Fifa 09
 

Just saw GCW is hosting tha FIFA crack by Reloaded but although there`s no paul.dll included is still blocking online activation. Thought this is illegal???
OK the crack is a mess cuz it doesnt work correctly but it should still be unsupported?
And why the hell is GCW linking to to other pages that host this kind of cracks?

I'm a bit confused^^

Indeed, did the policy towards that kind of cracks changed? FIFA 09 has online activation.

Seems reloaded miss a protection :P
Anyway... it doesn't hurt hosting the crack there since is useless.
What's illegal in your country can be legal in other countries. (e.g.: some drugs are legal in Holland but illegal in most of the surrounding countries.)

p.s.: every rule has an exception. :)

Indeed there are exceptions. But GCW policy was to do not accept this kind of cracks. Not a big fan of the rules myself. But when it comes to DRM, I'd rather not buy a product that's intrusive. So instead of buying FIFA 2009, I'll go for Pro Evolution Soccer(provided that they stick to the CD-check and, anyway, buying PES was what I did in the last years, as FIFA became just a tweak to the previous releases). That means boycotting products that you don't like. Not buying them, but not pirating them either.

DRM will become an issue if 3+ year after the game release, the publisher don't create a patch to remove the DRM from the game.
Usually a game dies after 3 years.
Blizzard's Battle.Net is an exception (+10 years on-line without DRM support) and many games don't even start the multiplayer (lack of interest from the devs, publisher and players).
EA said their games will have server to activate the game 10 year from now, but... there's always a 'but'.

its already been mentioned by ea and others that if the company 'disappears' the unprotected exe's will be available (or possibly protected ones with the product activation stuff removed)....

In germany all kinds of cracks are illegal and progs that can bypass copy protections too.
But as wolfsrain said: GCW don't want to host those cracks but they link to pages which do! So it would be no difference if they would host them.

Hosting the files will be breaking the rules, but those rules doesn't say anything about linking. So if you link, player gets what they want without no one breaking the rules.

Not true Nando

I do not understand... Mass Effect and AID uses the same activation method... They are not available in GCW... But Fifa 09 is available??? And what does meant by the company disappears? For your information see the link below

http://fifa09.ea.com/us/readnews/entryid/26140

Enlighten me Dab.

I'll add to that the Armed Assault... Wasn't Armed Assault Cd-check removed in the 1.14 patch? That's stated clearly in the patch notes. What wasn't removed is the FADE protection that checks for the original serial number. If the protection doesn't find an original CD-key, it will transform you into a seagull. So it's okay to bypass the serial number protection when there is no CD-check anymore?
Even the SkidRows notes are stating what it's being cracked....

Cracks are for persons who don't like to use their original disc while playing to be aware from scratches or even more damage. So in most countrys it's allowed bypass those checks. DRM is just checking your key online to be sure it's an original key made by the developers and no hacked one from a keygen. There is no risk to damage your disc and so there are no excuses for bypassing this protection but the one that you don't have an original key which would mean you don't have the original game and you're using warez which is illegal all over the world and therefore not supported on GCW.
That's why I was confused about the FIFA crack which btw has been updated and is working fine now. An GCW is still hosting it???

i agree that fifa09 is an exception to the rules, its currently being discussed internally so i can't really comment on it until the discussion is over and a decision is made.. and i'd suspect ea will probably send a cease and desist email to empire soon about it... but that, again, we have to wait and see...

the ironic thing is that the crack hosted was the bad one (unless the crackfix has been uploaded recently) so its not really any good to anyone.. and the crackfix seems to be a bit 'abnormal' too

What you said about hosting files yes is true, but even if you link another site from your own to the same files then yes its still naughty. As your site is providing the person with the chance of getting said files.