Ubisoft DRM Authentication Servers Go Down

[Jesus Phish]

Wonder how many of those people went out and got cracked versions as a result?

Very silly idea on Ubisofts idea to ever even consider this form of DRM. I really think the idea of DRM should be dropped. As long as there is software and the internet, there will be piracy. Companies should just stop wasting money trying to stop the pirates. There will always be people who will actually be happy to buy the game legally.

 

[AkJay]

Why is it that everything Ubisoft (and EA... OH! And Activison) touches dies?

Well, Activision is only a so-called middle-man. Since they merged (or something like that) with Blizzard, they've also adapted Blizzard's "less content, more price (or no content, some price)" -policy. EA doesn't seem too bad nowadays.

Except for the fact that for the first 2 days after the release of Bad Company 2, no one could play the f*cking game online because they couldn't get their servers together.

 

[Azhrarn-101]

well, that was fast. Considering how wildly unpopular this method of DRM is with us gamers, maybe it was intentional sabotage? I mean, when you've got a massive hulking single point of failure like that you're going to set up all kinds of failsafes and backups that keep exactly what happened from happening by accident.

Depending on the cause, yes. But a massive database like that has it's problems (remember it needs to be able to accommodate several million users active at once, given their anticipated retail figures, potentially sending out game data to all those users, that's a lot of bandwidth no matter how you look at it). If it "failed over" it may not be all that easy to find and fix the issue that caused it to fail in the first place.
If it was DDOSed, then they're still in trouble, but a restart should be easy if the attack stops.

 

[Deacon Cole]

Ever notice how measures to prevent piracy tend to penalize people who purchase legal copies? I've often wondered why publisher work so hard to make piracy so attractive.

I wonder what Jeff Vogel [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/98720-Indie-RPG-Developer-Details-Why-Ubisofts-DRM-Will-Be-Effective] thinks about this turn of events.

 

[bismarck55]

I'm not nearly as angry at ubisoft as I am at the people who actually supported this shit and bought the game on pc. We can complain about publishers, stockholders and pirates until we are blue in the face, but the gamers who refuse to vote with their wallets (or even more frightening are the ones who think it's no big deal) who are truly to blame for the outrage that is DRM. don't pirate it, don't buy it, just Bite the bullet and play something else until the DRM is removed (and it likely would be).

 

[Eruanno]

Anyone who has any computer knowledge and a slight interest in video games is laughing so bad at Ubisoft.

Oh, except those poor souls that bought AC2 for PC. But I'm not sure they intersect with the above.


Ubi: "Hey guys, we've got this great DRM which will be awesome and require a constant internet connection. It'll also save games to our servers because we think this will solve piracy problems! Woo!"
Everyone else: "Yeah, that sounds stupid. We don't want that."
Ubi: "No, no, it'll be great! Trust us!"
Everyone else: "...Noooo, this will suck. It will suck LOTS."
Ubi: "Lah-lah-lah-lah, can't hear you! Cool DRM, weee-woo-doop-dee-dooo." *Is now noticeably on drugs*
Everyone else: "...Fine. Do it. I've got that game for Xbox 360/PS3 since three months anyway."
UBI SERVERS CRASH
Ubi: "Everything is working fiiiine, fah-lah-lah... uh-oh..."
Everyone else: "No, REALLY? You didn't see that one coming? Bra-vo."

 

[Wicky_42]

I'm impressed that my pessimism over Ubi's system has paid off so fast. Well, impressed, horrified, but not surprised.

Fuck you, DRM. Devs, make your games worth buying and everything else will fit into place.

 

[Phoenixlight]

Would be a better idea to just connect to the ubisoft servers for 10~ seconds when you load up the game then disconnect from them to continue playing. This would help to ensure that the game isn't a fake.

 

[MrSnugglesworth]

Eh.


Maybe someone attacked the servers.

Wouldn't that be interesting.

 

[Oh That Dude]

O well that's great to know, I've got AC2 coming tomorrow.

Another day of Battlefield me thinks.

Methinks not, I can't connect to bloody EA online. Everything is failing, run for the bunkers!

 

[teutonicman]

AAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA SUCKERS!
It's times like this that I love Murphy's Law.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Like a revival of Stomp [http://www.stomponline.com/] in the middle of a minefield, this was a disaster that everyone but the idiots responsible for it could see coming.

 

[johnman]

There are the pirates, happily playing away, then there are the legit customers, who cant.
I wonder if anyone had the balls to post s link to a crack as a solution

 

[beddo]

I thought people were going to boycott this, maybe their contempt would have had more gravitas had they done so.

 

[Zefar]

Server went down today? Well it's online now anyway. As my brother plays it right now.

Yes he uses a real version.

Also you people overreact when the servers go down.

Ever thought too many tried to access it at once? :/

 

[Bosola]

As it happens, I was thinking of grabbing my very own copy of AC2. It seems I have two options:

- Pay money for a crippled version of the game, that will demand resources, a consistent 'net connection, and likely fail whenever Ubisoft's janitor accidentally unplugs the servers

- Pay less (i.e. nothing) for a torrented version, likely never be caught, have a far better time playing without relying upon the DRM system being functional.

DECISIONS.

 

[Phoenixlight]

As it happens, I was thinking of grabbing my very own copy of AC2. It seems I have two options:

- Pay money for a crippled version of the game, that will demand resources, a consistent 'net connection, and likely fail whenever Ubisoft's janitor accidentally unplugs the servers

- Pay less (i.e. nothing) for a torrented version, likely never be caught, have a far better time playing without relying upon the DRM system being functional.

DECISIONS.

Pay for it, but get it for the PS3/XBOX 360 rather than the PC.