it's not the only game struggling with SecureRom at the moment - I've been having a terrible time with C&C:Tiberium Wars, and have been forced to use a no-CD crack just to be able to play a legitimately purchased game! EA's support were useless and insist on treating the customer like a muppet. In the end I sent their head of Tech support a long p*ssy e-mail telling them exactly what i thought about SecureRom and EA support. Thankfully as I don't play online MP, using a no-CD crack doesn't adversely affect me, but it defeats the whole object of purchasing the game in the first place.
I read about the BioShock fiasco the other day,
here, and this whole activation nonsense which makes my C&C problems look like small potatoes in comparison, has put me off buying the game at all; which is a real shame as I loved System Shock way back when. Apparently there's a fix on 2K's site but it seems like they've really shot themselves in the foot with this one.
DRM protection doesn't really seem to ever affect anyone except legitimate users as the copy protection is always broken quickly and ripped versions are out on the interweb in weeks, if not days. Even if you don't use a cracked .exe, the latest versions of disc-image tools such as Daemon Tools or PowerISO can usually deal with it if you use the right add-ons.
I don't actually approve of game piracy as I genuinely believe that good games should be paid for simply out of gratitude for the hours of pleasure they give me.