CDV Officially Drops Starforce Copy Protection

simoniker writes "Publisher CDV has officially announced that it is dropping the controversial StarForce game copy protection scheme from its games, and is using the TAGES protection scheme instead, in what it calls 'response to consumer demand'. This follows Ubisoft's dropping of the scheme in April, as controversy continues about StarForce's allegedly negative effect on PCs. However, it's notable that the StarForce drivers have just passed Microsoft's 'Designed for Windows XP' certification programme, according to the company's official website."

Comments

Re:StarForce will be changing it's name soon...

[Bios_Hakr]

>>At this point, I'm just happy with any game that doesn't want the CD/DVD in the drive. I switch games too often.

That's the ultimate answer. Game companies will begin to use publishers like Valve and systems like Steam.

Now, I'm not saying Steam is perfect; no protection system ever is. Hell, I see the "full version all steam games" torrents up at TPB. Never having tried, I can't attest to their workability.

However, as a consumer, having one central app that lists games avalable along with prices is great. I can do three clicks before bed and have the game ready to play the next morning. And that's on slow DSL. I don't have to drive to the mall or wade through Wal Mart. I don't have to dispose of 5 layers of wrapping or figure out a way to store a CD and keycode.

But, as much as I love online distros, lots of companies are going to die because of it. A perfect example is rFactor. Now, I like racing sims. I'll throw them on the PC, play them a few weeks, then go on to something new. After a month of WoW, I'll go back to the racing sim to kill some time. However, even though I bought the download edition of rFactor, I only get 5 installs. I've had it under a month and I've already used two of them. I'll never get anything from that publisher agian. Limiting installs for online distros is not a step forewards; it's a huge fucking leap backwards.