The much anticipated BioShock 2 video game will be released as a boxed game and a digital download, 2K Games confirmed.
"BioShock 2 is using a standard Games for Windows Live activation system, much like other games you have played in the past," 2K Games noted in a forum post. "That doesn't mean you always have to be online to play or save the game - you can create an offline profile for the Single Player portion of the game."
The game publisher also confirmed the type of digital rights management (DRM) to be included in the game: "We are using SecuROM only as a disc check method for the retail copy of BioShock 2. That is it's only use."
SecuROM will only find its way to the retail version of BioShock 2, as the digital Steam copy has different authentication. A five-machine activation limit also is in place, though some blogs report the PC activation number might be as high as 15.
I'm not sure if DRM and the five-machine cap will lead to lower sales, but it's definitely a plausible reason for some gamers to walk away from BioShock 2.
I understand the need to protect software titles and I don't necessarily disagree with the use of DRM, but DRM shouldn't directly interfere with the gaming experience. I'm certainly not a fan of the low number of PC activations that game publishers are now trying to sneak by gamers. Shouldn't the use of DRM be good enough?
