Vuvuzelas Blare On Pirated Copies of Music Game

An anonymous reader sends this quote from Wired: "A novel anti-piracy measure baked into the Nintendo DS version of Michael Jackson: The Experience makes copied versions of the game unplayable and taunts gamers with the blaring sound of vuvuzelas. Many games have installed switches that detect pirated copies and act accordingly, like ending the user's game after 20 minutes. Ubisoft has come under fire multiple times for what players have seen as highly restrictive anti-piracy measures that annoy legitimate users as much or more so than pirates. But some more-mischievous developers have used tricks similar to the vuvuzela fanfare to mess with pirates. Batman: Arkham Asylum lets unauthorized users play through the game as if it were a normal copy, with a single exception: Batman's cape-glide ability doesn't work, rendering the game impossible to finish — although you might bash your head against it trying to make what are now impossible jumps. If you pirate Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, brace yourself for an explosion, as your entire base will detonate within 30 seconds of loading the game."

Comments

butbutbutbutbut

[Dwebtron]

if they can tell it's pirated... why all the crazy piracy schemes in the first place? Why even LAUNCH the game? how can they tell?

Re:butbutbutbutbut

[BadAnalogyGuy]

It turns it into a demo, which could lead to an actual game purchase.

Re:butbutbutbutbut

[petermgreen]

I see two problems with this kind of approach though

1: the code may get triggered by accident leading to a legitimate user getting frustrated at the games apparent buginess/uncompletability.
2: pirates may not realise that the problems they are experiencing are a result of antipiracy meausres.

Either way you have users who think the game is buggy as hell telling their friends to avoid it.

Re:butbutbutbutbut

[xtracto]

There is a third option that I see here... and makes me personally affected.

See, each DS game is a big piece of plastic. If I want to take my DS complete game collection with me in each trip, I would need to carry all of them in a big bag.

By format-shifting said games I bought, I am able to take just ONE cart inside the DS and have access to all the games I and my wife like.

So, for me, buying a game that is "uncrackable" is a no go, because it means to play that game I would need to take the piece of plastic with me wherever I go.

I've been misled!

[Anachragnome]

"Batman: Arkham Asylum lets unauthorized users play through the game as if it were a normal copy, with a single exception: Batman's cape-glide ability doesn't work, rendering the game impossible to finish — although you might bash your head against it trying to make what are now impossible jumps. If you pirate Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, brace yourself for an explosion, as your entire base will detonate within 30 seconds of loading the game..."

So how is this different then the purchased, bug-ridden, unfinished versions that are pawned off on us with every release?

Re:That's Actually Pretty Cool

[icannotthinkofaname]

You could, y'know, just...do that....

Red Alert 2

[GrumblyStuff]

Ah, yes, I remember that. It was always fun to uninstall and reinstall the whole fucking game because the DRM flipped a shit over nothing at all.

Detection = failure

[billcopc]

If the game can detect that it was pirated, the circumvention isn't good enough. These little pranks will fool the 0-day groups, but within hours a "proper" fix will come along, and these childish stunts will have been in vain.

The thing to remember about warez crackers, is they tend to be more skilled than the people who release the games. Trying to outsmart them is a fallacy.

Re:Detection = failure

[Locke2005]

The thing to remember about warez crackers, is they tend to be more skilled than the people who release the games. Trying to outsmart them is a fallacy.

Then why don't they try, I dunno, maybe writing their own games instead of leeching off the work of others!

Re:Detection = failure

[gman003]

The point of DRM, from the publisher's perspective, isn't to prevent piracy - it's to delay it. Most of the sales will happen within the first week, due to the advertising focus - look at all the huge launches like Halo or Call of Duty, that sell millions in a day. If a game can stay uncracked for a month, the DRM is considered to have done its job exceptionally. If you can make DRM that takes a full day to test, and which would take several attempts to circumvent fully, you can easily delay the piracy of the game long enough that potential pirates instead go out and buy the game.

Re:Detection = failure

[six025]

Apologies in advance for being a little confrontational about this topic ...

The thing to remember about warez crackers, is they tend to be more skilled than the people who release the games. Trying to outsmart them is a fallacy.

Sorry, but popular meme is utter bollocks. Crackers are (mostly) good at cracking software and while I agree that successful cracking is quite a technical task or challenge, and that not many people are capable of that skill there are at least two very obvious problems with what they do.

There are plenty of examples of software available that has never been completely cracked - yes, the software works to a point but it's not 100% cracked. Virtual synth Zebra 2.5 by U-he is a great example. That's one point against the so called "genius crackers".

The second point being that if the crackers were any good at software development they would have the vision, skill and patience to create new software that inspires people to play through the game / create beautiful works of art / solve new problems. It is quite obvious that they do not have these skills, and will instead take the glory from spending a few hours in front of a debugger and then claiming the work as their own.

I know who gets my respect ... and who gets my money ...

Peace,
Andy.

Re:Detection = failure

[Anonymous Coward]

That's like asking why a safecracker doesn't manufacture safes.

praiseworthy

[dudpixel]

Surely if it did some cool undocumented thing in the pirated copy you would be impressed enough to pay for the full version - kind of like a "tip" for a job well done.

I dont think they should put annoying stuff in the pirated copies, but if it subtely made winning impossible, yet by the end of the game it becomes obvious, then I think credit where credit is due - the developers are really trying to win you over. and a job well done should be rewarded.

Much better than the stupid "check the internet every time you load the game" piracy prevention techniques. Either its a pirate copy or it isn't. There's no point going after all illegal downloads etc. - just the ones where people were too lazy to go to the shop and pay. Getting the target market right in the first place is half the battle.

Re:It needs copy protection?

[Pharmboy]

Whatever medication you are on, adjust the dose. More, less, just pick a direction and try it for a while.

In between your struggles to "keep you and your future generations alive", I would try to get some bed rest. Oh, and yes, we know that Monsanto is a bunch of asshat tried to take over the food world by patenting everything and sue farmers who put back seeds, but in between anxiety attacks, we like to read about video games.

And good luck with the music career.

Great marketing?

[TimTucker]

In other news, developers come up with a great way to drum up press for a game that otherwise no one would have paid any attention to.

Re:It needs copy protection?

[Smauler]

I'm not OP, but I've always thought Michael Jackson was overated.

I'm pondering whether or not to use my other account mod points to mod you funny, or just sit right here and bitch you out for being such an ignorant piece of shit musically

Look, Michael Jackson did some decently catchy songs... but seriously, you've got to be deluded to claim he did anything revolutionary. I was but a kid when Thriller came out, and I already saw it was cliched and populist. Seriously, listen to a bit of Banarama... your mind will be expanded.

Re:Secrets and Traps - a cracker's bread and butte

[Neil Boekend]

Ideally, developers would stop putting logic bombs into their code deliberately. It's poor ethics, bad programming practice and can occasionally be incredibly dangerous (especially in non-gaming fields).

Ideally people would pay for the software they liked. Ideally the filesharing of copyrighted material would only be used as evaluation, followed by deleting the software (after an evaluation period of a week or so) or paying for it. Ideally the distribution of disks would be stupid, because it's cheaper to set a filesharing server to send it over the interwebs.
The companies have reacted wrong, but the pirates incited the reaction.