Just wondering, but there seems to be a lot of panic ridden information online about Starforce copy protection, so I wanted to see if any of your guys have opinions about it.

I get blue screens fairly often these days and know that I need to do a wipe, which would certainly help with stability. The problem is, four of the games I have came with Starforce, and I really enjoy them... but I don't know if it'll be safe to reinstall them again after I rebuild, or safe to install them ever if I get the new PC I'm hoping to get.

The games I have are:

- Hammer & Sickle (CDV)
- Micro Machines V4 (Codemasters)
- Splinter Cell 3: Chaos Theory (Ubisoft)
- UFO: Aftershock (Cenega)

I know Ubisoft has dropped Starforce, but didn't give reasons why, and it doesn't help me with my older game. Has anyone had success getting a publishing house to give them a free downloadable version after proving they own the CD? I am totally against piracy of any kind, but right now, I don't feel safe using the product I've paid for, and don't feel I should have to pay again for a downloadable version.

Comments? Advice?

Arabin

I don't know a whole lot about starforce other than that it's super tyrannical. Honestly, if I were you, I would download second copies (illegally if necessary). If that's what it takes to be able to play the games that you legally own and paid for, so be it.

Sacretis

That's probably the only option left to me, which really makes me mad at the industry. Will these companies ever learn that all the copy protection does is hurt their paying customers?

If I did choose to get cracked copies of the games that I own though, I would seriously have no idea where to begin looking. The last time I tried to find a simple No CD patch for a game I ended up getting lost in a mess of websites with popups galore.

Arabin

There are some good Starforce removal software programs out there. Fairly easy to find info on them too.

As to looking for legally free software, movies or otherwise...a Bit Torrent client is a great place to start.

~Floyd

PM me if you seriously want help, I got dem hookups...

Sacretis

Thankfully I own a 360 now and played Mass Effect a while back, but the PC version was just released. I was a little tempted, since PC versions usually end up with lots of fun mods to extend the life of the game, but then I saw this in the Gamespy.com review:

"If there's a reason to be wary of installing Mass Effect on your PC, it'll be your hesitance at supporting SecuROM, the game's copy protection method. You're limited to three installations of Mass Effect, and you'll only be able to play if you have a working internet connection. So our question: if the game authenticates online during installation, why are you forced to jump through other hoops like a 20-character serial code?"

Another game to avoid due to stupid copy protection. Only three installations? I often install old games to replay them from a sense of nostalgia... being locked out of it after I paid for... pure madness.

Arabin

I was so looking forward to Spore, but if they truly do add that protection, I won't buy it either. It's sad to miss out on games I really want, but this is getting completely ridiculous.

There was an interesting article in the latest Game Informer magazine, interviewing the head honcho at Stardock, Brad Worrell. They refuse to put any protection on their games because they understand it does more damage. If you register your game, you get tons of perks, which make it worthwhile to buy the game instead of getting a ripped copy. Seems the much healthier approach.

Arabin

Well, a friend of mine was bitching the other day how lame it is that when he upgrades his 360 in a few weeks, he won't be able to transfer the liscences of the DLC from Marketplace directly over to his new Elite machine, forcing him to rely on signing into Live to play all his Rockband songs.

That's a direct result of past pirated console games, especially during the earliest years of the PlayStation, when you could essentially rip an entire PS game from disk to disk on a PC burner. The first XBox suffered from some of that, as well as modded console machines that allowed you to get around region barriers and the like.

I'm sure someone will eventually crack the XBox Tree-Schtixty and figure out how to share DLC, which will lead to even more Fascist control over the console content market, which will increase the price of the games and the machines. And then PCs will relax their market and we'll all be back over there in no time playing PC games.

It's a vicious cycle, really.

I have some information I needed, but haven't acted upon it yet. I'm in communication with a couple of the publishers, getting the runaround of course, but no surprise there.

Bedwyr had a very good suggestion of writing a letter instead of email, so that's my next step.

Thanks for checking Da Bank.

Arabin

They lost my purchase of Spore with SecuROM. There's quite the backlash on Amazon about it.

Some friends of mine, members of a folk group, had their CD show up on a torrent site before they even had their own copies in hand - the person who burned the CD form DAT had put it in his public folder.

They ended up getting the CDs for free because of it, but who knows how many sales they may have lost (or even if they lost any)? This is a small group, four permanent members, and two or three who fill in when needed. (I am one of the fill ins, but I was not on the CD.)

The Auld Grump

I buy pretty much every game Stardock publishes, even if it isn't to my particular taste necessarily. It's just behavior that I want to encourage. _Sins_ rocks, though.

I wish I had the money to do that.

Also, I really hit a dilema when a game I've been waiting for for years gets published in such a way that I don't want to support the publisher. For example, I loved KOTOR and KOTOR2, but the upcoming KOTOR MMO will be published by EA (I believe) who are getting all the flack over the DRM for Spore, and seem completely oblivious to there being a problem, and totally unrepentant. They just don't seem to understand that their heavy handed tactics actually cause more piracy than it stops.

I would love to be able to not buy anymore EA games until they change their ways, but the big publishing houses dominate the industry, resulting in so many games published by a few names.

Arabin