Ubisoft's new DRM hates you.

[dextire]

According to TechSpot (http://www.techspot.com/news/37955-ubisofts-new-drm-more-annoying-than-expected.html), Ubisoft's new DRM requires you to be constantly connected to the internet no matter what.
This is so the DRM can run all the time in the background, and continuously check-in to make sure you're not a pirate.

If you temporarily lose your connection for any reason, you're kicked off without saving your game.
So if you have a server reset, ISP screw-up, wind, cow, or any number of a thousand things happen that makes your internet temporarily blip, and your game is gone.

So let's see...
Legitimate Users: treated like criminals, possible installation troubles from DRM, constant internet and computer resources taken just for DRM, internet blips and game is lost.
Pirates: game is free, no DRM, easier to install, less resource intensive, can play internet or not, and more likely a better user experience all around.

This is so stupid. :lol

[Esuohlim]

I approve!

[darkvare]

they might as well send some one to watch you while you play

[Tadao]

I don't see the problem, maybe you can invest in a cow/wind proof internet service.

[Dr. Boogie]

It's a problem mainly because it's far more restrictive than the occasional checks more and more games have now, which in turn were more restrictive than the old methods of just entering in a CD key.

Bad weather could knock out your connection, or your router might need to be reset. Either way, you get kicked out of your game. That's just on your end; if Ubisoft has a problem with their servers, that means you're SOL until whenever they can get their shit together. In short, it means that people wanting to play single player games would be subject to many of the same hassles you'd expect from an MMO.

That's just the connection problems. The other problem is that, while they claim this is to combat piracy, I can't imagine it doing anything other than promoting it. Even if you decide to buy a copy, you can just download a crack for it that bypasses all their efforts and makes the whole thing an exercise in futility. Also, Ubisoft has traditionally had a great deal of trouble porting their games to the PC, but that's just my personal experience.

Maybe it's just an experiment to see if they can drive themselves out of business.

[executioneer]

they should just go back to code wheels, fuck this

[Dr. Boogie]

If you want to see more posts from Willie, please enter the first word of the second paragraph on page 56 of the I-Mockery manual.

[dextire]

*sigh* Does anyone have a scan of the manual?
I lost mine years ago when my little sister spilled juice all over it. :(

I wish they would just stop this stupid copy protection crap.
It's not like it screws with anyone except legitimate customers.

[Tadao]

It's a problem mainly because blah blah blah

I bet you say "lag kill" a lot and people with a higher ping are "hackers".

[Dr. Boogie]

All I'm saying is that my Linksys router needs to be unplugged and replugged every now and then, if for no better reason than to remind it who runs things.

I didn't realize that "replugged" was a word, but Firefox thinks that it is.

[Pentegarn]

http://www.cad-comic.com/cad/20100219/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+cad-comic+%28Ctrl%2BAlt%2BDel%29 (http://www.cad-comic.com/cad/20100219/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+cad-comic+%28Ctrl%2BAlt%2BDel%29)

Not all that funny really, I just thought it was a coincidence I read both that comic and this thread this morning.

[Zhukov]

Man I NEVER used to pirate games. NEVER. But this constant shit with having to start windows live accounts and HAVING to download the latest patch or else you can't play bullshit is starting to turn me.

Fuck you all except for Skullptura.

[Fathom Zero]

I talked about it in my copy protection thread, but Steam is great. I lurve it and all the Valve titles. I also love Good Ole Games, too. DRM-free, so I've had one installer on my passport drive and put Fallout on three of my computers without any problem. It also keeps me from sharing the games actually, because I think it's cool that they do that.

Whereas I'll probably never buy Assassin's Creed 2, even if I want to play it. I've got a distaste for the system to where I won't buy a game from Ubisoft. I'd sooner pirate it.

Maybe that doesn't make a lot of sense. I dunno.

[dextire]

I love Steam because they give me instant access to old games I never got to play, and it's cheap.

The problem I have with them is that for example, let's say some other company buys Steam.
And that company decides to change to a subscription plan to give you updates, patches, and of course, play your games.
Can you still play the games you bought if you don't pay for the subscription?

It basically comes down to: do you own the game you paid for, or are you renting it for an undisclosed amount of time?

Ubisoft's DRM is the same problem, they just escalate it to the point of stupidity.

[Fathom Zero]

Well, the same with all DRM now. So that's not really relevant. You could say the same of .mp3s and music and eBooks and all the digital things.

And I would be willing to bet a lot of money on Valve never selling Steam. They make too much money that way, more so than with their games. Hostile takeover of Valve Corp.? I dunno. Is such a thing possible?

No games nowadays on the PC are able to be installed and played immediately without being verified as genuine, unless they're cracked.

[dextire]

Are there any mp3s that still have DRM?
I agree that DRM is everywhere, and Valve isn't looking to sell Steam anytime soon, but it certainly could happen.

EA is already the distributor, and could decide to buy Steam (or even Valve) in order to put all of EA's games online.
Then they implement some system that leaves users the choice to pay more, or pirate in order to play the games they already bought.

Many games still just need a CD-Key, but more are requiring an internet installation check-in, then some are starting the Steam style internet check-in every time you play, and now we have the constant internet check-in or you're kicked.

And all for something that doesn't even work. :)

[Fathom Zero]

If these services and servers ever do go out of business, there'll always be talented people that'll reverse-engineer this stuff so you can play you've downloaded.

After all, even Valve's games are pirated. Look at all the Left 4 Dead 2 torrents out there.

I don't even know what your argument is anymore or why I'm talking about it. You're just stating facts and I'm getting irrationally angry. >:

[Tadao]

It's all a plot against inner city kids.

[LordSappington]

What happened to the good ol' days, when all you had to do was either enter your cd-key, and the company TRUSTED you?
I blame EA games, teenagers, and those damned Krauts.
Fun fact of the day: Macs recognize the word 'Kraut'. More proof Macs are evil.

[dextire]

You're just stating facts and I'm getting irrationally angry. >:
:lol That has to be one of my favorite responses of all-time.

From what I can tell:
We agree that Steam is awesome, DRM is everywhere, Ubisoft's is the worst yet, and pirates will always find a way.
And that's also exactly what we've been arguing about as well. :)

[darkvare]

krauts have nothing to do with this is the damn french

[Zhukov]

What happened to those heady days of yore when you just got 1500 shareware titles on one disk and you played them until you were told to go to bed?

[10,000 Volt Ghost]

They should get a DRMATOLOGIST.

Also, I don't know what a DRM is.

[Sam]

My ex was a DRM :(

[executioneer]

DRM IS A GAY WORD FOR COPY PROTECTIONS

[Ant10708]

I blame people like phoenix gamma

[Nick]

http://www.cad-comic.com/cad/20100219/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+cad-comic+%28Ctrl%2BAlt%2BDel%29

Not all that funny really, I just thought it was a coincidence I read both that comic and this thread this morning.
Buckley comics. B^U

[Phoenix Gamma]

I blame people like phoenix gamma
YEA WELL NO ONE ASKED YOU >:>:>:>:

I DON'T EVEN PIRATE A LOT OF PC GAMES CAUSE MOST OF THEM ARE POOP ANYWAYS EXCEPT FOR THE GOOD ONES SOMETIMES.

[Dr. Boogie]

So their new DRM has been out for one day, and it's already cracked:

http://www.infoaddict.com/ubisofts-new-drm-cracked-in-under-25-hours


But Ubisoft says "nuh uh!"

http://www.vg247.com/2010/03/04/ubi-claims-cracked-pc-drm-reports-are-false/

[dextire]

Wow, that was fast. :)

[Dr. Boogie]

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/03/07/ubisoft-drm-authentification-server-is-down-assassins-creed-2/

And there it is. The worst case scenario that every game journalist and ordinary observer predicted has happened.

Want to play single player AC2 on your PC? Either wait for Ubisoft to diagnose and fix their authentification servers, or get crackin'.

[Fathom Zero]

It's nice to know every one of their PC games from this point on will have that.

[dextire]

Looks like it was an attack. http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/62683
Only 5% were supposed to have been affected by the outage, so everything is fine, right? :)

I'm kind of surprised they admitted to being successfully attacked.
Though I guess they had to choose between admitting to buggy software, or being susceptible to attacks.

If these kinds of problems continue to happen do you think Ubisoft will back down, or just keep sinking with the ship?

[Dr. Boogie]

I think "sinking". If they back off as a response to attacks like this, then it makes such actions seem not only credible, but effective. No, I think they'll just continue down this road, spending countless resources to combat pirates, only to fail and drive their customers further away. I suspect each new incarnation will be worse than the last, until they finally shut down their PC development outright.

I haven't bought a PC title of theirs since the heinously buggy Splinter Cell: Double Agent. Personally, I'd be willing to sacrifice their mediocre IPs if their failure would serve as a warning to other companies that draconian DRM measures are a bad idea.

[dextire]

If they back off as a response to attacks like this, then it makes such actions seem not only credible, but effective.
You mean that it might get so bad that Ubisoft would have to remove the DRM altogether?
But that would mean legitimate customers would no longer be kicked in the balls, and pirates would... well pirates wouldn't notice a thing, would they? :)

I'm sure you're right though. They will continue until the bitter end.
And I really hope you're right about the warning to other companies that better ways exist to combat piracy.

[Fathom Zero]

I think he means that Ubisoft would go out of business before removing it. And then their numbers would be down so much that Activision or whomever would buy them up and make changes. I forsee that.

[executioneer]

you know what their response to people constantly cracking their drm is gonna be? they're gonna stop releasing shit on PC and release only to consoles

[Fathom Zero]

The only console that's not getting a lot of pirating is the PS3, but that's gonna change soon. An exploit came out a couple months ago for people to build off of. And I suppose the sheer amount of data on a Bluray is a bit of a deterrent.

[Dr. Boogie]

you know what their response to people constantly cracking their drm is gonna be? they're gonna stop releasing shit on PC and release only to consoles

Absolutely. The people who launched the DoS attack that shut down their authentication servers, in all likelihood they've succeeded only in convincing Ubisoft to spend more on DoS attack prevention.

But frankly, I'm not worried about them dropping out of the PC market. Their PC ports have been lazy and bug ridden over the last few years. That, combined with the DRM shenanigans, is enough for me to believe that they're out already.


It's like a farmer threatening to remove his produce from Ralph's if the public doesn't start buying his bruised bananas.

[dextire]

It's like a farmer threatening to remove his produce from Ralph's if the public doesn't start buying his bruised bananas.
Words to live by.

[Zhukov]

Except the farmer has perfect yellow bananas until the multinational food corporation buys them off him and then bruises them to prevent people stealing them.

[dextire]

Right. And the people who steal them get the perfect bananas, and the people who bought them get the bruised ones.

[Fathom Zero]

But I don't like bananas, so I couldn't give a damn either way.

[Zhukov]

Soon they will be bruising the other fruit. >:

[Dr. Boogie]

The point is that we should be buying the bananas from international corporations that try to make better tasting bananas, and we should boycott the corporations that try to sell bananas that require a constant internet connection.

[dextire]

In all honesty, dragon-fruit is way better anyway.
Why would you want a bruised banana when you could have dragon-fruit?

bananas that require a constant internet connection.
:lol

[Zhukov]

They could engineer bananas to taste like dragon fruit.

[dextire]

They could engineer bananas to taste like dragon fruit.
Why would they do that when people are buying bruised bananas that require a constant internet connection? :)

[Zhukov]

I'm saying they could. They have the dev kits to do it.

[dextire]

Well, I think they should do that because dragon fruit is very tasty stuff.
But I also think they should stop bruising the bloody fruit. :\

[Grislygus]

I think the bloody fruits are a threat to proper English society and should be rehabilitated by any means necessary, including heavy bruising

[Babs]

The point is that we should be buying the bananas from international corporations that try to make better tasting bananas, and we should boycott the corporations that try to sell bananas that require a constant internet connection.

It's mostly impossible to keep a banana connected to the internet when it runs on a phone line. god damn banana phones.

[darkvare]

It's mostly impossible to keep a banana connected to the internet when it runs on a phone line. god damn banana phones.
but they are so cool and a-peel-ing

[Supafly345]

fuck you

[Zomboid]

:lol

[dextire]

And the problems with the DRM continue to pile up: "Settlers 7 suffers server downtime" (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=241864)

From Ubisoft's forums (posted earlier today):
"Without getting into the technical details, we’re having some difficulties with the servers...
And as you have experienced, when these servers are having difficulties, it means that you cannot get into the game.
We know that this is causing frustration and our tech teams have been on this problem over the long holiday weekend."

So this means that many people haven't been able to play the game at all for over a week.
Also, Assassin's Creed II is now apparently completely cracked. :)

[Nick]

Assassin's Creed II is cool and all, but totally not worth this. :)

[DougClayton4231]

P2P groups already cracked AC2 lol. The only people still using this service are the fools who won't look for the alternative.

[StuntDouble]

Is this kind of DRM even legal? This is like buying a car and having to call into the dealership every 15 minutes, otherwise they report it stolen.

[Zhukov]

I don't know how it could be considered illegal. It's not like they are surprising you with it after you bought the product. You sign an agreement.