Copy protection failure part ................

EA and BioWare are employing SecuROM for the PC release of Mass Effect, a copy protection scheme you may recall from its universally loathed inclusion in 2K's BioShock. The Mass Effect SecuROM annoyance factor may be much more extreme,[highlight as the game requires that the owner authenticate the copy every ten days, meaning that an internet connection is required to play the game from the get-go and until eternity.[/highlight] In other words, if you paid for your copy of Mass Effect, expect to remind EA's authentication servers every week and a half that you aren't stealing it.

The official Mass Effect FAQ explains it all.

For instance, you can install your copy of Mass Effect on three separate machines, but all must be internet enabled if you expect to play the game you paid for, as SecuROM will check every time you run MassEffect.exe. This sort of overprotection is nothing new, as "Neverwinter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, and Mass Effect all use SecuROM in some manner" says the FAQ.

Concerned? Pssh! Don't be! The Mass Effect PC FAQ says EA Support is ready for a beating.

EA is ready and we are confident there will be no server problems. EA has assured us that they have their authorization systems and customer support staff in place and ready for the launch of Mass Effect for PC. Anyone having issues with getting the game activated will be able to contact EA Support and get their problem resolved.

Spore is similarly planned to take advantage of the SecuROM copy protection system, one that we're sure is going to eliminate every illegitimate copy of the game from appearing on torrent trackers for at least 48 hours. Take that, piracy! RIP! Owned! Etc!

Source: PC: Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian'

Sigh, when will company's stop picking on the consumers and really deal with the pirates. Another game that goes of my list. Thank you EA for scaring away your actual customers, I will also not buyany EA game the next half year, BF: bad company included.

They sure do like to treat their customers as criminals. Is this REALLY the way to fix PC gaming?

That is hard to determine, Interman.
Anyway, I am afraid that other bad asses then pirates will abuse this. I mean, all copy-protection measures until know were cracked more or less, so probably the same thing will happen to this one.
Fact is that a lot of people put their virusscan, firewall etc. off when they start up a game. In this case could that make sure, that an unsecured pc with a cracked anti-copy measure (that still is contacting the www) becomes a very easy target. And then I am pointing to identity theft, a type of cybercrime that victins often don't even notice. :-S

I won't be playing these games I guess.

Spore is similarly planned to take [bold]advantage[/bold] of the SecuROM copy protection system

LOL! take advantage? More like lose a lot of customers!

Haha this type of protection is soo 1991. If you play this game in ten years or so you will be unable to play because EA really have bad servers (Remember the xbox games? )

Well I was going to get the game, I still might. SupCom had protection for a while but it was later taken out with later patches.

I like buying PC games anyways, $10 less

I probably would not have bought Mass Effect for the PC anyway as I can get it for teh 360 but, I am really pissed that it will be on Spore! I really wanted that game! Piss on it now

You know a few EA people Nxs, you might as well tell them yours and the community's opinion.

When it's all said and done the Hackers and Pirates will defeat there protection and the only people suffering will be the honest consumer. Some pinhead thinks he's going to save the company millions when in fact they'll be losing valuable customers. Between the customers they'll lose and the salary there paying the pinheads that are pushing this, I don't see how they can come out winners.

The pinheads are probably spouting off some insane number that is being lost to pirates. Just how are they getting these numbers. Do they have a Pirate Registration page I'm missing? Or do they have a staff of 10-20 people they pay all year long who are in fact in constant fear of losing there jobs because they can not stop the pirates.

Here's a heads up. 20 employees at $50,000 a year is 1 million dollars. 20 at $30,000 a years is still $600,000. Add in the pissed off consumer and there losing more money than they can possibly save. Fire the Pinheads and just count the lost to Pirates as the lost every other company has for sub-standard/defective products.

Which in-fact brings up another subject. Instead of spending money on the Pinheads who will never beat the Pirates. How about spending the money on Coding the Games correctly to start with. If they could eliminate the Game Patch process they would make more money than they lose to Pirates.

There is no reason to worry about Pirates Stealing a Buggy Game. Hell, that's one of the reasons it so easy for them to Pirate a Game.

To all Game Developers, you want to make more money? Hire me, I can make you more money in a single day. I just need the Authority to Fire Pinheads.

In this Official BioWare/EA Response to DRM Discussion thread, BioWare has annouced that Mass Effect will not require 10- day periodic re-authentication (story). With online authentication, consumers now connect to the Internet the first time the game is launched and are required only to reconnect if they are downloading new game content. A similar copy protection scheme will be used with the upcoming title Spore.

News: DRM Clarification for Mass Effect and Spore - GamersHell.com

For once collective whining helps