Now Here’s Something To Complain About
Here at Shrapnel our most severe copy protection involves a serial key. While we utterly despise piracy, and will actively seek out and vanquish illegitimate copies of our games, we also don’t want to force our paying customers to jump through a burning ring of fire just to play one of our games. Hopefully you appreciate that.
Of course not every publisher feels the same way. Enter Mass Effect for the PC. Not only will it use everyone’s favorite security feature, SecuROM (and for many that’s right up there with Starforce), but it’s turning it up to eleven. From the FAQ:
Q: Why does MEPC need to reactivate every 10 days?
A: MEPC needs to authenticate every 10 days to ensure that the CD key used for the game is valid. This is designed to reduce piracy and protect valid CD keys.
Q: What happens if I want to play MEPC but do not have an internet connection?
A: You cannot play MEPC without an internet connection. MEPC must authenticate when it is initially run and every 10 days thereafter.
You read that right. In order to play Mass Effect you will have to authenticate your copy every ten days.
Pure awesomeness.
UPDATE 09 MAY: They’ve backed down from the every ten days check.