Yes SecuROM is pretty evil in my eyes. Also some CD checks are/were, because even with the legal disk in your drive they sometimes would not recognize it and you could not play.

However - and I posted this in another thread already - as long as there is even 1 pirate companies like EA will not blame lost sales on their own flaws but instead keep blaming it on piracy. They could make the most crappy game, sell only 2000 copies of it and go "yeah well piracy screwed us over, we need to sue more people" instead of realizing they make buggy games and people don't buy their product because of their DRM.

It's all a shame because they do publish some great games that I would love to play (after about 6 patches).

I'd rather get mass effect via impulse than steam. I haven't bothered because of (a) securom and ( steam is a piece of crap.

True, and I don't like Steam that much, either.  However, I don't think Mass Effect has the dreaded SecuROM on it when distributed through Steam (just the normal Steam DRM).  Considering my last experience with SecuROM, I'm much more likely to buy Mass Effect through Steam right now, unless Impulse can distribute it without that nastiness.  It's unfortunate because I'd much prefer to support Stardock.

It doesn't. Only the Steam DRM affects it. Mass Effect was my test game for Steam. After reading so many posts on various forums about how great Steam was, I figured instead of just saying it's not something I'm interested in and I don't like it, I'd give it a shot. Result: I don't like Steam, as it offers me nothing extra that I want, and I don't particulaly like the way it works. So Mass Effect is my first and last major game I'll purchase from Steam (I may pick up games that are on sale for a very cheap price that I don't particularly care much about but that's it).

So, bottom line: if you don't particularly mind Steam, you can go right ahead and grab Mass Effect through them. There is no extra hidden DRM on the game.

Mass Effect is also on Gamer's Gate with online activation.  They don't know whether SecuRom is in it.  Here is the response by Jonas B from Gamer's Gate

"All we have to go on is our records and the information we get from the developer. If the developer chooses not to include information about DRM's it won't show in our records, so there is still a small chance that there is some kind of protection. We are working on making it easier to find out if a game has a DRM or not, but I can't say how long that will take at the moment.

When it comes to activation we make sure that our customers always have the right to install and play the games they have bought, regardless of activation limits.

If you buy the game and it still has a DRM, we can always give you a refund."

Who said i pirate titles ? I just point out the obious - that some are going to use the region locking of the download sale channels to justify their piracy.

I feeling let down by the publishers who seem to deem it ok for some part of the world to be able to purchase the titles as download and others are denied the same service willing to pay the same amonth of money, i wouldnt buy a single share in a company who denies its customers to purchase its products especially when its in the IP market knowing alot will pirate the software instead!

It's great to see more of your posts around here Coelocanth.

EA has added a new activation option to its download manager. For the new EA games, customers that buy in retail can now also use their digital service. At least that's what's indicated in the latest EADM (I just recently explored that avenue for BW's upcoming releases). Kind of what Stardock and Valve already do with their platforms. Maybe something to try out with your collector's edition of DA:O and ME2. Then again, SecuRom is still there to spoil the fun. Even with a new 5 install limit and a revocation tool, it's still a pain.

Cheers!

I have tried that Activation option on the EADM, and it never seems to do anything.  *shrug*  I have no idea what its about.