EA drops draconian DRM

12 May 2008 | 08:13 BST

By Wily Ferret

ELECTRONIC ARTS HAS backed down from its plan to ship uber-draconian DRM software on two of its top PC releases for the year, Mass Effect and Spore.

We previously brought you the details on the software here. The gist is that Securom's latest software not only phones home to activate when you install, it re-authenticates every ten days thereafter - and if it suspects anything is up, it will happily nobble itself.

Unsurprisingly, the interwibblers went absolutely nuts over the suggestion that they might actually be required to have their internet connections active whilst on the PC. Or at least, to be using their always-on connection for something other than downloading warez.

EA has 'fessed up and Bioware, maker of Mass Effect, said:"We made this decision to ensure we are delivering the best possible experience," although we suspect that the standard Securom software now included isn't exactly a breeze, either.

The games will now only authenticate with internet servers once upon installation. This obviously won't solve the problem where gamers want to be able to install the game on multiple machines at once, and also won't solve the 'Bioshock' issue, where the launch day traffic to activation servers takes them down, resulting in lots of gamers unable to play.

The full statement from Bioware is over here. A more controversial hack than we might suggest is that it is just simpler to play Mass Effect on Xbox 360. µ

© 2007 Incisive Media Investments Ltd. 2007