Gears of War PC certificate expires, breaks game

by Richard Mitchell { Jan 29th 2009 at 3:54PM }

It looks like whoever pushes the button that renews the Gears of War PC certificate -- perhaps the relative of the guy that pushes the Zune button -- fell asleep at the switch. As of January 28, 2009, the certificate for Gears of War on the PC has expired, rendering it unplayable for any user with a later system date. The Gears of War forums are ablaze with reports of broken games, though many are reporting that simply changing the system clock to an earlier date will allow the game to run. It's not a permanent fix, obviously, but it should get the job done in the meantime.

According to Epic forum moderator joeGraf, Epic is aware of the situation and is "working with Microsoft to get it resolved."

[Via Ripten]

Tags: epic, epic-games, gears-of-war, gears-of-war-pc, mgs, microsoft-game-studios

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Peter Moore @ Jan 29th 2009 4:06PM

People play Gears on PC?

...why?

Zertoss @ Jan 29th 2009 4:10PM

Mods?

CJLopez @ Jan 29th 2009 4:11PM

MOUSE > STICK

thats my reason to play GoW on PC

Mike @ Jan 29th 2009 4:13PM

Better graphics? Additional content?

Moptimus Slime (Leader of the Ryan Scott Defense Force, Ultrastiq Revolutionary) @ Jan 29th 2009 4:14PM

"MOUSE > STICK"

thats not what your mother said

Dr Jeckyl and Mr ESC. @ Jan 29th 2009 4:15PM

Because it looks 10x better than in x360?

I know I have played it and boy is a different experience. Also the Lancer can actually kill someone ZOMG. The single player is also better.

Seriously in the x360 it feels I'm shooting peas.

The only problem is that n o one plays ranked, no one gives a damn about ranked but there are people still playing on player matches.

I say Gears is way better on PC.

Haggard @ Jan 29th 2009 4:20PM

I don't have a 360, and it's half the price of that version.

B @ Jan 29th 2009 4:47PM

Both versions are 30$

Haggard @ Jan 29th 2009 5:57PM

Not at launch.

Peter Moore @ Jan 29th 2009 8:24PM

Hurm... Some legitimate responses...

I concede.

Nick the Hero of Canton @ Jan 29th 2009 4:08PM

Oh DRM.

BigD145 @ Jan 29th 2009 7:05PM

Paying DRM companies to make games unplayable. Now that's an interesting way to make money. Let me guess; they lobby Republicans.

aristokrat @ Jan 29th 2009 4:09PM

Epic fail?

CJLopez @ Jan 29th 2009 4:12PM

looooooooooooooooooooooooooool

I see what you did there

Cr4sh Dummy @ Jan 29th 2009 4:15PM

The whole series have been an Epic fail.

Dr Jeckyl and Mr ESC. @ Jan 29th 2009 4:15PM

Nothing at all
nothing at all
nothing at all...

butaneko @ Jan 29th 2009 4:17PM

Ha nice icon... Stupid Sexy Solid Snake!

aristokrat @ Jan 29th 2009 4:54PM

It's like I'm wearing nothing at all!

Mack Swift @ Jan 29th 2009 4:09PM

As punishment, they should release Gears of Wars 2 on the PC.

CJLopez @ Jan 29th 2009 4:12PM

DUUUUUUUUUUUUUDE, ya beated me to this!!!!

Jajajajajajja, we though the same thing, jajajaja, scaaaaaaary

Mack Swift @ Jan 29th 2009 4:15PM

I really liked the first game on the PC (keyboard+mouse beats a controller hands down anyday), and I'd love to see the second one.

finaldarklord @ Jan 29th 2009 4:29PM

Haven't PC owners been punished enough?

... Oh, you meant punishment for Epic.

DangerMouse @ Jan 29th 2009 9:41PM

heh, funny that it's the same day that Epic announced that the retail Cd-key's for UT3 can be activated in steam, and the game will get a steamworks update in the near future.

Professor Lario @ Jan 29th 2009 4:11PM

Let me see if I get this right - the certificate wasn't updated, so the DRM shuts off the game. So you're telling me all that has to be done to get around the DRM is change the clock settings? Wow - wonder how much they paid for that rock solid security measure there....

Haggard @ Jan 29th 2009 4:22PM

This is also incredibly worrying in that games I pay for now, if I want to play again in 10 years - well, what company is gonna hire a guy to keep 'updating the clock' for a dead product?

NoughtSoClever @ Jan 29th 2009 5:28PM

No. The certificate still has to exist. The clock change is just so the DRM thinks that the certificate is still valid, in other words, that the certificate has not yet expired. To circumvent it, you'll have to resort to a crack, which I'm sure many will do seeing as how it's taken more than a day to resolve the issue.

Josh @ Jan 29th 2009 10:19PM

Seriously... Don't buy games with DRM, people.

Kevin949 @ Jan 29th 2009 4:16PM

they should just use 200 PS3's to crack verisign and renew it indefinitely.

Haggard @ Jan 29th 2009 4:22PM

That would be a very noisy room.

PSN: Aggie_CEO @ Jan 29th 2009 4:45PM

PS3 Noisy!?!?!?

seriously tho......its quieter than the 360......not to mention without a Disc Spinning it will be even quieter.....but it will be hot as a bitch in there......I have mine in the lving room and between that and the TV it gets 20 degrees hotter in there than the rest of the house....

Haggard @ Jan 29th 2009 5:58PM

You get 200 of those things together and try and argue that it's quiet. Or make yourself understood at all, for that matter :D

Doug @ Jan 29th 2009 7:44PM

@ PSN Aggie: Wtf. No one said it was quieter than the 360.
But really, why even include a certificate end date?

JoeTheBlow @ Jan 30th 2009 6:52AM

Volume is not cumulative. If the PS3 emits 30db, then two of them do NOT emit 60db.
200 PS3's would be as loud as the loudest one in the group. It might seem like more because the emitter would cover a greater area, but db wise it'd be the same.

Eric B @ Jan 29th 2009 4:21PM

What a rookie mistake...

Duke @ Jan 29th 2009 4:25PM

Oh c'mon, that's weak as hell.

Gemini Ace @ Jan 29th 2009 4:32PM

What's going on over there?!

Baby J Penn (PSN johnnynumber5) @ Jan 29th 2009 5:03PM

Rumor has it that they were working on an important update to GOW 2 on the 360. Something about a map pack ... i keed i keed

why not the LS2LS7? @ Jan 29th 2009 4:37PM

Oh. So I guess buying these games on disc so I could have them forever doesn't work either. Games are coming with built-in expiration dates?

All these companies need to eat shit and die.

PSN: Aggie_CEO @ Jan 29th 2009 4:39PM

well that sucks.........

I havent even touched mine in months.......

Brucie_K @ Jan 29th 2009 4:50PM

The PC version is buggy anyway, so who cares.

PSN: Aggie_CEO @ Jan 29th 2009 4:59PM

hackable yes.......I never noticed any bugs........

Brucie_K @ Jan 29th 2009 5:08PM

Does '' annoying framerate drops'' ring a bell?

You'd probably need some kind of high-tech computer from the future to play it smoothly. Or maybe Epic doesn't how to code properly.

Cr4sh Dummy @ Jan 29th 2009 5:19PM

Well, both 360 version are worse... you can't play a multiplayer match without somebody pulling some bullshit glitch.

Chin-Poh (I wuv you Yu Yu Hakusho Abridged!) @ Jan 29th 2009 6:23PM

My brother played it with a Geforce 7900GT and now Radeon HD4850 with no stutters, if there were any bugs, I think they have been pretty much squashed now.

PSN: Aggie_CEO @ Jan 29th 2009 7:34PM

yea I havent noticed any Framerate drops when I played........

opivyskaguy @ Jan 29th 2009 4:59PM

I ran into this issue yesterday.. been playing it because my xbox is in for repair. I actually think the PC version is the best version of gears, it looks ten times better than both games on the 360, and runs better as long as you have a good machine.

I was surprised when I got the error saying I had modified executable seeing as I didn't do anything other than play it normally. Even went through a reinstall of the game but still had the issue. Thankfully people figured out the trick of setting the clock back.. though it is a bit of an annoyance to have to do that, and it clearly shows where Games For Windows stacks on Microsoft's priority list.