Mass Effect and Spore Require Online Check Every 10 Days
- Scribbled on May 7th, 2008 by Jonah Falcon
- Filed in Industry News, Interviews, PC, RPG, Strategy, WTF
Gaming Hexus is reporting that the PC version of Mass Effect and Spore will both require an online check every 10 days to prevent piracy.
Bioware’s Derek French has been quoted as saying:
Mass Effect uses SecuROM and requires an online activation for the first time that you play it. Each copy of Mass Effect comes with a CD Key which is used for this activation and for registration here at the BioWare Community. Mass Effect does not require the DVD to be in the drive in order to play, it is only for installation.
After the first activation, SecuROM requires that it re-check with the server within ten days (in case the CD Key has become public/warez’d and gets banned). Just so that the 10 day thing doesn’t become abrupt, SecuROM tries its first re-check with 5 days remaining in the 10 day window. If it can’t contact the server before the 10 days are up, nothing bad happens and the game still runs. After 10 days a re-check is required before the game can run.”
Aside from the fact you don’t need a disc in the drive, what about the people who don’t have internet access? Shocking, but true. As for those that do, Spore was going to have constant online access anyway, with the content sharing, but Mass Effect…
If you lose internet for whatever reason, by the way, welcome to Reinstall Time. Way to encourage piracy, Electronic Arts.
May 7th, 2008 at 11:50 am
If I had to choose, I’d choose Internet Check over CD Check.
However, I’d rather have none. I’m curious on which one is easier to fake, probably Internet access connectivity is easier to hack, especially if you setup a small application on your system to “proxy” the response.
May 7th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Glad I got Mass Effect on 360. But I’m pissed about Spore being DRMed into unplayability. I’ve purchase all of Will Wrights game 1st day, this will be the first one I won’t buy. When people don’t buy Mass Effect no one will care, but when nobody buys Spore, that will show were they went wrong. To everybody reading this DON’T BUY SPORE!!!!!! GET IT ON CONSOLE IF YOU MUST OR FIND ANOTHER WAY TO GET IT WITHOUT THESE DRACONIAN INFECTIONS.
May 7th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Spore isn’t being DRMed into unplayability.
May 11th, 2008 at 4:47 am
[...] Arts has caved and changed their anti-piracy measures to perform an online validation every 10 days. Instead of employing the previously revealed DRM [...]