Gamers who tried to play Gears Of War on their PCs yesterday were in for a big surprise as the (legitimately obtained) game refused to run.
As part of the game's protection, it checks a digital certificate each time the game launches. Apparently, the certificate was set to expired on January 28, 2009, less than 15 months after the its official launch on November 6, 2007.
As of now, the game is unplayable unless you set your PC clock to an older date, or use a game crack. EPIC has already acknowledged the problem, but still doesn't promise any quick fixes. "We have been notified of the issue and are working with Microsoft to get it resolved," a super moderator posted on the official forum. "Sorry for any problems related to this. I'll post more once we have a resolution."
Needless to say, the problem applies only to legit customers who didn't use a No-CD fix. If you are one of those, you can always head to our Game Fixes section and grab the No-CD patch.