The “Break it Down” Blog

Looks like some buzz going around the net that the DRM used on Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena for the PC (by Atari) is hard-locked to 3 install counts and then the game will not install again. (Thread 1, Thread 2)

Early indications suggest that there isn’t even an support number to call to unlock the installs, you are just done with the game and need to go pickup another copy if you want to install it.

You have to love how utterly retarded this is… it’s not hard-locked to some reasonable limit, like 8 or 10 — some amount that couldn’t succeed if it were mass-pirated, but instead locked to an amount that a normal gamer might encounter in a year with a reformat and possibly building a new computer OR just troubleshooting a wonky game install.

I think this policy should be carried forward to movie theaters where you only get to get up and out of your seat once to go to the bathroom during a movie. If you get up more than that, you aren’t allowed back in the theater and have to buy a new ticket to finish watching the movie.

Common Sense and Human Decency: 0

Retarded Corporate Fuck-face Policy: 1

Thanks VE3D!