FUCK YOU, ELECTRONIC ARTS.
Mass Effect was possibly BioWare's most anticipated CRPG ever. I have held off on buying the PC version because it comes with unreasonably invasive SecuROM DRM, which under some circumstances limits you to three installs, ever, and periodically "phones home" to make sure, I don't know, you aren't on the NSA's Supervillain Watch List or something. (Yes, later patching upgraded that to a whopping five installs and fewer phone-home check-ins. It's still intrusive, annoying, and offensive.)
stephenls, being a kind sort, bought me the Steam downloadable version of the game for Christmas. (I wish to stress that I in no way find fault with his act of kindness.) However, the Steam version of the game comes without a manual. And since Mass Effect is a tactically and narratively complex game, this is something of a problem.
A quick web search of "'mass effect' manual" revealed (besides Trojan-laden torrents of the manual, suggesting that I'm not the only person to suffer this problem) a link on the BioWare message board, where registered owners of Mass Effect can download the manual. All I have to do is put in my CD key!
... except I got this through Steam, so I don't have a CD key.
A little more googling, and... oh wait! I do have a CD key! All I have to do is dive my registry! Perfectly reasonable, after all- isn't every computer user comfortable with the occasional rampage through REGEDIT? I do a little digging, and discover...
Oh. It doesn't work for Vista users, since the Steam version of Mass Effect actually does come with SecuROM; it's just hidden from obvious view. And Vista's implentation of SecuROM is integrated at the kernel level, right out of the box, and it internally encrypts and hides all CD keys so people don't dig out their registration information. Oh, sure, I might just want to get my goddamn manual, or reinstall on a different machine after losing the original packaging, but what if I'm about to open a sweatshop full of malnourished Asian nine-year-olds and turn software piracy into the lynchpin of a global terrorist empire? Think of the children! And why do you hate America so much?
I give up. The game can't be good enough to justify jumping this many hurdles just so I can figure out how to play it. (And how to talk to my crewmen rather than shooting them in the face. And what it means when I get "+2 Rebel" from a conversation. Will Darth Vader appear to choke me for being Rebel scum? I don't know! I live in fear!) Instead of spending my time hunting for my CD key, or a manual titled "MASS AFFECT MANUAL.PDF.exe," I'll go play something else instead.
And oh yeah, Steam users don't get the Mass Effect downloadable content, either.
FUCK YOU, ELECTRONIC ARTS.
stephenls, being a kind sort, bought me the Steam downloadable version of the game for Christmas. (I wish to stress that I in no way find fault with his act of kindness.) However, the Steam version of the game comes without a manual. And since Mass Effect is a tactically and narratively complex game, this is something of a problem.
A quick web search of "'mass effect' manual" revealed (besides Trojan-laden torrents of the manual, suggesting that I'm not the only person to suffer this problem) a link on the BioWare message board, where registered owners of Mass Effect can download the manual. All I have to do is put in my CD key!
... except I got this through Steam, so I don't have a CD key.
A little more googling, and... oh wait! I do have a CD key! All I have to do is dive my registry! Perfectly reasonable, after all- isn't every computer user comfortable with the occasional rampage through REGEDIT? I do a little digging, and discover...
Oh. It doesn't work for Vista users, since the Steam version of Mass Effect actually does come with SecuROM; it's just hidden from obvious view. And Vista's implentation of SecuROM is integrated at the kernel level, right out of the box, and it internally encrypts and hides all CD keys so people don't dig out their registration information. Oh, sure, I might just want to get my goddamn manual, or reinstall on a different machine after losing the original packaging, but what if I'm about to open a sweatshop full of malnourished Asian nine-year-olds and turn software piracy into the lynchpin of a global terrorist empire? Think of the children! And why do you hate America so much?
I give up. The game can't be good enough to justify jumping this many hurdles just so I can figure out how to play it. (And how to talk to my crewmen rather than shooting them in the face. And what it means when I get "+2 Rebel" from a conversation. Will Darth Vader appear to choke me for being Rebel scum? I don't know! I live in fear!) Instead of spending my time hunting for my CD key, or a manual titled "MASS AFFECT MANUAL.PDF.exe," I'll go play something else instead.
And oh yeah, Steam users don't get the Mass Effect downloadable content, either.
FUCK YOU, ELECTRONIC ARTS.