Media in drive

Hardware theme

Requires the game media (CD, DVD, etc.) to remain in drive during play, either to stream content off it during play or to validate the player has a legit copy.

202
games
9
platforms

Alternate name: Media check

If the requirement for the media to be in drive is removed simply by using full/complete install, this tag does not apply no matter how it is required on lesser installs.

A common cause for creation of No-CD/DVD etc. cracks which are used even by legal owners of the games. The reasons usually boil down to the fact that people are lazy, but some consider it a good way to prolong the longevity of the original game media.

Originally this was not a copy-protection method, but means to avoid wasting the miniscule amounts of HD space people had. Later media checks started to appear as tests to combat piracy, around this time the media was no longer used for anything else as everything was installed to HD.

Note that if the game requires any CD to be in drive with Redbook audio should not essentially count.

Popular tags

actionadventure actionrpg aspectratio-4-3 cdrom cpplanguage directx6 directx7 directx8 directx9 download drm drm-removed dvd eax firstpersonshooter gamespy glide3d leveleditor lutris milessound opengl safedisc securom securom7 selfupdate serialkey shadermodel1 swrender widescreen win2k win95 win98 winxp

Games by year

868890929496980002040608101214 20510150

The first Media in drive video game was released in 1986.

Electronic Arts, THQ and Activision published most of these games.

Platforms

Windows 159
MS-DOS 22
Mac OS Classic 6
Linux 5
Mac OS X 5
X360 2
PS3 1
Win3.1 1
Pandora 1