I just saw something that made my heart stop. I kid you not, it skipped a beat or two and just have to ask this...The games available for download on Metaboli, do they still contain the protection that the RETAIL games do? I just loaded up Boiling Point (a SecuROM title) and while it was initializing, the mouse cursor changed to the SecuROM protection checking cursor. Please, for the love of all that is Holy and Good (trademark..) tell me that you guys have had StarForce removed from your games? Please? Pretty please?I'm certainly not downloading OR playing any title that I know contains that Goddess-awful abomination of Malware, unless I know the protection has been completely removed.

some games still have thier protection intact. because our technology is compatible with some protection technologies. Giving a kind of triple protection for the games.Unfortunatly our technology isn't directly compatible with StarForce. However, due to the success of this technology (it's success against pirates, not its success in not working) there are some publishers that refuse that we have thier games on the service if we do not include thier copy protection.For this reason we have to work with Starforce (a long and painfull process) to prepare games for games on demand with both our streaming protection and Starforce protection.To date there are only two titles which use additional Starforce protection: Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and King Kong. though Silent Hunter III, that is out next week will also benifit from this.

And there was me about to install Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory.Scrap that idea... I'm not having Starforce on my system!

it's not a traditional retail version of starforce.it's kind of additional files given by starforce to work with our games on demand technology.a starforce lite if you likeWe have experienced no problems whatsoever with it.but our OK probably won't be enough for you.

I'll have to pass on any games that have starforce protection on them as wellIt's not that I don't trust metaboli, I just don't trust starforce.Ah wellMakes no difference anyway Still a great service

Sadly, this is like the Sony DRM - I now will not purchase any Sony BMG CD's. OK, they've removed the software, but I don't want to support their service if they're going to DRM my computer.PC-Plus has a campaign at the minute, which I wholly agree with. It's called Hands Off Our PC's. It's for that reason that I am very, very unlikely to install any Starforce-powered games.That-said, your comments about it being a cut-down Starforce, with only the bits required for the game to run... As long as it doesn't install anything onto my system, I'm OK with it. Barely I just wish Publishers would realise the Metaboli/Valve/Baen Free Library route was the way to go - sure, they're protected, but they're not draconian, and they don't penalise the end users for the actions of the pirates. The pirates don't give a monkeys, but the end users will stop using the software if they can't use it easily!Anyway - enough about the rants Metaboli has gone, for me, from a totally unknown service a few months ago, to a must-have now So, if the protection on the games is intact, partially, I can understand it. I think I might end up downloading Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory... but only now that I've found out about the 'Starforce Lite' stuff

Damnit, sorry for opening a can of worms Metafil I'll just steer well clear of SF-protected games for now, I've already lost one DVD-Writer thanks to that trash, I'm not having it installed on my comp again - even a "lite" version, not taking that risk.Thanks for the heads-up

Quote: ... I've already lost one DVD-Writer thanks to that trash...

well, this is why you won't have any trouble with it on the metaboli version. - the starforce isn't on your physical drive but on the virtual drive created by the Metaboli Player, no destroying optical drives here.I hope you enjoy the service anyway

I for one like Star force *quickly move's to the side to miss incoming stones being thrown at him* lol I like it for the reason to stop pirate's from destroying the gaming and music industry, yes we do suffer from the crashing it gives (I also lost a DVD drive to star-force) but still at the end of the day, the less pirates, the more money the games industry make, the more games that come out etc.So at the end of the day itÂ’s a good idea, they just need better software lol

I have nothing against DRM, in principle. However, you're wrong, sorry. Starforce has been hacked many times over; and even the toughest anti-copy protection system will take, maybe, a week to crack.Basically, there is no secure way of doing something like this. At the least, the system can 'pose' as a security solution saying, "Yeah, this is OK" (Vis. Daemon Tools virtual drives showing the various protection systems intact), or just remove it completely (DLL-replacements, game-EXE cracks, etc.).So, all that a system like this does is add a week or two to the time the came gets cracked, and really annoy the users who, like those in this thread, have hardware destroyed by it.By the way, I do hope that you both got in touch with Starforce themselves to get replacement hardware, and joined the class-action lawsuit against them, raised because of the damage caused to hardware.