There is one problem with adding a activation termination date to something.... you dont NEED to crack it. all you need to do is install your computer with the same date, but 28 years from now, even your calender will still be the same that way. and there is no way to validate that the date in the bios is actually right or not, not without AGAIN an internet connection.
The problem comes in with the way computers act... they are gullable, they believe everything you tell them, unless you provide them with a way to validate it, and a standalone station has no way of validating anything.
Even for HL2, they have already cracked it. so no form of copy protection is uncrackable. The main idea of copy protection is to slow down the piracy speed enough to get a decent sale figure.
even activation scripts are not secure, its never been for microsoft, it hasnt even been for HL2.
IMHO i believe that if someone is smart enough to come up with a copy protection script, someone will be smart enough to bypass it.
While we dont like the fact that we need to connect to the internet just to be able to play the game, its just another failed attempt to get better sales figures, resulting in unhappy gamers.
Unfortunately another thing is true, the better they make a copy-protection, the more hassles its bound to cause. Personally i think starforce is one of the better ones, unfortunately that makes it too fussy for some computer systems.
I wonder how many resourceful ideas can be implemented as a copy protection?
