Game Makers

In order to test my cool new computer I decided to take a trip to a computer games store. I had not been to one in many years, in fact I cannot remember the last time I went to one. The last computer game I bought was Sims 2, which I found rather boring after I had finished building a nice house for my Sims. I'd been steering clear of PC games on the basis that my old PC just didn't have the hardware for any hardcore gaming. The last game I had actually enjoyed significantly was GTA: San Andreas, clearly the best game of all time and I had played that on the PS2.

Anyway I found my way to a computer store and located the geekest fattest guy there, on the general assumption that he would know some good game titles. He did and after half an hour I left the mall with Doom 3 (my choice, I tried a playable demo of it and was impressed) and F.E.A.R., one of his recommendations. So far I have only played the former since the latter has decided it needs to download a 268Mb 'patch' in order to be up to date. Good job I have broadband.

But the reason for this blog entry is my sheer annoyance regarding the security of these games. I am not a person who likes buying software. But when I do buy something I don't expect to be treated like a dirty pirate. But what drives me completely crazy is after the rigmarole of entering long tedious key codes and spending ages installing multi disk games onto my hard drive I do not expect to have to find disk one and insert it just to be able to play the game I purchased. Why the hell should I have to root around looking for a disk, wear out my new DVD RW drive opening it and closing it and inserting a damn disk every time I want to play my game?

In order to enjoy my game without the tedium of locating disks and inserting them I had to spend 20 minutes searching various illicit warez sites to find patches that allow the games I legitimately own to run without the CD/DVD.

I already went to the mall, I already spent my money on the game, I already typed in the pointless little CD key, I even registered my software. I don't want to have to crack my own fucking game so I can play it.

These games makers need to get a clue. Within a week of releasing a game it will be cracked packed and released to the public. This has been going on since games came on floppy disks. Pissing off legitimate game owners with pointless security measures will do absolutely nothing to protect a company from piracy. Plain and simple. In fact it annoyed me so much I may just pirate my next game completely. At least the pirate version won't come on multiple disks, and won't require me to enter any stupid numbers or insert any CDs.

When games makers make it more annoying to buy a game and use it legitimately than to download an illegal copy and play it, they are simply hurting themselves. It's the same concept with Norton Antivirus. I stopped buying that software a few years ago because not only did it become the most pitiful and useless bloatware, but their registration process made me feel like a total dick, not a feeling I expect to have thrust upon me when I purchase some software.

So it's time I end my rant since my 268Mb patch has just finished downloading from the site. Hopefully I will now actually get to play the game, and hopefully it will be worth the wait. Bring on the zombies...