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DON'T BUY ! DANGEROUS COPY PROTECTION WILL RUIN DVD RW

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 38 / 42
Date: February 24, 2006
Author: Amazon User

DO NOT BUY KING KONG OR ANY OF THE FOLLOWING GAMES (provided by Glop.org)
A lot of PC gamers have joined together, and decided not to purchase any PC games that use the Starforce copy protection method.
I will provide a list of games that install the Starforce device drivers, as well as a list of publishers that incorporate Starforce.
What is Starforce?
Starforce is a software copy protection tool installed by PC game publishers, which is designed to prevent the casual copying of retail CDROM applications. It installs as a hidden device driver, without the end-user's knowledge or consent.

Why are we boycotting it?
Starforce has received criticism for installing its own device driver onto computers. The Starforce drivers are often linked to system instability and computer crashes.

For example, here's one of the common problems brought by Starforce: under Windows XP, if packets are lost during the reading or writing of a disk, XP interprets this as an error and steps the IDE speed down. Eventually it will revert to 16bit compatibility mode rendering a CD/DVD writer virtually unusable. In some circumstances certain drives cannot cope with this mode and it results in physical hardware failure
Update: It has been reported by many users that the slowdown caused by StarForce on some recent multiformat DVD writers can cause irreversible hardware failures on those drives (they aren't recognized anymore), as they aren't supposed to write at slow speeds.

Moreover, the Starforce drivers, installed on your system, grant ring 0 (system level) privileges to any code under the ring 3 (user level) privileges. Thus, any virus or trojan can get OS privileges and totally control your system. Since Windows 2000, the Windows line security and stability got enhanced by separating those privileges, but with the Starforce drivers, the old system holes and instabilities are back and any program (or virus) can reach the core of your system by using the Starforce drivers as a backdoor.

Is my system concerned?
Starforce installs itself as an hidden IDE driver, during teh installation of a game, without letting the user know about it. It's not displayed in the add/remove program.

Game RELEASED STARFORCE GAMES

7 Sins
American Conquest: Divided Nation
Anstoss 4
Bandits: Phoenix Rising
Bet on Soldier
Beyond Divinity
Black Mirror
Blitzkrieg 2
Blitzkrieg: Rolling Thunder
Breed
Brian Lara International Cricket 2005
Broken Sword 3: The Sleeping Dragon
Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood
Castle Strike
Chaos League
Chaos League: Sudden Death
Codename: Outbreak
Codename: Panzers - Phase One
Codename: Panzers - Phase Two
Cold War
Colin McRae Rally 2005
Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars
Cross Racing Championship 2005
Curse: The Eye of Isis
Cycling Manager 3
Cycling Manager 3
Cycling Manager 4
D-Day
Dead to Rights
Demonic Speedway
Desert Rats vs Afrika Korps
Domination
Emergency Fire Response
Enigma: Rising Tide
Etherlords II
Fire Chief
Fire Department
Freedom Force vs The Third Reich
Gangland
Garfield
Gooka: The Mystery of Janatris
GT Legends
GTR: FIA GT Racing Game
Heroes of Might and Magic V
Horse Race Manager
Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter
Keepsake
Kicker Manager 2004
Kill Switch
King Kong
Knights of the Temple 2
Korea: Forgotten Conflict
LMA Professional Manager 2005
Lock On: Flaming Cliffs
Medieval Lords
Namco Museum 50th Anniversary
Neuro Hunter
Nibiru
Obscure
Pac Man World 2
Pac Man World 3
Pariah
Pax Romana
Perimeter
Perimeter: Emperor's Testament
Pferdehof - Pferd und Pony
Pop Star Academy
Postal 2: Apocalypse Weekend
Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones
Pro Rugby Manager
Psi-Ops
Pure Pinball
Rally Championship Xtreme
Restaurant Empire
Restricted Area
Revolution
Runaway: A Road Adventure
Scrapland
Second Sight
Silent Hunter 3
Silent Storm
Silkolene Honda Motocross GP
Singles 2: Triple Trouble
Singles: Flirt Up Your Life
Sniper Elite
Soldiers Heroes of World War 2
Sommerspiele 2004
Space Rangers 2
Splinter Cell 3: Chaos Theory
Star Wolves
Steel Saviour
Still Life
Street Racing Syndicate
Sudeki
SuperPower 2
Syberia II
The Fall: Last Days of Gaia
The Moment of Silence
The Suffering: Ties That Bind
The Westerner
TOCA 2
TrackMania
TrackMania Nations
TrackMania Sunrise
Traitors Gate 2: Cypher
UFO: Aftershock
V8 Supercars 2
Virtual Skipper 3
Virtual Skipper 4
Vivisector
Wildlife Park
Wintersport Pro 2006
World Racing 2
World War II: Frontline Command
Worms 4: Mayhem
X3: Reunion
XIII
Xpand Rally
Xuan-Yuan Sword 4
Game is missing ? List not complete ? Post a topic about it in the forum
Note: work in progress, this list is not comprehensive.

Released Starforced software
Starforce is hitting the software market. Avoid getting one of those if you like to be able to do some backup of your legally bought software

Super Architect 3D Platinum
Un-Starforced games
The games listed below do not have Starforce included anymore. The editor of the game released an official patch to remove the Starforce protection, and thus fixed all the problems related to Starforce. Thanks to your support everywhere ! Keep spreading the word !

Area 51
X2: The Threat

Thanks for the alert about Starforce on this game!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 10 / 13
Date: June 27, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I appreciate everyone letting the public know this game installs Starforce on your PC. I'm sure not everyone is experiencing the problems some have reported with this - that it slows down your drive speed when attempting to burn a CD/DVD, or possibly leaves you vulnerable to a virus or trojan that knows how to exploit the installation of this driver.

However, there ARE a couple of things that may potentially affect everyone. First, uninstalling the game will NOT uninstall Starforce. Second, and most importantly, it has been discovered that Starforce is NOT compatible with Windows Vista. So if you upgrade your PC with Microsoft's new operating system coming early 2007, you will no longer be able to play this game! That alone is enough to make me never buy this in its current state.

There is also a high resolution version of this game available only by download. I considered purchasing that one, then discovered that even gamers with high-end computers are reporting it to be very slow and buggy on their machines. Even more disappointing is how the high resolution version doesn't even support SLI! (Talk about lazy code writing.)

Man - I would LOVE to play this game, but even the DEMO installs Starforce! Come on, Ubisoft. Release a patch that fixes these issues with either the retail version or the high resolution version so I can gladly give you my money. Until then, I'll have to join in with the boycott.

Dangerous Virus included

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: February 01, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This software contains copy protection that will slowly ruin your cd drive. Thank Star-Force for their copy protection that does this. It slows down your CD/DVD burner until the hardware stops working. Do not buy this game

Problems, problems, problems

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: December 29, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Problem 1 - Bad textures. Bland washed out green textures that clip way too often. Walking up stairs is a major problem. Quite often you'll walk through them and fall off the map to your death. At several points in the game, even the NPC's I was teamed with, fell through the map and died. It made the game very frustrating.

Problem 2 - No save games. Now they offer you infinite saves, you just cant load them. If you get killed the game loads at the previous save checkpoint and you start there, even if you had saved your progress after that checkpoint. I know your thinking, why not just load your saved game right? Wrong, because there is no load game feature. I particularly liked that one.

Problem 3 - Now if your like me when your playing a game, you tinker with the keyboard config to get it just right. In King Kong this involves exiting the game, having to select YES I REALLY WANT TO QUIT several times, until you get to the main menu. Then after your asked if you REALLY WANT TO QUIT the game yet again you can exit the game back to your desktop. From there you can pull up the King Kong config menu and remap a few keys. The only thing you can do from the in game main menu is change the sensitivity of the mouse. Cool, because I didn't want to be bothered with resolution, sound features and keyboard config anyway.

Problem 4 - Now the game gives you the classic FPS view when your controlling Jack Driscoll, and it works fine. But during the sequences when your controlling Kong, the game takes a turn for the worse. The box says, "control Kong from the third person perspective." This is not true. I would say your controlling Kong from an audience perspective. Your always looking directly at King Kong never from the traditional over the shoulder 3rd perspective. You can make Kong move any direction you want, however only Kong will move in that direction, your left feeling like your holding a remote control for some computer generated ape off in the distance. Worst yet, because the controls are so bad, the fight scenes involving Kong become very tedious. Often you'll just end up rapidly pushing buttons at random until your arm is sore. It is so bad you wont look forward to the scenes where you have to control Kong.

I gave this game 2 stars in the fun category only because the sequences involving Jack Driscoll were somewhat enjoyable, however ultimately King Kong is just a bad game rushed out in time for Christmas and not worthy of anything more than 1 star, save your money.

This game is total garbage..

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 6
Date: January 05, 2006
Author: Amazon User

The designers of King Kong could not care less if their program works or not. This is the single most buggy program I've ever owned. Its worthless.

Not worth your time!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: January 08, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Stay away from this game, unless you enjoy playing error prone poorly programmed video games. I have a high end PC that easily meets the requirements to play both the retail, and the high-res downloadable version. This game is pathetic. If you want King Kong go see the movie.

junk

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: January 11, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Real problems with this, don't waste your money. Judging from the UBISOFT web site forums a lot of people can't get this game to play, myself included.

This game was disappointing

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 22, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This game was disappointing in one way only and that is that I wasn't able to install it as I like which is as a part of my portable cd library on my notebook. I can't carry around hundreds of cds and I won't. I buy lots of games and it is strange that some companies have a mental problem with understanding selling, buying, and ownership. I personally won't be purchasing any UBIsoft games that include Starforce protection in the future. It isn't because it messes up my computer. I didn't notice anything but when a company offers no alternative but having a cd in the drive it really makes my life more difficult and I just don't have time for the 1% of companies who don't respect their customers enough to offer them a reasonable alternative to draconian drm. IDSoftware has never seen the need to use this approach and I suppose that is how one differentiates a high roller from a wanta-be. There is one simple fact, you make good games and give consumers what they desire and they reward you. We wouldn't purchase anything at Wal-Mart if they slapped handcuffs on you at the door as a precaution to prevent theft and it should be seen as no different with the media and software vendors. It is insulting and it is not becoming. I doubt they can prove it pays off because if anything it guarantees their mediocre game will face the trash bin and the discount rack.

The game was nice for the few minutes I bothered playing it then I removed the cd and put it back in its box and played Quake 4 from my cd library using my virtual drive and just haven't felt the need to bother loading up the game built by control freaks again.

Despite All Its Reported Problems I Gave It A Try...

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: November 18, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I found a copy of this game at a brick & mortal store going for $10 and since I have a spare computer system which I could install and play it on without having to worry about the "StarForce" malware, I gave this game a try. Given all the negative feedback of the past year, and UBISOFT's agreeing not to use the 'StarForce' malware copy protection sceme going forward, I was surprised that they still haven't released a patch to resolve the problem for this game. In fact it looks like UBISOFT has abandonned any ongoing support of this game.

As for game play? It sucks. Not only are the graphics cutting edge for the end of the 20th century, the game play is very linear and if that weren't bad enough other characters in the game are constantly telling you what to do anyhow. Further, appearing as a 1st person shooter, the game has some sections that can only be completed as 3rd person and parts of the game have continuous strobing type flashes which aren't safe for some people with seizure disorders.

I was originally interested in this game because of UBISOFT's FarCry release. But after dealing with this game, it's clear that CryTek is soley responcible for FarCry's excellence. Hopefully, CryTek will find a new distributor for their 'Crysis' upcoming release...

Looks great but....

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: January 19, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This game looks great but it isn't. The graphics are awesome. Unfortunately, that is all that is awesome in this game. Controls for Jack and especially for Kong are awful. The game is extremely linear. You must follow in the direction of the game. Forget about exploring skull island.
Save yourself forty dollars or try Serious Sam 2 (way more bang for your buck).

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