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Thread: Progressive Copy Protection For Games

  1. #1
    uNz[i]'s Avatar Out of order
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    Games programmers 'subversive'
    Correspondents in Paris
    October 9, 2003

    COMPUTER games programmers have become subversive in the latest twist of their unending war against software pirates, the British weekly New Scientist reports in next Saturday's issue.

    In the latest innovation, games that are illegally copied work properly at first but after a while start to fall apart.

    Cars no longer steer, guns shoot off target or run out of bullets, and footballs fly away into space.

    Eventually the copy becomes so degraded that the player - in theory - goes out and buys a legal version of the game because he is so hooked.

    The new protection system, called Fade, is being introduced by a British games developer, Codemasters, and a Californian company, Santa Clara, which specialises in digital rights management.

    It works by exploiting the systems for error correction that computers use to cope with CD-ROMs or DVDs that have become scratched.

    Fade-protected software has fragments of "subversive" software designed to look like scratches. These are arranged in a subtle pattern on the disc, and are spotted by the game's master program, the report says.

    If the master program finds and identifies these scratches, the game will play as usual.

    But if somebody tries to copy the disc on a PC, the error-correcting routines built into the computer fix the apparent scratches.

    That means a "scratch-free" copy is generated, and so will be spotted by the master program as an unauthorised copy.

    But instead of switching off the game, Fade allows it to start up but subtly degrades it over time, in the hope of enticing the gamer into buying a legit version.

    The program has been proven in a new Codemasters game called Operation Flashpoint, and the next game to have it is a snooker game.

    "Copies play normally for a while, but after a predetermined number of potshots, gravity is progressively turned off so the balls start behaving oddly and end up floating over the table," New Scientist says.

    Macrovision intends to introduce the technology in DVDs from next year, so that copied discs stop playing at a key point in the movie's plot.

    Agence France-Presse
    Source:
    News.com.au

  2. Games   -   #2
    Octopussy
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    thats stupid hackers will get over that bull so fast

  3. Games   -   #3
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    one of these days youe gonna end up cussing hackers to the wrong person
    second if they used it with operation flash point why do so many people have it working and have never bought a copy?
    looks like hacker hero's already to the rescue eh ?

  4. Games   -   #4
    Alcohol 120% and cloneCd can both copy “scratches” on a CD I know this because I tryed to "repare" a playstation game full of scratches and the copy "got" all the scratches of the original
    So i don`t understand what the real "protection" is. Is it just bad sectors. If it is then it has been done already.

  5. Games   -   #5
    lol.... how bout we just go scratch up a disc? lol someone tell us where to scratch the disc n lets get a pencil lol

  6. Games   -   #6
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    no worries this will EASILY be beaten

  7. Games   -   #7
    Octopussy
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    Originally posted by noname12@13 October 2003 - 23:37
    one of these days youe gonna end up cussing hackers to the wrong person
    second if they used it with operation flash point why do so many people have it working and have never bought a copy?
    looks like hacker hero's already to the rescue eh ?
    what do u mean by ur first sentence?

    im no against hackers....except the retard who hacked valve, whose ass i wana kick

  8. Games   -   #8
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    Theory:

    Hackers design protection, Hackers design way round protection,
    Hackers sell protection to companies and make $$$, companies release games with protection,
    Hackers crack protection, and release cracked protected games for no $$$.

    Makes sence to me. You know considering most these companies hire hackers to protect there stuff.

  9. Games   -   #9
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    Originally posted by Octopussy+13 October 2003 - 23:46--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Octopussy @ 13 October 2003 - 23:46)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-noname12@13 October 2003 - 23:37
    one of these days youe gonna end up cussing hackers to the wrong person&nbsp;
    second if they used it with operation flash point why do so many people have it working and have never bought a copy?
    looks like hacker hero&#39;s already to the rescue eh ?
    what do u mean by ur first sentence?

    im no against hackers....except the retard who hacked valve, whose ass i wana kick [/b][/quote]
    I mean one day your going to cuss hackers in general, and maybe a hacker will be watching and decides to rape you internet style.

  10. Games   -   #10
    uNz[i]'s Avatar Out of order
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    Originally posted by noname12@14 October 2003 - 09:07
    one of these days youe gonna end up cussing hackers to the wrong person


    I&#39;m not cussing anybody. I&#39;m merely passing on information.

    Don&#39;t shoot the messenger.

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