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GamesXCopy reviewed by CDR-Zone.COM

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Posted on Tuesday 4th of May, 2004 at 09:28 by Blade
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Untitled Document

321 studios have kindly supplied us with a fully functional copy of their game backup software - GamesXCopy to review for our readers

About the software
Installation
Usage
GamesXCopy compared with Alcohol 120%
Conclusion
Pros and Cons
Pricing and Availability

About the Software:

According to the makers, 321 studio's:

1. Back Up your ENTIRE PC Game collection!

GAMESXCOPY lets you make a PERFECT backup copy of virtually any PC Game. GAMESXCOPY is a powerful utility and all you need is a PC with either a CD or a DVD burner. No more threat of losing a game due to theft, scratches, skipping, freezing or other media imperfections. Your copy works just like the original; your entire collection can be archived and your investment protected.
Either use a blank disc or write the entire game to your hard disc drive. Imagine the possibilities of playing a game without needing the original disc.

2. How GAMESXCOPY works:

GAMESXCOPY does not change any of the original game content. GAMESXCOPY creates an exact image of your PC game. GAMESXCOPY then uses exclusive AUTO-BURN technology to transfer the image onto a CD or DVD. Once backed up, you can store your original PC game safe on the shelf and then either play your game from your hard drive or from the backup disc.

3. Work with all popular blank media or just use your PC’s hard disc drive:

GAMESXCOPY works with CD-R, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD-RAM, DVD+RW and DVD+R media. It can also be used with different types of CD/DVD burners such as CD-RW, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM in IDE, SCSI, USB and IEEE1394. GAMESXCOPY is designed to work with current and future technology.

4. Lifetime Updates

Compare to the competition! Technology changes and only GAMESXCOPY protects both your PC Game collection and the rights to future game announcements by providing you with free lifetime upgrades to the software.

5. Novice and Expert Modes

GAMESXCOPY is simple, yet powerful to use. Children and busy adults appreciate the automatic features of the Novice mode. Expert gamers love the ability to customize the experience or create virtual drives.

6. Bonus Features

GAMESXCOPY can even back up music and video CDs or DVDs directly from the originals.
You can use the hard drive instead of the disc by creating a virtual drive that can be loaded with game images allowing several discs to appear to be loaded at one time.
Use the virtual image now and burn a new CD or DVD later.

It was nice to see that although not installed automatically with GamesXCopy, that the DAEMON Tools setup was included in the installation folder, ready for install if required. Which is a good thing since some copy protections don't like to have CD/DVD emulation software running or even having it installed.

Installation:

The installation is pretty easy. Just follow the screens and the full install will be done in a few simple steps. Also registering the software is done in a few seconds. If you want to use the CD/DVD-Rom emulation don't forget to have DAEMON Tools installed already.

Usage:

GamesXCopy is very easy even for people with no experience at all, the expert mode gives you a few options more in configuring how GamesXCopy should copy the CD or DVD you want to copy.

What I personally found annoying is that GamesXCopy asks you each time if you own the original or that it is a borrowed or rented game. Presonally I don't think anybody will ever will say I did borrow the game or rent it.

But okay in all fairness to 321 Studios, I can understand they had to include this to make people aware of illegal copying or even prevent the user from doing illegal activity. For the fun I pressed Yes to see what would happen. And see here the warning, to make you aware that it is only allowed to make back-ups if you own the original.

The DPM mode will scan the hole CD and adjust the settings in GamesXCopy so that it is able to copy it correctly. Personally I found the DPM mode take to much time but than again if it able to copy the CD perfectly than it might be worth waiting for. DPM mode takes averangly 15 to 25 minutes depending on the game to be copied.

Of course in the expert mode you could skip the DPM mode but this I would advise for the more experienced users only. Luckily, making the image only takes on average 3 minutes but that depends of course of the CD/DVD-Rom reader speed.

It was nice to see that although not installed automatically with GamesXCopy, it was nice to see that the DEAMON Tools setup was included in the installation folder, ready for install if required.

Copying the Image again to the CD is quiet easy just change the Reading device to Read from Image File and choose the recoder you want to use and press start.

Well I was happy to see that GamesXCopy noticed that I was using a CD-RW for some tests and asked me if I wanted to clear the CD or not. Not all programs which I also did test with did asked me the same.

In the expert mode there are option settings which lets you select a few things like:

General settings lets you select a few items like when to eject the CD, where to store the image, etc.

Copy settings lets you select a few items like when to RAW write mode, etc., Emulation Selections, etc.

RAW Mode lets you select a few items like when to RAW read mode, etc., Read Speeds, etc.

In Virtual CD/DVD Drives you can select how many virtual drives you want, what drive lettes, etc.

Confirmations lets you select which conformation you prefer to have or not to have, etc.

Well I found Copy settings and RAW Mode most interesting since here you can easily change the way your image is made and how the image is written on CD again. Also in copy settings it is handy to select the image read speed because for some copy protections you have to use a maxium read and write speed.

These settings are recommended for more advanced users only, if you don't know to much about it than I would advise to let GamesXCopy choose it self.

What does the DPM mode do?

Well the DPM Mode deals with sophisticated copy protection mechanisms that measure exact physical location of certain sectors on a disc. On a recorded disc, the locations can be changed which identify the disc as a copy and not an original. Therefore, resulting in a disc that may not be fully functional. DPM mode tries to copy the exact locations so the appears to be an original.

GamesXCopy compared with Alcohol 120%:

Here are the results of some copies of original game CDs i tried for this review, they where also tried with Alcohol to give a comparison.

I have tried to copy the following games:

Title	Protection type	Game X Copy	Alcohol
Call of Duty	SafeDisc v3.10.020	Failed	OK, but only usable with Plextor Permium
FarCry	SafeDisc v3.20.022	Failed	Failed
Unreal Tournament 2004	Securom 5.03.00.0000	Failed	Failed
Settlers IV	SafeDisc v2.51.021	OK	OK
Emperor Battle for Dune	SafeDisc v2.30.031	OK	OK

As you can see the new copy protections are still not fully support by Game X Copy and Alcohol.

Conclusion:

Well the conclusion part has come, well I think GamesXCopy can have a lot of potiental in the future. It needs still some updates on some points and some small improvements, but overall for most users without a lot of knowledge about copying copy protected CDs it will be a nice tool to make back-ups with.
GamesXCopy is a real easy to use program.

Pros And Cons:

Pros:

Super easy and nice looking layout
No Automatic Virtual CD/DVD-Rom support, which solves some copylock issue's

Cons:

There where problems with certain protections that we feel need to be resolved
Each time before starting up GamesXCopy calls home, which takes to long
DPM Mode to time consuming averange time of 15 to 20 minutes
GamesXCopy did hang up a few times, but 321 Studio's did promise to resolve these small bugs soon
DPM failed to copy which makes in some cases not possible to make a 100% working copy
Missing presets for certain copylock versions, this would improve the change that you make a 100% copy
Constantly changing copy protection schemes will mean constant updates to GamesXCopy will be needed as with a lot of game backup software

Pricing and Availability:

Available now, GamesXCopy is priced at 59.95 US$ for the boxed edition and for the web download version (could not find information if this did included tax or not).

Tested on: