reinstall the game, play it offline ie disconnect self from internet before installing, the game won't know.

The main menu won't let you get into the game, due to LIVE being needed... -_-

I miss the days when the most trouble you'd have with a game was blowing in the cartridge LOL

Those were also the days of no load times too.

welcome to the reason I bought HL2 when it first released and never got to play it till 200fucking7 and beat it :|....

steam, updatin, loadin, fuckin,glitchen.

anyway man I feel your pain and completley understand that bullshit :(

Yup... mandatory everything, dual accounts...

We need to set up a social experiment. Make people go through that many hurdles to do everyday tasks...

Damn you Steam! You owe us CS skins!

Your icon is perfect!

Why thank you!

All this shit is because of the pirates, and the irony is that the pirates are the ones playing the games without trouble...

Yup... so everyone assumes everyone will steal it, thus making it impossible to enjoy...

... yet... anything that is placed onto any medium runs the risk of being stole/pirated.

More irony goes to Stardock and Ironclad... since Sins of a Solar Empire had no copy protection, yet it sold better than most mainstream titles.

Wasn't the price much lower on Sins of a Solar Empire as well?

I think it was $30 - $40 on release.

I'm not American so I don't know how that compares to other games _with_ DRM and other "anti-hacking" systems...

Newely released PC games are the same price, regardless of the ammoint of copy protection implemented.

Strange...
Most big companies claim that the high prices are because of all the work and money put into copy-protection...

You're close.

The games themselves are budgeted out, which is where most of the money goes. However, the software makers or publishers (Not sure which) purchase licenses for the various copy protection software they use. As such, since the game is independent of the copy protection. The budget cost isn't afected, so the games stay the same price, with or without protection.

Hm, sounds logical.
But still, I read somewhere where a publisher for some big-name game-producer was asked the question from a consumer why the games where so expensive, and he answered that it was because of the DRM/copy-protection software...

the issue is not so much that such kind of games haev this mandatory for online registration the issue is that people still buy those games and dont see the possible danger out of it. No I am not meaning a conspiracy of great control or any such garbage. I am talking about a situation like described here where you as costumer give away control over the product you purchased. It is already now that STEAM has the right to cut off your games. Same with EAs titles like the SIMS 3. And yet most of it sells like hot cakes. I have not bought many games for years now cause of exatly such issues. And no I dont pirate them either. There aer enough old games and games from independ developers.

I try to avoid DLM when I can... but in only 2 cases (This, and Mass Effect), it was unavoidable. Mass Effect (Or most of EA's recent stuff in general) at least has the courtesy to just need a net connection, and not require any account whatsoever.

Yeah... this is the ONLY game that's had this much of an issue. Not many games I really want anymore.

ugh, that sucks.

That is outrageous! Some idiot who probably doesn't play the game was asked to design a web of intellectual property protection interactions to protect the publisher from piracy - at the expense of ruining the game for honest paying customers. WTF?!

It's becoming a common trend, sadly. Companies are getting paranoid about their games being pirated, so they put in massive ammount of countermeasures (Laser Lock, SafeDisk, Starforce, SecuRom, Tagès, Data Encryption, and DLM to name a few) to try and stop it. However... the public doesn't like said countermeasures, making them resort to piracy to get the game, so they don't have to deal with needing 4 forms of ID to get the game to work.

I'd love to try an experiment with some of these people... make them use several methods at once just to open the door.

"Uhm... sorry sir. You have a house key, birth certificate, and ID, but you're not a member of the Kroger customer club, so I can't let you into the bathroom"

Soon you won't be able to buy a game CD, you'll have to log on and download it then install it update it logon access and update again

Sadly... it does exist in the form of DLC and Direct2Drive games.

and it was for a shor time even worse with the idea of CDs that could be bought but only used twice or maybe 3 times before they become usless and destroy them self. It was if I remember correctly the idea of either Disney or Sony (I has been a while) in relation with music and movies to release a disk with a surface that would get damaged by the laser and thus would become useless after some time. Imagine a movie that you see 3 times and have to throw it away after it. Yup, you buy a product only to throw it away later. Such kind of thoughts have been realy considered in the industry, thankefully though a few people with a brain mentioned the big issues coming out of such a system like the imense need in CDs, the huge increase of trash and that it basicaly is against any fundamental idea of "ownership" (you bought the product afterall why should you not have the right to watch it as many times you want?). But alone that it was serouisly considered shows in what state the market and industry is at the moment regarding the costumer.

yep things are moving towards a license. you don't purchase the product you lease it.

I think I'd have to punch a baby. Seriously, WTF.

I'm just amazed that you need both Steam AND Live to run this. Usually it's one or the other. At least Steam doesn't give you any hassle once you're logged in. Might disable a few unlockables (i.e. new weapons in TF2), but the game still works. Live though...for lack of a better term, Microsuck is very appropriate.