2K responds to BioShock PC copy protection issue, ignores PS3 code mention

by Alexander Sliwinski { Aug 22nd 2007 at 7:28PM }

After watching developers trying to get BioShock up and running (pictured) at the launch party, and listening to a fair share of Vista complaining -- this BioShock copy protection issue is just another straw on the camel's back of fear in meddling with anything that requires a beyond up-to-date PC rig in the Vista era. 2K has calmed the copy protection issue saying simply "the only people who will be concerned about any of these security measures are those who are rapidly putting BioShock on many PCs."

Another little tidbit found is that the PC version of BioShock mentions the PS3 in the PC demo code. Currently the game is only confirmed for the PC and Xbox 360, which we're sure sits very well for Microsoft given the buzz and acclaim. We also know that Microsoft isn't afraid to buy exclusive content, specifically with Take-Two. So even if this is leftover code for a PS3 version, that project may have been unceremoniously squashed many fathoms ago -- but there is no way to know at this point if this code is leftover by 2K Boston or Epic in their Unreal Engine 3. Take-Two will not even comment on this issue, and it's a special kind of no comment too. They won't comment to the point where there's not even an official "no comment" to the question of what this coding means.

Read: 2K responds to copy protection issue
Read: BioShock PC config file hints strongly at a PS3 version

Tags: 2KBoston, bioshock, irrational, ps3, taketwo, ue3

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

N-Zero @ Aug 22nd 2007 7:41PM

its coming to ps3 OMG the 360 is da DOOMED

/sarcasm

Neebs @ Aug 22nd 2007 7:42PM

How about they respond to why the SecuROM bullshit is also in the Steam version? Seriously. What the fuck is that?

spaghetti @ Aug 23rd 2007 5:54AM

it's the same reason why protections are in the demos: to not help crackers find them.

ExMcloud @ Aug 22nd 2007 7:46PM

So how much money will MS pay to keep Bio Shock Exclusive? Or Did they already pay? Let the bidding begin........

Poisoned Al @ Aug 22nd 2007 7:49PM

God I hate copy protection. You know full well it'll be cracked in under a week, so the only people it will annoy is legitimate owners of the game. Also, I for one don't like the idea of people getting info on my machine without my consent, and I don't consider "give us your info or you can't play the game you paid for" consent.

DaMan09 @ Aug 23rd 2007 12:19AM

You did hear it from me, but it already is cracked .>

DaMan09 @ Aug 23rd 2007 1:27AM

I mean you DIDN'T hear it from me .>

dsub @ Aug 22nd 2007 7:50PM

Funny. That photo is what me and my friends looked like at 12:01am EST when the damn resigtration servers weren't up yet and we couldn't play Bioshock. We went through all the trouble of bringing our PC's over to a friends house to play, only to find that we wouldn't be able to play until around 4 or 5 am.

Thanks 2k. I thought I was allowed to play my games when I bought them on the street date. Oh well. It's up and running now.

N-Zero @ Aug 22nd 2007 7:50PM

What ever alls I know is that Microsoft still isn't making monbey off the xbox division so MS is basically wasting money on a product bringing in no profit. That is by far the stupiest thing ever for a company to do. But I still get kickass games on my 360 even though they make no money. But overall MS is a screwed. I give the xbox division a another year till maybe MS puts their footdown on the Xbox division.

ExMcloud @ Aug 22nd 2007 7:54PM

Halo 3 is expected to bring them in the black and based on the pre-orders I wouldn't doubt it. Plus the other divisions make so much money they're not crying over the gaming division yet.

E.J. @ Aug 22nd 2007 8:32PM

So, by your reasoning, Sony should quit on the PS3 right now. Right?

Nice try, dude. Aside from Sony and Microsoft being companies that make money on a lot of other things beside their respective consoles, the gaming industry is far too lucrative for them to "put the foot down" on their gaming divisions.

severian00 @ Aug 22nd 2007 10:35PM

Atari, Madcatz, and a ton other companies don't make any money or in other words show a loss. Are you saying all of them should stop doing business? Most internet companies don't show a profit either. Fact is, when it works, it is very good to be in the videogame business.

Rare Hare @ Aug 23rd 2007 12:32AM

Actually, E.J., the thing is that Microsoft has still yet to do anything but lose money on the Xbox at all. The original Xbox lost them something like 4 billion dollars and as far as I know they haven't made anything on the 360 yet.

The difference between Microsoft and Sony here is that Sony actually makes a profit off their games division. In fact, it's one of their only financially successful departments right now.

ssuk @ Aug 23rd 2007 4:34AM

They don't make money off HARDWARE SALES, they make money of licencing from companies putting their games on the console. They then make up costs over various other things like Xbox Live, additional hardware and so forth.

If Nintendo wasn't taking the easy route and using out-dated hardware, they'd be in the same shit too. It's been this way in the gaming industry since... I can't even remember. And if there was no money to be had in the gaming industry, why do you think companies are still in it?

N-Zero @ Aug 22nd 2007 7:54PM

oohhh forgot to mention my last comment was repley to ExMcloud

N-Zero @ Aug 22nd 2007 8:01PM

ExMcloud maybe Halo 3 might bring them out of the black. But I doubt it after spending 1.5 billion dollars on the whole warrenty thing and losing money annually every fiscal year it'll be awhile till they get out of the black. Maybe in a year or two they'll be out but not in the next 6 months for sure

upz @ Aug 23rd 2007 10:17AM

You mean out of the red, into the black.

Shawn @ Aug 22nd 2007 8:07PM

I was initially bummed about the copy protection but apparently it can be activated as many times as you need, so long you deactivate it by simply uninstalling the game. Bad news is that if your hdd crashes, you're out one license with one left. Also, on the forums they replied that you can call the 2k hotline in case that happens.

I'm not to keen on these sort of things, especially since I have the game locked to my STEAM account, and that can only be used once at a time already. WTF were they thinking by enforcing it on STEAM as well? Oh well,

I guess us PC Gamers are just supposed to be happy we still get to play games. /sarcasm

brandon @ Aug 22nd 2007 8:11PM

Frak 2K. "the only people who will be concerned about any of these security measures are those who are rapidly putting BioShock on many PCs."

NO, sorry bub, but that's not true. DRM/Spyware that phones home to report on your install concerns EVERYONE. I'm glad I didn't run out and buy this PoS. I don't like being spied on by my government and phone company (AT&T) and I don't like being spied on by a frakin' game publisher.

Oh, look, the DRM's been cracked, and it's only Wednesday. That was an effective use of eleventy billion dollars.

Jake @ Aug 23rd 2007 12:30AM

Dude, don't forget your tin-foil hat. You've been "spied" on your entire life, and you will continue to be "spied" on as long as you live. Get used to it.

However, I must agree that this copy protection is a bit ridiculous.

AoE @ Aug 22nd 2007 8:17PM

Bioshock runs on UE3, right? It's not unreasonable to believe that UE3 supports PS3, right? I mean it may not fully support it right now, but seriously ps3 fanboys, calm down. Most likely that bit in the config file (remember, it's JUST a generic description of that particular setting kids) is related to the engine... not Bioshock specifically.

Cluckyx @ Aug 22nd 2007 8:26PM

I am if nothing else disappointed.

Bioshock enjoys it's major fanbase in the dedicated gamer demographic. And as such, DRM protection on a game is absolute poison.
Does no one remember the problems starbase caused for gamers and game developers alike a few years ago?

People who know how to find a crack will have bypassed this by the time it becomes a problem. The only people who this is going to hurt are the ones who bought it legitimately and hard a hardware faliure or weren't totally sure on what they were doing.

Falkinator @ Aug 22nd 2007 8:32PM

I'm so happy I'm out of the PC arms race. I've been a long time gamer, back to the Doom days, I eventually got too old to spend time dealing with PC upgrades / copy protection. Last game I upgraded for on my PC was Half-Life 2, 6600GTS ftw. At least consoles don't have to deal with securom. I'm surprised that people are still held to this with STEAM. Long live the 360.

N-Zero @ Aug 22nd 2007 8:34PM

I hope this game does go to ps3. That way it can get the recognition it deserves by all audiences as for me I have a 360 so it doesn't matter

caramelzappa @ Aug 22nd 2007 8:56PM

If it came to the PS3, no one would care more about the PS3, because it would be just another port. A port of a good game, yes, but since it wouldn't be exclusive it wouldn't make the PS3 any more attractive.

lessbiasedthanmost @ Aug 22nd 2007 10:17PM

So if a game goes multiplatform from PS3 to the 360 is it "Just another port"? (see GTA:IV and Devil May Cry)

N-Zero @ Aug 22nd 2007 8:39PM

E.J what I was trying to say is that they will put their foot down in spending to much money on their game diviosion. Lets face it if they still don't make profit off their divisions soon, their stock holders are gonna want some answers. By putting their foot down they'll limit spending any more corperate money till the system actually starts getting somewhere financialy(is that how u spell it) well i still go by what I say I give them another year till they finally put a limit on spending money on that division.

caramelzappa @ Aug 22nd 2007 8:51PM

Ugh. 2k messed this up on so many levels. The point of having a game on steam instead of buying the nice retail package is so that the game is bound to your account, not the machine. The entire point of it being released on steam is "play as soon as the game is available" which isn't even 2 days after the release day for some people becuase securom doesn't like their system for some reason. They responded to the outrage caused by securom but they still haven't begun to fix the many legitimate customers who cannot activate because of it, while pirates are already enjoying the game. Constant crashes and shutdowns lead many users to believe the game wasn't even tested before it shipped. I was going to go out and buy this game today, I've been excited for it since the first videos came out, but I don't know anymore. I'm terribly dissapointed. Reviewers may say it's a good game, but there's nothing good about a game half it's owners can't play.

As for the ps3 mention, they're not commenting because they have real problems in their game to address the unreal engine was designed with the 360, pc, and ps3 in mind so of course it has references to all three, and irrational was too busy making the game to go through deleting any references to a system it didn't support in the code.

N-Zero @ Aug 22nd 2007 8:59PM

Cramelzappa I was talking about the game lugnut. Not the PS3. So the game BIOSHOCK can get the recognition it deserves and be played by a larger audience, besides the 360 and PC gmaers.

Jake @ Aug 22nd 2007 9:40PM

MS quite possibly didn't pay a penny for exclusivity. It isn't like every 3rd party game that isn't on PS3 was somehow bought and paid for by MS. There are other reasons for devs to not release games on every platform under the sun. It happens all the time.

Dan @ Aug 22nd 2007 10:02PM

The copy protection thing is a load of arse... I buy the game, want to install it on my PC, and maybe laptop, after that I can only install it one more machine again, ever? What about when I upgrade my PC hardware, and when I upgrade to vista.

Right there are four instances where I will legitimately have to install bioshock in the next 12 months, on 'different' machines. Do I have to buy it twice?

Savok @ Aug 22nd 2007 10:08PM

This on top of the widescreen thing... way to ruin all the hard work the artists and designers put in, an instant classic degraded by stupid bullshit.

Jesus christ, nothing works properly these days.

DA360 @ Aug 23rd 2007 12:31AM

Well, I can understand them trying to protect the game especally considering piracy is one of the big reasons some developers are shying away from developing PC games now these days. But when it becomes an issue to deal with then its just an annoyance. Plus, despite how well they try to protect it, people will find ways around it.

I bought the PC version of the game, and think its great and been enjoying the game so far. The only hiccup was with trying to activate the game my second Windows install. I have Windows Vista x64 and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition installed on my PC and it activated and ran just fine on Vista but when I came to activating it on XP, it didn't work. I just emailed them and they told me to try it again, and it worked just fine. So apparently they can reset the activation if needed.

But I would of thought that 2K would of had a presentation version prepared without any kind of activation so they didn't have to go though that, or at least get a special key that allows activation on a large amount of PCs. Then again, their not even for it if you read earlier interviews, saying they had to "unfortunately" add it.

Personally, I am good on both sides of the gaming spectrum (consoles with Xbox 360, Wii and PC, as well as portables with my DS) so I am happy either way. I also am against fanboyism so I am open to any platform, with the exception of the PS3 (only platform I have any dislike towards, many because of Sony's poor business tactics with the console, the hardware choices and whatnot) but it had some good games that I would want to play, I wouldn't hesitate to sit down and play it.

Darkiewonder @ Aug 23rd 2007 12:33AM

There's another thing that's access denied when it comes to inserting the disc in an uncommon slot.

DA360 @ Aug 23rd 2007 12:37AM

Also, I think as someone else suggested, this might just be a standard commonplace file for multiple games for 2K (because I am sure some of these files exist on the Xbox 360 versions disc as well) and isn't centralised just around BioShock. Heck, it could even be just a standard file for the Unreal Engine 3 code base. So this doesn't immeaditly suggest the game will actually see light of day on PS3.

However if it did come out on PS3, then it would mean more people would have the opportunity to enjoy this excellent game.