Gears of War DRM screwup makes PC version unplayable

[wolf2009]

http://forums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?p=25981126#post25981126

Gamers who tried to play Gears of War on the PC Thursday ran into a slight snag: it seems that the digital certificate that allows the game to run expired on January 28, 2009. Basically that means if you keep your PC's clock up to date, you can no longer play the game. The official Epic forum is ablaze with complaints about this issue, as the still-kicking community becomes enraged.

"I had this problem this evening, I had to change the date and time (from PM to AM) and I am able to get in just fine," one frustrated gamer posted. "I also changed it back to the current date and time and it didn't work. Change it back to yesterday AM and it works fine... EPIC games won't be on my list anytime soon...."
Ben Kuchera

Unfortunately, DRM can sometimes feel like a rug that can be yanked out from under our feet at any moment.

Epic Games is aware of the issue, but don't expect much hard news about what to do about the inability to play the game. "We have been notified of the issue and are working with Microsoft to get it resolved," a super moderator posted on the forum. "Sorry for any problems related to this. I'll post more once we have a resolution." (Microsoft is the publisher, and GoW is a Games for Windows release.)

Until then? You can either fiddle with your computer's clock or not play. Neither choice is much fun.


Looking at the digital certificate for the title, you can clearly see a start date, and an end date. Did Epic assume no one would be playing the title once 2009 came around? It's hard to understand why there would be an end-date hard-coded into the title's DRM, especially one that came less than three years after the game was released. Many PC gamers are leery of any kind of DRM that must dial into a central server to authenticate, wondering what happens if those servers are shut down. Now we know—in this case, the game shipped with DRM that was essentially counting down until the game would cease to work.

While it's not rare for games to ship with bugs every now and again, it's pretty shocking when one ships with an issue that causes the title to stop working for everyone who paid. Those who pirated the game, as usual, continue to play with no issues.

ANother reason not to have DRM floating around with these games in your PC

 

[DrPepper]

This kind stupidity is only reserved for ......... I can't actualy think of anything that stupid.

 

[bigtye]

Unbefknlievable! Again, the person most affected by such a muppet brained decision is the legitimate paying consumer.

I guess we have to become more and more savvy about what is contained within our software purchases and avoid buying those programs altogether. Excercise our rights by spending our dollars elsewhere.

Tye

 

[KainXS]

another blow to pc gamers, seems this is a trend now

 

[MadClown]

That makes no sense, Its a Conspiracy

 

[johnnyfiive]

I'm imagining myself as the man in your avatar MadClown, and Epic Games is the woman.

Bitch, smack.

 

[Jaffakeik]

Good news i finished this game more than half a year ago.bad news i dont play games twice if i finish em.so i dont care about that issue.

 

[TheMailMan78]

Well its really not DRM. It has to do with windows live. But no matter what its BS. Plus we don't get a PC version of Gears 2

 

[L|NK|N]

Problem solved. Thanks Epic!

 

[CDdude55]

I have it for PC but its uninstalled.

 

[MadClown]

Yep problem solved, was playing it for a bit.

I'm imagining myself as the man in your avatar MadClown, and Epic Games is the woman.

Bitch, smack.

lol

 

[TheMailMan78]

Do any of you guys play this co-op?