EA Releases DRM Management Tool

[Andy Chalk]

EA Releases DRM Management Tool

It's a bit late but still better than never: EA [http://www.ea.com] has released a "De-Authorization Management Tool" that can remove individual game authorizations, allowing them to be reused and moved between PCs.

The tool cannot remove the number of authorizations games are limited to; instead, it removes individual authorizations, allowing them to be used again elsewhere and in the future. Games that are de-authorized aren't automatically uninstalled, so users who want to play them again in the future can just re-authorize them and begin playing again. The system sounds very similar to the "activation revoke tool" BioShock [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/77926].

The tool will work with a number of recent EA releases including most pirated game [http://www.commandandconquer.com/redalert/] of 2008.

Download links and a full list of the games supported by EA's De-Authorization Management Tool are available here [http://activate.ea.com/deauthorize/].

via: Edge [http://www.edge-online.com/news/103/ea-rebels-against-its-own-drm]


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[ww2jacob]

Wow this actually looks legit. At least it links to what seems to be an EA website.

http://activate.ea.com/deauthorize/

I don't own any of these games or else I'd try it. ;-)

 

[johnman]

April fools!!

 

[GRoXERs]

Either this is legit, or you're being a very, VERY cruel person, Malygris.
Either way, it makes me happy.

 

[Rhayn]

I'm scared. They could've picked a better date to release something like this, gosh darnit.

 

[John Funk]

Ha ha, just kidding, guys! It's actually a rootkit!

Man, EA needs a better sense of timing.

(c)2009, Jordan Deam

 

[ww2jacob]

Well I got to this page from EA's support site. Haha.

http://support.ea.com/cgi-bin/ea.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=20876&p_created=1228840436&p_sid=v1QRafuj&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9NTcsNTcmcF9wcm9kcz03JnBfY2F0cz0wJnBfcHY9MS43JnBfY3Y9JnBfcGFnZT0xJnBfc2VhcmNoX3RleHQ9ZGVhdXRob3JpemF0aW9uIGtpdA**&p_li=&p_topview=1

Of course EA would be the ones to do something like this seriously on April 1.

 

[Nazulu]

Well it's about time they pulled that stick out of their ass now make with the good games!

 

[Baby Tea]

Seems like 'too little, too late' to me.
With so much damage done already, I'm not sure anything short of a complete DRM removal tool will really win any sort of trust.

 

[Royas]

Nope, not nearly good enough. I won't be buying any of their games with limited installs, even with this tool. It doesn't do me a damned bit of good if I lose a hard drive (which just happened on my previous computer), I still lose an activation. And frankly, I don't have the time to go through and download all of the individual deauthorization tools and run them one by one. Sorry, EA, you haven't gone nearly far enough to please me.

 

[RebornKusabi]

PC gamers are kinda annoying... a company admits that what they did was wrong and throws you guys a bone, yet all you do is ***** and moan about "not being good enough". They could have just ignored you or stopped releasing games on the PC all together like most companies are going to start doing (Crytek, Bungie, Epic, ect.) and instead release them on consoles.

Console games get pirated just as much as PC games but the difference here is that PC gamers relentlessly try to justify their thefts on easy targets like DRM when the simple fact is that PC gamers really feel they shouldn't pay for anything- I get it, you spent anywhere from $1000 to $3000 dollers (Not being converted into any other currency, too lazy to convert) on your badass computer and feel the need to play games on it but that still does not give PC gamers the right to steal other peoples hard work. We will see how you feel when you work hard on something and then someone steals it from you- I doubt you will justify their intentions... in fact, odds are you will demonize them and hate them because of it. I understand that and so do console gamers but oh no, anything on a PC should be free- right?

Oh and do not site Valve as a good idea here, they make you pay $50-$60 for a game then require you to install then game with an internet connection which doesn't help for people who do not have one. You don't see console companies make you HAVE TO have an internet connection in order to play or install a game so there is no reason why Valve does this aside from being a well-disguised version of anti-piracy... which doesn't work because I have heard about people being able to crack the disc so they don't have to do this.

What ever, go ahead and refute my points and justify yourselves, makes no difference to me.

 

[Crimsoneer]

Nope, not nearly good enough. I won't be buying any of their games with limited installs, even with this tool. It doesn't do me a damned bit of good if I lose a hard drive (which just happened on my previous computer), I still lose an activation. And frankly, I don't have the time to go through and download all of the individual deauthorization tools and run them one by one. Sorry, EA, you haven't gone nearly far enough to please me.

Damnation! We must redouble our efforts!

 

[xthetenth]

PC gamers are kinda annoying... a company admits that what they did was wrong and throws you guys a bone, yet all you do is ***** and moan about "not being good enough". They could have just ignored you or stopped releasing games on the PC all together like most companies are going to start doing (Crytek, Bungie, Epic, ect.) and instead release them on consoles.

The thing is it isn't good enough. Generally people like to maintain some expectation that when you buy a computer game you're within spitting distance of owning it. Having to remember to deactivate your installation is a reminder that you don't actually own the game and that if they decide they can't be bothered to run the authorization server, you can't install that game anymore. There you go, one $50 game you thought you owned gone forever. Imagine that console games were tied to your console unless you went through some pretty serious effort and if the publisher went out of business you couldn't play them anymore. Somehow I doubt that'd encourage you to go buy the game. What the hell kind of world is it when the knockoffs are a superior product in almost every quantifiable way except legality and the producers of the legal version expect that people won't want the knockoff? The reason that PC gaming is dying is because the suits who are running gaming into the ground are finding PC gaming far easier to kill with their idiocy. Between coming out with unwanted products and preventing people from actually owning them (read a EULA, fun stuff), it's no wonder people don't buy the majority of the dreck the big players are pushing out. And then there's the wonderful genii who think everybody has a top of the line video card and act surprised when nobody buys their game because most people are 2-3 generations behind.

 

[Yog Sothoth]

I'm waiting for the punchline....

 

[Logizomechanophobia]

It comes bundled with IE 8, har, har

... wait, that ain't funny...

 

[Royas]

Nope, not nearly good enough. I won't be buying any of their games with limited installs, even with this tool. It doesn't do me a damned bit of good if I lose a hard drive (which just happened on my previous computer), I still lose an activation. And frankly, I don't have the time to go through and download all of the individual deauthorization tools and run them one by one. Sorry, EA, you haven't gone nearly far enough to please me.

Damnation! We must redouble our efforts!

Ok, yeah, that did sound kind of pompous of me, didn't it.