StarForce Gets Two-Timed; Ligitation and Fraud Surfaces

Posted by: Newsfactory on: 04/01/2006 02:24 PM [ Print | 9 comment(s) ] · 2174 views

Ubisoft sued for using StarForce, followed by the discovery that pro-StarForce "reviews" were actually viral marketing.

DailyTech

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MB Member Posts: 26 Joined: 2004-05-21

#64365 Posted on: 04/01/2006 06:20 PM No surprise there that they fake their own "reviews". Shows what kind of people they are. Legal criminals.

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BetrayerX Unregistered

#64366 Posted on: 04/01/2006 10:06 PM Hope the guy suing UBI Soft wins.... this might set a really STRONG message to the companies of what the users do NOT want on their CD/DVDs.

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Mertsch Moderator Posts: 3001 Joined: 2002-08-22

#64368 Posted on: 04/02/2006 05:37 PM hehe at least thats a full game ... now get this ... even the DEMO of King Kong was protected with starforce how stupid is that? Those SF guys must have some ppl. to brainwash game devs

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MB Member Posts: 26 Joined: 2004-05-21

#64369 Posted on: 04/02/2006 06:19 PM Yeah, King Kong isnt the only demo with it, though... There are lots of other demos with it.

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Ouaibe Unregistered

#64372 Posted on: 04/03/2006 12:59 AM Demo are protected because they share the .exe with the full game. If the .exe from demo isn't encrypted then the "crack" groups could find and deceive the protection of the full game. It's kinda the same for Trackmania Nations, it shares the same engine from other Trackmania games. So to keep protection safe, free game .exe is crypted. You can brag around about Starforce or protected games in general, but that's the only way game companies found to protected their values. Fare enough is you ask me...

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PersianImmortal Unregistered

#64374 Posted on: 04/03/2006 03:52 AM What nonsense. There are ways of protecting your games without resorting to a draconian SecuROM or StarForce protection system which only punishes legitimate users. Valve are using Steam and I'm sure they've made quite a massive profit from Half Life 2, DOD:S and other games protected via Steam. StarForce is an unacceptable system-level intrusion. People (perhaps like the poster above) who are protecting the system are usually on the StarForce payroll, or have some affiliation with them. Everyone else knows for a fact that StarForce is an underhanded, unnecessary copy protection system which only generates badwill. Answer me this - why doesn't StarForce uninstall itself when you uninstall a StarForce protected game? Why doesn't StarForce make its presence more prominent?

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Mertsch Moderator Posts: 3001 Joined: 2002-08-22

#64376 Posted on: 04/03/2006 09:31 AM that is one thing that is "OK" first of all the game devs who include starforce are to blame for this. SF has a tool that seems to remove SF quite well but very few do include it within their uninstallation routines. the 2nd problem is when you remove it but have another game installed which need SF you can no longer start it without reinstalling the SF driver I think most devs just take the easy way here and do not let the user choice - this way everyone is "happy" but I have seen one game (but I do not remember which one) which really asked if I would like to uninstall SF and told me of the consequences. anyway there would not be such problems if the copy protection would remain inside the folder where the game is installed like it was some time ago and very few ppl. had problems!

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MB Member Posts: 26 Joined: 2004-05-21

#64378 Posted on: 04/03/2006 10:52 AM Nah the devs are not to be blamed for starforce. Its the publishers. Only they decide if and how to "protect" their games. Still, starforce games can still be pirated. thats the whole irony... The only one that suffers is the paying customer...

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Mertsch Moderator Posts: 3001 Joined: 2002-08-22

#64381 Posted on: 04/03/2006 10:43 PM Whoever is responsable for this does not matter They agree with that There are games which are not copy protected or use a normal one that you can buy, too and if you develop a game and someone tells you you have to include SF you can at least say OK but then we do it right or search for another publisher I just think most of these guys just don't want to see the reality piracy is there and will ALWAYS be there the only ones that suffer during the copy protection madness is the normal customer who is being treated as the real criminal