2K Games has been pretty quick to respond to issues with Bioshock on PC raised by US punters that have had the game since Tuesday, in particular addressing complaints about copy protection and activation problems and widescreen frustrations.
In brief, Bioshock's SecuROM copy protection has come under fire for, among other things, only allowing two simultaneous installs of the game on different PCs and issues the copy protection raises with reinstalling the game. On the widescreen front, it emerged that the way the image is manipulated for that format is actually resulting in a loss of the amount of viewable image when compared to normal screen mode.
2K has issued the following lengthy statement in response to all this:
We have been reading and listening to your frustrations over SecuROM, PC activation problems, and technical support issues since BioShock launched on Tuesday, and we've devised a plan to help.
Starting immediately, we will be upping the activation count to a 5 by 5 plan. We will be raising the maximum amount of computers a user can have BioShock installed on simultaneously from 2 to 5, and allowing a user to reinstall BioShock on each of those computers from 3 times to 5 times.
Also, we have in the works a revoke tool which you will be able to run on your machine if you want to free up that key and move it to to another computer (this works very much like Steam or iTunes system). We are also working with SecuROM and 2K customer service, so that when you do need to call in support problems, you get answers to your questions faster, without much waiting or being bounced around.
SecuROM has been given much more autonomy to help fix your problems quickly and effectively. I am personally sorry for anyone who got bounced around in the past couple days (I even think I contributed to this problem) and we're going to make sure that does not happen in the future.
As for other technical issues, we are bringing on a team of tech support that will be on the 2K forums 24/7 to help people resolve their technical issues. Our QA guys are in the offices and on the forums, too, reproducing issues and looking for workarounds and compiling information that they can put towards making you a patch and updating the knowledge base.
Also, we are aware that our activation server went down last night, stopping some of you from finishing your installs. The server is up and running now and we have corrected the problem that caused that crash.
Finally, we have released a FAQ, which you can view in full below (and will also be posted on the 2K Forums in the Technical Support area) that will help clear up a lot of questions and misinformation that has been floating around about SecuROM and PC activation.
And as for widescreen, we also want to say we completely understand a user's desire to augment their FOV. BioShock is a harrowing experience, but we don't want anyone to feel limited (or motion sick!). So we are in the process of working on an official PC patch to give widescreen PC users a choice to expand their horizontal FOV, and are investigating creating a similar update for the 360.
And finally, I want to personally congratulate Racer_S from the Widescreen Gaming Forums, and his awesome user patch to expand the widescreen FOV in BioShock. I'm currently tracking him down via email, but hopefully, he'll accept my gratitude, and maybe an Nvidia 8800 to boot.
its about time they did something, especially on the activation limit of 2, i have dual boot, thats the 2 activations gone, throw in a gfx card and pray that the uninstall will release the activation, or harddrive failure->bang no more activations
Its good that the responded so quickly, but it really is getting stupid for PC gaming. I mean it has DVD protection( disk must be in drive ), Steam protection( activation is tied to steam account ) AND this crappy Sony rootkit Securom . How many damn protections do they need?
I'd give my opinion on the 360 version's FOV however my Collector's Edition from Game still hasn't arrived despite my copy of Blue Dragon, despatched at the same time, arriving on Wednesday.
The worst thing is, it's only the people that really buy the game that will be ristricted by this over the top copy protection.
The people who get the game illegaly will have all this crap stripped out.
2K games seems to be promoting piracy!
i agree, same thing happened when Lost Planet came out and had the stupid must always be online restriction and if your net went down the game just died and didnt save your progress. Even though i had the full game, i had to get some of the pirated stuff just to play the damn thing
I don't see why they couldn't have just tied it with Steam. I know you can buy it off Steam and then that copy is tied with Steam, but why not have the boxed version force you to use Steam? A la Half-Life 2. Whilst this caused a lot of problems for people back when HL2 was first released, Steam has become a million more times reliable since then, and I can bet that pretty much anyone who has BioShock PC also has Steam anyway, so they won't have to do a full Steam install. Just my two pennies.
Wow, wasn't expecting such a lengthy reply so soon. The reply last night was honest, but small and tepid. I'm pleased anyway. Just picked up my PC version from Gamestation. The massive special edition boxset (with great, sturdy looking but actually slightly feeble Big Daddy figure) is only a fiver more than the plastic box version if anyone's wondering. Soundtrack and tin case to boot. Go get!
It does raise the question again of what exactly all this copy protection stuff is doing.
The game's available to download from all the usual places, and can be installed and run in no time at all. It didn't slow the pirates down, and it isn't stopping the people who've downloaded it. It's only causing issues for those who've bought the game legitimately.
Anyone else feel that copy protection in it's current guise is an absolute waste of effort ?
It does raise the question again of what exactly all this copy protection stuff is doing.
The game's available to download from all the usual places, and can be installed and run in no time at all. It didn't slow the pirates down, and it isn't stopping the people who've downloaded it. It's only causing issues for those who've bought the game legitimately.
Anyone else feel that copy protection in it's current guise is an absolute waste of effort ?
Yep, total waste of effort, would have been fine to leave it linked to the steam account. Ive sometimes downloaded pirated stuff to see what its like and if i like it ill buy the game, the only thing to disuade pirating is to patch the games regularly, cos it usually means a full 4 gig download everytime you want the latest patched version. They should patch this crappy Sony root kit Securom protection
It's nice that they stepped up with an admission and a resolution. Fair play to them for that.
Not like the stinking turds who deal with the Battlefield II expansion packs who hate everyone in the world and want no one to play their games. Bastards.
It's nice that they stepped up with an admission and a resolution. Fair play to them for that.
Not like the stinking turds who deal with the Battlefield II expansion packs who hate everyone in the world and want no one to play their games. Bastards.
lol, or the bigger idiots that are Atari( TDU support, grrrrrr ) or Ubisoft and the $hit support for Vegas 6
You have to take your hats off to the devs for directly addressing the issue, and the way they're are responding. I know it shouldn't have happened in the first place but I believe it was Will Ferrel who said "To err is human, to forgive divine".
I won't bother buying straight away then I'll wait untill some clever chap cracks the game to strip out the copy protection and then buy it (hopefully second hand ). I've had enough problems in the past with secuROM, there's nothing worse than buying a game that you can't play how you want to play it.
This sort of thing is killing PC gaming, you only have to read the above posts and other threads to see that people would rather buy games for consoles because of all the crap that installing and playing a PC game involves
I won't bother buying straight away then I'll wait untill some clever chap cracks the game to strip out the copy protection and then buy it (hopefully second hand ). I've had enough problems in the past with secuROM, there's nothing worse than buying a game that you can't play how you want to play it.
This sort of thing is killing PC gaming, you only have to read the above posts and other threads to see that people would rather buy games for consoles because of all the crap that installing and playing a PC game involves
Yep, and there was all that talk about PC gaming on the decline...
Well it aint going to change if this is a sign of things to come from the big popular games.
That £300/400 console looks mighty tempting when you know the big games are guaranteed to play on them with no p**sing about with activations, protection instillations and minimum specification knowing you may well have to buy a brand new top end GFX card just to play them..... again!
I'd just like to say that I encountered no problems whatsoever during installation or during gameplay. But I'm against the maximum number of installs. If I buy the game I should be entitled to do whatever I like with it (except handing out copies to others).
Agreed!! This type of stupid and severe copy protection will promote piracy. I was also considering purchasing the game but not now, to hell with that. No wonder the console folks are laughing at us. Do you remember the day when your local computer store was 60% PC games... Today, it's two shelves!! By all means, protect your software creations, but when you go to extreme lenghts like this, the only folks your penalising are the loyal customers. Well, you've lost my custom. I won't be buying Bio Shock. I dread to think what Crysis will ship with given it's such a massively antipated title. You'll probably need to contact the FBI to install the game!
Aye, I'm having trouble activating my copy right now, so I'll be returning it for a refund and looking for a crack.
And from this point forwards, I'm never going to buy another game with copy protection again. I'm sick of being treated like a tosser. Piracy ftw.
(And I'll also save myself at least £50 a month.)
You're fed up of spending at least 50 pounds per month on games.
I read in a post of yours a while ago that you never have time to play all the games you buy.
I'm putting 2 and 2 together and suggesting that you don't buy so many games!!
And if you have got games that you don't want, how about selling them on ebay or amazon marketplace to get some money in so you can buy the odd game that you really want to play as soon as you buy it, like bioshock - not just any major release. afterall, ship simulator 2007 is a major release, but i won't be buying it!
Yep, and there was all that talk about PC gaming on the decline...
Well it aint going to change if this is a sign of things to come from the big popular games.
That £300/400 console looks mighty tempting when you know the big games are guaranteed to play on them with no p**sing about with activations, protection instillations and minimum specification knowing you may well have to buy a brand new top end GFX card just to play them..... again!
Yeah, but, have you factored in the cost of a half decent television to make your console games look half as good as they will do on a clean, crisp PC monitor?
Plus that console has a lifespan of 4, maybe 5 years, maximum, before they expect you to shell out another half a grad for the next "next generation" console, £50 (or even £60 by then) games, all the expensive peripherals, and then the charges for things like Xbox Live on top of your broadband bill.
On the other hand, your PC monitor will outdo any fancy bottom HDTV monitor, and will cost a lot less.
PC's are modular in nature, so instead of looking at £300, £400 or even £500 every 4 years for a new console that has a limited lifespan, you can gradually upgrade bits and pieces of your PC as time goes by, for a lot less too as long as you aren't some sort of technophile who has to have the very latest, bleeding edge, so-sharp-it'll-cut-your-hair-from-across-the-room technology.
PC games are also a hell of a lot cheaper than their console equivalents. Bioshock, normal edition from Game's website right now: on PC, it's £25, whilst on Xbox 360, it's £40. That's a huge difference. That £15 could get me one, two or even three other games on sale from Play.com. Console games are massively overpriced, and you do and will pay through the nose for them.
Multiplayer gaming. With a console, they're fully expecting you to shell out on top of your broadband internt bill for something the PC has had totally free for years, using such wonderful programs as Xfire, The All Seeing Eye, Gamespy, etc.
Yes, so PC's are fiddly, and can be temperamental too. But then... Red Ring of Death, anyone? Consoles aren't exactly infallable either.
PC's are quirky, but thats the price you pay for better quality games at a smaller price.
This whole debacle is a really stupid thing to happen though, Levine, looking at you here...
god what a load of moaning whingers! the devs have said they are fixing the issues with securom and upping the install limit to 5 (which i think is plenty for the average user (and after which a wee phone call gets you going again)) all you guys saying "oh i was gonna buy this but not now - they can shove it" i really just dont understand you. this is a truly great game and one of the best releases of the year so far so why avoid it because of a few teething problems? half-life2 had similar issues at launch but did you aviod that? if your answer is yes then i can only imagine you are not proper pc gamer.
i downloaded the game from steam while i was at work yesterday and played it all last night. no install problems and the gameplay is amazing. It runs perfectly on my (entry level)dual core x1950 system using windows xp and no crashes, lockups or stuttering which is quite an achievement. The interactive environment is a joy and the combinations of takedowns you can do with your weapons/abilities/eve powers makes for entertaining combat
incidentally @ the guy who reckons there were 60% pc games coverage in the local games shop - what bloody shop was that? i have never seen pc games anywhere near the front of a shop like game, electronics boutique or anything else. we've always been an afterthought while they catered for their main audience, the nes/snes/megadrive/playstation/xbox childies whose parents have all the money!
god what a load of moaning whingers! the devs have said they are fixing the issues with securom and upping the install limit to 5 (which i think is plenty for the average user (and after which a wee phone call gets you going again)) all you guys saying "oh i was gonna buy this but not now - they can shove it" i really just dont understand you. this is a truly great game and one of the best releases of the year so far so why avoid it because of a few teething problems? half-life2 had similar issues at launch but did you aviod that? if your answer is yes then i can only imagine you are not proper pc gamer.
You are prejudging people without giving it any thought, which is usually the realm of children or the stupid. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and just call you misguided instead
Many people have valid reasons for not wanting to put up with this kind of invasive protection. While I agree that something is needed to stop the casual copying (You wont stop pirates forever afterall) this is too far over the top.
When I pay full price for a game it becomes my property, there is absolutely no reason for me to be forced to phone a third party company to be able to install it again just because I like to keep my system clean and hence reformat/reinstall everything multiple times each year.
Finally, Securom has issues with some other software, it's been known about for some time and ignored by the people behind it. This has the unfortunate side effect of conflicting with software I use for work and that means until 2k sort this mess out and dump Securom then I won't be buying it.
god what a load of moaning whingers! the devs have said they are fixing the issues with securom and upping the install limit to 5 (which i think is plenty for the average user (and after which a wee phone call gets you going again)) all you guys saying "oh i was gonna buy this but not now - they can shove it" i really just dont understand you. this is a truly great game and one of the best releases of the year so far so why avoid it because of a few teething problems? half-life2 had similar issues at launch but did you aviod that? if your answer is yes then i can only imagine you are not proper pc gamer.
That phrase really annoys me. Define a proper PC gamer. I know people who did and still have avoided HL2 because they don't agree with the whole system.
i downloaded the game from steam while i was at work yesterday and played it all last night. no install problems and the gameplay is amazing. It runs perfectly on my (entry level)dual core x1950 system using windows xp and no crashes, lockups or stuttering which is quite an achievement. The interactive environment is a joy and the combinations of takedowns you can do with your weapons/abilities/eve powers makes for entertaining combat
That is not an "entry level" system, to me. Try looking at the Steam user statistics, I think you'll find you (and I, for my system is similar) are above average, and Bioshock was created with Dual core systems primarily in mind.
incidentally @ the guy who reckons there were 60% pc games coverage in the local games shop - what bloody shop was that? i have never seen pc games anywhere near the front of a shop like game, electronics boutique or anything else. we've always been an afterthought while they catered for their main audience, the nes/snes/megadrive/playstation/xbox childies whose parents have all the money!
Long live pc gaming!!
I too would like to see this shop as well My local Game store has shrunk its' PC section in half over the last week, so I now have to rub shoulders with the horrible little PS2 kids in a corner of the shop. My local Gamestation is just as bad too.
You're better off buying over the internet from Play these days really. Cheaper prices, much wider selection too.
ok, a couple of follow up points for clarification. i'd define a proper pc gamer as a the kind of person who doesnt mind a little tinkering to get a game running smoothly because they understand that pc gaming is not like console gaming. the ability to pick up and play, while convenient, is very rarely evident in pc gaming today (perhaps there is a greater wealth of possible system configurations than before?) if someone avoided hl2 because of copy protection issues, or a dislike of steam, then i think they are really missing out on an excellent piece of pc games history and the only one who is suffering by it is themselves. I had issues activating steam at the beginning when their servers overloaded, but i stuck with it and this is the crux of the pc gamer - willing to stick it out for the reward of excellent gaming with a control system that beats the consoles hands down (mouse/keys). I'm sorry if that offends anyone
there are more factors to be considered by a pc development team than on a console (where the copy protection is more hardware based) and thus we have these meddlesome copy protection systems to combat piracy. let me just state that i can understand where you are coming from and sympathise with those who are having issues installing the game, but i think it is a refreshing change to see these issues immediately recognised by the devs and changes are to be made. i too dislike these systems intensely but i cant see a feasible alternative to this. the main reason i chose to download the software by steam is i hate having to load the disk to play a game (as i invariably loose them!) and i find steam the best of a bad bunch of choices in this respect.
on and a small point about the "entry level system". sorry that wasnt clear, it was the processor that was an entry level dual core, thats the point i was making. its an intel 4300 i think which is the cheapest and lacks the extra cache memory. still runs like a dream tho
I know this is pretty insane, and way over the top, but what other way to get their attention even easier... It only takes less than five minutes per form
I'm contacting the Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau about 2k games' use of the securom 5-install bulls**t.
My college's help-desk slicked my hdd without telling me and took away one of my install chances. after I install it again.... that leaves three more installs, wtf if I have a hdd crash, need the HD space, etc?
Join with me and contact them both. Here is the info so it will take no time at all to complain:
https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01 <--- to file a complaint with the FTC
http://complaint.bbb.org/ <--- to file a complaint with the BBB
here is 2k Games's basic info that you will need
Product: Bioshock PC edition. Address: 622 Broadway New York, New York 10012
Tel: 646 723 4200
email: inquiries@2kgames.com
website: http://www.2kgames.com
And this is what I put as my complaint, and you can use it in your own form to make filing this complaint easy for you:
"2k Games' software title Bioshock (PC) has a special program added to it by SecuROM that only allows you to install the program five times. After that you have to purchase the game all over again. This is simply ridiculous. I involuntarily had my hard drive erased by a tech/help center at my college, since my motherboard was faulty, and the Bioshock (PC) program was the likely culprit or one of many. This took one of my chances of installing the software away. This means after I install it again, I will only have three chances. What if my hard-drive fails, or I run out of space and need to delete it or some other computer malfunction causes me to need to uninstall it. I really think that limiting the install times is bordering unfair practice from a company. It would be like buying a $50 dvd-movie and only allowed to watch it five times, when you legally own it. It's insane!"
If we get enough people to do it, maybe we can get something done about it....
Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, UK BA1 2BW England and Wales company registration number 2008885
. How many damn protections do they need?
). I've had enough problems in the past with secuROM, there's nothing worse than buying a game that you can't play how you want to play it. 
