InsaneAnomalyJoin Date: 2002-05-13Member: 605Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, NS2 Map Tester, Subnautica Developer, Pistachionauts, Future Perfect Developer
<!--quoteo(post=2035611:date=Nov 27 2012, 06:18 AM:name=That_Annoying_Kid)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (That_Annoying_Kid @ Nov 27 2012, 06:18 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=2035611"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->the one I remember was the Island of Dr Brain where you had to know the coordinates based on symbols in the book<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Hah, I was just thinking about that one. The really silly thing is that you could get through a substantial portion of the game before hitting that.
One of the worst copy protections was LensLok (I think that's what it was called) - games had a prism you had to place according to the game in a book (edit: I think you had to hold the lens up to the screen, which was even more hit and miss, due to the possible variation in display sizes), in order to decipher the code to let it load... Elite on the Simclair Spectrum (aka Timex 1000 I think in the US) was one of them.
That said, Ubisoft have pretty much cornered the market on recent copy protection sh!te.
...unless of course, you want to include any company that insists on bringing scam legal action against the owner of random IP addresses they obtained via a company that has been using software ruled illegal in (IIRC) Austria and Germany, demanding money with menaces (typically asking for ~£600 and insisting you sign a document saying you'll never pirate again !). Codemasters - we're looking at you here, you shower of ######.
Last words:
I will never buy a Ubisoft or Codemasters game as a result.
PS: following on from Sony forcing rootkits on users (which also infected the US military systems), they're also on my "no f*cking chance you're getting my money" list :-)
Or remember Diablo, you could bring your game disc to a friend's house and install the demo version... or you could just go ahead and install the full version, didn't matter.
That_Annoying_KidSire of TitlesJoin Date: 2003-03-01Member: 14175Members, Constellation
<!--quoteo(post=2035255:date=Nov 26 2012, 01:34 PM:name=include)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (include @ Nov 26 2012, 01:34 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=2035255"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Having to flip to page X, paragraph Y and word Z of your gaming manual to verify you own a legit copy of a game?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
oh yeah, Tony La Rusa baseball on the PC did this very method
The one that sticks in my memory was a code booklet for Sim City on the amiga that was printed on 'photocopy-proof' paper. Trying to read black ink text in a tiny font on dark brown paper really pushes the boundaries of legibility :P
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One of the old gold box games came with a decoder wheel that you had to use to decipher dwarven/elvish runes...
Hah, I was just thinking about that one. The really silly thing is that you could get through a substantial portion of the game before hitting that.
That said, Ubisoft have pretty much cornered the market on recent copy protection sh!te.
...unless of course, you want to include any company that insists on bringing scam legal action against the owner of random IP addresses they obtained via a company that has been using software ruled illegal in (IIRC) Austria and Germany, demanding money with menaces (typically asking for ~£600 and insisting you sign a document saying you'll never pirate again !). Codemasters - we're looking at you here, you shower of ######.
Last words:
I will never buy a Ubisoft or Codemasters game as a result.
PS: following on from Sony forcing rootkits on users (which also infected the US military systems), they're also on my "no f*cking chance you're getting my money" list :-)
oh yeah, Tony La Rusa baseball on the PC did this very method
Yes...