
13. Empire Earrth II - Securom
14. SUperPower 2 - StarForce
15. Project Snowblind - Securom
16. Star Wars Republic Commando - Securom
17. Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines - SafeDisc 4
18. Sid Meyers Pirates - cd-check
19. Nexus The Jupiter Incident - Safedisc 3
20. Need for Speed underground 2 - Safedisc 3

Games released within the past 8 months.
Estimated cost: 35$ per game :700$

So I would just like to thank the BSA, ELSPA and the rest of the software industry for saving me 700$ that I
instead can spend on other stuff, such as vacations, drugs, alcohol or supporting www.eff.org with donations.

[Not to mention paying the 14$ subscription fee for World of Warcraft and WorldWar2 Online every month...]

Thank you!

x x x

Comments (Page 2)

Lowa11

on Jun 22, 2005

Well i suggest that Copy-protection does not work now it used too in the past and technology is progessing as anti-copy tech improves so does counter-anti copy tech so its difficult to make the corect CD protector and actually it does help in combat piracy but by the best pirates its not hard to copy it uhhh look at latin america that area is courpt Bad police forces,Bad government, and plently of piracy, oh and in Brazil and places like that you can find lots of "Ileagal" Drugs for sale. But another method is a encrypted CD key system like the only way to find out its key is by looking in its manual And i know you cannot bypass a CD Key Encryption without the corect key and if They Actaully bypass it without the key make the game Crappy and not work because the code was not entered in (the only way to fix it is by entering the REAL CD Key Into The Website for a Patch to fix the courption) however piracy will always be there unless the government is going to step in and assit with this issue. so my suggestion is this SELL AS MANY COPIES AS YOU CAN!!!!

Lowa11

on Jun 22, 2005

>< that didn't work right....

Lowa11

on Jun 22, 2005

Oh and also DON"T BUY SO MANY GAMES thats a Economics Tip save your loot to buy Better loot

Lowa11

on Jun 22, 2005

The internet should be bombed and make the government control it i know it sounds stupid but that could Really damage piracy Theres always somting with the government controling it all files to make indivuvial websites must be filed into the government and must be verified and this could limit the number of cracks in stuff i know a lot of Cracks for games sites like one is crackz spider uhh well i know more but there names i do not remeber right now if somting does not have control it should....

Lowa11

on Jun 22, 2005

Hehe if you try downloading that you can get a virus!

or maybe the government will find out... my mom actaully downloads Ilegal movies and my older bro used to have Kazza and also my mom also used blubster Both sites Are filled with viruses AND you can get attacked which has hapened to me and all your hard work on finding your Ileagal downloads Will be impossbile AND EVEN THEN THEY DON"T WORK!!!! its not that simple but CD in Drive was a good thing but now its old it should be so IF you order by CD (because i will i need a hard copy....) that you don't need it too play just to install... so it still has its autorun yeh... But you don't need the cd to play just to install and reinstall... and also stardock should keep a record of all the CD keys it issued to users like in the stardock loader thing you look in one of your games profile and it shows your CD key for the game Incase you forget But i really think that if companies want to stay alive they need to combat piracy. (hey pirates should learn that if they keep doing this ALL the companies go down and so do they...) so companies are vital EVEN to piracy and so its like a food chain the companies provide goods to ppl And acidently to piracy doers and they in return send it to ppl for cut-price because of the economic system people will go for cheaper and eventually everone will buy it from the piracy users and put big companies out of bussiness and then without anything to sell the piracy users will go bankrupt but also you msut rember that you probley will get attacked,viruses,spyware,adware, the famed trojan horse viruses, and even so bad that you must restore your comp completly and it cost you loads of money and with being attacked you can loose your credit card number by remberance of Internet explorer because it rembers where you have been and even since of the dawn of the digital age its even easier now Company computers can be hacked into to locate consumers products and the credit card numbers they used! were all in danger if we don't do somting! Evil allways wins if good does nothing worthwile to combat it!

Lord_StarPilot

on Jun 24, 2005

Copy protection has never worked. It might stop the casual copier, but anyone that wants to get a pirated copy of a game, will. If you want a pirated copy of a 4 DVD server package, it doesn't take 5 minutes to find it.

Often, the developers are the originating source of the pirated software! They give a copy or two to their friends and favorite relatives, and from there, it's off and on the net.

Copy protection only screws the honest customers.

So, why is there copy protection? Publishers. Publishers think that every pirated copy of their product is a lost sale. It isn't. Most people that pirate, wouldn't spend their own money on the software products that they pirate. 1 out of 100 would actually go out and buy the product, if there wasn't a handy pirated version around. But the publishers always see that the other way around... 100 out of 100 would have paid PREMIUM price for their product. Not!

Games are like music and books. The more exposure *good* games get, the more likely that experience will generate sales (whether current or future).

I don't pirate my games. Why? Personal choice. I have the money. I can afford to buy my games. But I rarely buy a game at premium or new release. Most games, I buy them out of the bargain bin. It doesn't take long for most games to hit the bargain bin. Saves me a ton on money, and lets me buy more games.

Star Dock though, I will pre-order my games from. Why? Because I know they make quality games, and provide great customer service. Fun games, great support. That inspires my loyalty and trust. More game developers should be Star Dock.

Lowa11

on Jun 24, 2005

Yeh I guess so... All devolpers Think that Copy-protection Kills piracy which it doesn't really however it limits unpro pirates it does...but barely does anything and by doing this Devps think that they will be able to make more money its for the money not their security I belive eventually possibly a rebellion will break out in the world and "Clear The world of all its evils" Including Huge mega-corperations that are greedy as greedy can be... and doing this copy-protection is killed but..... you must realize that if it does end... What if piracy expands too much and puts hundreds of bussiness out of bussiness or more its a balance of a society chaotic system if it is messed with just a tad too much it goes berserk and all heck breaks loose

Lowa11

on Jun 24, 2005

However... Devolpers could make Versions over prirates to combat them! rather than copy-protection and patches that only work with their Preimum Stuff! Now that could work!!!

ins11

on Jun 26, 2005

I think developers should focus more on making a great game that delivers what it promises without any game critical bugs, Provide feature updates through their web page, provide a demo-purchase-unlock version of their titles that can be moved to any system the user controls without having to re-activate over the internet, not require activation on offline copied products, ship games on dvd if they are multi cd, have a forum/web page available where customers can receive support and information.

[phew..]

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