Croteam Slaps Serious Sam 3 Pirates With Unkillable Foe

December 7, 2011

Many gamers hate DRMs as an unneeded cumbersome burden on gamers that legitimately purchase software. However, Croteam, the makers of the Serious Sam franchise, have managed to protect those gamers and make the life of pirates who don't buy the game miserable.

According to a post at Dark Side of Gaming, pirates that violate the DRM will find their characters in game being shadowed by a huge red scorpion that just won't die. It will follow the player until he is dead and keep doing it as long as the game is pirated.

While the implementation is nothing short of brilliant, I wonder how many will be tempted to pirate the game just to see this armored monstrosity in action?

(Image courtesy of Rock, Paper Shotgun)

Posted in

DRM
Piracy

Comments

Re: Croteam Slaps Serious Sam 3 Pirates With Unkillable Foe

Submitted by DorthLous on Fri, 12/09/2011 - 10:19.

I want a mod that bring this into the real game as a nigh impossible, yet destroyable, enemy...

Re: Croteam Slaps Serious Sam 3 Pirates With Unkillable Foe

Submitted by Papa Midnight on Thu, 12/08/2011 - 12:27.

Not sure what the scale is of the screenshot (never having played Serious Sam before) but that looks like a pretty big scorpion...

On another note, I'm still a fan of old school Blizzard Product Key Checks.

----
Papa Midnight

Re: Croteam Slaps Serious Sam 3 Pirates With Unkillable Foe

Submitted by hellfire7885 on Thu, 12/08/2011 - 18:46.

The enemies in the Serious Sam series can literally be the size of skyscrapers, or bigger

Re: Croteam Slaps Serious Sam 3 Pirates With Unkillable Foe

Submitted by djnforce9 on Thu, 12/08/2011 - 11:58.

It'd be a brilliant twist on having a game demo for something like Serious Sam. You can play for about 15 minutes and then you die by an unbeatable enemy that prompts you to buy the full game.

They should put it into the main game as a super-boss or something. Still all-powerful but "vulnerable" at least.

Re: Croteam Slaps Serious Sam 3 Pirates With Unkillable Foe

Submitted by rma2110 on Thu, 12/08/2011 - 10:30.

Even if people pirate it just to see the big bug in action it's great advertising. They get people to try maybe 10 or 15 minutes of the game before Scorpio gets finally hunts them down all without paying for sever storage or bandwidth. Good deal. In fact, I would even delay the scorpion attack until 10 or 15 minutes of the game so people can see what the game is like legit.

Re: Croteam Slaps Serious Sam 3 Pirates With Unkillable Foe

Submitted by Hevach on Thu, 12/08/2011 - 10:54.

I'd delay it more than that even. Let them get through a nice chunk of the game before putting the screws on them. It seemed to work out for Arkham Asylum. If you pirated that one, every time you tried to use your cape, Batman would fail around like he was having a seizure and make it impossible to glide. You could get a good halfway into the game before you reached a section that couldn't be handled with the line launcher or batclaw and then be left clinging to life on a tiny rock halfway out into the bay with no way to proceed except buy the game.

Re: Croteam Slaps Serious Sam 3 Pirates With Unkillable Foe

Submitted by EvilTikiMan on Thu, 12/08/2011 - 10:03.

I like this kind of DRM. Sure people may find a way to get around it, but that will take time and not everyone that pirates games will have the patience for it. It is still better than some kinds of DRM systems out there. And its kinda funny.

This one actually reminds me of a game i use to play called Escape Velocity. In the game there was a character named Captain Hector. If you had yet to register the game he would regularly Warp into the system you were in and causally recommend that you register your game. However if you pirated the game, he would give you a few days of the usual reminder before going crazy and becoming hostile. He was so powerful would blow you away in a matter of seconds, and if you Jumped systems he would follow.

Good times.

Re: Croteam Slaps Serious Sam 3 Pirates With Unkillable Foe

Submitted by rma2110 on Thu, 12/08/2011 - 10:33.

So `hector' would hector you into registering the game? LOL! That does sound like fun.

Re: Croteam Slaps Serious Sam 3 Pirates With Unkillable Foe

Submitted by Truec on Thu, 12/08/2011 - 04:33.

Much like every other DRM scheme, pirates will get around it within days, and somehow it will come back to bite legitimate buyers.

Re: Croteam Slaps Serious Sam 3 Pirates With Unkillable Foe

Submitted by Thomas Riordan on Thu, 12/08/2011 - 09:24.

Of course. Instead of investing time and resources into making the game worth paying for they invest time and resources into implimenting useless DRM that will be cracked within a week of the game coming out or in the case of SecuRom games before the game is even in stores. Keep fighting those evil pirates game companies. They sure do enjoy laughing at your futile efforts.

Re: Croteam Slaps Serious Sam 3 Pirates With Unkillable Foe

Submitted by jedidethfreak on Thu, 12/08/2011 - 22:59.

It doesn't matter if a game is worth paying for or not - people will still take stuff that isn't theirs.

--- With the first link, the chain is forged.

Re: Croteam Slaps Serious Sam 3 Pirates With Unkillable Foe

Submitted by Kajex on Wed, 12/07/2011 - 23:42.

"While the implementation is nothing short of brilliant"

It's been done before.

Re: Croteam Slaps Serious Sam 3 Pirates With Unkillable Foe

Submitted by captain_bakaneko on Wed, 12/07/2011 - 22:34.

I wanna see this in action.. but not sure if i will pirate it. gatta love a great way to counter pirates ;)

Shout box

Zen: http://www.airforcetimes.com/article/20130614/OFFDUTY02/306140030/New-Xbox-sin-against-all-service-members-06/18/2013 - 7:33pm

Zen: Been out for a few days, but has anyone brought up the possible ban on Xbox One on military bases because of security concerns that it could be a listening device by Commanders?06/18/2013 - 7:33pm

Andrew Eisen: Sleaker - Fixed.06/18/2013 - 6:34pm

MechaTama31: CMiner: Another issue is that every camera/webcam combination is going to be pretty different, in terms of the software/hardware exploits available. A homogenous hardware/software combo like a console, in millions of homes, will be a much juicier target.06/18/2013 - 6:31pm

Sleaker: Vox pay what you want link is busted.06/18/2013 - 6:27pm

ZippyDSMlee: Mics have to breath put tape over it.06/18/2013 - 6:25pm

NyuRena: You nailed it James! Yikes..06/18/2013 - 1:56pm

james_fudge: With MS willing to share with the government, an always listening device should give everyone pause.06/18/2013 - 1:37pm

james_fudge: you can't turn off the Microphone on the Kinect and it has to be plugged in. It's not rocket science.06/18/2013 - 1:35pm

E. Zachary Knight: The Humble Bundle Guys just don't like me having money in my pocket do they? https://www.humblebundle.com/06/18/2013 - 1:12pm

E. Zachary Knight: CMiner, I know that my Android camera is off unless I am using an application that turns it on. Same with the microphone.06/18/2013 - 12:38pm

CMiner: Can you turn off the camera on an iPhone? Like, -really- turn it off, not just change a setting that -tells- you the camera is off?06/18/2013 - 12:13pm

james_fudge: when they make it a requirement, yes they are06/18/2013 - 12:10pm

CMiner: I just don't think Microsoft bears any more (or less) responsibility for privacy with its Kinect camera than do the makers of laptops or smartphones with integrated cameras.06/18/2013 - 12:00pm

Imautobot: The ability to operate the console without the camera is key. It's a peripheral, not directly integrated into the console, and yet it behaves as if it is. Thankfully I don't have kids, and won't have an Xbone either.06/18/2013 - 11:49am

CMiner: Oh, I agree that the decision to make the kinect mandatory/always listening is terrible.06/18/2013 - 11:48am

E. Zachary Knight: CMiner, and the easier the provider makes to do such things, the better. The fact that the XBone will not even funtion without it plugged in and turned on in some fashion makes a world of difference from a PC Webcam.06/18/2013 - 11:38am

CMiner: It takes steps on the user's part to ensure 100% privacy (unplugging, uninstalling, putting tape over it, not putting it in the kid's rooms, etc)06/18/2013 - 11:29am

CMiner: My point is that no webcam producing company can guarantee that no one will ever ever ever be able to access video from that webcam without your knowledge and permission06/18/2013 - 11:28am

E. Zachary Knight: Of course at that point, you are still opening up yourself to Windows zero day vulnerabilities and back doors that they are happy to share with the government before Windows users.06/18/2013 - 11:26am

All shouts

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