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Sansui on 11 September 2008
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NJ5 said:
SamuelRSmith said:
jasonnc80 said:
I went to gamestop to buy a PC game last night.

I looked at Spore, a couple of the employees there told me how fun it was, then I bought Diablo 2.

I still have games on floppy disk that I can install if I want to. I won't buy a game that limits paying customers in such a way sorry.

 

 You can install it as many times as you want. You just need to authenticate the fourth installation over the phone.

Is that fourth installation guaranteed? Or do they reserve the right of not allowing you to install a fourth time?

Not that this would change my opinion much, but it is an interesting question nonetheless.

 

And to extend on this, what happens in four or five years when they're no longer manning the phones to authenticate you?  What happens if their division gets shut down?

Maybe you don't play your old games Twesterm, but hell, a couple years ago I fired up Wizardry VII, Crusaders of the Dark Savant, a game I had last played in 1993.  Last year I played through Planescape Torment again, a game from 1999.  Over the years I've installed Half Life 1 at least 12 different occasions.  I also reinstall Windows on my laptop and desktop every 6-10 months.

I am firmly against SecureROM and limited installs, and unless the game is exceptional and I can't live without it, will refuse to purchase such games.  When I bought Tribes Vengeance a few years back, the protection was so strong I couldn't install my own retail copy.  Exchanged it at Gamestop, couldn't install the new copy either (lot of people had that problem.  Probably one of the reasons the game flopped so hard).  Eventually I was forced to download the entire set of CD's to install, at the actual recommendation of a CRM over the phone :|

It's not fair that game pirates get the superior version of a game.  Every time I'm forced to buy a game with this shit I feel like a real sucker.  The only thing I can do to express my distaste is boycott games that use extreme anti-piracy measures, so that's what I will continue to do.