Bioshocked, activation issues lead to furious gamers

August 21st saw the release of the much anticipated game Bioshock by 2K Games, but the inclusion of Sony's SecuROM technology has left many gamers unable to play legitimate copies of the game. The software can be installed on two different computers before it disallows an installation, but some people performing system upgrades are also running into barriers while trying to play. Since Bioshock is so demanding on computer hardware many people are performing system upgrades. In this process they are commonly changing the specs associated in the authentication process without creating a new installation, but still invalidating the installation.

SecuROM was developed as a way to uniquely code types of media, traditionally CD-ROM or DVD-ROM, so that copied media would not be recognized as genuine by the software they contain. The SecuROM type included with the off the shelf retail version of Bioshock goes a step further to include an activation process that associates the installation with the hardware on which it is installed. While Sony's site is vague about the process, they do say the following about the feature. "Only legitimate customers who have purchased the product are able to unlock the program which is bound to the hardware after activation." This added step is in addition to the fact that you still need the physical media in the drive, hence, eliminating the possibility of being able to simultaneously play two installations off of the same media.

The response to this feature is highly negative on 2K Games support forums. Many people are crying foul over a protection system that is restricting people that own a genuine license. One users describes not being able to play the game because the box did not document that the video card needs to have Shader 3.0, but upon upgrading the video card the installation became invalid. Other gamers lament at the idea that they will have to use a crack to actually play their legally obtained copy, while even more people claim they will not buy the game at all or are canceling their orders.

There also does not seem to be an assured way to regain your installations. The suggested way is to do it from the launcher contained on the media while connected to the Internet, but many people claim this does not work. An even bigger issue is that SecuROM also installs a rootkit. This rootkit is also included in the demo, for which no license is required. There is currently no known way to entirely remove this piece of software short of reformatting your entire system.

As time goes on and DRM schemes change, publishers and software developers must ask themselves if it is more important to make their customer happy or to put a small hurdle up for the pirate.