More "Always On" DRM in upcoming Ubisoft games

[V da Mighty Taco]

I wonder if People even remember the good old Days. And no i dont mean those Days when DRM was just a dream in some guys head, or when we just had good old CD Keys as a DRM Method. No i mean the Time when Games were made and released that actually were worth buying. Alot of the Games i own, as in not having sold them again due to being utter shite.

Games like Fallout, Diablo and the like where you just went, bought the game and played it literally to death and them some more because it was fun. You could have played some Games from every Angle, this Character, or maybe using this Route the next time, or try this Approach, or hell maybe even just do a Speedrun. Those were Games that were played again and again, even couple years after alot probably go back to those for sheer nostalgia to relive the Memories they had from those Games.

What do we have now? 10 Hours? 20 at most for most Games? Little to no replay value to them, Prototype was a perfect example of that. Short as hell and replaying it didnt even matter at all, the Story was exactly the same, there was no different method or whatever you could apply to it. Yet Games like those are charged 50 Bucks for, or more in some Cases, with draconian DRM Methods even. The Moment i, as a Consumer of a Product, am overcharged for the Content of the Game, and that includes Day-1 DLC and the "we-obviously-cut-content-but-hoped-you-wouldnt-notice" Cases, or treated like i was a Criminal even though i personally went out to the Store to buy the Game to begin with, is that exact Moment they can go straight to hell and shove their Crap where the sun doesnt shine.

Most Games nowadays arent worth the Cost, or hassle of the DRM. And i really wonder if People, well these executive Types in the big Publisher Companies have evenr realized it, but People would stop pirating, or second hand sales of those Games, if they were good enough to keep around forever. Want to stop Piracy/Second Hand Sales? Make Games worth buying/keeping. Problem solved.

^ You. I like you. Someone get this man or woman a cookie.

It's funny how N64 games are having longer life cycles than the majority of today's games when not online. I still pick up my Turok games every now and again (currently playing Turok 1. On level 5 - The Catacombs. F***). Can't say that about BO. Now that I think about it, this seems to be the first console generation where short singleplayer campaigns with no replay value are actually expected. It's probably why RPGs are becoming so popular these days, as they are the only games outside of the online multiplayer market that last longer than a week. Maybe I should make a thread about this.

Captcha:

 

[Something Amyss]

Well, for me it is. I rarely ever lose connection, I didn't really think others had difficulties with that.

Well, it's not just about your connection. If the company's servers go down or lose connection, which has happened with Ubisoft's DRM before, you're still boned. Maintaining those servers doesn't particularly seem to be of the highest priority, nor is foresight.

Other people DO have issues with internet connection. Some gamers are still on dialup or slow/shoddy broadband, and some even dare to game offline. Just being on the internet at a given point does not mean you have constant or reliable access.

And just because you do doesn't mean you won't have problems.

 

[Bostur]

Doesn't matter. I don't buy Ubisoft anymore. Also Douchecanoe.

 

[infohippie]

Fuck you Ubisoft. Fuck you.

Other people might not care, but I am not going to pay to be treated like a criminal.

The DRM doesn't work, it's cracked, the pirates know how to crack it now, From Dust is featured on torrents, it's a complete and utter failure and to persist with it is an act of such stupidity it's starting to cause me pain to have to re-iterate.

It doesn't work, it will never work, so fucking stop it already.

Fuck you Ubisoft. I will never buy your games as long as they continue to use this DRM. I will not pirate, buy new, or buy used, nothing. As for the games I have, I will not play them anymore. I want NOTHING to do with a company that is so willing to treat ALL customers like criminals just to try and stop a few pirates.

So, again, fuck you Ubisoft, I hope the games with the DRM tank.

Hear bloody hear. I haven't bought anything from Ubisoft since they started this bullshit, and I'm not going to buy from them for as long as it continues.

 

[Ickorus]

Eh, I just don't plan on getting anything from Ubisoft until they stop this crap, it's not so much that it's going to affect me really, it's just I don't like the way things are going and will do everything I can in order to not support it.

I mean, i've bought games I didn't think I would like in order to support the devs I think are doing stuff right so this is just that really.

 

[illas]

So, to summarize:
-Buy the game legally and you have to deal with draconian, intrusive, and inconvenient DRM.
-Pirate the game and you have to wait a few days after release but will avoid all of the above.

...and it's not on Steam.

Attention Ubisoft - when your copy protection hurts the people who actually bought your game more than the people who pirate it, you *really* need to reconsider your system and priorities.

 

[LordLundar]

So much derp.

Ubisoft should just save themselves some cash and stick to CD keys, everything else just makes everyone unhappy. I guess crackers can thank them for giving them a challenge to test their skills on, and whomever is programming the DRM for giving them a job. I can't imagine why anyone else would be on board.

I actually worked retail when they last did that for The Settlers 2 remake. Here's how that bundle of failure went down:

Failure 1: They shipped the games WITHOUT THE CD KEYS! Yeah, I don't mean a dijit or two missing, the ENTIRE code was neglected to be put in their copies.

Failure 2: Failure 1 wasn't noticed until almost a month after launch. Yes, we had copies of a game that couldn't be legitimately installed on our shelves for a month. No pull down order was given so we had to keep them up, despite knowing they couldn't work.

Failure 3: Their solution to the problem was to send out sheets of codes to their field reps on sticker paper and PUT THE CODES ON THE CELLOPHANE WRAPPER ON THE CASE! Now for those of you wondering what the issue is, here's a couple of points:
-First, anyone with a camera phone could simply walk up and take a photo. Now they had a
legitimate code with which they could use with a pirated copy (the disks had no other CP in place)
-Second, a legitimate cutomers buys the game and throws the cellophane away before they even get home. Whoops! They are now out of luck because UbiSoft now thinks they stole the game.

So, actual thieves get away scott free, while the real customers are now branded criminals because UbiSoft was too dumb to rub two pennies together.

 

[Jak2364]

Well, I'm glad I lost interest in anything Ubisoft had to offer since ACII. Stupid douchecanoes.

 

[DeepComet5581]

Besides, it'll all be cracked after 3 hours ANYWAY. It happened to From Dust. It'll happen to Driver: SF. It'll happen to Diablo 3 and it will continue to happen to others in the future.

I thought it took several months to properly crack Assassin's Creed 2.

I was released early March 2010, and took a month and a half [http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-20003120-248.html] to crack.

Besides, AssCreed II appears to be the exception to the rule, as it was one of the first (If not the first) Ubisoft games to use that DRM, so it would have taken longer. However, after the crackers found out how to circumvent the DRM, they could do it much quicker next time, as is the case with From Dust.