Report: SecuRom DRM Found in Dragon Age II

March 11, 2011 -

According to this Ars Technica report, citing a report from advocacy group Reclaim Your Game, the dreaded SecuRom DRM has made its way into PC version of Dragon Age II, despite BioWare (and EA) saying in its forums that it "does not use SecuROM." Surprise! Not only does the game use SecuRom, but all involved have failed to mention this fact to users in any way. There is no warning in the EULA, during the install, on the game's packaging, or on its official web site.

Back in 2008, EA was sued for failing to inform consumers about the DRM scheme in free trial versions of some of its games. Now EA could face similar legal action for its secret implementation of SecuRom in Dragon Age II.

Could this have been some sort of odd mistake or was EA trying to sneak the DRM past consumers? We will have to wait and see what they say.

Source: Ars Technica


Comments

Re: Report: SecuRom DRM Found in Dragon Age II

Bioware,

I have defended you so ardently in the past. Why would you allow EA to do this to your beautiful work? Sorry but I'm afraid I wont buy your game now as I have been bit by the securom rootkit before and refuse to subject my PC to that crap ever again.

Re: Report: SecuRom DRM Found in Dragon Age II

"I purchased a broken product from a company with a track record of broken products".  Exactly.  You know the pain is coming.  Like purposefully hitting your thumb with a hammer.  Why get mad at EA?  This is what they are.  Is there any doubt at this point?  Next time you see a shiny new game with the EA label, pick up a hammer and smash your thumb to remind yourself.  You'll get the pain but be $60 richer.

I do understand the desire to play RPGs.  I played Demon's Souls instead of the first Dragon Age.  Excellent game.  I got Two Worlds II instead of Dragon Age II.  Not polished, but a 7.5 to 8.0 experience.  I also supported with my money another company who is showing improvement and doesn't use that money to buy a hammer to hit my thumb with.  I know we aren't all alike, some people want to play Dragon Age.  I just don't get the anger and surprise.  I recognize the Lucy's of the world holding the football, I'm just not Charlie Brown.

         

Re: Report: SecuRom DRM Found in Dragon Age II

I don't understand the anger.  This makes as much sense as picking up a hammer, deliberately smashing your thumb, and then getting mad at the hammer.  You bought an EA product, what did you expect?  Stop hitting your thumb with the hammer Einstein.

Re: Report: SecuRom DRM Found in Dragon Age II

Most people get angry when somebody commits fraudulent behaviour against them.

We blame EA because EA lied to us. They commited fraud. They told us one thing and done the complete and utter opposite for their own benefit, and to our disadvantage.

When you hit yourself with the hammer, it is because you missed. What exactly, did I miss here? Thinking that a company as big as EA wouldn't want another lawsuit over fradulent activity as rather reasonable?

EA is not a hammer. They are perfectly capable of intelligent thoughts whereas a hammer isn't even sentient at all. It has no thought process in the least. A hammer can't do wrong because a hammer has no concept of right or wrong, a hammer has no concept in regards to thought at all. EA does.

-- Randi Tastix

Re: Report: SecuRom DRM Found in Dragon Age II

No. Securom is more akin to buying a hammer, and when reading the instructions, it says that every fifth strike with the hammer must be on your thumb instead of a nail or the hammer will no longer function properly.

A more appropriate hammer analogy would be buying a hammer from a company where the hammer head falls off the handle all the time. The company says it has created a new hammer head that doesn't fall off, but lo and behold, here I am holding another broken hammer. The problem isn't that I'm using the product incorrectly, but that I purchased a broken product from a company with a track record of broken products.

 

I hate broccoli/ and think it totally sucks/ Why isn't it meat?

I hate broccoli/ and think it totally sucks/ Why isn't it meat?

Re: Report: SecuRom DRM Found in Dragon Age II

I bet this crap is going to be in Mass Effect 3 too? Wonderful. Guess I'll spend that money somewhere else.

Re: Report: SecuRom DRM Found in Dragon Age II

Bravo, EA. Bravo. You have lied to people, attempted to sneak DRM past them, and insulted their intelligence by thinking they wouldn't have noticed something so fucking obvious, all in one fell stroke.

This is why I don't buy from them. That, and the "SPORTS ATHLETE'S SPORTS GAME, +1 YEAR AFTER THE LAST ONE" series.

Re: Report: SecuRom DRM Found in Dragon Age II

Well good; my finances are tight and I was wondering if I could justify the purchase of Dragon Age 2.  EA has made my decision for me.

Re: Report: SecuRom DRM Found in Dragon Age II

Well, now I know which version I won't be buying.

DRM is killing the PC gaming industry.

Re: Report: SecuRom DRM Found in Dragon Age II

Wow....... EA fail!


I have a dream, break the chains of copy right oppression! http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/2010/05/21/cigital-disobedience/


Copyright infringement is nothing more than civil disobedience to a bad set of laws. Let's renegotiate them.

---

http://zippydsm.deviantart.com/

Re: Report: SecuRom DRM Found in Dragon Age II

gg EA.

Re: Report: SecuRom DRM Found in Dragon Age II

As if the "get banned from the boards, lose all the games you paid for" bullshit wasn't bad enough, there's this too?

The best part of all this is that only the people who bought the games have to deal with this shit. The people who pirated it don't have to put up with it at all. I wonder if any publisher is going to figure out that DRM doesn't work. After all, everybody else figured it out years ago.

Re: Report: SecuRom DRM Found in Dragon Age II

This along with the guy who was banned from his account and subsequently his game for saying that "Is Bioware now in bed with the EA devil?" and you've got to sit back and say that yes, EA is evil.

Re: Report: SecuRom DRM Found in Dragon Age II

Awesome , nothing better than punishing the users that actually want to pay money for the game with a poorly designed DRM that brings far more problems than it solves and what was that problem it was trying to solve because it doesn't seem to fix the pirating issues.  The only winner here seems to be the creators of SecuROM, as for the gamers willing to pay money for these games we've been thrown under the short bus once again.

I don't condone pirating software, but the more intrusive the DRM gets on these games the more I understand why some people keep going back to the torrents. 

Re: Report: SecuRom DRM Found in Dragon Age II

And this is why people downloaded copies of games that are stripped of DRM schemes.

Re: Report: SecuRom DRM Found in Dragon Age II

No, people download it for whatever reason they can come up with.

 

------- Morality has always been in decline. As you get older, you notice it. When you were younger, you enjoyed it.

------- Morality has always been in decline. As you get older, you notice it. When you were younger, you enjoyed it.

Re: Report: SecuRom DRM Found in Dragon Age II

Of which stealth DRM is one.

Spore was pirated more heavily because of its DRM scheme.  I'm sure games like Assassin's Creed 2 have been too.  While I'm willing to guess that a majority of those pirates would have pirated the game anyway, I'm also confident that some are lost sales over DRM.

I personally will not be buying Dragon Age 2 because of this.  I don't intend to pirate it, either, but a lost sale is a lost sale.

Re: Report: SecuRom DRM Found in Dragon Age II

SuckuRom sucks and should be destroyed completely.

Re: Report: SecuRom DRM Found in Dragon Age II

Thank you for your highly mature and cogent summary of this complex issue.  It's always great to see somebody on the consumers' side clearly articulate the issues in a reasonable fashion.

Re: Report: SecuRom DRM Found in Dragon Age II

Why use an entire page to explain the problems with securom again when you can use a single word to refer to them.

Re: Report: SecuRom DRM Found in Dragon Age II

Maybe if SuckuRom wasn't so sucky, I wouldn't have given it that nickname.

Re: Report: SecuRom DRM Found in Dragon Age II

 
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TechnogeekIf the developer were male there wouldn't have been a "conversation" in the first place.10/19/2014 - 2:27am
Montetrolls are just at their absolute worst when it comes to women and feminist. You could bet good money that if the developer were male the trolls would be silent and the conversation would actually focus on the journalism.10/18/2014 - 9:18pm
MontePapa: Not the first time we've had a journalism scandals before, but the harassment never got close to this level; the difference with this scandal is that feminists are involved. Without the feminist angle, their would be A LOT less harrassment10/18/2014 - 9:15pm
Papa MidnightMonte: That's honestly rather short-sighted. As has been proven with other persons who have been targeted, if it wasn't Quinn, it would be someone else.10/18/2014 - 6:26pm
AvalongodI think that's part of what gives an esoteric news story like this real life...it taps into a larger narrative about misogyny in society outside of games.10/18/2014 - 3:29pm
Avalongod@Monte, well the trolls made death threats that came to police (and media attention). I think this is tapping into a larger issue outside of games about how women are treated in society (like all the "real rape" stuff during the last election)10/18/2014 - 3:28pm
WonderkarpZippy : Havent tried the PS4 controller. might later.10/18/2014 - 2:37pm
MonteSeirously, If Quinn was not involved and GG was instead about something like the Mordor Marketing contracts, the trolling would have never grown so vile and disgusting. There have been plenty of movements in the past that never sufferred from behavior..10/18/2014 - 1:57pm
MonteWe have seen scandel's before but the trolling has never been as vile as what we see with GG. Trolls usually have such a tiny voice you can barely notice them, but its like moths to a flame whenever femistist are involved.10/18/2014 - 1:53pm
ZippyDSMleeWonderkarp: You might be able to if you had a PS4 controller.10/18/2014 - 1:00pm
MaskedPixelantehttp://store.steampowered.com/app/327940/ Night Dive starts charging for freeware.10/18/2014 - 12:21pm
Matthew Wilsonthe sad thing is there are trolls on both sides of this. people need to stop acting like their side is so pure.10/18/2014 - 12:19pm
MechaTama31So, only speak out on a scandal that hasn't attracted trolls? I wouldn't hold my breath...10/18/2014 - 10:49am
MonteI feel like GG just needs to die. The movement is FAR to tainted by hatred and BS for it to be useful for any conversation. Let GG die, and then rally behind the NEXT gaming journalism scandal, and start the conversation fresh.10/18/2014 - 10:33am
quiknkoldand we dont have a Dovakin to call a cease fire10/17/2014 - 7:37pm
quiknkoldThe whole thing is Futile. Both sides are so buried deep in their trenchs that there isnt a conversation. Its just Finger Pointing, Name Calling, Doxxing, Threats. there needs to be a serious conversation, and GG isnt it.10/17/2014 - 7:37pm
quiknkoldI thought it was a good article. Jeff is right. I feel like GamerGate did destroy its message. I am for Ethics in game journalism, but man. so much hate. and its on both sides. I've seen some awful stuff spewed on twitter. Its a big reason why I exited..10/17/2014 - 7:34pm
Matthew Wilsonwhile he focused on gg, he did call out both sides crap.10/17/2014 - 7:18pm
Papa MidnightThat was a damn good read offered by Jeff Gertsmann.10/17/2014 - 7:17pm
Matthew Wilsonhttp://www.giantbomb.com/articles/letter-from-the-editor-10-17-2014/1100-5049/ deferentially a nice write up.10/17/2014 - 6:44pm
 

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