csebal

So you didnt buy the game? Now what? Your loss, sorry. It is a great game, and with some bugfixes, it'll even be better. Starforce caused no problems for me, just as it causes no problems for the majority of users you never hear about. What you hear is the desperate cry of the few unlucky, who get conflicts, and the few desperate 'leechers' who are unable to download it from the net because of the protection. If it would have been out sooner through piracy than through retail channels, i would have downloaded it. Instead of that, i bought two copies. Now thats two bought versus the one you didnt. Can you see a pattern there? People should finally get a hang of this: starforce and the like are born becuase some people use completely illegal means to STEAL from the developers. Would you like your work to be stolen for example? I doubt it, so im sure you would take steps to ensure it is protected against theft. Let's all be honest. Starforce does an excellent job in that. I havent seen a single recently released starforce protected game, that was cracked 'properly'. If someone thinks that they've sold less copies with starforce protection than they would have done without it.. well go figure. I'm sure publishers have exact figures on sales, and if starforce wouldnt have better statistics than regular or unprotected games, then they would simply not go for it.

And there you are wrong. Just take my example. Where i live, software arrives usually 2 weeks to 2 months later than usual. (Stupid localization rules, that they cannot sell stuff not coming with a manual in our native language - bah) This means i can get the stuff much earlier from the net. Now in this case, i can't because of starforce that can't be cracked - not even today, and even the 'cracked' versions of it require you to take your PC apart, pull drives out, etc which no sane person would do. So i was quite disappointed, as it meant i'll have to wait several weeks to get my hands on UFO:AS. Well.. i was lucky, as for some miraculous reason, the stores had it on the official release date. I just went, and bought two copies - one for me, one for a collegue. Do you think i bother buying games i already have through alternative channels? Well.. think again. Copy protections do their job well. They ensure, that those would would otherwise download the game actually go and buy it instead. Why? Because you can wait months, but the starforce release will not be cracked. At most you get some clone which you can either get to work, or not - most people can't. Am i proud that i use pirated software? Nope. But i live in the damn 21 century, and will not wait for months to get my hands on something i can easily download in just about 10 minutes. Once gaming companies realize the potential of internet, i bet 50% of the piracy will be gone. OFC they got a tool to force me to WAIT for their software to arrive, and that is called starforce. Bash it as much you want, but watchtower is right. Only people with underspecced or conflicting hardware, or improperly maintained software get problems. These people have problems with other software as well, you just do not hear about them, because it is not UFO:AS related. Oh yes, and i would be curious, how many of the people actually complaining about starforce would buy the game if it werent using starforce. Just my two cents.