A DVD image of Need for Speed : Undercover, one of the most anticipated racing games of the year, has leaked to several private and public BitTorrent networks right just after the game’s North American release. The DVD Image (aka a CloneDVD) which has 4.18GB of file size, is apparently an untouched copy of the original game DVD and includes both English and Spanish language versions of the game. The group who leaked the image call themselves THEPIRATEGAY.
Need for Speed : Undercover, like many other EA games of 2008, uses the controversial online activated SecuROM DRM as an anti piracy measure. DRM remains uncracked in the leaked clone DVD image (in other words there is no crack included) and pirates will be prevented from playing the game at least for now. All EA titles released in 2008 which included SecuROM protection were cracked sooner or later with prime examples being SPORE, Dead Space and Red Alert 3. SecuROM protection in these games was beaten by scene groups such as RELOADED as well as by individuals such as DarkC0der (whose specialty is cracked paul.dll files - a core security module of SecuROM DRM).
Anyway the fact remains that there is no way pirates can play Need for Speed Undercover at the moment with the leaked image alone. They will have to wait and see if a modified executable (aka a crack) is released which will enable them actually play the game. Given the controversial nature of SecuROM, even users who purchased the game legally might be waiting for a SecuROM free exe to be released.
