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I think it's a bit pointless to just list games and their DRM.
I think it'd be more beneficial if people wrote about their experiences with particular games and their copy protection.
Was it as horrific as people made it out to be? Or did you not have any problems with it? Or was it somewhere in between?
I think that could be a lot more interesting.
BioShock for me was horrific, and because of that I avoid any games with similar DRM schemes.
With only 2 activations, i burned through them in a matter of hours, due to a problem with my rig and the fact that I added a new hard drive to the system. Note: this was not a new drive for the OS, but an extra drive for more storage. As a result of that, i was locked out of my game. Revoke tool? Awesome idea. Too bad it didn't work. To be fair though, now that they've removed the activation limit, it works fine, but the hassle I went through initially, and having to wait months before I could finally play the damned thing means I'll not be buying any games with that 'copy protection' again.
On a side note: Mass Effect is now available on Steam with no SecuROM attached.
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Coelocanth: On a side note: Mass Effect is now available on Steam with no SecuROM attached.

If that is the case, then why this:
"INTERNET CONNECTION AND END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT REQUIRED TO PLAY. MORE INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE AT WWW.EA.COM."
It sounds like they still have SecuROM (or something similar) on top of Steam's own DRM. BTW - Visiting www.ea.com gets you no additional information, other than what they already had about Mass Effect PC before the Steam release.
EDIT - Interestingly, Spore, which they also claim has no additional DRM beyond Steam, has this disclaimer:
"INTERNET CONNECTION, ONLINE AUTHENTICATION, END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT REQUIRED TO PLAY. TO ACCESS ONLINE FEATURES, YOU MUST REGISTER ONLINE. ONLY ONE REGISTRATION AVAILABLE PER GAME. EA TERMS & CONDITIONS AND FEATURE UPDATES CAN BE FOUND AT WWW.EA.COM. YOU MUST BE 13+ TO REGISTER ONLINE. EA MAY RETIRE ONLINE FEATURES AFTER 30 DAYS NOTICE POSTED ON www.ea.com. "
Post edited December 19, 2008 by cogadh
I figure that's due to a cut-and-paste job on the EULA from the retail version.
Chris Priestly (BioWare Community Coordinator for those who don't know) , in the DRM thread on the BioWare boards, specifically stated that there is no DRM on the Steam version of ME other than the Steam DRM itself.
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Coelocanth: I figure that's due to a cut-and-paste job on the EULA from the retail version.
Chris Priestly (BioWare Community Coordinator for those who don't know) , in the DRM thread on the BioWare boards, specifically stated that there is no DRM on the Steam version of ME other than the Steam DRM itself.

I suppose that's possible, but I wonder if they just adjusted the protection level offered by Steam on these games to something similar to what SecuROM does. Technically what Chris said would still be true in that case. I'd be interested to see if anyone is able to play the single player aspect of these games with Steam in offline mode (I'm not willing to spend the money to test it myself). If they are not, then how is the Steam version really any different than the SecuROM version?
Post edited December 19, 2008 by cogadh
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Coelocanth: I figure that's due to a cut-and-paste job on the EULA from the retail version.
Chris Priestly (BioWare Community Coordinator for those who don't know) , in the DRM thread on the BioWare boards, specifically stated that there is no DRM on the Steam version of ME other than the Steam DRM itself.
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cogadh: I suppose that's possible, but I wonder if they just adjusted the protection level offered by Steam on these games to something similar to what SecuROM does. Technically what Chris said would still be true in that case. I'd be interested to see if anyone is able to play the single player aspect of these games with Steam in offline mode (I'm not willing to spend the money to test it myself). If they are not, then how is the Steam version really any different than the SecuROM version?

Okay, there IS no offline component when you're talking about Steam. You can't play the game any other way than through the Steam system.
My understanding is Steam has an offline mode, so you can play your Steam games without an internet connection (of course, you must be initially connected to DL and authenticate them, but after that you can go off-line). Is this not correct?
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Coelocanth: My understanding is Steam has an offline mode.

Yes it does.
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Coelocanth: My understanding is Steam has an offline mode, so you can play your Steam games without an internet connection (of course, you must be initially connected to DL and authenticate them, but after that you can go off-line). Is this not correct?

And yes it is :D
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cogadh: I suppose that's possible, but I wonder if they just adjusted the protection level offered by Steam on these games to something similar to what SecuROM does. Technically what Chris said would still be true in that case. I'd be interested to see if anyone is able to play the single player aspect of these games with Steam in offline mode (I'm not willing to spend the money to test it myself). If they are not, then how is the Steam version really any different than the SecuROM version?
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Crassmaster: Okay, there IS no offline component when you're talking about Steam. You can't play the game any other way than through the Steam system.

You can set Steam into offline mode (see attached), then run the games you have through Steam without needing an internet connection (provided they have already been initially activated/decrypted). However, from what the descriptions say on these EA games, it sounds like Steam's offline mode cannot be used. Has anyone confirmed this yet?
Attachments:
steam.png (6 Kb)
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Crassmaster: Okay, there IS no offline component when you're talking about Steam. You can't play the game any other way than through the Steam system.
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cogadh: You can set Steam into offline mode (see attached), then run the games you have through Steam without needing an internet connection (provided they have already been initially activated/decrypted). However, from what the descriptions say on these EA games, it sounds like Steam's offline mode cannot be used. Has anyone confirmed this yet?

I've been playing Steam-Spore while offline with no trouble. It does require an initial on-line activation, but any subsequent launch has been working off-line.
Good to hear, they may be worth getting through Steam after all. Unfortunately, my video card (Nvidia 7600GS) is specifically listed as one of the "below requirements" cards in ME's system requirements. I still don't understand that, since the GS and GT are virtually identical except in clock/memory speed </rant>
Wow, sorry about that guys...I had been told previously that it was online only. Apologies for the confusion.
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cogadh: You can set Steam into offline mode (see attached), then run the games you have through Steam without needing an internet connection (provided they have already been initially activated/decrypted). However, from what the descriptions say on these EA games, it sounds like Steam's offline mode cannot be used. Has anyone confirmed this yet?
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TapeWorm: I've been playing Steam-Spore while offline with no trouble. It does require an initial on-line activation, but any subsequent launch has been working off-line.

I was under the impression if the game in question does not have the latest updates, it cant run offline.
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TapeWorm: I've been playing Steam-Spore while offline with no trouble. It does require an initial on-line activation, but any subsequent launch has been working off-line.
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chautemoc: I was under the impression if the game in question does not have the latest updates, it cant run offline.

Previously, all games on Steam (except the online multiplayer ones) could be run in offline mode, regardless of the game's update status. If Steam is already in offline mode, it doesn't check for game updates, therefore there is no way for it to know that the game is out of date and the game just runs as is. Recently, there have been some games added that have SecuROM on top of Steam's own DRM (Crysis, for example), which may change the "rules" of running the game in offline mode (I don't have the game, so I don't know for sure).