All these massively restrictive things do is piss of the people that actually buy the games. Take Spore for example. I bought spore, installed it, tried to authorise it, failed. Had to ring the company, which was an Australian number but they weren’t open in Australian times. Eventually got a hold of the company and they recommended either formatting my computer or dual booting XP (since I had Vista) as a work around, but to email and they’d look into it from their end. 5 days later I got an email stating ‘Looks fine what you crying about’. Another 5 days or so passed (after I replied) and they said ‘Oh sorry, we had to change something, you’re good to go now’.

And, don’t even get me started on GTA4, which when you EVENTUALLY get it up and running, is buggy as hell anyhow.

They’re killing their customers. Between Australia not having a R18+ rating (so a lot of games are banned / modified, encouraging piracy) and these over zealous restrictions it’s getting crazy.

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One last thing.
If I buy a book. I can read it. I can lend it to a friend. I can read it again however many times I want. I can read it where I want. When I want.

If I buy a DVD I can do the same.

Why, than, are some games we pay $100 for limited to 2 installs and it’s account based? If I was a father with 3 kids I don’t want to pay $300 for the same damn game 3 times!

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How to fix piracy? Simple. Give online components. If a game has an online component, not necessarily required, but just as an extra, that requires you to log in, people will buy it. Battlefield, Half Life, MMOs, etc.

You don’t need any anti-piracy. Reduce the cost of games to about $50(AUD), give online features (even if just downloading new content.. doesn’t have to be fancy) and introduce R18+ rating, and piracy would fall like a brick.