NBA 2K9 fouls PC players

[UPDATE]: Customers of Take-Two's latest hoops sim say their games are arriving without the Steam activation codes needed to play them; publisher promises a fix in the next 24 hours.

For the NBA 2K series debut on the PC, Take-Two Interactive teamed with Valve Software's downloadable game service Steam to put an antipiracy measure in place. Unfortunately, with the game on store shelves now, pirates aren't the only ones being thwarted.

As seen on the game's official forums, a number of gamers who purchased NBA 2K9 in stores have found their copies of the title did not include the necessary activation code to play the game. Part of 2K Games' end user license stipulates that anyone wishing to play the PC version of the game must use Steam to activate the product.

With the forum thread 13 pages long and packed full with angry comments, 2K representatives have yet to weigh in. A handful of the posters offered their own suggestions to gamers, several of which included pirating a cracked version of the game.

Despite the silence in its own community, 2K knows there is a problem. The official NBA 2K9 Web site did post a brief update about the situation earlier today.

"If you recently purchased the NBA 2K9 PC title in North America, 2K Sports is aware of the issues with the Product Keys and is working hard on a solution," the notice said. "Check back here for answers by end of day today. We appreciate your patience."

As of this writing, those answers had not arrived, and 2K Sports representatives had neither addressed the community directly in the forum thread nor returned GameSpot's request for comment on the issue.

[UPDATE]:2K Sports updated its NBA 2K9 page with news of a fix. According to the site, "a solution is forthcoming within the next 24 hours--likely much sooner--to alleviate any installation issues involving a Product Key. This solution will be downloaded automatically and seamlessly when you install your product."

69 Comments

  • runstalker

    Posted Nov 5, 2008 9:13 pm GMT

    Isolated error, easily fixed.
    Damn steal at $19.99 - basically the 360 version playable at higher resolutions.

  • nyranasaurus

    Posted Oct 28, 2008 11:36 am GMT

    Wow , and you also didnt realise how much clearer this game is on the pc did you. PC's always own consoles forever. Its a shame about the release of this amazing game being held back because of mistakes, but i hope it does really well on pc. Because it deserves it. Its nice having the competition over EA, especially this kind of competition.

  • coreyq

    Posted Oct 24, 2008 3:51 pm GMT

    XanderZane actually I play my pc games on a 47inch tv. You didnt know that you can play pc games with a 360 controller and on a screen bigger than 19inches? WOW

  • guyver23

    Posted Oct 23, 2008 3:52 pm GMT

    ilike the look of kyle foremans mrs

  • Ed1923

    Posted Oct 23, 2008 3:19 am GMT

    Well steam is always a better way instead of all the nasty drm rubbish. It will be sorted out soon anyway.

  • XanderZane

    Posted Oct 23, 2008 12:19 am GMT

    Got it for the XBox 360 on launch day and it plays just fine. No "STEAM" needed. LOL!! Don't know how anyone could play this game on a 19in monitor on their PC. Sports games like this should be played on a game console, just like games like Spore and Starcraft 2 should be played on the PC. Anyway, the game is awesome and I haven't even had to change the sliders so far this year. The balance is pretty good, but the players still don't shoot their averages line in the real NBA game.

  • kyleforeman

    Posted Oct 22, 2008 9:45 pm GMT

    Just bought the game for an incredible price at $19.99. Popped it in, agreed to steam and off the installation went. No Problems at all. This is a steal at $19.99 if you have the system to run it on.

  • imprezawrx500

    Posted Oct 22, 2008 7:46 pm GMT

    "DRM doesnt discourage piracy rather it encourages it. Though 2k screwed up I feel their pain to introduce DRM. Just imagine game developers spending years, money and time to make a game. Game get released and tada it gets pirated and they(the game developers) cannot enjoy the fruits of their labour."

    sure the secure rom does but steam is so hard to crack its very good at reducing piracy. orange box games are have yet to be cracked, even games like crysis warhead on steam are much harder than the retail version to crack.

  • DarkDamo

    Posted Oct 22, 2008 6:36 pm GMT

    duhNeighbour: It is not Steam/VALVe's fault that 2K forgot to include cd-keys with the game. At least VALVe was able to make it so that you could play the game without the CD-key anyway (as long as you had the DVD). The news item needs to be updated with the solution.

  • prioritymail

    Posted Oct 22, 2008 5:09 pm GMT

    I was unaware NBA 2k came out on PCs... It just doesn't even sound right to me

  • duhNeighbour

    Posted Oct 22, 2008 5:08 pm GMT

    2K tried the new nasty SecuROM with BioShock, people hated it. Now they try Steam and screws up on day one...

  • Toro_Nev

    Posted Oct 22, 2008 4:32 pm GMT

    wow, that must suck, but hopefully they resolve it really soon

  • alik360

    Posted Oct 22, 2008 3:39 pm GMT

    That's why I have a console now, avoiding activation headache... but I'm still a PC gamer

  • earlthecannibal posted Oct 22, 2008 3:06 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    earlthecannibal

    Posted Oct 22, 2008 3:06 pm GMT (hide)

    Who cares!? ..who really wants a crappy sports game on the Pc anyway. Someday consoles will stop infecting Pc gamers ...hopefully this happens VERY soon =)

  • ocdog45

    Posted Oct 22, 2008 1:38 pm GMT

    113 pages of forums isn't that long. but still a big problem. this is jsut stupid on 2k.

  • Syntax82

    Posted Oct 22, 2008 10:50 am GMT

    F pirates get a damn job

  • aaddron

    Posted Oct 22, 2008 9:53 am GMT

    "If you've had issues installing NBA 2K9 for the PC, please know that a solution is now in place. This solution will be downloaded automatically and seamlessly when you install your game, and no Product Key is required. If you try to re-install the game and are still having trouble, please contact 2K Sports Customer Service at 415-507-7750 or customerservice@2ksports.com.

    Thank you for your patience, and 2K Sports apologizes for any inconvenience."

    Found that on there website: http://2ksports.com/news/nba2k9/249

  • firehawk998

    Posted Oct 22, 2008 9:40 am GMT

    DRM doesnt discourage piracy rather it encourages it. Though 2k screwed up I feel their pain to introduce DRM. Just imagine game developers spending years, money and time to make a game. Game get released and tada it gets pirated and they(the game developers) cannot enjoy the fruits of their labour.

  • jazzyrider

    Posted Oct 22, 2008 8:06 am GMT

    glad i didn't buy this game. maybe i might consider it for the ps3 but if there's a pc issue, this game is much lower on my want list.

  • phatman12

    Posted Oct 22, 2008 5:58 am GMT

    Thankfully sometime last night Steam posted an update that allows you to bypass the activation code

  • metaljeff

    Posted Oct 22, 2008 5:52 am GMT

    Is this game available as a dowloadable purchase?

  • twistedmalice

    Posted Oct 22, 2008 5:19 am GMT

    Talk about a major screw up.

  • pcgamer522

    Posted Oct 22, 2008 12:59 am GMT

    "OK, Bob, ready to ship the game?"
    "Yup, boxed and ready."
    "You didn't forget anything, like the manual or anything like that, did you?"
    "C'mon, only an idiot would forget that."
    -Bob's last day on the job

  • MasterGamer64

    Posted Oct 21, 2008 11:41 pm GMT

    I have played the 2k series between the original Dreamcast NBA 2K, through the Gamecube iteration of 2k3 and 2K6 on the 360. The 2K series, as a SIMULATION has consistently outperformed Live EVERY SINGLE YEAR. 2K9 is not a rehash.

    As for PC Sports? I love it. Many PC Gamers own gamepads, and you can even use a 360 controller. Why not just play on the 360 if you use its controller? On PC, you get better graphics (even if it doesn't use "better" graphics, you still get the benefit of a higher resolution and adjustable levels of antialiasing) PLUS the game is only $20, when the SAME GAME is $60 on the 360 and PS3.

    As for anti-piracy, as a pirater (though not so much anymore, I buy 90% of my games now that I have income) and huge ANTI-DRM person, This anti-piracy measure is not a mistake. It doesn't feature the draconian DRM of recent EA titles, (with their online limited reactivations and hidden files) and Steam has proven to be a great platform for community and for grouping together your games. Even if you bought the game online you would need the CD-Key. CD-Keys have been used for years and are pretty much the least draconian of all measures used today, even less so than the annoying "must have disc in drive". This error simply highlights the downfall of such a measure.

  • daveneonfarrell posted Oct 21, 2008 11:19 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    daveneonfarrell

    Posted Oct 21, 2008 11:19 pm GMT (hide)

    sports games suck anyways. especially on PC

  • Skeptomania posted Oct 21, 2008 9:50 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    Skeptomania

    Posted Oct 21, 2008 9:50 pm GMT (hide)

    There are too many good PC games to be wasting time with a rehashed sports game. Besides, you can buy last year's version for cheap. I doubt this affects many PC gamers.

  • worldind913

    Posted Oct 21, 2008 9:41 pm GMT

    wow.....thats sucks, glad I never had any plans to get this game for my PC, besides most sports games work better on consoles, with emphasis on "most," with the exception of those baseball sims...

  • Henninger posted Oct 21, 2008 8:34 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    Henninger

    Posted Oct 21, 2008 8:34 pm GMT (hide)

    Sucks if ur a PC gamer. Im a console gamer till the end.

  • endocrine

    Posted Oct 21, 2008 8:21 pm GMT

    Yay for anti-piracy measures that hurt everyone. I wish more companies would do what THQ and Stardock does and reward people that buy games instead of hurt people that buy games.

    Ohhh wait that would be intelligent, and most companies show a lack of even basic intelligence.

  • paullywog posted Oct 21, 2008 8:07 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    paullywog

    Posted Oct 21, 2008 8:07 pm GMT (hide)

    buying the next edition of a sports rehash? lol
    playing it with mouse and keyboard? rofl.

  • Maxor127

    Posted Oct 21, 2008 8:07 pm GMT

    Who plays sports games on the PC anyways? That's like the one advantage consoles have over PC.

  • ajkalan

    Posted Oct 21, 2008 7:50 pm GMT

    According to this post on the 2K forums, the problem has already been resolved.

    http://2ksports.com/forums/showthread.php?t=191998

    Doesn't excuse their screw-up, but at least they fixed it promptly. I'm waiting to see what kind of mods this game gets before I decide to get it.

  • speedjunkie4 posted Oct 21, 2008 7:45 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    speedjunkie4

    Posted Oct 21, 2008 7:45 pm GMT (hide)

    That sucks. I'm happy i rented it for PS3.

  • ColdfireTrilogy

    Posted Oct 21, 2008 7:39 pm GMT

    Well at least this isn't steams fault .... Valve has provided a fine service ... just wish 2K games woulda done it right ...

  • X3Warrior posted Oct 21, 2008 7:25 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    X3Warrior

    Posted Oct 21, 2008 7:25 pm GMT (hide)

    Who cares, the PC port never has all the features the other version does.

  • BigD

    Posted Oct 21, 2008 6:37 pm GMT

    Just waiting for the game to show up on Steam.

  • jangofett88

    Posted Oct 21, 2008 6:27 pm GMT

    That's horrible. At least they opted to go with Steam than go with Securom

  • maaly81

    Posted Oct 21, 2008 6:27 pm GMT

    wow 2k. you did it again

  • eagles_band

    Posted Oct 21, 2008 6:17 pm GMT

    I doubt anything will stop PC games from being pirated

  • Nekromenos

    Posted Oct 21, 2008 6:05 pm GMT

    Looks like a buzzer beater for pirates.

  • mugupo

    Posted Oct 21, 2008 5:59 pm GMT

    More Anti Piracy = More peoples download illegal copies. Don't they learn that from EA?

  • ZiGZ04

    Posted Oct 21, 2008 5:57 pm GMT

    I don't see how this game would be pirated more becuase of there s****y DRM issues, This game has been available to DL for days.
    Legit Customers get.... Delay's
    Pirates Get it early... free of Delay's

  • zachtyler21

    Posted Oct 21, 2008 5:50 pm GMT

    I spent part of my day running around, trying to find this. Nobody has it out yet. I got all kinds of excuses, about how the warehouse sends out the game to the stores on the release date, so they'll have it the next day. I was really frustrated, until I came home empty-handed and saw this news. Awesome. Even if I had been able to find it, I would not have been able to play it. I would have been far more angry then. Nice job, 2K!

  • VenomRitual posted Oct 21, 2008 5:41 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    VenomRitual

    Posted Oct 21, 2008 5:41 pm GMT (hide)

    @simjn61

    ur truly missing out on a lot of PC only games(mostl multiplayer) than. not to mention the fact that games are proven to look much better on a PC, with a video card less than $200.

  • simjn61

    Posted Oct 21, 2008 5:03 pm GMT

    It's a shame these anti-piracy measures seem to be doing more to kill PC gaming than the pirates do. I've given up on PC games after 20 odd years and now only buy for my consoles.

  • gmaster666

    Posted Oct 21, 2008 4:59 pm GMT

    are things these day truely hacker free?NO hackers just get better and better and things seeem more e-z to hack...you know its like your creditcard protection plan you pay for but still some hacker gets it

  • baystatethrashr

    Posted Oct 21, 2008 4:47 pm GMT

    its not a mistake its a new anti-piracy measure: no one is allowed to play the game

  • biggy887766

    Posted Oct 21, 2008 4:33 pm GMT

    Developers need to stop F***ing around with trying to stop hackers...all they are doing is adding fuel to the fire doing this crap and the stupid DRM that EA says "prevents" hackers.

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