Does Bioshock actually have an install limit?

Does Bioshock actually have an install limit? I heard you can only install it two times then it just won't wotk anymore. And what exactly is the Steam protection I hear about on games? Isn't this anti-pirating thing gettin outta control. I almost want to crossover to console gaming.

You know I'm going to be very serious with my statement. Pirate the game, you are seriously better of doing so...

I know people will say it's immoral, but there are probably very little people on these forums that buy more games than me. So I can rightfully say, the copy protection problems and very bad overall support doesn't deserve any person's purchase. Save your money for games like crysis or the witcher. Games which are pc games at heart and will do everything to please the community with good support.

You have to download it from Steam also,well I won't be getting it..It took almost a day and half to download "Lost planet" yesterday from their server.I just want a game I can put in,register the key and play.

You have to download it from Steam also,well I won't be getting it..It took almost a day and half to download "Lost planet" yesterday from their server.I just want a game I can put in,register the key and play.

Lauryn2000

you dont have to buy it nor download it from steam. it does not use steam unless you buy it with steam.

THE INSTALL LIMIT WAS ORIGINALLY 2. AFTER EVERYONES PANTYS WERE IN A BUNCH THEY DECIDED TO CHANGE IT TO 5.

ty

I see. But still that seems ridiculous that their limiting installs. Plus what exactly do you have to download? I have dial up? so what the heck ahhhh well.zsmaniac

Not saying they are right or wrong, but do you really need to install Bioshock on 3 or more computers?

In regards to above, i do remember they upped the limit to 5, which sounds about right.

After you install it you automatically download the latest patch, which is a few MBs, as well as the authentication.

You have to download it from Steam also,well I won't be getting it..It took almost a day and half to download "Lost planet" yesterday from their server.I just want a game I can put in,register the key and play.

Lauryn2000

Same thing happend to me with Lost Planet too. I installed from a CD that came as a gift on my 8800gts, and had to wait around 12houts to play it... how dumb!

Ya, dont get me started on the words "Bioshock" and "install".

When I bought it, I was currently living at a house that didnt have internet. So, I take this game home that i know is singleplayer only, and try to install it. The installation gets to 100%, and I am almost salivating with anticipation.

ANd then...then the internet authentication pops up. So I say "Woh, wtf is this" but then say that, like Microsoft, this is a well-known developer/publisher, I can problably do it over the phone. Nope. So, to sum up, YOU NEED INTERNET TO PLAY A GAME THAT DOESNT REQUIRE INTERNET!

Now I know this is the 21st century, and I know I should have read the requirement where, to my detriment, it said "internet required", but when youre PC is damn nice and only 6 months old, you dont concern yourself with the requirements. As for internet, well, call me old fashioned but I feel games (especially singleplayer games) should be able to be played by someone who has a PC, a generator, and is stranded on a desert island with no internet or outside contact.

So, to sum up the end of my story, I took my PC and monitor 30 minutes up the road to me friend's house, installed it, packed my PC back up, came home, unpacked my PC....then finished the game in 10 hours.

BIOSHOCK IS NOT WORTH MORE THAN 30 BUCKS! And it certainly wouldnt be missed in any avid FPS player's collection.

You know I'm going to be very serious with my statement. Pirate the game, you are seriously better of doing so...

I know people will say it's immoral, but there are probably very little people on these forums that buy more games than me. So I can rightfully say, the copy protection problems and very bad overall support doesn't deserve any person's purchase. Save your money for games like crysis or the witcher. Games which are pc games at heart and will do everything to please the community with good support.

_Pedro_

Brilliant plan there genius! "I hate this copy protection so much I'll pirate the game and prove that the feature I'm protesting is warranted!"

[QUOTE="_Pedro_"]

You know I'm going to be very serious with my statement. Pirate the game, you are seriously better of doing so...

I know people will say it's immoral, but there are probably very little people on these forums that buy more games than me. So I can rightfully say, the copy protection problems and very bad overall support doesn't deserve any person's purchase. Save your money for games like crysis or the witcher. Games which are pc games at heart and will do everything to please the community with good support.

the_mad_madman

Brilliant plan there genius! "I hate this copy protection so much I'll pirate the game and prove that the feature I'm protesting is warranted!"

actually i think the statement a pirater would be making, if he or she were even trying to, would be I hate this copy protection so much I'll pirate the game to spite the publisher and show them that, by alienating their consumers, they have just lost one sale that could have easily been theirs if they had not included this fruitless anti-piracy measure.

But stealing is stealing, especially when it is over something as petty as a video game. If youre gonna steal something, steal something valuable. Like a porsche or something.

Pirating isn't stealing, pirating is pirating

Maybe you can apply the same moral values to both, but they aren't the same action

Pirating isn't stealing, pirating is pirating

Maybe you can apply the same moral values to both, but they aren't the same action

kyrieee

youre splitting hairs. No, theyre not the same action but theyre close enough, and they have the same result. You are obtaining something for free while depriving another party of money. Thats stealing in my books.

actually i think the statement a pirater would be making, if he or she were even trying to, would be I hate this copy protection so much I'll pirate the game to spite the publisher and show them that, by alienating their consumers, they have just lost one sale that could have easily been theirs if they had not included this fruitless anti-piracy measure.

But stealing is stealing, especially when it is over something as petty as a video game. If youre gonna steal something, steal something valuable. Like a porsche or something.

mrbojangles25

That'd be great and all if everyone saw it that way, but behind every successful company there are a legion bookies who don't give a **** about anything but the numbers! They take a look at the piracy vs. copies sold and they'd don't debate the moral implications of it, they demand even more copy protection or the developers don't get any money to work their magic with. That's the way it works! By stealing the game you only perpetuate the problem, anything else you're telling yourself are dreams and lies.

Besides, the only thing that pisses me off more than people who just pirate games are self-righteous pirates. Screw em! You don't bloody NEED a game to live, no matter how these jerks tell it the fact is they're just greedy immature thieves. That's the truth! I can't stand it when people try to rationalize and condone this junk, it's just so bloody self indulgent and greedy of em.

Pirating isn't stealing, pirating is pirating

Maybe you can apply the same moral values to both, but they aren't the same action

kyrieee

Pirating = stealing; if you don't understand that you are dulb or younger than 10 years old...

[QUOTE="kyrieee"]

Pirating isn't stealing, pirating is pirating

Maybe you can apply the same moral values to both, but they aren't the same action

sasjebus

Pirating = stealing; if you don't understand that you are dulb or younger than 10 years old...

What does not being able to argue with out insulting people make you then? I haven't said it's okay to pirate games, I simply made a distinction between stealing and pirating and I didn't take a moral stance. People say pirating = stealing in an attempt to explain why it's wrong, because stealing is intuetively wrong. If pirating were stealing then it'd also be intuetively wrong. I think it's pointless to equate it with stealing because you're not going to persuade anyone since what people think is wrong about stealing is that the person you steal from loses the object, that's in the essence of stealing. If you want to convey why it's wrong (which I DO think it is) then go about it some other way. Scare tactics aren't any good.

[QUOTE="_Pedro_"]

You know I'm going to be very serious with my statement. Pirate the game, you are seriously better of doing so...

I know people will say it's immoral, but there are probably very little people on these forums that buy more games than me. So I can rightfully say, the copy protection problems and very bad overall support doesn't deserve any person's purchase. Save your money for games like crysis or the witcher. Games which are pc games at heart and will do everything to please the community with good support.

the_mad_madman

Brilliant plan there genius! "I hate this copy protection so much I'll pirate the game and prove that the feature I'm protesting is warranted!"

By pirating the game I would have already shown that the protection doesn't work in the first place (and it doesn't). Why spend millions (yes often it's in the million) dollars on protection methods which just annoy potential buyers?

Just look at Company of Heroes and Dark Crusade, both games have almost no real protection methods yet they they sold fairly well. Why? When you get a copy you don't get screwed over, I can install the game and I wouldn't need the DVD again. You may think this means you only need 1 copy, but this actually works wonders for advertising.

My friends and I played a couple of great games on a lan party with a single copy at the end everyone who was there went of to buy a copy for themselves.

I bought Bio on Steam and it installed in 20 minutes. The game runs great and any Steam game can be installed on a hundred computers but can only be played connected to the Net one rigat a time.roulettethedog

You guys need to understand something, because I've seen this type of post before. You are not completely protected against the Bioshock DRM by Steam. You don't need the disc to play, however, Securom is still installed on your machine, and it's limitations still apply...

http://www.steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=game&AppId=7670&cc=US

Note: Contains SecuROM copy control software.steampowered

Personally, I think this form of copy protection is lame. I should not be required to have/purchase an internet connection at ALL times forever into the future, just so I can play my single player game, I should not have to hope that servers are up and running forever into the future, so they can give me "permission" to install, I should not need to be concerned with install credits/limitations, activation revoke tools, etc.

I understand the need for copy protection, but people that support and encourage this form of cp are out of their minds IMO :)

EXACTLY!

Who has had C&C Tournaments? Back with Red Alert 1, you had a disc each each. All my friends went out and bought their own copy, Unreal Tournament, Quake, Hell even The Sims!!!!

Piracy arises for two reasons either A) Someone is being a skank and doesnt want to pay or B) WE have been skanked and need to aquire a pirate version of something weve paid for.

Besides all this piracy biz comes down to is legality. Those who buy the game AND download a pirate copy cant be "done" they bought the license to play that product its those who pirate it without the license HENCE -

PIRACY and STEALING are different!

Back on topic though the install limit is stupid. Not only do you HAVE to be steam active/internet active to finish your install, if your have a system crash and wipe, youre fooked when youve hit the install limit. What are we supposed to do then? Buy another liscence for a game youve bought???

This is where steam has done well allowing you to play YOUR licencse on any copy provided it has the net, but thats its downfall too. I visit my library to use the net I cant afford another monthly bill, does that mean theyve alienated me?
Am I not worthy to play Bioshock? Half Life 2, 2-1,2-2 TF2 and Portal? Heck I even wanted to play The Ship and Dark Messiah but cant. So I HAD to get a pirate of HL2, I finished it in a day.

I didnt like doing that, and would have gladly paid but why should I if they alienated a large portion of the society?

Its all down to legalities, when in truth I just want to play my goddamn game, for which I have bought the goddamn liscence to.

[QUOTE="kyrieee"]

Pirating isn't stealing, pirating is pirating

Maybe you can apply the same moral values to both, but they aren't the same action

sasjebus

Pirating = stealing; if you don't understand that you are dulb or younger than 10 years old...

Please get your facts right piracy is not stealing, it is copyright infringement.

All that copy protection is just a pain in the rear for buyers. PC games will always be pirated, and if they make their copy protection stronger more people are just gonna pirate it. The companies need to treat the buyers better then if they pirated the game.

Because ill always buy games from ID software, Why... Because they treat us buyers great, and in patch 2 of doom 3 and quake 4 they removed the cd check thing. Now thats a combany ill gladly support anyday.

I just bought this recently for the PC. I only have 1 pc that dual boots, so I can install it twice and use it with no problems.

However, I also realize that the copy protection on this software is less than ideal, it does seem sorta extreme to legitimate owners, but still, I'm not going to boycott the game, that's not a solution for me either.

To Pirate a game you first need a game to pirate. so the pirate spends money to give itfor free to the public.... so its both the pirate and the complany that waste or lose money.

Pirating is a double moral, its both bad for the multi milion dollar company and its illegal but the masses enjoys it for free. So pirating is stealing in a good way so to speak....

Does Bioshock actually have an install limit? I heard you can only install it two times then it just won't wotk anymore. And what exactly is the Steam protection I hear about on games? Isn't this anti-pirating thing gettin outta control. I almost want to crossover to console gaming.

zsmaniac

To answer your question, Yes! there's a install limit (5 installs and if you make a major HW change or if another user tries to play in the same PC with a different account -IIRR- then that counts as a new install), but recently 2K released a revoke which allows you to reset one or more installations, BUT the revoke tool must be "invoked" in the same PC the game was installed -once again IIRR-, so as you can see the game punishes legal customers in a not-so-cool way.

Also keep in mind that steam serves only as a delivery plataform, so the bioshock version of the game that you can buy off steam will contain the same protection/restriction.

By pirating the game I would have already shown that the protection doesn't work in the first place (and it doesn't). Why spend millions (yes often it's in the million) dollars on protection methods which just annoy potential buyers?

Just look at Company of Heroes and Dark Crusade, both games have almost no real protection methods yet they they sold fairly well. Why? When you get a copy you don't get screwed over, I can install the game and I wouldn't need the DVD again. You may think this means you only need 1 copy, but this actually works wonders for advertising.

My friends and I played a couple of great games on a lan party with a single copy at the end everyone who was there went of to buy a copy for themselves.

_Pedro_

I love the way THQ games are set up, they don't even require a CD to play and it's nice to be treated by the company like a legitimate customer for a change instead of a potential thief... but I still can't condone game piracy under any conditions. I don't like zealous copy protection any more than the next person but if you really want to protest, you just don't buy the game. After all you don't HAVE to play the game, you don't need this game to continue to live, so stealing it is purely greed on your part and simply not buying the game would have a better 'message' for the publishers to consider if you really insist on being indignant about the entire thing.

Too many good PC studios have gone down with Piracy as one of the leading reasons and even more are jumping boat to the console market. Piracy just hurts the industry! You, along with thousands of others, are playing these game for free when your money could mean the difference between the developer closing or going on to make more games. Troika for example. Great games, a bit buggy, but great! But just not enough people bought Vampire: Bloodlines to keep Troika afloat and I can't help but wonder if the thousands of people playing their pirated copies of the game realize that if they'd just bought the game Troika might still be around today!

I'm going to agree with Pedro... Itwas adumb move on 2K's part.Install limit will have side effect of pirating the game. Why should I buy a game I can't install anymore after a few weeks? It doesn't make any sense.

Many people I know including me didn't buy the game for that reason.

If you want to fight copying of games... make a good security plan... not something we customers will suffer on behalf of their action.

The simple solution is to look down the "other" path.

Most companies these days are on the "punishment" line of thinking. "Must try to stop people, punish them if they do."

I remember a few games like The Sims 2, where if you have bought a valid copy, and you register on their site you get alot of free cool downloads. While this can be bypassed the concept is there.

The "Source" Pirate will only get his own one use freebie card with his game so while it gets distributed if the "freebie/addon" is of a fairly significant value, then the majority will go for the non-pirate copy.

COmpanies need to start rewarding the non-pirates not punishing them.

Quoted from a post above:

"With the millions they spent on having it 'Non-pirateable', they could have implimented a good multiplayer component. But no, they chose to spend the millions on anti-piracy software. What happened? Less than 2 weeks after the game was released, it was cracked. Serves them right. I know I didn't pay for it... Anyways.. "

Correct. But doesn't anyone else see my pov?... Those millions spent on copy protection, why don't they knock this money off the retail prices? e.g If the game was, say, $10 cheaper, many more people would buy this excellent game, free of protection hassles, etc' and they would prolly make more money.

I, for one would rather buy the game, nice shiny box, original cd, glossy manual, kbd commands card, etc' than use a pirate copy, have to mess about with cracks, serials and miss on features of the game that may have been in the manual.

But I won't pay $50 or whatever to have hassles getting the game going, limits to what I can do (2/5 installs) witha product that, because I have bought it, is MINE!

What would you say if you bought a cd that only allowed you to listen to it on 2 or 5cd players? A film that you could only watch on 2 or 5 DVD players?

This applies towindows too. So many people pirate Windows. Ever wonder why, considering it's the most used / usefulsoftware people buy?

Quick note>

I am not condoning pirating btw. Just my opinion on how it could be reduced.

Must fix this damnspacebar