End of Gaming Piracy??

[Cybrnook2002]

http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/05/26/153222

check it out

[ShadowFold]

Oh yea well I just put a chip on all ATi and Nvidia cards that prevent them from playing crysis at max settings with 60fps because I deem it impossible!! HAHAHA

Seriously I think they are lying.

[PVTCaboose1337]

So fake. Not gonna happen. Games will always be pirated.

[dark2099]

I guess they aren't planning on giving out too much information yet either cause it is in very early stages or don't want anyone to try and find a work around for such technology yet. If I had a guess at how it works, you would have to register the actual computer you are installing the game on. Kind of annoying if you would have to because you would either only be able to install it on one computer, or buy multiple licenses for a game.

[WarEagleAU]

Good luck with that. there will be a patch to come along if this happens and it will thwart this!

[KainXS]

you can't stop pirates man, they're only going to hurt the sales of motherboard manufacturers.

[Megasty]

Stupid...just put the cookie jar in front of the kid why don't cha. Anything more useless will only cause Crytek to cry even more :rolleyes:

[Edito]

Ill jsut stick with P5N32-E SLI PLus lol and enjoy and upgrade with a new mobos and a patch to enable pirate games lol...

[Silverel]

TPM modules are pretty old tech, if they were going to do this, it would have happened long ago. Maybe they'll bundle a TPM module that you have to plug in when you play the game, but when it comes down to asking mobo manufacturers to do it, it'll just kill their sales. Look what happened to Sony and it's DRM/rootkit schemes. Don't tell me that didn't cost them a few million. They've tested these waters before, and when it comes down to it, people aren't gonna pay to be policed. Someone will always make a board without it, and those boards will sell overwhelmingly compared to anything else. TPM will just be another piece of popcorn in the vast expanse of dead technology. Like it is now.

[hat]

Ohh! I got an idea!
how about... just break the chip :p

[Karamas]

Why don't people understand that it takes a program to make that chip work and as long as one programmer can write the code another can reverse it. These companies seem to think that they are the only ones with people capable of doing the programming.

I guess they also can't figure as soon as they say its unbreakable, every hardcore cracker with experience is there trying to see who can put out a working crack first. :wtf:

[Wile E]

These are just TPMs. Apple has been using them for years, as a way to lock OS X to their hardware. It didn't work out to well for them, now did it? This won't lead to anything significant in the world of piracy.

[psyko12]

Aarrr they can't stop pirates as long as codes are reverse engineered.. Although it would take some time but meh, pirates are pirates they'd do anything to get things the want! XD

[smig]

just another chalange for pirates :D

[jaxxxon]

just buy a mobo without one, I'm sure at least 1 mobo maker will realise people dont want it in their pc ;)

[Darknova]

Why don't people understand that it takes a program to make that chip work and as long as one programmer can write the code another can reverse it. These companies seem to think that they are the only ones with people capable of doing the programming.

I guess they also can't figure as soon as they say its unbreakable, every hardcore cracker with experience is there trying to see who can put out a working crack first. :wtf:

Exactly, and god knows the passwords won't be kept secure either....they WILL get out onto the internet, then people will just download it and someone will make a program to interface with the chip and bam, chip is bypassed.

[blTb]

It's not true. 2-3 years ago most of publishers has refuse StarForce (except russians), so i'm not sure that TPM will survive.
+ This device isn't so popular(i saw only 1 model for retail market, but i can't find it anymore)
+ It's too expensive

[jbunch07]

dont see this happening, pirates will aways find away around things.

[Rebo&Zooty]

Your proposal advocates a

(X) technical ( ) legislative ( ) market-based ( ) vigilante

approach to fighting video game piracy. Your idea will not work. Here is why it won't work. (One or more of the following may apply to your particular idea, and it may have other flaws which used to vary from state to state before a bad federal law was passed.)

( ) Video game pirates can easily use it to harvest gamer addresses
(X) Legitimate gamer uses would be affected
( ) No one will be able to find the guy or collect the money
( ) It is defenseless against brute force attacks
(X) It will stop video game piracy for two weeks and then we'll be stuck with it
(X) Users of gamer will not put up with it
( ) Microsoft will not put up with it
( ) The police will not put up with it
(X) Requires too much cooperation from video game pirates
( ) Requires immediate total cooperation from everybody at once
( ) Many gamers cannot afford to lose business or alienate potential employers
( ) Video game pirates don't care about invalid addresses in their lists
( ) Anyone could anonymously destroy anyone else's career or business

Specifically, your plan fails to account for

( ) Laws expressly prohibiting it
(X) Lack of centrally controlling authority for gamer
( ) Open relays in foreign countries
( ) Ease of searching tiny alphanumeric address space of all gamer addresses
(X) Asshats
( ) Jurisdictional problems
( ) Unpopularity of weird new taxes
( ) Public reluctance to accept weird new forms of money
( ) Huge existing software investment in SMTP
( ) Susceptibility of protocols other than SMTP to attack
(X) Willingness of users to install OS patches received by gamer
( ) Armies of worm riddled broadband-connected Windows boxes
( ) Eternal arms race involved in all filtering approaches
( ) Extreme profitability of video game piracy
( ) Joe jobs and/or identity theft
( ) Technically illiterate politicians
( ) Extreme stupidity on the part of people who do business with video game pirates
(X) Dishonesty on the part of video game pirates themselves
( ) Bandwidth costs that are unaffected by client filtering
( ) Outlook

and the following philosophical objections may also apply:

(X) Ideas similar to yours are easy to come up with, yet none have ever
been shown practical
( ) Any scheme based on opt-out is unacceptable
( ) SMTP headers should not be the subject of legislation
( ) Blacklists suck
( ) Whitelists suck
( ) We should be able to talk about Viagra without being censored
( ) Countermeasures should not involve wire fraud or credit card fraud
( ) Countermeasures should not involve sabotage of public networks
( ) Countermeasures must work if phased in gradually
( ) Playing games should be free
( ) Why should we have to trust you and your servers?
(X) Incompatiblity with open source or open source licenses
( ) Feel-good measures do nothing to solve the problem
(X) Temporary/one-time gamer addresses are cumbersome
( ) I don't want the government playing my games
( ) Killing them that way is not slow and painful enough

Furthermore, this is what I think about you:

(X) Sorry dude, but I don't think it would work.
( ) This is a stupid idea, and you're a stupid person for suggesting it.
( ) Nice try, assh0le! I'm going to find out where you live and burn your
house down!

yeah that post pretty much covers it :)

[kyle2020]

has anyone heard about mass effect anti piracy system when it hits the pc? it has to re - register itself something like once a week, and if it cant do that then you have to compltely re register, i think by phonecall or something daft like that. I cant remember the specific details mind.

[Rebo&Zooty]

that will be hacked within a week or 2 tops i bet, month at the most.

and they will be raped by phone calls and demands for refunds because people are sick of having to connect to their server and re-reg a game they payed good $ for.

[smig]

the only anti piracy I think can work is the "pay for use system".
something like the Sims online, or what warbirds did - get the game for free, pay to play online.

with fast internet links you can put the applications on servers, and people will pay for the time they use these applications.

[hat]

with fast internet links you can put the applications on servers, and people will pay for the time they use these applications.

Not having the actual game on your hard drive would slow loading times far too much. I estimate instead of ~1 minute to load a BF2142 map it would take ~1 hour

[niko084]

There is no dead protection from cracking software..... Some of you older guys remember when XP came out they said it was going to be pirate proof, can't copy the disk, can't steal a key... Pfft....

[CrackerJack]

The only way they can prevent piracy is using software like Steam. A hardware chip, ha ha That's just dumb. This want last long (Hardware Chip)

[niko084]

The only way they can prevent piracy is using software like Steam. A hardware chip, ha ha That's just dumb. This want last long (Hardware Chip)

There are ways around that too, but I can't discuss them here.

[CrackerJack]

There are ways around that too, but I can't discuss them here.

yeah i know

[panchoman]

FAIL
http://buffalopundit.wnymedia.net/blogs/files/2007/10/fail.jpg

[niko084]

FAIL
http://buffalopundit.wnymedia.net/blogs/files/2007/10/fail.jpg

Purrfect!

[Rebo&Zooty]

The only way they can prevent piracy is using software like Steam. A hardware chip, ha ha That's just dumb. This want last long (Hardware Chip)

steam....why do ppl alwase claim that steams uncrackable ROFL

most of the games on steam are cracked, and they are the steam version not the retail disk version......:P

[CrackerJack]

steam....why do ppl alwase claim that steams uncrackable ROFL

most of the games on steam are cracked, and they are the steam version not the retail disk version......:P

I never said it was!!! :banghead:

< go figure, i think i should know

[imperialreign]

There is no dead protection from cracking software..... Some of you older guys remember when XP came out they said it was going to be pirate proof, can't copy the disk, can't steal a key... Pfft....

yep, and IIRC, XP activation was broken within 2 or 3 months of XP's release


The only fool-proof way to stop game piracy is for game developers to quit designing games that people want to play. Admit it - if the only thing new to the store shelves were revamped copies of "Librarian Tycoon," would it even be worth the effort for pirates to crack the game?

[KieranD]

Registration could work i mean if you have to register to get even on single player you have to have a serial key and its linked to that account.

I know they have cracked half life 2 games but if you have to log into an account to play a game i think it could decrease piracy.

Some games are good to buy and support the designers.

EDIT: opps i forgot yeah piracy will never end but we can decrease it

[CrackerJack]

yep, and IIRC, XP activation was broken within 2 or 3 months of XP's release


The only fool-proof way to stop game piracy is for game developers to quit designing games that people want to play. Admit it - if the only thing new to the store shelves were revamped copies of "Librarian Tycoon," would it even be worth the effort for pirates to crack the game?

^ agree, if it's not a good game or software w* want bother.

[niko084]

Registration could work i mean if you have to register to get even on single player you have to have a serial key and its linked to that account.

I know they have cracked half life 2 games but if you have to log into an account to play a game i think it could decrease piracy.

Some games are good to buy and support the designers.

EDIT: opps i forgot yeah piracy will never end but we can decrease it

Decrease yes, until somebody makes an easy script to loop it back into your own system, these types of programs are not hard to write, and if anti piracy practices went so far, they would be equally as easy to find as a serial key.

[jonmcc33]

Never challenge a hacker. I found out the hard way.

[Rebo&Zooty]

haha, never challange a lifeless geek who just sits around and read programing/cracking guides for "fun"

hell, as hard as ms has pushed vista is still being pirated allover the world.......more pirated copys are in use then ligit copys......even ms i think is starting to realise it just dosnt work, they spent millions trying to stop piracy, money better spent improoving their products.

nomatter what they do, piracy will not end, u can slow it for a time, but it wont stop people who really wana copy something for friends or get something free.

[jonmcc33]

haha, never challange a lifeless geek who just sits around and read programing/cracking guides for "fun"

hell, as hard as ms has pushed vista is still being pirated allover the world.......more pirated copys are in use then ligit copys......even ms i think is starting to realise it just dosnt work, they spent millions trying to stop piracy, money better spent improoving their products.

nomatter what they do, piracy will not end, u can slow it for a time, but it wont stop people who really wana copy something for friends or get something free.

Not sure where you got that from. It's far from the truth. You're forgetting the sheer number of OEM licenses sold as well as volume licenses, MSDN, etc. The number that build their own computers and have the knowledge to install an OS are dwarfed by the pre-installed OEM systems (Dell, HP, etc). It's not even close.

I personally don't know why anyone would use a pirated OS. It takes hacks to get it to work and why would you trust some hacker with something that runs your entire computer?

[Megasty]

haha, never challange a lifeless geek who just sits around and read programing/cracking guides for "fun"

hell, as hard as ms has pushed vista is still being pirated allover the world.......more pirated copys are in use then ligit copys......even ms i think is starting to realise it just dosnt work, they spent millions trying to stop piracy, money better spent improoving their products.

nomatter what they do, piracy will not end, u can slow it for a time, but it wont stop people who really wana copy something for friends or get something free.

Oi, don't hate the hacker :shadedshu They expanded the internets to the glorious mess it is today :roll: I should know. I was one of them :p The punks who call themselves hackers today really give us pioneers a bad name :shadedshu

[ShadowFold]

Because its ridiculous to pay 100$+ for something that should be alot less. MS is HUGE everyone uses Windows. I dont know why it costs 100$ for a OEM copy! It should be 50$ imo.

[imperialreign]

Oi, don't hate the hacker :shadedshu They expanded the internets to the glorious mess it is today :roll: I should know. I was one of them :p The punks who call themselves hackers today really give us pioneers a bad name :shadedshu

100%, beyond a shadow of a doubt, hell bent 'till leather agreed on this! Part of the reason I abandoned my post years ago was the onslaught of newcomers who were in it for the wrong reasons.

[jonmcc33]

Because its ridiculous to pay 100$+ for something that should be alot less. MS is HUGE everyone uses Windows. I dont know why it costs 100$ for a OEM copy! It should be 50$ imo.

APPLE Mac OS X v10.5.1 Leopard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832110033) - $119.00

:rolleyes:

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 SP1 (http://shop.novell.com/servlet/ControllerServlet?Action=DisplayPage&Env=BASE&Locale=en_US&SiteID=novell&id=ProductDetailsPage&productID=78595900) - $125.00

:rolleyes:

See anything in common? $50 is your typical game, which is nowhere near as complex as an OS. You also get 10 years+ of support from Microsoft for Windows with the price.

[Rebo&Zooty]

APPLE Mac OS X v10.5.1 Leopard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832110033) - $119.00

:rolleyes:

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 SP1 (http://shop.novell.com/servlet/ControllerServlet?Action=DisplayPage&Env=BASE&Locale=en_US&SiteID=novell&id=ProductDetailsPage&productID=78595900) - $125.00

:rolleyes:

See anything in common? $50 is your typical game, which is nowhere near as complex as an OS. You also get 10 years+ of support from Microsoft for Windows with the price.

i still agree with the fact that the OEM copys cost to much for current windows versions, they need to add something like a geek edition, no support other then windows update(like we need to call them for help, most of us know more about windows then their support personal) cut the price in 1/2 for each edition, charge those morons that buy it and need phone support by the minute or instance for phone support, sell prepayed ms support cards at bestbuy,compusa,newegg and the like, i know compusa use to do that, and it made a mint, ppl would call with simple problems and get walked thru fixing them, or with xp sometimes the support person would login with remotedesktop and fix the problem for them.

remove the stupid "call home" fetures from the geek edition, its not like geeks cant block or remove that stuff anyway if they really want(hell i know ppl who have their routers setup to block vistas insessant sending of file logs back to ms)

if ms where smart, they could sell windows like hotcakes, sure per copy they would make less, BUT the diffrance is that they would sell them a whole lot faster, even most pirats would say "fuck it, thats cheap and i saves me the hassle of cracking wga all the time"

Oi, don't hate the hacker :shadedshu They expanded the internets to the glorious mess it is today :roll: I should know. I was one of them :p The punks who call themselves hackers today really give us pioneers a bad name :shadedshu

i was never a 'hacker" but im an OLD netmonkey(i know a few tricks....but am not a hacker) the "hackers" today are just script kiddies who think they are all leet because they can use apps and scrips somebody else made......pathetic......

you want to see alot of so called hackers check out cs/css and WoW emulator secenes, these so called hackers are fucktards, true fucktards they cant even tell you how the hax they use work but they can talk shit after they killed you using said hacks......just befor you get them banned(if the servers a decent one)

Because its ridiculous to pay 100$+ for something that should be alot less. MS is HUGE everyone uses Windows. I dont know why it costs 100$ for a OEM copy! It should be 50$ imo.

as i said above, i agree with your statement, also i feel that game prices should be cut in 1/2 again they would make less PER COPY but in the end they would sell 10x as many copys(if not more) because people could afford to buy them, and would buy them for friends, think about it, if you can get a new game for 25-30bucks isted of 50-60, and you really like it, and u want ur buddy to play arent you more likely to buy another copy? and many of us geeks have more then 1 game system in the house, wouldnt u be more likely to buy a copy for each system so when ur friends are over you can all play togather?

i know with starsiege because they cut the price of OEM disks down to almost nothing(10-15bucks for a fully updated disk) i bought many copys and sent them to friends, many of whom did the same for their friends, dispite the game haveing no copy protection, it was more fun to send a retail disk to a buddy and have them get that big smile on their face as they installed and played a kickass game(still a fun game today, dispite old skool gfx :P )

its greed that keeps them from doing it.

go back to when serious sam came out, 20bucks the day it hit stores, i saw 35 copys fly off the shelf in less then 3 hrs at fredmyres, this is a genral store type place, like walmart but higher quility items with lower slection, and they sold that many copys(i got mine strait out of the shiping box as did 4 others who where working there) that game was not hugely publisized, BUT it was fun as hell, and it was the right price, the expantion again was cheap 20-25buck depending on where you got it, and its old like mad as well, then the gold edition was 15-20bucks when it hit shelves, and it had the expantion built in, and again sold insainly well as a jewlcase game.

the problem today is that game publishers are greedy they want to charge as much per copy as they can, not seeing that the reasion sales are low is because their prices are to high, alot of ppl just say screw it and get a copy thru other means.

2nd problem thats as big as the price, is the lack of good support from publishers, atari,VUG and EA are top choices for the "oh fuck that" award, you get a game from them, and then you pray they choose to support it with patches to get it out of the beta stage they rushed it out in....

couple easy exaples
Atari: NeverWinterNights 1 and 2, i do not blame bioware or the company that made nwn2, they where rushed to get it on shelves by atari, and because of that it took many many patches to fix them, nwn2 wouldnt even patch for most people they had to reinstall the game and try and patch over and over till it would take, because atari didnt give them time to test and debug an update system......

VUG: Tribes:vengance, this game was rushed out to compete with halflife2 and doom3 for sales, ok first, STUPID FUKS, tribes is a NICHE game, the player base is small, It WILL NOT EVEN COMPETE with 2 of the top titles of all time. second, if you buy hl2 and d3 you probbly cant afford tribes:v even if you want it, so its out. Then you read about how abizmal support is, huge chunks of the game missing(whole play modes that DONT WORK AT ALL), most people said screw it and just pirated the game, because all the exploits like hiding under the ground never got patched out.

VUG is one of the worst companys you can give your $ to, they suposedly had a patch to fix all the issues in the works for a year, and supposedly accoding to the dev team it fixed all the problems and made the multi player game what it was ment to be.
they then inform everybody that they are cancling the patch because they cant come to reasonable terms witht he puke buster people, when the community made it clear that WE DONT CARE, REMOVE PUKE BUSTER THEN, they ignored us.

they didnt even make the game modable like they promised(the un-released patch fixed that....) so players couldnt make mods to fix the problems themselves.

blah, u see why people dont buy games, they get sick of spending 50-60-70 bucks for something that dosnt work properly then treats them like a theif(DRM that causes problems)

i wont ever buy from vug, atari or a few other game makers again, because they screwed me enought already, my arse is still sore from it...

[Rebo&Zooty]

APPLE Mac OS X v10.5.1 Leopard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832110033) - $119.00

:rolleyes:

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 SP1 (http://shop.novell.com/servlet/ControllerServlet?Action=DisplayPage&Env=BASE&Locale=en_US&SiteID=novell&id=ProductDetailsPage&productID=78595900) - $125.00

:rolleyes:

See anything in common? $50 is your typical game, which is nowhere near as complex as an OS. You also get 10 years+ of support from Microsoft for Windows with the price.

note, suse sucks and is just another desktop linux.

Xandros 40-80bucks (http://www.xandros.com/products/home/home_edition.html) max price is like 100 for the prof buisness version(nobody needs that, but it gives you retail apps inthe pack, hence the higher prices)

Linspire 40bucks (http://www.linspire.com/products_linspire_whatis.php) not the best but a very good alternitive for linux noobies who just want to install and go without having to learn anything.

Mandriva (http://www.mandriva.com/) free and along same lines as the above 2, made for users who need things noobiefied so their poor windows only brains can cope.

now all the above have free versions, just the pay versions offer some retail apps at a reduced price.

and dont get me wrong, im not saying they are the best choices, but they are better choices IMHO then noobuntu.

but for my "money"

newer systems with a bit of horse power
http://www.desktopbsd.net/

any system that can run windows 98/me or 2k will run vector, most likely faster then windows ran
http://vectorlinux.com/website2/
note the soho version has higher advertized requierments then the normal version, but i have run it with ZERO problems on a 266mhz p2 with 208mb ram and a 4mb trident videocard(oh and 5.4gb hdd)
it was faster then fully loaded 98 and can/did run up to date apps like open office, firefox,opera, abiword, it was a bit slow with crossover office, but thats kinda to be expected since crossover really needs at least a 450-550mhz cpu and 256mb ram to be useable(lets you run ms apps like office on linux with EASE, xandros comes with it, hence the cost)

another notable *nix based os is nexenta, you can google it, its based on open solaris, i have it setup on a buddys mini laptop, a via c3 2000+ setup, runs great, was gonna wipe it and try vector but he desided he liked it as is to much to let me :(

[Karamas]

Registration could work i mean if you have to register to get even on single player you have to have a serial key and its linked to that account.

I know they have cracked half life 2 games but if you have to log into an account to play a game i think it could decrease piracy.

Some games are good to buy and support the designers.

EDIT: opps i forgot yeah piracy will never end but we can decrease it

Microsoft thought that would work with Office 2007, it was cracked so fast, including the online activation, and genuine vantage tool.

[jonmcc33]

<snip>

Then go make your own OS and stop complaining? Not everything in life is free.

If you don't feel like you have to pay for it then don't and use Linux and all the open source crap that's out there.

note, suse sucks and is just another desktop linux.

That's not the point and with your knowledge of Linux distros it's a wonder why you are whining about having to pay for something.

The point is that $100 is not uncommon for the price of an OS. You couldn't get your mind past your blind hatred towards Microsoft and Windows. That's pretty much why I gave up on the Linux community and learning Linux in general. Too many angry people on that side of the world.

Funny, I work with them too. Linux fanatics are ANGRY people from my experience.

[imperialreign]

i was never a 'hacker" but im an OLD netmonkey(i know a few tricks....but am not a hacker) the "hackers" today are just script kiddies who think they are all leet because they can use apps and scrips somebody else made......pathetic......

you want to see alot of so called hackers check out cs/css and WoW emulator secenes, these so called hackers are fucktards, true fucktards they cant even tell you how the hax they use work but they can talk shit after they killed you using said hacks......just befor you get them banned(if the servers a decent one)


yep - even most of the 'legit' hackers nowadays really fall into the category of 'crackers' . . . the hacker, as we knew it 10+ years ago, has pretty much become extinct; there are still the extreme 1337 that have kept to their ways, but with the increase in i-net security over the last decade, and the government crackdowns, it's forced many from the scene.



VUG is one of the worst companys you can give your $ to, they suposedly had a patch to fix all the issues in the works for a year, and supposedly accoding to the dev team it fixed all the problems and made the multi player game what it was ment to be.
they then inform everybody that they are cancling the patch because they cant come to reasonable terms witht he puke buster people, when the community made it clear that WE DONT CARE, REMOVE PUKE BUSTER THEN, they ignored us.

they didnt even make the game modable like they promised(the un-released patch fixed that....) so players couldnt make mods to fix the problems themselves.

blah, u see why people dont buy games, they get sick of spending 50-60-70 bucks for something that dosnt work properly then treats them like a theif(DRM that causes problems)

i wont ever buy from vug, atari or a few other game makers again, because they screwed me enought already, my arse is still sore from it...


I thin kthe last biggest eff-up Vivendi pulled was FEAR - absolute brilliant game for it's time . . . sure, the graphics and gameplay became repetitive, but the AI was superb, the slow-mo was done right, and hell . . . it was one freakky game the first time through . . .

but, VUG pushed the deadline so hard on Monolith, that the game was released long before it was "finished" or anywhere near a polished product. IIRC, the first patch, v1.01, was released THE SAME DAY THAT F.E.A.R. WAS RELEASED TO STORE SHELVES!!! On top of that, there was a friggin little note card inside the box that told you to visit Sierra Games website to download the patch . . . which meant that Vivendi knew, they knew the game wasn't done, and that it had to be patched, but they needed to ship . . . and then the first patch had to meet the release deadline as well . . . and patch 1.02 (the first "real" patch, IMO) was released 2 weeks later.

And, what's sad when these kinds of stunts are pulled - it looks bad on the game developer. Not the publisher, not the distributor, but the game developer usually takes tha majority of the flak for it.

Unless your publisher is EA - in which case, we all sympathize with you.

[exodusprime1337]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trusted_Platform_Module

check out this link. Also believe it or not it's been around and in some notebooks but you actually have to agree to use the tpm. The system can't actually force you to use it do to privacy concerns, you have the right not to use it. Hence, it's a fu**** waste of hardware developement.

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

has anyone heard about mass effect anti piracy system when it hits the pc? it has to re - register itself something like once a week, and if it cant do that then you have to compltely re register, i think by phonecall or something daft like that. I cant remember the specific details mind.

I dunno if it has been said already and frankly, im too tired to look so ill just say it anyway and if I repeat it, my apologies.

They removed the anti-piracy thing where it phones in every 10 days. To many ppl bitching about it so they removed it. Surprisingly.

There is no dead protection from cracking software..... Some of you older guys remember when XP came out they said it was going to be pirate proof, can't copy the disk, can't steal a key... Pfft....

:laugh: Ive made so many copies of my legit XP disc its pathetic. :laugh:

[Rebo&Zooty]

i have downloaded and burned people backup disks because cheap ass companys like dell,gateway,hp,compaw,exct dont give a restore disk anymore they use a stupid restore partition that can be comprimised.......

[Darknova]

has anyone heard about mass effect anti piracy system when it hits the pc? it has to re - register itself something like once a week, and if it cant do that then you have to compltely re register, i think by phonecall or something daft like that. I cant remember the specific details mind.

That got removed. Only needs one registration now.

And I still say Galactic Civilisation had the best protection.

No copy protection at all, the only way to actually use the game was to have an account with the company (free of charge), with your CD-key registered. The only way around that is to fool the game into connecting to a fake server, and unlike WoW, the server address isn't in a plain text file.

Or do what Bethesda does. No copy protection at all.

[Rebo&Zooty]

no protection and decent prices win out over draconian protection schemes every time, less support cost.

[Wile E]

no protection and decent prices win out over draconian protection schemes every time, less support cost.

Yep. Look at the mint Bethesda on Oblivion. If you make a great game, even the pirates will buy it. lol.

[Rebo&Zooty]

hell i know ppl who bought the game that hated it b4 they bought it, but payed because it wasnt protected.

granted 2 of them hated it because it was so poorly coded not becaise it was boring :P

[Darknova]

hell i know ppl who bought the game that hated it b4 they bought it, but payed because it wasnt protected.

granted 2 of them hated it because it was so poorly coded not becaise it was boring :P

I loved it, so I went out and bought it, KoN and pre-ordered Shivering Isles :P

[Mussels]

the only way to stop piracy is to make the programs free. Make the money in other ways, such as advertising - look at free-to-air TV.

Imagine if WoW was $5 a month, but you got ads. If you went 'premium' for $25 a month, you got no ads, surroud sound, and higher resolution textures.

The poor people get the game cheaper (no piracy) while the people with the money, get a 'better' product.


Piracy is what makes a game popular. I'm a LANner. i run them and go to them every weekend, cant help myself. Even if 90% of people have the game legit, what happens when a new guy comes along? does he miss out? do we stop playing? no we hand him a crack and let him join in, and half the time they go and buy it before the next lan.

Look at old games like AOE2 and total annihilation and starcaft - BIG RTS games, yet they ALL had a 'spawn' copy - you can install the game without a CD key (or the CD while playing) and join multiplayer games. You cant host, but you CAN join for free! that makes people love the game, but if they and their friends want to play, at least one of them needs to buy it first!

Another game like that is call of duty 4 - (the earlier CoD games did this too) - multiplayer does not need a CD, and LAN play does not need a valid CD key. Why? people play it at a lan, get hooked, and then go buy it to play online with more people.

All these companies need to do is follow that method, flash an ad up for 10 seconds everytime you join a game and they make a constant stream of money from that, all the while cutting piracy back.

[Darknova]

the only way to stop piracy is to make the programs free. Make the money in other ways, such as advertising - look at free-to-air TV.

Imagine if WoW was $5 a month, but you got ads. If you went 'premium' for $25 a month, you got no ads, surroud sound, and higher resolution textures.

The poor people get the game cheaper (no piracy) while the people with the money, get a 'better' product.

That only counts for multiplayer.

I refuse to have ads in my single player games.

[Rebo&Zooty]

yeah but u know there would be hax to block/dissable the adds and enable better sound/gfx ;)

[Rebo&Zooty]

That only counts for multiplayer.

I refuse to have ads in my single player games.

i duno, i had a couple games that had funny spoof adds in them that made me lulz ;)

[Darknova]

yeah but u know there would be hax to block/dissable the adds and enable better sound/gfx ;)

Yes, but you can't take it home on the release date and get the best experience can you? you have to wait for the hacks to come out.

[Darknova]

i duno, i had a couple games that had funny spoof adds in them that made me lulz ;)

That's spoof ads. I've seen those before, but they are generally in keeping with the game.

But look at EA, bloody obvious ads in game that stick out like a sore thumb.

[Mussels]

the only way to stop piracy is to make the programs free. Make the money in other ways, such as advertising - look at free-to-air TV.

Imagine if WoW was $5 a month, but you got ads. If you went 'premium' for $25 a month, you got no ads, surroud sound, and higher resolution textures.

The poor people get the game cheaper (no piracy) while the people with the money, get a 'better' product.


Piracy is what makes a game popular. I'm a LANner. i run them and go to them every weekend, cant help myself. Even if 90% of people have the game legit, what happens when a new guy comes along? does he miss out? do we stop playing? no we hand him a crack and let him join in, and half the time they go and buy it before the next lan.

Look at old games like AOE2 and total annihilation and starcaft - BIG RTS games, yet they ALL had a 'spawn' copy - you can install the game without a CD key (or the CD while playing) and join multiplayer games. You cant host, but you CAN join for free! that makes people love the game, but if they and their friends want to play, at least one of them needs to buy it first!

Another game like that is call of duty 4 - (the earlier CoD games did this too) - multiplayer does not need a CD, and LAN play does not need a valid CD key. Why? people play it at a lan, get hooked, and then go buy it to play online with more people.

All these companies need to do is follow that method, flash an ad up for 10 seconds everytime you join a game and they make a constant stream of money from that, all the while cutting piracy back.

quoting myself as i edited the post and a lot of you guys got in before i finished..

Yes this only works for the MP portion of games. SP games still need some kind of security or even better, MOTIVATION to buy legit. go through the hassle of activating online and get bonus levels, that kinda thing.

[jonmcc33]

That's spoof ads. I've seen those before, but they are generally in keeping with the game.

But look at EA, bloody obvious ads in game that stick out like a sore thumb.

Are you talking about Need For Speed? So if they race around in a city you don't expect to see stores, right?

[Davidelmo]

i have downloaded and burned people backup disks because cheap ass companys like dell,gateway,hp,compaw,exct dont give a restore disk anymore they use a stupid restore partition that can be comprimised.......

god I HATE it where companies do that.. it almost drives you to use pirated stuff.

Not to mention, if you DO get a CD, it's a "restore" disc that installs a load of bloatware too. Why do I need Toshibas own DVD player when I use vlc for everything? Why do I need Toshibas wireless internet manager, when windows does it just fine by itself? Why do I need a utility which deals with the touchpad sensitivity running constantly? How often do you adjust the sensitivity... once or twice - why does this program sit in the system tray and eat 10mb of memory?!

I now use nlite and made custom installs of XP for my laptop and my PC, cut down to the bare minimum without all the crap and with all the drivers I need already included.

[jonmcc33]

god I HATE it where companies do that.. it almost drives you to use pirated stuff.

Not to mention, if you DO get a CD, it's a "restore" disc that installs a load of bloatware too. Why do I need Toshibas own DVD player when I use vlc for everything? Why do I need Toshibas wireless internet manager, when windows does it just fine by itself? Why do I need a utility which deals with the touchpad sensitivity running constantly? How often do you adjust the sensitivity... once or twice - why does this program sit in the system tray and eat 10mb of memory?!

I now use nlite and made custom installs of XP for my laptop and my PC, cut down to the bare minimum without all the crap and with all the drivers I need already included.

You've heard of Add/Remove Programs, correct? Not to mention that nLite (which you mention here) can strip OEM media quite easily of all the garbage.

[Rebo&Zooty]

most oem's today dont provide media.

as to add/remove programs, some of the apps that are preinstalled DO NOT APPEAR ON THAT LIST, not because windows is some how flawed, but because those companys dont want the app to be removed, they want to keep you stuck with their shit ware.

your effectivly forced to aquier a disk and do a clean format if you dont want all the SHIT that those companys preinstall.

[Mussels]

its because the OEM companies often get paid, or get a cheaper deal if they include it.

[jonmcc33]

most oem's today dont provide media.

as to add/remove programs, some of the apps that are preinstalled DO NOT APPEAR ON THAT LIST, not because windows is some how flawed, but because those companys dont want the app to be removed, they want to keep you stuck with their shit ware.

your effectivly forced to aquier a disk and do a clean format if you dont want all the SHIT that those companys preinstall.

Every Dell I've ever received (Latitude, Precision, Optiplex) has always came with OS installation media. It's not even funny how many Windows CDs and DVDs I have seen thrown away over the past 10 years. :eek:

[Rebo&Zooty]

today most do not come with a disk, they come with a "recovery partition" thats just a compressed image of the crap thats already on it when u buy it......

ask around, they charge you extra for media IF they even offer it (many dont anymore) if u call for a disk, they want 40bucks or more for it...

[Mussels]

today most do not come with a disk, they come with a "recovery partition" thats just a compressed image of the crap thats already on it when u buy it......

ask around, they charge you extra for media IF they even offer it (many dont anymore) if u call for a disk, they want 40bucks or more for it...

i too, havent seen an actual OS install disk in at least 5 years that came bundled with a machine. Its always a recovery disk (more or less a disk clone, so the software/drivers all comes preinstalled) or its just a boot disk to access the backup on a hidden partition.

[jonmcc33]

today most do not come with a disk, they come with a "recovery partition" thats just a compressed image of the crap thats already on it when u buy it......

ask around, they charge you extra for media IF they even offer it (many dont anymore) if u call for a disk, they want 40bucks or more for it...

I know what it is and I've seen it (recovery partitions) on Dells lately too. That doesn't take away the fact that I've seen Dells still continue to come with them. If you want I'll mail you a few hundred. Considering Dell sells far more than any other OEM?

It's been a long time since I dealt with HP so I cannot vouch for them...nor Emachine or Gateway.

i too, havent seen an actual OS install disk in at least 5 years that came bundled with a machine. Its always a recovery disk (more or less a disk clone, so the software/drivers all comes preinstalled) or its just a boot disk to access the backup on a hidden partition.

Work much with Dells at all? At least the business/professional (Precision, Optiplex, Latitude) level does. I don't know about their Inspiron or XPS at all.

[Rebo&Zooty]

sure mail me a few hundred, i will take them.

and yes i deal with their higher end buisness class stuff regularly, its been years since i saw a recovery disk unless the buyer payed extra to get it, sometimes they include office disks if you order full office 2007 or the like with the system but thats not even a given anymore, dell sucks, they sell more because they have nice advertisements and trick noobs into buying their SHITTY computers.

example, recently i have seen 4 dells with blown psu's stock config no extras added, the psu's just blew, 1 case it took out the whole system, couldnt recover anything, thankfully when the owner called and raised hell dell gave in and made them a deal on a new system(the one was a week out of warrinty)

i would guess if the systems u see come with disks the owners/buyers check the box to buy the extra disks, otherwise they would just get a shitty recovery partiton.

[Mussels]

I know what it is and I've seen it (recovery partitions) on Dells lately too. That doesn't take away the fact that I've seen Dells still continue to come with them. If you want I'll mail you a few hundred. Considering Dell sells far more than any other OEM?

It's been a long time since I dealt with HP so I cannot vouch for them...nor Emachine or Gateway.



Work much with Dells at all? At least the business/professional (Precision, Optiplex, Latitude) level does. I don't know about their Inspiron or XPS at all.

their home systems dont. Fixed about 3 laptops recently, and just one lonely desktop.

[Darth_Pewee]

guys i dont care what goes on, as long as there is software there is going to be piracy...
seriously how many of us actually own a copy of XP.. seriously how many of those have found ways around the genuine advantage

[Mussels]

guys i dont care what goes on, as long as there is software there is going to be piracy...
seriously how many of us actually own a copy of XP.. seriously how many of those have found ways around the genuine advantage

i own 3 legit copies of XP.

I also have access to a legitimate corporate key from my old business.

i still crack my systems, cause i get sick of calling MS every time i change video cards... (yes its meant to take 3 pieces of hardware, but i've had simple bios updates on a mobo trigger it)

[jonmcc33]

their home systems dont. Fixed about 3 laptops recently, and just one lonely desktop.

Was that because the owners tossed the media? JK :p

guys i dont care what goes on, as long as there is software there is going to be piracy...
seriously how many of us actually own a copy of XP.. seriously how many of those have found ways around the genuine advantage

My copy of Windows XP is just like my copy of Windows Vista Business, both are from the VLA at my work and they are legal and I'm allowed to use them for myself at home.

The Windows XP install on my wife's laptop is legal too, came with the Dell when I took a retired Dell Latitude from work. License is permanently attached.

Everything legal here. ;)

[Rebo&Zooty]

guys i dont care what goes on, as long as there is software there is going to be piracy...
seriously how many of us actually own a copy of XP.. seriously how many of those have found ways around the genuine advantage

um, i have a few licences for 32bit xp, anybody wana buy them......lol

[candle_86]

mine are leagal, i got a cease and desist letter 2 years ago, im clean, and mine wasn't from the RIAA either mine was labled Federal Bearu of Investigation Internet Crimes Division, i took them very serious

[Rebo&Zooty]

mine are leagal, i got a cease and desist letter 2 years ago, im clean, and mine wasn't from the RIAA either mine was labled Federal Bearu of Investigation Internet Crimes Division, i took them very serious

pwnt!!!!

[candle_86]

no it taught me something crime gets you in trouble and i dont support piracy anymore.

[Rebo&Zooty]

no it taught me something crime gets you in trouble and i dont support piracy anymore.

like i said PWNT!!! stupid pirats get caught letters ;) smart pirat :nutkick: you

[jonmcc33]

and yes i deal with their higher end buisness class stuff regularly, its been years since i saw a recovery disk unless the buyer payed extra to get it, sometimes they include office disks if you order full office 2007 or the like with the system but thats not even a given anymore, dell sucks, they sell more because they have nice advertisements and trick noobs into buying their SHITTY computers.

example, recently i have seen 4 dells with blown psu's stock config no extras added, the psu's just blew, 1 case it took out the whole system, couldnt recover anything, thankfully when the owner called and raised hell dell gave in and made them a deal on a new system(the one was a week out of warrinty)

i would guess if the systems u see come with disks the owners/buyers check the box to buy the extra disks, otherwise they would just get a shitty recovery partiton.

These are OS reinstallation media, not recovery media. The latest Dells all come with Windows Vista Business DVDs. You can install it on any computer to be honest. The only thing that you'll get are stupid Dell logos in everything and I think they added Google Earth?

If you use nLite (or vLite) it lets you know that there's data in the %OEM% directory and asks if you want to keep it.

Anyway, the "owners" are a corporation and we have a VLA with Microsoft. We never use the media nor the license that comes with every Dell. We use SCCM to image everything with a pre-made company image.

[Rebo&Zooty]

that explains it, dells sending your company dvd's because the contract/accont the company has with dell includes it, normaly buyers dont get those disk, also many buisnesses dont eather.

wish i had been around last time an ms rep came to our area, i was hoping to get server 2008 free of charge like i got 2003......

[Ripper3]

Isn't Atari having a hard time now? I'm sure an announcement like this might have put their share prices a little higher.

(Sorry if someone might have mentioned it earlier, just wanted to post a quick comment before I leave)

[Rebo&Zooty]

yeah atari(more accuratly InfoGramers, ataris just a name they bought for marketing rep) has a horrible rep for support and customer service, i wouldnt be suprised if this was just a stunt to try and get a short term gain in stock market or something.

they are holding back an expantion for nwn2 because they want to wait for better copy protection, but guess what, that protection will eather A) endup being cracked within a few hours/days, at most weeks or B) be so draconian and invacive that they endup with more problems related to it then related to the game itself, im gonna lulz if its cracked within hours or days, then turns out that the protection left in place bricks puters or breaks parts like starfarce(it can brick/ruin your burner also i have seen it burn out IDE controlers on some older motherboards....only thing that co-insided with the problem each time was the installation of a starfarce game...)

oh well, i guess some stupid executives think jacking up the price to cover pointless drm is a good move.......i dont get it but hey, im just a LOGICAL gamer, not a batshit crazy executive at some gaming firm

[{JNT}Raptor]

Look at a new game like Mass Effect......I think It was cracked before It even hit the shelves.......keygen as well. :toast:

Piracy will never go away. :nutkick: