Goddamn game publishers

[Jakester]

1. Goddamn fucking SecuROM is in the TimeShift demo. Another kind of cool (definitely pretty) game I won't be buying. The demo EULA at least says that it contains Third-Party software (but not what) and that you agree to be bound by their[/b] terms as well (but not what they are).

2. Hellgate: London wants you to allow them to check out your computer, get whatever info they want, and give it to whomever they want:
Originally Posted by Hellgate: London demo EULA
3. Consent to Use of Data. [i]You agree that EA, its affiliates, and each Related Party may collect, use, store and transmit technical and related information that identifies your computer, including without limitation your Internet Protocol address, operating system, application software and peripheral hardware, that may be gathered periodically to facilitate the provision of software updates, dynamically served content, product support and other services to you, including online play. EA and/or the Related Parties may also use this information in the aggregate and, in a form which does not personally identify you, to improve our products and services and we may share that aggregate data with our third party service providers.
That's scary. If they're allowed to do this, and the "online activation" and "activation limits" from Bioshock are allowed to continue, then they could send your list of installed applications to SecuROM along with your IP to check if you're authorised to actually have Bioshock on that specific PC and report you to the authorities or disable your system or whatever if they don't think that you are.

[whitetemplar78]

you know....whatever happened to just playing a damn game, isn't it enough you just slapped down $60 for thier game, now they want to intrude in your life more, by fuckin with your PC????

[Jakester]

Notice how "online play" is the last thing that they indend to facilitate based on their gathering of your personal data. What they really want to do is market to you in-game based on what's on your PC (ie - installed software, browser cache, etc). The fact that you've paid to play a game and not to walk through a virtual world of advertisements is unimportant to them. It seems as though the game is simply a way for them to deliver ads to you (based on the language in the EULA) and to allow them to collect personal information from your computer that they can give or sell to other companies.

What really disturbs me is that people either don't know or care about this.

[SlamShut]

Just buy an Xbox, dude. You don't have to fuck with any of this shit.

[Jakester]

I've got a PS2, but that's not the point -- why should they be permitted to pull this shit at all?
And besides, the per-user activation shit with Bioshock could have been done with the 360, but they simply chose not to. Would you like to play a game on your 360, lend it to a buddy or go to his/her house only to find out that the game is tied to your account AND your XBL and you can't play it at your friend's without calling some number and possibly emailing a copy of your manual and DVD to them?