Ready, Aye, Ready

Link: http://torrentfreak.com/crazy-video-game-drm-prism-1980s-style-080617/

I had completely forgotten about this innovative and utterly daft piece of DRM technology form the early '80s. Fortunately it was quite expensive and unreliable so it was quickly dumped for the cheaper black-text-on-red-paper word lookup solution. I didn't like that one either.

The most amusing variation was that of "Birds Of Prey" for the Amiga wherein an incorrect entry made possible by a hacked binary resulted in unstable aircraft handling that became progressively worse the longer the game was played. I guess it was sort of like a demo-mode but for the pirates it made for a very time-consuming experience to ensure that their crack was 100% complete...

(Via BoingBoing)