Awful, illogical DRM

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/01/pc-gears-of-war-drm-causes-title-to-shut-down-starting-today.ars

Yesterday, I tried to play GoW (PC), but got the following error: "You cannot run the game with modified executable code. Please reinstall the game." Eh? What? Replacing the .exe files and reinstalling both failed, so i found this solution online:

http://www.gamebrood.com/2009/01/29/gears-of-war-for-the-pc-modified-executable-code-fix/

As it turns out, the game EXPIRES on Wed., 1/28/09. So, unless you set your system clock back every time before playing, the game won't work. Hm......seems like someone in Epic who makes big decisions about the DRM is on some sort of drug, out of his mind, or not checking his work, or some combination of those. Assuming it wasn't a simple error, who the hell came up with the logic behind that decision? Did they think that, come Jan. '09, 1 1/2 years after the PC release, that no one would play GoW anymore? If so, why are they still on store shelves if they're expired? I guess this has to be an error, because only an complete lunatic would think of this as good DRM. DRM is supposed to make it difficult for pirates to steal games. Some installation inconvenience for legit buyers isn't that bad, but making it impossible to play without a workaround gives DRM opponents a great example of how awful DRM can be. If a company is going to have tough DRM in a game, the least they could do is make sure that people with good skills and foresight design it, not people like the idiot who thought it'd be brilliant to use an expiration date as DRM.

It was actually a bug in the game, and Epic is currently working on a patch to fix the problem (or it's already out).

Believe it or not, this actually isn't anything new. Most expensive and/or complex computer programs (Autodesk products come to mind) require you to re-activate your product each year from the day you activate it for the first time. It's mostly to make sure that if you did manage to pirate the product and have a key generator, it may not work beyond that first time since your keygen may not be able to regenerate a key. I've never actually heard about it in games or OS, but expensive products tend to do this so the company knows you've purchased it.

In terms of Autodesk, they'll actually scan your product and activate your product online making it almost impossible to pirate.

Can't say the same about Finale...