[SimeSublime]

I got a call earlier this evening telling me that the copy of Bioshock that I pre-ordered had arrived, so I drove on down to the store like a happy little monkey to pick up the DVD that I paid for many moons ago. So I get it home and start installing it, and it says that I need to be connected to the internet for installation. Not a problem says I whilst clicking the install button. So I wait the five minutes or so it takes to install the game, then it trundles off to do it's little authentication thingy whilst I sit here and twiddle my thumbs. Then I start shuffling some cards. Eventually the game comes back and says it can't find the internet. I think that's a bit odd, so I go and do some poking around. It turns out the company's server seems to be on the fritz. Hence, the game can't authenticate itself. Hence I can't play it.

And people wonder why piracy is so common. If this is how they're going to treat me for paying for the product, I don't see why I should bother.

[Spann]

...And there's the whole "Fucked up Widescreen" issue:

http://www.escapistm...ted-Big-Daddies

http://www.escapistm...To-Be-Like-That
Make of that what you will.

To be fair to 2k games, I'd imagine their server is taking a right royal arse raping. But then they should have prepared for it.

[SimeSublime]

Yeah, I understand that if I just wait for demand to drop a bit I can get it running, but it's still a right pain in the ass having the game here and then not being able to play it. I feel that they should have had some indication of expected sales due to pre-orders, and hence they should have extended the server to cope with it.

The widescreen thing is interesting. Personally, I hate the existence of widescreen, or rather the fact that they make both widescreen and non-widescreen monitors. They should just pick one and stick to it.

[Deepsycher]

If the company goes bust how are people going to be able to play the game legitimately or even if they stop authentication when it gets old?

I refuse to play any game that does that. I don't want authority inside my home for something I pay for.

I don't like widescreen. Some years ago at the cinemas they started to crop the films some minutes from the start to 14:9 so I had to go out and complain a number of times. They gave me silly excuses but changed it back most of the time.

This post has been edited by Deepsycher: 23 August 2007 - 07:31 AM

[Spann]

Yeah, I understand that if I just wait for demand to drop a bit I can get it running, but it's still a right pain in the ass having the game here and then not being able to play it. I feel that they should have had some indication of expected sales due to pre-orders, and hence they should have extended the server to cope with it.

Thats what I meant when I said they should have been prepared. Saying that, the first thing I saw today when I opened IE was 'Server Too Busy' - and that was msn.com.

I'm with you on the widescreen issue, there should be one ratio that people stick to.

EDIT: What's so special about Widescreen anyway? so you can see more side to side, at the cost of top to bottom. Stupid.

And that's a very good point, Deepsycher.

This post has been edited by Spann: 23 August 2007 - 07:34 AM

[mireaux7]

ohh things like this brings my piss to a boil. a similiar scenario happened to me a few years ago. i had purchased an external dvd burner from best buy for about $100.00.

it worked perfectly for about 6 months. it required me doing the same thing...installing software..registering/authenticating it online, etc. then after about 6 months, it stops working says i need to renew my subscription package....wtf??...i just paid $100.00 for the damn thing...im not about to dish out more cash for a product that was working fine during the first 6 months. thats insane.

[Slade]

Copy protection is all very very ridiculous these days. It's alienating and insulting, and even the best copy protection eventually just gets cracked anyway. Having to authenticate your copy of a game on the internet is second in stupid culture-industry control only to that absurd copy protection on a DVD burner software. There's absolutely no point in paying for a subscription if the only thing it does is continue to let you use the same software you already purchased. DRM needs a big kick in the teeth, and legislation not run by corrput and rich dinosaur companys and government only out to horde away as much money as possible at the expense of everything.

[Cobnat]

Over a year ago I bought Half Life 2 and Half Life 2: Episode One and everything was fine. But about a month ago I wanted to play that two again but I couldn’t because I forgot my account username and password and I cant be bothered to take a picture of my Half Life 2 manual and sending it to their offices.

To hell with the person who invented this online verification crap!

[princesskadee]

cobnat, what 16-bit video game is that you have posted as a gif avatar?

[Slade]

... Seriously? That's the intro to Zero Wing for the SEGA Genesis. I mean, holy crap, it says "All your base are belong to us." right in the gif. The AYB meme is a bit old now, I'll admit, but I thought everybody knew about it.

Oh well. No big deal, I suppose. Consider yourself enlightened on another small bit of dorkdom.

This post has been edited by Slade: 23 August 2007 - 03:42 PM

[princesskadee]

i never owned a genesis back in the day. i own one now, that i bought maybe 7 yrs ago, and i have about 20 games for it. but i never heard of zero wing.

i was happy when i bought sega genesis compilation for ps2 and saw that it came with all those golden axe, phantasy star and sword of vermillion

this game, in case you dont know

http://en.wikipedia....esis_Collection

[Slade]

That collection seems awexome. I love the Phantasy Star series muchly. And of course, Sonic and Vectorman and Ecco and Ristar! Woo! It even has Comix Zone! *is amazingly jealous* The one game it's really missing is Beyond Oasis.

And I don't think many people actually owned Zero Wing. It was just a huge Internet fad circa 2001.

[princesskadee]

dont be jealous..here,.order it

http://www.amazon.co...0...4446&sr=8-1

[SimeSublime]

I made the first post at 8pm, though I had first tried to install it at about 7pm. I got the game working about 9pm. Though to make things worse I just ran along this post. Turns out you can only install it twice. Apparently uninstalling it gets you an install back, but what happens if your hard drive dies or something and you can't install it? It just seems overly draconian to me. And lets face it, the hackers will find a way around it in a week and the only people who will suffer are the legitimate customers.

[J m HofMarN]

I have an Xbox game, James Bond Agent Under Fire I think, that actually says "Do not LEND or make illegal copies of this game" Hey, Michrosoft: Fuck you.