Gears Of War Shipped With DRM That Shuts The Game Down After 01/28/09

Do you play games for more than 3 years? I do! I still like Super Mario 3, and that’s no lie. Well, if you are like me, you might be concerned about the fact that the PC version of Gears of War shipped with DRM that automatically made the game unplayable after 1/28/09.

Ars Technica says:

Gamers who tried to play Gears of War on the PC Thursday ran into a slight snag: it seems that the digital certificate that allows the game to run expired on January 28, 2009. Basically that means if you keep your PC’s clock up to date, you can no longer play the game. The official Epic forum is ablaze with complaints about this issue, as the still-kicking community becomes enraged.

“I had this problem this evening, I had to change the date and time (from PM to AM) and I am able to get in just fine,” one frustrated gamer posted. “I also changed it back to the current date and time and it didn’t work. Change it back to yesterday AM and it works fine… EPIC games won’t be on my list anytime soon….”

If you want to continue playing the game, you can adjust your system clock while waiting for a presumably forthcoming patch. Of course, if you pirated the game, you don’t really have a problem.

Gears of War DRM screwup makes PC version unplayable [Ars Technica] (Thanks, Mike!)

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.