Creative implementation of DRM in Batman: Arkham Asylum is still SecuROM

Once more the Blagonets is abuzz with inaccurate pro-DRM sentiment. This time it's not due to false reports that pirates were somehow responsible for bringing a game's servers to its knees (here's the real story), but rather an incorrect understanding (and incomplete reporting) of a developer's copy protection measures.

If you haven't heard about Eidos' “innovative” copy protection yet, basically pirates have found that Batman's Glide ability is deactivated at a critical point in the game and instead of gliding to safety he jumps right into a cloud of poisonous gas. Upon requesting technical support for the “bug” a pirate was given the following response:

The problem you have encountered is a hook in the copy protection, to catch out people who try and download cracked versions of the game for free.

It's not a bug in the game's code, it's a bug in your moral code.

Naturally, rather than thinking critically the sheep on the Internet yell a collective “Oh snap!” and laud the DRM as a much more creative solution than online activation and limited installs.

What few seem to notice is the little phrase hook in the copy protection. The question people should be asking is: So if this anti-piracy feature is just a hook, then what is the copy protection?

A quick Google and a few hours of sifting reveals that it's SecuROM, but Jason Walker who seems to be Head of Mastering on the game has stated: Yes disc based versions will use the disc for authentication, not PA.

Please note the very specific version of the game he's referring to. If you're planning on buying the game digitally (Steam, Direct2Drive) then it will make use of PA (SecuROM online activation). To be safe I'd wait for the third party guys that evaluate these things (whom I won't link to here for safety's sake) to vet the DRM when the PC disc/retail version goes on sale.

If the retail version really just uses a disc check and doesn't require online activation I might consider playing (and hence buyng) it. There's still the small matter of SecuROM's malware-like behaviour that I'd have to get over, though.