plimus team up with copy protection firm:

[cliffski]

http://plimus.com/press_releases.shtml#1

interesting.... especially as I'm trying to decide whether to buy armadillo right now.

[Jack Norton]

Seems a sort of online validation, but using plimus servers so hopefully they never go down. Actually this seems better than Armadillo, expecially since it's free if you use Plimus...
I'm thinking seriously to use it for future games releases even if I already own Armadillo.

Customers using the combined Plimus / Uniloc solution will have the confidence that their software cannot be copied or reverse-engineered and that it is not being obtained fraudulently. The activation / validation server will be hosted by Plimus as part of its service, eliminating capital and maintenance costs for customers. As the Plimus system is hosted, with fees charged only as sales are closed, implementation of the solution is highly cost-effective, placing it well within the reach of all vendors.

[tagged]

That does actually sound pretty good. I thought armadillo was a waste of money due to how quickly the cracks/bypass come out after a new version??

The software's site softANCHOR I believe. It does sound pretty decent, though two things bother me a little. The first is they give complete source code, wouldn't this run the risk of having the software in the wild and easily creating workarounds/cracks? Second it sounds like it really limits the user to a specific setup, down the the hard drives and video card, how much effort would be required to help those that change any hardware?

Being cross-platform really makes it more appealing though. I'm not sure Plimus would be giving this for free, I'm sure it would be some little extra charge? Though I couldn't find that information.

[ChrisP]

The first is they give complete source code, wouldn't this run the risk of having the software in the wild and easily creating workarounds/cracks?

Probably not. Crackers can sort of read the source code anyway via disassemblers (well, the good ones can); and if the methods used are cryptographically secure then it won't matter if they know how it's done, provided they don't know the keys (which are presumably server-side only). The weak point then becomes the point where the protection mechanism is integrated into the game, and that bit isn't open source unless the game itself is.

They also claim on the website that this weak point is mitigated:

Far from an activation “wrapper”, softANCHOR enables developers to quickly and easily implement fully embedded and seamless security configurations, allowing an unlimited number of tripwires and validation checkpoints. softANCHOR’s thousands of code variations and obfuscation practices ensure maximum code enforcement - and the highest hack-resistance available.

It actually doesn't sound too shabby, on paper. Assuming you don't mind forcing your customers to connect to the internet to install the game.

[Jack Norton]

That does actually sound pretty good. I thought armadillo was a waste of money due to how quickly the cracks/bypass come out after a new version??

I recouped the cost of Armadillo after 1st month of sales of ONE game... so definitely not a waste of money. Plimus solution though seems even better.
If it just needs to connect once on install, won't be a big problem (if people downloaded the game, I think they can even connect to install it!).

[Pallav Nawani]

RegNow has a similar system. They have integrated Software Passport into their ordering process. Software Passport is of course, a different GUI for Armadillo. (I think Digital River now owns Armadillo, but I am not really sure). And Software Passport/Armadillo is free if you use this system.

In fact, I am currently working on integrating this system with my latest game.

Trymedia has a similar solution as well. You can get ActiveMark for free if you use Trymedia for payment processing.